A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Category: World of Warcraft Page 6 of 12

What To Do For the Remainder of Legion

Mount Hunting the Remainder of Legion

Spawn of Galakras – Awarded for Glory of the Orgimmar Raider

There is still about 10 weeks before Battle for Azeroth launches and if you’re like me, you’ve cleared Heroic Antorus. So now what? My raid team did go back and try to complete all the raid achievements starting with Emerald Nightmare. We have done all that our patience and sanity have allowed us. (Side note: some of these raid achievements are ridiculously hard and not much fun at all.) So while we wait we have to ask ourselves what is there to do for the remainder of legion?

If you are an “alt-aholic”, like me, then one of the obvious tasks is to finish leveling your alts. Perhaps even complete their respective Order Hall, Artifact and Class Mount campaigns. I’ve talked about this in a previous post. I do have a couple of alts left to level; 2 warlocks and a warrior. I am also leveling two of the allied race factions to unlock their unique looks.

Achievements and Mount Farming!

Mount Farmers Waiting for Nalak

Perhaps the most common activity for the remainder of legion will be completing achievements. Granted achievements is something that can be done anytime during the expansion; so why wait until the end of it? Well, your item level will be about as high as its going to get, which will be helpful depending on what achievements you are doing. Also, if you are raiding regularly, you may be spending your off nights doing World Quests and dailies to improve your gear; or farming materials for consumables. Or, as I alluded to earlier, you are leveling alts. This is usually the time I do some of the less exciting achievements, such as exploration and quest achievements. I will also go back and farm old content achievements as well.

Which leads to mount farming. Several mounts do come from larger achievements, such as the Spawn of Galakras pictured above. However, there are some mounts that come from different sources. Probably the most common mounts to farm are the Pandaria world bosses – Galleon, Nalak, Sha of Anger and Oondasta. I’m not going to lie, farming world bosses and old raids isn’t the most exciting of tasks, and will feel quite boring for 10 weeks. So some nights I may not even log in and, instead, play other games or catch up on some TV shows.

Blizzard seems to struggle with that balance of too much time before the new expansion, and too little time. Although we know that there is one more event coming prior to BfA, the final chapter of our artifact weapons.

What will you be doing for the remainder of Legion?

FOR THE ALLIANCE!

duke-nukem-sm If zombies attack the world, everyone will run and hide. Except for us gamers, of course. We’ve been waiting for this all our lives!

 

RTotD: Finally Killed the Filthy Punk

This isn’t really a true “Random Thought of the Day” since I am posting this to celebrate victory. After several grueling weeks of banging our heads against the wall, we finally killed Heroic Argus. It is the final “Ahead of the Curve” (AOTC) achievement available for this expansion. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the “Ahead of the Curve” achievement; it involves killing the final boss of the current tier on Heroic difficulty before the release of the next tier (or expansion, in this case). It is no easy feat (unless you are a Mythic raider).

We Got Them All

This AOTC achievement is especially important to the Humpday Heroes raid team. This is not our first; in fact we have all of the AOTC achievements from this expansion. This is also very exciting for myself as I have never done any kind of Heroic raid content in the past (unless you count 25-man and/or hard-mode). These were my first “Ahead of the Curve” achievements. I am beyond thrilled to be apart of this team.

Click to enlarge

Also, the Violet Spellwing mount looks amazing! I can’t wait to get it for the rest of the team members that couldn’t be there last night. We have a lockout saved so we will get you in there to get yours!

And now … ON TO BfA!!!

FOR THE ALLIANCE!

duke-nukem-sm If zombies attack the world, everyone will run and hide. Except for us gamers, of course. We’ve been waiting for this all our lives!

 

WoW: Legion Expansion Final Thoughts

Legion Expansion Final ThoughtsThe sixth World of Warcraft expansion is in its final months, so lets review the past year. I’m going to cover the various new mechanics of the game, the goals I have planned before Battle for Azeroth, as well as my thoughts on the raiding and the storyline. To start off my Legion expansion final thoughts, I’ll simply say I really enjoyed this expansion. I think the story is just as interesting as it was for Wrath of the Lich King. The Legion has been an indefatigable foe for Azeroth for decades. It’s really cool to be apart of the final chapter (“if” it’s the final chapter).

