Cataclysm

[Shrike]

The spawn rates can get to be an issue. On the Alliance gunship in Deepholm the rate was so fast my shaman literally couldn't move for about 6-7 minutes because of the continuous stream of suicidal cultiists. Mowing them down in job lots was kinda fun, but I couldn't even loot the kills it was so fast. Bit too much of a good thing.

[kildorn]

The spawn rates can get to be an issue. On the Alliance gunship in Deepholm the rate was so fast my shaman literally couldn't move for about 6-7 minutes because of the continuous stream of suicidal cultiists. Mowing them down in job lots was kinda fun, but I couldn't even loot the kills it was so fast. Bit too much of a good thing.

Use looting totem! Err, I mean stoneclaw totem. <3

But yeah, it's a bit nuts to kill something on it's spawn just to have another immediately take his place. It's like a bad kung fu movie, where the infinite enemy hordes line up one at a time to try and kick your ass.

[Ingmar]

When it happens to me I just... move. While the current mob is still alive.

[Merusk]

Uldum is quickly becoming my favourite zone.  I love the Egyptian themed atmosphere.  The towns and delta areas were really well done.  Its much easier to quest in, too, than Vash'jir and Deepholm.  Also, colossus smash is fucking awesome.

I really liked the design and art direction of Uldum and Deepholm (though deepholm >>> *)

Twilight Highlands seems phoned in to me though. The entire plotline of the zone doesn't mesh at all with the rest of the expansion. It would have made a great intro zone to Cata, but as the last zone: lolwut?

Are you Horde, because the Alliance quest line spells it out pretty clearly.  Here's the story.

You start out escoring King McCinnerson's son around Stormwind and wind-up uncovering a Twilight Cult plot to blow up the Cathedral.  (This plot goes pretty high up the new chain of Stormwind command, proving once again that Bolvar was a big loss.  Fuck you, Alexstraza.)   After defeating the plot, Chinny sends you to Twilight Highlands to take care of the cult once and for all.  Enroute you're either shot down by the Horde or crash because the dwarf flying you is a crazy fucker.  You discover the Horde are assaulting the Alliance foothold base here for reasons unknown to the Alliance - basically you think they're just being Fuckers because Garrosh has a tiny penis and needs to prove something.  Thus the beachead fight.  You need it to assault the Twilight Cult and Cho'gall but the Horde is having one of it.

After you get into the zone and discover the Earthen Ring again, they explain that while you and they were repairing the World Pillar in Deepholm the Twilight Cult made their move and took over the Shamanistic Circles in the Twilight Highlands/ Grim Batol area.  So now King McChinnerson's goals and the Earthen Ring's goals align and you begin helping the ER to reclaim the area while preparing for the final push on Cho'Gall's fortress.  This is the last zone of the XP because the Bastion of Twilight is the first raid instance of the expansion, making Cho'Gall one of your first kills.

The link between Cho'gall and Deathwing is never fully explained.  Cho'gall is all corrupted and crazy from his prior exposure to C'thun, but why he's following Deathwing is unclear as DW simply wants to destroy the world.  Prior to this Cho'gall just wanted to turn it over to the Old Gods. (Which is why you see mini-Yogg in twilight.)  All I can figure is that Deathwing is using him as a buffer so you can't directly move on Grim Batol.  Deathwing doesn't care if the Old Gods come up or not, because once he destroys the world none of it will matter anyway.  He just needs the time that the Twilight Fuckheads can provide to complete his master plan.

Then again, I skipped Uldlum and Hyjal, so perhaps when I go back and do those zones the link between the two will be a little clearer.   I'm also confused as to why we haven't seen Garona or her & Medivh's son since we're battling the Twilight Cult.  Maybe Horde gets them, since Alliance are racist fucks and wouldn't care about some half-orc/dranei and her bastard son of the most powerful magi ever.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Garona is a significant horde npc for the last couple questlines in TH.

Also, deathwing himself states his newfound power comes from the old gods and it was them that originally drove him crazy I believe. Cho'gall basically sees deathwing as his gods greatest general/avatar or something like that.

