Hey Lore Hounds!
You see, I’m melancholic person, so now that Wrath of the Lich King is coming to an end, I’m looking back and trying to remember all the things that I’ve gone through these 2 years. If I recall correctly, I started playing World of Warcraft about 2 months after WotLK was released. I haven’t had any breaks since then, so we could say that I have seen pretty much everything this expansion had to offer.
There’s one question I’ve been asking myself for a while now. Did I enjoy this expansion? For the most part, I did. There were a few things I did not like at all, though.
At first, I wanted to write one article per major patch, but then I realized that Cataclysm is only 15 days away from our beloved characters, and, by that time, I’ll have a lot of new things to cover — so I decided to combine them all in one uber article.
Please note that I don’t PvP as much as others, so I’m no expert in that scenario. PvE is my main focus, so this article will focus on that.
Patch 3.0.3.a:
Good:
- Level cap raised to 80: I didn’t experience it, but a few friends told me that the simple fact of earning XP once again was extremely amazing.
- 10m/25m separate lockouts: I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t have raided much if 25m had been the only available mode.
- Naxxramas is back!: Not many were the ones who managed to experience the 40m version of Naxxramas, so Blizzard decided to revamp it and introduce it as Wrath’s first raid. Amazing background and storyline.
Bad:
- Not so heroic Heroics: The 5-man heroics were way too easy. It looked like the only thing Blizzard did was raise the bosses Hit Points. The fights were exactly the same as regular mode, just longer. Not cool.
New:
- Hero Class – Death Knight: A brand new class was introduced with WotLK, the Death Knight. Using new resources such as Runes and Runic Power, the DKs climbed their way to become one of the most popular classes in the World… of Warcraft.
- Inscription: This primary profession allowed you to create glyphs, which quickly became something mandatory to be able to maximize your DPS/Healing/Survivability.
- Barber Shop: Weee!
Patch 3.1.0:
Good:
- The introduction of Ulduar: One of my favorite raids so far. Not only were the bosses fun, but also the architecture of that place was simply beautiful. Plus, fighting against Flame Leviathan for the first time? Priceless!
- Hard Modes are Hard: It looks like Blizzard realized how awful the 5-man heroics were, so they decided not only to boost the bosses’ HP, but they also added lots of new mechanics that made the HM fights really entertaining.
Bad:
- Dude, where’s my car Storyline?: Weren’t we fighting against The Lich King? I really liked the raid, but, in my opinion, it had little to do with “The Wrath of the Lich King.” Still, I could live with it.
New:
- Dual Talent Specialization: Remember the times when you had to go back to your class trainer just so you could re-spec for a boss fight? Me neither.
- Bosses available only on Hard Mode: Algalon the Observer, also known as The Raid Destroyer, was the first boss ever available only on Hard Mode. What else can we say about Algalon? Oh yeah, he feeds on your tears! Om nom nom!
Patch 3.2.0:
Good:
- Crusaders’ Coliseum: One Raid. Five bosses. Zero trash. As someone who had limited raiding time, I approved this raid. The bosses were quite entertaining — I really liked the Faction Champions. Now, the 5m instance was pretty challenging too, definitely harder than the other 5-Man dungeons.
- Isle of Conquest: I know, I said I was only going to talk about PvE, but this BG is fun! IoC and AB are the only BGs I actually enjoy, and that means a lot.
Bad:
- Way too many Lockouts: A friend of mine is a hardcore raider. He and his guild raided ToGC10, ToC25 and ToGC25 during the week. Oh god, I can only imagine how painful that was. Ouch.
- Horses, so many horses: All the “Mount a horse, grab a lance and defeat your enemies without using your actual class skills” became really repetitive. It was fun, for a week.
New:
- Instance Lock Extension: Not enough time during your week to finish an entire raid? Not a problem! This is such an amazing feature! Probably my favorite addition from Patch 3.2.0.
- Mount level lowered: Regular Mount at level 20? Epic Mount at level 40? Yes, please!
Patch 3.3.0:
Good:
- Icecrown Citadel: ICC is probably the raid that has generated the most expectation in the entire history of the World of Warcraft. After all, the final boss is the one and only Arthas Menethil . With 12 bosses and a lot of lore, ICC could be considered as the culmination of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, which is the game where a good part of the current WoW players, including myself, come from.
