My WOW experience

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
My favorite quest was being sent to assassinate a pig. :thumbsup:

But that was one BIG ass pig right?

Yeah, many quests are mundane and downright dull. But treat it as a tutorial, showing you the ropes of the game and your class and you might fare better.

I get enjoyment from a few things in WoW these days:

1. Battlegrounds. I love killing other players, it's what I love.
2. World PvP and murdering lowbies who venture into contested territory. Reminding players that it's a pvp server is a riot :evil: We went through wetlands/duskwood a couple days ago (we're lvl 50) and took out dozens of alliance from lvl 9 through 46 *yukyuk*
3. On my alt, being powered through an instance in a fraction of the time by my wife's main and grabbing all teh lootz
4. Most importantly, being in a good group with my wife and her son most of the time, for instances and whatever.

i'm really looking forward to the proposed world pvp enhancements. Man that could be awesome.

 

[Fenixgoon]

i've seen people waiting to kill a monster.. but if this is early in the game(as it was for me), i suspect that will generally happen because of so many new characters

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: Malladine

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
My favorite quest was being sent to assassinate a pig. :thumbsup:

But that was one BIG ass pig right?

Yeah, many quests are mundane and downright dull. But treat it as a tutorial, showing you the ropes of the game and your class and you might fare better.

I get enjoyment from a few things in WoW these days:

1. Battlegrounds. I love killing other players, it's what I love.
2. World PvP and murdering lowbies who venture into contested territory. Reminding players that it's a pvp server is a riot :evil: We went through wetlands/duskwood a couple days ago (we're lvl 50) and took out dozens of alliance from lvl 9 through 46 *yukyuk*
3. On my alt, being powered through an instance in a fraction of the time by my wife's main and grabbing all teh lootz
4. Most importantly, being in a good group with my wife and her son most of the time, for instances and whatever.

i'm really looking forward to the proposed world pvp enhancements. Man that could be awesome.

I love PvP too, but only for a purpose. In UO, for me, it was 50% self-defense and 50% revenge (for myself or a friend or a friend of a friend). :evil: I never ganked a guy just cause I could.

As for PvE, I've never ever found playing a class and fulfilling a specific narrow role within a group to be enjoyable. Knowing that I could be replaced by somebody who would perform the exact same function that I was.

 

[TGS]

Well it is a lackluster introduction. Though the starting quests are supposedly to be trival. They just show you the game mechanics of finding mobs and objects. Of course they do it in a way that forces all new characters to be placed in the same area. "Named" mobs tend to get crowded in this respect, but with instancing you don't have to worry about other people interefering with your gameplay. Of course there is a good chance that you will have to compete to Kill x mob later on but typically out of the starter areas you rarely run into that. Most times if you find people doing the same quests they will group up to take out the target anyways.

 

[ggnl]

Originally posted by: Markbnj

The other trend was that in PvP games like DAoC the hard-core PvPers didn't want to spend any more time than necessary doing anything besides battling other players. So in those games the world became a "qualification test" for getting into the epic war at the end.

That was my beef. The only thing I really liked in end-game WoW was the PvP. But I had neither the time nor the inclination to get competitively equipped for the smaller battlegrounds. So with each new content patch my character would get a little more outclassed. I promptly deactivated my account upon learning that patch 1.11 was once again packed with content for the high-end raiders, with virtually nothing new for the casual PvP crowd.

I still don't think it's a bad game, but it was a bit misleading to describe it as casual-gamer friendly.

 

[Appledrop]

same experience as op.. ive been addicted to at least 2 other MMO's, but wow is just pure monotony. 15 day trial over and havent touched it since.. Boggles me how people people actually enjoy that game

 

[uhohs]

northshire for the win. lol

wait until hogger rocks your world. haha.

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: ggnl

Originally posted by: Markbnj

The other trend was that in PvP games like DAoC the hard-core PvPers didn't want to spend any more time than necessary doing anything besides battling other players. So in those games the world became a "qualification test" for getting into the epic war at the end.

That was my beef. The only thing I really liked in end-game WoW was the PvP. But I had neither the time nor the inclination to get competitively equipped for the smaller battlegrounds. So with each new content patch my character would get a little more outclassed. I promptly deactivated my account upon learning that patch 1.11 was once again packed with content for the high-end raiders, with virtually nothing new for the casual PvP crowd.

I still don't think it's a bad game, but it was a bit misleading to describe it as casual-gamer friendly.

It's the issue with how far the game scales post 60. As in WoW there is "Level 60" and "Epic geared Level 60". Which is quite a large gap. Though they are adding a good amount of craftable epics, that you can farm for materials or buy outright if you have the cash. While it doesn't get you to quite the level of raiders, it keeps you competitive without all the time spent in raids or BGs.

