MMORPGDot Feature: World of Warcraft Beta Journal #4
Dialogue, 2004-04-01

With that, we headed into the upper areas of the Deadmines. The upper areas are not instanced, but they're an excellent dungeon area. There are many passages that twist and turn back on themselves, and the area has several levels to it. It's very easy to get lost down there if you're not careful. The non-instanced Deadmines are crawling with the undead servants of the Defias thieves. Skeletal miners and Zombie Dynamiters pry ore from the walls of the caves beneath Moonbrook, while various Defias operatives oversee their work. We spent some time hunting down the creatures in the upper caves. I took the opportunity to mine whenever I could, as veins of ore appeared somewhat frequently. At one point I was even shackled by a creature into an icy prison spell. Luckily, I was within arms reach of a vein of tin. My powers of dwarfyness let me push back the cold and get some work done while I waited for the spell to end.

Finally, we came to the shimmering barrier marking the entrance to the Deadmines instance. Getting more than a groups worth of players into the instance proved to be somewhat of a confusing situation, and we spent quite a bit of time getting everyone in. If you're ever looking to do it, here is how we did it. Fill up a group and head into the instance. Once inside make all but two of your party members degroup. This will keep the group that made the instance intact, but leave most slots open. Fill it back up with the folks waiting outside the instance, and then have them come through the instance barrier. They *should* enter the same instance you have. With our whole group inside, we pressed forward. Bluhdemoon would find us a good spot, then pull thieves and their lackeys to us one by one until a room was clear. The calm and precise tactics he used ensured that no one was unnecessarily harmed working our way downwards. The undead minions of the Defias thieves gave way to some of the thieves themselves, as well as living servants who continued to work on the walls. The first mini-boss we faced was a spellcaster called "The Overseer". He looked much like a normal Defias caster, and we worked our way through him and his lackeys easily enough. We continued further into the mines, and after a few handfuls of thieves reached the passage that connected with the first door. Standing before the door is an ogre that any person that has been following WoW for quite a while knows about: Rhahk'zor the Foreman. Rhahk'zor had a pair of bodyguards as well. We took a moment to rest before entering the room, then struck! While Bluhdemoon assaulted the foreman, the rest of us quickly dispatched his Defias warders. That done, we concentrated our full attention on the hulking ogre. The surprisingly tough beast put up a good fight, but couldn't stand against so many armed adventurers. With Rhahk'zor dead, the way further into the mines was opened to us.

Beyond that point we entered into the secret of the mines, the alliance between the Defias and various humanoid races. Goblin workers assaulted us as we made our way through manufacturing and carving areas. One of my particular favorite areas was "The Mast Room" which featured a great beam overhead still in the process of being formed into a proper mast for a ship. As I surveyed the map room, Grodin assaulting a goblin that was nipping at our party, I spotted a large form at the far end of the room. Beyond the goblins hard at work, I saw the Goblin Shredder. Sneed was the name of the pilot, and with the creatures at the entrance area of the room taken care of Bluhde went to ask Sneed to dance. The fight was terrific, harder than anything we'd faced yet. The sound of blades singing through the air and the chugs and whirs of the contraption punctuated the fight. When the shredder went down, Sneed had another surprise for us, as he leaped out of the now destroyed vehicle and attacked us hand-to-hand! Again the strength of our group prevailed and when Sneed fell the Mast room was ours.

At the far end of the Mast room was yet another door. When it opened, I beheld a truly beautiful sight, another favorite of mine from the pre-beta screenshots. A massive bucket of molten ore, hanging in space. There, the goblin engineers and their mechanical golems worked to melt the ore their undead minions mined above into useful objects. I had to stand there and appreciate it for some moments while the rest of the party rested up. Everyone refreshed, we began carefully making our way around the platform surrounding the bucket. Bluhde continued to pull as best he could but the goblins and their constructs began to come thick and fast. Bluhde returned with a pair of goblin engineers and a pair of mechanical golems following him. I practically knew my time was up. I threw myself into fighting one of the golems, keeping it busy while the rest of the party attacked the other golem/goblin pair. A few yards away, my health was chipped off bit by bit as the golem's engineer fired shot after shot from his musket into me. Despite the odds, I still thought I was doing okay...until my life dipped suddenly from 200 to 48. And then, I was dead.

I have to admit ignorance as to what is supposed to happen when someone dies in an instance, but I was done for the night. I waited patiently for Silx to rez me. After they dispatched the goblins and golems he drank some milk to support his mana and then laid out some of the holy light for me....at which point I appeared still dead at the Westfall bindstone. I'm pretty sure that that is not supposed to happen. In any case, I ran back to the instance to see if I could enter. I knew I was done when I was given the option to become corporeal a good distance away from the instance. I tried entering the instance, but only managed in teleporting myself back to the bindstone. My only chance to not lose experience, then, was at the bottom of the Deadmines. I took the hit and rematerialized at the Westfall bind stone. Even though the evening ended in defeat for me (and disappointment, as the rest of the group went on to complete the instance) I had an excellent time. I hope that I've given you a little taste of what the excellent storytelling and area design in World of Warcraft can create.