So I got around to doing the Reclamation of Lordaeron quest on this toon after having not seen it in months and yeah the quest is overall still pretty good.
I adore the Forsaken Flame music playing as you triumphantly retake Lordaeron City. Faranell is completely delightful and it’s really great to see Belmont who I’ve always felt a special connection with, as my first real main was an undead rogue named Bellmont I RP’ed as a Deathstalker officer.
I also love how the Forsaken fix their Blight problem not with some magic spell but a horrific monstrosity that simply devours the toxic death fog. Look we got into this mess with crimes against humanity, nature and God and we’re getting out of it the same way. I also like how Voss shows her relative newness by expressing concern about the giant plague kaiju clearly forming in the courtyard while Faranell has a fairly blasé reaction. This is a pretty standard Wednesday for an Apothecary. It’s actually more notable when their experiments don’t result in rampaging green goop monsters.
Calia is still Calia; which is to say an overly dressed woman who’s sole personality trait is being polite. And I am still annoyed she’s the big Priest of the meetup as once again the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow goes ignored by the plot. The Maldraxxus bit also still feels like I’m reading a book with pages missing. Between Benedictus Voss popping up and Sindane seeming to know Calia and Lilian I’m still convinced there was a cut plot-thread here.
Though amusingly Calia is oozing with personlity compared to Dark Ranger Velonara. Who is reserved, deliberately spoken and has an air of melancholy about her. Which is to say she’s interchangeable with the vast majority of undead elves. Although of note she says the undead elves were rejected by the people of Silvermoon. And I’m kinda confused on that note. Does she mean initially or have continued to? Because the Sin’Dorei don’t mind the Forsaken in Tranquillen but then again they’re not really in a position to turn down a helping hand even if it’s more a claw. But it just seems like it’d be bigger news if the Sin’Dorei weren’t letting their less sightly allies hang out in their city.
But overall yeah it’s a solid start. Start being the operative word here. Though I’m going to be very annoyed if I’ve to replay this quest on every undead toon I’ve just to vibe in present day Brill.
As for Tirisfal itself there’s not much to report. The Forsaken have adopted two living dogs you can pet which is certainly something. Shame Pontius isn’t here for that. Guess he still lives in Northrend though as the rest of the NPCs are reoccuring characters. Some of which are pretty damn obscure. Like Apothecary Zinge who had a breadcrumb fetch quest in Classic that brought you to the Apothecary at the Xroads. Also nice to see Keever’s still with us. Wonder how his experiments are fairing these days;
"Apothecary Keever says: What is this? Did Keever ask for a sheep? Keever wanted a weapon of great power and all he got was this sheep. Keever is very disappointed.
Apothecary Keever pokes the wooly sheep repeatedly. (sheep explodes)
Apothecary Keever says: Keever is most pleased."
Otherwise it’s hard to know what changes in Tirisfal are deliberate. The phase is wonky as hell. I was phasing back in and out’ve the pre BFA Cata version while flying to the eastern bit of the map. So though I did notice that Coldhearth Manor seems to have been taken over by the Scarlets - I have no idea if this was a deliberate choice. We do know the Scarlets have at least some agents in Tirisfal via the conspiracy pamphlets they scattered around the Alliance camp. But given the shoddy state of the rest of the zone it’s hard to tell what is intentional. Both the Tirisfal Farmer and Scarlet Warrior NPCs there also appear at Salliden’s Farmstead / The Scarlet Palisade toward the western end of the map. So it’s quite possible they just moved the NPCs to the wrong farm.
Overall I still do like the quest but a deeper inspection of Tirisfal reveals how slapdash a lot of this is. It’s certainly a good start but my primary worry is Tirisfal will remain in this half baked state for years on end. My second big worry is the Desolate Council will fall by the wayside in favor of just having Calia do the talking. Which I hope doesn’t happen as she’s wildly out’ve place and I do not like the idea of jumping forward half a decade and just saying the Forsaken have warmed up to her in the offscreen interim.
I still think she’d best serve as Queen of Lordaeron in a figurehead only capacity. If she wants to help the Forsaken that’s probably the best way to do it. As that would lend legal legitimacy to the Forsaken as the Kingdom of Lordaeron’s successor state. Beyond that she would probably make a decent diplomat. Good to have her on hand when it’s time to smile at the camera, shake hands and kiss babies. Better suited to it than Belmont at least he’d be liable to bite them.
The main theme of the quest is the Forsaken forging a new future for themselves free from both the trappings of Lordaeron and the Banshee Queen’s cult of personality. Which is a good idea, and we’re off to a decent start, but there’s still just enough off about everything that I can only be cautiously optimistic.