AV Club

I returned to retail so I could experience "Classic Alterac Valley", which I remember as being a total slog. Spoiler: it still is. Everything is scaled to level 60, so all of the mobs are actually threatening when encountered in groups. There's no reinforcements, so it goes on back and forth until one side trounces the other... but wait, there's more.

The 15th Anniversary prize you get is another mount, an Alterac Ram of some sort, isn't for actually winning an AV match. You get it for earning 200 timewalking badges by doing quests in the battleground. As a consequence, you have two factions on your own team: the people trying to win the battle and the people who are just trying to earn tokens to get their mount. It's hell.

Contrary to what people say, AV is very Alliance-winnable. All total I played through 5 games to earn my 200 badges and we won three of them.


It CAN be done!

I also took the time to play through "the thrilling end to the War Campaign", which was delivered in patch 8.2.5. I wish I hadn't bothered. Start to finish it's about 30 minutes with a handful of busywork quests and cutscenes that show what is derisively being called Siege of Orgrimmar 2.0.

It's seriously bad.

15 Years!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, faithful readers. It's been a crazy few weeks. Between a busier-than-usual work schedule, a brief dalliance with a few other games, starting in earnest to learn Japanese, and writing a decidedly non-Warcraft-related novel, time in Azeroth has been somewhat short.

Magrom continues to enjoy a semi-retired life in Ironforge as Marrowsweet slowly enjoys the Horde-side of things. After adventuring a bit in Silverpine, I took her over to the Barrens to enjoy Happy Stabbing Time in the Land of Infinite Leather. She's managed to reach her sweet sixteen and I note with some amusement that a decade and a half later, the place still features an abhorrent chat rife with Chuck Norris references. It amuses me somewhat that Chuck's only been in one movie, the Expendables 2, since 2005 and he still maintains a presence in a game that continues to echo the same banal jokes.

My personal favorite: "Chuck Norris invented White Castle burgers when he roundhouse kicked a cow through a chain link fence."

In celebration of the 15th Anniversary, I briefly stepped into retail to claim my gift box (free pet!) and run through the 9 raid bosses for the free Deathwing (excuse me, "Obsidian Worldbreaker") mount. Flying into the Caverns of Time was a delight. There's a party-like atmosphere throughout the place-- revelers, balloons, a discotheque, and even a stall where Leeroy Jenkins sells chicken. Near crystals which allow you to re-watch a number of in-game cinematics and expansion launch trailers is the star of the show, Chromie.

Chromie allows you to queue up for 3 special LFR raids: one for Burning Crusade, one for Wrath of the Lich King, and one for Cataclysm. Each of these contains three "iconic" raid bosses. As you journey to each, you join the raid encounter in progress and wail on the boss until a certain amount of damage is done and then you are teleported back out by Chromie. While you only get to experience a "slice" of each boss, you're scaled appropriately and have to face the full gamut of boss mechanics for the phase. So, we hope you remembered, for example, how to do the safety dance in Naxxramas and all of the Lich King's special fight moves. Failing any one of the three bosses means you get to start all three over again and they are in a present order.

It's amazing how fast it comes back to you and even with the LFR mentality, you will eventually get enough determination to be victorious. The fights that gave my teams the most trouble were Cho'gall (switch to adds!), Heigan the Unclean ('you can dance if you want to…'), and Achimonde (this dick just sets everybody on fire and frequently throws raid-wide 5 second fears, scattering the group). In the end it took a little less than two hours to complete them all.

The only thing left to do now is experience "the classic Alterac Valley", which I resolved to try this weekend, simply because it can take ages.

Beware, I Unlive!

Started off the evening by creating my undead rogue on Bloodsail. She was no looker and all of the "good names" were taken. (Stabigail, Stabitha, etc.) My wife provided the suggestion "Stabbyabby" and, miracle of miracles, it wasn't taken. I roamed around the nearly empty starting area of Someplace Forgettable leveling up to level 4 or so before realizing what I was doing was dumb.

You see, not all populations are created equal. Bloodsail is among the the worst when in comes to faction balance. Not overly surprising given that it's not only a PvE server, but an RP one at that. For whatever reason, people who RP are more likely to play Alliance and people who PvP are more likely to roll Horde.

Don't take my word for it, here's the server breakdown from WoWHead:



So for my purposes, small population means stunted economy, fewer people to team with, and generally less of a good time should I ever want to take a rogue into battlegrounds when Phase 3 hits. Well, fewer queues, true, but a quick succession of /who commands showed only 39 level 60s only. WTF? 8 people level 2-6. Ok, this simply won't do.

I looked at the chart and said "screw it". I'll play the PvP server with the most unfair Horde to Alliance balance possible. Is it cheap? Beyond the shadow of a doubt. Do I particularly care? Oh, hell no. I'll be killed a thousand times by Alliance on the road to 60, but I'm certain I'll be avenged ten thousand times over. I recreated my little rogue on Stalagg and this time gave her a name I shamelessly stole from another player on Bloodsail, because I thought it was absolutely delightful: Marrowsweet.

Time to get things started-- again!


Like this, but different.

Breezed through the starting area, because that's how it's designed and made my way to the first of many depressing stops along my anti-hero's journey, the town of Brill. I made it my home base and picked up skinning and leatherworking. I'm going to Do It Right this time! (So, let's see how I screw it up, eh?)

Journey's End?

Magrom spent the last quarter of his final level blasting holes in the wildlife in Winterspring for reputation quests. The Timbermaw Gnolls and Wintersaber Trainers still think about as much of him as I do of them.

Still, as an otherwise inconsequential bear fell to a well-placed shot, Magrom was enveloped by an aura of levelupness for the final time. Level 60. Feels good. He has beaten the World of Warcraft. (I know, I know.)

So, now what?

There's the end game treadmill for gear. I already have some pre-raid best in slots (or close approximations) and there's the possibility of raiding.

It's much more likely that he'll lounge around Ironforge for a time, keeping Fluffers warm by the forge.

I still haven't done the Horde quests and that's a lot.

I'm thinking Undead Rogue on the same server.