Level 11: Monday, February 7, 2011

No level gain due to boneless barbecue wings at Sunday night's Super Bowl party. I did do my workout, however. No regrets.

True to its Night Elf roots, the capital city of Darnassus is built into a large forest, with many of the major buildings carved directly into trees, like the bank.

Even the city guards are trees.

The Temple of the Moon houses the High Priestess, Tyrande Whisperwind.

Level 11: Sunday, February 6, 2011

When we last left our Worgen friend, we had just witnessed the destruction of Duskhaven due to the COMBO of Deathwing's emergence from the earth, and a barrage of fire from Forsaken gunships. After a few quests where you salvage supplies from the flood, and save drowning villagers, you move onto the village of Stormglen, on higher ground and farther away from the coast.

There, we find out the next part of the escape plan. All of the survivors will make for King Greymane's manor, located high in the mountains overlooking Gilneas, and safe from the floodwaters.

Once you arrive, you meet with Gilneas in his observatory as he looks out on the wreckage, and sees that the survivors are still threated by the range of the Forsaken ships' guns. He calls for another evacuation, much further inland to the forest of Blackwald.

In the forest, the survivors meet up with some Night Elves, who give them the backstory on the original Worgen that were summoned to help fight off the Forsaken. This is all a little Poochified, but as it turns out, they were originally druids who couldn't maintain the balance between their human and beast forms and were banished to sleep under the tree in the forest, but not before their curse began to spread. Then they give you some potion that lets you control your shapeshifting. At this point, that racist Gilnean Godfrey shows up and gives you a little attitude, but King Greymane shows up shortly afterwards and reveals SWERVE that he's been affected by the curse as well. Godfrey isn't happy, and puts in motion a plan to take control. He secretly kidnaps Greymane, hoping to hand him over to the Forsaken in exchange for mercy for the rest of the pure Gilneans. You thwart his plan, however, and save Greymane, and Godfrey, unwilling to serve a "tainted" ruler hurls himself off a cliff.

Not MY lycanthropic ruler

That ends his portion of the story in the Worgen starting area, but if you play as a Forsaken, you discover that they raise his corpse from death and turn him against the Worgen. Meanwhile, the Worgen, rallying behind the rescued Greymane, and invigorated by finally overcoming the curse, appear to be ready to take back Gilneas. However, Greymane's son, Liam, is killed by Sylvanas Windrunner during the battle. Following her, you discover that she has countless batches of the Forsaken plague ready to level Gilneas to the ground. Greymane has a choice: avenge his son, or save his people. He chooses to honor Liam's memory by evacuating the Gilneans that he fought to protect, and after a series of quests that has you slow down the advancing Forsaken, Night Elves from Darnassus arrive to ferry you across the sea to safety, with promises that you will return to Gilneas, backed by the full forces of the Alliance.

This marks the end of the Worgen starting experience. When the player regains control, they are in the Night Elf capital city of Darnassus.

Level 10: Saturday, February 5, 2011

Once you hit Level 10, your character immediately receives its first talent point. These are spent in talent trees, of which each class has three.

Each tree provides the character with unique abilities. Paladins, for example, can put their points into Holy, Protection, or Retribution. The Holy tree contains options that boost healing spells and provide greater flexibility for healers. Paladins that put their points into the Protection tree are rewarded with more health, and more abilities that allow them to serve as tanks, which will be explained when I get to the first dungeon rundown. The Retribution tree is for those who want to provide a massive output of damage. In the antiquated talent calculator shown above, each class would get a talent point at every level and get gradually stronger, getting some core spells around the Level 20, 30, 40 and 50 milestones. However, the game developers thought that it was silly for players to get their 'core' abilities at Level 50, so the system was redesigned.

Now at Level 10, players choose the tree that they wish to put points into, and are immediately given one of the core abilities of that tree. For example, a Protection paladin immediately receives an ability that allows it to throw the shield like Captain America, hitting up to three targets and causing a large amount of damage. Protection Paladins used to have to wait until Level 50 to get this, and now they get it much earlier so that they can get used to using it.

The talent tree provides a great deal of flexibility for a player, and for some classes like shaman, druids, and paladins, every tree can provide a unique experience.

Level 9: Friday, February 4, 2011

Stormwind is the human capital city, and is currently the central Alliance hub in Cataclysm, due to all of the new zones from the expansion being accessible by portals located in the city. The road to the city runs through the Valley of Heroes, which feature massive statues of the greatest Alliance historical figures.

The ruler of Stormwind is Varian Wrynn, who was not present when WoW was launched. He had been kidnapped, and in his absence, Stormwind was ruled by his young son Anduin, with Varian's good friend Bolvar Fordragon serving as custodian, and the suspicious noble Katrina Prestor as council. Through a series of quests prior to Wrath of the Lich King, the player discovers that the king's kidnapping was orchestrated by Lady Prestor, who is secretly a dragon.

