It took a bit longer than most of the other servers but on Whitemane, the war effort was completed and the gates finally opened. Shortly after, the servers were overloaded and everyone was disconnected. Once the gong is rung it starts the event of the 10-hour war. In this time you are able to fight bosses and hand in drop fragments to start on your rep grind.
The Raids
The most important part of the gong, besides the crowing of scarab lords, is the opening of the 2 raids themselves. I myself, have only participated in AQ20 (our raid night is tonight for AQ40), but the content is extraordinary. I won’t say that the raid was overly difficult but it is a refreshing change of pace. You have to pay more attention and extra focus on the execution of raid mechanics.
The beauty of AQ20 is that it is a shortened version of AQ40. Providing you with similar gameplay and even offers the boss mechanics that you will encounter in AQ40. This makes for some nice practice.
The Books
A new content patch in WoW wouldn’t be complete without new shiny things to collect and new gear to obtain. A big focus for the community is the skill books that drop in AQ20. They drop 2-3 skill books per boss and there are about 3 books available to each class. So the grind isn’t steep. The raid did not take long at all and luckily, I got the 2 books that really mattered for my class: Multishot and Aspect of the Hawk. The cool thing is that the books are BOE as well. So if you aren’t lucky in AQ20 or don’t have a group to run with you, can find them on the AH.
Currently, the prices are incredibly high as the raid just began (some of the warrior books going for up to 1100g). Over time, once the supply is out there the books will drop in price.
The Rep
In blizzard-like fashion, this patch has a new rep to grind, the Brood of Nozdormu (and technically Cenarion circle). In AQ20 you will get Cenarion Circle rep. The big reward from this rep is Nature Resist gear crafting patterns. The other rep, Brood of Nozdormu, has a ring reward for each stage. For some classes it’s super great and part of your BIS and some not so much. You get the Brood of Nozdormu rep from killing things within AQ40 and handing in tokens that drop from bosses within the raid.
Final Thoughts
Overall this patch has been really great. The scarab lord grind was intense and long (the bug grind specifically taking us about 5 days of constant grinding). I do love the epicness of this event though. From the long grinds to the bosses you have to fight, the scarab lord portion was a 10/10 for me.
The war effort was one of the things I remembered most about classic WoW. Except, this time around I wasn’t feeling it. There were full days where it felt like there was no progress made and hearing that other servers completed it quicker was upsetting. Especially since we are one of the biggest servers. I know ultimately, this was a more purposeful halt on resources but all it all this portion was still 7/10 for me.
It is a neat lore point that with the completion of the war event, there is a 5 day “RP” which accounts for them actually walking to Silithus. You do not get to see them actually walk there, but it is a nice touch to the story as a whole.
The opening of the gates was everything I really could have imagined. Seeing the turnout and being there for such a cool event gives me chills thinking about it. This was an absolute 10/10 for me.
AQ20 was a blast! I really enjoyed the instance even though I really only needed skill books, the content itself was just fun! I am hoping AQ40 will also deliver (I do not see it not delivering), but overall this is a patch that I remember fondly and I am actually getting to experience the endgame side of it this time around.