Some gameplay spoilers in here - no story spoilers.
Something is troubling me. I feel like all of the supposition of the plot by streamers is going to turn out way more interesting than the actual Shadowlands plot. I feel like the Blizzard version is going to neuter all of the nuance of the relationship between the Jailer, Maw, Shadowlands, and covenants.
I guess I should spoiler this?
One hint of this is the capture of not just 1 or a few of WoW main characters but practically all of them. It just seems like a cheap "lets all come together in one big happy family" I am hoping for more than the Jailer is trying to break free of the Maw or wherever so that his
burning legionarmy can take over the plane of life. We have to stop him and restore order between the gods/planes. There are hints of Jailer agents in every faction. I fear Blizz will just let that go with no fulfillment to the dismay of players. WoW expansions should be so much more than monster of the week.
The theory crafting of what Sylvanas is doing is far more interesting than that. There is potential for a lot of gray while still retaining her villain status whether she gets redeemed or not. That isn't a spoiler as I have seen nothing yeah or nay on a redemption arc.
I remember how much some people whined when BC came out.
"All of my raid gear is worthless!!" *Cries*
Those people were morons. The greens in Hellfire Peninsula alone (as the first zone) were so much better than like even T2 gear, it was ridiculous. That and, as a holy priest main back then, I finally had stamina on my gear, it was awesome. 
Something is troubling me. I feel like all of the supposition of the plot by streamers is going to turn out way more interesting than the actual Shadowlands plot. I feel like the Blizzard version is going to neuter all of the nuance of the relationship between the Jailer, Maw, Shadowlands, and covenants.
I guess I should spoiler this?
Spoiler:One hint of this is the capture of not just 1 or a few of WoW main characters but practically all of them. It just seems like a cheap "lets all come together in one big happy family" I am hoping for more than the Jailer is trying to break free of the Maw or wherever so that his
burning legionarmy can take over the plane of life. We have to stop him and restore order between the gods/planes. There are hints of Jailer agents in every faction. I fear Blizz will just let that go with no fulfillment to the dismay of players. WoW expansions should be so much more than monster of the week.The theory crafting of what Sylvanas is doing is far more interesting than that. There is potential for a lot of gray while still retaining her villain status whether she gets redeemed or not. That isn't a spoiler as I have seen nothing yeah or nay on a redemption arc.
Spoilering just in case, but this is all speculation from me:
Honestly, just given what I've seen just from leveling, I suspect this is going to be less "just return it back to the status quo" and more "we're going to end up radically reshaping the Shadowlands going forward". Heck, the first raid's final boss is one of the Ancient Ones.
Like, I dunno what the Jailer's "crime" was that sentenced him to the Maw... but I suspect he will probably become a much more sympathetic figure as time goes on and we may end up with more of a Blank Panther situation than anything else.
I actually suspect our real final villain, in spite of what Blizzard is saying, is probably actually going to be Sylvanas and it's going to be on the Arbiter's platform.
Good to know.
Now, should I work on getting more alts to 50 since the D3 servers are getting wrecked? Decisions...
Good to know.
Now, should I work on getting more alts to 50 since the D3 servers are getting wrecked? Decisions...
Quote from one of the devs during an interview today kind of makes me think I might be right too...
Johnny Cash: The Jailer is absolutely one of the primary antagonists of the expansion. He is a significant person we’re going to have to deal with at some point, right. But as far as how that story all comes together, who’s X boss in Y raid, that’s something I don’t want to spoil because I think all the fun is getting there.
One of? So, multiple antagonists makes sense, we've got several tiers of raiding to get through... but rather than hyping him as the big bad, they take a step back to talk about how there will be multiple... that makes me think this expansion is not going to end with him being the final boss.
fangblackbone wrote:Good to know.
Now, should I work on getting more alts to 50 since the D3 servers are getting wrecked? Decisions...Quote from one of the devs during an interview today kind of makes me think I might be right too...
Spoiler:Johnny Cash: The Jailer is absolutely one of the primary antagonists of the expansion. He is a significant person we’re going to have to deal with at some point, right. But as far as how that story all comes together, who’s X boss in Y raid, that’s something I don’t want to spoil because I think all the fun is getting there.
One of? So, multiple antagonists makes sense, we've got several tiers of raiding to get through... but rather than hyping him as the big bad, they take a step back to talk about how there will be multiple... that makes me think this expansion is not going to end with him being the final boss.
Maybe they will do something similar to what they did as Azshara/N'Zoth
3 pm pacific today...
Only 9 more hours!
I'm glad I got my hunter to 50 
(definitely going to be my "main", for this week/day at least, heh)
Also of note for those worrying about being under geared: you can enter the shadowlands at level 48 if that is any indication.
3 pm pacific today...
Ah damn, I could've sworn I read 3PM ET when I looked at the release schedule last week, but yup, you're right.
So speaking of the impending release... any chance of getting a quick show of thumbs for who plans to be Shadowlanding today?
*thumb*
*thumbs down*
I'll probably log in to start the rest bonus clock, but I tend to peace out of the expansions for a couple or three days because I hate crowds and as y'all probably know I never take a break from this dopey game. I'm in it for the long haul, so I'm not pushing to hit 60 before T-giving dinner.
Because people are wondering about gearing (and so am I), Wowhead published something today about gearing. Here's the iLvl of what will drop once you hit lvl 60, which apparently will come quickly. All of this stuff is available in Week 1 (i.e. starting tonight)
World Quests: i145+
Profession Crafting: i151-164
Normal Dungeons: i158
PvP Honor Gear (1-3): i158-171 Week 1
Faction Reputation: i164-200 (starting at honored)
Heroic Dungeons: i171
Mythic Dungeons: i184
I don't know what quest gear will look like. Somewhere over i100, I guess, and it'll get better the closer you get to 60.
