Apparently, some of these Allied Races start at level 10. Highmountain Tauren being one of them. So, we’re hitting the ground running and heading straight to Chromie! Chromie, who is apparently a little gnome that messes with all things timey-wimey. I kid, I kid, I know that’s a Bronze Dragon. Right?
On selecting Warlords of Draenor as my Chromie Time vacation, I am pointed toward the Dark Portal, and woo this is a blast from the past. I did take a few minutes to adjust some UI, add some action bars back, and move around some abilities. The Options menu itself was a bit of a shock due to all the different additions. Some of this looks like the simple streamlining, but there are a good deal of Quality of Life options that did not exist previously during my time with the game.
The most controversial, and one I heard about while not even playing the game, was the “Single-Button Assist”. This one button can be added to your action bar, and will cast combat abilities in a rotation based on what it deems highest priority. A significant amount of discourse online has revolved around how this one button rotation has ruined the game, makes things too easy, and so on. While I do see some merit to players being trepidatious, I do think these complaints somewhat overstate the issue. The button does not use defensive abilities, and while it seems to be pretty decent at stringing together a rotation, it does not seem to perfectly account for procs. I have a hard time believing that it is the “perfect” rotation, more so a serviceable option for someone with a disability or who does not want to study Icy Veins. Would I use it for serious endgame raiding? Probably not. Will I use it to see how good it is, and could I see someone just using it to chill and PUG? Sure.
After some tinkering in the menus, it is off to the Blasted Lands and my old friend The Dark Portal. I haven’t been here in years, but the portal itself is a fun reminder of the old days. For some reason, every named character from the history of the game is just chilling here in front of the portal watching mobs pour out endlessly. After speaking with Khadgar, I was given a big warning that this would start a dangerous quest and I would be locked away from some amenities until finishing it. Being a big strong Tauren who don’t need no Auction House, I clicked OK and was off. Through the Dark Portal, and into alternate reality Outlands! I mean, Draenor?
Getting a cutscene from after the graphics update was basically a jump scare. I am so confused as to why the mouths and facial expressions look so wildly exaggerated. It reminds me of a video on YouTube I saw years ago where someone dialed the facial animations in a Resident Evil game up to 500%.
Talk about immersion breaking.
Anyways, after being traumatized by the characters wagging their jowls around to have a chat with me, we assaulted the Dark Portal, and were faced with a familiar assault by demons. This time around there was no red wasteland waiting on the other side, but a lush jungle. We fought our way through, freed Gul’dan for some reason, which I’m sure won’t come back to bite me, and freed an Orc named Drek’thar.
This brings me to what will be a recurring issue throughout this play through and blog. I can remember maps from games I played decades ago. I popped back in to Final Fantasy XI at one point a few years ago and was able to navigate through Yuhtunga and Yhoator Jungle solely from memory. But names of all the random NPCs I’ve bumped into over the years? Not a chance. I get the feeling Drek’thar is a name I should remember, but I have no idea who this is. I honestly only remember Khadgar’s name, not anything in particular he has done.
With that knowledge, moving on, we ran off into the jungle, orcs were leaping around on rooftops, and…holy shit…was that the Kilrogg? Of Eye of Kilrogg fame? Aaand, he’s gone. That was like bumping into Mordenkainen in a D&D game. We killed a few of those Eyes, then ended up in an arena fighting for our lives, and damn it, Khadgar stopped me at 99/100 kills. I really hope that was scripted. I’m watching you Khadgar.
After being so rudely interrupted and teleported away, we end up in what looks like a mine. I killed a few named enemies, freed someone named Yrel, and then we were off again.
We end up at a quarry full of Blackrock Orcs next to a dam, and Khadgar decided to just bust the dam and flood the whole valley. Seemed like bit of overkill, but honestly, fair. Probably got himself a hefty bit of XP for that one. On the other side of the quarry is a small camp with explosives, and an Orc named Ga’nar next to an outhouse chained up and being made to shovel shit. He seems like a cool dude, if a little angry, so I popped over and killed the guy with the key to his chains.
It turns out that we have basically made a large loop, and we all ended up back near the Dark Portal, though this time we are further down the path and next to the massive cannon the Iron Horde was preparing to take through. In a fun little series of quests, we climbed the chains on the back of the cannon to reach the controls, mounted a little side cannon to hold off the incoming foes while our Dwarf friend figured out how to work it, and then BOOM, down goes the Dark Portal.
Khadgar gives us the command to run, and we are gifted with the sight of Grommash Hellscream cresting a hill and informing us there is nowhere to run from his Iron Horde. I really need to look up where I left off at this point, because I remember Garrosh Hellscream, not Grommash. Oh well, we forge on.
The escape through the jungle, fleeing to the ships, and sailing away from the army of the Iron Horde was fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed that opening quest. This level of cinematic quests along with the graphics update really feel like the game took a step forward at this point. While there are some oddities with playing these old expansions through Chromie Time, namely being level 10 and other big names like Khadgar and Thrall acting like we have a long history or that I’m a known hero of Azeroth, overall that was not hard to look past.
Following our harrowing escape on ship, we landed in a snowy zone called Frostfire Ridge. From the map, I assume this either ended up breaking off or incorporated as part of the Blade’s Edge Mountains in The Burning Crusade. As is, I poked around and did a few quests, and was quickly looped into a series of quests to assist Durotan (Isn’t this Thrall’s dad?) and the Frostwolf Clan in liberating Bladespire Citadel from the Ogres that currently rule it. Alongside Thrall and the rest of the group, we fought our way through hordes of Ogres, all the way to the top of the Citadel and kill the head Ogre, freeing the Bladespire Citadel for the Frostwolves.
Finishing all of this, Durotan grants us a small plot of land in Frostfire, and I got access to what has to be the coolest thing in this expansion:
The Garrison
As someone who loved the farm in Pandaria, this feels like a nice extension of that mechanic, allowing you to recruit followers, place certain buildings as you desire, and basically have your own home away from home instead of standing around in town between quests. While I’m sure this may have eventually grown old for some players, or for all I know it reaches the point of being extremely grindy, but for now me likey.
For now, this seems like a solid place to wrap up. I apologize again for most likely absolutely butchering the lore, but should someone wish to correct me feel free to comment!
Next time: From Refugee to Landlord (Building My WoW Garrison in Frostfire Ridge)
Previous Entry: Who Am I?! (Starting Fresh with a New WoW Character)
Grizzlebeard Plays 