Alt Time

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I’ve been able to find a few last pieces to get my DH to ilvl 850, which is sort of the cap for casual play I think.  It’s not that he’s immortal but with a particular artifact trait that heals me when I deal fire damage… I can take on 5-6 elites in Suramar without dying.  This is not something my Brewmaster can do.  To top it off, he’s 1 run away from maxing out the Withered Army training – in terms of chests remaining.  And aside from the 400 or so rep provided, the only thing left there is the chance at the cat mount.  My Brewmater long ago finished up that chain, but one of the Monk hidden artifacts is found in that chest… so more runs needed there.

All that to say, that for both of those characters, progress is now “stuck” at running dungeons.  I like dungeons, I do.  Finding time to do them is a bit of a gap now, though I do have quite a few quests locked in there.  Plus the whole Mythic not being part of LFG is a little annoying.  They are both still actively doing Artifact research.

So, that means alts come out of the woodworks.

At 100 I have a Shaman, Hunter, Druid and Rogue (this guy dates from launch in 2005).  2 of them are in the Legion pre-event gear, so around ilvl 700.  The rest are in WoD gear, so around ilvl 640 or so.

That’s a heck of a gap.  I completed all of their artifact quests and got the Shaman to 101.  Those quests all scale with ilvl, not actual level, so there wasn’t a huge challenge.  Scratch that, my Hunter died a half dozen times in that quest.  I went Marksman, which meant no pet…likely the cause of the pain.

Real world questing is something different.  My Shaman hit like a wet noodle.  My Rogue… wow.  I remember this guy just being walking death.  I died on the first quest in Stormheim – twice – not only because damage was so low, but the defense and health was as well.  I stuck with it for a few quests and got 5 gear upgrades along the way.  It’s starting to feel comfortable again.

It’s also a large shift from playing a tank, where the strategy is to round up 5-10 enemies and go to town.  DPS roles are meant to pick their targets, as AE isn’t exactly a strongsuit.  Plus, after years of playing a particular spec (Assassination), it’s rather clear that there’s a better alternative (Combat).  That means I need to hit 102 to unlock that artifact.  Not exactly a challenge, given that I’m likely sitting on 10 levels worth of rested xp.

It’s an interesting progress – going from focused goals and depth, to a more scattershot approach to the game.  I don’t have any particular goals other than just playing and having some fun with the various class quirks.  I figure by the time the rogue hits 110, I’ll just park him and do the various WQs for clear gear upgrades, then work on the next one in the line.

I do have a DK sitting at 94…

The Waiting Game

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Back when raids reset weekly, we had time gates.  When Lich King patched in daily quests, we really started to feel it.  MoP really took it to the limit, with dailies everyone and in everything.  The thing about these time gates is that they were expiration windows.  You had to do X content in Y time, or you simply missed out.  That still exists today mind you, but the timers are more relaxed – usually around 2-3 days.  The feeling of “got to do it all now” isn’t as present.  This certainly maps to the more casual gamer demographic.

What WoD brought to the table was progress windows.  The garrison missions provided items and gear if you waited long enough.  It took all of 2 weeks for someone to develop a mod to quickly sort and assign those missions for the best returns.  Unless my math is wrong, I was making something around 1.5k per day, for 15 minutes of effort.

The issue with this type of time gate is that the reward is not tied to the effort, or at least, not tied psychologically.  It’s a set-it-and-forget-it type of event, where riches fall from the sky.  You only really notice that the gear faucet isn’t working when the stuff stops flowing.  As compared to actual events that culminate with rewards, like killing a boss and getting a drop, the timed missions separate you from the effort.

Which is odd, because life is about waiting for things to come about.  I put a turkey in the oven, I plant vegetables in the garden, my wife was pregnant and saw the child grow.  We are used to waiting for good things.  But we are invested in these because we are active in their growth.