[kildorn]

No, I got that (the dwarf implies he crashed, no shooting down), but there's no reason given for why the Horde and Alliance are going apeshit at each other on their big bad's doorstep. Basically the zone is getting murdered by the twilight cult because.. well because the alliance and horde armies are too busy trying to claim a piece of dirt that isn't even on the way to the twilight, while the dragonmaw and the wildhammer go a-killin.

Essentially the "makes no sense" bit is that the alliance and the horde seem on perfectly good "let's all just not mess with each other" terms up until Twilight Highlands, at which point everyone forgets that there's some GIANT EVIL THING next to them, and just waste all their troops and artillery on the beach.

[Ingmar]

I'm not totally clear on whether he's trying to destroy it or just take over in a really smashy sort of way, but regardless presumably blowing up the world would let the old gods out of their prisons, which is what the Twilight's Hammer wants, and I think why the OGs made Deathwing go crazy in the first place.

[Ingmar]

No, I got that (the dwarf implies he crashed, no shooting down), but there's no reason given for why the Horde and Alliance are going apeshit at each other on their big bad's doorstep. Basically the zone is getting murdered by the twilight cult because.. well because the alliance and horde armies are too busy trying to claim a piece of dirt that isn't even on the way to the twilight, while the dragonmaw and the wildhammer go a-killin.

Essentially the "makes no sense" bit is that the alliance and the horde seem on perfectly good "let's all just not mess with each other" terms up until Twilight Highlands, at which point everyone forgets that there's some GIANT EVIL THING next to them, and just waste all their troops and artillery on the beach.

Have you set foot on Kalimdor at all yet? The Alliance and Horde are at each other's throats practically in every zone.

[Soulflame]

All of which points to good reasons as to why the Titans should simply re-originate Azeroth.  Destroy the planet, kill the Old Gods, then build a new one.  From what Algalon said, the Titans have absolutely zero qualms about doing just that.  I have to wonder what reason there is for them to not do so with Azeroth.

 

[kildorn]

No, I got that (the dwarf implies he crashed, no shooting down), but there's no reason given for why the Horde and Alliance are going apeshit at each other on their big bad's doorstep. Basically the zone is getting murdered by the twilight cult because.. well because the alliance and horde armies are too busy trying to claim a piece of dirt that isn't even on the way to the twilight, while the dragonmaw and the wildhammer go a-killin.

Essentially the "makes no sense" bit is that the alliance and the horde seem on perfectly good "let's all just not mess with each other" terms up until Twilight Highlands, at which point everyone forgets that there's some GIANT EVIL THING next to them, and just waste all their troops and artillery on the beach.

Have you set foot on Kalimdor at all yet? The Alliance and Horde are at each other's throats practically in every zone.

Yeah, but then Cata zones they stop that, and it becomes all "we have bigger things to deal with"

It just thematically doesn't fit with the other zones, imo. Either they should all be about how we get footholds in these new lands, or be about dealing with the larger threat with some tensions underneath.

I mean, Vash'jir semi starts that way (you get on a boat to go kill some horde. I like to pretend it's the Strand of the Ancients boat gone wrong.), but after that it's nothing but the earthen ring making everyone play nice.

[Lakov_Sanite]

All of which points to good reasons as to why the Titans should simply re-originate Azeroth.  Destroy the planet, kill the Old Gods, then build a new one.  From what Algalon said, the Titans have absolutely zero qualms about doing just that.  I have to wonder what reason there is for them to not do so with Azeroth.

 

Supposedly the titans couldn't kill the old gods because they are tied to the lifeforce of the planet itself or somesuch. though, we've been doing a bang up job of fucking that up with killing em.

[kildorn]

All of which points to good reasons as to why the Titans should simply re-originate Azeroth.  Destroy the planet, kill the Old Gods, then build a new one.  From what Algalon said, the Titans have absolutely zero qualms about doing just that.  I have to wonder what reason there is for them to not do so with Azeroth.

