Bow Down To Us: WoW • Home

November 24 2010

Yesterday, following the release of patch 4.0.3a, the world of Azeroth was forever changed.  Chasms appeared all over the world, literally splitting zones in halves in some cases.  Elementals spawned all over the place, wreaking havoc on existing settlements and wildlife.  Rivers of molten lava rippled to shattered surfaces, and Thousand Needles became the newest hotspot for snorkelers looking to swim with huge sea turtles.

Having grown bored with much of World of Warcraft’s content over the course of the last few months, as many people have, I was very excited about this patch.  Certainly, I will always miss questing in Darkshore or sitting and watching the races in Shimmering Flats, but to see new life breathed into Azeroth invigorated my passion about the game.

Many people who hadn’t left Dalaran before the patch (yours included), were left stranded.  With the portals replaced by class trainers, Mages made a mint by hanging around Dalaran, offering their transportation services.  To be fair to the Mages, I used many during Pilgrim’s Bounty and they were all very nice and none overcharged me (go Mages).

I, however, had little interest in simply porting to Stormwind.

I wanted to explore.  I wanted to see all of the changes which the world had suffered.

Being a Druid, it was easy for me to port to Moonglade, and from there I flew to a favored destination; Darkshore.  I decided that I did not want to see the changes from the air.  No gryphon rides for me, thank you.  I wanted to feel the pounding of my mount’s hooves on the changed land (I chose my Brewfest Kodo… cause, well, he’s awesome).

I rode all the way down Darkshore, however did not venture across every inch of it.  I saw new questing areas, large chasms and a most incredible vortex. 

I then made my way through Ashenvale, and as per The Shattering novel, witnessed the constant struggle between the Horde and the Alliance.

I rode into the Barrens, finding so much changed, south of Crossroads.  New outposts and fauna.  It was quite a sight.  The Battlescar and battlements made me want to take part in the epic struggle which appears to be taking place.

I made my want to Thousand Needles, a favored location for me whenever I play Horde characters, and dove right into the water.  What a trip!

I shifted into Sea Lion form, and swam with the large, blue turtles for quite some time.  It was glorious.  And peaceful.  I’m very curious what sort of questing will be possible in this zone now, as I saw no creatures to fight… though there were some stranded land turtles.

Once at Shimmering Flats, I found the corpse of a Level ??? Boss, named Whale Shark.  I have to say, the sight of that corpse scared the bejebus outta me… simply because I would not want to come across a live version of it.

I checked out the floating quest hub in the center of the Shimmering Flats, but did not stick around too long.  From there, I headed straight to Gadgetzan, then hopped a flight to Theramore.  I took a boat across to the Eastern Kingdom and made my way to Stormwind, this time via gryphon, as my day of adventuring was drawing to an end.

What I took away from all of this, is an unbelievably powerful urge to play another character, something which I’ve not felt for a long time.  Certainly, I’ve leveled many alts, however I only did just that; level them.

Now, I want to play one.  I want to take part in all this madness that’s occurring in Azeroth.

What about you?  What did you do your first day post-Shattering?

Screenshots

Filed under: News • Screenshots •