Someday I should count how many blog posts I have that are titled “Back to WoW.”
But here I go again! But c’mon, how could I resist? My history of WoW is long and at times intimate. I have a friend who works at Blizzard who got me into the Friends and Family Alpha long, long ago, and I played the heck out of WoW for the first couple years it was out. That was before it was hugely mainstream and everyone was expected to have exactly the right gear and play their classes exactly the right way — back then we played to have fun. Crazy, huh?
But the world of Azeroth became more or less real to me in some ways. I mean the locations. There are (or were) places in that world that invoked specific memories. So how could I not go back to see what’s changed?
The last time I went back was just a few months ago when, for reasons I no longer recall, I ran out and purchased the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and rolled a death knight. In 2 months of subscribing I played enough to get that death knight to level 58. That’s what? 2-3 hours of play? So that was a good investment of cash, eh? About $70 between the expansion and 2 months of sub.
So today I renewed and rolled a Night Elf Druid. Yup, starting from scratch (for now anyway). I dunno how many of the differences I’m seeing are from the Cataclysm patch, but they’re interesting to me (even if I’m not sure I agree with all of them). The Level 1-5 area for the Night Elves has been super-streamlined and you get through it in about 6-7 quests, some of which take seconds to do. Vast swaths of that area now go untouched. That’s great for vets but I’m not sure if it won’t be a bit overwhelming for newcomers, if any exist.
Owners of the WoW Collector’s Edition now get all three pets instead of having to pick one. 🙂
Here’s a really odd change (and I’m sure you can turn this off). Mobs only have names floating over their head if you have a quest to kill them. That’s really bizarre, but I have to admit it makes it super-easy to find the things you need to kill. Just look for anything with a neon sign over its noggin.
I do have Cataclysm pre-ordered but I almost wonder why. My highest level character is 60 (the cap when I last played with any kind of regularity) so the extra levels aren’t of much interest. I guess I’ll get access to the two new races but beyond that…it seems like most of the changes that come with Cataclysm, at least the ones that pertain to lower level characters, are included with the freebie patch.
We’ll see, I guess. I imagine I could have fun playing a Worgen for a little while..
so the extra levels aren�t of much interest.
So tempted to do a Roscoe P. Coltrane laugh and go dig up the quotes about loving Diku *because of* the leveling but I won’t! Haha 🙂
Have fun and post of your adventures though. I’ll admit to being halfway tempted for a few nanoseconds to dip back in for Cataclysm but I no longer have any characters to go see the changes with and there is absolutely no way I will ever go back and level up another character in that game ever again, so WoW is permanent history for me.
I think you miss my point… since I don’t have anyone above 60, having them add levels 80-85 or whatever isn’t of any use to me unless I plan to stick around to hit cap.
It’s like paying more to have a car that goes 175 MPH rather than 150 MPH when you only do city driving. 🙂
One other addition I forgot to mention: they lifted the ‘aggro meter’ from EQ2.
I’ve got 5 hours into this new character (and probably 40 minutes of that if AFK while I’ve been chasing puppies or feeding guinea pigs) and already level 12. Sheesh!
I did the same thing… went back to WoW this week. I’ll admit that I really do love leveling. But after getting six (horde) characters to 80, I was pretty much done with WoW, and each time I’ve gone back, I end up doing the same thing… standing around wondering what to do with myself. I resubbed, logged in, and wandered around to see the changes. I know lots of people are floored, but I guess I expected something more… dramatic. A few zones are very different, but many have hardly changed at all. Loads of quests have been cut or moved, so the quest progression is now more linear. I rolled a new human mage on a different server, and I’m actually having more fun in WoW than I’ve had in years, which is probably a combination of experiencing the alliance content and the new stuff.
There’s just not enough meat to WoW to keep me playing for more than a month or so, but I’m enjoying it for the time being.
Sometimes I really miss WoW. I havent’ played in about 3 years I think? Every so often I’ll picture a location, and then I get frustrated because I can no longer remember how to get there 🙁
In addition to the new races, owning Cataclysm is required for flight in the old world (Outland and Northrend flight is included with the respective expansions) and I believe for the new Archeology profession as well. I don’t really know that you need to fly in the old world if you’re not at Cataclysm levels (unless you’re trying to farm archeology digsites I suppose), but that’s the only other reason I can think of for buying the expansion before you would otherwise need it.
That said, WoW expansions rarely go on sale since people buy em at full price. As long as this continues, buying Cataclysm before you need it is not like an EQ2 expansion, which will be available at slashed prices in six months (or free with the next expansion in a year).