Zombies Ate My Inn Keeper

General, Roleplaying

A number of months ago I lamented about the emotional tug that recent prior world events seemed to lack.  In “Enemy at the Gates: The Scourge Invasion,” I spoke about how the original Scourge Invasion that heralded the new dungeon Naxxramas in Path 1.11 was my favorite world event ever implemented by Blizzard.  I wrote:

In the months before the first expansion was released, the world of Azeroth came under attack by Scourge forces under the command of Kel’Thuzad. Giant necropoleis hovered overhead as waves of undead assaulted the lands⁵ below. Some of these creatures would manage to find their way into capital cities, harassing the local populace and implacably moving forward in an effort to take out the city’s leader in a single blow.

The Scourge Invasion was finally repelled by the combined forces of the Horde, Alliance, and Argent Dawn.

The world event was beautifully enacted in such a way that completely blows my mind away. First off, it was clearly a world event of epic proportions. While the Ahn’Qiraj War Effort attempted to allow everyone to get involved by turning in needed supplies, most of the action was far away in Silithus, not easily accessible by most inexperienced players. The Scourge Invasion, however, was everywhere you turned; whether outside of Stormwind, inside the Undercity, or leveling in the Plaguelands, the Scourge was certain to have a presence. Questing for the invasion began as low as level 6, though most of the content was limited to those near to the then-current level cap.

I stand by those words.  The Scourge invasions — both before and its current incarnation — exemplify characteristics of the game I find so appealing.  I’ve had so much fun within the last week, even as others have railed against Blizzard and their zombie infestation.

I’m enamored.

I may have mentioned before that I used to be a staff member of one of the larger Ultima Online free servers.  While I focused primarily on answering pages and beautifying the world, I did help organize a number of world events during my tenure.  The current incarnation of the Scourge Invasion is exactly like something I would have loved to plan, organize, and implement.  Whether players like it or loathe it, they’re involved and they’re vocal about it.  People are reacting in a way that is very appealing — I was getting tired of hearing cries to further nerf paladins.¹

I love the disarray caused by the world event.  From what I can discern, it’s intentional. The invading Scourge should be disrupting people’s lives; it underlines the concern that the Lich King has turned his focus back to Kalimdor and Azeroth, and that his efforts could have lasting effects on the world.  Everyone is involved in this fight, whether it’s by participating in defending his home or by being swept up by the undead and mindlessly following other converted individuals.  People can’t avoid this because Arthas’s reach is just that far.

I found that the people who had the most fun in this event were the ones who were willing to adapt, temporarily shelve their goals, and get involved rather than lament how Blizzard has ruined their game.  Honestly, it’s an event that won’t persist beyond a week — does it warrant people claiming that they’re going to cancel their accounts or that Blizzard

In general, I had fun this week playing the perky priestess and allowing her to interact with others during the Scourge Invasion.  At the time of the first invasion she was still dutifully training and focusing on other goals; this time, she’s thrown herself headlong into the fray and is helping as she can in true Csilla fashion.  Last night a friend and I were stoically defending Stormwind from attack, clearing the Trade and Cathedral Districts of zombie infestations and curing people of their diseases.  It was ridiculously fun and people either joined us or threw themselves at our defenses.

Csilla eventually faltered when a wave of nearly twenty zombies overwhelmed her and I finally got to experience my first taste as a zombie.²  At that point, I went onto the offensive and gleefully slaughtered the very people that I had hoped to protect.  I focused on players at the current level cap since I didn’t want to disrupt people who were unable to defend themselves, but my friend and I³ cleared the area that we had until that moment been defending.  Once we died, however, we returned to our posts and cleaned up the mess that we had created.

The evening was especially overwhelming for poor miss Csilla, who kept hearing the insidious whispers of a malignant spirit as she fought the Scourge infestation.  Much like the letters that were lootable from the Scourge both now and then, this little effort really is wonderful.  For a young woman not yet confident in her abilities⁴, the whispers of an unfriendly spirit can be rather disheartening.

This Week on Airee.Net

I have a few projects that I’ve been working on since Friday.  There was a post regarding how to tackle the Scourge Invasion as a roleplayer, but with the final wave of zombies supposedly ending today that might be a bit moot now.  I may post it regardless.  I also acquired The Eye of Shadow which, coupled with The Eye of Divinity, will allow me to complete the pre-The Burning Crusade priest quest Balance of Light and Shadow.  I plan on recording this and eventually posting the final movie on this site, but I may put that off until after the world event ends.  It’ll be a wonderful precursor to Wrath of the Lich.  Expect the movie to be chock full of mindless Cynra commentary and effusive babble.

I’ve been told that I’m good at providing that.

Finally, I’ve been working on a series of articles regarding the post-Patch 3.0.2 Discipline tree and what I’ve learned since adopting a new spec for raiding.  In particular, I’ll look at the spells, implementation, builds, and gearing, but I’m still trying to get everything written down — especially before November arrives and I hopefully begin NaNoWriMo.  However, I am curious to hear what other people would like to see in a guide: what do you wish to learn about the Discipline tree?

Related Posts

1. Enemy at the Gates: The Scourge Invasion
2. A Different Way of Preparing for Wrath of the Lich King
3. Guess It’s a Lucky Week for Mounts