For the Real Heroes

For the Real Heroes

One question needed asking - Can low level players participate in the Invasion Lottery? I put the guild's Auction House squire to the test. Leve 21 Chaitee was eager to take on the challenge. She had never gone beyond the walls of Stormwind since she took up with the Autumn Tea Green Guild as their Auction House Meister.

In an astounding announcement we learned that ALL players can participate in battling the attacking demons, from the lowest level ten to the highest level 100.

Two stalwarts of the family, Chaitee and Happyface, have been performing their duties for a very long time. They never complain - okay, they complain, but they like what they're doing - What? Are you crazy, we want to be out there going toe toe with evil doers! - Okay, never mind! For all the work you do for the rest of the guilds, Chaitee and Happyface are released from all duties prior to Legion Launch. Go kill some demons!

Chaitee wasted no time. She took the flight path from Stormwind to Sentinel Hill. There was no ongoing invasion at the time, so she was able to wander about and even practice her bow and let her cat Tazzy run free. Such freedom! She thought of home, and how much see missed seeing the countryside. She knew her duty, though, and took her responsibilities seriously. On the next pass of the demon ships, Chaitee joined the fighters in protecting her homeland. Chaitee fought the demons, raising her level from 21 to 23! She's too young to compare gear levels, but at least she could take pride in the gear she does have, and the level of her best stat, Agility, which is at level 85.
Her worth in battle was proven when she earned two level 28 gear pieces, gloves and helm. The proud additions improved her agility score to 94. Congratulations, Chaitee!

How Invasions Work - Dissecting the Process of Defending the Realm from Demons

To start with, invasions only occur on Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms of Azeroth. There are no invasions on Draenor, Northrend, Pandaria, or the Broken Isles (although I expect attacks on the Broken Isles once Legion launches).

In the Eastern Kingdoms invasions happen in Dun Morogh (Kharanos), Elwyn Forest (Sentinel Hill), and Hills Brad Foothills (Tarren Mills). In Kalimdor invasions occur in Tanaris (Gadgetzahn), Northern Barrens (The Crossroads), and outside the Northen gate of Orgrimmar.

As far as how many invasions there are, it is almost limitless. Invasions form as soon as enough players show up in the invasion zones. I've parked toons in the same place and rotated them (you can't do the same invasion back to back, but you can alternate toons). I can usually get three invasions in until I ran out of invasions at that spot. There are a few periods where one or both continents have no invasions in progress, but I can't tell if this is planned or just random.

Every invasion follows the same pattern. The attackers include low level demons and higher level elite demons relatively easy to kill. Stage 2 includes more of the same with more dangerous elite demons. Stage three includes at least two major elite demons, maybe three, I start to lose count after awhile. Then the REALLY NASTY elites arive, usually one or two. Note that there is always a large throng of players at these invasions, and in general as a group we can survive most of these attacks. The REALLY NASTY elites are a different story. Expect to die A LOT during those battles. Expect the cost of fixing gear to run into the thousands of gold. Seriously. I believe Blizz uses this as one of the games gold dumps. When was the last time you even thought about fixing gear?
Now, some do it the easy way. They park their toon at an invasion site and leave. They come back later, find their corpse, and take the spoils, which is always one small and one large box. Yes, you don't have to do anything but stand around if you want. But its faster to kill things.

Leveling gear is not a science. Raising overall gear scores depends on the size of the upgrade. The gear is a random drop, which can be very frustrating. Rakta was pinned down for quite awhile because she had an i615 wrist that the gods refused to upgrade. When she finally won an i700 wrist she jumped six levels. Weapon gear upgrades using coalesced fels takes as many as three upgrades to win one level, but they're worth it for the added weapon stats.