Midnight - Live Discussion

Wyrmrest Accord
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Seems like a lot of threads discussing a variety of topics. Looking to condense to see if we can get one going for how people are finding it. Zone takes. Prof takes. Questing takes. Story takes. Gear. Dungeons. Raids. Housing. etc etc.

My takes so far:

Silvermoon is ridiculous. Art team killed. Although I’ve never played Horde much, I often snuck into SM to hang out because, it’s SM. THIS is what I always envisioned SM to be. Good lord! As as I said in the other thread, all the BE players no longer with us (for one reason or another), this is their city. I certainly don’t speak for BE players (I mained Gnome/Dwarf for my entire duration) but this is just beautiful and I hope the BE players are enjoying their glow up city. I was thrilled the Goblins got UM and I am equally thrilled the BE players got this. It’s astonishing to just sit in.

Younger daughter was over yesterday with her g/f and I logged in to show them SM. She had played NE for years, but then quit. She’s interested in seeing Haranir and they were both pretty excited about what they were seeing to the point of picking up a 30 day trial. (do I get a commission?)

…and in the end, Silvermoon got a barbershop. One of the games most heinous wrongs, has been righted.

I am running through on a Prot War, low/mid gear. I will fight tooth / nail to play him as DPS against Blizz wishes. I’m not struggling to do so, so I’m happy about that. I’m not just flat out destroying things, but my survival is good. I’m happy with my current build. It enables me to play the style I want without being miserable. (*Keep in mind I don’t run dungeons/raids.) I can solo rares, but obviously the DPS is a bit low. I’ll work on that once I get to 90.

Fishing - I’ve already found some beautiful spots. They’ve got special pools (inc cargo) and I’ve had a few fishing lures drop already. There’s apparently some treasures that can drop from them, but I haven’t had any yet. Fishing, once again, profitable.

My War is Blacksmithing / Mining. The fact that Blizz has actually made mining nodes visually AMAZING is some shiz. Whoever at Blizz is responsible, you have my undying thanks. I enjoy professions in most games, including this one, even when they aren’t at their best. So far, Blacksmithing has been enjoyable as well. Seems like they tweaked the specializations and tiers for items, which I liked. Good job to that team.

This is my first time playing through an expac on Team Red - Deader Prot War. Probably why this is all exciting to me, since I can see the armor on my char, see when he swings a sword/bashes with a shield. You just don’t get good visuals on the short races.

My only complain so far (as I said prev), is that skyriding is from Day 1 but if you want pathfinder (steady flight), you have to get an achieve. I really don’t appreciate the fact that they do this and I wish they would stop. I don’t use skyriding for anything other than long distance steady flight. It is painful and exhausting. I just don’t think it’s fair for their disabled player base to have this feature be locked behind an achieve. JMHO.

Would love to hear overall takes as you guys are running through.

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I started WoW toward the very end of Vanilla, played blue side and didn’t really click there. Most of my early WoW memories are of actually from BC and playing Blood Elf. My (now) husband’s favorite races are Belfs and Deaders, so picked Belfs so I could play with him. Though I eventually became a Tauren player, that zone has always been special for me and I have a ton of memories of it. This is how I always imagined that it looked. The team did an amazing job and I am looking forward to the offical drop when everyone gets to be in it.

I’ve been looking around the city and zone, and someone remembered that there are RPers. So many places and spaces. So many different types of settings. It made me want to roll a belf again. Then I remembered that I did! I’m feeling pretty good about seeing RP in Silvermoon again for a long time.

Profession wise, Didn’t take too much time or energy to level blacksmithing into the 50’s and run out of recipes from the trainer. It does tick me off that most armor that I made to level requires level 90. I just feel like I should be able to make gear that I can level in. But I guess that is just my “profession” fantasy.

Happy to see decor items being quest rewards. That’s helping my cause a lot. On the flipside though, while I don’t mind somethings being behind a bit of rep grind, I do mind it being behind a rep AND a currency grind. Currencies are whole other thing I don’t want to get into right now.

I’m going very slowly through the zone. I just hit 82 on Kina. I’m not in a rush. I’m trying to get some achievements done, Like “treasures of eversong woods” because I want sootfoot. and I’m trying to do it without asking google.

Anyway, just a view thoughts. I’m not very deep yet. I’ve been running around on two characters mining and picking flowers. Just really enjoying the vibe. Over all, I’m really happy with most things.

also I am very much with you on the skyriding, Norman. I’ve been using it more than want too. There are so many tight spaces to navigate and trying to hit a small target to land is way above my bandwidth - and it’s literally giving me headaches.

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I’ll be honest, my main hasn’t even made it out of Silvermoon yet so I might have something more useful to add to the discussion later, but the thing that nearly knocked me sideways while I was doing the intro questline was how familiar everything felt.