I need to pay attention to that turkey so it doesn’t burn.  I need to feed/water/weed my garden to have it grow.  We needed to keep the baby healthy and secure.  These are active events that force me to pay attention to what’s going on, where I am further investing for success.

Legion cut a lot of the WoD stuff out.  Today, there is no real reason to run any champion missions.  There will be for 7.1, as you will need an ilvl 850 champion to unlock Karazhan, but for today… there’s nothing really to be gained that cannot be gained through other means – faster and more direct means as well.

The exception here is Artifact Research.  At 5 days per rank, and 24 ranks, that’s 3 months of waiting.  Each rank increases by a non-linear amount, so you get a lot more value from going from rank 14 to 15, than you do 3 to 4.  I understand that there is a catchup mechanism, my DH is using it as he’s maybe 2 days behind my Monk.  Still, it’s an odd structure.  You’re not directly rewarded from the event, it simply impacts other rewards.  Where an item might be worth 20 artifact points now, eventually it will be worth 4800 points later on.  That is a massive difference.

It would certainly be nice if we could have more of the “I built this” feeling when time gates are applied.  I don’t see how that would possible work with WoW, given the various tools, as the closest we’ve come was the garden in MoP.  Player Housing comes close, and Wildstar sort of scratched that itch for me.  Archeage likely is the most obvious candidate on that front, though EvE certainly has a big foot in the game.  The feeling of a time gate as being an investment, rather than a hurdle… that’s where the gold pot is found.

The Gearing Conundrum

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My Brewmaster is at ilvl 850, even if he is near the bottom of the popular charts.  My DH is just around ilvl 840.  Both are around 18 pts into the main artifact.  Neither have set foot in a mythic dungeon or LFR.  Neither have had a drop from a world boss either.  This is entirely from world quests.

I’m somewhat curious as to whether this is a problem or not.  Certainly, I can increase my ilvl, but why?  I can clear anything in the world without real issue.  I am above what’s needed for mythic dungeons.  What’s left are raids and mythic +.

I have little interest in mythic +.  I think the idea is sound, but ehh, I don’t play WoW for the stress of beating a timer.  Raids are a little different.  WQs have given me more than enough gear as compared to LFR.  LFR would only be for the lore.  Normal raids might be an option, what to get the artifact appearances and some level of challenge.  Heroic raids mean little to me.

So the main gearing question seems to be moot here.  I can get all I would need just by playing casually.  Sure, I won’t hit ilvl 880, but there’s no reason for me to do so.  It’s a conscious design decision, certainly.  Where LFR was practically seen as a gearing requirement, this expansion has provided multiple paths that are a better time investment.  It’s now back to the original intent – let people see the content.  That’s a good thing right?

Badges

I am still of the opinion that the best system for gearing is badgeing and tokens.  Both still allow for the RNG to apply to some degree but take a large sting out of bringing alts up to part later on.  There is a reason nearly every game since WotLK came out has this alternate gearing method – it works.  Badges make all the content relevant, regardless of your level or gear (FF14 does this wonderfully).  The downside was the tokens were only ever found in dungeons, making the gearing for said dungeons a challenge.

Tokens avoid those times where in vanilla you’d get a shaman head piece drop on an Alliance raid.  The ability to turn in a token, while still in the raid, is the best of both worlds.  Gear drops, it’s useable by a lot of players, and immediately equipable (though not enchanted or gemmed).

It Feels Better

I like the WQ gearing model.  It isn’t as sudden as what badges provide, and due to the random upgrade feature, you can really luck out.  It makes leveling an alt a rather easy affair.  You can’t jump into raids the day after 110, but that’s never the point.  And the WQs send you to dungeons for better drops as well, so it’s really a multi-path solution to a very old problem.  Heck, some of the WQs require a group to clear, so there’s more social aspects to it as well.  It reminds me a fair bit of the rift-hunting at max level within, uh, RIFT.

