Trouble At T'Mill

Tarren Mill that is.

I had a stunningly frustrating time the other night (and by night I'm talking about my evening, but around 2.30am in Europe), having picked up a few Hillsbrad quests I thought I'd stick around long enough to do them as a break from The Barrens.

Happily having slaughtered some Hillsbrad Peasants and collected alchemical components from some Naga and Murlocs with no sign of any Alliance players at all, I ran back to Tarren Mill and was just clicking on one of the quest givers when BAM! I'm hit by Fireball, Corruption and I think Smite, at sufficiently powerful levels that I'm just dead. Instantly.

Before releasing my spirit I look around to spot the culprits, but there's no one to be seen, and the Guards aren't leaping on any intruders, so I have no idea what just happened. So I click 'release', move to the graveyard, which is only metres away, come back to my body and resurrect.

BAM! The exact same thing happens. And once again, there's no one in sight and the Guards aren't reacting. WTF????

So thinking some bizarre glitch is happening I decide to head back to The Crossroads anyway and then take a flight which will take up the duration of Resurrection Sickness I'll get, I rez at the Spirit Healer instead.

BAM! It happens again!

This time, from a slightly different angle, as I look around I can work out what's happening. Three Level ?? Alliance types have somehow made it onto the roof of the inn, which I can't fathom the achievement of at all, and are basically able to cover all of the Mill's grounds, including the graveyard, from an almost unassailable and essentially invisible vantage point.

As I watch, the next trick they try is on some poor Rogue who runs up all unsuspecting and is suddenly pounced on by a Mind Controlled DeathGuard.

The only way I can work out to get around them is to resurrect inside the inn they're on top of (and therefore be shielded from them) and then Hearthstone back to The Crossroads. I wasn't able to turn in the quests, and I ended up coming back (carefully) an hour later in hopes they'd have gone, which they had.

When I mentioned it to the Other Half, he noted that if they were attacking Guards and other Guards weren't reacting then there must not be a recognised route to get up to the roof, which means they're using some kind of exploit and I should have reported them.

Next time....

Life At the Crossroads

I've been hearthstoned to the inn at The Crossroads for what feels like forever. I think I reached there around level 12 (maybe a bit higher) and I'm now 25. And still, as I turn quests in, more are offered. And still, there are quest-givers with grey question marks (for the uninitiated/unaddicted, a grey question mark means you're not yet of a high enough level to be given the quest).

Which means in theory I could be hanging around here for a while yet.

I have absolutely no recollection of the equivalent zones for previous Alliance-side characters being so packed with opportunities. I do still tend to think in terms of the kind of progress I'm used to on The Other Side, so for example The Barrens, the region containing The Crossroads, is the Tauren equivalent of Darkshore, if you're a Night Elf, or Loch Modan if you're a Dwarf or Gnome.

Don't get me wrong - I have ventured out into the contested regions of Ashenvale (previously mentioned) and Thousand Needles, as quests required. And I've even started spending time in ultra scary Hillsbrad, which used to be quite a jolly place I went to to level skinning, or to pass through en route to The Scarlet Monastery. Now it's a place of arse-clenching terror, full of menace as high level Allies run through to yes, that's right, The Scarlet Monastery. I crank up all the display options to the point where the animations get jerky just to make sure I've got the greatest visbility of everything around me. One sight of a red character name in the distance and I run for the hills (or for the formerly daunting Tarren Mill). It wouldn't be my luck to run across some lost little lowbie Gnome - I'm going to get the high level buggers every single time.

But the bottom line is that even though my quest log is steadily filling with quests that will take me further afield, The Crossroads remains the hub I stick to, and it's still got stuff to offer me.

Time Difference

It's a slightly odd experience, playing on an EU server while on US West Coast time. Apart from at the weekends, the world I play in is very empty, which can have its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that roaming contested territory I'm far less likely to run into Alliance types. The disadvantage is that you don't often run into people doing the same quests with whom you can team up if the quest is proving too challenging for each of you alone.

The 'social' aspects of WoW can be a bit of a mixed blessing - I've occasionally had my high level characters latched on to by lower levels looking to sponge cash or gear, which is a sad fact of multiplayer gaming, but when you find a good guild it definitely opens up new ways of playing, even in the casual way that I approach things.

But considering the server we're on is officially full, it's slightly eerie to run around so much of it and almost never see another soul.

The Learning Curve

The Other Half talked about having to switch off his Alliance-honed 'autopilot' now he's playing Horde, and I know what he means. Even when I'm being The Bloody Great Bull(tm), running up to the entrance of a settlement and seeing Orc guards at the gates (like The Crossroads in The Barrens, even after I've pretty much been living there for the last two weeks) makes me instinctively stop running and move to go into reverse.

