Early group shot taken after completing the Deadmines as a five piece. No one knows what happened to the mysterious female Night Elf druid in the back row.

Over the past year and a half, I played World of Warcraft with some old friends from University. It started out as a twosome , turned into a threesome, and then a foursome with a person who had no idea what an MMORPG was. So we rolled back to a threesome again, because it’s no fun playing with someone who uses garbage drops as gear and doesn’t upgrade their skills. And so Hykrion the Night Elf Rogue, Firestars the Night Elf Warrior, and Beto the Dwarven Priest sought out the many trials of Azeroth.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I still think we could have made it to the endgame with these characters.

Getting back into World of Warcraft was like slipping into a pair of my favorite pants. Except the pants were stained with Dr. Pepper and greasy Doritos cheese. I have to admit that at first my reaction was revulsion after the first of many (very) late night gaming sessions. Why was I playing this again? It felt so pointless, the incessant mouseclicks echoing off of the barren walls of our home office. As if to defy me once again, the clicking had become hypnotic. I was levelling up. I was gaining mad skills. I was exploring more of the realm than I ever had before. I was a night elf rogue named Hykrion, and I did ridiculous amounts of damage. Sinister Strike. Backstab. Eviscerate. Loot corpse. High fives all around.

At first, our group’s primary function was to quest together. We weren’t used to each other’s playing style, and were not confident enough as a team to take on an instance – our group wiped too much just taking on a mob two or three levels above us. We stole item rolls from each other, not paying attention to what was best for the group. In long treks between towns Hykrion would always run ahead of the group, blissfully ignorant of his low armour class and natural magnetism for Horde NPCs or high-level monsters. We frequently let Beto run out of mana, then complained about dying all the time. And we died a lot. For a while, this was fun. Each group massacre was more entertaining than the last. But then we realized that if we were going to get anywhere in this game, we needed a strategy. We needed to start acting like a group.

In effect, our group was the Holy Trinity of classes in World of Warcraft. A Warrior to tank mobs and collect aggro, a Rogue to do massive damage quickly, and a Priest as healing battery to support these life-threatening activities. We had intended to build level 60 characters, to gallop through Ironforge on our Elite Mounts and adorned in nothing but Purple and Blue items. One of us even bought the first expansion, expecting to jump into The Burning Crusade once we reached 60. Once we hit level 40 and got our mounts, we were going to widen the range of exploration and grind experience to level up for an instance every other week, which would be done to collect better items. For a while, this was happening. We were excited about playing a great game with people we knew.

The emails started as they always did, on Friday mornings. Working stiffs like us needed something to look forward to at the end of the week, and in this case it was World of Warcraft. At first we were constantly trying to control each other’s impulses to keep playing, so that nobody raced ahead of the group. This would ensure a balanced party and maxium experience points for the group. The conversations would be about how we wiped too much the instance before, how someone needed to upgrade their weapons for maximum damage or strategic Talent expenditures to benefit the group. We planned the assignment of rare loot drops before we even had them. We talked about the best routes to get there, and which quests we could obtain on the way. We read about the boss monsters and how best to beat them.

We tackled all of the low level instances like The Deadmines, The Scarlet Monastery, Blackfathom Deeps, and Razorfen Kraul. We got our asses handed to us in the first attempt at Razorfen Downs, after Blizzard had readjusted the level requirements for all instances. By the time we reached Uldaman we were handling instances like professionals. Needless to say we went back to Razorfen downs to finish the job. It was fucking glorious.

But for some reason, we could never get ourselves organized to complete The Sunken Temple, which seemed like the natural next steps for our group by the time we reached the mid-40s. The fabric of our group was starting to unravel. Firestars was too busy at work. Beto and Hykrion had to put their kids to bed later. Hykrion started passing out on the couch at 8:30 pm every night after “bed time”. Firestars fell asleep while waiting for Beto and Hykrion to show up for games. Firestars fell asleep during a game when Beto and Hykrion were disconnected from an instance.

For the last few months of the summer, interest in the game from all three of us was at an all time low. Nobody was talking about what items they wanted from the next instance. Or even scheduling the next instance. Now the challenge was getting all three of us online at the same time to just grind some experience for a while and polish our skills.

By the time we all got back from our holidays in September, I had to make a call as the unofficial group leader: we were done. All three of us cancelled our accounts shortly after, and while none of us expressed our true feelings about this transaction, we were all disappointed that it had come to this. Our group had died most uncerimoniously.