Overall, I think this system is a dramatic improvement on those that came before.  It’s an integrated system that links all the other functions of the game.  It forces people out into the world, and has very natural integration with group content.  It doesn’t feel like the progress is too fast, or too slow.  And with the random upgrade feature and chance at a legendary, it doesn’t feel punishing without reward.  Lots to learn from this.

Ancient Mana

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This is a solid example of a great idea followed by missed execution.

Ancient Mana is the alternate currency in Legion, found in Suramar.  You collect 3-6 per kill, can collect various ground items for 5-150 (depending on the item), and can carry a varying total amount, which depends on your quest progression and a few items found around the map.  At max, you can carry up to 2000.

You spend it on 3 things.  First is 3 daily turnins for faction with the Nightfallen that also give a 1 hour buff each.  Second, there are random items around the map that you can spend mana on for another buff, either a companion, a shield, and so on.  Both of those are rather low cost, typically around 50.  The last item is the Withered Army training, which costs between 400-2000, available every 3 days.  This gives you ~450 rep, some toys, a chance at an artifact appearance (depending on class) and some gear.  It’s worth doing.

Getting to 2000 though, that’s a challenge.  You need to farm the items and I hate farming.

In Legion, when you harvest either a herbalism or mining node, it’s shared with other people on the map for a few seconds… 10 or so.  On the positive, no one can really steal a node.  This means less bad feelings and everyone gets a piece.  On the bad side, you see trains of bots harvesting.  Blizz has a solid record for banning them, but it takes time and even a few days of bots have a big impact on the economy.  Still, bots were there before and this actually makes it easier on honest players.  I should also mention that harvesting skill doesn’t gate you from harvesting.  My DH had 10 skill and was able to get herbs.  My monk with 800 gets more per plant, but that’s it.

The Issues

  • It’s a competitive resource that cannot be traded or sold.  This limits supply when others are around
  • You need to collect a fair amount to get to 2000
  • There is only 1 area (vineyards) that provides a decent pace of items to collect, without massive guards
  • Combined, this means 1 area is full of people all competing for limited resources

The Options

  • Increase the cap of mana to 2500 or 3000.  This means you don’t go back to zero when you do the withered army training
  • Increase the rate of ancient mana acquisition.  Similar to other harvesting abilities, let people get better at it over time.
  • Make the nodes shareable, like other harvesting abilities

It’s not like this is the end of the world, far from it.  It’s more of a reminder of what the game used to be like when everyone was competing for the same resources rather than working together.  And it’s not like the mana is absolutely required.  It’s more of a pet peeve/irritant to take 30 minutes to farm something when in reality, it should take 5.

 

Weekend Recovery

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It was the last “shazbang” at the cottage this weekend, we’ll be closing it up for the winter in a few weeks.  Guess it’s just bad luck now, but the last half dozen trips up have all been met with rain and cold.  Offset of the great summer I suppose.

What was going to be a rather simple weekend, turned into a nice adult party without kids.  The earliest riser on Sunday was clocked in near 11am.  When is the last time an adult, who has kids, ever got up at that time?  I’m still feeling the after effects.

At least I got a few hours on the water fishing on Saturday morning.  The fall colors are starting, and with a low cloud cover on the hills… it’s quite spectacular to see.  I live in an amazing part of the world.  More than thankful for it.

Levantus

I spoke about this WQ weekly boss before.  I had done it with my DH, who is fairly self-sufficient in the healing department.  My Monk is not so lucky.  4 deaths, mostly due to some sort of lag.  Mind you, there were 11 healers, so there’s some blame to go around.  Bad luck on drops, 3 boss kills, 0 loot.

Vault of the Wardens

Here’s a link to the strategy guide.  It’ll pop open in a new window.  If you haven’t done this dungeon, take a look-see.

This is the same place that the DH starting zone takes part of.  I like the aesthetics.  There’s very little trash in this place too, but that’s made up for by having 7 bosses.  Well, 4 real ones I guess, and 3 mini-bosses.  But they are still a pain.

