Catechysm (however it's spelled)
Mar 16, 2013 14:42:19 GMT -5
Post by ioreth on Mar 16, 2013 14:42:19 GMT -5
I got a 7-day "come back we miss you" invitation from battlenet. So I decided to check it out as I really do miss WoW and EQII, but I really like LOTRO as well. I wish I could pay for three subscriptions but as it is I can't pay for even one. 
After just a day I decided I didn't like what catechysm did to my old haunts. Gone were the quiet foresty places I used to farm just to experience the silence. Some of the familiar trails were taken out by ravaging gashes. I realize that the Barrens were just that - barren - but they didn't need to have a bottomless canyon dividing them. I never figured out where the trail was around it. Nor could I find the trail that went across Thousand Needles. I never really liked questing there, but really, did they deserve all that?
Everywhere I went I saw horrible, ugly places and... fighting, constant fighting. I finally found the back story and it was unpleasant, but the pure violence bothered me. In an age that video games - especially multi-player ones - are accused of desensitizing and encouraging our youth towards violence (guess they don't realize adults play as well) I was amazed at the outright feeling of distrust and anger towards another group of people.
As for places that to me were unforgiving, the "new" Orimmar I found confusing and ugly. It wasn't very pretty before, but it was packed with a bunch of new stuff literally on top of the old. I didn't find the new stuff as much or as ugly in Stormwind, but there still was one of those horrible gashes. My mind is still working on remembering what was there before. As much as I liked of the new stuff, the promotion of violence was enough that I don't think I would ever pay for a subscription.
There were things that were interesting and nice. Changes had been made that were honest improvements (how often can you say that about releases?) Wow, did they put in the flight paths or what? Having hunters, I had to go around and tame some of the untamable beasts that are now. After all, I had 20 stable spaces I could fill.
With the help of Petopia I found animals that I swear were not even living where they are today. A black dragonhawk in Burning Steepes, how long has that been there? The spirit animals are tamable now. I camped at the place the bear spawns for a while, it is the only one I am high enough for. Every time I logged in there were up to five hunters hovering and waiting for it to appear. I think I'll give that idea up for now. It didn't take long to nearly fill the stable. The problem is I have two hunters on two servers in opposite factions and the same level thereabouts. I couldn't remember who I had gotten what with.
I did play my druid some. The first time I logged on someone actually recognized me and we talked for some time. I have no idea who it was. He/she did clue me in on some of the druid changes and described what 90 was like. He gave me a whisper to say he made over 2K gold at the AH that day. I looked at my meager 100g and sighed. After that first day I never saw my old friend again. Then I looked at the AH. Things that used to be like maybe 50g, 200g at most they wanted 800g for. There was rarely anything less than 100g. I made 3 new toons while I was there, the most any of them had was 5g by the time they got out of babyland. Players on their first term would have a hard time getting any good gear unless they find a guild or individual to sponsor them. Or visit the dreaded gold seller. I liked the new Druid spells, I didn't play her enough to really check them out (do they realize how short a week is?) but they looked good on the surface. I almost went to Outlands just so I could fly around and weed.
Speaking of baby toons. Of course I needed to make one of each of the new races. I made a Pandaran Hunter (I didn't want to way until 85 for a crane pet), a Worgen Druid, and a Goblin Warlock.
I started with the Pandarian Hunter (sorry Fangorn, I had to do it ;D) The new zone was pleasant, I found the quests interesting and my hunter self hoped that I would be able to level to 10 before leaving the zone. It occurred to me that these three new babyland zones are the only ones in WoW that are locked out. The story line was nicely vague until the end, then they seemed to rush it some. I would like to have remained neutral until after making it to the real world. I decided that Pandas were too large and silly looking, but I really like my crane.
The Worgen and Goblin were vast disappointments. I can see why they created Pandas, they had to make up for the proceeding ones. You can sure tell the Worgen and Goblin were created by entirely different teams. The feel was different, the quest style was different. At least I could find a story line with the Worgen, the Goblin had nothing significant. They couldn't even find it in themselves to kill the bad guy. It's not in their standards. I was way disappointed, as I'm sure others were, that they took the Goblins into the Horde instead of keeping their neutrality. They would have been a good candidate for a cross faction race like the Pandarans. They created a new race for Alliance (which really is logical, although they are monsters, they are humans underneath) The could have selected from any of the sentient races already in game and built a history for them instead of used the Goblins. Perhaps Naga or one from the Outlands. Just based on the FIRST starting area alone, I decided that I really don't like goblins. Since I played her to the real world my warlock will probably just sit or be deleted, she really brings nothing into the picture unless I leveled her crafting (engineering, what else)
Overall, I hated the destruction and fighting. Found Pandas and Worgen interesting but Goblins a waste of time and not in character with the game in general. Land travel seems improved. I disliked Orgimmar so much that, combined with my already distaste for Undercity, I started playing my Alliance characters more. I think I might even transfer my Tauren Druid to Worgen and perhaps my Alliance Night Elf hunter as well (if they allow that) I don't care for the Night Elf ears, did they get those from Anime? The Horde seemed to have an overall bad attitude. I'll put up with snooty Alliance and their horrible sea routes rather than have to deal with that. People say that Liche King was probably the best expansion to date and if you read the numbers that seems to follow.