 

Supposedly the titans couldn't kill the old gods because they are tied to the lifeforce of the planet itself or somesuch. though, we've been doing a bang up job of fucking that up with killing em.

We wouldn't have killed them if they weren't dressed in epics like that. 

[Ingmar]

I don't think we actually liike, killed killed them. Just beat down their current manifestation or whatever.

[Soulflame]

What Ingmar said.  I would be very surprised if we puny humans managed to do something the very Lords of Creation could not do themselves.

As an aside, my daughter thinks her werewolf with a top hat is THE BEST THING EVER.  Aside from the chicken laugh.  She really hopes the chicken laugh is fixed sometime soon.

[SurfD]

They have really set the sta decay rate on a pretty harsh curve here.   Out of curiosity, I checked my stats on my ICC geared boomkin when i dinged from 80 to 81.   I lost 5% hit and approximately 8% crit and 6% haste simply from one level increase  .   No wonder you hear tales of level 85s doing 4k dps in dungeons.

[Kitsune]

The heavy respawns have proven pretty amusing while I was playing my druid with the bleed-heavy damage.  I'd drop my DoTs on a target and immediately turn to start fighting the next, with the first one keeling over dead just in time for me to put the same DoTs on the new guy.  This probably boosted the hell out of my overall DPS, as I usually didn't wait to let DoTs run their course in the past, just burning down an opponent as fast as possible before going to the next.  But now that feral druid mastery is all about boosting bleed power, killing a target with instant damage attacks is less efficient than it used to be.

[Sjofn]

All of which points to good reasons as to why the Titans should simply re-originate Azeroth.  Destroy the planet, kill the Old Gods, then build a new one.  From what Algalon said, the Titans have absolutely zero qualms about doing just that.  I have to wonder what reason there is for them to not do so with Azeroth.

 

'Cause they don't know yet. Algalon was supposed to tell them, but I believe canon says we managed to get him not to by beating him until he loved us. I believe he also said they'll figure it out eventually. I did do some quest, I cannot for the life of me remember where, probably Badlands, where I woke up a little Algalon and it went "zomg" and I sort of think it might've tattled on us. So I'm sure they'll roll up eventually being all, "YOU FUCKERS CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS."

[Merusk]

They have really set the sta decay rate on a pretty harsh curve here.   Out of curiosity, I checked my stats on my ICC geared boomkin when i dinged from 80 to 81.   I lost 5% hit and approximately 8% crit and 6% haste simply from one level increase  .   No wonder you hear tales of level 85s doing 4k dps in dungeons.

Really? I haven't seen that yet but I know I'm ahead of the curve right now.  Lowest DPS I've seen has been from casters, who are all probably well below their hit cap right now, and they're pushing 7k at the low end.  I know when we tried the TB boss last night melee was in the tops with only 4 of us hitting 9k with a few bursts into the 10k range.

[ezrast]

They have really set the sta decay rate on a pretty harsh curve here.   Out of curiosity, I checked my stats on my ICC geared boomkin when i dinged from 80 to 81.   I lost 5% hit and approximately 8% crit and 6% haste simply from one level increase  .   No wonder you hear tales of level 85s doing 4k dps in dungeons.

Yeah, it seems like they just forced 10 levels' worth of progression into 5 levels, and combined with the crazy gear reset (40 ilvl upgrades over ICC epics at level 81? Was that really necessary?) makes the stats really wonky. I don't have hard numbers but I'm pretty sure my healing got quite a bit worse when I dinged 83 because all my spell costs increased drastically, and their effects didn't. Then I got some more 40 ilvl upgrades and it was okay again (they also made Healing Surge and Healing Wave more useful, contrary to my earlier post).

[Merusk]

No, I got that (the dwarf implies he crashed, no shooting down), but there's no reason given for why the Horde and Alliance are going apeshit at each other on their big bad's doorstep. Basically the zone is getting murdered by the twilight cult because.. well because the alliance and horde armies are too busy trying to claim a piece of dirt that isn't even on the way to the twilight, while the dragonmaw and the wildhammer go a-killin.