The run was helped by a rogue who was massively overgeared for the dungeon.  I was tanking and he was leading.  The first few buggers went down pretty easily.  Then the fire/ice giant who had a neat mechanic to increase damage.  Glazer is your regular eyeball, though you use mirrors to have him eye beam himself.  Overall, it works.

Then you get to Cordanna.  There’s a pitch black area ahead of here, which teaches you some mechanics for the upcoming fight.  As the tank, I pick up a light object and use it to clear the way.  Ok, makes sense.  Then you reach the baddie herself.  Holy mechanics batman.

The first attempt she bugged out on us and we couldn’t get her out of the shadows.  The second one…that was a fight and a half for normal mode.  Big damage spikes, knockback, adds you can’t see, a need to keep her from moving.  All in one boss.  The healer did a great job, even though we lost 2 DPS in that fight.  I’ve done all but the 2 Nigthfallen dungeons now, and Cordanna takes the cake in terms of difficulty.  And for ilvl 805 loot no less.  That’s after I killed 5 bears and took 7 eggs for a pair of ilvl 830 pants.  An odd level of balance, that.

Obliterum Forge

I decided to take the plunge and make the forge.  Bars sell for 2.5k.  The mats to complete this quest set me back just around 10k.  You can only obliterate crafted materials, which not only includes gear but also potions.  I am going to have to math that out a bit more.  For the time being, my gut is telling me that this is a break even proposition.  We’ll see.

Two Sides to Suramar

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Monk finally hit 8000 rep with the Nightfallen, which opened up the 2nd last bit of Suramar and the 2 final mythic dungeons.  A month after launch and just over 2 weeks after I hit 100.  I’m sure this could have been done faster if I had paid attention, or in effect, cared to reach this point.  The truth of the matter is that these 2 dungeons don’t really mean anything to me right now.

The quests though, that’s the shindigger.  Getting to this point unlocks a half dozen or so quests. Let’s cover that, without too many spoilers.

First, it throws you back into the city proper, the lower west side in the Waning Crescent.  Super enough, the majority of the city quests take place here anyhow, so I’m familiar with the area.  It splits into 2 parts, nothing too fancy.  Except one guy you need to bribe with 1200 Ancient Mana to start the next quest – and he gives you no help or reward for it.  It feels like I’m feeding a junkie.

While the quests aren’t fancy, they do send you to the east side of Suramar.  There’s a reason people don’t go to the east side.  First is that every 2nd enemy can see through your disguise, and the ground design is full of small walls that make it feel like a maze to get out of.  Second, every enemy seems to be an elite.  Compared to the west side, where my Brewmaster can tank 8-10 enemies, I can barely take 2 on the east side.

I died more often on this tiny questline (4 times for one particular quest, as the target was below me) than I did my entire leveling experience.  And it was frustrating because it felt like the cards were just simply against me.  That NPC that was pathing would suddenly stop.  That tiny wall that I could walk over elsewhere, suddenly I couldn’t even jump over.  AE everywhere.  Large chains of enemies.  Dead end hallways.  And all of this to a) find an NPC, b) talk to 3 more, c) click on one on a boat, and d) kill one that is completely isolated from the rest of the map.  The quest activity was easy.  Getting to the quest marker was the challenge.

Note to self – avoid the east side.

Artifact Progress

I hit rank 5, which gives 200% yesterday.  That unlocked a new quest line from Xe’ra.  One that showed how Illidan changed from night elf to illidari (which actually makes less sense after seeing it).  The other was essentially you playing as Illidan on the final Black Temple raid battle.

Now that was cool.  Even though I knew the end result, the joy of taking out an entire raid, healer by healer, was pretty neat.  Seeing that 1 guy go AFK for the battle had me chuckle as well.  So far, that portion of Legion is working out well enough.  Sure, running around the world to view a cut-scene is dumb, but the lore from those scenes is actually pretty good.  And it smartly references Illidan without the whole “the Lich King will have coffee with you now” from previous expansions.