Hands are tired, I gotta type everything twice to correct the many mis-types. Hope you like my report. One more day of WoW and I'll be back to LOTRO. LOTRO has the best FTP program of any.
After just a day I decided I didn't like what catechysm did to my old haunts. Gone were the quiet foresty places I used to farm just to experience the silence. Some of the familiar trails were taken out by ravaging gashes. I realize that the Barrens were just that - barren - but they didn't need to have a bottomless canyon dividing them. I never figured out where the trail was around it. Nor could I find the trail that went across Thousand Needles. I never really liked questing there, but really, did they deserve all that?
Everywhere I went I saw horrible, ugly places and... fighting, constant fighting. I finally found the back story and it was unpleasant, but the pure violence bothered me. In an age that video games - especially multi-player ones - are accused of desensitizing and encouraging our youth towards violence (guess they don't realize adults play as well) I was amazed at the outright feeling of distrust and anger towards another group of people.
As for places that to me were unforgiving, the "new" Orimmar I found confusing and ugly. It wasn't very pretty before, but it was packed with a bunch of new stuff literally on top of the old. I didn't find the new stuff as much or as ugly in Stormwind, but there still was one of those horrible gashes. My mind is still working on remembering what was there before. As much as I liked of the new stuff, the promotion of violence was enough that I don't think I would ever pay for a subscription.There were things that were interesting and nice. Changes had been made that were honest improvements (how often can you say that about releases?) Wow, did they put in the flight paths or what? Having hunters, I had to go around and tame some of the untamable beasts that are now. After all, I had 20 stable spaces I could fill.
With the help of Petopia I found animals that I swear were not even living where they are today. A black dragonhawk in Burning Steepes, how long has that been there? The spirit animals are tamable now. I camped at the place the bear spawns for a while, it is the only one I am high enough for. Every time I logged in there were up to five hunters hovering and waiting for it to appear. I think I'll give that idea up for now. It didn't take long to nearly fill the stable. The problem is I have two hunters on two servers in opposite factions and the same level thereabouts. I couldn't remember who I had gotten what with. I did play my druid some. The first time I logged on someone actually recognized me and we talked for some time. I have no idea who it was. He/she did clue me in on some of the druid changes and described what 90 was like. He gave me a whisper to say he made over 2K gold at the AH that day. I looked at my meager 100g and sighed. After that first day I never saw my old friend again. Then I looked at the AH. Things that used to be like maybe 50g, 200g at most they wanted 800g for. There was rarely anything less than 100g. I made 3 new toons while I was there, the most any of them had was 5g by the time they got out of babyland. Players on their first term would have a hard time getting any good gear unless they find a guild or individual to sponsor them. Or visit the dreaded gold seller. I liked the new Druid spells, I didn't play her enough to really check them out (do they realize how short a week is?) but they looked good on the surface. I almost went to Outlands just so I could fly around and weed.
Speaking of baby toons. Of course I needed to make one of each of the new races. I made a Pandaran Hunter (I didn't want to way until 85 for a crane pet), a Worgen Druid, and a Goblin Warlock.
I started with the Pandarian Hunter (sorry Fangorn, I had to do it ;D) The new zone was pleasant, I found the quests interesting and my hunter self hoped that I would be able to level to 10 before leaving the zone. It occurred to me that these three new babyland zones are the only ones in WoW that are locked out. The story line was nicely vague until the end, then they seemed to rush it some. I would like to have remained neutral until after making it to the real world. I decided that Pandas were too large and silly looking, but I really like my crane.
The Worgen and Goblin were vast disappointments. I can see why they created Pandas, they had to make up for the proceeding ones. You can sure tell the Worgen and Goblin were created by entirely different teams. The feel was different, the quest style was different. At least I could find a story line with the Worgen, the Goblin had nothing significant. They couldn't even find it in themselves to kill the bad guy. It's not in their standards. I was way disappointed, as I'm sure others were, that they took the Goblins into the Horde instead of keeping their neutrality. They would have been a good candidate for a cross faction race like the Pandarans. They created a new race for Alliance (which really is logical, although they are monsters, they are humans underneath) The could have selected from any of the sentient races already in game and built a history for them instead of used the Goblins. Perhaps Naga or one from the Outlands. Just based on the FIRST starting area alone, I decided that I really don't like goblins. Since I played her to the real world my warlock will probably just sit or be deleted, she really brings nothing into the picture unless I leveled her crafting (engineering, what else)
Overall, I hated the destruction and fighting. Found Pandas and Worgen interesting but Goblins a waste of time and not in character with the game in general. Land travel seems improved. I disliked Orgimmar so much that, combined with my already distaste for Undercity, I started playing my Alliance characters more. I think I might even transfer my Tauren Druid to Worgen and perhaps my Alliance Night Elf hunter as well (if they allow that) I don't care for the Night Elf ears, did they get those from Anime? The Horde seemed to have an overall bad attitude. I'll put up with snooty Alliance and their horrible sea routes rather than have to deal with that. People say that Liche King was probably the best expansion to date and if you read the numbers that seems to follow.
Hands are tired, I gotta type everything twice to correct the many mis-types. Hope you like my report. One more day of WoW and I'll be back to LOTRO. LOTRO has the best FTP program of any.