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

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I’ve somehow managed to keep up my pace of a level a day. That’s considerably slower than many of my guildmates (already have an 80 in the guild, and a few others close to that mark), but it’s more than comfortable for me. I have a lot of thoughts about Borean Tundra, but those will wait till the morrow. Long week ahead.

Without any significant gear changes it’s not all that interesting to show you the character selection shot. That said, I did get a new toy thanks to a mage port to Dalaran from a guildie. Thanks Wonad!

Some thoughts on the content I’ve experienced in Northrend below the cut.

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I’m totally in love with this expansion. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as invested in an MMO as I do with WoW right now. I’ve done two Utgarde Keep runs and a run through the Nexus. All three were successful, and I’m now the owner of Skarvald’s Dragonskin Habergeon and a Drakonid Arm Blade. Good times. I also dinged 71, and am about 20 quests short of the Quest Achievement for Howling Fjord. That one – and 72 – will be this weekend’s goal.

Going to be tracking Hack’s appearance as she and I explore Northrend. Here she is on the last day before Wrath’s launch:

Earlier this week I completed the overarching goal I’ve had since I began playing again. I set out to get a character to level 70 with an Epic Flying Mount before the expansion came out. Just over 20 days before Lich King drops, I became a pauper by buying my Artisan riding skill. In my eyes, I’ve now ‘won’ The Burning Crusade. Yes, it took me almost two years to do it. Yes, I realize everyone else did this months and months ago.

But I feel pretty darn good about it. I’ve really fallen hard for WoW again in the last month – likely the result of an awesomesauce guild – and I’m looking forward to Wrath in a way I never expected I would. My collector’s edition is showing up the day of or the day after launch, and I look forward to jumping into Howling Fjord with gusto. It’s weird to think that I’m actually invested in a game after all these years of being a wandering pariah.

When SWTOR launches in two years or whatever, I’ll play the guts out of that game, no doubt about it. I get to enjoy the build-up to BioWare’s revelation until then and, until then, enjoy what I consider now to be my virtual home away from home.

Last night I played a *lot* of WoW. A lot even by the definiton of the last week, which is quite a bit. Okay, a lot for me. You have to understand, this whole guild thing is very new to me. My original guild did me wrong relatively early in the WoW Classic era, and so most of my experience in a proper organization was from SWG. Yeah.

The above Achievements are all the result of one night of guild fun. An event that would have been impossible during the age they actually meant something, of course, and given how OP everyone is post 3.0.2 made all the easier. I hit my screenshot button maybe a hundred times over the course of the night, and have some amazing images in my head:

• My very own ‘Standing-in-front-of-Ragnaros’-hammer’ shot.
• An Onyxia-is-dead screenie.
• Ample proof of Hakkar’s death (and my own)
• Shots that prove AQ20 just ain’t what she used to be.

Of course, when I stopped for the evening I found FRAPS had been offline the. entire. time.

Yeah.

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