Yeah, that's a rip off from Avenue Q, the home of the song for the exceptionally hilarious WoW video "The Internet is for porn". But it describes my feelings after the weekend and my first PUG in Utgarde Keep.
I suck.
Big time.
I feel responsible for the three (3) wipes on Ingvar the Plunderer and one on Prince Keleseth. The latter was pure neglect on the party's healer's mana (she was all dry...) and a great learning experience on that. But the final boss...
I just sucked.
You see: I have read the event, I know the stages and I have read the strat. It just doesn't click. I can see the STOMP warning, but my brain hits Heroic Strike. I can see the Whirling Axe warning, but my finger works on the Revenge -oh, Sword and Board procced! And BOOM!
Otherwise the weekend was pretty nice. 'More of the same' questing in Northrend is abundant, but there are certain gems in the mix here and there: where as Outlands was exactly more of the same as the Old World, the experience and technological advances can be seen in the quest design. Also, the issue I wrote about earlier with the short storylines showed the other side of the design: to my big surprise the questline starting from Orfus of Kamauga spread across several quests leading to the Pirate camp and finally to the revelation on the existence of the Kvaldir pestering Howling Fjord! And just when I had given up the idea of long and intriguing stories in Northrend.
WotLK can surprise you, now I agree with that. Gold nuggets like helping the sea lions to mate, the pirate miniquests (can't call them anything else) and few others really make the game feel different for a while, until you are slammed in the face with yet another slaughter grind like the Iron Dwarf quests in the northern part of the Howling Fjords.
Laiskajaakko is only 4 quests short of I've Toured the Fjord and is now stuck with quests requiring 2 or 3 players: the 2 player one has already proven to be a bit too much for him to tackle alone, so I'm not taking any guesses with the 3 one, either. With Bishopgeorge's help I'm sure we can tackle both of those. Then I have to find a couple more to complete the achievement... and to be able to move on to Grizzly Hills!
Utgarde Keep proved to be a disappontment otherwise: poor loot, awful looks and dumb mobs. Very much like Hellfire Ramparts for the first time. But Ingvar has more special moves compared to Vazruden, and hits harder, so I just have to overcome my fear of moving and fighting at the same time.
And I have to learn to follow the fight, too.
I will learn.
