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WoW: Execute "Operation: Get The Hell Outta Here"
(cred for title goes to IvoryTower 'cos she r0xx0rz)
So last night I decided I'd run the Icecrown Dungeon Threebie to see if I could (yes, I'm level 90, but I'm also the RNG's favourite kickball--and I tend to underestimate myself a lot, haha), and I could, and it was fun.
Wrath wasn't perfect, and ICC is the bluest blue thing to ever blue out of blueville. The Alliance-side version of this dungeon run contributed to the Jaina derail in obnoxious ways, and the Horde-side isn't perfect about Sylvanas either. Uther kind of sounds like a douche to me in places, which mehhh. Pit of Saron is a bit counterintuitive to navigate if you're not used to it and misread the map; I ran up the hill instead of around the corner and then went 'oh right, uh...' Also? BRONJAHM DESERVES MORE LOVE. (And a VA who's not pasty godDAMN. Sorry, Metzyboy, but you're about as brown as me--which is to say, absolutely not. Sit down son.) Because he's the hardest-working man in Icecrown. ;p Also, these three dungeons feel kind of brief? I know I'm vastly overlevelled, and that this is sort of a three-in-one dungeon--like, one piece of the icecrown Threebie is not equivalent to one quarter of Auchindoun's complex--but it still seems oddly configured? I'm not sure if there's another dungeon grouping that does this... I dunno. YMMV. To me the pieces felt a little shortish in length and I prolly would have made them separate and not a three-in-one if that was possible without breaking flow. I dunno. It just felt kind of oddish. Others may well disagree and I totally accept that and defer to their greater experience. XD
But. Gripes aside? Wow. The atmosphere. THE LOREGASM. And the end of the dungeon triad flossing christ.
Overall: It's fun stuff. I know I'm not qualified to make major lore judgements or difficulty judgements, and I won't do either. This is just my rambling observations, personal opinions and nattering. :D
So, piece by piece:
FORGE OF SOULS
-This place looks like kind of a Doom 3 shoutout. XD it's nto a ripoff by any means, nor is it an exact replica, but I think the designers were being fanboys. FoS just reminded me some of the ZAMG HELL business to an extent, what with all the little floaty skulls doing their best HEY MOM I'MMA LOST SOUL. I like the crazy ornate ironwork platforms--it looks like an industrial catwalk gone Scourgegoth, which is appropriate.
-This also seems to be the dungeon with the most empty unused space? It's HUGE but the actual places you can go are limited. I have a few guesses as to why (avoiding slowdown/lag as a result of the Soul Smoothie Blenders at the bottom, maybe) but it still strikes me as odd to have all that damn space and not utilize it at least a little. Old!Scholo had a fucktonne of space too but that space usually had trash (that had trash with trash, because they heard we liked trash so they put trash with our trash so we can AAAARGH) in it. I'unno. Again, YMMV, but I would've put more stuff in the space if that was possible withut lagging people to death.
-Bronjahn is, like Nefarian, one of the few default-human-model-guy bosses who looks respectable. This is because he's brown. The darker skin tones on WoW humans look much, MUCH better simply because of how the rendering works. Anyone who says shading dark skin is harder is a liar. XP it's not. It's just different.
-I blasted "What Planet Is This!?" while fighting him because I could.
PIT OF SARON
-Teeheeheee the abbreviation for this place I am twelve.
-There was some uniqueness at the beginning wherein Sylvanas and Co. did not show up at first and I had to run in circles a while to wake up the phasing.
-I'm not sure what the fragging all the NPCs was meant to accomplish? I mean yeah, it makes mobs, and it adds some 'oh shit' but--ehh. I'd have run it so Sylvanas was like, "Hokay. So. Kick the necromancers, clear out all their annoying risen skellingtons, and make this a solid place for the Ashen Verdict to set up a small temp base."
-I got lost. Went up the hill instead of around the corner. GG!
-Wish we'd been freeing Red and Blue Team slaves both. Yeah, faction, etc., but it would've been fun to see Sylvanas all, "I dislike you but I dislike Arthas more, and this will piss the little punk off." That would've made the business with Gorkun make more sense.
