I’m still not quite to 74 yet; I hit Monday, opened the closet marked ‘work’ and a hundred thousand pingpong balls flew out of the tiny room at me in a hilarious Lucy-esque display. So, been a bit busy. Still, I have many awesome things to say about Lich King. You can hear me say a few of those things in today’s Massively Speaking. We’re up to Episode 32, amazingly. But to go into greater detail here, I want to start with the comments of some other folks:

“From the very moment I first entered Northrend, as the boat I was on approached the dock, I could tell that Blizzard just “gets it”.  I’m definitely eager to see what else the expansion has in store in the levels to come, but by no means am I in a rush to get there.  That to me, is a sign of a great expansion.”
- Timesink

“The new zones are stunning.  There were zones in Outland that I really liked, but only Zangarmarsh made me say, “Ooooooh” when I first walked in there.  So far, each of the new zones I’ve seen in Northrend have left me with my jaw hanging open.  I’m exploring entire areas not just for the achievement, but because I want to see the view from every cliff top.”
- Outland Bound

“Borean Tundra: Pasta. Howling Fjord: Pasta with a freshly made tomato, basil and mushroom soft sauce, topped with freshly-grated parmesan cheese. Served just at the right temperature, by a 10th generation family chef from Tuscany, who made the whole dish right before your eyes while you sipped the season’s red wine, in a delightful summer sunset, on the terrace at his private villa.”
- Julian at KTR

The discussion we had on SUWT about bloggers not playing Lich King is a bit out of date at this point. That said, a lot of folks are still engaged in other games, and I think it’s worth exploring what makes this expansion so great. I’m going to jump off of Julian’s last point there to talk about the differences between the two starting zones in the game … and why Borean Tundra is so much more than plain pasta.

I actually don’t think the best comparison is delicious Italian dishes. Howling Fjord, to me, is a place. Perhaps more than any other place I’ve been in World of Warcraft, the Fjord is an incredibly evocative locale. There are stories that walk through you through very distinct stories, and many lead right up to the door of Utgarde Keep. Every part of that zone, be it the hilarious pirates in the southwest or the grim alchemists of New Agamand, tells a story that puts you in a place and time. I’ll be honest: I didn’t know Blizz had this kind of storytelling in them. Their lore has always been fun, of course, but most of that happened offline in books, on the web, or in instances. But no - real storytelling in quests, in a zone. Great stuff.

Comparatively, I liken Borean Tundra to a theme park. There are several distinct areas of Borean each with its own theme. There are regular-style quests (B tickets) scattered around each of those areas, but they all lead up to a couple of major hijinks (E tickets). Riding a Mammoth, fighting a hundred freaking undead in a tank, killing a simply enormous sea monster, fighting a Death Knight, bargaining with Murlocs … there are a bunch of moments like this in the game and each of them is entirely worth the price of admission.

The word that everyone seems to be using is ‘epic’. Blizzard has taken off the kid gloves, and really re-examined what the point of a quest should be in WoW. As I said earlier in the week, each quest is still fundamentally ‘go here kill X’ or ‘take x here’ or ‘go click x things’, but the packaging around these mechanics now shines like a new coat of paint. I have to say, I’m particularly enthused about my ability to enjoy the paint on these quests. So often I get bogged down in the boring sameness that I just sort of tune out whatever it is I’m doing in-game. Northrend has really changed that for me, and my hat is way off to Blizzard for their work here.

Above and beyond the rest, as a final thought here, I want to very specifically call out the Gjalerbron area of Howling Fjord as perhaps my favorite adventuring area in WoW, ever. It’s a keep full of Vrykul warriors, but it’s so much more than that. There’s an outside area with undead, a dragon, and a few mini-bosses. There’s a crypt beneath the keep as well, stocked with dormant soldier and tended by necromantic acolytes. King Ymiron, the final boss of Utgarde Pinnacle, even makes an appearance inside the keep itself. It’s an amazing area, incredibly well done, and the best part of a generally good zone.