Back to WoW?

I found my receipt for Wrath of the Lich King. I bought it on July 23rd. Before this weekend I’d logged into WoW once since installing it. And had stayed logged in for all of 10 minutes.

Last night I finally got around to going back, trying to run my level 60 hunter. The last time I played him, Burning Crusades was brand new. The last time I played him at all seriously was months before that. Trying to pick up where I left off, with a default UI, was…challenging.

Today I canceled the account again, but it doesn’t run out until the 26th. Since I’d spent $40 or $50 on WotLK (and $30 on two months subscribing) I figured, what the hell, time to roll a Death Knight just to see what that’s all about. So I did.

There’ve been some neat convenience features added to WoW since I last played, like the quest info on the maps and the neat little details on what stats will go up or down if you change gear. But otherwise, WoW feels like WoW.

If feels old to me in a way that, for example, EQ2 does not. Early in the Death Knight campaign you have to go into a mine, and it easily could’ve been the exact same mine I went into to kill Kobolds at the North Abbey back in 2003 or so…whenever they added the human race to the alpha/betas. The buildings are the same buildings, the peasants the same peasants.

Now, that’s fine for the old content but this was the newest, coolest content Blizzard could deliver? The one real improvement I noticed was audio; there were some really first rate screams.

Hopefully Cataclysm includes a graphics update along with all the other goodies. (Does it?)

In fairness, I should say that WoW still has the best ‘feeling’ melee combat of any MMO I can think of. There’s just something impactful (I may have just made up that word) about hitting an enemy with a sword that makes it feel like you’re really letting them have it.

Ah well, I always said you can’t go home again. I did get my last evening sitting at the dock in Westfall, watching the lighthouse. And y’know what? It really just wasn’t the same. For me, WoW no longer holds any magic, I guess. Sad, really. I hope Cataclysm can bring some of that magic back.

6 thoughts on “Back to WoW?

  1. I just fired up another ten day trial for the holiday weekend… and true to form, I didn’t have time to play more than an hour in bits and pieces. I always need a vacation from my vacation.

    …anyway, I started up a Dwarven Paladin, and found that I still really like the Dun Morogh area. I still enjoy just looking around.

    …and yet, the gameplay itself still gets in the way. I have to kill how many rats, er, trolls? I have to kill this stupid Leper Gnome that screwed up my screenshot now, one moment. It’s *how much* for a friggin’ six slot bag? That shiny new breastplate I forged up? Useless as I turn around and buy a better one from the dude five meters away.

    It’s nice to get WoW out of my system with those ten day trials. Of course, I’d rather have ten more days with my 53-ish Tauren Druid, seeing things I haven’t seen before, but so it goes. I maintain that if they used a GW business model, I’d play the thing a lot more, and probably would have purchased TBC and Wrath, and likely CAT. As is, well… ten day trials rule. 🙂

  2. You k ow, WoW is one of tne few ga es I have found that almost plays itself. I remember back when, I had asked Tipa how she could play AND do something else like watch TV or work with another app, and I know now how it’s done, thanks to Wow. As soon as you remove expectations that that game is going to thrill you around every turn, it becomes a diversion, and nothing more.

  3. “Hopefully Cataclysm includes a graphics update along with all the other goodies. (Does it?)”

    It does. Almost every old world zone is updated. The forsaken areas in particular look completely different. Check out MMO Champion, they have tons of screenies.

  4. I no longer consider myself an MMO player but I have gone back a few times myself, even rolling a Death Knight. But my gaming habits have changed, as I’ve got older, with time management being such a big factor on my choice of game, an MMO just has no chance. Miss the social side of the genre, yes but miss the gameplay? Nadah.

  5. Your highest character is a 60?

    Sorry to say but you really haven’t played the game then. Vanilla was fun and engaging but you missed 75% of the real game.

  6. @genda Thanks for the info on a graphics update. I haven’t paid the slightest attention to Cataclysm changes up to now.

    @Jennifer – Well, 60 was cap the last time I played at all seriously. Burning Crusade came out, I brought my character out of retirement to try it, logged in, went through the portal and just couldn’t get excited about what I saw there, so I quit.

    I’ve gone back a few times since but have always started new characters and never got very far.

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