Yes, really.

When Wrath of the Lich King launched, Varian Wrynn was returned to Stormwind, and all he wanted in exchange was a humble throne to sit on.

When the player eventually discovers that a fleeing Lady Prestor is the devious dragon, Onyxia, they are given a quest to go to her lair and kill her.

When they are successful, they return with the head, which is mounted on the ramparts, and seems like a good idea at the time.

However, this does little except piss off the dragon Deathwing, who after being imprisoned underground for awhile, emerges, and causes the Cataclysm. Oh and also, he's Onyxia's father. That explains why he nukes the Stormwind Park

and parks on the Stormwind gates to cause havoc for awhile.

When he leaves, he knocks over some statues because he is a dick.

Level 8: Thursday, February 3, 2011

Carved into the side of the tallest mountain in Dun Morogh, the Dwarven capital city of Ironforge is one of the most impressive locations in the entire game.

A massive statue of the former Dwarf King Anvilmar is the first thing you see as you enter.

During the original release of the game, Ironforge was the major gathering place for the Alliance, mostly due to its proximity to Blackrock Mountain, where most of the endgame raids at the time took place. It also offered a short flight to the boat that would take players to the other continent. Because it was so crowded, players with suboptimal computers would lag out doing the simplest of tasks, and would inevitably find themselves at the bottom of the small chasms that cut through most of the city.

The central point of the city, appropriately enough, is the Great Forge, where blacksmiths create their gear.

Prior to Cataclysm, Ironforge was ruled by Magni Bronzebeard.

However, due to a curse that he suffered while trying to avert the Cataclysmic return of Deathwing, he was petrified and is considered unable to rule.

He has two brothers, Brann and Muradin. Players frequently run into Brann as they level, since he is a key member of the Explorer's League, and always investigating the newest dungeons available.

During the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, it is revealed that Muradin, who had previously been missing for years, was actually present in Northrend when Arthas first took possession of the cursed sword, Frostmourne. Arthas left him for dead, but when he came to, Muradin had no idea who he was. He soon came to be taken in by a clan of Frostborn dwarves, and became their king. The player, through a long series of quests, reunites the three brothers briefly before Brann goes off on more explorations, Magni returns to Ironforge, and Muradin vows to put an end to Arthas. In the final raid of Wrath of the Lich King, he plays a key role, piloting the airship that takes you to the upper spire.

After Magni's transformation, the throne of Ironforge was claimed by the three clans of Dwarves, the evil Dark Irons, represented by the king's daughter, who had been abducted years prior and gave birth to a son of a Dark Iron, the Bronzebeards, represented by Muradin, and the Wildhammers, represented by Falstad. This is where this video comes from!

True to their word, Blizzard did fix it, and Falstad was placed in his proper spot, with a new friend.

Level 7: Wednesday, February 2, 2011

After a series of quests that involved cleaning up the mess left in Bloodmyst Isle due to the crash of their ship, new draenei found their way to the largest portion of their destroyed vessel, which was partially buried underground. This would serve as their capital city, The Exodar.

Each faction has four capital cities spread throughout the world, and in these cities are a number of merchants, tradesmen and trainers. Every couple of levels, players visit their class trainer to learn new abilities, and as they skill up professions (blacksmithing, tailoring, and leatherworking, for example) they can visit their trainers to learn new recipes.

In addition, players who enter cities for the first time have the blessed experience of seeing Trade Chat for the first time. Trade Chat links all players in the four major cities with the intent of providing a way to exchange goods and services, but many times it can slide into trolling and all of the other wonders that an anonymous forum on the internet provides.

The Exodar's leader, the Prophet Velen, lives in the city's Vault of Lights. For lack of a better term, he is a priest who interacts with beings of pure light, known as Naaru.

In addition to their interactions with the Light, draenei are attuned to the powers of nature, as evidenced by their Shrine of the Elements. It is here that draenei shaman learn their craft. Prior to the Burning Crusade, the shaman class was unavailable to the Alliance faction, but once draenei were introduced, that changed.

Level 6: Tuesday, February 1, 2011

After a handful of quests, young gnomes and dwarves make their way through the Coldridge Pass into the slightly more dangerous territory of Dun Morugh.

The road eventually leads them to Kharanos, a small quest hub similar to Goldshire, which offers some slightly more challenging tasks to get players more acclimated with their growing repertoire of combat skills.

A majority of the quests focused on some hostile troggs that were invading the local quarry.

Later on in the game, the players would be told to return in order to obtain their first riding mount. Dwarves got rams, while gnomes were given large clockwork ostriches.

Eventually, the players would receive a courier quest that would take them into their first major city, Ironforge.