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WOW ordinary player experience
Endruz
Member Posts: 3
Hello
I'm just ordinary player who likes computer games
very much (27 years old) and I want to share my 5 cents of experience
about WOW with you. Thank you for reading if you have some spare time
for my post.
First of all I respect all the players in WOW - the
casual ones, the hardcore and all the others in between - I believe we
all have different goals and point of view about this game as we
all have different lives and interests so I dont want to abuse any of
you or throw any accusations. But let me get to my point of view and
how I experienced WOW over a 1,5 year so far.
When I started WOW at
the very official premiere date (February 2005) in Europe I was really
amazed by this game. I l played beta earlier and I decided to buy it at
once. So I did. Exploring new areas, discovering new cities, flight
points, meeting new people was really great - I didnt think much about
grinding, leveling and my professions very much at that point. Watching
Otherguy pvp videos along the way as I played mage was really
astonishing as well ;-) Going through levels was pretty fun and gave me
a lot of pleasure and I wasnt obliged to stay in the game to have fun -
I stayed as long as I wanted and I wasnt forced to interrupt my real
life which I have pretty busy. First I played at RP server which was
pretty fun - all that talks near fireplace, dancing in duskwood on the
building roofs made such a good experience. As I progress through
levels till 60 lvl (it took me about 3-4 months in the beginning) it
was even better but I noticed that players after lvl 40-50 stopped
caring about the RP experience and gave it up just to get more xp and
better items so the quality of my game started to decrease.
Then I
discovered living at lvl 60. Instancing started. Communication level
was dropping in time so people only wanted to farm equipment. Meanwhile
honor system arrived starting a new look of WOW.
As I was bored I
decided to move to rp-pvp server to experience the thrill of threat all
the time. It was great at the beginning and I adopted very well. In the
end I was experiencing much fun with my 120 people guild and got all
the equipment from 60 lvl instances. Then started ZG,MC,BWL raiding
drill and I was basically out of the game because I couldnt afford to
loose so much time for a game
Of course I was in many raids but intime it was no point for me to continue.
At the beginning I
was expecting game that give me intensive fun with no time limit - game
where I can log in for an hour, two or three - do my things get the fun
and leave. When you play it till 60 its pretty easy and fun - you can
log in and out any time without penalty. Then you discover playing
after 60 and its all different - I dont want to tell all the stuff told
before about DKP system, riding, hours and hours grinding in instances
etc we all know what is it all about. The same happened with the pvp -
you cant have balanced pvp system with such a gear dependant game. It
is obvious that people who can afford to raid will achieve a gear that
makes ordinary players just a meat to beat - and I dont complain about
it - thats how the blizz made it to be - but where is the thrill then ?
I dont believe people with epics get satisfaction from so easy killing
ordinary pugs teams unless they just want to farm honor points ...
There is no fun and competition in it.
To be honest I enjoyed
going to DM with my 5 party good WOW friends that I could really talk
to and have fun than going through 20-40 people raids. I mean a game
should keep you entertained and give opportunity to have time to bond
with your in game friends - when it becomes a full time job that you
have to pay for, ruining your real life along the way if you get
too far with it - I think its not the point for me.
As the
game progressed I expected housing system, getting in touch with the
whole WOW world and stay in it - not only going through the same things
all over again. I would enjoy it much more when Blizz would provide
more 5 man instances (that for example changes with generating random
maps every time you enter it and unique things you may encounter every
time you reset it - that it could be different every single journey) to
go for just to cope with close team and to have fun with, maybe also
some random events and area changes that would make this world living
and unique all the time - but not based on constant grinding which
every month takes more and more time to achieve the goal. My point is
there is no life in this game, no depth, no surprise.
To sum
up and apologize for my long statement - I felt that WOW world so
beautiful at the beginning with so many misteries turned in the end
into dark soulles mechanics drills and I think many people stay in it
only to get in touch with their friends that they met along the way -
not many accept the whole strange grinding system that is left without
any other special atmosphere that could be made in the beginning.
Today I have no regrets I cancelled my account, however I must admit I
had wonderful time with my friends that I met in wow (many of them
still stay in touch with me through e-mail and I want to thank them for
that).
Last sentence will go like this - there is nothing
more that makes this game really special than the true fantastic people
you meet (I dont want to mention the bad ones) - only because of them
you can really enjoy this WOW world. The question is - should we pay
constantly for a such demanding and time wasting game that WOW become
in the end which from month to month has nothing more to offer than a
few new more grinding time sinking stronger bosses to have some short
and pleasant relief from real life ? I guess I dont want to
Sorry for my english its not my native language and thank you for your time reading this.
