WoW: Battle for Azeroth (8.3)

Just propaganda from the alliance. There is no proof that I murdered a city yesterday.
What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening!
Make Azeroth Great Again.

Sadly Blizzard wont have a peaceful leaders for long. They really believe (maybe correctly) that most people still see WoW as "alliance vs horde" - no matter how little sense it makes storywise anymore.
Though if they wanted things morally grey, maybe it is time for the alliance to be the aggressors at some point. Maybe Greymane could stage a coup against the boy king.

Given the protean nature of wow lore I think give it a month or so.

Nah it seems like they are stuck with the idea that Jaina is the bad guy or usurper.
Poor, poor Jaina. What have they done to you over the years?

Jaina and Sylvanas (and Maev Stormshadow) were my favorite characters in WC 3.

I guess I don’t understand the moaning and complaining about “balance” and “nuance” when it comes to Horde vs Alliance. Sylvanas makes for an interesting villain and I think the Horde should definitely lean in to being the baddies. Better yet, give her a Tywin Lannister flair and have her outwitting the honor bound goody goody Alliance at every turn.

Speaking of BFA prep, how much time will it take for a fresh 110 to to Sageras and Antorus LFR? I don’t care about gear - I just want to see the story before going into the new expansion.

Fresh as in you lvl'ed to 110 or fresh you bossted to 110?

If lvl'ed I would say a play session or two. The Darkshore world quests would get you the gear or most of it easily.

If boosted you should be able to do that stuff immediately.

You need 184 ilvl for Antorus

20 hours?
I'm not an expert but that is how long it took me to get my rogue's gear score to the 950's before 8.0
I think that was raid (LFR) ready. I have no idea what that translates to after the stat squish.

Medmey wrote:

Fresh as in you lvl'ed to 110 or fresh you bossted to 110?

If lvl'ed I would say a play session or two. The Darkshore world quests would get you the gear or most of it easily.

If boosted you should be able to do that stuff immediately.

You need 184 ilvl for Antorus

Leveled - good to know that I can catch up relatively easy.

So I've been pretty much gone all summer. Just logged in to check out the 8.0 changes. My Artifact screen is saying its power has already been drained into Sargeras's sword. I remember reading about that quest existing, but I never did it. Was it only there for a short period of time? I thought it would at least stick around until the expansion proper dropped. Have I missed anything else?

Class spec changes and the start of the Burning of Teldrassil pre-patch event. Week two of it will start tomorrow followed by Siege of Undercity week after.

Do I need to finish this week's stuff tonight or will it still be there tomorrow?

I think you can hop into the pre-patch stuff at any time. However, if you want gear, do it asap. There are daily quests (of course) in Darkshore that you unlock after doing the pre-patch quests.

The Week 1 quest line took, oh, maybe an hour. The gear I got from the dailies is i210, which, after the stat squish, was still good for a couple of upgrades for my main (who clocked in at i939 pre-squish).

If anyone has a good guide as to the revamped iLvls, please link. I accidentally ended up with a whole pile of Spirit Dust that no one in their right mind needs.

Battle for Azeroth Item Levels
Instance LFR Normal Heroic Mythic
Emerald Nightmare 162 168 174 180
Trial of Valor 166 172 178 184
Trial of Valor - Helya 168 174 180 186
Nighthold - Early 170 176 182 188
Nighthold - Middle 172 178 184 190
Nighthold - Gul'dan 174 180 186 192
Tomb of Sargeras 182 188 195 210
Sargeras - Kil'Jaeden 186 192 205 220
Antorus 195 210 225 240
Antorus - Argus 205 220 235 250

Link easier to read

Basically the WQ gear is normal Antorus level, so pretty good for upgrading.

I have been leveling my Druid and Hunter some.
Bear form is amazing in the mid levels.
Balance is simple button mashing for dungeons.
She is 65.5 now so I hope in a few levels that Kharazan trick still works.
I have to admit that while the questing is a bland way to pass the time
while queuing for dungeons, the dungeons are pretty fun.

My newly 60 survival hunter is a lot of fun. I was bummed I had to fly
all the way to Stormwind to buy the ability to fly. The Darnassus trainer
did not have flying available

What's the state of the GWJ guild on Blackhand? Active? I'm looking for a guild to link up with for the new expansion.

the_poison_king wrote:

What's the state of the GWJ guild on Blackhand? Active? I'm looking for a guild to link up with for the new expansion.

