Now that the initial frenzy has died down, I am taking a moment to reflect on the new Lich King expansion. At first, I started out on the West coast in Borean Tundra, which quickly became overrun with tons of other scurrying players. Fortunately, a friend informed me of the *other* boat… Alliance could take the boat that used to go to Ashenvale from Menethil Harbor, but that boat now travels to Howling Fjord, on the South Eastern Coast of Northrend. The coastline in this area forms Daggercap bay and according to history was the initial point that explorers came to to discover Northrend. (Horde players can take the zeppelin from Undercity into Vengeance Landing located farther north.) The Alliance boat ride into the Fjord is much like traveling on a pirate ship and sailing into a secret harbor. It’s a sensational ride.The scenery in this zone is vastly different from other parts of Northrend, not so stark and frosty. It is green with tall pine trees, winding walkways, circling hawks, and wandering Storm Giants. I finally settled on this area as my starting zone.
PLACES TO SEE
I found the architecture of the reawakened vrykul (pronounced vrai-koul) people of particular interest. This would be Utgarde catabombs and the Keep. If you enjoyed the majesty of Rohan, King Theodan’s kingdom from the Lord of the Rings, be sure to visit this area and instance. It is really impressive. Traveling North from the Howling Fjord takes you into the area of Grizzly hills. This is more mountainous terrain, but still the ever greens stand tall and the Imperial eagles (bald eagles) that serenely inhabit the area.
The most interesting spot is Vordrissil. At first you don’t realize what you are seeing in this random mounds of giant bark and the like as you travel around the area on your tasks. Through a series of quests out of Amberpine lodge, you discover that the elves planted a world tree in Northrend, Vordrassil. But for reasons long forgotten, something went wrong with its growing and it had to be torn down and abandoned. Sometime after this, the furbolgs moved in, and fell victim to the same corruption that befell Vordrassil. Eventually, the quests begin to thread together a story of a fallen world tree. You pan out your camera trying to piece together the various areas where parts of the tree had fallen to get an idea of the enormity of its size. Definitely a 
quest series worth taking on.Another interesting spot is located in Sholazar (pronounced SHOL-uh-zarh) Basin and is the avatar of Freya located near the Rainspeaker Rapids. She is the nature Titan’s avatar, a beautiful flowery construct which represents a particular Titan, Freya …and begins a series of quest which start at 77.
QUESTS
Here’s a nutty little quest located Whisper Gulch in Howling Fjord. Inside the gulch area are deranged explorers who are hostile to you taking sample of the tainted ore. While you are there, a series of whispers resound through the area, such as:
- "Tell yourself again that these are not truly your friends."
- "They have turned against you. Now... take your revenge."
- "Give in to your fear."
Speaking of humorous little quests, the horde quest given by Plaguebringer Tillinghast called Green Eggs and Whelps, which is a take on Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham. Tillinghast is working hard to understand the intestinal issues of the protodragons which ends poorly for the NPC.
Role Playing Tips
Story Nights
I have mentioned before that some of the most memorable role-playing experiences that I had were the open poetry/story nights which were held every Tuesday evening on our rp server. Lead by an extraordinarily devoted group of players (because they were there every Tuesday rain or shine), the story nights gave writers, poets, and lyricists the opportunity to use the game as a venue to compose and write. I know how hard it is to think about engaging in role-play when the world of northrend is so rich with questing and adventuring. However, maybe you are interested in slowing it down, kicking back with a character to relay adventures and mayhem in the nearest tavern.
Rpmadesimple.org writes,
“Think of story night as a gathering of folks relaxing by the fire, telling stories. You may have done this in everyday life at summer camp, vacation trips or just hanging out with friends on a weekend afternoon or at a pub on a weekend. We are talking about a gathering of fellow roleplayers around a virtual campfire in their role playing game of choice. Players are acting in character, swapping stories or just listening. This can be almost anything that fits the lore and genre for the game. Revamped fables, songs, short tales and even original stories by players who participate. There’s not really a “scripted” role-play here, it’s organic. So, you never know what folks will bring - but that’s part of the fun”.Reasons for having a story night:
- It’s fun! Listen, contribute or just hang out in character. It’s a different way to enjoy the game, even for non-rpers.
- It’s a chance to RP! A great chance to just chill while still being in character. New role-players get their first “peek” at role-playing through these events.
- Character development. Develop your character before or after the evening or through IC stories.
- Networking. It’s a good way of networking with fellow role-players, meet new people, or to find out about guilds and folks.
- It promotes Role-playing. Events such as these help others explore and develop role-playing and supports and promotes the role-playing community.
- An opportunity to write and have an audience – if you write, you are writer. Storynights are great way to share your skills
- An opportunity to recite poetry - sometimes a character has a poet’s heart.
- Try your hand at subtle RP – experimenting with what your character doing or emotes while they listening. Such as, “Star listens intently to the story, frowning slightly to details involving piracy.”