I wish you all the best and please do not forget about the real life out there :-)
best regards
Comments
Excellent post.
You basically described my 6 years of UO too.
Im playing WoW now and have been for about 6 months. Im very casual and only just hit 41 last night with my Orc Warrior.
I can see exactly what your saying. My guild mates who I met in our teens have more or less left me behind now. Soon as they hit 45+ they could group with 60s and then they just accelerated away from me. Its kind of sad because I spend a lot of time solo now. But I guess I will meet new people.
I think all in all I enjoy levels 1-25 most in this game. I would recommed anyone who is thinking of starting out, read your post. Its a good idea of what to expect.
Btw your english is good
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"MMOs, for people that like think chatting is like a skill or something, rotflol"
http://purepwnage.com
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"Far away across the field, the tolling of the iron bell, calls the faithful to their knees. To hear the softly spoken magic spell" Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon
As you can see from reading it what you are describing is exactly what they planned. Things like housing etc are not part of their idea of "core" people. You are the frosting on the donut the people who they don't want to scare with leveling barriers but whom they will never give the nice rewards too or give any extra stuff to. Well unless you become a "core" person and do their raids and endless instances.
I don't think that they understand that their donut model is actually wrong. They really believe the "hardcore" is a) the center of things and b) consists of raiders. Sure they were forced into concessions by a popular uprising but their donut is still there they just readjusted the barriers. Just like they think solo is somehow less hardcore than grouping. Of course Blizzard isn't alone in this thinking, I have seen Funcome say the same thing.
To me it is a bait and switch but I am sure they think its somehow different the way it changes at 60. Afterall if you really want to stick then you are hardcore and all hardcores want to raid of course. It looks to me that Funcom may be doing the same thing in AoC. If it weren't for that aspect I would have left WoW and said I had my fun and that is that. But I have come to believe their approach to be fundamentally dishonest and there are many who agree with me. There are many many people who bought WoW with the assumption it would not be some uber raiding game of lords and peasants. But no it was just a game designed to make sure the peasants got hooked so the "cores" could lord it over them. I regret ever giving them any money. And will not be buying any products from them in the future.
I agree great post Endruz.
To be honest what you describe in WOW is also true of many MMO's. I played WOW for a while but the community drove me so crazy that I left at level 45. I Played EQ back in the early days
but it turned into a unless you raid you are out of luck game. Same thing happened in EQ II.
Seems like a lot of the upcoming games are also going that way. Oh well they will be going there without me.
Support Bacteria, its the only culture some people have.
In the end, it sounds like you got your money's worth in entertainment. 1.5 years of fun isn't bad IMO.
For those of you who don't want to PvP at level 60 due to the disparity of gear, try forming a level 20-29 (or higher up to level 49) Battle Ground group. I was skeptical at first how this would pan out, but I've really enjoyed the experience.
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.
Thanks for your replies.
Well I dont regret my money invested
in WOW in any way however there was a time that I was amused by WOW
world itself afterwards I just stick to it because of my previous
friendships and maybe some more pvp battles I enjoyed in the early
state where epics are not present. I think you're right that most
mmorpgs turns into grinding just to keep players stick to it and gave
them reason to progress but I prefer entertainment that is fun in short
period of time that I can come back into anytime not worrying that
meanwhile the community will achieve for example gear that destroys all
the balance in game. I believe Blizzard marketing counts only on
hardcore players in long time period that would stick to raiding
obliged by their guild status or friends. The problem is that for
regular player like me it is not worth to sacrifice real life for a
game that is so much repeatable and time demanding. When you look at it
from a distance it just make no point because its endless way to
nowhere. Blizzard will give us BC soon and I believe the idea would be
exactly the same. More instances to farm, more gold to get, much more
time to spend to acheive another goals with repeatable quests. Of
course it would be some kind of wind of fresh content that could be
compared to a charm of premiere days but I believe in time it leads to
the same point as it is now at lvl 60 - constant grinding.
The
question I would like to ask at this point is why major
companies that decide to create mmorpg online game chooses this
path of creation. I believe they do some kind of market research and
probably consult the whole idea with specialist like psychologists. As
I consult the WOW addiction system with my friend from university (she
studies psychology) it appears that the whole idea is based on very
simple effort-reward dependence. You get your quest, you do the job
sacrificing part of your precious time and then you get the rewards
which convince you that you made progress and you are better that the
other part of community. Then you want more as the appetite grows
during your meal. And step after step you get into the point when you
need to spend 5-6 hours raiding with 40 man team (many times the same
spot) just to achieve your next desired reward not to mention that the
preparation for this event also require some more grinding (potions,
food, water, enchants etc). Looks like its the same as with smoking
addiction - you try your first cigarette, you like it, you want more
and in the end you NEED more which is not so good. But enough with the
sacience angle we all know that this game is based also on human nature
weaknesses.
