Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Greatmother Geyah is a total name-dropper. Every time I run into her, she asks how her son is doing, and just has to point out that she's talking about Durotan, just in case I wasn't aware that she was the mother of the Frostwolf chieftain. Meanwhile, Phylarch the Evergreen is some sort of meditative genius, as he spends a lot of his time sitting in midair, when he isn't making my other followers cry. Botani, right? Meanwhile, I'm not sure about Aeda Brightdawn, because despite her name she's a warlock and she's taken to speaking in demonic when she thinks I'm not paying attention.

I tend to think of my followers like people, because the AI for them is pretty good -- they notice when I walk by, they'll make a comment in my direction every now and again, and they even talk to each other, sometimes with disastrous results. Milhouse Manastorm spends a lot of his time laughing at my peons and making them feel bad, for example. It's interesting because it's so lively, but it's also interesting because I've noticed other people doing the same thing -- they'll send certain followers on missions together because, in their heads, those two followers totally belong together. They'd hit it off. They'd be best friends.

This humanizing of what is essentially a decent AI system and a bit of random dialogue is kind of fascinating to me. I like making up stories, I like writing stories, so making up personalities and stories in my head is pretty much right up my alley. I'm kind of delighted to see that I'm not the only one that does so -- and I'm also curious, just how widespread is this habit? Do you guys view your followers with different personalities? Do you make up stories for them? Do you treat them any differently for how they act in your garrison? Do you tend to group the same followers together? Or are they all just mechanical minions to be sent out at your whim?

I've been diligently plugging away at the legendary quest chain via LFR, follower missions and the occasional stone found in my piles of work orders. Today I was pleasantly surprised to note that I now have 75 of the things -- sure, I have 50 to go, but I should be done with the entirety of it pretty soon. I don't mind the stone collecting so much, I mean it's something that is by and large passively going on while I'm getting other stuff done, but it's definitely not my favorite kind of legendary quest. I've managed to collect a small pile of legendary weapons over the years, both by killing bosses and by completing various quests.

I think my favorite kind of legendary quests so far have been the ones that send me out to actively do things -- with the Fangs of the Father chain, the section that sent rogues to stealth through Gilneas was frustrating at times but ultimately pretty satisfying. So was the solo scenario that Wrathion dragged you off to on the Isle of Thunder as part of the legendary Mists chain. I liked the bit in this particular chain where you met up with Khadgar and a friend in Nagrand to take care of some unfinished business. Basically, I prefer legendary quests where I'm actively doing something, rather than passively letting something happen or pile up over time.

Don't get me wrong, though -- I still prefer this method over the old school once-in-a-million drop from a particular raid boss. It feels better when a legendary is something you work to obtain, rather than a ridiculously lucky drop. What do you guys think? What's your favorite part of legendary quests and items? Do you like the solo scenario method? The individual quests? Do you prefer the collecting rather than having to do any additional questing at all? Or did you really like the old days and extremely low drop rates for weapons of the past?

Let's not waste a lot of time here in our new year.

2015. Warlords is two months old. What are your plans for the future? What are you working on in-game? Do you have any game-related resolutions? Have you even gotten to 100 yet?

Share, discuss, elucidate. It's a new year. Make it yours.