Tuesday (25 Sep) - The Art of War, Mists of Pandaria Launch

Wildshard camped out in Orgrimmar's Valley of Strength on Monday night, awaiting the transition from Cata to Mists of Pandaria. There was a bit of a holiday atmosphere among the dozen or so guildies hanging out in game or in chat via the remote access feature. Those who did not buy the digital version of the game would have to wait until the midnight hour to buy the boxgame version. At least two guildies were in line at stores to buy the game.

As the time ticked closer to midnight, Wild joined the crowd outside Grommash Hold. Inside the hold, Warlord Garrosh made final plans for the launch of his war.



At about a minute before midnight, Wild and every other level 85 in game received the quest "The Art of War." The crowd outside the Hold flooded inside to talk to General Nazgrim, who would be leading the fleet.

There was a short cutscene that showed Warlord Garrosh incensed by reports that the Alliance fleet off Theremore had found Pandaria ahead of the horde. He ordered the fleet, which was headed for Theremore, to change direction and head for Pandaria.

The crowd inside he Hold was large but manageable. The General tallied up his soldiers quickly and sent us on our way. Wild was directed to report immediately to Hellscream's Fist, a newly commissioned skyship on the waters of Bladefist Bay outside Orgrimmar.



Wild took flight, following a solid stream of airborne horde heading for the ship. The first signs of confusion came when a great many of the General's soldiers descending on the ship at the dock. The deck of the ship was completely lost under the tide of horde milling about. Wild was one of those doing the milling, trying to find the General, who seemed to be both on the ship and still in Org collecting recruits.

After many minutes of this Wild figured something had gone wrong. Wild checked the directions from General Nazgrim again, and then checked the map to see what direction the Hellscream's Fist lay. Hmm, it seems like the ship on the docks was NOT where the General was. Wild followed the directional arrow to a spot off the coast. There was nothing there! Wild even did some deep sea exploring - maybe the ship had been sunk! Well, perhaps midnight was a little past Wild's bedtime, because it took a few minutes for Wild to figure out the obvious. The Hellscream's Fist is a skyship - shouldn't Wild be, like, looking UP?

There it was! Wild flew up to the ship - and joined a packed group of horde milling about on the deck - with no sign of the General. Wild stuck around for more than fifteen minutes. The crowd began to thin a bit, but Wild still had no General to report to. Several of Wild's guildies had found the General, and had moved on. Figuring Wild had encountered a bug, Wild returned to Grommash Hold, abandoned the "All Aboard!" quest and picked it up again. This time, General Nazgrim appeared on the skyship. Wild was in business.

The skyship sailed "Into The Mists" and into a fairly long cutscene. The horde fleet approached Pandaria and the battle began. Wild got his camera out, hiding from the General so he could play tourist for a bit. I mean, how often does a guy get to see a new land?

Snap! First glimpse of Pandaria through the mists.

Snap! General Nazgrim notices Wild taking pictures just as he sounds the attack. Oops, better keep that camera under wraps.



The General glares at Wild, but we're both soon pretty busy as the ship came under fire.











 Wild helps soften up the landing with some pretty easy potshots using the ship's big guns.

Wild was a bit embarrassed when he fell off the ship after getting a little too animated with his cannon fire. The fall knocked off half his health, and he was in enemy territory. "Am I supposed to be here?" Wild asked himself. Spotting a teleporter booth not far away, Wild decided he was not meant to be on Pandaren soil quite this soon. Wild hopped into the teleporter and was instantly back on the ship. Wild won his first Pandaren prize of war: a two-handed caster staff. Woot! Oh, wait. The staff is a green ilevel 372. Wild's mace is i397. Well, at least it's kind of neat looking. Sort of. Umm, never mind.

Wild gets additional orders from the General, and finally is officially on Pandaren soil as part of the assault to set up a beachhead. 



Wild stayed with the battle for several more quests. An hour after the launch, with several quests still to be done as part of the initial assault, Wild took a break. He found a quiet balcony out of sight of horde officers and checked out. He'll be refreshed and ready to continue where he left off at another time.

Overall, things went very smoothly for a new expansion launch. The storyline was well designed - although pretty bland so far. I don't know how many more steps there are before Wild reaches a true base of operations where Wild can operate from.

There will be more coming from Mother Mew next.