Aside from my culinary adventures, my Kelari Defiant Mage, Kae of Faeblight, has been progressing very nicely. He’s level 38 (with the level cap at 50) with a played time of 3 days, 15 hours, and 20 minutes. Like I said, I’ve been playing an unhealthy amount. I’ve been dabbling in the Warfront PvP, running some dungeon instances, but mostly exploring the world and the PvE content.
Two things I’ve realized since I hit the mid-game: one is how much bigger the world feels now that I’ve gotten out of Freemarch and then Stonefield, and the second is how attached I’ve become to Telara. I picked up the trade paperback of the comic book to get an offline lore infusion and been enjoying what I pick up from quests and cutscenes in the game. The most emotional reaction I’ve had to the game so far though has been Scarwood.
After Stonefield, Defiants move into the Scarlet Gorge which is a grand red canyon and the quests there have a bit of a western flavor to them. Beautiful in it’s own way, but not quite to my tastes like the highland valley of Stonefield was. Once I got into the low thirties I headed further north into Scarwood.
Scarwood is an ugly and depressing place. When I first entered the area I was dismayed by the massive stumps and industrial devastation. On the plus side, my reaction made me realize how much of a connection I’ve built with the setting.
There’s a zone-wide rift event that involves elves from the Plane of Life invading with the goal of returning the forest to it’s former glory. My first impulse was to cheer them on, regardless of the cost in Defiant and Guardian lives.
Scarwood is well named for the gigantic stumps that litter the ground, it must’ve been a truly magnificent forest. Check out Kae standing at the base of one of the Scarwood stumps for an idea of the scale of these trees.
Glad you are feeling better. I’m still locked up in Silverwood, so I’m looking forward to seeing all of these mid-level zones.