The raiding content, I felt, was pretty epic. I really had fun taking down Xavius, Gul’dan, Kil’Jaeden and ultimately Argus himself. Blizzard devs deserve some mad props for some pretty fun and challenging new fight mechanics. This is also my first expansion participating in Heroic raid content. I have never gotten an Ahead of the Curve achievement before! The Humpday Heroes CTR raid team on Aerie Peak are a fantastic group of guys and gals! I’d say, with the exception of the Coven of Shivarra fight **, the heroic content was just the right amount of challenging.

** Next time Blizzard, let’s tweak that RNG algorithm on fights like Heroic Coven of Shivarra to be a little less random and a little more deliberate.

My Legion Expansion Goals

Beyond achieving Ahead of the Curve (which my raid team is 1 boss away from accomplishing) I have quite an ambitious list of goals to try to finish before Battle for Azeroth goes live. I feel like there is more I want to do at the end of this expansion that any other expansion. After hitting max level, the list of things to do are seemingly endless. Every class has a mount to unlock and an Order Hall campaign which awards titles and gear. Every spec has an artifact weapon campaign and 75 points to unlock in artifact power.

Of course, that makes leveling alts quite a daunting task, especially for an “alt-aholic” like myself. I have been working to complete the Order Hall quests, unlock all Class mounts for every class and acquire at least one hidden artifact weapon appearance. I am keeping track of my progress:

Class Order Hall Hidden Appearance Class Mount
Paladin
Priest
Demon Hunter
Hunter
Death Knight
Druid
Shaman
Warlock
Mage
Rogue
Monk
Warrior

Unlocking the Class mount is probably the most arduous of the tasks, especially trying to grind out the 50 Marks of the Sentinax. It borders on insanity and masochistic. There are still a few exploration and collection achievements I’m trying to finish, as well a few more mounts to farm. It should be enough to keep me busy until the release of Battle for Azeroth.

Review of Order Halls

I know I was in the minority when I said I liked the Garrison from Warlords of Draenor. In fact I wasn’t even convinced that I was going to like Order Halls because I felt they were a step back from Garrisons. Blizzard successfully proved to me that Order Halls are fun; the quest campaign really improved my impression of Order Halls. I have unlocked the Order Hall for every class and I think my favorite is the Shaman Order Hall. I do really like the locations of the Paladin and Rogue Order Hall; the Warlock Order Hall seems to be the most confusing.

I’m glad they continued with the followers/champions. Having a pocket tank to level with is very helpful. I believe they are continuing this mechanic in Battle for Azeroth.

WoW: World of Warcraft Expansion Theories

BlizzCon 2017 is only a few days away and everyone is positive that Blizzard will announce the next World of Warcraft expansion. Nobody, outside of Blizzard, officially knows what the next chapter will be about. We all have a pretty good idea. I could delve into different World of Warcraft expansion theories but that seems moot. Jaina has been eerily absent since the beginning of the expansion. She clearly doesn’t care for demon hunters. Bitch. Ever since she teleported out of Stormwind Keep, nobody has seen hide nor hair of her. So where has she gone? What has become of her?? Perhaps these are the expansion theories we can discuss.

There is also the fact that the recently unveiled BlizzCon 2017 key art featuring Jaina (see left). I think this is the biggest clue we all have as to the context of the next expansion. Perhaps a visit to Jaina’s home world of Kul’Tiras will be part of the new journey. The location of this human city-state is unknown as well as the status of its occupants. Perhaps Jaina has returned there to fight for the survival of her father’s legacy? Given her state of mind when she left Stormwind, who knows what has happened to her, especially if Kul’Tiras is in peril too.

Evil Jaina

Dreadlord Jaina HotS skin

The popular theory is that Jaina has completely lost her mind. The death of Arthas, Gul’dan, the death of Varian and now demon hunters may have pushed her beyond her breaking point. Many think that she may be the new villain. The evidence that seems to support this theory is the Dreadlord Jaina skin in Heroes of the Storm. I think this is just wishful thinking, perhaps even a bit of player trolling. Rarely, if ever, has Blizzard used another title to prognosticate the future content of another title.

I agree that the Dreadlord Jaina skin looks amazing but I just don’t see how that fits into the lore. If Jaina does “go to the dark side”, I doubt it will be in the form of a dreadlord. In fact I’m more inclined to believe that she’s had her mind corrupted or controlled by some other nefarious being; which leads me to another Jaina theory.

Damsel In Distress Jaina

Perhaps, while stewing in her grief from death and betrayal, she is captured. If Kul’Tiras is under siege, perhaps it is the nefarious beings razing the city that capture her. It will be up to us to seek her out and free her then assist her in restoring her father’s legacy and bring peace back to Kul’Tiras. I know there are probably some horde players that are just itching to take out Jaina; therefore to appease those neanderthals she could be mind-controlled whom we have to fight to free her mind.

