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Warcraft Wednesday: Wandering Into Wrath

Yes, I know it’s late.  Quiet, you.

World of Warcraft’s second expansion launched last week.  I’ve been enjoying the edges of it very much.  i say the edges just because I don’t have unlimited time to spend playing, so my brother and I have been playing in little chunks at a time.  I just wanted to give my initial impressions of the expansion.

I don’t know if it’s because I started playing World of Warcraft after the Burning Crusade expansion was added, but this is the most excited for game content that I’ve been since I started.  Just stepping off the boat into the Howling Fjord zone gave the impression that Northrend, on the whole, was huge.  It feels like much more of a third continent (as it’s intended) than Outlands ever did.

Speaking of the Howling Fjord, the background music that plays every so often is terrific.  It really fits the mood and setting of the zone.  That’s been the best so far, but the other zones I’ve visited have had terrific music as well.

I’m not sure how the level 80 stuff is going to go, since there hasn’t been level 80 people long enough to set a routine.  I know at level 70 in the Burning Crusade we spent a ton of time in Shattrath.  I’m not sure if Blizzard has intended for Dalaran to be the same way, but I’ll have to wait until I reach 80 to be sure.

The vrykul are a cool enemy to be the main storyline in Wrath, and the lore for their background is well written.  As for the Lich King, he seems to be interwoven with almost every storyline in the continent, which is great.  Illidan never seemed to be that involved in the Burning Crusade stuff, but maybe that’s just me.

As for the other big addition to the game, the death knight, I’ve gotten one through the introduction storyline.  It was awesome.  I may be a little biased, as a big part of the reason I play the game is the depth of story and lore that Blizzard has created for it.  It really felt like I was working for the Lich King (who is present in person, I might add), and the final denouement to the story was epic, and I refuse to ruin it for those people who might actually want to experience it.

So far so good – I’m having a hell of a good time exploring the new content.  If this is an example of what Blizzard can do, I hope they keep updating this game in the future.