There's a New Sheriff in Town

Please note: There are spoilers to the story of Algoroc in this post. You hast been warned.

I barreled into Tremor Ridge. This is really where you get that "cowboy in space" Firefly kind of feel to the Algoroc zone started. The Loftite rush is such a beautiful double entendre . The Loftite Rush is a clear allusion to the Gold Rush of the Old West. But Loftite also gives you one of your first experiences with reduced gravity and super jumping, which in an of itself is quite a 'rush'.

The quest lines with the crashed Protostar ship were a highlight of my time in Tremor Ridge, This is really a case where you need to read all the quest text and the various journals. They take the experience that much better.

One example is a journal you find, Chapter 7 "So You've Crashed Your Spaceship". The humor in these quests is excellent. I also loved the line the Protostar guy gives you. "Please accept my emotionally neutral farewell."



Another reason I prefer the Northern Wilds / Algoroc path is you continue to follow Deadeye Brightland. You see his reaction to what happened at the end of Northern Wilds and help him get established in Tremor Ridge. In Beta, I found the area around Tremor Ridge to be much more difficult than I did when I went back through this time. I was tearing through mobs with little of the problems I had in Beta.

Another of favorite areas in Tremor Ridge is a cave complex run by the Chua. What are the Chua up to? What are the Chua ALWAYS up to! They are working on a new super weapon. You thwart their scheme and there is a cool Science Path mission that lets you turn their weapon on themselves. That's always fun. This cave also features one of the few challenges you can do that isn't affected by the presence of other players.

At Level 6, I got Quick Burst. Quick Burst is a defining skill. It's a PROC. Whenever you score a critical hit, Quick Burst will light up and once you hit it the mob is pretty much toasty. It's nostalgic of Vanilla's Seal of Command. You hope and pray for Procs and as soon as she lights up, it's game over for your enemy.

I know Finesse is supposed to be the bread and butter stat for Assault Engineers, but now I wanted Moxie, Moxie and more Moxie. Moxie gives the Engineer Critical Hit chance. Also, I dumped all my AMPs (Wildstar talent points) into Critical Hit. I wanted to do anything I could to make Quick Burst proc more.
It lead to some tough decisions on what to wear, trading Moxie for Finesse or vice versa.

After finishing up Tremor Ridge, I headed over to Gallow. Gallow continues the "wild west in space" feel. You become a deputy, put down a gang of bandits, and even help an Old West style "Judge" dispense justice.

There is a vendor in Gallow who sells the Harmful Hits AMP, but you need Algoroc reputation to buy it. It's a big reason why I decided to go the Northern Wilds / Algoroc path. Harmful Hits provides a buff to Critical Hit chance after a Critical Hit is landed. Can I get you a little Crit with your Crit, sir?

Gallow is where many of the systems open up. There's a bank and this is where you train your tradeskills. As much as I thought about going double gatherer, I caved and went Technologist / Relic Hunter just like I did in Beta. It was so much fun. I'm not usually a huge crafter, but I really enjoyed it in Beta and it really fit well with my character concept for this incarnation of HonorsHammer. I also picked up Farming. I love what the NPC said.
"Just go shoot the plants. Don't worry, I'm sure they had it coming!"
This is Nexus after all. The plans are probably more likely to bite you or infect you with a deadly poison as they are to smell nice.

There was also a taxi to Thayd. I was finally able to start listing stuff on the Auction House and get a little coin going. The biggest problem was that on the Sell Now tab, nearly everything was listed at below vendor prices. I could make more gold selling to the vendor than on the Auction House / Commodities Market. I did a little better with Sell Orders, but most of my stuff expired and I just vendored it.

I did my first Shiphand "Steady Traveler". Again, I had a much easier time than I had had in Beta. Steady Traveler has sort of an Aliens feel to it. It's a fun little excursion. I couldn't find anyone in local who wanted to run with me, so I went solo. Shiphands are great in that you can run them solo or you can run them with a group. They really seem to be targeted at the more casual player who may or may not have time to get a group together.

Gallow led to my favorite questing area of the game so far, a place called Expedition Camp. You see it initally standing on a cliff and staring down into this Eldan complex. There is a this huge giant robot trying to get out but he's stuck.
You go around doing the quests. You meet some interesting characters like Belle Walker and her two trusty scan bots, Rusty and Bolt. The whole area is a treasure trove for the Science path and for the Relic Hunter profession. You eventually find a Exo-Lab and have to activate the fail safe. The ending of the story line is freaking epic.

By the time I was done with the Expedition Camp, I was 15 and ready to try my first Adventure, however; I spent most of the night crafting and exploring Thayd instead.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Cataclysm Profession Bonuses

Raid Comp Tool

Back To Basics: The 969 Paladin Threat Rotation