The Future of Allied Races: Possible Options

An interesting thought has struck me considering Allied Races, and it’s so simple. Here goes: every current race receives an allied version. 

Check out my list:

ALLIANCE

Humans – Kul Tirans (Drust)
Dwarves – Dark Irons
Gnomes – Mechagnomes (from 8.2.)
Night Elves – Void Elves (with Blood Elf models)
Draenei – Lightforged
Worgen – ?

HORDE

Orcs – Mag’har
Trolls – Zandalari
Tauren – Highmountain
Undead – ? (Dark Rangers?)
Blood Elves – Nightborne (with Night Elf models)
Goblins – Vulpera (same skeleton and animations)

Considering that 4 races of every faction are already done, we might as well take it as reality.

Your thoughts? :) And I’m most intrigued about the Undead and Worgen.

Advertisements

Dark Irons: Introduction Questline

…Through dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ‘ere break of day…

*warning: the post contains spoilers about Dark Iron questline

As you know, I’m not a fan of deliberate grind of any sorts. And yet Micromantica, my main, has spent two sessions of clearing Zandalar from all the world quests – even pet battles :) The reason was simple – Exalted with 7th Legion and access to the Dark Irons! Lo and behold, this is my first Exalted reputation in Battle for Azeroth:

Yet acquiring access to Dark Irons is not that easy. First you need to quest a bit.

No one informs you about the Dark Irons upon Exalted with 7th Legion, so you have to guess that the questline naturally waits for you at the Allied Races embassy in Stormwind.

Upon arrival, Moira Thaurissan invites you to check out what they did to azerite by King Anduin’s command in Blackrock Depths. It must be said that there is no travel on your own during the whole questline, cause Dark Irons have mole machines at your service :)

So, the first step is watching Thaelin and Anvil-Thane forging a piece of azerite and defending them from a batch of azerite elementals. Then a dwarf comes running and informs you that goblins invaded BRD to steal azerite. You clear many of them and confront the boss – Rixxa, further the third boss from Motherlode (!!!!!!!!!). She has 1500k health, and you need to cope with 400k or so, then she runs for it.

It appears that the goblins in Motherlode (!!!!!!!) are from Venture Co, and they stole some important ancient hammer. They send you to the dungeon to claim it – could be completed on any difficulty, so I queued for both normal and heroic, whichever pops first.

Then we need a piece of Molten Core to repair the Dark Anvil. We are sent to the Molten Core raid, and we clear it… in a tank! You just need to drive straight from the entrance to Ragnaros chamber, eradicating the elementals with your ice cannon :) That was super cool. In the Ragnaros pool you fight a guardian, and he grants you a piece of Molten Core.

Said piece must be reinforced, and we are sent to Firelands raid to do so. We arrive by the bridge to Fandral Staghelm with Anvil-Thane only to be attacked by cultists and elementals:

It’s not a surprise what the cultists want:

Exactly this, resurrecting the fallen Firelord and selling all the Dark Iron’s asses to him. The paladin on the pic above is the ultimate boss, and you should be real quick to step out of the hammers he drops on you during the encounter, they hit like a truck.

Hooray, now we can boost our MoltenCore fragment, and return to Moira. She praises you for active participation – come on, during your what was meant to be a tourist trip you’ve defended them from the goblins, reclaimed an ancient hammer, fixed an anvil and unveiled the plot in their ranks! There is a little speech – King Anduin formally accepts the Dark Irons as part of the Alliance, and Moira states that wtf, this is just a formality, because they already are.

The achievement is yours, and yours is the ability to roll a Dark Iron toon!

Which I did immediately. There was small thinking whether it would be a Fire Mage or an Elemental Shaman, and it was Shaman. I like the idea of wearing a shield – moreover when my warrior is Fury, and there’s no paladin in my ranks. And here she is –

Jagda reads in Scandinavian manner (YUG-duh), and I’m so happy the name was not taken yet, because otherwise we’d be in big trouble :)

The introduction cinematic is super cool, we get an ultimate inspiring speech from Moira, and we’re more than motivated to play a Dark Iron afterwards.

I chose her jewels/mining. The other option was a blacksmith, but neither of my Allies wears plate armor, so this could be a waste of professions. Jewels fits second best for the dark iron dwarves.

By all means I’m leveling her, and I’m eager to play her actively, casting shaman is one of my favorite specs in game.

So, one more thing to do during expansion – as a distraction from world quests and raiding :)

I’m eager to see the Mag’har questline for lore sakes (evil crusader Yrel intrigues me to the bones), but I’m not rolling one afterwards. But the Dark Iron… yes, please. She’ll be in her rightful and equal place among my alts.

P.S. The questline is filled with important lore scraps. We learn about the deep bond of Dark Irons to Fire, Earth and Azeroth core. We now also know that Blackrock, cleared of all abominations, orcs and dragons, belongs to the Dark Irons (to the Alliance) and the whole mountain is now obviously friendly.