 

[Glavinsolo]

Originally posted by: TGS

Originally posted by: ggnl

Originally posted by: Markbnj

The other trend was that in PvP games like DAoC the hard-core PvPers didn't want to spend any more time than necessary doing anything besides battling other players. So in those games the world became a "qualification test" for getting into the epic war at the end.

That was my beef. The only thing I really liked in end-game WoW was the PvP. But I had neither the time nor the inclination to get competitively equipped for the smaller battlegrounds. So with each new content patch my character would get a little more outclassed. I promptly deactivated my account upon learning that patch 1.11 was once again packed with content for the high-end raiders, with virtually nothing new for the casual PvP crowd.

I still don't think it's a bad game, but it was a bit misleading to describe it as casual-gamer friendly.

It's the issue with how far the game scales post 60. As in WoW there is "Level 60" and "Epic geared Level 60". Which is quite a large gap. Though they are adding a good amount of craftable epics, that you can farm for materials or buy outright if you have the cash. While it doesn't get you to quite the level of raiders, it keeps you competitive without all the time spent in raids or BGs.

Got to remember that even though those guys are in epics doesn't mean they are good at pvp. And its a lot of fun killing them especially since they most likely dont have talent points in needed pvp builds.

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: WelshBloke

It was the queueing up that killed it for me! That really didnt help with the atmosphere.

If you would have partied up with some people, then you would all get credit for killing the dude and you whouldn't have to wait in line.

MMORPGs are like that, the game mechanics generally encourage working together.

(Most) People don't play MMORPGs to because they enjoy soloing fairly repetative quests, they enjoy them for the social aspect. It isn't until you develop friendships and start helping each other out that I feel a game like WoW really starts becoming enjoyable. The single player aspects are definitely quite shallow.

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: Glavinsolo

Originally posted by: TGS

Originally posted by: ggnl

Originally posted by: Markbnj

The other trend was that in PvP games like DAoC the hard-core PvPers didn't want to spend any more time than necessary doing anything besides battling other players. So in those games the world became a "qualification test" for getting into the epic war at the end.

That was my beef. The only thing I really liked in end-game WoW was the PvP. But I had neither the time nor the inclination to get competitively equipped for the smaller battlegrounds. So with each new content patch my character would get a little more outclassed. I promptly deactivated my account upon learning that patch 1.11 was once again packed with content for the high-end raiders, with virtually nothing new for the casual PvP crowd.

I still don't think it's a bad game, but it was a bit misleading to describe it as casual-gamer friendly.

It's the issue with how far the game scales post 60. As in WoW there is "Level 60" and "Epic geared Level 60". Which is quite a large gap. Though they are adding a good amount of craftable epics, that you can farm for materials or buy outright if you have the cash. While it doesn't get you to quite the level of raiders, it keeps you competitive without all the time spent in raids or BGs.

Got to remember that even though those guys are in epics doesn't mean they are good at pvp. And its a lot of fun killing them especially since they most likely dont have talent points in needed pvp builds.

I agree, but with my mage near 53 gear is still a big issue with me. When you are 60 the playing field is "fairly" level even epics included. With my priest even the top 10 pvpers on my server couldn't steam roll me. Based on the fact that even with great gear I could still beat them on a good fight strategy. Though as the glass cannon posture, I've been killing 60's (note not epic 60's) since I hit 51. Beaststalker hunters, scholo strat geared mages, rogues of all assortments. I don't run into many other classes for world pvp.

I still have two more builds to go with, one being 12/30/0 Fire/Arc and a heavy Fire/Ice shatter/crit build. Though honestly points in Arcane make sense as sheeping some classes is *key* to setting up a winning fight. With a few points in arcane, you drop 10 points of resistance across the board and 6% chance to resist as well. Which really helps sheeping higher leveled or resistant players. ICS gives you the ability to shutdown classes for the front burst or for the guaranteed sheep. Barring a trinket>ICS or slience from an opponent you have all the time in the world to fight or run. ICS is very powerful. I really like PoM not so much for the front burst, but nearing the end of a fight you can fireblast>ICS>PoM>fireball or pyro> and maybe just have enough time to fireball again or scorch twice. Moving up to AE or blastwave, and you've added a tremendous amount of burst capability.

Once you get past the typical ~level 40 engineering gear, the engineering profession has a great deal of utility and a tremendous amount of suprise factor. Though it also reduces a great deal of bank and bag space based on all the grenades and trinkets you will have to carry. :laugh:

 

[Nebor]

The original Ultima Online was also a heart breaking and cruel world. You could lose everything by dying out in the woods. It was great. They nerfed it about 6 years after launch.