The TL,DR is that we'll gear up pretty quickly. If you do nothing but world quests, you'll replace (and significantly upgrade) your BFA gear this week, next week at the latest.
Yup thumbs
Yep. Hyped. Wish I could take the day off tomorrow, but alas not.
Thumbs unless it's unplayable
If anyone needs to catch up on what's going on:
Sigh. Maybe I’m doing it wrong but leveling in 40s is sllowww. Thought I’d be able to go from 45-50 in an evening but it was taking me almost an hour to hit 46-47.
Oh well - I’m too lazy to pay to transfer my 50s to my new server so I guess I’ll be a day or so behind. On the plus side, I’ll miss some of the rush.
Sigh. Maybe I’m doing it wrong but leveling in 40s is sllowww. Thought I’d be able to go from 45-50 in an evening but it was taking me almost an hour to hit 46-47.
Oh well - I’m too lazy to pay to transfer my 50s to my new server so I guess I’ll be a day or so behind. On the plus side, I’ll miss some of the rush.
I felt it was a little slower, but as long as you were Chromie timing or whatever, it should still be pretty quick. I think I hit 50 on 3 characters during my jump back in last month.
Sigh. Maybe I’m doing it wrong but leveling in 40s is sllowww. Thought I’d be able to go from 45-50 in an evening but it was taking me almost an hour to hit 46-47.
It is slower. On my last 2 characters it was taking 1 hour per level at least passed level 45.
It is why my warrior is parked at 48 and going to level in the expansion.
The same goes with my 38 or 39 warlock and every alt thereafter.
As much as people were claiming 6-8 hour 10-50 times some weeks back, I have yet to break 20 with 2 out of 3 taking 23 hours. Not really anything to complain about considering what it was. But for someone (yours truly) who had high hopes of going crazy with alts hitting 50, those dreams are dashed. I will definitely get 1 of each to 50, but 1 of each horde and alliance is out the door. And multiples of hunters, shaman, warriors, DKs or priests is way not gonna happen.
Things might change down the line as I might be willing to risk war mode (for up to +25% xp). For now I am not risking it and I don't have the funds or the time for the enchants that have you one shotting things up to your 40s.
War Mode + Warlords of Draenor is leveling me pretty quickly, much faster than pre-squish, but not the 6-8 hour speedrun timeline
Thumbs unless it's unplayable
Don't you put that evil on us, Ricky Bobby
Draenor is good burst for the first 2 zones (shadowmoon valley or whatever and gorgorond) but after that it stalls like all the others unless I am missing something. Nagrand isn't as good, nor is Taladoor.
Draenor is good burst for the first 2 zones (shadowmoon valley or whatever and gorgorond) but after that it stalls like all the others unless I am missing something. Nagrand isn't as good, nor is Taladoor.
I found the middle zone with Shattrath was pretty good. I was usually most of the way to 30 by then, so it was faster then.
fangblackbone wrote:Draenor is good burst for the first 2 zones (shadowmoon valley or whatever and gorgorond) but after that it stalls like all the others unless I am missing something. Nagrand isn't as good, nor is Taladoor.
I found the middle zone with Shattrath was pretty good. I was usually most of the way to 30 by then, so it was faster then.
Huh. I'm at 31 on my Death Knight and still haven't finished Shadowmoon.
jdzappa wrote:Sigh. Maybe I’m doing it wrong but leveling in 40s is sllowww. Thought I’d be able to go from 45-50 in an evening but it was taking me almost an hour to hit 46-47.
Oh well - I’m too lazy to pay to transfer my 50s to my new server so I guess I’ll be a day or so behind. On the plus side, I’ll miss some of the rush.
I felt it was a little slower, but as long as you were Chromie timing or whatever, it should still be pretty quick. I think I hit 50 on 3 characters during my jump back in last month.
I’m doing BFA so maybe that’s part of the issue. But it’s good to hear others are having similar issues. I made the mistake of starting over too late because I fell into the “it only takes 10 hours to level” trap. Well on the plus side I’ll miss the stampede into Shadowlands so maybe it works out.
lunchbox12682 wrote:fangblackbone wrote:Draenor is good burst for the first 2 zones (shadowmoon valley or whatever and gorgorond) but after that it stalls like all the others unless I am missing something. Nagrand isn't as good, nor is Taladoor.
I found the middle zone with Shattrath was pretty good. I was usually most of the way to 30 by then, so it was faster then.
Huh. I'm at 31 on my Death Knight and still haven't finished Shadowmoon.
I was in frostfire, so maybe it's different or I am misremembering.
So speaking of the impending release... any chance of getting a quick show of thumbs for who plans to be Shadowlanding today?
Just purchased the expansion, so I guess that’s a thumbs up for me.
Been makin goblin gliders and selling on AH. As soon as I put them up they r gone. Made around 5k in a few min today,
Been makin goblin gliders and selling on AH. As soon as I put them up they r gone. Made around 5k in a few min today,
That's good goblin-ing. Wish I had thought of that.
I've been doing pretty well in the last few months w hexweave bags but I don't consistently see sales prices above 1K, so they've just continued to pile up. I'm guessing people are looking for the Deep Sea bags because that's current content for another 45 mins?
The good news for all y'all who are short on bag space: the base model in SL is 32 slots, and it doesn't appear to take much in the way in mats (15 silk via drops plus 25 thread from vendors). The interesting thing about that bag is that each thread costs 4-5 gold, so you're looking at 100+ gold just to craft. I wonder what the markup will be.
And I log off from work early to find I can’t log in. Of course.
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