World of Warcraft Alpha- First Impressions

World of Warcraft Alpha- First Impressions

Hello. Yesterday I had a chance to begin the Alpha testing of the new expansion in World of Warcraft, The Battle for Azeroth. It took a while to load the game, but once it was loaded it played very well. In fact, it plays better on my computer than the regular game. I figure this is because there are only two alpha servers, and less people playing the alpha than the original game.

In the beta games, the players can duplicate their character from their normal game, but in the alpha, this is not an option. I created a new priest that looked like mine and was already leveled to 110. The players can pick any race or fraction from the start and then explore the new worlds.

My priest is a Horde Blood Elf. I was automatically assigned to shadow spec. I seemed to have the same spells as I did before, but I didn’t play shadow, so I’m not sure if they changed anything. I did look at the holy spec, but it seems the only defensive spell they have is smite. I decided I would continue using the shadow spec.

When I began the game, it was as if I had started a new character. I had to go into my settings to open the side action bars, set point to move on the mouse, and set up auto loot. Most of the spells were placed on the action bar, so all I needed to do was add my mount, pet and hearthstone to my action bars and then move the spells to my preference.

What I thought was nice, is that the developers of the game set it up so everyone playing the alpha received one extra random mount from their collection to use while playing. The mount and the pet were in the collection menu wrapped as a gift. It was nice that I was given my hearthstone steed for my mount, and the chilly penguin for my pet.

At first, I thought everyone got the same mount, but as I was playing I could see each player had a different mount. It was cool to see all the players running around on different mounts; although, I do miss my repair mount, and had to use the vendors to sell unneeded items. What a hassle. I really could tell how spoiled I was with my normal priest.

The game begins like many other World of Warcraft games. You are placed at the starting area, which was located inside a huge temple. The decorations used in this expansion were very nice; the temple was complicated, and I got easily lost trying to find the door out to the flight master.

Placed in the room is a table which holds the map of the new areas. When I clicked on the map it opened to show three new areas to explore. Each area was assigned a starting quest. These areas are Vol’dun, Nazmir, and Zuldazar. I choose to start my quests in Nazmir to help the princess in the dark swamps end the threat of the blood trolls.

Once I found the flight master, I was off on a new adventure.

The quests are much like any other expansion. You are asked to go here, talk to this person, go find that person, kill this, find that, collect what is needed….

Since this is the alpha testing, the game developers have designed each of the quests a way to give feedback. An option to give feedback is placed at the bottom of the quests when they are turned in. They ask if you have encountered any problems with the quest, and there is also a place to type in additional feedback.

On the screen there is also a new help menu available to use to give feedback at any time, or to ask for help with quests. I did not have any problems with any quests until I tried to click a pylon and fell through the floor. I then free fell into nothingness and died. Because I thought it was a fluke, I tried a few more times to get the quest done, but to my dismay I was then stuck.

I would try to log into my toon, but when I logged in my priest was falling through the air, and then got disconnected. I went to the WoW alpha forums to find out I would need to change my priest from a female to a male to get her unstuck. So, for a few minutes my priest was a buff male blood elf.

Before I found this advice, I thought maybe if I started another character I would be able to free my priest, so I made a mage. This time I started a new quest line go to Vol’dun. This quest line took me around the temple to talk to some people. It then took me on a scouting mission in which I died.

When I got back to the temple dazed and confused, I decided I don’t want to play this mage. I wanted my priest back. But while I was there, I wanted to get some pictures of the landscape because it was quite stunning.

The temple is huge and is surrounded by beautiful waterfalls and lush green landscape.

I have to say that my first impression of the World of Warcraft alpha testing has been positive. I had no problems fighting and I could easily kill most all the enemies I faced. I only died a few times, and mostly because I had not played a shadow priest in a while and it took me a minute to remember the benefits of all my spells and buffs.

Today they open a new raid. I have not attempted a dungeon yet, nor have I joined a guild. I’m not confident that I can heal without my mods, so today I will find the alpha mods and see if I can keep some people alive in a dungeon before I go looking for a guild to run the raid. This should be fun!

I attempted the dlive, but I don’t think I will be able to do it. For now, I will try to take screen shots of the coolest things and continue to bring you the latest news about the World of Warcraft Alpha testing.

Here are some more pictures of my attempt at the scouting mission.

Until Next time,

Happy Gaming- Sim Girl

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