 

[rstrohkirch]

Originally posted by: Nebor
The original Ultima Online was also a heart breaking and cruel world. You could lose everything by dying out in the woods. It was great. They nerfed it about 6 years after launch.

There are some larger scale(avg user base of 350-900) free shards out there that don't include tram

 

[LiekOMG]

Originally posted by: Markbnj
I played WoW casually for almost a year, then quit. Before that I had played Everquest from the pre-Kunark days, then Dark Age of Camelot, and then WoW. Each game got prettier, and the gameplay got crappier.

I think the problem is that the model just doesn't scale up well to a mass-market, at least when viewed from an old-school perspective. What made EQ so addicting for me in the early days was that it was hard. There was this huge land to explore, and exploring it was effing dangerous. If you got killed way out in the middle of nowhere you had to run back naked to find your corpse and stuff. You'd lose experience points everytime you died, and could actually de-level. It was a tremendous rush.

Then the business began to scale up, and the new crop of customers hated when anything bad happened to them. So the games gradually trended toward this "Disneyworld" approach where there were never bad consequences, and the whole idea was to run around doing quests and raiding dungeons to get more stuff to use on quests and dungeon raids. Bah. The original point was to simulate the worlds in fantasy novels that early geeks loved, and one of the key aspects of those worlds was danger. In modern games there is _none_. It's Six Flags over Middle Earth.

The other trend was that in PvP games like DAoC the hard-core PvPers didn't want to spend any more time than necessary doing anything besides battling other players. So in those games the world became a "qualification test" for getting into the epic war at the end.

My prediction is that you will see growth in two directions: 1) PvP games where you can get in and join the fight without a lot of preamble; and 2) social MMORPGs that focus on group raiding, dancing, and holding online weddings.

I couldn't have said it any better myself. The new trend of "instanced" dungeons pretty much glorifies everything you've mentioned - make gameplay easier for players, "protect" players from each other so that they can't bother each other, and not have to worry about creating an entire world, just small little pockets of world.

The first three major MMORPG's - Meridian59, Ultima Online, and Everquest were something special. Everything after that started to go downhill once publishers decided that they should be made easier and more accessible.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: LiekOMG

Originally posted by: Markbnj
I played WoW casually for almost a year, then quit. Before that I had played Everquest from the pre-Kunark days, then Dark Age of Camelot, and then WoW. Each game got prettier, and the gameplay got crappier.

I think the problem is that the model just doesn't scale up well to a mass-market, at least when viewed from an old-school perspective. What made EQ so addicting for me in the early days was that it was hard. There was this huge land to explore, and exploring it was effing dangerous. If you got killed way out in the middle of nowhere you had to run back naked to find your corpse and stuff. You'd lose experience points everytime you died, and could actually de-level. It was a tremendous rush.

Then the business began to scale up, and the new crop of customers hated when anything bad happened to them. So the games gradually trended toward this "Disneyworld" approach where there were never bad consequences, and the whole idea was to run around doing quests and raiding dungeons to get more stuff to use on quests and dungeon raids. Bah. The original point was to simulate the worlds in fantasy novels that early geeks loved, and one of the key aspects of those worlds was danger. In modern games there is _none_. It's Six Flags over Middle Earth.

The other trend was that in PvP games like DAoC the hard-core PvPers didn't want to spend any more time than necessary doing anything besides battling other players. So in those games the world became a "qualification test" for getting into the epic war at the end.

My prediction is that you will see growth in two directions: 1) PvP games where you can get in and join the fight without a lot of preamble; and 2) social MMORPGs that focus on group raiding, dancing, and holding online weddings.

I couldn't have said it any better myself. The new trend of "instanced" dungeons pretty much glorifies everything you've mentioned - make gameplay easier for players, "protect" players from each other so that they can't bother each other, and not have to worry about creating an entire world, just small little pockets of world.

The first three major MMORPG's - Meridian59, Ultima Online, and Everquest were something special. Everything after that started to go downhill once publishers decided that they should be made easier and more accessible.

A very logical step to take.
Developing them isn't gonna get any cheaper, so you need more income.
Which means either you raise the price, or you get more subscribers, and the latter isn't gonna be very successful if you cater only to the uber nerds.
It's like outdoor bosses in WoW, I've seen one of them once, that was when I was sick home from work, normally there is simply no way I'd ever get to see them, simply because I can't sit in front of a game all day.
If they didn't have instances, a large part of the playerbase would be shut out from 90% of the content because they have jobs, families, etc, and that's just bad business.

