World of Warcraft Cataclysm became live a week ago with at least 100 bored players (probably more) sitting on top of the Flying Trainers in Orgrimmar and Stormwind, just to discover you must relog upon release to buy your Azeroth Flying. I chose to buy mine in Borean Tundra to avoid the crowd until questing in Hyjal. Unfortunately, I was one of the many stuck at connecting for a good half hour after launch. When I finally got in, I wanna to kill a boomkin who kept tapping my mobs in Hyjal. Grrr.
As I continued further through the content, I left the crowd in Hyjal behind and stepped into Deepholm. It was still a bit crowded, but everyone seemed to be stuck on the clues quest because as soon as I finished that, nobody was around. It was just me and my leveling partner. It was great content though, even with the wiping and being overrun by mobs. I was surely enjoying myself until it was announced.
"Realm first 85. Realm first 85 mage."
Here I was, 80% through level 83, not even a level and a half to go. I typed out "/who 84 paladin" and there was two. My leveling partner, Enou, told me not to freak on vent. He was sure they were barely 84. So I continued with questing trying not to think about it.
As we entered Uldum, it was announced "Realm first 85 paladin." My heart just sunk into my chest. I queued up on vent "Well, it's 7pm and I missed server first, let's call it until tomorrow." We both relaxed on our leveling and hit 85 on Thursday.
Now it was time to explore the heroic content, or so I thought. I got my average item level to 329 and queued up for my first heroic. It was not a pretty sight.
Heroic attempt one. Grim Batol. I had not been here on normal, but we went through the trash nicely. The rogue explained the boss fight and we were all ready. Wipe, the healer didn't move for blitz. Wipe, the healer didn't move from blitz. Wipe, the shaman dps didn't move from blitz and then the healer didn't move from blitz. Disband.
Heroic attempt two. Halls of the Origination. First trash pull, the druid dps is marking the mobs. "Okay, repent the triangle." We didn't have a retribution paladin, but I didn't assume he was talking to me, a protection paladin. Wipe. The druid dps, "don't you have repent?" My response "Who?" Disband. Apparently, I'm supposed to go 21 points into retribution, which is impossible as a protection paladin.
Heroic attempt three. Halls of the Origination. Disconnect on loading screen, relog to hearth on cooldown and in Stormwind.
So at this point, I just said whatever and figured I would try again on Friday.
Heroic attempt four. The Stonecore. I join a group halfway done with the instance. They had lost 5 tanks and a healer thus far or was it 5 healers and a tank, I don't remember exactly. Ozruk, the tank and spank on normal boss. I thought to myself, "this is going to be easy", but I was wrong. I told the group this is my first heroic attempt and they explained the differences in detail. Okay, I got this, right? Nope. It took 9 wipes and one close call to get him down. I was afraid of the final boss now. She was such a pain on normal that I had never one shot her before. We go in and it was easy as pie. I was disappointed of course, but got a nice sword from all of the hard work on Ozruk.
I have since not been to another heroic. I am sick right now and fear that with the movement required for normal and that one heroic I did do, I am unable to keep up with that much on my laptop. Keyboard turning is not an option.
Let's move to my opinion of Cataclysm thus far. Kudos to Blizzard. Normal 5 mans, with the exception of Halls of the Origination trash, are a lot easier than I expected. I understand, it's a leveling thing. Keep it that way Blizzard. Heroic 5 mans, from my short experience and from watching my husband heal them, they are great. It doesn't separate the casuals from the hardcores. It separates those with a brain from the clueless. Keep it up. Questing is just awesome this expansion. It's entertaining enough that I don't dread getting my other 80s to 85 or my lower guys up at all.
I would give my entire experience a 9 out of 10 ... some bugs should be fixed, but all in all, it was great.
For those wondering about my leveling video, I ran out of hard drive space as I had feared. I am working on getting the content I did record edited into a small highlights video. When I get my new 1.5TB hard drive, I'll be able to record more videos with less issues.
That's me for this week, I'll have more for you next time!
As I continued further through the content, I left the crowd in Hyjal behind and stepped into Deepholm. It was still a bit crowded, but everyone seemed to be stuck on the clues quest because as soon as I finished that, nobody was around. It was just me and my leveling partner. It was great content though, even with the wiping and being overrun by mobs. I was surely enjoying myself until it was announced.
"Realm first 85. Realm first 85 mage."
Here I was, 80% through level 83, not even a level and a half to go. I typed out "/who 84 paladin" and there was two. My leveling partner, Enou, told me not to freak on vent. He was sure they were barely 84. So I continued with questing trying not to think about it.
As we entered Uldum, it was announced "Realm first 85 paladin." My heart just sunk into my chest. I queued up on vent "Well, it's 7pm and I missed server first, let's call it until tomorrow." We both relaxed on our leveling and hit 85 on Thursday.
Now it was time to explore the heroic content, or so I thought. I got my average item level to 329 and queued up for my first heroic. It was not a pretty sight.
Heroic attempt one. Grim Batol. I had not been here on normal, but we went through the trash nicely. The rogue explained the boss fight and we were all ready. Wipe, the healer didn't move for blitz. Wipe, the healer didn't move from blitz. Wipe, the shaman dps didn't move from blitz and then the healer didn't move from blitz. Disband.
Heroic attempt two. Halls of the Origination. First trash pull, the druid dps is marking the mobs. "Okay, repent the triangle." We didn't have a retribution paladin, but I didn't assume he was talking to me, a protection paladin. Wipe. The druid dps, "don't you have repent?" My response "Who?" Disband. Apparently, I'm supposed to go 21 points into retribution, which is impossible as a protection paladin.
Heroic attempt three. Halls of the Origination. Disconnect on loading screen, relog to hearth on cooldown and in Stormwind.
So at this point, I just said whatever and figured I would try again on Friday.
Heroic attempt four. The Stonecore. I join a group halfway done with the instance. They had lost 5 tanks and a healer thus far or was it 5 healers and a tank, I don't remember exactly. Ozruk, the tank and spank on normal boss. I thought to myself, "this is going to be easy", but I was wrong. I told the group this is my first heroic attempt and they explained the differences in detail. Okay, I got this, right? Nope. It took 9 wipes and one close call to get him down. I was afraid of the final boss now. She was such a pain on normal that I had never one shot her before. We go in and it was easy as pie. I was disappointed of course, but got a nice sword from all of the hard work on Ozruk.
I have since not been to another heroic. I am sick right now and fear that with the movement required for normal and that one heroic I did do, I am unable to keep up with that much on my laptop. Keyboard turning is not an option.
Let's move to my opinion of Cataclysm thus far. Kudos to Blizzard. Normal 5 mans, with the exception of Halls of the Origination trash, are a lot easier than I expected. I understand, it's a leveling thing. Keep it that way Blizzard. Heroic 5 mans, from my short experience and from watching my husband heal them, they are great. It doesn't separate the casuals from the hardcores. It separates those with a brain from the clueless. Keep it up. Questing is just awesome this expansion. It's entertaining enough that I don't dread getting my other 80s to 85 or my lower guys up at all.
I would give my entire experience a 9 out of 10 ... some bugs should be fixed, but all in all, it was great.
For those wondering about my leveling video, I ran out of hard drive space as I had feared. I am working on getting the content I did record edited into a small highlights video. When I get my new 1.5TB hard drive, I'll be able to record more videos with less issues.
That's me for this week, I'll have more for you next time!
Just a thought or two,
- Keona