And yet my final thoughts on the game weren’t as bitter as the last time. I don’t regret having played the game for as long I did, because this time it genuinely taught me to appreciate it even more.

Playing World of Warcraft with real-life friends is a lot different than playing regularly with Guildmates. We would see each other outside of the game, and it would eventually come up in conversation. I felt myself talking about our adventures as if they had really happened, convinced that this was not the same game I played a year ago by myself or with hastily assembled pick-up groups. We talked about my insatiable need to explore areas beyond our level, only to bring back Skull-levelled creatures to wipe the group. About how Firestars somehow felt his Shadowmeld was equivalent to my Stealth mode, often ending in a massacre in some dungeon corridor. Our characters had become a part of us; we had no concept that the things we talked about meant nothing when measured against the metrics of normal society.

We also made a point of insulating ourselves from the game world at large, so we didn’t have to deal with middle-school griefers that insisted on challenging our low level characters. We all agreed to reject all guild invites, to avoid having to commit to raids and instances with complete strangers. We had complete control over the experience, and it was good.

Had this game truly evolved since I last played it? Exploring the meticulously crafted areas of this game seemed to take on new meaning when it was shared with others. The “Kill X Monsters” quests became genuine adventures. And if we failed, it was never a big deal. We didn’t have to hear the endless rantings of a Guild officer who clearly invested too much time into the game. It was a game after all; this was supposed to be fun.

So when it was time to say goodbye to Hykrion, I wasn’t leaving because I came face to face again with the game’s shortcomings. Rather, it was because our game group had disbanded, and there was no hope for recapturing the dynamic that allowed me to appreciate the game’s most basic elements: playing and cooperating with others. World of Warcraft did its best to make us feel a part of the universe, but for me the time had come to say goodbye again.

Wrath of the Lich King comes out in a week, but I won’t be experiencing any of the content. We only made it to level 48.

Let’s get the cosmetic stuff out of the way: the new races are boring. The Blood Elves simply look like re-skinned Night Elves. Though I find it interesting that a “pretty” race was added to the ranks of the generally nasty-looking Horde. I’m sure this will cause an influx of new Horde players to try the new Spellbreaker class, which up to this point seems to be only available to the Blood Elves. The Draenei look like a cross between Hellboy and the Twi’leks from the Star Wars universe, sharing their overall soft appearance with the Night Elves. They certainly look friendly enough to be an Alliance race. But no new class for them. Judging from the race’s ability to wield Holy Magic I can see Paladin, Preist, Warrior and Mage being available.

A new profession will be offered: Jewelcrafting. It follows, then, that socketed weapons and armour will now be part of loot drops and Blacksmith recipes. I get the feeling that Diablo II really was their model for the simplistic, action-oriented gameplay. This is a good addition for those that want to customize their gear without having to level up any crafting skills to the point where they actually produce useful items. I’m assuming of course that socketed items and gems will be readily available to all players of the expansion. It will be interesting to see how this feature is handled for people without the expansion, because there is no doubt there will be a high demand for these materials at the Auction House.

The expansion also adds a new area: Outland. Formerly the Orcish homeworld of Draenor, it has since been ravaged by the Burning Legion. Being able to explore the floating remains of this planet seems like a cool concept, but it sounds way too much like Everquest II’s Kingdom of Sky. Flying mounts are also made available in Outland, but I question the decision to limit them to Outland despite their immediate practicality in this new wasteland. It seems kind of pointless when more content is being added to the core game; why not allow players to explore it on their flying mounts? It’s probably just another case of keeping the expansion pack owners separate from the rest of the players, a tactic used in Star Wars Galaxies for their own flying expansion. But at least SWG had an excuse: you can only fly in space. I could buy a ship and go anywhere in the galaxy without having to buy transport tickets. Blizzard is basically telling me that I still have to pay for griffin rides when I own a flying mount.

The Burning Crusade certainly expands the content of the existing game by adding new areas to explore, quests and instances to raid. However, I don’t see it addressing the fundamental problem with the endgame that requires so much time and effort to gain any measurable benefit from. The additional 10 levels seem arbitrary when you consider what’s involved in getting through them. It essentially propagates the idea that high level players not involved with raids or guilds must start yet another alt or gain the next 10 levels through grinding instances in pick up groups. I know there will be many people that buy this expansion the day it comes out, but are they really that desperate for more of the same? I had hopes that this expansion would be alluring enough to make me want to play the game again, but it seems like Blizzard is continuing its construction of another Everquest.