A raid encounter in which we fight Jaina would be really interesting. Some of the more interesting fights have been echo’s of heroes (like in the End Time dungeon) or disillusioned heroes (like Cenarius in Emerald Nightmare). Or we could all be completely wrong and Jaina just returns in the next expansion, but has nothing to do with Kul’Tiras or her.

The truth will be known November 3rd.

duke-nukem-sm If zombies attack the world, everyone will run and hide. Except for us gamers, of course. We’ve been waiting for this all our lives!

 

WoW: Legion Expansion – Blizzard Gets It Right Again

World of Warcraft Legion expansion

I Love the Fel “Star Destroyer”

We are now three patches into the World of Warcraft Legion expansion (patch 7.1, 7.1.5, 7.2). I haven’t seen the subscription numbers lately but they have to be up. I know my play time is increasing quite a bit. In the previous expansions (after Wrath of the Lich King), I rarely felt motivated to log in. As much as I enjoyed Garrisons, it did become too repetitive. In fact WotLK is probably the last expansion I really enjoyed, however this expansion is quickly becoming a very close second.

I am really enjoying Legion! If you read a lot then I highly recommend reading Richard Knaak’s War of the Ancients trilogy. It is a perfect companion for this expansion and I think it has largely influenced how much I am enjoying it. In a lot of ways an MMO is like a movie, it’s only as good as the story it’s telling. Wrath of the Lich King had a great story that really felt entwined with my character and Legion is doing the same thing.

But Wait, There’s More

There is more to it than the story in the World of Warcraft Legion expansion. Several of the new features they have added is also contributing to my enjoyment. I will admit that I was skeptical at first of Class Order Halls. I thought it was going to be a step backward from Garrisons. I’ll admit that I was too quick to judge. Blizzard is doing a great job incorporating the Order Halls into the main story of the expansion. Also, I think what makes them fun is the fact that every Order Hall is different and has a different story. The garrisons were all the same no matter which class you were playing; now I’m trying to level all my alts just so I can experience each Order Hall.

The Artifact Weapons have to be a huge success. They have to be the driving force behind people completing so much additional content. I rarely set foot in Mythic dungeons but now hidden/unlocking appearances have me making the time to do a few. In fact I have probably completed more Mythic dungeons in this expansion than I have since Mythic dungeons were added to the game. The different weapon for each class specialization also has me trying different specializations. For example, I would rarely play anything other than a Fire Mage, but now I’ve acquired the artifact weapon for Fire and Frost (and I’m even considering getting the Arcane weapon).

It Isn’t Just the Content, It’s the People Too

I rarely pay any attention to Trade because of the trolls and 12 year olds causing havoc and raising blood pressures. However, there are good people and when you find those good people it does change the game. I was apart of a great raid team from Karazhan through most of Cataclysm. When Mists of Pandaria released our team broke up and several of us changed servers. Nearly everyone that moved to the same server all found new raid teams but I didn’t. Perhaps that is why I was rarely feeling motivated to log in.

Finally, when Legion came out, I joined a raid team of which couple of my former raid members were already members. It has almost felt like old times again! The people are fun and so diverse. Perhaps some people are intimidated by too much diversity in a raid team, but it becomes just a matter of adjusting to the different personalities. Eventually you learn that those different personalities are what makes things so much more interesting and fun (even when we are pissed off and struggling).

The next raid, Tomb of Sargeras, is about to open and the next patch (7.2.5) will be hitting live servers soon and I am excited! This new team is ready to face this exciting and lore filled content and soon we will destroy Kil’jaeden, just as we destroy Gul’dan.

FOR AZEROTH! FOR VARIAN!!

duke-nukem-sm If zombies attack the world, everyone will run and hide. Except for us gamers, of course. We’ve been waiting for this all our lives!

 

The Official Trailer for WoW: Legion 7.2 Patch

The upcoming WoW: Legion 7.2 Patch trailer is officially released. The live date for the 7.2 patch will be March 28th (next Tuesday). This does not mean that the next raid, Tomb of Sargeras, will be available so there is still time to get those Normal/Heroic Gul’dan kills. You will also still have time to get your “Ahead of the Curve” achievements for Trial of Valor and Nighthold (which goes away upon the release of the Tomb of Sargeras raid).

In any event, here is the trailer:

Page 6 of 12

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén