Mists-of-pandaria-scenarios
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Patch 5.3 PTR: Battle on the High Seas overview
One of my favorite scenarios to this day is Unga Ingoo. It's not because it has any major lore significance, some major story reveal that was shocking or inspired. It's not because it had any kind of meaningful impact on what we're doing right now, or on the leveling experience itself. No, the reason I love Unga Ingoo is because ships, ropes, and beating up pirates are all ridiculously fun things. Even more so when the pirates are monkey pirates. In patch 5.3, we're getting four new scenarios -- three of which are interesting from a lore perspective, and one of which, Battle on the High Seas, is just a rollicking good time. There aren't any lore reveals. There's nothing in the scenario to further the story of patch 5.3, or lead into patch 5.4. The only thing Battle on the High Seas offers is the opportunity to smack the heck out of the opposite fashion in true swashbuckling style ... and honestly, that's more than enough reason to do it as far as I'm concerned! Please note that this is being written from the Horde perspective of the scenario. I'm assuming that the Alliance side is much the same, just with a role-reversal involved. Please note: This post contains spoilers for patch 5.3 content.
Patch 5.3 PTR: The Secrets of Ragefire overview
I remember Ragefire Chasm in vanilla, but only vaguely. It was usually completed once, at a very low level, and then never looked at again -- it never had any really compelling loot, and the story was only so-so. It has since received an update to both loot and story, and in a profound kind of way. In fact, if you haven't done the updated Ragefire Chasm, I suggest this would be an excellent time to do so. What happens down there is just the tip of the iceberg, it seems. In patch 5.3, we're going to get a look at a section of Ragefire Chasm we haven't seen before, in one of four new scenarios introduced with the patch. It turns out not everything is as it seems in Orgrimmar ... and Garrosh's plans have never looked quite this grim. You'll be accompanying the Gob Squad on a mission to figure out just what kind of secrets Ragefire holds, and what the Horde can expect from their Warchief. Please note: This post contains spoilers for patch 5.3 content.
Patch 5.3 PTR: Blood in the Snow overview
If you've been wondering what's been going on in Ironforge during Cataclysm and Mists, patch 5.3 ought to fill you in. The first of two scenarios required to unlock the quest chain for 5.3, Blood in the Snow tells the story of Moira Bronzebeard and her attempt to prove to both the Bronzebeard, Wildhammer, and the Alliance itself that the Dark Iron are worthy allies. One tends to forget that Moira's roots lay originally with the Bronzebeard clan -- and she's not out for blood, she's out to prove that both she and the clan she now runs aren't the one-dimensional villains everyone would like to make them out to be. Does she succeed in this goal? Well ... that remains to be seen. But given Cho's story of the three clans, the tale that pointed out that both Wildhammer and Bronzebeard were being perhaps unnecessarily paranoid, it looks like the dwarves might finally be moving in a direction of actual unity. Meanwhile, the scenario itself is actually pretty fun, and presents a bit of a challenge without being impossible. Please note: This post contains spoilers for patch 5.3 content.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Running Scenarios
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host. I love scenarios and I just figured out why. I love scenarios because I can queue up and run them as DPS, and when I do, I end up DPS tanking everything. Whether or not there's a healer, it almost always goes the same way. I queue, get in, wait to make sure everyone else is there, and start charging into things. The damage I take I mitigate with Die by the Sword, the Draenei racial and my ridiculously high parry chance. Finally, after eight years, I can get a sense of what arms tanking would be like and it's glorious. It's exactly what should have happened after Wrath of the Lich King, instead of DK's losing tanking spec versatility, warriors should have gained it. Let's rename protection into juggernaut spec, and all three trees should be able to tank or DPS! No? Just me? Ah well. At least in scenarios, this is exactly what warriors do. I come in as prot and I wreck faces, I come in arms and I Bladestorm/Sweeping Strikes everything onto me. And I'm having a blast doing it. Scenarios are perfect content for the warrior just getting used to level 90, finding your feet and trying to decide what role you want to play in instances. They're like danger room practice sessions and you get to be both Colossus and Wolverine, throwing yourself at the mobs. I find them excessively satisfying. For some, though, they might be a little daunting. So we're going to talk about how to approach the scenario as a warrior.
What content would you like to see in scenarios?
Recently I was perusing the forums as I am wont to do (I am also wont to use the archaic phrase "wont to do") when I saw a forum thread about bringing back the Wrathgate as a scenario. My first thought was "Eww, no" -- and it's not because I didn't like the Wrathgate or the Battle for Undercity that followed. I did. I greatly enjoyed both the Horde and Alliance versions. No, my reaction was based on the extreme negativity of a vocal minority of the playerbase any time anything gets revamped or reused. After listening to a litany of complaints about the return of ZG and ZA, and the complaining about the return of Wyrmrest Temple and the Eye of Eternity in Dragon Soul, and some of the complaints I've already heard about the changes to Scarlet Monastery and Scholomance, I kind of hope they never revamp old content again. But Vaneras made some good points in his response to the thread. Blizzard is pretty forward-focused right now, but they're not entirely unaware of the idea of returning old content this way. Vaneras - The Wrathgate Scenario We are aware and do acknowledge that there are people would like us to focus some more on renewing old content, but we do indeed want the game to progress and evolve with new content. :-) It has previously been said that adding new content is something we feel is generally more exciting than renewing old content, and this is still true today. Renewing existing content can be great in some situations, especially if it is content that is very popular or if it is content that hasn't been experienced by a large portion of the player-base, but in generally we feel it is better to spend our resources on creating new content that is fresh for everyone. Existing content has been renewed before though, and it is most likely going to happen again in the future in some form. Even though there are no immediate plans for it, perhaps we will one day get to see the Wrathgate and the fight for the Undercity converted into scenarios :-) source
Mists of Pandaria Beta: The Unga Ingoo scenario
During my sojourns on the beta, I assiduously ground my way to level 90 for one reason and one reason only: to get flying back as soon as possible. But since I'm here now, I figure I might as well explore some of the new content the game has to offer -- namely, scenarios. If you listen to the WoW Insider Show, you know that I've been looking forward to scenarios. They're content that you can run more easily than a dungeon without tight constraints on role. Just hop in and go. So of course, I went in as a prot warrior and tanked it. Don't blame me; blame how amazing prot is as a leveling spec in Mists of Pandaria. What follows is a run-through of the scenario I ran (called Unga Ingoo), complete with a variety of screenshots of the action. If you like pirates, monkeys, monkey pirates, monkey pirates on islands, or just smashing any of those things in the face in your own private monkey island, then you'll like Unga Ingoo. Also, Monkey Island was a classic game series -- but that's neither here nor there.