Likewise, certain humanoid mobs which I've encountered loads of times before and have locked in 'friend' or 'foe' reflexes for are suddenly betraying my expectations. Seeing (and hearing) an Ashenvale Outrunner unstealth as I run by? No worries. Until s/he stabs me in the back! And I'm level 18. Those buggers are 23/24.

And I have to unlearn my reactions and behaviour towards entire regions. I mentioned The Barrens - officially Horde territory, but if you're Alliance on a PvE server as long as you don't attack anyone, you won't be flagged for PvP, and can run right through the region with impunity. On a PvP server, not so much. The second you enter even Contested Territory, never mind enemy space, you're flagged and might as well have a neon target floating over your head. So Ashenvale - one of the regions I know best in the entire game and therefore feel most comfortable in, is suddenly an alien world with potential threats around every corner. I'm in my teens - one mid level Alliance type anywhere in the area and I'm flattened. So I end up skulking through the undergrowth, more tense and nervous than I can ever remember being in three years of playing the game.

And then the full horrible injustice of the region hits you: If you're a Night Elf, Ashenvale is the logical third region you explore - you enter to find mobs slightly higher level than those you've just left in Darkshore, but managable, and the challenges get tougher as you explore eastwards.

When you're one of a couple of Horde races, it's also your logical third region. But the way in from The Barrens is in the east. So you're immediately trying to skulk past mid-20s level bears, wolves and spiders.

And then you die.

The Why And The What

The 'why' I'm doing this: Well, I've been playing World of Warcraft on and off for nearly three years now, having been introduced to it by my Other Half, who got into it almost as soon as it was launched. In that time I've spent 90% of my time playing on the Alliance side on PvE servers (I'll get into the character history another time). The OH has done the same. We've both tried Horde characters, but as he says, we've never really felt it.

However, for the reasons he explains so well himself, he's gone over to the other side. I didn't really feel like I had to follow him blindly, but there is a realisation I was unable to avoid coming to, which is that when we adventure together I enjoy it far more than when I adventure without him. So while I could have stayed on the old server, developing one of various characters I've got to one level or another, or working on daily quests with my main level 70 and getting quite bored, I decided to take the plunge and keep the option of playing with him. We don't do it all the time, but it's nice to have someone you can always ask for help with a quest, or just for company when grinding. So that's the why.

The 'what'? Well, he'd always enjoyed playing his main priest, and I hadn't tried one since the second character I ever tried, so I started out there with a Blood Elf, while he started with a new mage (he'd had one of those once too). But again I wasn't really feeling it, so I left him languishing around Silvermoon and gravitated, as I always, inevitably do, back to the class that speaks to me the most out of all those I've tried (and I've tried everything except a Paladin) - Yes, another druid. And as there's only one option for Druids in either faction, I became a Tauren too - and I've always been rather fond of them. I've joined the same guild as the OH, which I'm finding friendly and welcoming. I haven't really got to know them yet, as I'm currently eight or nine timezones away from most of them, so I don't exactly coincide much. So that's the 'what'.

And I should also note 'what not', to help put me in context as a player. I'm not just casual, I'm uber casual. I'm not remotely interested in raiding, or just doing the same instance over and over again waiting for the day when a particular item drops, because I don't even know what items might drop.

Which leads to the fact that I'm not one of those players who spends all their time when not playing WoW reading about how to play WoW. I don't research talent builds, or instance strategy, or any of the myriad nuggets of information available to help hone one's play. I just do it. No grand plan, no big ambition beyond surviving, exploring, and learning new stuff.

And also, despite what I said above about enjoying adventuring with my partner, I'm generally to be found filed under the heading "does not play well with others". I like solo-ing. I'll join a gang if I'm in the rare mood for an instance, and occcasionally if I and someone else are clearly on the same quest I'll party with them, but that's broadly it. I've been very turned off by guilds that aren't remotely casual, but are all about the raids (or more accurately, previously perfectly normal guilds that have suddenly gone that way); that expect you to be online at exactly the same time every night ready to join the raid and take up your duly assigned spot. Apart from anything, who has the kind of life that can accommodate that kind of routine? I never know what time I'll be getting home from one day to the next. So this guild we're in is small and feels quite comfortable so far, but I haven't actually done anything with them yet, and I reserve the right to bail if all the guild chat suddenly starts being about some atunement or other and lots of raiding rules start to appear.

I like my casual, I like my solo-ing, and so far, I'm quite liking the horns :-)

And another Warcraft blog

Various people I know are doing it, and I'm nothing if not a sheep. (Actually, I'm a bloody great bull, but that's not so helpful for the metaphor). I have my reasons for starting this character, and I'll go into them in my next post.

This is just to get things off the ground.