Recently
a friend, Keebler, convinced me to step back into World of Warcraft (WoW). I
haven’t played in a very long time. I used to be pretty active back and fell
off of the game when most of my friends stopped playing and went off into out
of game or “real-world” concerns, more on this later. For all it’s been said,
I’ve always enjoyed the idea of Massive Multi-Player Online Role-Play Games
(MMORPG). It’s just been hard to find one I like, one my friends like, and one
we can all afford. This has been a challenge.
First,
a bit of history, I started playing WoW right just as the base game, often
referred to as vanilla, was about to grow with the addition of the first
expansion, The Burning Crusade. My friends and I formed an in game organization
called a guild and used that to hang out, talk to one another, and form groups
and play content. We used our guild to play through most of the 5 man content
of Burning Crusade. We would play regular groups and run Heroic Dungeons; extra
challenging versions of regular dungeons, enter in the Grand Tournament; an
event tied to the lich King expansion, or uncover deep tombs; a particular run
from Cataclysm.
I
still remember loading in for the first time after Cataclysm and gone live, a
week before the expansion officially launched, and saw the world ripped asunder
by the appearance of the mighty dragon, Deathwing. Huge chasms boiled with
rivers of lava where pristine velts once swarmed with gazelles and lions, a
giant crater with a permanent tornado at its center swirled in the midst of a
once thriving forest, cities once controlled by the forces of the Alliance were
now ruled by the Horde, and long standing Horde enclaves had been destroyed by
Alliance forces. In one day, without warning, from the back of a gryphon, I saw
a changed world.
We
then continued through the following expansions Wrath of the Lich King and into
Cataclysm. At this point out of game or Real Life concerns began to beckon.
People got married, moved, got bored, and just plain stopped playing. At this
point I can’t honestly remember if I was one of the last or the last to leave WoW.
I remember not enjoying my time in the game, as my friends weren’t there. I
want to be clear, for me there was nothing wrong with the game, but I enjoy
these things more when I have people to play with. I like grouping with friends
and doing dungeons and instances. When everyone stopped playing, I spent a
little time on my own playing content, but it’s just not the same.
I
left.
I
tried other MMORPG’s, some with friends, some alone, and it was never the same.
I realize I may be trying to catch lightning in a second bottle after it got
out of the first. The time we spent, the wonder we experienced, and even the
stories we tell will probably never be replicated. I’m aware of this, still I
want to try. I yearn for those days again. I know I will most likely never have
them. That holy shit moment described above, of cresting a ridge on a gryphon
and finding an oozing lava river at the bottom of a massive canyon that hadn’t
been there the day before was made even more memorable because I yelled for my
roommate to come see it. We marveled at the visual and couldn’t wait to see
what else had changed. Video games at this point had been a constant setting
with the occasional new zone, or added piece of content. The Burning Crusade
changed the world in a way that we had never seen.
That
said, I went back into WoW with some trepidation. I wanted it to be good. I
wasn’t sure. At first, I started with the free content. You can play up to level
twenty without paying a cent. You can’t use some of the features, such as mail,
but you can still run around and do quests, get a feel for the characters, and
see the world and story. I played that for a couple of weeks and then decided
to brush off my old account and resubscribe. I ran around, leveled a dwarf
shaman (Stormshriek) for healing. I entered dungeons in a new (to me) group
finder. I had fun. I was given a level up for one of my characters that would
take him to 90. I decided to use it on a night elf hunter (Nemes). I played him
for a while, xperienced some of the Warlords of Draenor end game content and
began reading about the Legion expansion. Everything I read about Legion seemed
fun, a good story, interesting mechanics, and some things I had never seen in
WoW before. After a while I bought the Legion expansion. I received a free
level up to 100 for a new character. I made a gnome monk (Gearthrottle) because
they hadn’t been available the last time I had played and wanted to try one.
Monks are amazing.
It
hasn’t been all sunshine and roses though. There are two basic kinds of servers
in the game, player versus player (PvP) and player versus environment (PvE). In
both types there are two distinct factions, Horde and Alliance, neither is good
or evil, they’re made up of individuals trying to do the right thing and a
handful of assholes who just suck on a basic level. I cheered when Thrall
killed Garrosh screamed in joy, my only disappointment; he didn’t die in a fire
while being beaten with a shovel. I guess eight simultaneous bolts of lightning
will have to do. Anyway, players choose one of the two factions at character
creation and it gives them access to different races, starting cities, and
storylines. The difference is in PvE servers the players can only interact with
the environment, while in PvP they can attack and kill each other.
I
like PvP in certain situations; there are zones, battlegrounds, and events that
are geared to it. They have specific rules, set ups, and sides. I like these.
Jumping into PvP and running around with a set of goals with everyone roughly
the same level and equipment build I fun. World PvP on the other hand is filled
with dicks. This is an actual thing that happened to me three days ago. If a
player is more than ten levels higher than you their level appears as a skull.
It means that that character is so dangerous you cannot beat them in a fight.
You will not hurt them, slow them, stop them, or control them. They will kill
you, most likely in one hit. A player who was skull level to me attacked me
during an event where both Horde and Alliance were working together against a
third enemy. It happens, that’s the way it goes. Then they killed me again.
Then they killed me again. Then they were running past the graveyard as I was
respawning and killed me again. Then they stood there and waited. Because of
the event, I had no control over it, every 30 seconds I would respawn. I got
lucky, when I respawned the very next time, there were so many other characters
the player couldn’t target me and I was able to get on my mount and fly away. I
even flew to an altitude that was so high up that I couldn’t be targeted by
people on the ground. You can’t attack while on a flying mount, the game won’t
let you. The player chased after me on a faster mount, flew to an altitude
higher than mine, canceled their mount and attacked me on the way down, killing
me in one hit. World PvP fucking sucks.
The
other problem I’m having is that because of my work schedule and the work
schedules of everyone else in the guild we’re not always on at the same time. I
am frequently the only person on in the game. While I’m having fun on the rare
times when I am grouped with other people in the guild those times are
infrequent. These two things aren’t deal breakers but they are down notes.
Legion
launched yesterday. I’ve played through the first parts of it and I’ve even
gotten the artifact weapons for three of my characters. I love the world and
the story so far. I’ve even experienced a couple of holy shit moments. Sadly, I
have been alone for most of them. The ones I had during the artifact quests are
understandable, the quests are solo, you have to do them alone, I’m not going
to be there with anyone else. Unfortunately, an entire story line where I faced
the corruption of well-known characters and the death of another were
experienced by myself and my YouTube stream. It would have been more fun to and
possibly a more meaningful experience to be with other people.
For
now though, I’m having fun. I’ll keep playing and see if it’s enough. I’m
certain it will never be as good, but I hope it will be enough.
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