-Speaking of that--Sylvanas's reaction to his frost-bombing struck me as out of character. Yeah, she's not warm and fuzzy, she can be an asshole, but she isn't heartless. It would've been fun to see her yank EVERYONE back and then grief Gorkun for speeching out in the open and almost ending his hippie party before it started. I JUST WANT MORE BANSHEE QUEEN SNARK IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK.
-Eye of the Lich king creeped Ishan out and he kept snarking at it.
"Cry out in torment... Let your pain overcome your might..."
"Shut up, Arthas."
"Release yourself from the chains of life..."
"Yes, we understand that you really like chains. Maybe you should put the lechery away for a while."
"Give in... to the cold embrace of death..."
"Is that what we're calling it now?"
"The Master's will remains inviolate..."
"Lady Sylvanas, he's referring to himself in the third person now."
In his personal canon he never actually went here (t'was Aerionn who did). But. Yes. XD
HALLS OF REFLECTION
-fffFFFFFFF
-Yeah.
-I like Sylvanas being able to speak to Frostmourne/the spirits in it. It ties into the lore of some undead being called to her, and into the lore of her having a knack for necromancy.
-Iffy on the voice acting in here in re; Sylvanas and Uther. Sylvanas's WC3 VA is the one I'm used to so when she doesn't sound that way it throws me right off. And Uther (a) doesn't sound quite right and (b) sounds really condescending in parts, which strikes me as OOC. I know he's under a lot of duress (look, mommy, a giant understatement), but it is hard for me to imagine him calling SYLVANAS "girl". She's like twice his age? He gets good when Arthas shows up, though. That groan, holy hell. And his informing Sylvanas 'he's planning even worse crap for you than before' is terrifying.
-Also. ARTHAS. Jesus christ. HIS voice work is fine. It's great. He is a sarcastic egotistical imposing punkass bastard all the way through this and it wins. And he really has too much fun smacking Uther down. Petty much.
-I love Sylvanas's "OH NO NO NO NO NO NO, FUCK YOU ARTHAS, GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT" moment.
-Being level 90 leads to Falric and Marwyn's posse having flaily aggro.
-Falric's bossfight smacktalk here led to my mental canon of him being something of an empath. he talks a lot about Strat, tries to play it like he feels naught but lulz for it, but I don't buy it. And then he's on and on about fear/despair/blaaargh...methinks someone is still deeply affected and disturbed by what he had to do, and he's empath-projecting it all over the place.
-"Marwyn, finish them..." You two are married. Admit it. ;p
-Poor Marywn, you get next to no lore. Falric gets to be loud in the DK Manga and be in the silly-ass Arthas book, but you only get to be in here. I shall give you more lore in my fic. Anyway...Marwyn's hangup seems to be on Terenas, and on the effects of undeath. Shared Suffering, hmm? Goddamn, there is so much potential for crack in here.
-Ishan had no time for the Frostsworn General.
"YOU ARE NOT WORTHY TO FACE THE LICH KING!"
"I was an Acherus Commander, you lackwit. *SMASH*"
-Sylvanas fighting Arthas = BAAAADDDDASSSSSSSS.
-The "SHIT. SHIT. IT'S THE LICH KING. GET IN THE VAN." is HONESTLY FRIGGING SCARY even when you're max'd at 90 and nothing can really do much to you. Facing back down the road while Sylvanas arrowspams the ice walls and tells Arthas off, and seeing Arthas VERY. SLOWLY. GAINING. ON. YOU. with that huge ice storm around him all the time and the creepy black energy arcs...fuuuuuuuuck. Even though I'm max-levelled (though not fully kitted out, I'm in quest blues and greens), here is a real sense of tension and impending OH FUCK.
-The back-and-fourth dialogue between the escort and Arthas is...well...cheese. But it's still really awesome to see Arthas going "OH WHAT NOW" and Sylvanas or Jaina all "SHUT UP SHUT UP WHY DO YOU NEVER SHUT UP ALSO YOU FAIL."
-I am a giant nerd who actually said "ANAR'ALAH BELORE" out loud when Sylvanas did her "fuck, dead end...LAST STAND TIME, NOOBS" speech. And boy was Ishan pissed off about Arthas hassling Sylvanas. He was most happy when Arthas got avalanche'd.
