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Into enemy territory - Jarulf - 04-06-2004
Please note, this post may have spoilers of all sort.
OK, I am the explorer type of person. Hence I like to just travel around to new areas (even those were I have no quests or my level is just plain to low). As such, I have been to some widely different and interesting areas recently. One DO meet other players in those places too (although around Ogrimar I actually saw none at all) My first trip took me south from Westfall, through the river. Unfortunately I made a misjudgement and was killed by a level 32 fish of some sort (I thought it was a tiger like monster on land and went for the water). I respawned all the way down in the south at Booty Bay, a pirate nest. Very nice in style and graphics. High level vendors (all of the "superior armourer" and so on). Even so a boat seller, although he had no boats to sell.
Exploring the terrain as a ghost has some great advantages, you can't die again and can go almost anywhere. The downside is that you don't see monsters, NPCs and such. I explored the area on my way up to the body, visited a nice Aztec like Arena and several ruins in the jungle setting. I then realised I would not make it all the way down alive so when I died the next time, I simply sucked it up, took the 1300 exp loss and resurrected myself at Booty Bay, which is inhabited by some small troll like specie by the way. I tend to think of them as small goblins. There I took the boat over to the other continent and arrived at The Barrens (I think it is called that). It again, is inhabited by the small goblins.
There were tons of quests there by the way. I particularly liked one that had me go disable a machine (BIG spoiler following on this quest, skip paragraph if you like). One involved me going find a machine of some sort which I had to disable. One of the most fun quests I have done so far actually. It is obviously guarded by monsters (including an odd Ogre) so I had to kill enough to get close to "use" the machine. Apart from the little meter running up, it also includes completing a quest and giving me new follow up quests and since I have not used any scripts, the quest text takes some time finishing before I can click "accept" and the suspense there, hoping no monster would get close enough to attack me was immense. I then had to turn of a few valves on the machine, enter a central cabin to get the key of the boss to finally turn it all off. In all, this was one of the most fun experiences I have had in the game so far doing quests (and I had to do it alone).
Anyway, it is soon pretty obvious this is horde terrain. Monsters are simply enemies to all, but then you see the odd hut with "horde" people and when you approach a city, you realise that the level 30 or 90 guard, is no longer friendly to you but hostile and will go for you (the guards at Ogrimar (big Orc with BIG axe) followed me for ever until they finally killed me, no "run outside their area till they stop follow you). New experience. So no chance to enter those places to trade and such, and also no chance to open up the equivalency to gryphon flights. After a while I noted that quest related NPCs, although red, are non hostile in that you can't target or attack them and they won't do anything to you. Other "NPC" will attack you though. I really don't know how they will handle PvP things, if you can go hostile with horde players if you are alliance player and so on.
In a few places in the terrain you will find green people though. All healers at the respawn stone when you die are green by the way, so you can always resurrect yourself, although you may find yourself in some pretty hostile territory after that. Soon I found a follow player and we went for an elite quest (it was a cave with 3 different elite quests at once actually). Unfortunately we were only 2 and of a bit too low level to handle it.
I did notice some new properties of monsters I had not seen before (although not saying it does not exist in land were alliance players play at lowish level). Lions had a very nasty habit to spawn right on top of me. After a while I realised that they probably did not spawn but were stealthy and hiding. So yes, there can definitely be a use for the skill to spot hidden monsters/players. I then went over to Durotar the map with Ogrimar, the starting map for Orcs (and trolls?). Obviously I couldn't enter Ogrimar although it looked nice from the outside. Running around, I soon found myself on the beach with lots of shipwrecks and a castle in ruins close by. To my surprise it was full of humans and they were all green and friendly. It was not an ordinary town though, but actually a hostile area (for horde people) with the "enemies" as humans, scattered as is typical in such enemy camps. In addition, almost one were interactive in being shopkeepers and such. I can only imagine the big quests involved assaulting this place. Sort of an over ground cave like thing. On the top flight of the castle I saw what appeared to be a treasure chest by the way (although it was not interactible for me, probably needs a quest).
