My feelings towards the game are complex. It's not a simple love or hate thing. It's a very gray area. I composed two lists of five items each, one list comprised of reasons I love World of Warcraft and truly miss playing it, and five reasons why I hate it and will likely never go back. Truth be told, under the right living situation, I might still be playing it. But I chose to have a meaningful relationship and to dedicate my time to more than just one never-ending game. But even still, I have some great memories playing that game. Now, without further ado, here are the two lists:
Top 5 Reasons I Love World of Warcraft
1. It is a huge world with a nearly limitless amount of gameplay.
To people with nothing but free time, this is truly a blessing. The world is gigantic and feels very vast. It is a living, breathing world. To fly across one main land takes about twenty minutes. And thats at the fastest setting. To walk across it? Probably an entire day. And there are 5 gigantic land masses to explore (as of now) so to see every inch of every area takes a very, very long time. It's also great for people who feel games have become too short or like to feel there is always something new to see, no matter how much they're already seen.
2. I have "met" a lot of fun, cool people in the game.
For better or worse, MMOs are perpetually online, and are comprised of thousands, if not millions, of players across the world. World of Warcraft had over 10 million players at its peak. That's a lot. So no matter where you are in the game, whatever race, class, or faction you picked, there is bound to be someone at your level you can play with. Many players are there for the same reason you are - to have fun, to relieve stress, to make friends, and to play a game. The majority of players I've encountered and talked to were generally nice and friendly. Many people are even willing to help players they don't even know in real life. Then there are guilds, player-built factions who band together to take part in dungeons and raids, and other activities, and depending on how tight knit the group is, they form themselves into a mini-community. I've been in several guilds, some were better than others, but the best one I was in felt very tight-knit, it was almost like an online family. It made the game that much more enjoyable for me.
3. You can be whoever you want to be.
The options for gameplay and customization are very numerous. While character models don't allow for a huge amount of facial or body type features, you can play as one of 13 and 11 classes, between 2 factions. You can also "transmogrify" your current armor into something you enjoy the look of more. Same stats, different looks. For the really creative minds, there are RP servers for role playing. People who enjoy getting into character and chatting with another and really getting into the setting of the world, they have this option, which I think is a really neat and unique way to play. Like I said, there are 11 classes currently, and each class is divided into 3 specifications. So you actually have 33 different ways to play. And they all play differently, and pretty much cover every gameplay style out there, so you're bound to find at least one that is for you. Oh, and did I mention, you can literally do what you want? Yeah, you don't have to fight. You don't have to quest. You can sit by the river and fish all day if you wanted to. You can make armor. You can pet battle. That's right - much like Pokemon there are pets you collect, and battle them with each other. There are dozens of minigames within the game itself. So many that you could literally spend hours doing them. It's your game and you can do whatever you want in it.
4. There is a huge amount of lore.
For those that like to delve deep into the lore of the world, there is a very rich history just waiting to be discovered. There are many characters that you could follow, there is an entire history that was written for the world, and there are even books in the game that you can find and read about the history of the world. Not many games can boast about something like that. Not to mention there are a bunch of actual novels written about certain characters or factions in the World of Warcraft, and also graphic novels. The amount of lore for this game is mind-blowing. Think Star Wars + its Expanded Universe big. That's how big. Even for those who don't pay attention to every detail, the amount of work put into both the little and big things, makes the world feel that much more alive.
5. The soundtracks are phenomenal.
Even though I no longer play the game, I still listen to the soundtracks. They're fantastic and I could listen to them for a long time. In particular, the latest soundtrack for Mists of Pandaria is amazing. It's all fully orchestrated, and again making reference to Star Wars, it has that John Williams quality to it. Even if you never play the game, make a point to listen to some of the music. Seriously, it's amazing.
