I have completed the TS access quest, for BoL, on 7 accounts so that my characters can actually use the items that were bought with real-life cash. If you haven't bought one of the upgrade packs yet, be warned that about half of the stuff advertised isn't available to your characters until at least one character, per account, does either the TS or adventuring prequel quest. Even then, the mounts are awful, imho, as they don't go away when in houses or cities, like other mounts except Reveal Inner Dragon. Trying to harvest, decorate, and craft is a real treat with a lumbering ox of a bug under you. I think the other mount is some type of reptile. I had one player blocking the NPC for the final access quest earlier today. And don't count on hide illusion or hide mounts to help as they don't work. Even using another mount in the appearance slot didn't make being mounted disappear in either my house or the city. So be prepared to do a lot of mounting and dismounting. I'm not sure how DB decides which items each character gets from the upgrade packs. Maybe it has to do with the character's level but that doesn't seem to be the case as some of my level 110s got far more items than other 110s on other accounts. All are members so I haven't a clue what makes the difference. Maybe someone else knows. And if your level 110 is a buffed character, make sure you change your xp/aa bar as it will be set to 100% AAs. That will rob you of a level right off the bat as I learned to my sorrow. Five of my characters leveled to 111, after the first "quest" and two didn't. After it happened the second time I checked my AAs and realized the bar had been changed. I didn't do the adventuring access quest as it was incredibly boring and time consuming with a priest. I've since learned DPS classes have an easier time of it. The TS access quest is brutal on the hands. I also had two characters who had to enter and leave the Duality's Chamber multiple times before the recipe scroll spawned so it could be seen. This happened the first time I tried the quest, earlier in the fall, so I gave up on the quest. It took 4 tries, for one character, so be warned. Altogether, I'm not thrilled with my experiences so far and I've just gotten to the BoL entry point. It will take days to get all my 110s equipped with their new gear and some way to safe fall. I understand getting to 120 is fairly painless, which may make up for the access quests being mind-numbingly boring. I don't intend to do much in BoL except get my characters back up to max level and then go back to playing my lower-level toons which is far more fun for me. I can't say whether the extra $50 (or more) is worth it to upgrade the basic xpac. I haven't figured out the Overseer feature but the level 110 TS buff is nice ($35) as are the familiars, sales chest, house, portal, and recipe book. It was worth it to me but others may think differently. I think it would have been wise for DB to make it clear, in their advertising, that certain items wouldn't be available to use without first completing various quests. New, and returning, players might not know that and be very angry and disappointed. I know I was bitterly disappointed even though I suspected DB was going to pull that stunt again.
I'm quite liking the xpac. I run around on my healer in full harvest gear. Killing overland mobs has not been an issue. I'm picking up rares hand over fist and doing side quests. Getting to 120 was pretty quick with with the application of a couple of loyalty xp potions and one use of an orb of concentrated memory. Only time I re-gear is to run a sig line solo. The expac reminds me of Odus & Kunark with all the side quests. Good job so far Daybreak.
