Sizzle and Burn

Since the Shattering, the world has taken on life anew.

Certainly, there are some areas that have been torn apart, some areas that require healing and time. Some settlements are lost forever, but others have sprung up, instead.

I've been enjoying (slowly) working through the new quests in certain zones. My first priority was flight points in Eastern Kingdoms (it was a random sort of priority, because I was so overwhelmed with the possibilities, and I wound up latching on to the flight points). My second priority was the new pets. While that was fun, it was rather disjointed because it wasn't like I was gathering pets in the natural course of things - I had to go out of my way to complete the various tasks each pet would require, and none of them had anything to do with the others. So I was doing quests "out of order" as it were. I've probably missed out on some serious story telling, but I intend to make it up. Eventually.

Finally, I decided to start with the story line questing. Most of my friends were working on Westfall, but had begun without me. Rather than just lag along behind them, I decided to start somewhere else entirely.

I went to Loch Modan.

And was promptly bored out of my mind. I really didn't find the Loch the least bit compelling. Yes, it's had changes, yes, the water's gone. But that's really all it amounts to. I did see my first foxes here, though, and they're cuter than the ones I dealt with elsewhere.

Instead of continuing on (which might have been a mistake, but I'll find out later, won't I?), I decided to head over to Darkshore. And there, my heart was stolen.

I found the quests, the stories, the damage and the efforts to repair said damage to be engaging. I recognized some NPCs, mourned others. The Buzzbox quests had an update that made them feel like they mattered, rather than like a pointless joke at the expense of a pointless race (gnomes, I refer to gnomes as the used to be). I had a purpose, and I saw that my efforts had an effect upon the world around me (phasing used well, huzzah!).

Next I moved on to Ashenvale. There were a few odd things, but for the most part, Ashenvale was a suitable continuation of the Darkshore tale. I did get one odd quest while in Ashenvale to head over to Stonetalon Mountains with a Gnomecorder. You get a buff while doing the quest, and I seemed to be stuck with the buff even after handing it in. When I mentioned this to a friend, she laughingly suggested that Deathwing might be able to help me with my buff problem. Since she'd already gotten her Achievement, I think she was able to find it more amusing than I could... though I did like the idea. ;)

I finished up Ashenvale... then realized I was 3 quests short of the Achievement for the zone. Had to look up quests on Wowhead, and some jerk had labeled a bunch of quests with Druid (and a few other classes, randomly) and Hunter (with a few other classes, randomly) depending on faction. Once I figured out that that was a load of bull, I located a quest chain and was able to wrap Ashenvale up.

Finally, I reached Stonetalon Mountains. The quests there were generally entertaining, although one was completely bugged out. Those few quests I was able to accomplish seemed in keeping with the story being told, but were ultimately not particularly memorable.

In light of...

THE BUNINATION.

 

I died. I also got an Achievement! YAY!

 

What was I saying around this time? I was foretelling the future. Someone didn't take me very seriously... but I showed him. ;)

 

Here's more of him, at a slightly better angle. He's big. And he doesn't seem to stop to inhale.

Ah, ah, he's nearly gone...

 There he goes!

And here's what he's left behind for us. Fire, and a dead gnome.

Fire, a dead gnome, and ... wait, did the Innkeeper survive? HAX!

I'm having an out of body experience.

My shoulderpads do not taste good. In case anyone wondered.

Hmm, the fires have died down...

All that remains is smoke, dwindling cinders, and the skeleton of a gnome.

So that was my first ever Deathwing experience. It was kind of exciting, watching the already orange world turn rosy pink. Stonetalon will forever be my Deathwing zone. ^_^