Easier has nothing to do with it, anyone with half a brain knows skill plays a very small part in MMORPG's, miraculously enough, some people still manage to suck at it, I don't quite understand how, but they do...
Accessible though, of course, they want money, if you can give more potential customers access to your product, chances are you'll get that money.

 

[NiKeFiDO]

there isnt much "easy" about WoW - everything really good take a lot of time to get.

also i play with ppl i like a lot (the pplin my guild are cool) - which is what keeps me coming back to the game. Ventrillio makes playing WoW like hanging out with your friends.

we are like 2 weeks away from killing Nef, its exciting. and theres morenew stuff. we need to do aq40 and get into Naxx. new content

 

[rh71]

There's a reason games like this are addictions... you're addicted to improving your character. Fun is a different story. It's more like satisfaction rather than fun. Once you accomplish a task (ie. get an item you've longed for after a lot of effort), you become satisfied and look to the next task. That's what this is about... not the mindless stuff of FPSs kind of fun. Another nice aspect is that you can improve with friends / accomplish things together and get a nice sense of satisfaction.

"At the end of the day"... you've accomplished something ... which is more than what I can say for a lot of other types of games, though I play them all.

 

[tk149]

WoW is my first and only MMORPG so far.

I agree with some of the faults people have mentioned:
Lots of the game is just sheer repetitive killing, or "go fetch" quests. Of course, you could say the same thing about many single-player games too.

Some of the quests are pretty mundane, and because of the game structure, you DO end up waiting for monsters to respawn.

There's a definite lack of cohesive plot, compared to single-player RPG's. In fact, that's one of the things that bothers me most about WoW. Almost nothing you do in the game has any kind of permanent effect on the game-world. There's no sinister monster planning your demise in the background like in Baldur's Gate. You don't get to see an entire city destroyed (and permanently gone) like in Tales of Symphonia. There is no ultimate bad guy that you have to kill. And even if you do kill somebody, he'll be back in 10 minutes. I guess there are some big world events, like the opening of AQ, but I wasn't a high-enough level when that happened to take part in it.

So why do I keep playing?

I spent lots of time leveling up my primary character to 60 (the maximum level), playing for long long hours. During that time I explored new areas, found new items, and met lots and lots of other players.

Much of the appeal of the game for me is just seeing new things. I enjoy seeing new creatures, a zillion types and combinations of armor and weapons, bizarre pets, and strange landscapes. The first time I saw Ironforge, my jaw dropped. It looked like a dwarven city straight out of Lord of the Rings.

I love Ungoro Crater (complete with dinosaurs), still get creeped out by Duskwood (and all the undead), and hang out in sunny Arathi Highlands when it's raining outside in the real world.

As a single-player game, WoW isn't that great. As an interactive multi-player game (both cooperative and adversarial), it's fun. Grouping with other characters and utilizing different class's strengths to create a synergistic killing machine is fun! I joined a good guild, and enjoy playing with other people.

That being said, I've reached the point (as a level 60) where I'm not finding the big group raids to be much fun. I spend 4 hours in Zul Gurub grouped with 19 other people (and it takes an hour to get enough people in the right class combination to get together in the first place), to die several times, and to maybe kill a big boss monster, so that we can split a paltry 1 or 2 epic items. I much prefer the instances where you only need 5 people, so you can form groups much more quickly, and have a greater chance of getting some good items.

 

[NiKeFiDO]

Originally posted by: tk149
WoW is my first and only MMORPG so far.

I agree with some of the faults people have mentioned:
Lots of the game is just sheer repetitive killing, or "go fetch" quests. Of course, you could say the same thing about many single-player games too.

Some of the quests are pretty mundane, and because of the game structure, you DO end up waiting for monsters to respawn.

There's a definite lack of cohesive plot, compared to single-player RPG's. In fact, that's one of the things that bothers me most about WoW. Almost nothing you do in the game has any kind of permanent effect on the game-world. There's no sinister monster planning your demise in the background like in Baldur's Gate. You don't get to see an entire city destroyed (and permanently gone) like in Tales of Symphonia. There is no ultimate bad guy that you have to kill. And even if you do kill somebody, he'll be back in 10 minutes. I guess there are some big world events, like the opening of AQ, but I wasn't a high-enough level when that happened to take part in it.

So why do I keep playing?

I spent lots of time leveling up my primary character to 60 (the maximum level), playing for long long hours. During that time I explored new areas, found new items, and met lots and lots of other players.