Not Like the Other

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My Demon Hunter hit 110 and was just a couple quests away from friendly with Stormheim when it happened, around the Tree Face area.  So there’s a lot left to do there.  Everywhere actually… given that I skipped a fair chunk of side quests.  Which also means quite a few flight paths are not yet unlocked.  More of an issue for world quests mind you.

Speaking of which, it’s an interesting change to have WQs handing out gear like candy again.  The first two I did were for weapon relics, then I started the rather quick climb in ilvl gear.

The item rewards are based on your total ilvl, so upgrades to lesser items seems to have the largest impact.  As it seems with all alts, jewelry and trinkets are the ones that are most behind.  Thankfully, with an entire world of WQs available, it was only a half dozen or so quests to bring nearly everything to ~810.

Big Baddie

This week’s world boss is Levantus, who is a kraken-like demon living in the waters of Aszuna.  I joined a group of 40 or so, which in hindsight was not such a smart move.  My laptop can play most any game at high (if not ultra high) and WoW’s Legion update sometimes makes use of that power.  40 character battles with sprites and ground effects… that was not pleasant.  Moving in 3D due to the depth of water, not pleasant.  Having to run circles around the boss to avoid a massive cone attack in the middle of all that, not fun. And then I went LD with 4% to go.  Quite a bit different than last week’s boss.

Class Hall Quest

My Monk’s quests was rather straightforward.  Sure, there were the odd missions for the champions.  I only ever needed to run a single dungeon.  I did need to give 20 leather to an NPC, which honestly made no sense.  It wasn’t costly mind you.  The rest sort of just happened with many instanced quests back in Pandaria.  It was neat.

The DH though.  Now that’s a different fiddle.  Some of the quests are instanced (like one that looks like the Black Temple) but a few are in the open world.  Having to fly around the Broken Isles to kill a few rares, who pose no threat, isn’t that much fun.  Plus, it didn’t make any real sense.  I have an upcoming dungeon run, which is ok.  But it’s followed by a quest to collect 15 boss kills from dungeons and one obliterum.

That is the item that people can make using the Obliterum forge.  If you’re not a crafter, then you need to buy 4 bracers to open access to this thing, and each bracer is 2k.  To make a piece of it, you need to feed it green/blue gear, enough to make 100 dust.  You get about 24 per piece of gear, so just shy of 4 pieces per bar.  They sell for ~3k each on my server.

I’m not strapped for gold in any sense of the word.  I’m not sure if this is case for everyone though.  And it’s certainly a significant step away from the Monk Class Hall quests.  And that doesn’t cover the 5×12 hour missions that close off the chapter.

Fingers crossed.

What Quests?

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I mentioned  that I had a set of goals for my DH, and the most basic of which was to quickly unlock world quests.  To do so, I need friendly with all the factions.

It is extremely surprising how little questing you have to do in order to achieve this.  I’d say even half of the main line in each zone is actually required, with the exception of Nightfallen in Suramar.  My DH is 109 and skipped every quest that wasn’t directly tied to, or offered by, the main line quest giver.  I’m up to Havi in Stormheim now, to finish off the gang.

And this is more of a fault of mine being goal driven than task driven.  I like to achieve things, and will optimize the method to get there.  The task itself provides little meaning, other than a learning experience to avoid it in the future.  Now, had I set myself the goal of learning the lore, I can assure you that doing quests would be one way of getting there.  The faster way would be to bookmark and scour WoWpedia.

Don’t get me wrong, the quests themselves are neat when I did them the first time.  My Monk did nearly all of them, for no real purpose than completion and learning.  I read that book.  My DH doesn’t so much need a reminder than those kobolds don’t like me stealing their candle, certainly not a couple days after my Monk had the same experience.

