Patch 3.1

So, finally. Patch 3.1 has arrived. After a busy day I get home and start WoW up, and it immediately started the download process, jumping to 10% complete in no time.

It's now at 13%, and it's been going for an hour. It looks like I'll be leaving it overnight and hopefully see some progress in the morning. Hopefully.

I really hope this is worth it. Honestly though, I am looking forward to this patch and all it's bringing. More than anything I can't wait to see the inside of Ulduar and all it has to offer. I've recently became a freak for titan lore, loving every bit of the questing in Storm Peaks. The raid seriously looks awesome. I'm also looking forward to the dual spec system. Spending 50 gold to respec to resto in order to heal for a raid and then another 50 to respec back to elemental when it was over? A thing of the past! Now it's just a button click, and vwala! :D

I don't know about any of the rest. I know a lot of people are going to be pissed about some of the class changes, and I can't say I'm too happy with some of the things that are being done either. I never play demonology on Waltz, my lock, anymore, but I see how badly that spec got thrashed with the removal of demonic sacrifice as well as a couple other abilities. Ones that have been there since the dawn of time. Ouch. I am a little peeved about the thrashing of destro spec, which is my current build. Moving plus crit to Soul Fire into the demo tree? I'd like to know what the fuck they were thinking on that.

Also, R.I.P. dual wield frost Death Knights. :(

While downloading I watched the promo video for Ulduar. As always, it showed a preview of what was to come in Ulduar by showing a few clips and creating some sense of dread with the release of Yogg-Saron. "Soon, we're going to be the prisoners," says Brann Bronzebeard. *brrr* That's chilling. His heart is in the right place, he knows that the threat is very real. I have to say I have a little more respect for Rhonin now after watching this video, even though he is a Marty Stu character put in by certain influence, but here I see his heart is in the right place too.

And though it's no surprise, I have less respect...no wait, I don't have any respect left for Varian Wrynn and his douchebaggery. He's doing as he's expected to do, be an asshole even in dire circumstances. I am, however, getting a little mistrusting of Garrosh Hellscream. The dude has a little bit too much blood and thunder on his mind if you ask me. He's an awesome warrior and I'm glad he's on our side, but I wonder if he's going to cause some problems in the future.

However, it was fun to watch him and Varian cross blades. I think Garrosh could probably kick his ass left and right and leave him crying for his pappy. Hell, the guy was able to go toe to toe with Thrall once!

Here's a quote I thought I'd share. It was found by a friend of mine in the WoW forums, posted by an alliance player:

I was born in the mountains of Dun Morogh. Trained from birth in the ways of a warrior. I have drawn blood for the Alliance and shed my own in return, I have killed for it and I will die for it. As a proud and loyal member of the Alliance I can say without hesitation of fear of contradiction that Thrall would have kicked seven flavors of shît out of Wrynn.

Sorry, but I Lawlz every time I read that. ;) The fact that it was posted by an alliance player makes it even sweeter.

Now, in retrospect, when Thrall and Garrosh fought during the Scourge attack on Orgrimmar, I believe that Thrall held back. He didn't like the thought of fighting his late best friend's son, so I think he went in just wanting to teach Garrosh a lesson, and ended up being forced to his knee. Garrosh is no slouch! The dude can wail on you and leave you a bloody mess on the ground. In all honesty, I think him and Varian Wrynn would put up a good fight for one another!

I wouldn't mind setting them in a room and letting them go at it until one of them goes down. I'd put my money on Garrosh.

Well, it's about midnight and I have work in the morning. The WoW downloader has since moved to 14% and is now hanging there. It is moving it seems, just way too slow. This is either the biggest patch in WoW history or my computer is starting to feel some pressure. I guess I'll just let it go through the night and hopefully it will be ready.

*sigh*

Edit: Yay! It moved! Now at 15%! :) Ok, off to sleep.

Vengeance

*From the writings of Dakore, Shaman of the Horde*

Loken is dead. The treacherous titan fell to the power of brethren of the Horde, our storms too much for his. His dwelling, the Halls of Lightning, was another bastion of Ulduar, which he had taken control of, and many of his greatest servants tried to stop us, but they all fell, and so did he.

I am haunted by his words though upon his death. Yogg-Saron, an Old God, has been controlling him like a puppet, and this ancient beast of old times now seaks to be free of his prison?

Where is this prison, I wonder. As I step out of the Halls of Lightning and look up at the main bastion of Ulduar and its impossibly tall steaples, I wonder what lies within that the Titans have kept hidden.

In time, we shall see.

That Dwarf Again....

*From the writings of Dakore, Shaman of the Horde*

The Horde has been on his tail for weeks through Northrend, tailing him from the Grizzly Hills and now into the Storm Peaks. That search has been called off, for Brann Bronzebeard of all people has become an ally to the Horde, despite all that has happened.

I must report he has been honorable in our agreement to work together. An explorer to the core and driven only by the pursuit of knowledge, he does not know the same type of greed that plagues the hearts of most Alliance scum that I know. His motivation is to learn and discover new places.

I really would like to introduce him to my friend Xarantaur someday. I believe the Witness and Brann Bronzebeard would get along fine exchannging bits of knowledge and lore.

There is time for that later though. My most recent acquantance with Brann has took me through a place known as the Halls of Stone, one of the wings of the great temple of Ulduar, a Titan made structure in the isolated parts of Storm Peaks. Here we found more of Loken's Henchmen and their attempts to transmute the denizens of stone into beings of iron. With the death of Sjonnir The Ironshaper, who was overseeing this process, we can now hope that the creation of Loken's Iron Army will come to a halt.

One thing remains though, and Brann Bronzebeard has the right idea as well.

Loken must be destroyed.

Hard Boiled

With the upcoming patch that will unveil the Ulduar raid in Northrend, Blizzard is also implementing a new feature called "Hard Boiled", as they so eloquently describe it. Basically this is going to be like difficult mode for the boss encounters in the raid, a bit similar to Sartharion and his three dragons in Obsidion Sanctum. Defeating the boss on Hard Mode is suppose to yield greater rewards than normal.

Apparently in Ulduar there is going to be an optional side boss in the raid named Algalon the Observer. Basically he's Ulduar's version of Nightbane from Karazhan. Not exactly the final boss of the instance, since Yogg-Saron already has that honor, but an extra, deeper challenge for would be raiders.

Algalon the Observer has earned a rather unique nickname in the Blizzard development teams who have dubbed him "Algalon the Raid Destroyer".

A quote from the Blizzard team:

"Hard mode rewards will be the best in the game. With that said, I want to be sure that everyone understands: Hard mode is hard. Some hard modes are harder than others. Then there's Algalon the Raid Destroyer. He feeds off of your tears."

Despite their gross foul ups with PvP and class balance since Patch 3.0, I honostly have to say that Blizzard's attention to the PvE aspect of the game has been really top notch. I could give less than a frozen pile of cat poo about PvP, but hopefully they'll fix class balance enough so that classes that have been neglected (warlocks and rogues) can get back their equal share of the pie. Even so, this raid sounds trully epic, and I can't wait for it.

EDIT: Ok, maybe I'm being a little unfair about the PvP aspect of the game, because Wintergrasp is a pretty cool concept. However, I do say that class balance since 3.0 is a travesty and it needs to be fixed. The game has pretty much been given to Paladins and Death Knights, served nicely on a platinum gilded dinner platter, and players are getting drunk off it. Take it away and alot of them might very well leave, but things are getting not so fun for those of us who like to play other classes. More on that some other time though...