Top 5 Reasons I Hate World of Warcraft
1. The game is a huge time sink.
I have spent way too much time playing World of Warcraft. This game demands a lot of your time. People may argue you can play a half hour a day and still accomplish something. Okay, sure, some people may think that's enough time. But believe me when I say it is not. On my main character, and I have had many characters over the years, but the one I spent the most time playing, I had 20 days of gameplay time built it. That's not 20 days as in I created the character 20 days ago. That means, the amount of time I was logged in playing that character was added up and it came to the equivalent to 20 days' worth. That's 480 hours. I've never spent even close to that amount of time on any other game. Oh, and that's just one character. If I added up the time played for each character I ever had, I'd be willing to be it would be close to 100 days' worth, or 2400 hours. Yeah I think I'll go die in a hole now.
2. People can seriously ruin the fun.
Since you're always playing with other players, they can be a huge influence on whether you enjoy or hate the game. Like I said, I've played with many people who enhanced the enjoyment of my game time, either by being generous, funny, helpful, or just generally friendly. Then there are the dipshits who go out of their way to make sure to piss you off. Luckily, I'd probably say the amount of funsuckers are about 1 or 2% of the entire population, at least from my experience. But when they're there they really make it known. You might wonder how one person can ruin the game, since they're not even there physically. Well, they can steal your loot. They can insult you in chat. They can harass you. And they can overall just be very unpleasant, Just imagine how much harder Super Mario Bros. would be if you had a second player whose only job was to make you lose. You'd probably throw the controller through the screen. This is why I prefer dealing with A.I. in video games.
3. It is downright repetitive sometimes.
If you have gone through the game and went through all the single player quests, you might want to start over with a new character. But you're probably going to be doing the same quests over and over. Not only that, many quests are just variations of quests you've done before. "Fetch me this, escort me here, kill x amount of enemies, etc" They constantly shove those quests down your throat. Admittedly, some quests are very fun. And even the first time you do those boring ones, they're still pretty fun. But I find most people do them not because they're fun but to progress in the game, and only for that reason. Like I said, you don't have to quest, but most people do, and when you do, you get into this completionist mode and feel the need to get to the level cap as soon as possible, or do every quest, or have a level capped character of each class. And you'll enjoy doing it at first, but sooner or later you're gonna be doing the same quests over and over and over. Even making items is repetitive. It's all repetition. Of course, that's also how you learn to play your class well.
4. The game is ever changing.
With each new expansion, or even new patches, things change. The shaman you loved and you've been playing for 90 levels and over 15 days' worth of time you suddenly hate. They buff other classes and nerf yours. Sometimes they make things better but people generally hate change. They like when things are familiar and stay the same. But many things in World of Warcraft does not stay the same. Once the third expansion, Cataclysm, came along, the entire world was obliterated and 95% of the old content was gone forever. What if you liked that old content? Doesn't matter. It's gone. Some dungeons and raids get redone. What if you don't like them the new way? It doesn't matter. It's changed. Each class currently plays incredibly different than from 10 years ago. I used to love playing a hunter back in the day but then they basically rewrote the way the class plays and I no longer liked it. So all that time you put into leveling your character, is completely wasted. Now you feel you have to start over. I played a warlock for many years and loved the way they played. They were the underdog of the classes and suddenly Blizzard felt the need to scrap everything in favor of making the class easier to play and to try to get it more popular. Okay, so the class is now easier to play I suppose but it's not what I was used to for 6 years and it wasn't nearly as fun as it used to be. So now all the time I put into playing it, means nothing. Well, it all means nothing because I don't play anymore. But I couldn't even enjoy playing a class I loved for years because they basically rewrote the whole thing. How would you like it if you were playing the Legend of Zelda then suddenly Nintendo released a patch that took away a few of your favorite items and added in a few crappy ones. Oh, in addition they scrap the first two dungeons. Huh!? What the hell!? Well that's World of Warcraft. Blizzard giveth and they certainly taketh away.
5. It's expensive.
I have spent way too much money playing it. In addition to its monthly fee of $15, there are also other digital goods you can buy including items, mounts, and pets. You're not forced to buy any of those things, but this game can make you into a completionist and therefore you will want everything, and shell out the money for the digital stuff. And it's not cheap either. Not to mention if you want to change your character's race, name or home server. That costs money too. I made a point of never adding up all the money I spent on this game because I would probably become deeply depressed and curl up into a ball like a hedgehog.
No comments:
Post a Comment