The glow-up was much needed and very much appreciated but, well, maybe I’m being overly sentimental but it still feels like home. I went to train cooking late last night and did a double-take when I realised that Quelis, an NPC I’ve bought flour and spices from for going on nearly a decade and a half, is still doing his job as the cooking vendor. Little touches like that, especially after losing the familiarity of Dalaran, was just… :dracthyr_heart: :dracthyr_heart: :dracthyr_heart:

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Made it out of the starting area. Still don’t know what the scrolls are for - I’m just picking them up (don’t tell me - it’s funnier this way).

SMC is so huge I feel lost in it. It’s gorgeous, but it’s so big I’m not sure how it’ll be conducive to RP. Maybe we’ll have to pick a spot?

I found the spot with pets. This makes me happy.

I’m still not 81 - wtf Blizz. I rolled 81 on my char I was doing trading post stuff for, but not the one who went through the starter zone and half of SMC. Seriously? Weird.

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I was definitely hoping for more leveling gear that I could craft, so agreed. I got greaves and something else. Would have liked a whole set. I know Blizz says “well you level so fast so…” but some of us do not. I take my time. I would like to craft my leveling gear.

I am liking a lot of the Haranir decor, but not the colors. I wish every single decor item was dyable and I am getting more disappointed the more I find that is NOT dyable.

For those that are not a fan of skyriding, you will hate Harandar. It seems designed for skyriding. I finally hearthed out and am heading to Zul’aman. I needed a break.

Seems like once I got out of SM, the leveling pace picked up. I’m not sure why but I noticed the same thing.

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I’ve done the main campaigns in Eversong, Zul’Aman and Harandar so far. Haven’t done many side-quests or the Arator bit yet.

The best thing is just being back in the old world after spending so much time in afterlives or random new islands. Silvermoon is really lovely even if I get ganked for going in red tree street. It is nice to be doing stuff with elves and trolls instead of dragonkin or maldraxxians or whatever other unplayable species we’ve been hanging out with so frequently.

My favorite character so far is Zul John. I like that he’s sort of a screwup and that his name is john. He eventually stopped calling me racial epithets, which was very satisfying character development.

Harandar is by far the weakest zone I’ve done so far though, since it abandons the nice “revisit old world” theme of Zul and Eversong for a return to TWW “random cave land full of random new culture”. I’m just not really feeling that the, “druids who tend roots instead of forests” thing is really enough to go on for these guys, and idk if they have any really cool themes which aren’t already covered by night elves or trolls. They’re cool lookin and all, and I’ll be happy to make one for that superficial reason, but I definitely would have preferred another old world zone revisit to this.

Overall Zul’Aman is probably the best questline of the ones I’ve gone through, and it also benefits from not having the Lightbloom as its main plot point. A light-themed version of wod botani is sort of thematically odd (since when has the Light been about spurring plant growth and wildlife activity?), and if we were going to do a, “but what if they light is evil too” plot I’d prefer to see it driven by an actor with agency like a Naaru or a crusading zealot of some kind than a natural disaster.

I’ve played all 3 warrior specs a bit, none of them seem drastically changed. The resurrected Heroic Strike is a nice attack though.

I haven’t done professions too much but I did notice that engineers re-use vanilla models for their new goggles, which… I’m actually fine with, because goggles have gotten progressively bulkier and sillier-looking over the years and I guess it is nice to have some new armor class variants of the simple, relatively dignified 2004 goggles?

Also I bought the new Mageweave outfit and I now know, for the first time, after playing as him for a decade or so, what Miko’s upper thigh looks like

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Still mostly farting about in Silvermoon, but I love how with just a few quests, Blizzard has added to and deepened Sin’dorei lore more than “…and then Lor’themar got married and lived happily ever after.”

… Where is Thalyssa? You’d think she’d be right in the mix, but maybe Xal’atath is also messing with the Broken Isles and the other allies of the Sin’dorei via proxies?

Also one thing I noticed flying over Silvermoon, is that all the bigger buildings have that curious light-flow effect around the red roofs. That’s a lot of light pollution. Makes me wonder if that’s intentional, not just to tie into the Phoenix/Fire/Sun Motif that the High Elves/Sin’dorei embraced after they were exiled from Teldrassil thousands of years ago, but because that amount of light pollution would dim the stars and moon at night. The whole city is a giant middle finger to the Kaldorei mythology about Elune, blazing bright enough to challenge Azeroth’s moons for dominance at night.

They can’t obscure the moons’ radiance, but they can counter it, which is a nice touch.

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I wasn’t prepared for the nostalgia overload this would cause for me.

I do miss the Wretched and I miss the Dead Scar. I guess for me, it would be cool if the stakes were permanent for something like the Dead Scar, society healing be damned; deal with this forever.

But honestly, still great vibes by Windrunner spire and the twist on all these things that were once familiar and became faded was just amazing.

Harandar was okay, Zulaman was similar nostalgia and great Troll lore (at least for someone who only has a few Trolls). Voidstorm was typical but fine.

I did enjoy the Arator bits – a good buffer that made it less spinning through zones and more of a story. The Arcantina is cool, though I haven’t returned.

