Thursday, December 9, 2010

Ding! 81



Welp, even a part-timer levels up pretty quickly in Cat. I'm on 81, though I saw worgen druids at 81 before I dinged, which is just painful to think about. I've been running with Jal off and on since, what, March 2005? Sheesh. And somebody else had caught up with all I've done in about 32 hours. It's painful seeing how quickly your virtual work is made obsolete.

So far, the game is fine, but painfully more of the same as before. Kill X of Y then report back to (x,y). Read backstory if you really want, wash, rinse, repeat. Five years in, Blizzard could be figuring out better ways to tell stories. The full motion video (though rendered in-game) continues to be used a bit (see below), but overall the game mechanics simply haven't changed enough.



Now just as BC wowed me with its scenery, both Hyjal and Vashj'ir are visually impressive. I was planning on upgrading my PC's hardware to get a decent GTA IV experience already and look forward to seeing the improvement for WoW. I'm saving Vashj'ir until I have better gear before playing much more. That said, all the crabs sitting around have gotten me about 50 points of skinning in no time flat.

The new level feedback is both neat and n00bish.



Yes, I realize I have a new talent point. Yes, I know I should check a trainer for new skills. Got it. Still, it's an extra layer of professionalism that makes the game feel a little more polished, even if Cindermaul requires a logout, cache deletion, and restart to clear and going back to grab Finkle's Skinner causes a hard lock.

Sheesh, okay! I've still got 400 in front of me in Proudmoore. Sign off already! Good thing half the server lives in Aussieland -- or is it morning there already?

2 comments:

Thorn said...

Those worgen druids. They're most likely race changes not brand new toons. We've had a influx of 'new' worgen in our guild from race changes so don't fret about it

Thorn

ruffin said...

Ah, thanks. I wondered. I knew you could change race (and faction), but hadn't put two and two together. I guess I let all the "Realm First" 85s within a few hours make me think that things had gotten much too easy.

That makes me feel better. Though it's old news that the leveling process had been made much easier, I haven't leveled anyone but Jal and hoped that 36 hours of gaming, even with Refer-a-Friend, couldn't land you at 81. Glad to hear that 36 hours of straight gaming isn't quite the equivalent of on again, off again plodding over five and a half years!