New Familiar Friends

If you're not familiar with the Plaguelands, this is probably spoilery. Beware.

Tuesday night I headed into the Eastern Plaguelands because I had a headache and didn't want to run any more PUGs for Goblin reputation. I figured I would get my Mr. Grubbs, and it would be relatively mindless during the officer meeting. While I was there, I ended up getting one of the gorgeous new plaguehound dogs (green), and named him (her?) Zuul. (There is no Dana...) I'll probably finish off the zone this weekend.

Getting Mr. Grubbs requires starting Fiona's caravan quests. The caravan is a fantastic device for plot movement for the zone, both because it physically moves you from tower to tower around the zone, and because the interplay between the two paladins riding with the caravan gets you invested in the zone.

I had Loremaster for the "old world" finished before Wrath launched (~2400 quests complete when 3.0 went in), but quests have all changed, and existing story lines which I had completed popped up again. This was awesome, because the Plaguelands have always had my favorite quest chain - the Battle of Darrowshire. (My favorite zone overall is Duskwood, because Stitches is awesome, but the Plaguelands, Eastern and Western, are a close second.)

With the changes in Anderhol, Chromie is now found at one of the Argent Crusade's towers, and the quest line has been shrunk down a little - no more chasing down Joseph Redpath's wedding band or venturing into the Anderhol town hall for the Annals of Darrowshire. It's about the right size for the 40-somethings who will be inhabiting the Plaguelands as they level. You're still getting the lore, gathering relics of the heroes and villains, and later in the zone, still freeing the souls of the Darrowshire residents from their ghoulish forms. Pamela still makes you tea.

Joseph still comes home to Pamela, and it still makes me cry.

There's an added bonus to doing the chain if you're doing Fiona's caravan quests, as well. Recruiting people into her caravan allows you to carry a buff zone-wide, and if you fill the caravan, you have eight buff options. Fiona's lucky charm lets you find Mr. Grubbs, but once you're done with that, fighting the Battle for Darrowshire means Pamela Redpath can be your constant companion throughout the zone. (A little creepy when you go to fight Baroness Anastari and she's just standing there, watching... But overall pretty awesome.)

One notable absence in the zone is Nathanos Blightcaller - because he's now a hunter trainer in the Undercity. I miss him in the Plaguelands, but having an undead hunter, that's so awesome. She can be trained by the Forsaken hunter! I was also encouraged by the presence of Argent Apothecary Judkins, because the whole New Plague thing Sylvanas has going just creeps me out. The idea that you can play a Forsaken (or rather, former Forsaken, now independent undead allied with the forces of Light) not bent on killing off the entire rest of the world and that it's basically canon that Forsaken like that exist is comforting for me.

Biggest downside of the zone? Those towers blind me every time I go up to the top to get whatever quest is up one.