Truth be told, I probably haven’t touched my main (a night elf hunter) for about two months, and haven’t been the worse for wear. I simply don’t have the time to spend on what is essentially just something to occupy all of my game time, when I’d rather be enjoying something, well, newer. It certainly makes writing about games a lot easier.

Before making the final decision to cancel my account, I was then presented with an animated gif of a robed figure begging for forgiveness, and the following:

The peon is full-on weeping now. We hope you’re happy. Are you positive you want to deactivate your subscription?

I never got this kind of guilt trip with Star Wars Galaxies, though navigating SOE’s Station Subscription site was a bit of a headache. Everyone knows that MMORPGs have addictive qualities. Some people’s lives are so upended by them they seek professional help – or do nothing and lose everything. Why is Blizzard trying to make this process harder for someone who’s looking to turn their life around? Though these comments may be intended as a humerous send off, I don’t think the guy who lost his wife and kids to a game is laughing.

In the context of the article I’m definitely a “casual” player of World of Warcraft – I just don’t have the time or the patience to get involved in a guild, only to serve as a single-function entity in some 30 person raid for possible drops of elite gear. Which is really only useful for more raids. Where’s the adventure? Forget that, where’s the roleplaying?

I like soloing. I only have to worry about myself and I can have fun for as long as I want. I also don’t mind grouping with friends for a few quests here and there. There’s less of an investment required in these activities. It’s this point in the game where high level characters perpetuate the need for high level group raids or PvP combat that turns me away. As Jennings points out, this isn’t the game I started playing, and certainly isn’t the one I plan on finishing.

and it corrodes my soul

in my new pattern shirt

With the upcoming 1.7 patch, Blizzard intends to implement a feature called the Dressing Room, where a separate window shows your avatar wearing armour, clothing and weapons before purchasing them. This feature works regardless of the required level of the equipment, allowing you to plan your snazzy new outfit in advance. I can see this also being useful for any Soulbound items you may find that are otherwise unsellable to other players once you’ve worn them. Though the entire prospect of simply previewing clothing on your character seems ridiculous when compared against a system that actually allows you to customize your outfits.

Tailoring and Leatherworking are the only professions that allow the use of dyes to be used in the crafting process, but even then they’re only for use in certain recipes. When I look back to the item creation system in Star Wars Galaxies, it not only allowed players to change the appearance of the item, but also experiment with the item’s stats themselves. Through probability and the Engineering skill level, even lower level Artisans in Star Wars Galaxies are able to create powerful items relative to their character’s level. World of Warcraft has a similar system in that the recipes you obtain when you first select a profession are usually useful for your character at that level, but the process by which the items are created is extremely stringent in comparison. Indeed, even the player-enchanted items in World of Warcraft’s Auction House begin to seem repititious in light of some of the unique or rare drops you would find by simply killing monsters. The entire crafting system seems underdeveloped in this regard.

World of Warcraft has turned into a completely absorbing experience for me; this is a world I can spend hours simply wandering through, paying no heed to the tasks I may have volunteered myself for. The first time I visit a new region I take a few moments to simply observe my surroundings – sure, the monsters may have simply changed names or color, but the environments are easily the most carefully designed elements of the game. With such limited choices for building new characters, I’d like to see more effort put towards allowing players to customize their characters during the game. The social aspect of World of Warcraft is certainly part of the appeal of playing, but careful examination of the gameplay reveals a startlingly slim difference from the typical stat-pumping RPG.

I know you too well

Interest in this game doesn’t seem to be letting up: the European launch press release cites sales of 280,000 copies last Friday, with 380,000 by the end of the first weekend. Not suprisingly, the official site for WoW Europe warned of choppy seas ahead, as the account creation site was out of order like the North American release, with players experiencing wait times just to be able to get into the game. I find it a bit concerning that Blizzard’s European team was not able to foresee this kind of response with so much evidence to support the tidal wave of new users that would hit its servers at launch. Though things appear to have settled down it doesn’t negate the fact that they were once again unprepared.

