Siege PvP and Icecrown

I did Wintergrasp and Strand of the Ancients for my first time today. Early today I had also started quests in Icecrown.

First the bad: SotA is too fast. It seems strange that a siege would be the fastest BG around. I'd have expected something a bit closer to AV, though obviously the old style of multi-day battles wouldn't go well now.

Wintergrasp seemed better. I didn't get to see much of it though since I flew over right after an instance and only got to catch the last 10-15 minutes of a Horde defense. What I did catch was a few battles between ground troops and a couple vehicles along with some shooting with the defense guns and one of the plague catapults. Apparently the cannons can be swiveled all the way around and fired through the doorway, which came in handy when the Alliance ran to the other side of the wall. I was able to still hit them with the AoE when they were fighting out of line of sight.

There looks to be a lot of potential for fun in that zone, especially since there are a few benefits to control, so it should attract more people. Afterward a ride around showed a ton of sardonite, especially rich nodes, and lots of elementals.

Moving on to PvE...
Icecrown is great. Phasing makes everything so much more real, having actions actually change the world. Flying fortresses are cool. The Knights of the Ebon Blade seem to be one of the most intelligent groups around. They just get the job done. Also they gave me new tanking boots. Jumpbots are fun.

On to something completely different: I want dual specs now, and I want my second to be holy. Healing is more fun than I remember and sacred shield is turning out to be really useful in 5-mans. I'm just frustrated with the lack of bacon, making AoE a huge pain.

Recent PUGs have been pretty annoying. Yesterday was one in Violet Hold with a tankadin that couldn't pick up adds at all and didn't even respond when I asked for BoM. The warlock was an all around moron, who I'd actually run into before and I guess my ignore list was full then or something, so I'd forgotten who he was. The shaman had a habit of eating between the boss and the tank. Guess who gets initial aggro? I eventually left, they flamed me in trade, I ignored them. Today the PUG had rogues in it, which seem to have turned into melee hunters in terms of average level of intelligence. They died from retaliation, managed to get lost, managed to get an add on their way back to the group. I'm not sure how that happens when you have stealth.

The good news was that I did manage to get a good PUG, but it was the type of PUG that is really not a PUG as much as four people from top guilds who somehow ended up with me in their group. I don't know how it happens. Somehow I manage to attract either complete idiots or the absolute top people, at least in terms of progression.

So, SotA bad, Wintergrasp good, Icecrown better. Better than better. Best zone ever.