Tag Archives: World of Warcraft

Mists of Pandaria Now Live + Review: A Thief in the Night

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Cry havoc, and let slip the pandas of war!

The mists have parted, and the lost continent of Pandaria is at last open to World of Warcraft players.

Pandas everywhere!I’m still feeling my odd lack of excitement over this expansion. I guess I just don’t feel any connection to Pandaria. It’s a blank slate, and that’s good, but it also means the nostalgia that is my main reason for playing WoW is mainly absent. Still, I’ll give it a fair shake.

Not for a few days, though. I dislike crowds in any reality, so I’m not going to bother playing Mists of Pandaria until a couple of days have gone by. Once I do start playing, I will of course share all my thoughts on the Land of Pandas here on Superior Realities.

In the meantime…

Review: The Ancient Blades: A Thief in the Night:

“A Thief in the Night” is the second book in David Chandler’s “The Ancient Blades” trilogy. You may recall I found the first book to be a thoroughly enjoyable, if somewhat simple-minded, adventure.

Cover art for "The Ancient Blades, book two: A Thief in the Night" by David Chandler“A Thief in the Night” is largely in the same vein, though I feel a bit of the charm was lost this time.

Once again, it focuses on the trio of Malden, the silver-tongued thief; Sir Croy, the comically heroic knight of the sacred order of Ancient Blades; and Cythera, the sorceress/set-piece who anchors the love triangle. “A Thief in the Night” adds a fourth character to the mix: Morget, a barbarian warrior out to prove his manhood by slaying a terrible demon.

Morget is not technically a member of the Ancient Blades, but he does bear one of the magical demon-slaying swords that gives the order its name, and he seeks out Croy for assistance in defeating the demon. Croy immediately agrees because he’s Croy.

He then invites Malden, whom Croy hopes may become a new Ancient Blade. Malden reluctantly agrees after learning a sadistic assassin is on his trail. Cythera comes because… I guess she realized she doesn’t have a reason to exist without Croy and Malden mooning over her.

Art of Malden, star of the "Ancient Blades" trilogyThey pursue the demon to an ancient and supposedly abandoned Dwarven city that was also the site of the last stand of the Elves before humanity wiped them out. But, of course, a demon is not the worst thing in the ruin, and they find more than they bargained for.

As before, it’s a rollicking adventure with nary a dull moment. There’s a bit less humor than before, but “A Thief in the Night” does a lot to flesh out the “Ancient Blades” universe and make it seem like more of a legitimate fantasy epic.

Unfortunately, that greater level of seriousness is a double-edged sword (no pun intended). The humor was one of the main things that made the first book so charming, and without it, it’s harder to overlook the weak points of the story, like the fact that Croy is less a character and more a collection of adjectives.

Cythera is even worse. I didn’t like her before, but I’ve now developed a passionate dislike for her. She’s a feminist’s worst nightmare: an erratically emotional but largely passive and useless “character” whose existence is defined entirely by the men in her life. Now, I’m not really a feminist, being a guy and all, but I do live in the twenty-first century, and I expect better.

Art of Sir Croy of the "Ancient Blades" trilogyCythera serves no purpose in the story but as a prize for Croy or Malden (depending on her mood) and as a minor plot device to deal with magical enemies. She has no thoughts or goals beyond which man she’ll settle down with.

Even her powers are passive. She can stand there and absorb magic, but she has no abilities that can be used proactively.

The handful of other women in the book are no better off. What I’m saying is that, if you’re a fan of strong women in fantasy, well… Go read Ian Irvine.

I also found myself missing the original setting, the Free City of Ness. David Chandler did an excellent job of developing Ness and the way its pervasive poverty informed Malden’s unique morality and worldview. It’s a shame that aspect of the world was left behind.

Art of the Free City of Ness, setting of the "Ancient Blades" trilogyHowever, flaws aside, “A Thief in the Night” is still a thoroughly enjoyable piece of light reading. If you want to put your brain in neutral and lose yourself in a rousing adventure for a while, it’s a good option.

