This night at about 2 am I completed this map. This is by far my favorite map from Northrend. I collected so many herbs that I can`t even count, the quests are very funny and the scenery is beautiful.
Obviously you`ll find many beats here along with the great hunter Hemet Nesingwary. For the first time ever he`ll actually do some hunting, instead of sitting in his camp bossing you around.
Done with Grizzly Hills too. Pretty easy map with a smaller number of quests to complete for the Achievement “Fo’ Grizzle my Shizzle” (Snoop Dogg anyone?), only 85. In case anyone is wondering, the blue question marked quests (PvP) can be skipped and you still have about 90-92 quests to do. I didn`t do the PvP quests, I`ll probably complete them at 80 for more gold.
Grizzly Hills is a nice forest filled with wildlife, giants, dwarves, the vrykul people and trolls. I didn`t find anything special on this map but I did like the Silverbrook story (they hide a dark secret) and the daily quest that involves burning mindless troll zombies at Drak’Tharon.
First quest hub: Wintergarde Keep. I was thinking to myself “Oh crap undeads again”. I don`t want to give any spoilers but from the Keep you`ll start one of the best chains in World of Warcraft which ends with the achievement “Veteran of the Dragonblight”. At a certain point you`ll see the best cinematic ever, it gave me goosebumps. Lore addicts must not miss this chain.
“Please don`t kill me, I`m scared!”
I chose this map to start my adventure in Northrend because…well because I took the boat from Menethil and that`s where it took me. I`m glad I started with this map. I like the bloodthirsty vikings, the large forest, the pirates. The maps in Northrend sure are huge compared to Outlands, both in width and in depth, you go in all sorts of caves, temples, crypts, hollows, etc.
Utgarde Keep is nice and easy. I also did the Nexus (nice music in there, Trance-like) and both spider instances. The feeling of large spaces is in there too, especially in Ahn’Kahet the Old Kingdom. Azjol’Nerb is very short and fast.
So, Lich King has hit and it’s wonderful. We all love it and it’s improved the content Blizzard has given us so far but 100% - that is fine to say for those of us who are there and are enjoying the cold reaches of Arthas’ domain, but what of those who haven’t?
After TBC hit we saw a massive influx of people to Hellfire Peninsula, abandoning their posts in Azeroth to go on a killing spree looking for some old Night Elf Daemon Hunter. The dark portal flooded with bodies intermingled with each other; both Alliance and Horde who all wanted to go and see the new realm of Draenor.
Yes, there were hitches but it gave a good standing for the upcoming 1.5 years, which for me included some of the best raiding experience I have ever had with my Alonsopolitan guild.
No one I know in game can deny TBC gave us some excellent content free from skill level. The fight with Moroes was every bit as challenging and fun as the Kael’Thas fight when you were at equal gear level to the fight. However, never did I hear someone begging to go raid MC or Naxx. With the latter returning will we see that feeling emerge in raiders, or will as has been the case previously dungeons only be wanted in the case that you can level cooking there or there is some rare quest.
At the time of writing this I am sitting in Felwood herbing while my guild emerges into Northern Azeroth, describing how good LK is to those of us who can’t be there (due to Amazon’s lack of deliveries to Glasgow.) And I wonder, will TBC be ignored now? We have no use for Shattrath and there is no gear to be found that can match the lowest blues from level 80.
I myself will miss certain encounters from this period and believe we should not be so quick to abandon the place that gave use days’ worth of fun and IMO love in the way it helped us to our place in raiding!
TBC should not be forgotten and it is up to those who loved it to not let it be trodden upon by Blizz and Northrend. I say this while being abandoned in EK due to a significant lack of Expansions within my house, but will my tune change in a few days time? It probably will, but I like to think some of us will care for TBC that little bit more than LK, after all… it was the second place we ever dinged full level, let’s just hope being the best for a third time doesn’t get old!
