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.
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