I think this is why I run multiple alts over a long period of time.  I usually end up with 1 or 2 mains, then I have a stale of alts at all sorts of levels, going through the content at different paces and places.  I might spend a night with a DK in the 80s, or a couple hours with the Warlock in the 50s.  If I’m only there for the alt experience, I won’t bother developing the character past the “get gathering professions” stage, so that I don’t feel too bad when I re-create that character later on.  It’s somewhat enjoyable to come back a few months down the road, and get back into the groove again.

Full Circle

Which brings me back to the start.  The questing experience for my DH isn’t terribly motivating right now, as it’s a means to an end.  That’s not to say that it’s a poor experience, in fact, I would argue it’s a marked improvement over other expansions because it’s optional.  I had more than enough headaches being forced through the zones in WoD or MoP in order to unlock various features.  It’s nice to have choice here.

Once the DH does hit 110, then there’s the entire Suramar line that needs to be done, as well as the Class Hall.  I think both of those lines are really solid and am looking forward to them.

I can say that given my playstyle, I am not for lack of things to do.

Demon Hunter Hunting

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I played Warcraft 3, and I played some Burning Crusade.  Demon Hunters are the bad guys, the ones who justify the means to get to the end.  They have a fair bit in common with Death Knights I suppose.  Funny how both “hero” classes are anti-heroes.

My main is a Monk, what with being able to run 3 roles and whatnot.  That makes queues instant.  The Coren Direbrew daily run pops up faster than I can swap to my healing spec.  Given that Legion really likes sending you to dungeons, I wanted an alt to have at least 2 roles, and as in a previous post, I selected a Demon Hunter.  DK is close by, but he’s not yet 100 (96 I think) and my highest level warrior on this server is 6.  They stink.

I have a few goals here.

  • Complete enough of the zone quests to get friendly.  This is usually done by only doing the main line.
  • Harvest every herb and mining node possible, and turn in those quests when my heartstones allow
  • Use only rested experience
  • Avoid dungeons unless it’s gating moving forward (Azsuna does this)
  • Class Hall followers will focus on either moving the class quests forward, or running +character exp missions.

I’ve completed 2 zones and hit 107, all on rested experience.  I’m going clockwise starting at Azsuna this time, saving Stormheim for last.  It really helps that I know what to do in some of the more complex quest lines.  And which bonus objectives are worth it.

To Tank or Not to Tank

I started off with the DPS spec, Havoc.  It’s quick (very quick) and I guess resembles a warrior in many respects.  It has relatively high damage as compared to other classes, but can’t take much damage.  And due to the way Legion works, I’d say half the time I’m stuck in some sort of AE situation.  And any rare boss can take out the DH unless I’m spot on with my cooldowns.

So, swap to Vengeance (tank mode) and give ‘er a go.

First off, tanks are nigh unkillable while leveling.  My DH has pulled 8 to 10 enemies and killed them without dropping below half.  He also takes more time to kill 2 enemies individually than he does groups of 5 or more.  He hits like a wet noodle on bosses but feels like he’s immune to damage while doing so.

I ran Eye of Az as a tank too, which was an instant queue I might add, and things went relatively well.  Rotation is a fair chunk different, and movement more complicated with casters all over the place, but DH can tank with the rest of them.  Serpentrix, the poison spitting snake of nightmares, was rather a cake walk due to the self-healing and ease of movement.

So Far, So Good

The DH class quests are interesting as well, as they tie back to BC in many ways.  There’s one crappy “kill 100 demons” quest, but the remainder have all been quite interesting.  The Akama quest had a neat ending!

As compared to the Monk class quest, it’s an interesting comparison.  MoP as a soft spot for me, so the lore works even though it has next to nothing to do with the actual expansion.  DH lore is certainly tied in better, and the events themselves are more focused.