- The Frozen Halls: Yes, The Frozen Halls are technically included with ICC, but these dungeons are awesome. Linked by one epic questline, these 3 dungeons made you feel like you were actually involved in the story.
- Skipping CoS Roleplay: I know right?
Bad:
- Strength of Wrynn/Hellscream’s Warsong: You see, I have a Love/Hate relationship with this buff. I talk trash about it and it talks trash about me, but every time we see each other, we fall in love once again until the raid is over. I got my Kingslayer title with this buff, but whenever I go to Dalaran and see a considerable number of 80s with the title, my heart breaks a bit. It feels like the buff has cheated on me… with SO many people!
New:
- Cross-Realm Dungeon Finder: PuGs used to be quite common, but after patch 3.3.0, they technically became the rule. Instant queue for the win! While I love the Dungeon Finder and it has helped me a lot on my characters’ leveling process, I won’t use it that much during Cataclysm. Why is that? Well, Heroic 5m dungeons are hard once again, so I’d rather run them with my awesome guildies (No, not you).
- Quest Tracking Features: I never liked QuestHelper; there were a few times when it went crazy and I ended up running the complete opposite direction than where I was supposed to go. I prefer Blizzard’s feature — it’s maybe not as complex as QH, but it gets the job done.
- Tutorial System: Okay, I don’t really USE the Tutorial System, but I’ve heard it’s way better than what it used to be.
I will miss Wrath of the Lich King, but at the same time I’m really looking forward to hitting level 85 and starting to raid once again!
What about you? What did you like/hate about this expansion? What will you miss the most?
The microphone is all yours.
My biggest annoyance was the heroics. I came in during BC and heard a lot of the chat about CC and such so I practiced it during my leveling. I didn’t get to 70 before Wrath so I only have wrath dungeons under my belt at the appropriate level cap and those were a joke. I understood the fact they wanted to gear a lot of people quickly but that was no way to do it. Other then that I enjoyed most everything…I never want to see another undead or abomination or the like ever again….EHVUHER!
Wrath had a Hell of alot. Sure people can talk trash all they want, but this one expac has virtually changed game play for the better sine the start.
1. Dual spec’s and Dungeon finder are 2 features on there Own that have given so much to the game, it makes you wish they were there from Day 1.
2. When you think about Heroics, back in BC they were hell of annoying. You always needed a Mage/Rogue/Hunter combo (sometimes warlock) atleast 2 at a time or you were F’d. No choice in variety. Once you got them, you drudged for hours on end hoping the CC doesn’t break and murder you hopelessly.
Wrath brought a more open end aspect to heroics altogether. They gave variety of grouping and more chance to actually Be in them multiple times rather than once a day. Sure they don’t look As threatening now because of the gear, but back in the starter day’s of the xpac, they were actually quite challenging. Heroic HOL, AN, Old Kingdom. All Insane.
3. Wrath is the first expansion where I’ve had an end game experience. When I killed LK on 25 man, I sat back and watched the credit’s roll. What an experience.
Pardon me when I say but who Care’s if everyone’s as good as you anyway? Fact is a buff doesn’t count for Experience. If you screw up once your Dead and no one Win’s. The true mark of having fun as a raider is getting the Experience, not the accolades.
If you’ve has fun, blizzard’s done there job right.
Anyway, through all the good and bad that’s come out of this xpac, it’s been one hell of a trip.
Time to remove the cartridge and press start again.
The Phoenix Xpac Has Arrived.
I was considering doing a post similar to this, but never got around to it. Kudos for picking up the ball!
The biggest let-down I had throughout Wrath was the lost potential Blizzard had with the content. In their defense, they planned for oh-so-much, and had precious development time — but jeez. I wanted to see that troll raid in Zul’Drak. That would’ve made more sense than Ulduar because Arthas had corrupted Drakuru and helped him try and take over the zone.
and the worst offense: The wrap-up of Arthas’ storyline. Again, in their defense they only have so much development time — and no one wants to sit and watch a 5 – 10 minute cut-scene — but I really think they just abruptly ended it giving him his ‘end’. Wish there was a bit more, but guess we won’t see anything.
……..
