zangarmarsh
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Around Azeroth: Into Zangarmarsh!
I know what you're thinking -- by the time you first entered the Dark Portal you'd already seen enough pictures of the Outland sky that it was getting a bit old. And shortly after that what looked so amazing in those first screenshots became as ordinary and boring as old Azeroth. So why, oh why, am I posting yet another Hellfire Peninsula sky shot (YAHPSS)? Well, I think this is a nice one -- highlighting not only Hellfire's distinctive sky but also the thorny brambles the local ravagers hide in and, in the distance, the massive mushrooms of Zangarmarsh. And I don't care what anyone says -- giant mushrooms are just cool. Thanks to Siana from Doomhammer for sending this one in!Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part. See more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Dazed ***** and con******fused in Outland
Have you noticed how sticky the mobs are in Outland? Just traveling from place to place is like running a gauntlet, even on the roads. And don't even bother leaving the roads unless you're ready for a fight-- right below Hellfire Citadel, those Orcs swarm like bees. Get hit once, get dazed, and before you know it, you'll have attracted three or four of them on you. Likewise, in Zangarmarsh, the problem is even worse-- pull a Sentry, and he'll pull a Naga, who'll pull a slave, so on and so forth. Just last night, I fought off eight mobs in a row, just because they kept pulling and pulling each other.Andrael on Shadowsong has noticed, too, that there's a whole lot of dazin' goin' on in Outland, but Drysc says everything is working as intended (and even throws in an "l2p, noob" tone for good measure). It's not necessarily a bad problem-- I play the game to fight stuff, and the more XP, the merrier. But it's not even a problem of levels, as Drysc suggests-- at 62, I was constantly pulling aggro from two or three 60-61s at a time. Nothing I couldn't handle, it's just ***** annoy****ing *****.And if Blizzard's idea of making mobs harder is to add to the chances of getting Dazed by every one (usually, you get dazed only when getting hit from behind, but when mobs aggro like they do in Outland, it happens a lot), they need to come up with something new, because all the stars floating around my head are getting a little old. There's no strategy in being slowed down when you get jumped, it's just something you have to deal with. But then again, there's one surefire way around it: as a couple players in the thread note, you can't get Dazed on a flying mount.
Breakfast Topic: The rush to 70
Well, the rush to 70 is just reaching its stride. On my server, I did a quick "/who 70," and during prime time I saw about 17 people on (one of them in my guild). Another guildie is at 69, and a few more are at 67, which means a good ten or fifteen will be 70 within the weekend, most likely, and there will only be more after that.And yet frankly, I'm not all that concerned with getting there. Sure, you might say it's a copout (I haven't won the race to 70, so I'm quitting), but even though I played for quite a bit after the expansion first released, my leveling pace has pretty much dropped back down to normal-- not too fast, not real slow. Enough to make the quests fun, but enough to keep it moving on the rewards end. And even though I'd be getting more XP in the other zones, I haven't even left Hellfire Peninsula yet-- partly because I want to see all the great lore and scenery, but partly because, like Mystic Worlds, I'm really in no rush to 70.Because while all the "good" raiding is at 70-- the exclusive 25-man endgame stuff-- that's also when I stop earning XP. And unless I'm headed for a specific item or attunement, it seems to me that playing solo without XP is a waste of time. The game ends at 70, and I'm in no hurry to end it. So what about you-- are you making (or have you already made) the mad dash to 70, or are you stopping to smell the mushrooms in Zangarmarsh?
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Spawn camping in TBC
Desvora of Doomhammer complains on the WoW forums that there are a lot of heavily camped quest mobs in the Outlands, and that it makes it really difficult to complete quests when you're running around with ten other people each trying to get the first tag on a named mob. She names a couple of mobs in Zangarmarsh, which has a TON of "kill the boss/chief/overlord of the wasps/bats/naga/ogres" quests, that she waited at least an hour for. Drysc says that trying to be the first to tag a mob can "get the heart pounding", but Desvora just thinks it's a waste of time, and that respawn rates should be increased. I sort of agree with her -- having your group wait "in line" with five other groups from both factions can be pretty annoying, especially when everyone is consecrating/hellfiring/arcane explosioning to try and get the tag on the mob before it even fully fades into existence. I haven't had any really long waits, but as a melee player, I'm either left uselessly clicking the air and feeling dumb, or accidentally attacking an Alliance player and being turned into a grease spot. Have you had serious trouble with any quest mobs? (And yeah, spawn camping is mostly used to refer to players killing players at spawn points, but since people are tagging these mobs just as they spawn, I figure it's somewhat appropriate.
"Skinning" for herbs and ore
Enough miners and herbalists have complained about having to depend on random spawns -- and compete with gold farmers -- that Blizzard has finally put in a way for these two professions to control their own destiny. Several mobs, including rock giants in Hellfire Peninsula and nature elementals in Zangarmarsh and Coilfang Reservoir, can be "skinned" for ores and herbs, just as if they were a node. While running through the Underbog in Coilfang Reservoir Thursday night, I got a couple of Ragveils, a Terocone, some quest herbs, and a few useless gray mushrooms from skinning the elite Loatheb-like marsh elementals inside. The skinning results are kind of random, and the mobs will be farmed as easily as the herb spawn points were, but it's still an interesting new way of getting your base materials. Have you found anything else while "skinning" for herbs and ores? If so, what and where?
Faience's adventures in Outland: Welcome to the Cenarion Refuge
I've come through the Dark Portal and fought my way past legions of demons and inward through Hellfire Peninsula... all to get tired of the crowds and almost immediately relocate to the next zone over. That zone, Zangarmarsh, is everything Hellfire Peninsula is not, starting with the color palette. Immediately upon entering the zone, I found myself in Cenarion Refuge, a neutral faction that, no, does not care about that Cenarion Circle reputation you spent so long trying to gain.Lucky for all of us, then, that reputation is more easily gained these days...
