Cataclysm Journal 16!

Across the seas, and Feignheart's adventure continues...

The Borean Tundra

After the treacherous venture across the seas of Azeroth, Feigheart finally took his first steps on the continent of Northrend! This happened to be the destination of the Borean Tundra which was in need of help, as stated on the Stormwind 'Hero Board'. So with 'Cold Weather Flying' now under my belt, which allowed me to take to the skies of Northrend, I am set for adventure. My first location was the docking city in the Tundra. Valiance Keep. 

Enlist Here!

Upon arriving at the keep and stepping off the boat, I seemed to get a real refreshing sense. Another change in atmosphere. A new wind. The scene is set in a 'war-effort' mood. With the fortress still being built and people queueing to join the fight ,which as usual, includes you! Quests kick off with helping to defend the keep from ongoing assaults from the Scourge. This includes the infamous - 'Cult of the Damned'. This faction are those who willingly serve to help the scourge and ultimately the Lich King (Mirroring Satanism in a way). Later you also find yourself participating in the torture of one of the members in a feat to gain information. Overall you begin the zone at a nice steady pace.

The actual zone of the Tundra itself is rather strange. At first you think it will be a large icy glacier.  However you then start to see planes of green. Then followed by scourge infected area's and even a Gnome Airstrip, which includes a desert plane!? Here are some shots from the zone: (Click to enlarge)

Gnome Airstrip

The Icy Shores

Deserts?!

Scourge City

The Nexus

Talking about the zone and its mixed environments. There also happened to be an entire sub-zone. Only small mind you. Though enough to set it apart from the rest. Coldarra. An area revolved and held by the Blue Dragonflight, who are fearsome foes to contend with. I experienced this first hand when I was taken out of the sky by one of the soaring dragons, which lead me to fall to my eventual death. I say eventual, because this was from some considerable height. Anyway, this whole zone circled around the instances, one of which called The Nexus. I took two dungeon runs in here to complete all the quests I had gathered, and they proved to be quite a blast. However. The most astonishing thing to me was.. Dungeon Maps are back! This was due to the fact that Outland lacked the feature.

Saving (Murloc) Babies is What We Do!

While travelling around the lands, I encountered some other new or unexpected factions. Firstly I came across a small pack of Walrus-like creatures, which gave me a nice handful of quests including one which directed me to Dragonblight. Then.. Then came.. THE MURLOCS! Surprisingly this time your fighting alongside them! I become one of them! One of the tribe. Just epic. This sent me along to go save some Murloc babies and princesses. Which is all just in the day of Feignhearts adventures!

Thassarian

Moving on. Now to a rather compelling piece of the story alongside some interesting quest lines. These primarily revolve around a character named Thassarian. The first mention of Death Knights, of which he happens to be. Sadly this was all very short, but ended with quite a scene which really got the story to grab again. One of which I struggled quite hard to solo (As it was a group quest), though I did get there in the end. This also became Feignhearts first sighting of.. The Lich King!


Time for a Hunter Update. 


The usual happened as I completed my first few quests in Northrend. My gear was almost all replaced by greens. Nothing I wasn't expecting there. That's nothing though. Two amazing new changes have occurred in the latest patch. Firstly. Darkflight now stacks with other speed enhancements (Which includes Aspect of the Cheetah!). Now if that wasn't amazing enough, you can now Shoot while on the move! Okay. The second isn't a major change, but its big enough for me, as it just gives the hunter such a better feel to it! Now to implement mounted attacks...

Talent Party:

• Rapid Killing - A very nice ability (Similar to a warriors victory rush) which increases damage with certain abilities after killing anything which yields XP/Honour.
• Charge (Pet) - Allows your pet to charge enemy's
• Wild Hunt (Pet) - Allows your pets to deal extra damage when over a specific amount of focus. Really cool for 'burst' damage!
• Call of the Wild (Pet) - A shout which increases Attack Power.
• Rabid (Pet) - An attack power increase buff which stacks. Another form of Beastial Wrath for your pet.

All of this has proved to be a huge DPS increase throughout, not to mention faster speed in kill-rate! This includes better, pet, threat generation. Also I have now branched into the Marksman Talent Tree, with the acquirement of Rapid Killing.

Feignhearts latest weapon!

Last but not least, a little thought of how I feel the new continent has been so far. Mainly in comparison to Outlands. To begin, the quest-lines are a lot broader and quite a bit more meaningful which include an option of where to head first. Even though they all come together at some point, there seems to be a nice balance between diversity, and a linear story line. So far, so good.


1000 Quests now completed! Some Murloc Babies saved. Wolf faeces searched (For a quest of course..). All gaining me my first honoured WotLK Faction, which happened to be 'The Valiance Expedition', and leaving Feignheart and myself at the level 72!


Thanks for reading!

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- Jamin

(P.S. Check out my latest TimeWastedTuesday post - Topic Shuffle) 

 

 

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