I’ve been easing off on my main in WoW lately as burnout hits with Wrath. I’m still enjoying the weekly raids, but if I have learned anything from my time on MMOs, it is that it is totally fine to play less when you aren’t in the mood.
And all it means is more time for levelling alts with sisters/ friends on other servers, playing single player games, and enjoying the Spring sunshine. So, in the spirit of new alts, I picked up a new night elf druid chick. And there were two things I had completely for gotten about low level night elves, and druids.
1. The Ban’Ethil Barrow Den is a maze of night elf hating monstrosity!
The Night Elf starting zone, Teldrassil, is generally very good. Even after five years of Blizzard improving on quest layout, it stands up pretty well. There is more running around from one end of the zone to the other than I’d expect to see in a more modern zone, but they did a great job of hiding extra little quests away. I’m sure I find more new quests that I haven’t seen before every time I go there.
However. There is one unholy blight on the face of Teldrassil and it is the barrow den. This is an underground mazelike area with a few associated low level quests. I got lost in there. Everyone gets lost in there.
But I had a saviour 🙂
I was wandering around, hopelessly lost, and a high level (well, level 14!!) night elf warrior gallently asked me whether I was OK. I said, pathetically, “I’m lost!” and he offered to come help me find my quests.
This screenie shows us sitting down to discuss things with another lost little druid girl who we picked up en route.
I feel we may have set the cause of feminism back about 50 years by being such pathetic girlies and needing to be rescued by a brave warrior. But it was very nice of him to take the time, so thanks if you are reading.
2. Class quests are really pretty darn cool
Druids get a glut of class quests fairly early on in the levelling period. There’s the bear form quest at level 10, poison curing quest at 14, and then the quest for sealion form and cat form not very long after that.
And it’s great! What I had forgotten is that after you finish the quest for the bear form, you get a special letter in the mail.
A special druid letter from your trainer saying how awesome it was that you got your bear form, and reminding you that he has another class quest lined up when you get to 14th level.
It’s still cool, even five years on after launch. I do find that class specific quests do a great job of immersing me into the setting, and — yes — making me feel a bit special.
I was talking about SWTOR over the weekend and their stated goal of getting large numbers of subscribers. One of the big draws to this Star Wars MMO is that every single class will have its own fully featured storyline with associated quests, all the way to level cap. I assume they will mix this up with some general quests and group content, but still, it’s a very appealing idea.
Welcome to Spinksville! 