The Rainbow Gnome

Well, it’s been a hot minute since I last posted… anything. (LOL!) I have to honestly say it’s been a combination of life and just distractions with other things, but today I bring the magic back! *throws pixie dust everywhere! Wiiiiii!* (LOL) Anywho, today I wanted to give my ‘first impressions’ of what I thought of the expansion, as well as a look into the possible future.

The ‘Rush’ Is Gone
Before the expansion, I wanted to be in-game every single night. There was so much to do, to ‘prepare’ for Wrath. I was doing dailies, wrapping-up quests and the like. Now though, the rush is gone. I just don’t feel the need to try to push to level, quest, or really do much of anything. (Compared to many of my fellow guildies, who are trying ever so hard to get to 80 ASAP!) Hell, there are even times when I’ve taken the night off from gaming, and I’ve been quite fine with that.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. When I am in-game, I’ve enjoyed taking things at my own pace, or just puttzing around, exploring a new world.

It’s PRETTY!
Without a doubt, Blizzard has done a fantastic job with the zones! I chose to start off in Howling Fjord. Not only do you get thrown into the action as soon as you land, but the scenery is quite breathtaking. It once again goes to show that Blizzard really does take the time to make a zone feel ‘alive’ to the players. When you add the music and the themes, Howling Fjord certainly has a ‘Braveheart’ feel to it.

The Quests Are OK
Nothing incredibly new here. Blizzard did implement some early daily quests to help with faction rep, including bombing quests. I still love the fact that most of the quests are ’story’ quests, in that as you move from area to area, you’re learning about what’s going on and where you’re headed. Nothing ’spectacular,’ but it adds-into the overall coolness of the game.

The Gear Is Disappointing
I’m either not understanding the direction Blizzard is taking gear, or I’ve just not been lucky. It seems like an over-whelming portion of gear that either drops from quest rewards or that I find around the world is VERY much leaning towards spell power. Of course, if I was on my mage I’d be loving it! Though, I’m on my stabby-shammy, so I’m not seeing the mail attack power.

Though, the instance gear is of course there, but it’s heavily spread-out. Going further, there’s a lot of gear for me once I get into heroics, but that’s not until level 80.

It’s Not Too Difficult
I’ve seen complaints that much of the content thus-far isn’t very challenging. For me, I’ve been able to solo all but one quest so far. (And that one probably is a 3-4 man group quest.) I’m not really sure what to say to that. For me, I really can’t imagine anyone really complaining that you don’t need a 25-man group just to complete a quest, or need epic gear for that matter. I’ve found no problem with the quests myself, and find them to be quite engaging. Even the instances, while not push-overs in my book, have been interesting and challenging to learn.

The Death Knight
I haven’t started one yet, and I’m not sure if I will or not. Other guildies have just raved about how great it is though, so it’s certainly tempting to start one. (Maybe after I get both of my mains to 80?)

Performance
I have to admit that performance can get ‘iffy.’ Bearing in mind that I run my game on a very high resolution on a 22” wide screen monitor with an older graphics card, there are still times when I get to one of those ’sceneic’ points where my frames per second drop to 10-. I think it’s just time that I get a new computer with a little more oomph though, as others have said that they haven’t had any problems.

Overall
I’m having a blast! I’m taking my time, not rushing, and still enjoying myself. I’d even go so far as to say that Wrath is, so-far, much better as an expansion than TBC was. (Blizzard obviously learned a thing or two!) There’s a lot of content to do, and so much so that, like TBC, you’ll probably never complete most of it before you hit level 80. If you haven’t gotten it yet, go out and buy it and at least give it a try!

Looking To The Future
Should I even guess when I’ll hit 80? Sure, why the hell not?! (LOL!) I’ll say I’ll hit 80 by the end of December with at least one of my characters. Outside of that, I’m really looking forward to our guild getting prepped for raiding, and being at least a semi-serious challenge to Heaven & Earth now that we’re about the same size. Who knows though? There are so many possibilities, I’m going to enjoy playing the game no matter what I do!