I finally finished the 9.0 Kyrian Campaign last night.
Bodhi Rana said he thought it was the best, and it was really good. I liked the check-in with Azeroth in which we find out that sure enough, the Scourge are running rampant now that the Helm of Domination is broken. I liked the reciprocal chapter with Maldraxxus. I liked the visits to Revendreth and Ardenweald. I was glad to be in ZM BOE catch-up gear for the trip to the Maw — that would have been so much harder in 9.0! I felt like it dealt with Uther in an okay way. Why Helya was involved, though — from her first appearances in the 9.0 Maw Intro scenario and the Bastion leveling story — seemed kind of shoehorned in (Helya’s gotta be in the Shadowlands somewhere, where are we gonna put her?). Although the Forsworn still have a point, and I still don’t want to be Kyrian, the Kyrian have grown on me over the course of the expansion. Mikanikos is still my favorite.
Overall, I rank my enjoyment of the 9.0 Campaigns as Venthyr = Kyrian > Netherlords > Night Fae. I wouldn’t have thought, at the beginning of the expansion, that Night Fae would come in last, but so it is. The Kyrian have reciprocal chapters with the Netherlords and visit Revendreth and Ardenweald. The Venthyr have recpirocal chapters with the Necrolords and visit Bastion. The Netherlords have reciprocal chapters with both the Kyrian and the Venthyr. The Venthyr and the Netherlords don’t go to Ardenweald. The Night Fae… do their own thing. They don’t make connections with the other realms. Looking back on it, the Night Warrior, Drust, and Bwonsamdi stories feel awkwardly braided together. The story has multiple downer moments, where we try to save an NPC and fail. And there are two trips to the Maw, one of which includes a trip to Torghast… I am not looking forward to replaying that with Kaurinka and Kamalia, though I will have to because I want the Campaign coloration of the Night Fae leather and mail sets.
I would say, On to Korthia and Zereth Mortis!, but now that I’ve reached the “stopping point” of having completed the 9.0 Campaigns, I’ve got to start spending my after-bedtime hours getting my Fall classes prepped. I felt like my Organic Chemistry lecture course needed a refresh, so I’ve switched textbooks, and my lab manual for my Organic Chemistry lab course is a few years overdue for an update.
Kamalia et alia 
“I felt like my Organic Chemistry lecture course needed a refresh, so I’ve switched textbooks”
Oh boy. I remember having a prof doing that when I was in college, and those of us who thought ahead and picked up the original textbook thinking that “they’ll never change” were left holding the bag when the prof on that first day said “Surprise! Go buy a new book instead!”
(I still used that old text for reference, so it wasn’t totally wasted, but still…)
We have this newfangled online bookstore system that requires us to submit textbook adoptions for upcoming semesters not long after the schedule for the semester is finalized. So my students for this Fall should know that there’s a new book…
So much to do!
I think, my own opinion, that you can do it all.
The question is, with how much lost sleep? Especially as the start of the semester gets closer…
I’m glad I didn’t let you down with my prediction that you’d enjoy the Kyrian story line.
Thank you for the encouragement! 😀
Oh, that’s funny how what I imagined from reading about the zones was different than what I turned out to like. For me it was Night Fae, Netherlords, Kyrian and Venthyr. I’ll admit though, music and scenery seems to figure into it more than the story for me.
My zone ambiance preferences are different from my campaign story preferences!
I suppose Ardenweald is my favorite zone for music and scenery. It’s cool and soothing. Bastion is pretty, but it’s *too* bright, and so windy! Revendreth is too dark and gloomy for me, and Maldraxxus makes me glad that I can’t smell it.