Greetings, fellow ‘Crafters! The Pre-Expansion Patch for The War Within went live this week and Warbands are finally here. The update hasn’t been a flawless experience but it’s been an exciting few days nevertheless. Let’s get right to it.
(If you’d like to read last week’s entry: you can find it here.)
World of Warcraft Retail: Dragonflight
Note: It feels a little bit off to label this section “Dragonflight” but we’re still technically playing that expansion until The War Within launches. We’re so close now. I can almost taste that spicy New Expansion Flavor!
Firstly, after catching a video by Sutin on pet farms, I decided to seek out the Rare called Warden Entrix in Forbidden Reach. Entrix has a small chance of dropping a blue baby phoenix pet called Wakyn, so I sent my Gnome Warlock – Bottlebox over to investigate. It turns out the ruins Entrix inhabits are filled with Elite mobs and Bottlebox was too under-geared to push through that gauntlet.
Where u hidin’ that pet, Warden?
I tried again with my Prot Warrior Rootbeard and that did the trick. After much fighting, I made it deep into the ruins to the Rare’s room – but he wasn’t there. I waited a few minutes, and was just seconds away from hearthing out, when Warden Entrix finally spawned in. It must have taken me five solid minutes to grind down Entrix’s health and dispose of the constant packs of mobs he insisted on calling up. When I finally defeated him I wasn’t lucky enough to receive the pet. I’m not sure if I’ll try this again soon or wait until I’m insanely overpowered after The War Within provides me with a few additional levels.
I continued the process of logging in my alts to clear out their bags and banks. Bellefire the Demon Hunter is a Jewelcrafter and had tons of gems from past expansions gathering dust in her bank. I put a large amount of these old gems up for sale without expecting much. A few days later when I checked the Auction House results, I was pleasantly surprised that almost everything had sold – with a total near 3000 gold.
Tuesday was Pre-Expansion Patch day and, as you’re likely aware, everything did not go as planned. Server downtime was extended from 3PM PDT all the way to 9PM. I was able to get into the game around 8:45 PM and the load-in was nice and speedy. I had expected a possible delay as the system ran through and updated all 26 of my Retail characters.
I was thrilled and slightly emotional to see a random assortment of my characters sharing a laugh around the Warbands campfire. I had been waiting for a moment like this, consciously or unconsciously, for nearly 20 years. Warbands, you complete me!
The portal works just fine. The bank? Not so much.
I logged in my main, Tipton, and headed out to Tanaris for the Warband Bank Distance Inhibitor quest after checking that my Achievements and Talents tabs were in order. I was able to complete the questline and grab the personal bank portal after getting disconnected once or twice. The Warband Bank itself was inaccessible. And at the time of this writing, nearly three days later, still isn’t working. I’m sure we’ll all look back and laugh fondly as we remember that heartfelt message: “The bank is being used by another member of your Warband.”
Later, I brought Tipton over to the Emerald Dream to work on Dream Wardens rep. I ran a Superbloom and got two new Epic upgrades; Frigid Conservator’s Wrap (ilevel 489) & Cold Crisp Collar (ilevel 480). My goal is to get his rep to at least level 18 and grab the numerous mounts available before I move on to The War Within.
Finally, in modern WoW, I spent some time getting Slyboots the Undead Rogue leveled (see top screenshot). This went surprisingly fast with the new accelerated leveling just introduced. By following the caravan in Ohn’ahran Plains to Maruukai and questing along the way, I brought Sly from level 66 to level 70 in barely an hour. It helped that he had some rested XP saved up, but the leveling felt crazy fast. That’s my first max-level Horde character in a while.
I’ll wrap things up here. (I did log in Brewbottle in Hardcore WoW for some questing and that went well. Nothing exciting to report, just slow and steady progress.)
Next week, the Radiant Echoes event goes live and I’m eager to battle through that and scoop up new gear for my thirsty Warband. See you next time. Stay away from the Voodoo!