It’s not terribly active now, I typically only see one or two other people on, but it’s also late in the expansion cycle. When a new expansion drops it’s not unusual for 20-30 people to be on for the first month or two. We’re a pretty casual guild, tho. If you want to get into regular raiding you might want to find a formal raiding guild.

ruhk wrote:
the_poison_king wrote:

What's the state of the GWJ guild on Blackhand? Active? I'm looking for a guild to link up with for the new expansion.

It’s not terribly active now, I typically only see one or two other people on, but it’s also late in the expansion cycle. When a new expansion drops it’s not unusual for 20-30 people to be on for the first month or two. We’re a pretty casual guild, tho. If you want to get into regular raiding you might want to find a formal raiding guild.

TL,DR: GWJ Alliance is social-only these days. We have all of the guild perks, such as they are, but it's mostly just a fine place to be. If you want an invite, track me down in game. Jorrn is my main; I'm spending a lot of time on an alt (Brewmanchu) because who knew that leveling inscription was such a pain in my damn ass?!

If you're looking to raid, Blackhand has plenty of options. Rapture is a guild that includes a few GWJ folks who do raid. Reap and Keldar here can tell you more.

If I did the pre-req quest can I still do the other quests to get upgraded armor and weapons? I finished the first part of Thorns quest last night but it ended suddenly and I didn’t get any more quests from that chain. I didn’t know to head to dark lands for the dailies but obviously will have to now.

whispa wrote:

If I did the pre-req quest can I still do the other quests to get upgraded armor and weapons? I finished the first part of Thorns quest last night but it ended suddenly and I didn’t get any more quests from that chain. I didn’t know to head to dark lands for the dailies but obviously will have to now.

The dailies should be there. They'll show up in the in-game map. I don't recall any bread crumbs that led to them. The story quest just ended, and I knew to look for the dailies.

Part 2 of the story quest (aka War of the Thorns) should be live today. Reports say there's a mount at the end of it.

Are there no more quests this precursor quests this week?
They were having login troubles this morning so I was only
able to check on my Horde DK. Darkshore seemed opened
up more to Horde exploration but there seemed to be no
story quests. At least in Darkshore there weren't any.

fangblackbone wrote:

Are there no more quests this precursor quests this week?
They were having login troubles this morning so I was only
able to check on my Horde DK. Darkshore seemed opened
up more to Horde exploration but there seemed to be no
story quests. At least in Darkshore there weren't any.

I was able to finish it and get the mount (you only need to do on one character, you unlock both faction's mount at the end of either sides' story), for both sides it seems you need to enter the zone for the quest to appear, I'm not sure it will appear if you log straight into the zone. When I hearthed out to Dalaran and came back in I got the quest from Saurfang when I entered the zone, it takes maybe 20 minutes at most on horde side, and again you get both the horde and alliance mount at the end of the quest. If you have the opportunity and are only doing the story quests for the mount I would do horde side, it's shorter, almost the same as ally side in regards to npc interaction, you just miss out on story stuff on ally side. Maybe instead of ~6 quests on Horde side you are closer to 10 on ally side. If you do ally side there will be a quest that seems impossible to complete, but just do what you can and it will be completed in the 3 minute timer you're given, regardless of progress.

Well, that was dark... I'm really excited to see what happens with the lore throughout BfA.

Spoiler:

I've got to imagine groups within the horde rebel against Sylvanas at some point in BfA.

Oh you, Sylvanas

Spoiler:

A Forsaken civil war could be interesting.

I just hope they dont go for Sylvanas being pure evil/old god influenced. Nor going for 'she was just a misunderstood savior all along - that tree was totally an agent of the old gods, thank you Sylv!' (which to be fair, as far as I recall, it was).
Go for desperation or something, driven to stupid actions that will only hurt herself and the Forsaken, due to fear of losing control of her people.
The Sylvanas video just makes her seem like someone who enjoys being an evil jerk when anyone dares to speak back to her. We already have seen that story elsewhere very very recently...

Shadout wrote:

Oh you, Sylvanas

Spoiler:

A Forsaken civil war could be interesting.

