WoW Weekly: Getting Prepared

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing inside the game and out. From mount farming and raiding, to music, movies, books and other games.

While there is a lot of stuff I'd like to write about based on what I've experienced in-game during the last 24 hours, I'm going to leave all of that alone until more players have had the chance to experience the new content. Any post here that contains even a semblance of a spoiler will be marked as such---I won't be giving anything away for those who'd rather see it all themselves first. 

This will be a spoiler-free post as it relates to lore. I will write about the Broken Shore and the Demon Hunter starting experience in general terms, so if you'd rather not hear a peep, stop back after you've had some time to play. I've only spent a couple of hours in game since invasions began and demon hunters became playable, but that time has left me eagerly anticipating the arrival of the full expansion, as well as scrambling to carve out more time in a busy week to sit down with the game. 

The Betrayer and Me
When I stopped home over the noon hour---also, several hours before maintenance was scheduled to conclude---I was surprised to see my Battle.net list showing a couple of friends online. So I logged in, deleted my nameholder mage and went to create a new character. Sure enough, on the screen was a night elf demon hunter. Of course, I'd be of the Blood Elf variety, but this was nonetheless great news. 

I'm not surprised the "100 most popular girls names" I googled were snatched up, but I knew I wanted a name that was simple and familiar. I was really trying for a single-syllable name but couldn't settle on anything I liked. Thus, Mehlody came into being (pictured at top). 

I haven't actually finished the demon hunter starting area, but what I've experienced so far has been encouraging. The DH, to me, feels a bit rogue-ish but distinct enough to where it remains appealing. Granted, I haven't yet earned all of my abilities (as far as I know), and I'm curious to learn about the difference between the Havoc and Vengeance specs. 

Broken for Shore
I played again for about an hour after work before I had to run off to other obligations. This was enough time to play through the entirety of the Broken Shore scenario and the aftermath that (for Horde players) takes place in and around Orgrimmar, culminating with being sent to fend off one of the invasions that are starting to happen all across Azeroth (well, a handful of predesignated zones).

It shouldn't take that long for most players to finish the questline---I was simply taking my time, exploring a little, letting it all sink in. I visited Ravika before setting off to the Broken Shore, which is something you should do for three toys and a sweet transmog that essentially allows you to hide whatever's in your feet slot.

As for the Broken Shore scenario itself? I think it's likely to go down as one of the best intros we've seen from Blizzard. Players will walk away from this one with a much deeper understanding of the Legion's might and what it could mean for the fate of Azeroth. For me, the Tanaan Invasion that led us onto Draenor was missing something; I don't know exactly what it was missing, but whatever it was, the Broken Shore experience has it. Can't say I've ever been more excited to see where the story is going. I hope this indicates Blizzard will really focus on storytelling and eliciting emotion this expansion. There were moments in this where I could feel my heart pounding, and afterwards I was left in awe.

What is Next
For starters, I'm planning to finish up the demon hunter intro after band practice tonight, maybe putz around with some dungeons, LFR, or legacy content (another character to add to the weekly Alysrazor runs). After that's finished, I'll likely hit as many invasions as I can to collect all of the things. I may run each of my level 100s through the Broken Shore scenario. Word is you can skip it once you've completed it for the first time, but unlike the Tanaan invasion, I'm not sure I want to. 

I'm looking forward to a lot more Warcraft in my future.