cyclonian
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Ol' Grumpy and the return of class-based quests
Hi, I'm Ol' Grumpy. You may remember me from such posts as every single other post with "Ol' Grumpy" in the title. Today, since I have this incredibly uncomfortable rocking chair to sit on, I figured I'd grump about class quests and why I think they should come back. Back in the day (that day being 2004 to 2005), I leveled the first of many warriors to the experience cap of level 60. At that time, one of the things that set the warrior class (and other classes) apart was a long, involved quest line that sent you all over Azeroth to gather materials and finally face and defeat Cyclonian. As a result, you gained one of three iconic weapons. (Most people took the axe. As a human at the time, I took the sword.) This extremely long quest line took you from Fray Island to the area north of Tarren Mill and then to Arathi Highlands (giving them a reason to exist) and Stranglethorn Vale before bringing you back to face Cyclonian. It was a rite of passage for a leveling toon. As a 60th-level, 70th-level and then an 80th-level warrior, I would often go back and help warriors on the quest to defeat Cyclonian, who posed an extreme challenge to anyone attempting to solo him. I lamented the removal of class-specific quests at the time it was announced. Now, over a year later, I still think removing them was a mistake. Being soaked in ancient wisdom like a turkey soaked in ancient wisdom, here are my reasons.
Breakfast Topic: I hate
The interesting thing about World of Warcraft for me is that it can create such feelings of loyalty, solidarity, faction pride, and sometimes, raw, visceral, demonic hatred welling up from within. As an example, as an old school warrior player, I despise the Cyclonian with every fiber of my being. Mind you, I loved the quest chain, it felt epic and I kept the sword forever and a day (might even still have it somewhere in that mess of a bank) but the mob? Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate. I still stop whatever I'm doing and ride down to see if any warriors are trying to solo him whenever I'm anywhere near Southshore or Chillwind Point. And if they are, they suddenly find themselves assisted by a level 80 warrior who wishes nothing more on earth than to kill that windbag!Seriously, kudos to Blizzard, you managed to make me hate a mass of pixels more than some people I've had reason to dislike over the years. If sentient whirlwinds ever manifest and begin speaking to us, they'd best do so very far away from me.So this fine morning I ask you: what do you hate?
The Care and Feeding of Warriors - Death to Cyclonian!
The Care and Feeding of Warriors normally opens with an attempt at levity, but today Matthew Rossi is all business, because today we're going to talk about the enemy, the bane of all mid-level warriors, and the guy no high level warrior would resent coming back to kill again, and again, and again. Face Cyclonian and claim your reward!All classes have quests, of course. The level 50 quests come to mind, as do the ones for Paladins to learn how to resurrect, or the various ones Shamans have to do to gain their totems. In writing the Totem Talk about shaman quests, however, I started thinking about the kinds of quests warriors get. I could have covered the stance quests, of course, but those are really just preludes. There's only one quest warriors care about.Getting the Whirlwind weapon.Killing Cyclonian.A level 40 elite elemental who does impressive magical-based, AC ignoring damage and who uses a cyclone-based form of CC to hold you still while he beats you down. Many a warrior goes into this quest not understanding just how hard this mob hits only to get slaughtered. If, like me, you happen to have done this quest way back in the day before Wowhead, when no one checked Thottbot, when there were no Wiki's to consult and not that many players your level or higher on any server, then Cyclonian was more than a rude surprise. He was a hurricane of pain, and he tore your face clean off.And that was after you'd already worked like a dog to get the right to face him, too.
