Leafshine: Lust for Flower

Goblins, Worgen and Cataclysms (Oh, my)

So, wow.com thinks that the goblin/worgen rumours are true and that we're going to see two new races in the expansion. I avoided writing about the rumours the first time around, as they seemed to be just that: rumours. But as they're looking more likely, I thought I'd break from the two Epic Posts I'm writing at the moment to talk about them.

They make sense as races in that Blizz seems to like to establish a sense of balance in the factions. The Goblins give the Horde a small, ingenious race (some might say annoying) to match the Alliance's Gnomes, while the Alliance gain a animalistic race in the Worgen to match the Tauren. 

Time is Money, For The Horde!

Goblins as a playable Horde race is something of a reversion. After all, Horde goblin suicide bombers were a fun part of Warcraft II at a time when the concept was somewhat less politically sensitive than it is now. (And, anyway, didn't they make a repeat appearance in one of the quests out of K3 in Storm Peaks?)

I think we can make a few pretty safe assumptions:

• It will just be a faction of Goblins, not the whole race.
• The existing, neutral Steamwheedle Cartel outposts will stay just that: neutral
• Undermine will make an appearance, either as the racial capital or as the Shatt/Dalaran of this expansion - which suggests that elements of this expansion have been in planning since before the release of vanilla WoW, given that maps of Undermine were visible in the "making of" DVD. 

Cataclysm will be key to the group of Goblins siding with the Horde, I think. I can't see Thrall's Horde hiring the Goblins en masse to join the Horde, so there must be some need that drive at least some of the Goblins into the Horde's arms for protection. And a Cataclysm would certainly do that. 

Recipe Day (Patched)

Wut!

Patch day???? How was I to know? There's been virtually no information about this patch anywhere on the internets…

</sarcasm> :-)

While we wait for my game to patch, here's the recipe for Naxx Surf'n'Turf:

Patch 3.1: My First Hour in Pictures

So, Patch 3.1 has hit the European realms with less trouble than in the US, it appears, and what did it bring us? Well, loads of nice little touches, like the mailed invite to the Argent Tournament (see pic, right). I don't want to spoil things too much for people who haven't had time to explore yet, so I thought I'd record some of my first hour or so in the patched game by means of screenies...

Here We Go Again…

Anyone care for a small wager on when the EU servers actually go live today?

Enter Frosty - and Northrend

Meet Frosty. He's cute, ain't he?

And yes, his appearance means Leafy is safely ensconced in Northrend, her professions trained, and her first couple of quests done.

I wasn't in the Beta, so this is all new to mean. And I have to say, the boat ride into Valgarde was the most breath-taking thing I've seen in the game so far, with perfect music to complement it.

This is a new thing. And so far, it seems good…

More tomorrow. :)

Installing Wrath of the Lich King: What to Expect

So, the natural follow-on to my unboxing video was to actually install Wrath. What's the experience like?

Well, for one thing, the game coming on DVD gets rid of all that tedious disk-swapping that you got with vanilla WoW and the Burning Crusade.

Here's how it goes:

No guesses as to who the main boss of the Expansion is, then…

Then, there's a language choice screen, and you're thrown into the main install. And that's the really interesting bit, because the install tells a story:

Wrath on the Move…

My Wrath Collector's Edition has shipped!

w00t!

Patch 3.0: The Lure of Achievements

So, Achievements. Good fun, but a bit of a distraction, and certainly not worth going out of your way for, right?

Oh, dear me. I have so very little willpower…