Back on the main continent again, I went to Wetlands (north of Loch Modan). A relatively high level area (for beta) were you should probably be level 20+ to feel comfortable and much higher for some areas. I travelled north from here into Arathi Highlands. REALLY dangerous area, with level 30+ monsters. I managed to activate the gryphons here though (I am starting to have a pretty big network now). However, not satisfied with this, as a ghost, I went east into Hilsbrand Foothill and resurrected at Southshore (costing another 1700 exp) but I think it was worth it. This is a small human town (with gryphon flights) with shop keepers and such. However, it is also Undead land I would say, at least further to the east. The wilderness is bears and such, but then I came to a pretty big farm like place, again with green human enemies. This time some Undead quest is probably involved. I found an ordinary random treasure chest (the ones one find at times, but not quest related). Funnily enough, I could open it with no problem and get the loot. I sent a suggestion that one shouldn?t be able to loot chests in "friendly" areas such as this. By the way, when I got back much later, the chest was respwned but locked so I could not open it (don't have the lock pick skill).
Onwards I travelled into the east into Silverpine Forest and got to the area which is probably the Undeads equivalency of Loch Modan or Westfall. The fun thing was that a pretty huge part of this map had the random monsters in the wilderness being humans and thus green and friendly to me!!! While exploring this friendly area, I also took the time to pick up herbs all over (in friendly terrain). I found several other "towns" of human monsters were I could enter freely and loot random chests and even spot quest related items (such as a big book in a house). Also found a more advanced elite quest town/fort with monsters with + levels (all green and friendly though). In one such area (I think it is an instanced dungeon) the graphics were all wrong and I found myself walking through walls and such.
Finally, on my way back, I took the dangerous walk through Dalarien (I think that is the name but very unsure, it is Alterac Mountains). Although friendly green monsters (elements, wizards and such of 30+ level), there were also hiding high level bears among them which made life miserable. I found a nice big glowing globe?.. (well, no idea what it involves, but one see it from a long distance).
The question is of course how this will work when horde people run around too. Will hostility be allowed? Can high level players sneak into low level areas of the opposing alliance and wreck havoc? And if no player interaction is allowed, is it just that you can't enter their towns and ride their "gryphons"? Obviously one can't get most of the quests either.
The next question I pondered over is, what horde monsters exists in the areas we have normally played in so far. Obviously the Ogre area in Loch Modan is one, but other horde monsters we have fought? Seems to exist far more of them in, especially, the Undead maps, but to some extent in the Horde areas too.
Ohh well, that was it. I have tons of pics, but have no program to automatically convert the graphics format but can check some if people are interested.
That is it. Hope it was of some interest.
Into enemy territory - TaiDaishar - 04-06-2004
Excellent journal Jarulf.
On a side note there are 2 more things I want:
A) MORE
B) Screenshots pretty please?
Into enemy territory - Jarulf - 04-06-2004
TaiDaishar,Apr 6 2004, 05:42 PM Wrote:B) Screenshots pretty please?OK, I have converted a bunch into jpg. To not lose quality, I chose a pretty high quality, so they are still a few hundrad kb in size. Now I need somewere to put them. In total I have almost 300 pics, but not all are converted to jpg (that is since I started playing).
Into enemy territory - DeeBye - 04-06-2004
Jarulf,Apr 6 2004, 01:38 PM Wrote:http://www.imageshack.usTaiDaishar,Apr 6 2004, 05:42 PM Wrote:B) Screenshots pretty please?OK, I have converted a bunch into jpg. To not lose quality, I chose a pretty high quality, so they are still a few hundrad kb in size. Now I need somewere to put them. In total I have almost 300 pics, but not all are converted to jpg (that is since I started playing).
Into enemy territory - Cryptic - 04-06-2004
Great report! Thanks Jarulf. It still amazes me how many different reports I've read, and although everyone starts in the same places, everyone seems to find something that no one else does. This game must be huge.
I'm sure that to see all of the quests will take at least a year, with multiple characters (especially considering the ongoing content additions); but can anyone give us a rough idea of how long it takes to journey on foot across a continent, and how much play it might take to see the entire game world?
Into enemy territory - Tal - 04-06-2004
Orcs can see you and kill you in your ghost form from what I understand. Katricia also said in one of the WoW threads that other critters can as well.