Silvermoon is just amazing, though. And now I know that The Last Titan will be some mindblowing stuff if handled similarly. The return to a revitalised/revised continent that meant so much at the time… wow!

[edit]

Also, my first 90 is a Belf Paladin. This is a fantastic expac to level a Belf Pally :sweat_smile:

Belf anything, really. Though I do look forward to taking my Alliance Rogue through next.

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I haven’t played yet!! However I’m told if you go to the Sunwell before starting the expansion intro quest, there’s Shattered Sun Draenei NPCs hanging out at the Sunwell!? Including some labeled as Sunwell Priest and a number of pilgrim Draenei.

Whoa! That’s really cool to think after TBC, there are Draenei that not only visit the Sunwell after it was restored but also some that remain full-time as clergy. That’s super cool!

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If only I could be a horde draenei…

–

Also I just meandered through horde side SMC and holy shat this place is 100x better than the original!

And then there’s the former Dead Scar SO beautiful! I love the unicourses and hawkstriders all over. My favourite bit of fluff was the mage’s notes in East Sanctom about her research to get the Scar to bloom. *chef’s kiss
*
Oh and the baby hawkstriders are adorable! Have to mention the little elf boy on the fledgling strider. :dracthyr_heart:

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https://i.imgur.com/sXiua89.jpeg

brann im sorry bro i miss you too friend but i need you to stop taking over the delve ui so I can equip a curio on this crouching lingerie lady

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I like that windrunner spire is a haunted ruin instead of a shrine or something.

Ok new favourite area in smc! There is a pet cafe in the bazaar! And you can pet all the good bois and the kitties! :dracthyr_heart:

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I can’t for the life of me understand why this is still a thing. It’s genuinely baffling that they seem to want to hold on to this, of all features, even with how useless it’s become now (and it was barely useful to begin with.)

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Hit 90 on druid. Only had done Eversong and Harandar plus a little Zul by the time I hit 90.

Silvermoon is just majestic, although i already get lost with how much bigger it got. Seeing old stuff in Eversong like the Sanctums and Saltherils was nostalgic. I need moar hawkstriders and dragon hawks of all sorts!

Harandar was iffy for me, although the side quest (I think it was) of putting out fires on Teldrassils roots hit hard seeing as Nyte, my druid, was very scarred from the Burning.

Disappointed with the “customizations” we got for Amani from doing Zul Aman. Just seems bland..was hyped to make my troll druid more Amani like but the customizations are bleh.

Arator questing was a bit interesting. Mainly cause we got a sorta cinematic about the battle between Lothar and Doomhammer and Turalyon, which I’ve wanted to see.

Still working on finishing the campaign though on Midnyte. Then I’ll drag Tashiae through.

Speaking of Tashi..there’s a magister who shares her surname! https://www.wowhead.com/ptr-2/npc=241490/magister-dawnblaze

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I like the op!um… I mean fel den in Murder Row. Although I would have made the alleyway in… an undercity like area in the sewers or something. Always seemed weird that it was out in the open like that.

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The gurls of WoW have been very, VERY quite this last week!

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She is actually in Silvermoon. She is in a floating spire called Sunfury Spire along with some other Nightborne.

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I’m getting better at finding my way around Silvermoon. I’m fairly comfortable with that north-south corridor in middle. I can my crafting station, the auction house, the bank, an inn and a few shops. Which is fantastic for me this early in an expansion. I never really tried to learn my way around other places, because why would I? We are there for a expansion then out. But this is Silvermoon! It will be around for while.

I did manage to finally hit level 7 in housing! I am very excited because I get flesh the house out more, and start with the secret passages. I noticed that sometimes part of my rewards included 10 points in housing even if it didn’t include a housing item. That was very unexpected but very appreciated! I am a little frustrated with the different currency systems. Particularly the renoun quartermaster for Silvermoon. I could buy some housing items repwise, but I don’t have the voidlight marl required. I just hit 83, and I only have just over 100 and I need 750. I’m assuming that more I level, the more I will get, but this does tick me off a bit right now.

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TL;DR - I am a fan.

I dropped all of my pretenses and just played it. I may have started in Wrath, so I missed the initial hype behind the blood elves, but seeing Silvermoon now? I get it. I understand everything, now.

The zones have been lovingly crafted and while I had my hesitations about Haranir, I’ve enjoyed my first impressions of them. The Amani storyline has been one of the best troll zones I’ve encountered.

The void storm was chaotic, but it was a desperate hail-mary, so it fit the zone vibes perfectly.

Lor’themar might be my favorite leader, if only because of how often he tells Turalyon to shut up.

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I’ve finished Eversong (minus that one level 90 quest) and Harandar on my druid, and I’m already level 88. :grimacing:

I like the haranir, but for some reason they just make me think of the na’vi fellas from Avatar so I can’t take them seriously. Don’t correct me if I’m wrong, I never watched the movies.

I can’t decide which character I want to main in Midnight so for now I’m finishing all the zones on my druid. I’m starting Zul’Aman when I get home today and I’m excited.

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