Much of the appeal of the game for me is just seeing new things. I enjoy seeing new creatures, a zillion types and combinations of armor and weapons, bizarre pets, and strange landscapes. The first time I saw Ironforge, my jaw dropped. It looked like a dwarven city straight out of Lord of the Rings.

I love Ungoro Crater (complete with dinosaurs), still get creeped out by Duskwood (and all the undead), and hang out in sunny Arathi Highlands when it's raining outside in the real world.

As a single-player game, WoW isn't that great. As an interactive multi-player game (both cooperative and adversarial), it's fun. Grouping with other characters and utilizing different class's strengths to create a synergistic killing machine is fun! I joined a good guild, and enjoy playing with other people.

That being said, I've reached the point (as a level 60) where I'm not finding the big group raids to be much fun. I spend 4 hours in Zul Gurub grouped with 19 other people (and it takes an hour to get enough people in the right class combination to get together in the first place), to die several times, and to maybe kill a big boss monster, so that we can split a paltry 1 or 2 epic items. I much prefer the instances where you only need 5 people, so you can form groups much more quickly, and have a greater chance of getting some good items.

find a good guild, man. End game is where its at. As for not "ultimate bad guy" id say Rag and definitely Nefarian are a good goal. Now Kel'Thuzad in Naxx also.

my guild contains people i don't like, my best friend, and a lot of cool people which makes the whol experience fun.

There arent many 5man grps that will get you good gear if you are in ZG and AQ (i hope you do MC at least also!)

i do agree that raids get really boring and sometime really sh1itty though (esp 40 mans, 20mans a lot less so)

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: WelshBloke
Just got the demo so I thought I'd give it a go.

Now I really like RPG's and I'd heard good things about WOW so was pretty excited about the demo.

I enter the game and am given a quest to go kill 10 Kobalds or something by the level 20 dude.

This seems a bit wierd, go do it your self I think, it'll take you like a couple of seconds but hey I'm helpful, so off I trot.

Right kobalds dispatched.

Next quest.

More kobalds (or whatever thier called)

okay.

next quest more kobalds.

next kobalds again (or maybe wolves (hey at least its not rats))

next quest Bandits Whoo frickin whoo

Man am I going up in the world. Bandits cool.

Hmmmm that was an anticlimax

Ah well maybe the next quest will be better.

Grapes... you want me to go get your grapes. Grapes that you left in your field about 20 freekin feet away.

Oh yes epic bloody quest that, I can see the Bards singing about that!!

Next quest, go off the bandit leader.

Ah now this sounds good.

Right off I trot again, full off blood lust and rightous fury to slay the evil bandit leader (and grape stealer )

So I get to his hovel and ..............



Theres a bloody line of people!!!!!!!

I sh!t you not, people are lining up to kill this poor sap. (and b!tching about others cutting in line). I mean this guy may be bad but does anyone deserve a bunch of whining bunch of £$%£^£ lining up to kill them.





I logged off.

9/10

Good setup and I laughed pretty hard at the close!

"There's a line to kill this sap!"

LOL

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: pontifex
also, i love the people who aren't going to play the game based on 1 person's 30 minute review of the game. lol

Actually, I'm not playing the game because I have a life.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: pontifex
also, i love the people who aren't going to play the game based on 1 person's 30 minute review of the game. lol

Actually, I'm not playing the game because I have a life.

ok? my post wasn't referring to you, just to the people who said they wouldn't play it because of what the OP said.

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: pontifex
also, i love the people who aren't going to play the game based on 1 person's 30 minute review of the game. lol

Actually, I'm not playing the game because I have a life.

Oh snaps... I have a full time near six figure job, a wife, and two kids yet video games are my past time of choice. I must not have a life. /cry :laugh: Damn me managing my time. I might even go swimming today. :Q I suppose extra sunscreen is in order...

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: pontifex
also, i love the people who aren't going to play the game based on 1 person's 30 minute review of the game. lol

Actually, I'm not playing the game because I have a life.

god i love ignorant-minded comments. :roll:

 

[Red Squirrel]

I play Ultima Online and enjoy it, yes it's an ancient game, and crappy graphics, but its very supported and lot of free servers to play on and there's lot of various utilities for macros and scripts. What makes me stay is the people, since I'm in a guild and have friends. Playing it alone could probably get boring but as a guild you make friends and sometimes I even log on just to socialize while sitting in my house. (yes, in UO you can build your own house and customize it! UO > WoW ).

I played WoW a bit. But it did not really apeal to me that much. But I can't personally judge it since I only played for like an hour then I had to leave, and the next day the server had a HDD failure or something. My friend was trying to get me on, but every day he was on a different server. I cant stand server hopping.