Howling fjord (reply to the locked topic)
Howling fjord (reply to the locked topic)
As mentioned in the locked thread, here’s a little review of the HF problems. Feel free to move this to the quest discussion forum if that’s where it should go…there’s no ‘zone’ discussion, so I’m not sure where to put it.
The bad
Leveling is much slower in HF. Relative to BorT, the quests give significantly less experience, about (15k vs 21k). Additionally, BorT gives quests such as “Go kill X enemies and return.” These quests may not be the most exciting quests in the world, but they’re incredibly efficient for leveling. A lot of the HF quests involve you running around and looking for something. If the quest text is too vague, it can be incredibly frustrating to try and run around (especially with bugs and crashes), to try and find out exactly where the quest takes you. For every HF quest I did I submit feedback about how to improve it specifically.
The main problem with HF is the zone layout. From the start, there are basically two different quest hubs that require you to run back and forth several times. These paths can be quite confusing at first, and somewhat frustrating later on since you have to dismount to get through part of the Utgarde keep cave, and also run through a village.
To remedy this any combination of the following should occur:
Put signs directing you to Utgarde Keep, Catacombs, Explorer’s League Camp/Nifflecar/Balheim etc.
Put mobs further away from the road so you can run through Wyrmskull village to the eastern part of HF
Include more quests that have you killing X number of mobs and/or finding X number of items off of a mob (some people may hate these, but they’re good for leveling quickly, or at least offer them as an option while doing other quests (for example, move the quest that has you kill Shoveltusks while you’re doing the Falcon vs. Hawk quest)
Implement a quest that allows you to repeatedly use the harpoon and gnomish flying machine to go back and forth between the two areas or perhaps a flight path
Reduce the need to, or change quests to not make you run back and forth to Valgarde.
Change the Geography slightly to make moving around slightly easier.
Be more specific with quest instructions for where you need to look for some of those quests that tell you to investigate or search for something.
Some of the herbs closest to Valgarde have a 400 level requirement, not sure if that is intended or not.
The Good
Despite being annoying and tedious at times, the quests were quite interesting, especially where you discover some of the lore of the vyrkuls in the spirit world. The flight on the gnomish flying machine was absolutely awe-inspiring.
All in all it was a lot of fun to do some of the lore-esque quests that made it feel like you were unravelling some hidden plot (i.e. why are the iron dwarves burying those artifacts). I certainly hope there will be some continuation to the spirit world quests of the vyrkul.
Filed under: World of Warcraft