World of Warcraft....

The event ended an hour before the 11PM(my time) launch of the expansion. Which was a pity as I was leveling up the Monk nicely. Being so close to the launch time I decided to wait and see what shenanigans would ensue. Nothing on the size of a WoW expansion launch really goes 100% smoothly.

Not that I was 100% active in the time up to the launch, semi-afk like a lot of players waiting at the blimps soon to be location. Chat was lively, players were excited to see everything new...

And when the time came, the quest accepted and the blimp arrived everyone pilled on in. We all waited for the blimp to leave, it left and the loading screen hung for an overly long time.... Then everyone who was on the blimp found themselves on the ground outside Orgrimmar with no blimp or new lands in sight.

If chat was lively before it was on steroids after. Nobody expected a smooth ride. Talk of other players on other realms where things were both better and worse was discussed. More talk in fun ways and at  Blizz's ridiculed expense.... Yea it was all up for discussion, fun and frolics. But it was after the same thing happened three more times that I bailed from the game. It was late and I was no longer in the mood. I saw what I wanted and needed to see in the expansion launch and I can say I was there.

Yesterday(29th) I got both my Hunter and Lock to the first area and quested away. It's a slower more story driven experience. More old skool and reminded me a lot of my Vanilla days. Dragon/Drake flying in it is great and worth it as a mechanic. 

The new lands(so far) are varied and interesting, familiar but new. Just like the quests and the quest givers and the mechanics of 'being' in game. I need to update a few mods but I'll leave that for another few days.

If there was any downside it was that my wife and I were the only guild members online. Two old members(old leaders of the guild) were online but are in a different guild. The last week has surprised me in how much both old players have not returned(still in guild) and those that are in game but out of guild are distant. We still got to group with them for some things but there was 'something' missing. Not like the old days where we'd have done anything for any one of them. That's the melancholy of the situation. I know I've been out of the game a long time but not that much has changed but then again for them it has; Not being a part of that(of their experiences) has increased the separation. Even asking about what their new guild was like was met with less than enthusiastic replies. I'm not looking to follow them but if they are in a good guild that will do raids then yea I'm gonna ask; Getting the cold shoulder is off-putting in more ways then one. Another old guildie is more in with them but wants to restart the old guild, get them back in it and fire things up again. She may succeed but not even she was asked to join them in their new one. There is something off and nobody is talking about whatever elephant may be in the room. Maybe things will change but for now I'm happy enough to solo and quest when my wife is on. When that other old guildie is active(with her brother as well) at least there is friendly banter(She is U.S. timezone for now; EU time zone in a few months).  All is not lost but it's a pity as the guild was so good back in the day(not so long ago); I thought it would have come back together.

Eitherway and anyway; WoW is WoW. There will be much gameplay to be had over the next weeks/months....

I also got the reward Drake with the Twitch/Blizzard drop which is nice.