Hmm……
Maybe I should finally go and finish that Deathwing Fight post I promised I’d be doing back when I started at LoreHound…
@Nextgener: “Pardon me when I say but who Care’s if everyone’s as good as you anyway? Fact is a buff doesn’t count for Experience. If you screw up once your Dead and no one Win’s. The true mark of having fun as a raider is getting the Experience, not the accolades.”
As I said, I got my title with Strength of Wrynn. Would I have got it if I hadn’t used it? I’m not sure, but the simple fact of fighting against Arthas would’ve been enough for me.
Strength of Wrynn was not an instant victory for your raid group, you obviously need to know the mechanics and your class to be able to defeat the LK. However, SoW did help you a LOT more than it should have IMO. You could basically kill those Valkyrs in less than 10 secs, you could keep attacking the LK for a few seconds before switching targets. 30% was a bit too much, 10% would’ve been fine.
Also, The Kingslayer is supposed to be a hard to obtain title. When I go to Dalaran and see lots of people using it, it makes me feel a little sad. I have KS on 3 characters, I’m not using it though. It’s not special anymore.
Well, that’s my opinion anyway. I guess we all can have different points of view, huh ;) ?
Cheers.
“Bane of the fallen king” and “Light of Dawn” are special title’s. And Kingslayer is right below that. You only don’t see it as special because it was something you Obtained. Fact is when people obtain something, they lose sight of it’s value. (think back to everything you’ve earned in game and how you felt before and you’ll know it’s true)
Even if the buff’s didn’t exists, all they do is serve as Gear. What you and everyone else obtained now, would have been obtained in a month or so without it.
hell i still Rock my “Nightfall” title, its my fav. im working on the Kingslayer one right now. my guild finally got to the point where we had enough folks geared to attempt ICC
I see where Kershocker is coming from. Sure, the buff helped him obtain something he might not otherwise have obtained, but it almost feels like Blizzard gave us TOO much help in that regard (let me know if I’m wrong Ker). It’d be sort of like, I don’t know, maybe starting Cataclysm with a full set of straight to heroic gear waiting in your mailbox all nice and shiney and ready for L85 the day Cata launches. Sure, it’d HELP, but who wants THAT much help?
As for things that lose value (in this case titles), I’ll ALWAYS roll the Loremaster title. It’s not something you see everyday, truly takes some dedication to earn and it’s a long road towards a title. But I have to ask myself in the context of Ker’s post: What if Blizzard had just granted me those last few ‘Loremaster of Kalimdor’ quests instead of sending me all over Hell and half of Azeroth myself to find them? Or maybe, they just threw me a bone when I was scouring Netherwhatchamajigger in Outlands for quests? It’s kind of like being handed a ‘Participation Trophy’. You didn’t quite win, ‘But hey, you DID show up’. It just doesn’t have the same feeling. And I know many others who feel the 30% buff was nothing more than a participation trophy kind of thing.
Either way, gratz on the Kingslayer Kersh. Just because others have it doesn’t diminish YOUR personal achievement in obtaining it!
@Nextgener: Something doesn’t lose value simply because of devaluation once you obtain it. The concept that it’s only worthwhile when you don’t have it doesn’t hold water. Ask yourself this if you think I’m wrong: IRL, when you make a permanant commitment to your spouse/significant other/life partner, does that automatically begin to devalue the relationship? Best advice I can give you Kersh, is to hold on to your Kingslayer. When scrubs move on to the next big thing, you can proudly display yours and fondly tell the noobs of your days in ICC.
Yep, exactly what I meant Highwayman.
Actually, I think I displayed my KS title like one or two days, The Undying is better ;)
Ambassador IMO.
I still think KS is something to be proud of, even if it is so common. The buff opened the end boss up to tons of folks, but I have never been in a pug that has downed Sindy, let alone LK. You still need to know what you are doing, so I don’t feel cheated. That first down was an awesome feeling for most (even though you ninja’d my staff) and I’m glad that Blizzard opened it up to folks who don’t normally get to high end raids. From an expansion stand-point, people should be able to defeat the boss for a sense of completion. Save LOD and BOTFK for hardcore folks. Great article, it was nice to look back on the accomplishments and the struggles of the expansion. See you for 5man Naxx Saturday!
Holytorch.