So I am now attuned to Karazhan. It was not easy. Getting the three fragments from Steamvault, followed by Shadow Labs and then Arcatraz, and then finally doing the Black Morass. But I am glad that I was always in a party of good players.

It seems like with the expansion, Blizzard is now trying to concentrate on small teams raiding, away from the previous days of 40 men raids. It is all good, because it is easier to find 5 players then finding 40 players. However it also means each player in the 5 men team must do their part, and know what role to play, and play it well. In a 40 men raid, there is more room for mistakes by individuals, but in a 5 men team, any mistake made means a wipe.

This is when I realise that most players in our guild do not really play well. I guess it is fine if they do not play well since it is possible to improve on gameplay, but there are also a few who refused to listen, who refused to acknowledge the fact they do need lots of improvement. Going to such instances with them becomes a chore. It is very difficult to turn down help requests from them, but on the other hand, the time that I have to play is severely limited. It becomes a situation where I am torn between guild progress or my own enjoyment.

Also there are players who keep asking for help in quests and there are times when I really want to go in to get some things done but then had to abandon all my plans and fly halfway across the land just to help them out.

As my guild leader remarked, ‘How nice it was to go back to those carefree playing.’ I guess that is the price we pay for the guild’s progress.

The first trip to Karazhan has been set to this Friday, I wonder if we have enough players attuned for it. Let’s see how it goes.

Is she hot or what?

So I did it. After almost a month since the expansion for World of Warcraft is out, I managed to reach level 70.

I am tired, but at the same time, I felt a great sense of achievement. I completed almost all the quests in some areas, and ran through quite a few of the new instances. So it was not just mindless levelling. Had lots of fun doing the quests with a buddy of mine.

The first thing I did when I reached level 70 was to purchase my flying mount. It was worth it. After a while flying with the flying mount, I wanted an epic flying mount. I think having an epic flying mount, with the generous flying speed bonus, will definitely enhance the flying experience. But that will take some time, farming for another 5200 gold will be long and hard.

In the meantime, there are lots of things to do. Running instances, farming reputation so that I can run heroic mode instances, pvps, all the various attunements. Not to mention there are two major zones of quests that I have not even picked up yet. All in all, I think WoW will be interesting again.

I just might post a picture of my level 70 here soon.

It has been almost a week since the expansion for World of Warcraft, Burning Crusade was released. In that short time I managed to level my main character to level 64 and started a new Blood Elf female warlock.

And I must say, Blizzard did a very good job so far. For the starting area for Blood Elf, it looks absolutely beautiful. It reminds me of Disneyland, where everything is colourful. They even borrow the ‘sweep-on-its-own-bloom’ from Disney and put it in the area. For one who is so used to the bare waste of Barrens and Undercity, the Blood Elf starting area was really a pleasant change of scenary.

Also in terms of quest design, they learnt their lesson and streamlined it. No more running 10 minutes just to do 1 quest and another 10 minutes back to return the quest. It is all streamlined, and before I knew it, I already hit level 7.

For the Outlands, they also took in a lot of players feedback when it comes to the quests. Besides the usual kill this and that, get this and that, there are unique ones, like the bombing quest, looked in the boar’s poo quest etc. The bombing quests was fun and very different, and everyone in my guild actually loves it. The best part is that is possible to do the bombing quests again and again.

The 5 men instances are so different from the old 5 men instances. It is now possible to grab 5 players, run an instance that provides reasonable challenge and get some pretty good gear all within like 1-2 hours. So far I have tried 4 different 5 men instances, and I must say they up the difficulty quite well.

All in all, my first impression of TBC is pretty good. They say Blizzard does not come up with innovative ideas, they just do the same things as others exceptionally well. And they are a company that actually listens to their customers. And it seems in this case, they really did.