Theramore goes live 17 sept afternoon server time

[Kalliope]

Bah, no wonder I didn't notice. Engineering would have made more sense!

[Makoes]

Yeah, I laughed when my skinner, skinned the siege engine...

[Kalliope]

I've made a short video to cover the changes of the Theramore scenario from a taming hunter's perspective: http://youtu.be/XwrG580dBGQ

[Sukurachi]

do you get a chance at those epic items every time you do it? or only the very first time?

[Makoes]

Every time it seems, haven't found a limit to how many boxes you can get in a day.

[Vephriel]

Alcaz Island is empty after the event phasing. No mobs are there anymore.

My favourite black hydras are gone. Even though we can't tame them, there was a specific one on the docks who was always my Unagi and was going to be him in the eventuality they became tameable.

[Lisaara]

Bah, no wonder I didn't notice. Engineering would have made more sense!

I got some sort of engineering part from it. XD I was like "Wtf do I do with this?!" and my guildie was like "Oh oh! I can use it!" and I just gave it to her. XD

[AdamSavage]

It seems the more alts you run, the longer it makes you wait each time.

Huh? I didn't wait hardly at all on any alt. And far as I can tell, it's not account bound cause each of my alts got the achievement.

It could be bugged, it just seems everytime I try to do it on my mage. I wait, and wait and wait. I never get in. Yeah it's saying a 53 min average wait time on my mage. I don't get it.

[Bangeall]

I'd have to agree that it was quite underwhelming. There was so much talk about it, and a sort of air that something huge and shocking was going to happen, but we knew Theramore was going to be destroyed, and nothing that happens within the scenario comes as a surprise. But I suppose there was no way it could have been a surprise. I can't remember whether Blizzard or dataminers revealed what was going to happen to Theramore first.

Personally, I think it was a bit better from the Horde perspective, but then you don't get a sense of why you are doing these things in Theramore, why now. I have no real desire to do the scenario again, but from the Alliance perspective, I don't recall any reference to what happened in the Horde one. I'm assuming that you were recruited as infantry to deal with the Horde attack and arrived just after the destruction.

It would have been great to have had some build-up; the Alliance stockpiling defences for Theramore, capturing spies, something that lower levels could feel a part of. Maybe phasing Theramore to reflect the preparations (with Spot being discreetly smuggled to Stormwind in a quest). A cut-scene that shows you why Jaina survived would have been useful too for people who haven't read the book. I had to read a bit about it myself, being wary of Golden and Tides of War after reading how she wrote Arthas. They could have done this a little earlier, then maybe had some quests describing the fallout between the factions and boom, we're laying the scene for Pandaria.

[Wain]

Alcaz Island is empty after the event phasing. No mobs are there anymore.
My favourite black hydras are gone. Even though we can't tame them, there was a specific one on the docks who was always my Unagi and was going to be him in the eventuality they became tameable.

Oh no!

I remember seeing some mention of an instance or scenario or something on Alcaz Island. Maybe they scrubbed it clean in preparation for that. It makes no sense that the mana bomb just vaporized all the hydras, though Hopefully they'll return in the future. Otherwise there's now two colours that are missing.

[Wain]

(with Spot being discreetly smuggled to Stormwind in a quest)

That would be cool Maybe Spot's trials and adventures will be covered in the next Richard A. Knaak novel, "War Dog"

"Best ever character development in a pulp fantasy novel" - New York Times.

[Sukurachi]

That would be cool Maybe Spot's trials and adventures will be covered in the next Richard A. Knaak novel, "War Dog"

"Best ever character development in a pulp fantasy novel" - New York Times.

"Soon a major motion picture by director Steven Spielberg"

[SylviaDragon]

oh no! D: i love that island! My Hydra Sith lives there. It was always a cool little spot that no one knew about. Hope they bring the mobs back. (also it was so much fun telling 80/85s about the boss on the island. Was his name Weevil? They would nerdrage over the mind control so much! >.<)

It would have been great to have had some build-up; the Alliance stockpiling defences for Theramore, capturing spies, something that lower levels could feel a part of. Maybe phasing Theramore to reflect the preparations (with Spot being discreetly smuggled to Stormwind in a quest). A cut-scene that shows you why Jaina survived would have been useful too for people who haven't read the book. I had to read a bit about it myself, being wary of Golden and Tides of War after reading how she wrote Arthas. They could have done this a little earlier, then maybe had some quests describing the fallout between the factions and boom, we're laying the scene for Pandaria.

i agree 100% I was hoping for something like the doomsday cata event or the Halloween quest line for the spooky crate pet. Things that any level could do to help prepare for the big attack. And if there had been a bit of dog-smuggling thrown in as well- well that would be cool too.

[Lisaara]

One thing people should remember is this wasn't supposed to be some big event like Deathwing burning people or the undead event for wrath. It was just a preview of what scenarios are supposed to be like -- which is essentially a group quest of sorts.

