Used up old zones

MassivelyOP wrote a top 10 list for tropical zones, Booty Bay in the list which is a sub-zone of Stranglethorn Vale, a zone i love so much and i don’t go there often, only when leveling a character i go there, but i stopped leveling characters until Shadowlands pre-patch released.

This is a problem with many MMOs, when you are done with a zone there is no reason to go back to it, the developers are busy with making new zones which will have the same problem in the future, and i think this is a waste of resources, a whole world full of beautiful empty places.

I try to think about what could be done to old zones and i understand that no matter how much content the developer put, they can’t make enough to keep the players going to old zones, so repeatable content is a solution.

In GW2 you’ll see players roaming old zones to finish dailies and get rewards, the game give them a good reason to do that, and If a low level players are leveling in the zone they can join the high level players in doing dailies and getting rewards and experience.

WoW have something like that, i still go back to Legion zones to farm what i didn’t get in the expansions, i still need few mounts and that Khadgar floating head, the difference between GW2 and WoW is that GW2 cover all old zones, if you play it daily you’ll see yourself playing in most old and new zones.

Blizzard use some old zones for new content, both Uldum and Vale of Eternal Blossoms used for N’zoth Assaults, Ice Crown will be used for Shadowlands pre-patch and starting quests, that’s another way to use old zones.

I still want more reasons to visit old zones in WoW, other than dungeons and raids to farm transmog, Archeology could play a role here but i’ll leave that for another post, but say i want to go back to Feralas, what’s there to do other than quests? pet battle? Dire Maul? here is a zone rich with history but reduced to quests, a dungeon and battle pets, if you are done with them there is no reason to go back.

In another post i’ll talk about Archeology since Blizzard is not doing anything with it in Shadowlands, that’s a chance to talk about how it needs a new system.

Some random WoW screenshots

Blackwing Lair, the arcanist setting on a throne after killing a dragon

Durrzam is level 110 at last, i reached the goal, visiting Orgrimmar auction house, someone noticed me, he said “pink is the best color” i said “hell yeah” then we started a little dance party.

Found the mail muncher after few tries, what great set of teeth!

They’re waiting for travelers to fly!

Everything looks better with a fez

Everyday i see this place full of players waiting for a chance of mount drop

Done with Uldum mount, surprisingly i liked this mount

Another mount from Island Expedition, but this drop from a chest a bought.

Just yesterday i learned that this mount fly! i have it since Legion!

In Ulduar, every time i send my pet to hit Flame Leviathan it kill the boss and die, in the combat log the boss hit Bailey for 29 points, that should not kill it, i should probably send a bug report next time.

That’s all, i’m busy with the game doing all kind of stuff, recently i went back to The Death of Chromie Scenario, i didn’t finish it in Legion and now it is much easier because of my better gear, i got the title Timelord and one pet, but still going to farm the scenario for Timewarped Badges.

Leveling pets in the Garrison

I always ignore the Pet Battle Bonus week, i like to collect pets but leveling them? that’s a lot of work and i have 456 pets, that’s not much compared to people who have more than 1000 pets.

Anyway, i saw a video about using the pet event to level pets, and i thought i’ll give it a try, and the result are amazing, to level a pet from 1 to 25 it takes two battles, it’s easy and fast, but i used different pets than what the video suggest:

• Emmigosa, i use only 2 abilities: Breath and Surge of Power.
• Wicked Soul, i use only one ability: Shadow Shock.
• The pet that i need to level.

If you don’t have these 2 pets at level 25 then level them in other way or search for pets with the same abilities, the battle strategy is simple:

• Starting the battle with Emmigosa using Breath to kill Deebs.
• Tyri enter, i use Surge of Power to hit him hard, Emmigosa die.
• Choose Wicked Soul’s Shadow Shock to kill Tyri.
• Puzzle enter, swap your pet and choose the one you want to level.
• Swap the pets again and choose Wicked Soul, use Shadow Shock to kill Puzzle.

That’s it, sometimes RNG makes it hard to follow this plan.

I put some podcasts to listen and started leveling pets, the event may not be alive on your server when you read this post, wait for it when it comes again and good luck with leveling pets.

Dungeon sets, new hunter pets and Shadowlands transmog

From Wowhead, I changed the brightness, the model in the game my have muted colors

While playing WoW and WoW classic; i follow the news of Shadowlands cautiously, i try to avoid the story spoilers and read everything else, and there is a lot to be happy about in the latest news.

Let’s start with hunter pets, there is a lot to be excited about here, there are new pet families, horses which i hope it include a donkey, i want to have a donkey pet and i’ll call it Eddie, horses include also unicorns which used to be from stag family.

There is also Mammoth family which means i can at last have elephant pet, also there is a new family for camels and alpacas, Blizzard is really making it so hard to choose from all these new pets because i like them all, add to that cloud serpents, undead beasts and giraffes.

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Exile’s Reach, the new starting zone for new players, it’s optional for old players but there is a good reason to choose it, there are many transmog weapons by the end of the zone, and you can buy them for a cheap price.

The great thing about these weapons is they look normal and boring! they look like updated models from Classic, sometimes a transmog need a realistic looking weapon instead of glowing over-sized weapon.

I wonder if the zone will provide enough silvers to buy all the models?

Now i hope Blizzard will provide normal looking armor sets.

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Wowhead wrote about heirlooms in Shadowlands, the exp buff they provide is removed and replaced with other bonuses, so far i have no opinion about them, the article have this line:

With so many examples of “leveling” armor sets, like Battlelord’s Plate from the Legion Order Halls and so many other hardly used sets in the game, you’d think Blizzard could be a little more creative with more tangible bonuses.

I was thinking about dungeon sets in WoW recently, in Classic players can start a long journey to earn dungeons sets for their classes, and upgrade their sets, but for current players who have raid sets; there is no reason to go back and farm these dungeon sets because raid provide better items, but for players who didn’t raid these sets are the best options.

In Legion and in BFA there is a tab in the adventure guide to show item sets:

How many players care about these sets? the 280 item level set is good if you are lucky to get it, you need to farm mobs to drop these items, it’s not bad drop rate but still random and it could take a long time.

The level 300 item set is a ring and a trinket from dungeons, the next one is back piece and a ring from Dazaralor raid, the last set is from Ny’alotha raid, all of them depend on RNG.

Classic dungeons sets require some luck and quests, it’s something a player can work for as a goal if they wish to.

In Legion and in BFA the world quests provide items that make dungeons irrelevant for some players including me, then there is Nazjtar gear, then void invasions gear, a player can reach high item level without touching raids or dungeons.

Still there is something exciting about trying to collect a set, i wish to see quests to make a set, maybe it require killing many mobs or rare elite mobs, or maybe it’s a crafting set which is another thing i think the game should provide, and this set should be upgradeable, maybe with crafted items or item drops from dungeons.

All i’m trying to say here: make sets relevant, make them useful.