World of Warcraft

[picklepikkl]

It may not be a strategy game, but surely there's someone else on this forum who's planning to take the fight to the Burning Legion on the morrow.

[Jabbz]

No thanks, I worked that full time job for 2 years around a decade ago.

[Commodore]

It's fun. I have a friend who works at Blizzard and so was in the F&F Alpha and then Beta; very well done.

I could grumble like a typical "back in my day" old timer...I played it back when it was first out in 2004, a vast and immersive world that floored me. Now it's casual-friendly, set up in discrete bites, super-streamlined. Which, given now I have a family and a full time job and other interesting hobbies, actually turns out to be perfect for the "subscribe for a month or two a year" model.

[Jabbz]

It's nice that they changed it from the older style. Azarius and I played together in 06 for about a year, and were part of a top tier raiding guild then and right after the first major expansion came out. We were both putting in 16h a day playing that shit to be competitive. One day I just realized I was listening to some 19 year old shithead yell at me in a dungeon and just logged off and uninstalled heh. Never had the desire to play again, too many other awesome games out there.

[Sirian]

I met my wife in Warcraft, so I will always have a fond spot for it in my heart.

Commodore is right: the more recent versions of WoW are a good fit for a working person with a family, who wants to enjoy a few hours a couple of times a week. ... Is the difference between "casual" and "hardcore" the difference between playing a game a few hours a week vs treating it like a volunteer job? Perhaps in some ways.

WoW has a wide slate to offer: the PvP, the quests, the dungeons and raids, socializing, and all manner of time sinks for anyone wanting to spend some time on a diversion (like collecting achievements, pets, or anything else collectable in the game).


I took advantage of the free offer on the latest expansion back in the spring and played for two months. It was my first contact with the now-outgoing expansion and (by far) the latest I ever entered an expansion. I'm afraid that the dungeon and raid content, and everything else involving groups, was a total wash, as everyone I had to play with was overgeared and that made everything too easy (and it's too easy to begin with, generally). But I did enjoy exploring the garrisons and seeing the main story line. I didn't bother spending much time on time-intensive pursuits like PvP and Raiding. I got a taste of both, and that was enough to see what it was like for this expansion. It would have been a fun one to experience in full, but the days of having that much time to waste are behind me for the foreseeable future. I have a toddler sitting next to me as I write this, and another baby due within weeks. I mothballed my account again back in early July.

My daughter liked watching WoW, though. The colorful terrains, all the critters in the world, and doing simple things like gathering "shinies" (crafting materials) or venturing in to a cave to collect mushrooms. She still crawls under my desk from time to time to "get mushrooms from cave". ... Perhaps it says something unfavorable that a 2-yo can grasp how to play, but I guess that depends on perspective. I foresee playing with her in a few years: turning off the chat channels and sticking to a family friendly guild with good verbal discipline.

The opening of a new expansion is always the best time to play, for those bored by easy-peasy. But I will have a new baby to help care for and can't be playing games I can't drop (or pause!) over and over on a moment's notice. Won't have as much time, either, the pause issue aside. Best not to be tempted, because even trying to be casual about it, the time can melt away fast and the endless things available to do can suck you in farther than you intended.

Whether I will hop in to Legion for a couple of months later, in six months or a year, I don't know yet.


- Sirian

[picklepikkl]

My best friend of nearly half my life met her fiancee through WoW, so I am very appreciative of that particular social power Congratulations, Sirian, and best wishes for the upcoming baby!

My own interest in the game waxes and wanes. I've been invested in the world and story of Warcraft since the original (look, I was six and didn't know quality storytelling yet, I know it's a silly thing to have pinned yourself to), so Warlords of Draenor felt like one long bout of Blizzard crouching in front of me and constantly slapping me in the face, but Legion looks like a return to form. There's a lot of cool story beats coming up that I'm really excited to play through myself. Of course, I will probably unsub at some point mid-expansion like I've done almost every expansion when I get bored and my tendency to obsess fixes on something else, but like the moon, I'm sure I'll be back.

@Commodore: I remember logging into beta in 2004 and running across Mulgore at night. It floored me as well. But that's the thing; you only get to be bright-eyed and new once. My ex, who started in Cataclysm, has equally bright-eyed nostalgia for her early days. And heck, by the standards of 2004, launch WoW was very casual-friendly, so the streamlining changes have been less of a departure from mission and more a fulfillment of same. Gamers are aging, and games need to age with them.

[Jowy]

I enjoyed my time with it around TBC and WOTLK, I'm glad that I got to experience the game at that time. I started together with a friend. We downloaded the trial to troll the WoW nerds (we were RuneScape players for life!). A few days later we had swallowed our pride and became what we hated. WoW is one of those games that will absolutely blow your mind the first time you play through it. That feeling is what so many MMO players keep on chasing when they jump from one MMO to another. Anyway, I'm glad that I stopped playing the game, even though I don't regret playing it. That friend I mentioned has been playing WoW since then, all day every day, for 9 years. It's kinda my fault for dragging him into it with me. It's an awkward subject because it's hard to tell if someone's addicted or just doing what they want to do with their time.

[picklepikkl]

Update from a few days later: Legion is awesome. They've pulled out all the stops to deliver a really incredible experience. World quests are proving to be a way better play experience than the gussied-up dailies I initially took them for.

I have a few concerns about several features proving annoying over the long haul, but Legion delivers, if you'll excuse the pun, a hell of a first impression.

(ok technically speaking the demons in this mythos don't come from hell, if by hell you mean "an unpleasant afterlife experience")

((good job, me, you ruined the joke, such as it was))

[Gustaran]

One day I just realized I was listening to some 19 year old shithead yell at me in a dungeon and just logged off and uninstalled heh. Never had the desire to play again, too many other awesome games out there.

Since the introduction of the Dungeon Finder the atmosphere has become even more horrible. I played through the release of WOD and it's hard to believe how verbally abusive the community is.

I used to play quite a lot during BC and while it is true that finding a group took longer, there was a certain social control due to people playing on the same server - if you misbehaved, most guilds would blacklist you and in the future you would have trouble finding a group.
I've come to the point where I feel I am too old to exchange insults with some moronic teenagers over every single death in a dungeon.

I might pickup Legion later for the levelling phase and single player content and to see the raids once. The game is a lot less fun if you are not in a guild with friends and as you said: There are so many interesting games out there, I eventually grew tired of the "Hero, kill 20 rats for me"-quests.