Essentially the "makes no sense" bit is that the alliance and the horde seem on perfectly good "let's all just not mess with each other" terms up until Twilight Highlands, at which point everyone forgets that there's some GIANT EVIL THING next to them, and just waste all their troops and artillery on the beach.

Ah, see I didn't see a lot of 'live and let live' in the zones... you simply didn't encounter the other side.  In Vash'jir you had a few missions to kill a few horde folks but other than that you didn't see 'em.  In Deepholm the Earthen Ring and the Elementals were in charge and weren't going to abide shit from either side (though the Alliance had blown the Horde airship from the sky. Fuck Yeah.)   Skipped Ud so Twilight made sense to me, given the outright hostility of the rest of the world in the lowbie zones.

I'm with you on the "why the fuck are they going after the Alliance when Cho'Gall is up there" but the Horde are painted as the aggressors there, so you can't blame the Alliance for fighting back.. they need that beach head.  I'm interested in leveling up my Horde so I can see exactly why they're going after the Alliance there.

[Simond]

Because the Alliance declared war on them? 

[Shrike]

They have really set the sta decay rate on a pretty harsh curve here.   Out of curiosity, I checked my stats on my ICC geared boomkin when i dinged from 80 to 81.   I lost 5% hit and approximately 8% crit and 6% haste simply from one level increase  .   No wonder you hear tales of level 85s doing 4k dps in dungeons.

Yeah, the decay is brutal, but that's not exactly news. I just finished up Deepholm and headed to Uldum. I still see people in T10 and it's stupid. The 300+ item level blues blow that stuff away. Heck, the greens are significanly better at that point. But I still see people with ICC stuff. I still have my trinkets, but about everything else is gone and I had good gear. And my damage is simply off the scale at this point--in blues and greens.

Oh, and the il333 claws that JC can make at 83...equivalent to lvl85 blues and they just rock. No reason at all to hang onto stuff past 83, aside from the trinkets, which are traditionally a PitA to replace anyway.

[Minvaren]

I dinged 81 on the prot warrior 40-ish quests into Vash today.  And finally got 2-3 items that were better than what I had (replacing ilvl 220 or less stuff), and blacksmithed myself a shield.

...and noticed my HP had gone up by about 10K.   

[Nightblade]

I dinged 81 on the prot warrior 40-ish quests into Vash today.  And finally got 2-3 items that were better than what I had (replacing ilvl 220 or less stuff), and blacksmithed myself a shield.

...and noticed my HP had gone up by about 10K.   

I remember when getting a 1,000 crit backstab was good, what the hell is this; are they going to have to starting "K" to the end of everything just to save screen room?

[ezrast]

I can see them an expansion or two from now deciding that everybody having multiple millions of HP is silly and revamping everything in a way that fixes the issue for precisely one more expansion. Like replacing stamina on gear with a new stat that reduces all incoming damage by x%, and then realizing that it won't be long before x is greater than 99 for everybody.

[Lantyssa]

Soon they'll be using Disgaea-like numbers.

[Fordel]

Have you set foot on Kalimdor at all yet? The Alliance and Horde are at each other's throats practically in every zone.

Except for Feralas and Thousand needles, where the alliance either ignores or flat out helps the taurens for no reason outside of "we needed more alliance quests in this zone".

[Merusk]

My DK has 101k HP in DPS spec and I've still got a large amount of quest greens.   In tank spec, also in quest greens, has 129k when I runeforge for Stoneskin gargoyle.