Overall rating: 7/10

Theramore’s Fall

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The smoking ruins of Theramore in World of WarcraftThe new Theramore’s Fall scenario has at last been opened to World of Warcraft players, granting them the opportunity to play it for a few days before it’s moved up to level 90.

As a pre-expansion event, it may be somewhat underwhelming, but it is significant as our first taste of PvE scenarios, which comprise an entirely new way to play the game, and as the event that launches the storyline of Mists of Pandaria.

My feelings on it are… mixed.

My thoughts:

My warlock doing the Theramore's Fall scenarioI did the two versions chronologically, starting with the Horde version on my warlock and then hopping on my rogue to see the Alliance side of things.

The Horde version left me feeling underwhelmed both as a player and a lore fan.

My group had a well-geared protection paladin, and while I never expected scenarios to be hard, he made things into a complete faceroll. There was never even the suggestion of danger.

From a lore perspective, it just seemed a little lacking for what’s supposed to be such an epic event. I know from “Tides of War” that the scenario mission takes place during a massive all-out attack on the front gate, but there’s never any hint of that. There’s no feeling of the scale of the battle.

My warlock doing the Theramore's Fall scenarioBeyond that, I never like playing the villain, and the destruction of Theramore is one of the most unabashedly evil things the Horde’s done since, well, ever. I’d argue it’s even worse than the atrocities of the First and Second Wars, as those were only perpetrated because the Orcs believed they had no choice but to conquer to survive. The massacre of Theramore is an act of pointless, petty, unprovoked cruelty.

The Alliance version was a lot more compelling to me, for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, I did it with an all DPS team — two mages in addition to my rogue. Without a tank or a healer, things are very chaotic, and while it wasn’t exceptionally difficult, there was an element of challenge there. There were times I pulled too much aggro and had to start popping my defensive cooldowns.

It actually made me feel a little bit better about the state of rogues going into MoP. I found uses for talents I had previously thought to be unusable in group settings, like combat readiness and prey on the weak. (Still couldn’t see a purpose to shroud of concealment, though.)

My rogue doing the Theramore's Fall scenarioThis is what excites me about scenarios. If there’s one thing I miss about the old group quests, it’s tackling challenging foes with crazy group compositions where hunters tank and moonkin druids heal and rogues are trying to keep everything stunlocked so the group isn’t overwhelmed.

From a story perspective, I also enjoyed the Alliance scenario more than its Horde counterpart. Partly, this is down to being the good guys this time around, but there’s more to it than that.

I thought I’d feel cheated by the fact Alliance players don’t get to participate in the battle itself, but honestly, there’s a certain poignancy to being the first responders after the disaster. There was a bittersweet nostalgia to wandering the ruins of the place I can remember doing quests in as far back as Warcraft III.

It was a little distracting that the Horde version shows the bombing happen at night and the Alliance version shows it during the day, though.

My rogue meeting up with Jaina Proudmoore in the Theramore's Fall scenarioFan backlash:

As is so often the case where Warcraft fans are concerned, the Theramore scenario has caused a massive, negative fan backlash. To some extent, I understand the outrage, but in other cases, I don’t.

One of the most common complaints is how easy it is, to which I can only reply, “What did you expect?” Scenarios are designed to be doable by any combination of classes or roles. How hard could they possible be?

Everything about scenarios since their announcement has screamed “something easy for casuals or people who are burnt out on serious content.” Why anyone expected anything different is beyond me.

Another common complaint is that it will not be removed from the game once Mists of Pandaria launches, but I don’t see how this could be a bad thing. I don’t think any content should ever be removed from the game if it can be avoided, especially if it’s something with major lore implications. I still can’t get over my anger that they removed the Battle of Undercity.

My rogue visiting the mass grave outside of TheramoreHowever, one complaint I definitely do agree with is that this is incredibly underwhelming compared to previous pre-expansion events. The scenario is fun, but it’s also over in twenty minutes.

Compare that to the lead up to Cataclysm. That brought us two major world events including numerous quests, open-world dynamic events, invasions of the capitol cities, takeovers of Stormwind and Orgrimmar by cultists, and four new(ish) dungeon bosses.

Compared to that, the Theramore scenario seems pretty weak, and in that respect, I definitely understand the anger.