Into enemy territory - Jarulf - 04-06-2004
DeeBye,Apr 6 2004, 07:44 PM Wrote:Many files are bigger than the limit on 600kb though :(Jarulf,Apr 6 2004, 01:38 PM Wrote:http://www.imageshack.usTaiDaishar,Apr 6 2004, 05:42 PM Wrote:B) Screenshots pretty please?OK, I have converted a bunch into jpg. To not lose quality, I chose a pretty high quality, so they are still a few hundrad kb in size. Now I need somewere to put them. In total I have almost 300 pics, but not all are converted to jpg (that is since I started playing).
And the file names for the pics are just horrible to type in by hand, oh well :)
Into enemy territory - DeeBye - 04-06-2004
Jarulf,Apr 6 2004, 02:48 PM Wrote:Many files are bigger than the limit on 600kb though :(Bigger than 600kb? Lower the quality then. A 600 kb jpeg isn't going to show significantly more detail than a 150 kb one.
Also, when using uploaders such as imageshack, you don't have to type out the filename by hand. Click the little "browse" button, find your file, and you're good to go.
Into enemy territory - Jarulf - 04-06-2004
DeeBye,Apr 6 2004, 09:04 PM Wrote:Bigger than 600kb? Lower the quality then. A 600 kb jpeg isn't going to show significantly more detail than a 150 kb one.OK, tell me how to automate the process then, because right now I have to do it by hand, one picture at a time. I only noticed the big file size once I had done a whole bunch so I went on with the same compression for all of them.
Also, when using uploaders such as imageshack, you don't have to type out the filename by hand. Click the little "browse" button, find your file, and you're good to go.
Into enemy territory - DeeBye - 04-07-2004
Jarulf,Apr 6 2004, 03:13 PM Wrote:OK, tell me how to automate the process then, because right now I have to do it by hand, one picture at a time. I only noticed the big file size once I had done a whole bunch so I went on with the same compression for all of them.IrfanView is a freeware image viewer that also does batch conversion.
Into enemy territory - Jarulf - 04-07-2004
DeeBye,Apr 7 2004, 04:27 AM Wrote:IrfanView is a freeware image viewer that also does batch conversion.OK, thanks, will check it out later to night when I get home. I tried a few different compression rates, and although one in general doesn't lose much, if one start to look at details, there IS a difference that is noticable. But oh well, it is mostly scenery anyway. I never remember to take pictures in the middle of fights or of cluse up stiff anyway.
Into enemy territory - Bolty - 04-07-2004
Jarulf,Apr 6 2004, 04:13 PM Wrote:OK, tell me how to automate the process then, because right now I have to do it by hand, one picture at a time. I only noticed the big file size once I had done a whole bunch so I went on with the same compression for all of them.Bah, dangit, if I had my content management system up and running, I could have an area where beta testers could upload screenshots.
Still weeks away, though.
-Bolty
Into enemy territory - DeeBye - 04-08-2004
Bolty,Apr 7 2004, 05:23 PM Wrote:Bah, dangit, if I had my content management system up and running, I could have an area where beta testers could upload screenshots.You still wouldn't want 600+kb images being posted though. Imagine someone posting 10 of them, and then having a hundred or so views. That would absolutely kill your bandwidth.
Still weeks away, though.
-Bolty
Into enemy territory - Bolty - 04-08-2004
DeeBye,Apr 7 2004, 09:34 PM Wrote:You still wouldn't want 600+kb images being posted though. Imagine someone posting 10 of them, and then having a hundred or so views. That would absolutely kill your bandwidth.Actually, I'd consider it a good test of the dedicated server I'm now using. :-)
-Bolty
Into enemy territory - Jarulf - 04-09-2004
OK, tried it, but appearantly one need to upload it picture by picture, slowly and the location is not just the picture name changing, so one then need to copy each link, just to much work :(
Into enemy territory - DeeBye - 04-10-2004
Jarulf,Apr 9 2004, 08:20 AM Wrote:OK, tried it, but appearantly one need to upload it picture by picture, slowly and the location is not just the picture name changing, so one then need to copy each link, just to much work :(There are no free image-hosting utilities out there that will do what you want them to do. If Imageshack.us isn't good enough, you'll have to buy your own hosting.