Spooncraft

We finally did it folks! We got a new building! I will try to update this post as much as possible with followups as things progress.

Allow me to explain. On the PTRs we’re experiencing the world event that will go along with the start of this patch 2.4’s sunwell content. What happens is you are placed (currently by a placeholder flight path straight from IF) on the Isle of Quel’Danas (sunwell area) which was originally in the lore as the island where dragonhawks were raised and bred and so the idea of them adding a dragonhawk as an epic flying mount via drop or exalted reward similar to the cenarion hippogryph.

You are sent to the island by one of the MANY remodeled NPCs in Shatt to go aid the cause and fight on the front lines. Welcome to the Roughnecks. You start off on a dock with nothing more than your Nightelf/Draenei theme boat with a bunch of archers and commander NPCs aboard, and two tents near a beach-head. On the surrounding parade grounds you have your platoons and squads of SSO mages, soldiers, archers, and so forth running formations and fighting with the local bad guys. Keep in mind there is no innkeeper. There is no repair NPC. There isn’t even a reagent vendor.

You’re given quests to power arcane wards and crystals by collecting mana remnants off the broken crakhead looking blood elves around the forests. You are also asked to kill sentinal robots in the area and then use a special core on them to reprogram them to your side. Get three, take them to the new building you’re trying to control (an observatory for the 1st phase) and they will detatch from you and guard the perimeter.

As well you’re asked to take a portal to Hellfire Peninsula where you will aid the SSO in killing off a bunch of Kil’Jaden’s demonic forces in the area that Doom Lord Kazzak spawns. Eventually your server will have enough of the daily quests turned in and the SSO forces will take over the observatory. This is where the PTRs are at now. So the closest building is now guarded by tons of archers on the rooftop ramparts that are under constant attack by hostile bloodelf NPCs on their flying dragonhawk mounts, throwing bombs and casting spells against players and NPCs alike. It’s like real war for once, I really dig this.

Inside you are given access to more daily quests. One (most important) will ask you to go Shatt and help out more SSO forces as their mages are trying to open a portal from Shatt to that building, like the ones to all the major cities. Another quest tells you to go drop some mildly nuclear arcane bombs on demon armies staged in the dead scar, just like the halaa uncontrolled flight bombing runs or early hellfire quests. Insanely fun by the way. Here are some screenshots of the quest. You are given wingmen NPCs that fly through the area also shooting blue arcane missiles at targets to soften them up so you can actually get credit for kills as the demons you are sent to nuke have about half the HP of the halaa guards. As you fly through the 25 man raid (outdoor version) you come across brutallus himself and a massive Blue dragon (Not Kalecgos) as well are being shot at by demons and archers alike. It really isn’t a straight forward boring bombing run; and all the while beneath you the demons are fighting undead scourge that are causing chaos in the dead scar.

Wingmen > Brutallus > Blue pew pew

When you get to Shatt the portal NPC guys you were supposed to report to will ask you to go to Blade’s Edge and find Ethereals. You know the kind in Bash’ir landing (that other skyguard quest area)? Yeah they’re smuggling mana converters from Netherstorm and shipping them to Kael’s forces in the Sunwell Plateau so you have to intercept them. As well you’ll notice another daily pop up near the Scyrer bank where an NPC wants you to go into Nagrand and collect hidden red clouds of energy surrounding the big diamond mountain Oshu’gun using these funky engineering type goggles. There’s also a pair of mages from Silvermoon and Stormwind near the Alliance battlemasters ramp that ask you to go into Netherstorm to get attack plans and a quest for any skinner/herbalist/miner to get nether residue just by gathering normally and each turn in gives some major rejuvination potions. These dailies really have you all over the world.

This is the Armory we’re going to capture soon rawr!

This be the Observatory we captured already double rawr!

Something that had me excited (because I’m a lore freak and I like the little touches) was the NPCs themselves are not new at all. You see them everyday. In the big circle around A’dal, you know those aldor draenei that are always sitting around the grand anchorite guy as he gives his preachings? He’s in full recolored T6 priest gear now and giving out quests and looking truly badass. The other exarchs and NPCs near the shooting ranges are quest givers sporting armor from the 25 man. Even the drill seargent that runs drills outside the scyrer bank (you poison his cookpot if you are a scryer) is in brand new battle armor and dishing out commands.

Pretty much all of Shattrath is now battle ready and in full wartime status. Blizzard has done an amazing job this time at making it feel like there really is a war going on and some serious combat going down all over as the forces of good (horde and alliance) try to stop another Burning Legion invasion. They have made leaps and bounds from the last world event when the AQ gates were opened and all we got was a massive stockpile of supplies and junk in IF and Org or NPcs running around Silithus being eaten by bugs.