I’m not sure if this is a global sales tactic by Blizzard, where they firmly establish that their product is unplayable so that new users are deterred, but it’s not working. People flock to this game with blinders on, eager to drink the sweet, sweet nectar of an MMORPG that is actually fun to play. I fully acknowledge this as indisputable; World of Warcraft injected into every MMORPG fan’s mainline exactly what they were looking for – when they can play it. Though when gamers continue to line up for the high-population servers only to have to wait or trudge through a lag-crippled session, it calls into question the reasoning of the gamers themselves.

Due to its level of accessibility and favourable conditions for short game sessions, I plan on getting into World of Warcraft eventually. However at this time I’m finding it more beneficial to observe this growing community from the outside. It seems to me that the game still revolves around a discrete model of “Player vs. Everything”, where inter-player communication and cooperation is almost unnecessary. As it stands, World of Warcraft could operate interchangably as a locally-run game. To me, the Battlegrounds are simply something they’ve been dangling in front of players to convince them that they’ve made the right decision. These are tactics SOE used when Star Wars Galaxies first launched. The Galactic Civil War was going to change the way people played the game, making Galaxies a true representation of the war-torn universe shown in the films. Though this never happened, and instead the development team pushed out a space expansion while they tried to alleviate the more important class balancing and changes to the combat system, because that’s what the players wanted.

After just over two months, it’s impossible to predict how World of Warcraft will weather the test of time. I know first hand there is plenty of material in the game to keep players busy, but there are only so many quests you can throw at a player before they start realizing that what they do has little effect on their surroundings. Indeed, waiting while a quest “boss” respawns is enough to remove me from a game world that hinges solely on a player’s desire for more experience. Those that have fallen in with guilds have had better experiences in community building, but is the game world deep enough to secure long term interest? For the sake of the players, I’d like to see Blizzard use World of Warcraft’s success to build something worthy of its name and not simply rely on its short-term addictive qualities. It’s obvious Blizzard can get players to jump in. The real test will be to see if they stay there.

trapped in the sun

I have to give them credit for the way they handled the Beta program, but the reaction to the Open Beta should have told them a little something about what the climate would be like on launch day. Instead, I think they hamstrung themselves by arbitrarily closing off the Open Beta. You could assume more people would be interested in a free game, but you also have to assume that access to broadband is as pervasive as those with computers to play it on. As soon as hard media is available for purchase, you get everyone – especially those that felt they “missed out” on the Beta program. I mean all the way up to release the internet was saturated with hype and positive feedback about this game. There’s a great discussion over at Terra Nova that speculates about World of Warcraft hitting the one million concurrent subscribers mark. A true accomplishment for a Western MMORPG, but it’s tough to make those kinds of predictions so early in the release version’s lifespan.

After essentially waiting in line for Steam to verify my store-bought copy of Half Life 2, I think I’m going to hold off on World of Warcraft until at least the Christmas break. That should give players some time to settle into playing schedules, and me time to catch up on this season’s numerous releases.

beneath the spider’s eye

Blizzard officially closed the World of Warcraft Open Beta test on Thursday, announcing that they would be wiping clean the servers in preparation for the game’s launch this Tuesday. According to the official site, over 500,000 people signed up for the World of Warcraft open beta, before they had to turn away account requests. The game was absolutely packed during the first few days of the open beta: wandering around my test server I couldn’t stretch my arms without hitting another player. Adding to this percieved chaos were the truckloads of monster swarms surrounding each population centre. Low level character quests thrive on these “Kill X number of [Monster]” quests, but at peak hours it was like walking through the killing fields. The server lag was equally troubling – but what a perfect way for Blizzard to test their architecture.

The amount of traffic settled down after a while, and I was able to continue my adventures in earnest. I created another Human Warlock, an Undead Warrior, and a Night Elf priest. Once again I was amazed at how well designed each race’s homeland was. This was my first time playing a Night Elf, and though some of the quests were a little uninteresting, the virtual realm that was sprawled before me kept me thinking about other things. And when you die as a Night Elf, you are converted to Wisp form instead of the standard ghost form every other race must endure, allowing a few extra degrees of freedom when trying to find your corpse. Blizzard has to be commended for really dipping into every piece of Warcraft lore and making it so believable. Originally I thought the low-poly graphics were a little too cartoony compared directly with my experiences in Star Wars Galaxies, but looking deeper at the World of Warcraft reveals a cohesive whole.