The hall itself is built in a bugger fashion, mind you.  I like movement on the X/Y axis, horizontal.  The Monk hall has this, and you can mount up to move around.  The portal in is right next to the weapon modifier, and the mission table is a short hop away.  The DH entrance requires movement to the mission table (about the same as the Monk), and the weapon table is 2 floors below.  It has 4 total floors, well 5 if you count the daily boss room, and there’s something useful on each.  Eh.  At least the DH has decent movement tools.

Overall, I’m enjoying the DH more than I thought I would. That’s always a good sign.

When the Shark Got Jumped

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I really like Wildstar.  My guides generate consistent page views.  I played a fair chunk of the game but it dropped off my play list just as most games do.  I am not a raider, certainly not one that can raid at the level that Wildstar demands.  I much prefer the casual approach and after a couple months, you’ve just seen and done it all.  I like dungeons too, but the queues, last time I played, were hours long with no goals.

When Wildstar went F2P (a near year later than most people thought it would), it brought in the bane of all games – lockboxes.  I have a general hatred for lockboxes as I do with most gambling.  It preys on the mathematically challenged.  It’s worse when there are lockbox-only items.  Most games start off innocuous enough, with cosmetics in those boxes.  Eventually they creep up to low level gear, or mounts.

Wildstar recently announced that they are going to offer lockboxes for raid content.  I am struggling to think of a western MMO that does this (many eastern ones do).  So while you can’t buy them directly from the store (yet) they will drop from raid instances and be tradeable.  So you’ll be able to get the rewards from a raid without running a raid.

2016-09-22-lockboxes-and-you

And I find that rather sad but perhaps at the same time, to the point.  Why bother with actually playing the game when you can just bypass it all with a couple dollars?  I mean, who wants to actually play the game when you can just bypass all that crud, stand in the middle of the crowd and sit down cause there really isn’t anything left do do anymore.  And then the stop playing, which means more money lost.

And what’s the escalation point after this?  Lockboxes will now contain all the items from the game, regardless of where they come from.  What exactly will people be buying after this?  What could be better?  I don’t see any carrots left.

This brings back to mind the whole Allods fiasco, where the game was great, but with a horrible business model.

I really hoped that Wildstar would be able to find a footing. I still do.  I’m of the unfortunate opinion that they, like the dwarves before them, dug too deep with greed.

Demon Hunter Alt

My monk is over ilvl 330, so Mythic dungeons are what’s left.  I still do dailies when I can, slowly working on the Pathfinder achievement.  I have alt-itis though, and picking #2 is challenging when you have 5 characters waiting at level 100.

The purpose of an alt is to provide a different experience and playstyle.  My monk has done nearly all the quests available, and that experience will be the same next time.  What’s left is the Class Halls and the minute to minute gameplay.  I like dungeons, but the DPS queue is around 40 minutes, so that more or less rules out pure DPS for an alt (Hunter, Rogue are out).  My druid (boosted in WoD) is ok, but always feels like a dumbed down version of a real class – it just doesn’t stick with me.  Plus, there’s only so much bear-butt and cat-butt I can stand.  The Shaman is woefully underpowered as Elemental, but plays great.  That leaves the Demon Hunter.

Considering that this entire expansion is focused around demon hunters, I think the story portion will play somewhat differently.  And the playstyle, while closest to the monk, is certainly different than any other class.  You fly around all over the place, and that free glide ability… that will make my life a whole lot easier.

The class hall itself requires gliding to get to.  The story is interesting enough, and the 2 weapon quests are good.  It feels a bit weird to be playing as the bad guys from BC, but at the same time, the lore behind it all is quite entertaining.  I’m not a fan of the hall layout, but the NPCs within seem more alive than in the other halls (druids excepted).

And I’m alternating between both the tank (vengeance) and DPS (havoc) roles, to see which fits better.  Tank is really hard to kill but doesn’t have the dash skill which makes movement a breeze, and somewhat low damage.  The DPS moves like a kite in the wind, but is made of tissue paper.  More tweaking required…