I just hope they dont go for Sylvanas being pure evil/old god influenced. Nor going for 'she was just a misunderstood savior all along - that tree was totally an agent of the old gods, thank you Sylv!' (which to be fair, as far as I recall, it was).
Go for desperation or something, driven to stupid actions that will only hurt herself and the Forsaken, due to fear of losing control of her people.
The Sylvanas video just makes her seem like someone who enjoys being an evil jerk when anyone dares to speak back to her. We already have seen that story elsewhere very very recently...

Spoiler:

I haven't played through the quest line yet, but the Warbringers video portrays her as as much damaged as evil: Someone who has been hurt/broken so badly she wants to break the world right back.

Spoiler:

Dont think Arthas breaking her is a good reason for her current behavior considering how far back that is, and her whole story so far seems to have been coming back from the state she was in, in Warcraft 3. At least something new would have had to trigger falling back into that state.
She has always been extreme, but it felt like it was to strengthen the Forsaken (kill humans with plague/figure out how to make herself even more immortal and what not. Whereas this mostly seems suicidal/burn the whole world. I dont think you can even make Night Elves undead in the lore? (I would reroll an Undead Wisp allied race!)
Haven't read the new pre-BfA book, but supposedly there is a lot of Forsaken stuff in it, where it does sound like she is losing control of them, which seems like something that completely could break her - and tie back to Arthas and all that, since the Forsaken always seemed like her self-help project to move beyond what happened. But hopefully it is shown outside that book too if internal Forsaken problems is what they go for.

Overall just hoping for some decent story developments in BfA, as I am looking forward to it, but very much despite the whole horde vs alliance thing, which never seems to go anywhere good, when they have to shoehorn in the sudden need for all out war between people who just worked together against 'Greatest Evil Ever 5.0'.

re: pre-BfA book (no big book spoilers, but tagging anyways):

Spoiler:

I'm about half way through it and yes, lots of Forsaken, especially Sylvanas. I wouldn't be surprised if they're setting up a civil war.

The silly thing is that the Lich King is still around. She could just go to the Lich King for more powers or a way to make more forsaken without a new scourge or killing people.
I guess that is a route they could go for a Forsaken civil war. A faction of the Forsaken break off and ally with the Lich King against Sylvanas.

All this drama with Sylvanas. I guess you can't help but delve into soap opera plot when you've had a ongoing, active character that has been around for almost 15 years.

Sylvanas = undead
Alleria = Void
So what does Vareesa become? Fel?

I am just hoping that next week with the Siege of Lordaeron Sylvie changes direction some. That one scene during the BfA launch trailer where she looks around the battlefield sees the carnage and lets out a, "FOR THE HORDE!" which rallies the troops gives me hope that is a turning point for her. That scene always gives me little goosebumps as a horde lifer.

There are plenty of fuming people on the web about the darkness and how evil it looks and possible re-hash Garrosh 2.0. Blizzard has stated that it should be more grey than black and white. There are plenty of reasons for Sylvanas to attack first coming out of Legion with some Alliance leaders wanting to end the Horde so it makes sense. Hopefully we get some plot twists cause so far it is all Horde is evil and alliance are great heros.

Medmey wrote:

I am just hoping that next week with the Siege of Lordaeron Sylvie changes direction some. That one scene during the BfA launch trailer where she looks around the battlefield sees the carnage and lets out a, "FOR THE HORDE!" which rallies the troops gives me hope that is a turning point for her. That scene always gives me little goosebumps as a horde lifer.

I've re-watched the banshee scream scene more than a few times. I've never played horde, but damn that's a great moment - executed perfectly by the folks who made that trailer.

My guild switched to horde for this expac, and honestly, after dealing with Alliance cities for the last decade or so, I wouldn't complain too much if the Undercity was blown up completely and rebuilt.

Or the middle part of Ogrimmar.

cube wrote:

My guild switched to horde for this expac, and honestly, after dealing with Alliance cities for the last decade or so, I wouldn't complain too much if the Undercity was blown up completely and rebuilt.

Or the middle part of Ogrimmar.

When it comes to Horde cities just remember: the Tauren are your friend. Once you know your way around Thunder Bluff, everything is all close and convenient (it does take a while to get used to though). And the Tauren district of Orgrimar is the easiest to deal with as well.