There are many areas to explore: the dwarven mountains of Khaz Modan to the undead stronghold of the Undercity are all reachable by foot. And you can hop on a Zeppelin to travel between the islands of Kalimdor and Azeroth if you wish to explore the homeland of the Orcs. I have to admit it was pretty amusing to see my Undead warrior hanging out with some Tauren Shamans and an Orc warrior in the barren lands outside the orcish city of Ogrimmar. Mounts are also available to travel great distances, and though I talked to players who had ridden on the back of a mighty griffin, my own efforts to obtain a mount were fruitless. I wanted to get a skeletal horse for my undead warrior, but a level requirement (and significant amount of money) was needed. This wasn’t a huge deal, though, because the game’s quests mostly depend on the surrounding area they are assigned in.

This time around I paid particular attention to the initial character building stages. I found that beginning characters don’t feel as useless as in Star Wars Galaxies, and can fend for themselves on all of the beginner and intermediate missions. Any mission you pick up that would be a challenge for your character will be marked in red in your quest journal. You can either team up to complete this mission, or level up a few more times until the quest is marked in green. And because each quest will more than likely take place in one region, this makes it easier to prioritize and plan your trips. It also makes your game sessions much more manageable, instead of spending your time marathon running to your next objective. I found I was able to have satisfying gaming sessions that were sometimes less than an hour with a feeling that I’ve actually accomplished something: whether it was levelling up or completing a few quests.

But this gives rise to a serious flaw surrounding quests, weapons, and monsters: once you get out of a town or region you have no real direction except to go forward. Going back to previous towns and locations will always contain lower level monsters that don’t give out as much experience or better loot, which is understandable to some degree. But I also remember clearing an older quest after levelling up a few times in a later area, and my reward was a weapon that was a lot weaker than what I was currently using. As a result, you will rarely see higher level characters going back to the starting areas, unless they are grouped up and helping out some newer characters with the more difficult quests. In that sense, the game world seems like a bunch of “zones” of increasing difficulty tacked together – something I’ve heard a number of times used to describe Everquest.

I made a conscious decision to put myself onto a roleplaying server, to see if this would affect the way the game is played. I know that during the first stress test roleplaying was the farthest thing from people’s minds as all of the servers were made up of first-time players. During the first two days of the open beta, players on my test server did their best to keep conversation in character. But as new players joined, some not even knowing what “roleplaying” was, this diluted the effect and all but eliminated any hopes of getting a believable game world up and running. With newbies asking questions on one side of me, I had powergamers challenging me to duels on the other. The Blizzard-sanctioned game masters tried to keep out-of-character (OOC) conversation in check, but when you have hundreds of players in one zone, it becomes a large and unmanageable task. I doubt this will change for the full release. But as I have said in the past, I can’t imagine this action and levelling-focused game will be attracting the serious roleplayer. To give some perspective about the game’s intentions, out of the 12 or so Eastern test servers only one of them was for roleplayers.

On the Player versus Player (PvP) servers, Alliance and Horde characters are automatically at war. Anytime you encounter a player of the opposing side, you can fight them – or be promptly killed – without any warning or authorization. On the Player versus Everyone (PvE) or “Normal” servers, if you wander into an Alliance or Horde area and are of the opposing side you will not be touched. If, however, you decide to attack a town NPC or character while in this area, you will be identified as hostile and will become a potential target. This allows potential for massive, player-driven faction wars befitting of its source material – something that Star Wars Galaxies still hasn’t been able to nail down a year after its launch.

This final leg of the Beta testing phase was a good indicator of what things will be like at launch, and allowed Blizzard to prepare for the new user onslaught unlike certain other developers. I said in my first experiences with World of Warcraft that the traditional level grind didn’t feel like a grind, and was more like part of being a resident of this virtual world. I would often wander the wilderness while completing my quests, slaying a few beasts on the way just to pick up a little extra experience. Certainly this side effect of all MMORPGs will get tiresome, but during the Open Beta I put any negative thoughts about the grind aside and actually enjoyed absorbing everything this unique game world had to offer. As stylized as the environments are, Blizzard has done an excellent job in converting their legendary universe to a MMORPG. They just have to stay ahead of the curve, and make sure players stay interested once they discover the grind has just been dressed up in some new clothes.

why can’t we just look the other way?