FINAL HAUL
-TOO MANY DAGGERS. LOTS OF LEATHER. But I got Seethe, which is pretty.
So last night I decided I'd run the Icecrown Dungeon Threebie to see if I could (yes, I'm level 90, but I'm also the RNG's favourite kickball--and I tend to underestimate myself a lot, haha), and I could, and it was fun.
Wrath wasn't perfect, and ICC is the bluest blue thing to ever blue out of blueville. The Alliance-side version of this dungeon run contributed to the Jaina derail in obnoxious ways, and the Horde-side isn't perfect about Sylvanas either. Uther kind of sounds like a douche to me in places, which mehhh. Pit of Saron is a bit counterintuitive to navigate if you're not used to it and misread the map; I ran up the hill instead of around the corner and then went 'oh right, uh...' Also? BRONJAHM DESERVES MORE LOVE. (And a VA who's not pasty godDAMN. Sorry, Metzyboy, but you're about as brown as me--which is to say, absolutely not. Sit down son.) Because he's the hardest-working man in Icecrown. ;p Also, these three dungeons feel kind of brief? I know I'm vastly overlevelled, and that this is sort of a three-in-one dungeon--like, one piece of the icecrown Threebie is not equivalent to one quarter of Auchindoun's complex--but it still seems oddly configured? I'm not sure if there's another dungeon grouping that does this... I dunno. YMMV. To me the pieces felt a little shortish in length and I prolly would have made them separate and not a three-in-one if that was possible without breaking flow. I dunno. It just felt kind of oddish. Others may well disagree and I totally accept that and defer to their greater experience. XD
But. Gripes aside? Wow. The atmosphere. THE LOREGASM. And the end of the dungeon triad flossing christ.
Overall: It's fun stuff. I know I'm not qualified to make major lore judgements or difficulty judgements, and I won't do either. This is just my rambling observations, personal opinions and nattering. :D
So, piece by piece:
FORGE OF SOULS
-This place looks like kind of a Doom 3 shoutout. XD it's nto a ripoff by any means, nor is it an exact replica, but I think the designers were being fanboys. FoS just reminded me some of the ZAMG HELL business to an extent, what with all the little floaty skulls doing their best HEY MOM I'MMA LOST SOUL. I like the crazy ornate ironwork platforms--it looks like an industrial catwalk gone Scourgegoth, which is appropriate.
-This also seems to be the dungeon with the most empty unused space? It's HUGE but the actual places you can go are limited. I have a few guesses as to why (avoiding slowdown/lag as a result of the Soul Smoothie Blenders at the bottom, maybe) but it still strikes me as odd to have all that damn space and not utilize it at least a little. Old!Scholo had a fucktonne of space too but that space usually had trash (that had trash with trash, because they heard we liked trash so they put trash with our trash so we can AAAARGH) in it. I'unno. Again, YMMV, but I would've put more stuff in the space if that was possible withut lagging people to death.
-Bronjahn is, like Nefarian, one of the few default-human-model-guy bosses who looks respectable. This is because he's brown. The darker skin tones on WoW humans look much, MUCH better simply because of how the rendering works. Anyone who says shading dark skin is harder is a liar. XP it's not. It's just different.
-I blasted "What Planet Is This!?" while fighting him because I could.
PIT OF SARON
-Teeheeheee the abbreviation for this place I am twelve.
-There was some uniqueness at the beginning wherein Sylvanas and Co. did not show up at first and I had to run in circles a while to wake up the phasing.
-I'm not sure what the fragging all the NPCs was meant to accomplish? I mean yeah, it makes mobs, and it adds some 'oh shit' but--ehh. I'd have run it so Sylvanas was like, "Hokay. So. Kick the necromancers, clear out all their annoying risen skellingtons, and make this a solid place for the Ashen Verdict to set up a small temp base."
-I got lost. Went up the hill instead of around the corner. GG!
-Wish we'd been freeing Red and Blue Team slaves both. Yeah, faction, etc., but it would've been fun to see Sylvanas all, "I dislike you but I dislike Arthas more, and this will piss the little punk off." That would've made the business with Gorkun make more sense.
