Theramore's Fall

Today, the Fall of Theramore came out on live servers.

While the expansion itself looks to be chock full of content, the Fall of Theramore is the whole enchilada in terms of pre-expansion events.

Admittedly, these events are temporary, and ultimately don't have a huge bearing on the total fun of the game. Also, I do actually like the Fall of Theramore. That said, this is really pretty underwhelming as a pre-expansion event.

Wrath had both the Scourge Invasion (which was, admittedly, just the return of the Naxxramas patch event) and the Zombie plague, plus attacks on Stormwind and Orgrimmar. (Also, Stormwind Harbor was introduced.)

Cataclysm had the whole elemental invasion (including the cool Twilight's Hammer quest chain) as well as the battles for both Gnomeregan and the Echo Isles. (Anyone who says Cataclysm's pre-expansion event was a letdown clearly forgets it was the biggest one yet.)

So, honestly, I'm a bit disappointed. C'est la vie.

Now, with that out of the way:

I ran both Horde and Alliance versions of the scenario. While Theramore looks quite different between the two (Horde - still standing, Alliance - smoldering ruin,) the sequence of events is almost identical, until the last phase.

I did the Horde version first (it takes place first, obviously,) playing on a Rogue with a Hunter and a Mage. I loved it. With no tank or healer, we had to be careful, and the whole thing felt pretty frenetic and chaotic. From a story standpoint, I also liked it a lot, because it built on the Horde narrative of the rank and file, along with the adventuring heroes, getting duped by their commanders. You go in as part of a conventional military invasion. Your mission appears to be to capture Theramore and rescue a Blood Elf spy. However, when you actually get to the guy, he tells you that the whole attack was just a feint. You guys were risking your hides just to get him out before some Goblins blew the whole place to bits. No conquest, and certainly no question of taking prisoners. You might have been able to beat up the Alliance, but it's a pretty hollow victory that leaves you as just a pawn in a genocidal maniac's game. This might sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not. The Horde needs to get really pissed off at their leadership. This expansion is going to end with a revolution, and a great way to galvanize a revolution is to betray the trust of your most powerful allies (aka: Horde players.)

The Alliance side I did on my main, a Paladin tank. Honestly, if you play a tank, go in on your dps spec (and if you're tank/heals... I don't know what to tell you.) Playing a tank spec made this feel a bit like running a super easy dungeon where our healer had dc'd. You can keep pulling, maybe healing every now and then, but all the enemies die very quickly and hit pretty softly. The main thing that I like is we get to see Jaina get MAD. She's still Jaina, and she's all about saving lives and protecting the innocent, but after this has happened, she's finally decided that the Horde, as is, cannot be peace-treatied away. It's a terrible realization to come to as someone who wants peace, but this is truly Jaina's Pearl Harbor moment.

Actually, Theramore really is like Pearl Harbor in many ways. If Jaina is the US and the Alliance is... the Allies... then Garrosh has just awoken a sleeping giant and filled it with terrible resolve. Pearl Harbor wasn't the beginning of the war, but it did bring in one of the most powerful players on the Allied side. Now, next we need a Stalingrad, when Garrosh's war machine finally hits the hurdle it just can't get over, and the direction of the war starts to flow the other way. (Just to note: no, I don't think the Horde are Nazis. But I do think Garrosh is basically a fascist.)