{"id":8824,"date":"2010-08-02T08:04:50","date_gmt":"2010-08-02T13:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=8824"},"modified":"2010-08-23T06:00:42","modified_gmt":"2010-08-23T11:00:42","slug":"postcards-from-wow-week-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=8824","title":{"rendered":"Postcards from WoW, Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

wow_desolace.jpg<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

My main character is currently in her mid-40’s. I’ve surpassed the point where I gave up on the game two years ago, and I’m still having fun this time around. <\/p>\n

You get a “fast mount” at level 40, and as soon as I got that I decided it was time to start filling in the world map. Those large blank expanses have taunted me for far too long, and I intend to see it all. <\/p>\n

So I start my explorations in the low-level Horde side areas where the Undead characters begin the game. <\/p>\n

wow_tirisfal_glades.jpg<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

It’s really funny visiting the Human towns in this part of the world. The towns don’t actually have any services for Alliance-side characters like me. No shops. No trainers. No travel points. Just crowds of friendly humans who say, “Greetings!” when I click on them.<\/p>\n

Of course, these towns aren’t here for my benefit. They’re here for the undead. To a Horde-side character these people are just mobs to fight. There are probably a few named humans in here as well. No doubt Undead characters come in here with quests like, “Kill 10 town guards and 10 Town Scouts” or “Eliminate Mayor McMustache”. The funny part is that because these towns are so large and populous, they actually seem healthier and more vibrant than the real Alliance towns in other parts of the world. <\/p>\n

Consider Darkshire, where I leveled from 25 to 30:<\/p>\n

wow_darkshire.jpg<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

The town has about a dozen beleaguered, terrified peasants in a couple of houses handing out “save our poor town” quests, while the human town in the Undead area (is it Ambermill? I forget.) has over a hundred Human soldiers and Gnome mages guarding their sprawling, lively city of heavily armed killers. <\/p>\n

Anyway. Exploring. <\/p>\n

Each racial starting area has a very deliberate construction. Here is the one for the Dwarves:<\/p>\n

wow_ironforge.jpg<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

All starting areas will have the initial newbie zone (lower left) which is a carefully walled off area for characters 1-5. In this area monsters will never attack you unprovoked. The area will be small to keep things focused and straightforward, and you’ll probably never have more than two or three quests going at once. The quest rewards should give you several key bits of armor and one new weapon before you leave. You’ll probably spend under an hour in this part of the game. <\/p>\n

The wall around the newbie zone serves two purposes: First, it keeps you from accidentally wandering into other areas and getting lost or killed before you understand the game. More importantly, it makes it difficult for members of the enemy faction to get in. There are always a few elite high-level guards watching the entrance to the newbie area. A level 80 character (particularly a wizard) could make life really difficult for a new character and Blizzard wanted to give newcomers an extra level of griefing protection. (It still happens now and again, but it’s brief and a lot less fun for the griefers now that the low-level game is so sparsely populated. You’ll need a team to get past the door guards, and if you and a few other level 80 characters form a team there are probably more interesting ways to spend your time than fighting waves of respawning elite guards so you can slightly annoy a single level 3 player.)<\/p>\n

Outside of the newbie area is a larger area where you’ll do levels 6-10. Then a quest giver will aim you at the big city for your race. <\/p>\n

Exploring a place like this is problematic for members of the opposite faction because of the guards around the newbie zone and the big city. But I’m not going to let that stop me. <\/p>\n

First I visit The Undercity, the Undead city. This is easier than I expected. Because the city is reached via an underground tunnel, it’s possible to just stick my head in the door and get credit for visiting without getting near any of the guards inside. Doing so flags me for PvP (making me open to attacks from opposing factions players) so if any high level Horde players come along I might have a problem. <\/p>\n

I dash off and explore some of the wilderness areas of the map while I wait for the PvP flag to expire, and I manage to fill in the entire rest of the map except for the walled-off newbie playpen of Deathknell. <\/p>\n

wow_deathknell.jpg<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

This is the only entrance to Deathknell. I need to get in here. You don’t get credit for exploring a zone until you’ve visited all of the regions inside. There’s an achievement for doing so, but I’m not so much interested in the achievement as simply filling in the map and knowing that I’ve been everywhere. My inner explorer demands<\/em> that I get in here.<\/p>\n

I inch up towards the door on my mount, trying to get a feel for how long the dash might take. I just need to get my head in the door and stay alive for one or two seconds, which is all it will take for me to get credit for visiting. Suddenly one of the guards starts running.<\/p>\n

GAH! <\/p>\n

He’s FAST. 28 Days Later<\/em> fast. Much faster than any player on foot. He’s halfway down the hill before I even get my brain in gear and start running. I whip my mount around and try to push the W key right through the keyboard and into the desk. He manages to smack me once before I pull away. <\/p>\n

He is not the forgiving type. He chases me for a good while before giving up and returning to his post. Whew. If I’d been on foot or on a slow mount, I’d never have escaped.<\/p>\n

Well, that was educational. His one hit took about 70% of my health, so any plan that requires me to take two hits is not going to work. This is a problem, seeing as how there are two guards and they have an aggressively broad detection range. <\/p>\n

But! I have an ace in the hole. A special artifact I’ve been saving for just such an occasion. A quest reward a few levels back earned me a potion which grants 8 seconds of invulnerability. Now, this sounds like a slam-dunk, but I’m not sure it will be enough. Given the extreme speed of the guards and our immense level disparity, simply being immune to damage might not be enough. Foes many levels above you will often stun you, which knocks you off your mount and will slow your walking speed to a crawl. I can imagine a scenario where they would reach me before I got anywhere near the door and stun me until the mojo wore off. It’s entirely possible I might not even make it halfway up the hill.<\/p>\n

Still, it’s either this or go level up for two more months. <\/p>\n

Deep breath. Let’s do this.<\/em><\/p>\n

I use all the buffs I have. (Which as a hunter isn’t all that much.) I eat some food which gives me a mild stat boost. This is like putting on an extra-thick sweater because you’re worried about getting shotgunned in the chest. It’s a meaningless gesture, but the buff icons in the upper right corner give me a little foolish confidence. <\/p>\n

I edge up the hill as far as I dare and get on my mount. I think it’s a five second dash to the door, which gives me three extra seconds. Oh. But I’ll have to survive for one or two more seconds to get credit. Okay. So this is going to be close. I click on the potion.<\/p>\n

My mount vanishes.<\/p>\n

WHAT!?!?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did it just vanish because I dank a potion, or does the potion prohibit being mounted?! Quick! Is it faster to re-mount or to just run? Crap! I only get one shot at this! Arg! I don’t know! <\/p>\n

I run. The guards see me coming and converge on me. The blows come. The invulnerability buff ticks down.<\/p>\n

wow_deathknell2.jpg<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

The guards are actually back at their posts before my death animation ends and I go face down.<\/p>\n

wow_deathknell3.jpg<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

Okay. One starting area done. <\/p>\n

Now I just need to do the Tauren, Orc, and Blood Elf areas. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My main character is currently in her mid-40’s. I’ve surpassed the point where I gave up on the game two years ago, and I’m still having fun this time around. You get a “fast mount” at level 40, and as soon as I got that I decided it was time to start filling in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pictures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}