This Much…

…is left considering leveling questing :) Yes, it’s just Jammu, and it’s just one hub for 30 minutes of playtime.

Frankly, leveling left me exhausted this time. I may think deeper into expansion if I really want this amount of alts to proceed.

My altoholism started with Pandaria, trying as many new classes as possible – to see if anything awesome was being left out and untouched. And I frantically leveled and LFR-raided during the lull before Draenor – up to the WoD release, I barely managed to make it.

Draenor was played through with a draw – 5 Alliance, 5 Horde, and I’ve tried different specs and classes too, my alt roster grew up to 17 toons – up to I had to cut them to 12 before Legion.

In Legion having this many classes was justified – unique stories and artifact weapons, unique order halls, unique mounts all added up to the experience and lore, lore, lore, my favorite lore.

In BfA I left 10 – disposing of my least favorite demon hunter and death knight. And this now feels like a bit too much.

If I considered my next alt culling, this would leave me with:

• Micromantica the Mage – no doubt it’s my major toon no matter what.
• Jellica the Priest – I enjoy the character, and healing is one of the nice activities.
• Pins the Rogue – being a stealthy blade is highly enjoyable.
• Baisa the Hunter – is under question. Not really a fan of current spec versions, but it’s the most relaxed class gameplay to me, and I need that from time to time.
• Schlitzchen the Shaman – as the one for the Horde side, and the character that I feel highly attached to.

Having leveled through BfA, I finally decide that druid and warlock I’m not a fan of at all, neither of the specs, and paladin, monk and warrior are ok, powerful as DPS, easy to play, but not that appealing, no strings attached to the classes. Still, this leaves me with no plate armor toons – and I want to see and collect its transmogs :) Maybe a warrior should stay?

Is it time for the next culling? Cause ten alts definitely feels too much today. And thinking of getting busy with all of their reputations and mission tables and what not feels like a doom :)

Alt Leveling: Writing Your Own Canon

Since the release of Warcraft Chronicles, we are aware that not all of the events were experienced by our heroes. For example, the Alliance was the only faction to storm the Lady Vashj domain in Zangarmarsh, while the Horde canonically laid waste to the red orcs of Hellfire Citadel and put an end to Magtheridon.

Which left me wondering: what if our alts did not participate in all of the events, but shared the experience among them?

Surely due to gameplay conventions you play them one by one, and through all the questlines. And yet, the ‘canonical reality’ maybe different.

I’ve come up with this story experience layout among my alts:

Micromantica 

• She’s the leader of my Alliance alts. So she talks to the major lore figures like Cyrus, and Genn, and Anduin, and makes strategic decisions for all of alts.
• As a water/ice attuned person, she solved the whole Stormsong business, including Anglepoint in Tiragarde and storming the Shrine dungeon.
• She also repelled the naga invasion in Fort Daelin.
• She was the one saving Jaina – her mentor and teacher!

Pins 

• My gnome rogue was the one to investigate the plot of Ashvane along with Flynn, including the grand reveal at the Prooudmoore Admiralty.
• She put a dagger through Harlan Sweete’s healthy eye.
• She found the treasure in Deadwash in Stormsong Valley.
• She also helped tortollans with Venture Co., as long as she was nearby.

Aurinka and Anibell 

• The gnome priest and the human paladin traveled together through the grim forests of Drustvar to fight the witches’ curse, and stormed Waycrest Manor.
• They also struck at Algerson Timber Yard in Tiragarde to eliminate the witch presence once and for all.
• Anibell went for an extra horseback training and saved Norwington Estate from troggs.

Baisa

• As a seasoned gnome hunter, she traveled through the Tiragarde hunting grounds with pleasure. Kennings Lodge and Roughnecks hubs were her responsibility.
• She also hunted the sirens in Tiragarde.
• She helped to fight off the ettin in Stormsong’s mill hamlet.
• She and Paitsu fought off the Horde invasion and attacked the Clearcut together.
• And she hunted the BIGGEST GAME EVER! in Zuldazar with her old pals from Nesingwary’s company.

Paitsu 

• The gnome monk had some really good fight on her hands :)
• The Horde invasion in Stormsong was mentioned already.
• She was the one to enter Briarback Kraul and leave with multiple scratches on her fists, but very much alive.
• And then she solved the mystery of Mildenhall Meadery.

All of my Alliance toons took part in Siege of Boralus and Arathi Warfront.

Schlitzchen

• The shaman’s ultimate quest was in Vol’dun, solving the great Mythrax mystery and putting General Jakrazet to nail.
• She also learnt something new about calling the lightning power from sethraki.
• She stormed the Temple of Sethraliss.
• She was the one to investigate and explore the war campaign story.
• She participated in Arathi Warfront, desperately trying to win the wild elemental circles favor and eventually losing to the Alliance.