[Vephriel]

And yet...we aren't getting anything else as a pre-expansion event, which is a pretty big letdown if you ask me. Even if it's not supposed to compared to previous ones, it's hard not to when this is literally the only thing we had before Pandaria. I'm sad that they didn't put in a large world event like they've done for every other expansion. I'm excited for MoP, but the pre-expansion build up has been rather lackluster.

[Sigrah]

And yet...we aren't getting anything else as a pre-expansion event, which is a pretty big letdown if you ask me. Even if it's not supposed to compared to previous ones, it's hard not to when this is literally the only thing we had before Pandaria. I'm sad that they didn't put in a large world event like they've done for every other expansion. I'm excited for MoP, but the pre-expansion build up has been rather lackluster.

I agree completely, this scenario is a huge let down in terms of pre-launch world events. I know Blizzard wanted to showcase scenario's this way, but it would have been much better if they had made the Theramore instance/scenario a full blown battle that could've been done in the raid finder over this 3 person micro dungeon. For the Horde side, they could've had them laying siege to the town that involved destroying the walls and killing defenders while trying to capture or kill notable NPC's like Lady Proudmooore, while on the Alliance side could've had them trying to stall the invaders while trying to evacuate the city. All while immersing each side in a dynaming, on-going storyline. Instead, we got this little 3 person micro dungeon that hardly has any feeling of importance to it. You just go in and slaughter mobs like they are regular, every day quest mobs, with little feeling that you're involved in an actual epic storyline. This was supposed to be "THE EVENT" that lights up a full blown war between the Horde and Alliance, and the Theramore scenario falls far, far short of making you feel like it's a big deal.

[Kalliope]

Blizz underestimated just how highly we the players value the pre-expansion events and figured that it was a worthy sacrifice when compared to the quality of the expansion itself - hopefully this means the NEXT expansion event will be a major extravaganza to counter.

[Ziarre]

Alright, for everyone complaining about it being a lackluster pre-expansion event...It isn't one. I repeat, it is not the pre-expansion event.

There is no pre-expansion event. At all. None.

Instead, that effort went into the expansion itself in order to really pull out the stops. Complain about the total lack of an event if you like, but don't compare what this is--an early peek at scenarios--to what it is not. It's apples to oranges, and trying to compare the two will only disappoint you. It is not supposed to feel like an event, it is not supposed to be an event. I don't like that there isn't a pre-expansion event, but as they still gave me a unique can't-get-it-after-launch item (I collect the damn things!) I can be satisfied in knowing that Pandaria itself is looking pretty damn awesome.

I think Kalli is right in that they underestimated how much we like the events, but jeebus, I'm going to choke someone if they keep calling the scenario 'The Event.'

[Lisaara]

And yet...we aren't getting anything else as a pre-expansion event, which is a pretty big letdown if you ask me. Even if it's not supposed to compared to previous ones, it's hard not to when this is literally the only thing we had before Pandaria. I'm sad that they didn't put in a large world event like they've done for every other expansion. I'm excited for MoP, but the pre-expansion build up has been rather lackluster.

Oh trust me, I agree with you 100% there. They told us we were gonna see Chen before Mists, but we haven't seen a hair of him(least I havent). I mean they could've had some festival or something to go with the Scenario.

But what I meant was...there are some(not necessarily here, mind you. I've seen it all over) saying the scenario sucks cause it's too easy or there was nothing to it when really it wasn't meant to be a challenge or to be anything huge. It's just a feature they wanted to show us before the release.

However, I believe GC feels for us, as in the interview, he talked about how the presentation was poor and there was a lot of misinterpretation due to the presentation of it.

@Ziarre - Agreed. That was the original point I was trying to make. Granted I wish the weapons looked better. The only one that looks good is the Archmage Staff, imho.

[Kalliope]

A little blunt, but Ziarre is right - Blizzard isn't calling this a true opening event and even said as much publicly in the days/weeks leading up to this preview. (Sorry, can't find a link to any of the posts offhand, since searching just turns up the numerous complaint posts.)

At any rate, the lack of an event wasn't a surprise for those who were staying on top of WoW news - but for the majority of the playerbase/ex-playerbase, it came as a disappointing surprise. It's natural for the preview to blend in with the lack of an event, since the preview replaces the event that could have been.

One of the major complaints about the scenario itself is that it's not epic enough, even just as a scenario itself. We have the complete and total annihilation of a major alliance city; there should definitely be more storytelling woven into the scenario - especially after seeing well-executed instances drowning in lore, like The Well of Eternity. Whether the scenario is meant to be an event replacement or not isn't even the issue here; it's a question of the depth expected of the scenario due to the subject matter. Even at 90 as a regular scenario, it should have that. Another miscalculation and one that I'm sure Blizzard will take very much to heart in future development.

TL;DR: I don't think people are complaining about the scenario only because they were expecting a real event.

P.S. My druid got that staff, glee! <3 It's a bit disappointing that the helms lack meta slots.