This is part 3 of my new journey into the world of Warcraft. If you are new, then check-out:
I’ve made rather substantial gains in my current journey. I managed to level my Warrior to 60, gaining the ability to finally fly with my mount. But, I then decided to start with a new character, the much feared and popular Death Knight. But, before I go into too many details here’s what I learnt after my 4th week into World of Warcraft. My World of Warcraft Journey Begins Part 3:
1. Lessons learnt so far
1. Once you hit level 20 you can start to use a mount. I used my Hearthstone steed. If you also play Blizzards HearthStone you get a mount for free. This is a significant give-away seeing as mounts cost lots of gold. If you are early in the game then even 1 gold is a lot.
2. Once you hit level 60 you can go for flight training and start flying across Azeroth. This is if you have a mount that can fly. If you got the free Hearthsteed like I did then you are all set. Take note that you have to pay for flight training for every character. I was dumb enough to spend all my gold on flight training for my warrior, only to decided to leave the warrior and start with a Death Knight. Now I am a level 61 Death Knight with not enough gold to go for flight training.
3. I chose my professions way too late. You can choose 2 professions for your character. These vary from mining, to blacksmithing, to herbing. I only chose my profession at level 30. This meant that where I was in the game I was unable to mine any gold because I still need to train my mining skills to mine copper. This means as a level 30 character you have to browse level 10 areas for copper. It is a bit of a tedious task, but next time make sure you choose your profession right at the beginning of creating your new character.
2. Plot awareness issue
I picked up a big issue here. As I was progressing through vanilla WoW, I constantly had these moments where I had no idea what I was doing. I was never sure what the bigger story as, the plot or the main boss to defeat. I guess this comes from my Diablo 3 experience, but I definitely picked up a lack from Blizzard’s part to explain the plot to new players starting at vanilla WoW. Here’s an example: I am now level 61 Death Knight, and as I went through the Dark Portal I still had no idea what actually happened? What is the story? Why is the portal there? Who opened it? What is my bigger quest? I realized that I am already at the Burning Crusade expansion. Yet there was no video, monologue or indication as to what actually happened? I was lost…
Luckily, as I mentioned in Part 1 and Part 2. I read-up a lot on the lore, and follow a few cool people who explains the lore around each expansion. Yet, there are still moments where I felt Blizzard is doing a pretty bad job of keeping me interested in the game. Am I doomed to run from one quest giver to the next until I hit level 90?
Here’s another example. I am now at the Burning Crusade Expansion. Let’s forget for a moment that I have no idea what that actually means, and although I have done 20 quests on Outland already I still have no idea what the bigger plot line is, lets look back. Being in Burning Crusade, means I am done with all the previous expansions and patches. This means I should have dealt with all of the following enemies/bosses and story lines:
- Assault on Blackwing Lair – The Black Dragon Nefarian
- Rise of the Blood God – Blood God Hakkar the Soulflayer and the invasion of Zul’Gurub
- The Gates of Ahn’Qiraj – The Old God C’Thun
- Shadow of the Necropolis – Kel’Thuzad
The sad thing is I can hardly remember one of them? did I even fight them? Did I go through the entire vanilla WoW and not face one of them? Are these enemies only seen in raids? Now, I understand that some bosses and main enemies can only be killed while in a guild, or part of a raid. I have yet to do this. I’ve done a few dungeons, but that’s about it.
I love the lore part of the entire Warcraft universe, and this is why I am so addicted. And to go through an entire game plus several patches without facing any of the main enemies and lore characters is very…very frustrating.
Anyway. Enough bitching.
3. My new Character
I decided to create a new character, a level 55 Death Knight (DK). The DK is pretty awesome, and his story is pretty cool as well. After you manage to break free from the Lich King you are free to continue your journey across Azeroth. The warrior felt a bit boring quite frankly. I have more options and scalability with the DK:
This is where I am at the moment. I am still loving the game, absolutely addicted and still aiming to get through all the expansions before Warlords of Draenor drops.
Stay tuned for part 4. Follow my entire journey here.