Fearella

• My goblin warlock’s life purpose is search for fun and pleasure.
• She found the troll pirate treasure.
• And the treasures of the lost temples along with vulpera.
• She helped the goblin azerite mining operation in Vol’dun for little to no profit.
• She traveled to Warbeast Kraal and had extreme fun educating a small direhorn.
• She also participated in digsite operation in Xibala.
• And helped the tortollans in the south.
• King’s Rest was rumored to hold many treasures, so it was a natural lure.

Gorhaug

• The orc warrior was solving the plot around king Rastakhan in Zuldazar, in the city of Dazar’Alor and surrounding territories.
• Naturally, Atal’Dazar dungeon was her final endeavour.
• She made many friends among the loyal city guard.
• She also fought against the Alliance in Talanji’s Rebuke.
• She participated in Arathi Warfront (on the winning side).

Jammu

• The highmountain druid was greatly disturbed with unnatural ongoings in Nazmir.
• She befriended many loa and even had to kill one.
• She was down there in Underrot, putting an end to corruption.
• Now besties with Talanji the princess, she brought the news of blood corruption to Baine.

All of my Horde toons joined forces in the battle by Blood Gate and answered to Talanji’s rally for Uldir.

Kul Tiran Druid Moonkin & Zandalari Druid Aquatic

Beware, beware… of the new druid forms!

I would quote the Blizzard Watch post in full, because it made me laugh so hard, and they have a point :)

I’m just itching to create these guys (but seriously, enough alts is enough :) But mo-om, they fit so well into Zandalari and Drust fantasy!

Enjoy:

What is that thing?

The first time I saw this form I said, “It looks like someone who’s never even heard of a Moonkin got one described to them and they decided to make one out of a patch of dead trees and some taxidermy scraps.”

I stand by that description.

That head looks like someone found a turtle who didn’t make it to the water and mounted some antlers on it. It’s like an approximation of what you might think a Moonkin was if your day-to-day life was suffused in utter nightmares. In other words, it fits the Kul Tiras Wickerpunk Druid aesthetic to a T.

The best part is that they slapped a hood on it like that helps at all. “Oh, don’t be scared, children. That wooden corpse puppet is our friend! It’s come to restore the balance of nature, which of course includes the manifest truth that death comes for us all in time, even your beloved pet turtle!” I really have no words for how fast I’m going to race change my Worgen into a Kul Tiran Druid as soon as it becomes possible. This is just great. It’s baffling and macabre and everything about it makes me want to go out on a fall evening and think about my eventual death. They made a caster form out of mortality itself.

A very Ichthyosaurian aquatic form for the Zandalari

At first glance, this form appears shark-like — but the particular tooth arrangement reminds me of ancient, extinct marine reptiles like Cymbospondylus or other Ichthyosaurs. The back fins are much more like marine reptiles than sharks. They also remind me of the Machimosaurs, ancient sea crocodiles that evolved a more aquatic form; however, that tail is pure Neptunidraco. Like many marine reptiles, there’s a certain copying of shark elements, which isn’t surprising, as the shark form is a pretty solid one for aquatic predators. I might have liked a big Liopleurodon form, but this definitely works.

Still, I feel bad for this terrifying aquatic hunter to be in the same post as that wickerskull monstrosity up there. I’m sorry you got upstaged, bling-wearing sea reptile. It’s hard to follow that.

Lightforged Leveling Done

That’s right, the achievement is mine :)

Kalaari finished Azsuna and Val’sharah questlines along with their dungeons. The rest came from bits of Paladin campaign, blacksmithing/mining quests and bonus objectives (which you can grab much like in Draenor – with no actual storyline questing running).

She sits with an admission to Emerald Nightmare now, so a journey of gearing up awaits. The best way for me is tracking the world quests which grant you upgrade gear, and also doing emissaries to fish out the legendaries. Argus argunite items also help.

Like I wrote in the previous post, Kalaari is not meant to be active in BfA, so her gearing up to 915-ish is purely a leisure activity during lull.

Her current transmog is Lightforged Pretorian, the legacy armor for the achievement pretty much sucks :)

Now we have a Nightborne and a Highmountain to finish their leveling in Broken Isles :)

Managing Alts in Battle for Azeroth

As in Draenor, I’m entering the new expansion with the same scary amount of alts – 17. It is high time to determine my alt priorities for the upcoming expansion.

The alt system was very simple in Legion: I had to shorten my roster to 12 toons of every class – to see every storyline, class order hall campaigns, artifact weapons, collect every raid set, and later – mounts. Which was a great success, and it totally paid off. This time it will be a lot different.

