Some Notes on Northrend
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I’ve taken the liberty (and some time from leveling) of composing a list of things of note I’ve discovered in my 4 levels in Northrend. Some of them fun, others obnoxious, and some downright amazing.
This me being a badass in Northrend.
The Bad
- TOO MANY PEOPLE IN NORTHREND - This leads to absurd mob-camping, ganking, competition. This is especially bad for Warlocks whose DoTs don’t tag mobs when they hit. We know this sucks, so do other people.
- Lack of Resources - By resources, I mean cloth, ore, and herbs. I’ve literally crossed 1 herb in my leveling and 2 nodes. Again, there are too many damn people.
- Lag - If you’re on a high-population server like me (Magtheridon. I’m getting off this hellhole when my transfer is up), there is lag and it is massive, particularly in the starting zones.
- Queues - I’ve never had queues before in my life. It seems that the expansion compels 11,000+ players to log onto Magtheridon. Please kill me.
- No flying mounts until 77 - This is really killing me. Questing will be loads easier once I can fly.
- Jackasses - With tons of people walking around Northrend with their thumbs in their asses, the occasional jackass will come your way. You know who the guy is: the guy who spams his guild recruitment macro, the guy who asks where quest objectives are, the guy who won’t group with you just for a single mob although they’re not grouped, the guy who constantly nags you to do quests with him…and so on.
The Good
- Quests - There is nothing I hate more than leveling. However, Northbound has put a nice spin on that. A lot of work has been put into Northrend’s quests. With the addition of phasing zones, vehicles, and cinematics, questing is downright fun (providing there isn’t a mass of other players). In addition, quests are shorter; that is, drop rates are good and/or quest items are close by each other. Also, get Quest Helper.
- PvP - If you’re on a PvP server like me, there are enemies everywhere. Sometimes they’re on the same quest as you. It’s always fun to mess up their leveling by killing them, killing their quest mobs, or Fearing them off of quest objectives. However, you need to be careful, as they seem to travel in packs, which you should not bother with at all. Generally, people leave you alone, as there is a silent peace agreement between factions. As a warning, check players’ levels before you attack them. I made the mistake of killing a level 79 Paladin who was killing my quest mob. I didn’t know he was 79 until he ressed and kicked my ass for an hour or so. He had a flying mount too. I couldn’t outrun him in Dragonblight. He went on to be our realm’s first 80, by the way.
- Zones - The zones in Northrend are downright beautiful. You can tell that a lot of attention was paid to the nuances, and the result is amazing. I’m honestly very impressed with Blizzard’s art team. Well done.
Tips
- Starting Zones - If you’re Alliance, don’t go to Borean Tundra. It’s a mess there. Everyone went there. Hit up the Howling Fjord. If you’re Horde, go to Borean Tundra. The downside to going to what has effectively become the opposing faction’s starting point is that there are a ton of players of the opposite faction. However, there are faction specific quests that you won’t be bothered while doing.
- Mounts - For the quests in which you ride dragons, mount before you get on the dragon. Sometimes, you’ll be mounted on the dragon while mounted on your mount. The result is hilarious.
- Wrathgate - Do it. Best quest in the game. Spoilers here.
- “Future You” Quest - In Dragonblight, you’ll encounter a quest in which you have to place an hourglass that you and your future self have to defend. Before you place the hourglass, take off your gear. Your future you will spawn naked. It’s hilarious to watch him fight dragons.
- Hour of the Worg - Another fantastic quest. When you hit up Grizzly Hills, don’t pass this one up.
- Quest Content - Make sure you read through some of your quests and NPCs’ dialogue. Some nice, well placed gems are hidden there. Worth your time if you’re a lore-fanatic or have a sense of humor.
- Move Quickly - Luckily I’ve prepared ahead of time for Wotlk. All of my work is done ahead of time, so I’ve been steamrolling my way to 80. Granted, I’m not the fastest, but I am moving along nicely without physically draining myself. If you move fast enough, you beat out the 10,999 players to zones, and you can level peacefully.
Ultimately, I’m very pleased with Northrend. Blizzard has really outdone itself this time. Classes aside, I’m in love with the expansion.
Now, I’m back to leveling. I can’t wait for my next 6 levels.
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My favourite NPC so far is Siouxsie the Banshee in the DK starting zone. The quest names hide some great in-jokes/pop culture references too.
This expansion is completely awesome by the way, and on my EU PVP server I’ve only had trouble once - I was apparently doing the same quest as a group of Allys three levels higher than me (killing chimeras) and rather than just accept that there were plenty of them with like a 30 second respawn rate, their party of mage, rogue and bubblerogue felt the need to kill me, one shot me as I res’ed, and then follow me to the neutral flight point after res’ing and gank me *again*, presumably for having the nerve to continue playing. See you at 80, boys.
I have to agree with most of what has been written, I’ve had lots of issues with people taking my quest objectives as well. Don’t even talk to me about dots not tagging, as a druid I’m feeling it too.
And yes, as a Nelf druid, I probably should not have gone Borean tundra but I’m here now…
I have to admit 40 ft Healadin instant judgement range gives me the edge on tagging which helped out tremendously in overcrowded areas. I have seen more than one Warlock beat me to the punch though.
After dinging 80 tonight I can say that on my server Icecrown is starting to get crowded which totally ruins the scenery. However I enjoyed every single quest… except for bugged vehicle quests and the ones related to poo. /facepalm
I would add one more thing to The Good. Last night I caught an undead shadow priest doing a group quest solo and helped him out on the elite. He got the picture and stuck around till it respawned and helped me kill it. Sometimes people can be nice and it really pays off.
warlocks should have some instance cast like mage’s ice lance. i hate it someone else tags my dotted mobs :/ i usually use wand to tag them but it’s not 100% successful.
the thing i hate most is when mobs attack me while i’m mining and some people just come ninja it.
I remember when I hit 79 and there were 6 people total in Icecrown (including my wife and I). Free herbs, no quest competition, nothing. I never even ran in to one of the other 4 people.