from northrend with love

So far, my opinion on Wrath of the Lich King: EPIC. Yes, Blizz did a remarkably awesome job with the new expansion. Currently my priest is sitting at 72 but I'm in no hurry to level. I'm taking my time soaking up the scenery, reading the quest logs, and just enjoying the game in general. Everything just feels so different from Burning Crusade, and although that expansion was great this one just blows it out of the water entirely.

Anyway, picspam!

November 23, 2008 was WoW's 4th Anniversary. I hope everyone logged on to get their cute-as-a-button polar bear cub!

Anyone else catch this reference to American Gothic? (Found in the Vengeance Landing Inn.)

Of course, I couldn't resist hopping on the death knight bandwagon. Originally my death knight was going to be a draenei on the same server as my druid, but I couldn't wait until I leveled Mayari to 55 so I went and deleted my level 13 blood elf paladin, Thalestris, and remade her into a knight of chaos and destruction. The val'kyr are amazingly badass - I love their character design.

A couple weeks ago, some alliance raid killed our beloved Thrall. /cry So a large group of young death knights was stuck waiting forever for him to respawn so that he could tell the guards to stop spitting and throwing rotten fruit at us, dammit.

This is the sole reason I want to level tailoring on my mage. This right here. Also, is it weird that every time I look at screenshots of magic carpets, I get "A Whole New World" stuck in my head? Please tell me I am not alone here. (Taken during the quest "Magic Carpet Ride" in Borean Tundra.)

The battle tanks are also an freaking epic addition to the game. I mean, seriously...who doesn't want to single-handedly obliterate a large number of Scourge minions with a Horde Tank of Death?

I don't think I need a caption to explain how great this is.

This was my first jaunt into Azjol-Nerub. Have I mentioned that I hate spiders? Because I really do. And seeing this badboy up on my screen did not improve my opinion of them. At first sight, I actually scooted my chair away from my desk and "eep"-ed out loud. Good job giving me the creepy-crawlies, Blizz.

Speaking of instances, I'm still trying to figure out the mechanics of healing and mana conservation, post-downranking era. I've been having to drink a lot more often now, even after trash pulls. You can imagine that this gets annoying fast. The instances themselves are not difficult to heal, however, though I have had a few times (in Utgarde Keep, for one) when I almost had a heart attack healing my death knight tank friend, who took quite large damage spikes far too often - leaving me OOM and slightly shaken.

So far, my favorite boss fight has to be Grand Magus Telestra from the Nexus. Circle of Healing is love in this encounter, particularly when she casts Gravity Well. Take that, you silly mage!

One more, because the scenery in this game is absolutely gorgeous: Howling Fjord.