While my alts cover the played and enjoyed specs nowadays, I’m still going to put a huge bunch of them for later. There will be no class-specific content in BfA, and more – there won’t be class-related raid sets as well. While I probably plan to level them all someday (probably at expansion lull days), I need to pick the priority toons for the initiate days and the first expansion raid.

ALLIANCE

Micromantica

Micromantica the Frost Mage is my main and flagship of the whole game, the first and the ultimate character. She’ll be mastering Frost – whatever Blizzard do to the spec again. She’ll be the first to earn reputations and see every new bit of content during the expansion. No questions.

Aurinko

Aurinko is the major healing toon, so she’s bound to be in the first rows for the first raid. I’ll have to struggle with leveling as Holy (Shadow’s awful nowadays), yet she’s to level up fast and nice.

Paitsu

Paitsu enjoys both tanking and healing – she’s ready to accept both roles in BfA. She’s one of my ultimate tanks, so she’s ready to be there in the first row.

*As soon as it’s gonna be possible – I will roll and level a Dark Iron. She’ll be a casting shaman, and I want to main her among other toons.

HORDE

Schlitzchen

I tend to think of Schlitzchen as my Horde main. She’s the only toon of all others that kept her identity (race) apart from Micromantica, so she’s important to me. As I’m leveling my Dark Iron as a caster, she will go as Enancement like she initially started. as a tropical goblin, she’s so ready for the jungles of Zandalar and will happily return to Kezan in one of the dungeons.

Helu

Helu is my casting druid. She’ll be the one to bombard the bosses and everything as Balance, but she can switch to Restoration in a blink if needed.

Jammu

The playful cat may be this very guy for the initiate Zandalar experience. Rotation built-in sneaking makes her perfect to learn the roudabouts of the new continent and where the enemies and the shortcuts are.

So, it appears to be a Gnome party for the Alliance, and a shaman/double Tauren druid combo for the Horde side.

Fun Gameplay

The toons below are quite enjoyable for me, I like their specs very much, but I will pick them not earlier that I feel like playing them. When I’m tired of rotations of my major roster and when I want something new – I pick one of them. They will be saved for lull times. This includes pretty much every toon left:

Baisa

Baisa will sport Marksmanship like she always did, with no intention to change specs. A pleasure of leveling with a pet tank and a relaxed raiding experience is what I always enjoyed in my hunter.

Faari

Faari is the Fire Mage, and it’s purely a fun character. Her personality fits the spec so well, so she’s my roleplay toon. Fire is a very fun spec to play too – I had one deleted in Draenor, I now have a new one from December 2017 which will stay.

Myde

Myde is an Arcane Mage. The spec is not that fun to level, although it’s absolutely bombastic when geared at endgame. She’s sea-theme clad now, and I may bring her forward for Azshara raiding if we have something later. As a void elf, she’s also interested in Void/Light themes which will drop sooner or later.

Backston

Backston sports Frost and Frost only. Until they completely change the Blood spec from mortar slow blows to rapid vampiric style. She’s a sort of an evil character, and she waits for Bolvar to make his move.

Anibell

Anibell is my another ultimate tanking character, so it’s very likely she will step in very soon. Protection Paladin is one of my best tanking toons, and being Alliance-clad human, she fits so well into the expansion.

Kalaari

Kalaari is a Retribution Paladin. Upon 110, the dim Lightforged zealot will have a long rest. She’s important for roleplay: there are many hints that Naaru and the Light are not as good as it seems. When the Light becomes the new evil, I’m bringing her up from hiatus. She’s my evil character.

Oulu

Oulu is a bloody rangari. She stays in hiatus for now.

Melaris

Melaris is a Havoc fighter. She stormed Antorus, she had extreme fun and satisfaction, but now she’s off for Night Elven woods to reconnect with her elven past. She wants to remember and recover, and she needs a rest from the scorched fel lands.

Berringer

Berringer is currently on a faraway secret mission from SI:7. The Stormwind intelligence has her, and in the wake of war her skills are most needed – whether she wants it or not. It’ll be a while since she will be able to bring her poisonous daggers into the fray.

Faerella

Faerella will eagerly explore Affliction and Destruction ways… later. But she’s a very probable candidate to catch up with her Horde allies soon – for schemes and profits, not for the faction pride of course.

Arkeona

The subtle Nightborne political assassin is currently investigating the Sylvanas reign… She’s seen the atrocities in Hillsbrad and in Dragonblight, and she’s not a fan of her. She’ll be plotting and scheming. She will wait. When the throne of Sylvanas will shake, she’ll be there to help overthrow the ‘warchief’. Not yet. Not now.

============

Summing it up, I’ll be good with a smaller amount of toons rushing forward in the coming expansion. I would not feel overwhelmed as I frankly was in Legion. And I will always have another toon for the exciting new class/profession experience or roleplay at the ready.