Beta Blog 5: Wrath of the Lich King

I’m unsure about these new, faster instances overall. They certainly take away some of the more painful delays that could make PuGing a day-long grind, but in the end they also feel a bit less epic. Obviously there’ll be changes as we work our way up to the level cap. But to be honest I also really enjoy working through a long, difficult instance with a great group – you feel like you’ve achieved something.

I don’t get this sense from, say, Utgarde Keep. With a well tuned group it can be done so quickly it doesn’t feel much like an instance. I think if Blizzard can keep the balance between effective playability as well as a sense of important, world-changing events (who doesn’t want to feel a bit epic, every now and then?) then it could work really well. That said, with the introduction of 10-man versions of endgame raid encounters it seems this is how the developers are attempting to delineate between quick and ‘epic’; five man parties should be quick and easily done, and those wanting more involved raid-style encounters can throw themselves at the re-tuned raid bosses.

Dragons at Wrathgate. Happy little guys, ain't they?

Outside of instances the developers have been throwing in some new, bigger narrative quest lines such as the Battle for Undercity – this is a really fun, somewhat cross-faction quest. As I’m an evil Alliance player I’ve not completed this as Horde and the quest is (obviously) somewhat different depending on faction. Starting at the Wrathgate in Dragonblight players are prompted to return to Stormwind with a message to the King from Alexstrasza; you teleport around a little with Jaina Proudmoore, and ultimately arrive at Undercity, which is under the control of Putress and Varimathras. Plus, there’s a big ol’ confrontation between Thrall and Varian which is causing a lot of joy amongst the playerbase who think there should be more ‘war’ in the this world of Warcraft.

I like big event quests like this one and it’s not only because of the massive buff you receive from Jaina before going into battle. These quest lines are world-changing events, and those can be quite rare in MMOs where the static nature of the world can make it easier to work through. I’ve not yet seen any of the fallout from the Battle for Undercity story, but if Blizzard includes this story in its phasing technology (much like the phasing used for the Death Knight zone (and in other games like Lord of the Rings Online – ed)) then I’ll be very impressed. Who knows, next they may let the Gnomes retake Gnomeregan.

Taking back the Undercity with a little help from your friends.