Slowly, but surely, Solidsagart has been progressing along the levels on her way to level 80. With her XP busting in to the level 76 range I decided to take her to the one zone that Solidsamm skipped,
Sholazar Basin. The last bastion of (almost) untouched life by the Scourge was a wild ride of old quest design, new ideas, stellar writing and world traveling.
I'm sure most players know of Sholazar as the new home to the greatest hunter of them all,
Hemet Nesingwary. That, and the presence of the
Ghostfish, are about the only things I really knew about the basin before I decided to tackle its content. Yea, you read that right, I wasn't aware that both the
Frenzyheart Tribe and the
Oracles made their homes in the
Un'Goro Crater-esque zone. I did figure that out soon enough.
Sholazar starts off innocent, offering a cavalcade of quests that hearken back to the days of
Stranglethorn Vale. I was tasked with killing ten of these, eight of that, and then going for the leader of said species. It's not until I begin tackling the big game that Nesingwary becomes interested in me, and my various feats. Once I begin to gain a following in the zone, Nesingwary actually joined me in the hunt as I went for the really big game. The interaction with such a well known NPC made me feel as if I was having some impact on the world; a great use of subtle phasing.
Juxtaposing Nesingwary's incessant need for bigger, badder and more dangerous game is a
Avatar of Freya. The demigod is struggling to comprehend, and hold back, the Scourge that are pouring in from Icecrown. She asks any who will listen to investigate their coming, and help in their destruction. She becomes so desperate that she allowed me, a mere mortal, to travel to Un'Goro Crater to unlock a Titan weapon for use against the Scourge. I was told that if I managed to succeed she'd overlook the death I caused in her lands. My spine tingled when I realized that she witnessed me laying waste to the wildlife, for fun and gold. The antonymous and interweaving stories between the two hubs end up delivering a perfect opportunity for a moral question or mechanic. Unfortunately, there was nothing along those lines. A missed opportunity in my book.
The most memorable part of the zone for me wasn't hunting game, or demolishing the Scourge. It wasn't even the fun quests presented by the Oracles or Frenzyheart factions. What stuck out in Sholazar Basin for me was the writing for the quests, and the story arcs. As noted, the Freya/Nesingwary tandem made for some good, if one-sided, moral discussion, but the
wolvars and
gorlocs each had an entire language of their own. And the language was used, with one quest giver as an exception, for each and every quest presented by the factions. I actually
enjoyed reading the quest text just for the nuances in the language. The entertaining gameplay mechanics and actual story arcs presented by the faction dispute was simply a bonus.
I can't say any other zone's quest dialogue can compare to Sholazar Basin's. There are areas of the game that offer more
jaw dropping revelations and
unexpected twists of allegiance, but the basin had it all in one nice little package. Hell, I even found the hatch from Lost while running around the lush lands.
I highly suggest cleaning up any remaining quests you have in Sholazar. If you haven't been there, you are missing one of the most integrated and self aware zones in the game. Be sure to run the Frenzyheart/Oracle line to the end. You'll know the end when you get there...
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