[Raguel]

I sat down and figured out how to go through Alliance 1-58 with minimal overlap on 3 characters:

Dwarf/Gnome: Dun Morogh -> Loch Modan -> Wetlands -> Hinterlands -> WPL -> EPL -> Badlands -> Searing Gorge -> Burning Steppes -> Swamp of Sorrows -> Blasted Lands
Human: Elwynn -> Westfall -> Redridge -> Duskwood -> N. Stranglethorn -> Cape of Stranglethorn -> Dustwallow -> Thousand Needles -> Tanaris -> Un'Goro -> Silithus
Nelf/Draenei/Worgen: Teldrassil/Gilneas/Azuremyst -> Darkshore or Bloodmyst -> Ashenvale -> Stonetalon -> Desolace -> Feralas -> Thousand Needles ->  Felwood -> Winterspring

If I've got it right this gets you through 3 characters Old World leveling with only one zone repeat, although I think the Kalimdor character may finish around level 55 instead of 58-59ish. However if you aren't a quick leveler and thus accumulate some rest, have heirlooms, or do a few dungeons that will pretty much do it.

Nod. Doing a few dungeons will actually easily allow you to skip whole ranges of outdoor zones, so you can do them later on.

I don't think I commented on this originally but thanks Ingmar.

I had to make a slight change at the expense of overlap. By the time my ppaladin made it to Tanaris I couldn't stand the lack of challenge (mobs were about 5 levels below me) I decided to check the hero's call board in SW, and ended up in Burning Steppes. For those who care about quest storylines, there's a bit of a reunion from Redridge.

[Sheepherder]

I'm not entirely certain why big numbers frighten people, they're like little numbers, but bigger.

[Sjofn]

Mostly because they become so big they're pointlessly silly. It doesn't wreck my world or anything, but once you start hitting five digits regularly, it just seems out of hand to me.

[koro]

They have really set the sta decay rate on a pretty harsh curve here.   Out of curiosity, I checked my stats on my ICC geared boomkin when i dinged from 80 to 81.   I lost 5% hit and approximately 8% crit and 6% haste simply from one level increase  .   No wonder you hear tales of level 85s doing 4k dps in dungeons.

Yeah, it seems like they just forced 10 levels' worth of progression into 5 levels, and combined with the crazy gear reset (40 ilvl upgrades over ICC epics at level 81? Was that really necessary?) makes the stats really wonky. I don't have hard numbers but I'm pretty sure my healing got quite a bit worse when I dinged 83 because all my spell costs increased drastically, and their effects didn't. Then I got some more 40 ilvl upgrades and it was okay again (they also made Healing Surge and Healing Wave more useful, contrary to my earlier post).

It should be noted that at 85 things become, oddly, much better. Fury Warriors go from needing something like 1700 hit rating to be Rage-started while leveling to needing probably half that or less, among other things.

The sudden jump of 11k health and 15k mana for my Priest from 82-83 was certainly a shock. Though not quite as much as the equally sudden loss of 8% crit.

[Ingmar]

I think Gnomebliteration in Uldum is my new favorite quest ever. 

[Tannhauser]

After the slightly disappointing Vash'jir, I went to Throne of Tides.  Good instance, felt challenging without frustrating.  Last NPC quest guy bugged and I didn't get quest complete however.  Then I went to Deepholm and quickly quested to 83.  Enjoyable zone, especially the Alliance ship.  Found Stonecore but haven't ran it.  But after I dinged I went to Uldum.  Really like its look!  Just started questing there and met my old pal Budd!  I like how everyone says he's an idiot but they go along with his plans which always work. 

[Ginaz]

After the slightly disappointing Vash'jir, I went to Throne of Tides.  Good instance, felt challenging without frustrating.  Last NPC quest guy bugged and I didn't get quest complete however.  Then I went to Deepholm and quickly quested to 83.  Enjoyable zone, especially the Alliance ship.  Found Stonecore but haven't ran it.  But after I dinged I went to Uldum.  Really like its look!  Just started questing there and met my old pal Budd!  I like how everyone says he's an idiot but they go along with his plans which always work. 

The Harrison Jones quest line in Uldum is pretty fun.  Uldum is now officially my favourite zone.  I did find, however, that a lot of quests there have cut scenes.  It did make the story more interesting but I thought they were a bit overdone.  I'm stating up in the Twilight Highlands now.  Haven't done much there yet but I did notice the dwarf areas seems to look like the Shire from the LOTR movies.