Sometime during level 57, I got the feeling that I had beaten the game. I won. The rest is just that stuff you do in any CRPG after beating the big boss: wander around, clean up quests, finish storylines you want to see through, maybe see about improving your equipment. Having poked my head into Outland, there are boars again, so that feels like some other game entirely. Like an expansion pack, entirely optional, not really part of the core game. But it might create a new drive to play.
I spent less time in the Plaguelands than I should have. I hit it in the early 50s and never went back. I spent much time in the Un’Goro Crater, with the dinosaurs. One night I did all the Felwood quests, which was where I felt like I had won. You finish there, make friends with the firbolgs, run through the tunnel, to find more firbolgs in a snowy area. Oh, I guess this is the point at which the game just gives you an infinite survival mode, with higher numbers but mostly just something to do with your time. I missed Silithus almost entirely. Stopping at the Cenarion fortress, I was unclear on how many of those exclamation points were really quests, as opposed to “grind, collect, and redeem” trade-ins.
It’s all neat, and I’m interested in the Burning Crusade, but I am not sure how much I want to disturb this feeling of completion. I could exit on an up note, rather than going until it feels like work.
: Zubon
Grats! the old world does give that feeling of finishing rather nicely, i think in the area designs, the way you never see a mob above 60, and you’ve practically been across the world.
If you’re on a pvp server, expect your first levels in Outland, specifically Hellfire Peninsula, to be fairly gank-filled – 80s on flying mounts control the skies, but at least you can get a mount yourself for ~300g or so at 60.
Outland you’ll get spells every level by the way, not every two levels anymore (but you only get a Totally! New! ability every two levels, the others are just upgraded old ones).
I totally agree. WoW does feel “finished” in the high 50s.
Mrs Bhagpuss and I have both ended up doing the same thing: reach 58, go to Outland, learn Master crafting, look around, go back down, make a Death Knight for further crafting purposes, park both characters in a city, bringing them out only for crafting and gathering.
We both dinged 58 over a month ago, and neither of us has a character over 60 yet. We both dropped back down and began leveling up some more characters. It looks as if we will have several more level 60s before we get anyone any higher, if indeed we ever do.
I can only think that, once the Cataclysm adds extra high-level content to Azeroth-prime, there will be no-one in Outland at all.
Cataclysm is only redoing the 1-60 game; you’ll still level 60-70 in outland and 70-80 in northrend.
I’m really not sure how that works from a lore point of view, but bleh, it’s worked for outland->northrend…
Onward ho!
My visit to the old world with Alliance hasnt filled me with as much nostalgia as I expected. Bar ungoro crater I’ve found that Cataclysm will be the defining WoW expansion to date. Now this could be because Im on a low population realm and the areas are a bit dead but I think the majority of the old content will benefit immensely from an upgrade or even a complete reset.
TBC is a bit of a strange one for me, visually it is stunning and it also works in some neat questlines however I always feel like some of the zones/instances are wasted as you never really have a chance to see them before you feel the pull of WoTLK.
The good thing is that if you want to level more you don’t have to do most of outland anymore. Just Hellfire and Zangermarsh, and a couple Terrokar and Nagrand quests and suddenly you are 68 and can go to Northrend. (Well I did that with heirloom shoulders and 4-6 instance runs) so at least the pain is short.
I highly recommend pushing through Outlands if you can. Northrend is really worth it. There are tons of things to do and not all of it is repetitive or stuff you have done before.
I’m not a big fan of Outlands but it doesn’t take that long to get through it anymore.
From an explorer’s point of view, I’d say head on to the Outlands. Now that you can pick up a flying mount at 60 it really is a whole new leveling experience.
While it is very different from the old world, it does have a unique charm all of it’s own that you don’t really get to see until you get to see it from above.
Keep going!
You’re familiar with the quality / quest grouping jump between Lotro and MoM – Outland is like that, but a much greater improvement (so much so that I’d set my expectations of MoM based on my Outlands experience, and was disappointed)
Less grind, more coherent story, less backtracking.
Outland/Northrend feel like different games entirely – “classic” wow is considered a painful experience by some.