-Speaking of that--Sylvanas's reaction to his frost-bombing struck me as out of character. Yeah, she's not warm and fuzzy, she can be an asshole, but she isn't heartless. It would've been fun to see her yank EVERYONE back and then grief Gorkun for speeching out in the open and almost ending his hippie party before it started. I JUST WANT MORE BANSHEE QUEEN SNARK IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK.
-Eye of the Lich king creeped Ishan out and he kept snarking at it.
"Cry out in torment... Let your pain overcome your might..."
"Shut up, Arthas."
"Release yourself from the chains of life..."
"Yes, we understand that you really like chains. Maybe you should put the lechery away for a while."
"Give in... to the cold embrace of death..."
"Is that what we're calling it now?"
"The Master's will remains inviolate..."
"Lady Sylvanas, he's referring to himself in the third person now."
In his personal canon he never actually went here (t'was Aerionn who did). But. Yes. XD
HALLS OF REFLECTION
-fffFFFFFFF
-Yeah.
-I like Sylvanas being able to speak to Frostmourne/the spirits in it. It ties into the lore of some undead being called to her, and into the lore of her having a knack for necromancy.
-Iffy on the voice acting in here in re; Sylvanas and Uther. Sylvanas's WC3 VA is the one I'm used to so when she doesn't sound that way it throws me right off. And Uther (a) doesn't sound quite right and (b) sounds really condescending in parts, which strikes me as OOC. I know he's under a lot of duress (look, mommy, a giant understatement), but it is hard for me to imagine him calling SYLVANAS "girl". She's like twice his age? He gets good when Arthas shows up, though. That groan, holy hell. And his informing Sylvanas 'he's planning even worse crap for you than before' is terrifying.
-Also. ARTHAS. Jesus christ. HIS voice work is fine. It's great. He is a sarcastic egotistical imposing punkass bastard all the way through this and it wins. And he really has too much fun smacking Uther down. Petty much.
-I love Sylvanas's "OH NO NO NO NO NO NO, FUCK YOU ARTHAS, GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT" moment.
-Being level 90 leads to Falric and Marwyn's posse having flaily aggro.
-Falric's bossfight smacktalk here led to my mental canon of him being something of an empath. he talks a lot about Strat, tries to play it like he feels naught but lulz for it, but I don't buy it. And then he's on and on about fear/despair/blaaargh...methinks someone is still deeply affected and disturbed by what he had to do, and he's empath-projecting it all over the place.
-"Marwyn, finish them..." You two are married. Admit it. ;p
-Poor Marywn, you get next to no lore. Falric gets to be loud in the DK Manga and be in the silly-ass Arthas book, but you only get to be in here. I shall give you more lore in my fic. Anyway...Marwyn's hangup seems to be on Terenas, and on the effects of undeath. Shared Suffering, hmm? Goddamn, there is so much potential for crack in here.
-Ishan had no time for the Frostsworn General.
"YOU ARE NOT WORTHY TO FACE THE LICH KING!"
"I was an Acherus Commander, you lackwit. *SMASH*"
-Sylvanas fighting Arthas = BAAAADDDDASSSSSSSS.
-The "SHIT. SHIT. IT'S THE LICH KING. GET IN THE VAN." is HONESTLY FRIGGING SCARY even when you're max'd at 90 and nothing can really do much to you. Facing back down the road while Sylvanas arrowspams the ice walls and tells Arthas off, and seeing Arthas VERY. SLOWLY. GAINING. ON. YOU. with that huge ice storm around him all the time and the creepy black energy arcs...fuuuuuuuuck. Even though I'm max-levelled (though not fully kitted out, I'm in quest blues and greens), here is a real sense of tension and impending OH FUCK.
-The back-and-fourth dialogue between the escort and Arthas is...well...cheese. But it's still really awesome to see Arthas going "OH WHAT NOW" and Sylvanas or Jaina all "SHUT UP SHUT UP WHY DO YOU NEVER SHUT UP ALSO YOU FAIL."
-I am a giant nerd who actually said "ANAR'ALAH BELORE" out loud when Sylvanas did her "fuck, dead end...LAST STAND TIME, NOOBS" speech. And boy was Ishan pissed off about Arthas hassling Sylvanas. He was most happy when Arthas got avalanche'd.
FINAL HAUL
-TOO MANY DAGGERS. LOTS OF LEATHER. But I got Seethe, which is pretty.