I have my view of WOW that would suit me best but I
believe it could be hard to implement and probably could cost more
effort from Blizzard employees but you can always let the community be
a part of creation process. In my opinion the main vice of Blizzard is
that they don't really listen to peoples needs and opinions, maybe they
just are afraid to take the risk and rebuilt the game mechanics.
According to attending 20-29 pvp bg's - sure I did that for a very long
time just to avoid epic premade teams but lately it become the same as
at lvl 60 - for example premade teams 20-29 I encountered were the same
as at level 60 - imagine warrior at lvl 29 with crusader enchant
killing 5-6 players at once with small healer help.
Anyways maybe
someday someone will present some more flexible world system as it
should be changed concerning many players opinion.
best regards
Ask SOE/LA how well that worked with Star Wars Galaxies. Imo, that game was ruined by the Devs trying to appease too many people at the same time.
That's not to say the community doesn't offer constructive critism and good ideas. However, there's merit to sticking with your design philosophy. For example, CCP in my opinion has done a great job of maintaining their vision with Eve.
I think Blizzard's done a decent job of listening to it's player base. For example, the rescaling of level 60 dungeons for smaller teams and scalability of Battle Gounds in the Burning Crusade.
As I've said before, WoW is more of a game than an experience. MMOs like pre-CU SWG and Eve offer a more in-depth character experience, and arguably a better RP atmosphere. There's a plethora of materials available for players to properly set their expectations.
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.
Cancel accounts whenever you want but never ever delete your characters.
It can be great fun to go back to a game after a year and check out the new content etc etc.
I now have characters in DAoC, CoH, EQ2, EvE, WoW, Matrix O, Planetside and Ryzom to name just the big games. When I feel the urge I re-sub and play for a few weeks ( usually 1 week re-learning - 1 week enjoying - 1 week getting bored of it again
My fingers are crossed for either Warhammer, Vanguard or Tabula Rasa to re-boot my addiction
Finally don't apologise for your English, it is fine
You have summed up my feelings on WoW. Next month, I will have played WoW for 2 years. I've canceled and came back once, but the more WoW changes, the more it stays the same. I agree, I iiked WoW before all the flood of epics, before the honor system.
I enjoy playing MMOs on my schedule. If I have 6 hours to play, then I should be able to enjoy those 6 hours as much as the 15 minutes that I have on days I am busy.
Nice link Gestalt thanks.
I agree with you 100% the view developers have of players is generally unrealistic and far from the mark.
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"MMOs, for people that like think chatting is like a skill or something, rotflol"
http://purepwnage.com
-+-+-+-+-+-+
"Far away across the field, the tolling of the iron bell, calls the faithful to their knees. To hear the softly spoken magic spell" Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon
I regret giving Blizzard my money as I specifically waited 6 months to make sure it wasn't a raid game as that stuff disgusts me. I had and have no desire to participate in that kind of thing and do not want to pay to support a system that disgusts me. But Blizzard fooled me. I admit it they got me. But they won't do it a second time.
I could have done other things instead of WoW and I would have. I specifically avoided EQ because of stuff like this and the carrot on a stick grind model. And I would have done the same thing for WoW except that I got fooled.
WoW is a multi-player game. It has an end. You grind (some would say this is fun) to that end.
Try playing a MMORPG which is designed as a virtual world (Eve, Ryzom). It has no end. Only new beginnings.
and it was alright and i got to the end and what not, but i got tired
of it cuz when i played there wasn't anything at all to do
I joined WOW during the open beta... played for 9 months, quit for 5 months, then rejoined and continue to play to today. Have been a member of hardcore raiding guilds (can't handle the lost sleep) and leveled up a fistful of characters.
Not because I still love WOW so much.... I'd like to try a new game....just not a whole lot out there atm...
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
WoW by far is one of the most adicting, fun, easy to learn and inviting games I've ever experienced. But the ballance is off. It's great leveling up but once your done, your fairly well done. If you don't mind grinding endlessly, or spending what cash you can earn by selling your loot, gatered mats and crafted items (which are out of ballance in spec's according to the cost and time spent making them) then great. But for those that want a purpose or reward of some type for the effort of game play you might as well give up.
I doubt very much that even the expansion will change this dynamic. Those of us that have played these games from start to finish for the many years that we have tend to recognize these trends. Blizzard should have raised the level cap over a year ago to help drive end game members in play, instead of doing a few months prior to the expansion. That in of itself makes a clear statement.
Only time will tell what lessons are to be learned. In the end of it you might get a good year of play out of it, but what are you going to do after that.