Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Through the Mists (Part 3)

Kun-Lai Summit

Sitting a short ways from level 88, I'm finding myself bored with the my current zone, Kun-Lai Summit. It's almost depressing that I'm bored with the quests, because the zone seems so interesting to me.

The zone seemed, at first to be very similar to the last zone, Valley of the Four Winds. Lots of open fields, farms, and the like. But as I moved further into the mountains that lined the north, I was happily surprised to see things such as NPCs that were apparently "guides" through the treacherous mountain passes(sadly not hireable or anything of the like), and right before the paths into the mountain, a sort of rest stop, with friendly locals. A questline will lead you through here, and it is sort of interesting. The quests before it, aren't.

They mainly feature your faction setting up a foothold in this new area, with the Sha coming more into focus. That mostly seemed like a rehash of Jade Forest, but it's honestly trying to do its own thing.

One of the early questlines you'll be doing early on in this zone is gaining entrance into a zone called Vale of Eternal Blossoms, where your factions' capital city is.

The Alliance and Horde get their own this time, with, as I've read, a raid between the two cities. The Alliance city, Shrine of the Seven Stars, has all you could ever need, really. Portals to all four Alliance cities, a portal to Shattrath City, a portal to Dalaran, and I believe a portal to the Cavern of Time. If you're one who hops around the world a lot, this'll be the place you'll want to set your Hearthstone. The city itself isn't too impressive, it's got some nice design, but it's not as sprawling as Dalaran or Shattrath. Outside the city are rep vendors from all of the new factions introduced, making for easy buying once you've actually earned the reps.

More Monk

One thing that I simply love about the Monk, is that every ten levels, you get a quest to be whisked away to the distant Kun-Lai Summit Monestary where the monks of the world train. You're ordered to go talk to a "Master" and they fight in by giving you a unique challenge using a move you've learned recently. It's great design, and it's awesome to see a form of class quests back, and it's a great way to learn the class. What it also almost feels to be, is unfair. I know Monk is the new shiny, but it would've been nice to see the other classes get some love, or something in the same form at least.

The class itself continues to be fun, with many tools in their kit, it's fun to generate some Chi, and have to choose what to spend it on. You'll of course have certain things you'll use in certain situations, but when you're in no trouble, there's a good chance you'll have two or three different attacks you could be trying out, with equal success or benefits.

For example, if I generate two Chi, while my target isn't doused in my beer debuff(if they are, I can breathe fire on them, something that's yet to get old), I can choose between a kick that increases my parry chance for a few seconds, while also doing damage, an ability that will absorb a certain amount of damage, one of the movies I gained from a talent tree choice that is a wave of energy that will either heal or damage, or just store it for later. It's awesome having these choices, though there will probably be a rotation by the time people begin raiding with Monks, which breaks the illusion of choice in combat.

Everything Else

Pet Battles continue to be fun, if anything they're a great distraction, and half of my guild seems to be struggling to actually level with the carrot of Pet Battles hanging over them.

I've yet to get to try out the last portion of the talent trees, I'm nearly to 90 so I should be able to start trying some of the new dailies, which aren't capped this go around, among other things. I've only stepped into one dungeon thus far, but I was impressed, as there were few trash mobs, and they mainly focused on bosses with fairly interesting tactics, making them go quickly without feeling rushed, yet still retaining some sort of challenge by changing up how fights went.

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