Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Category: World of Warcraft

Biggs On: Why I Still Play WoW

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On July 9, 2012

In Biggs On, World of Warcraft

I decided that since I wrote a post on why I still play The Old Republic, I thought perhaps I should do the same for World of Warcraft. I actually have an active subscription for both games. I have been playing WoW since it was a year old and I have many friends (most of which I know in their physical form) that are still playing as well. Most of us are on the same server and in the same guild. We don’t care about how our guild does compared to other guilds on the server, we just play to hang out. We all know that we have our own lives and that sometimes we can’t log in and raid because life happens.

My friends are predominately the reason I still play WoW, but there are other facets of the game that I still enjoy. I know the game has changed tremendously since vanilla and many people have criticized Blizzard for making those changes. While I understand their viewpoint, I think they are being a bit obtuse. The game has to evolve. Only a small percentage of the player base were experiencing the bulk of the content, if Blizzard hadn’t evolved the game to appeal to more players the game would have died years ago. I’m glad they got rid of 40-man raids and implemented 10-man raids. I love the dungeon finder tool and transmog. All of these changes improved the quality of life of the game and are the other reasons I keep logging in.

I doubt I will play WoW until the servers shut down, it all depends on what life brings for me and my friends. Despite my feelings for the name of the expansion, odds are that I will be playing Mists of Pandaria. I’m not really looking forward to the changes to the talent system but I’m sure I will adjust, just as I did for all the other expansions where they made dramatic changes. In a few days it will seem natural again and I’m willing to give the new talent system a chance. Perhaps after 6 years of trying to meticulously construct the perfect build, it will be nice to only have to worry about six talents.

I’m also kind of a fan of the Asian culture and I’ve always been a big martial arts fan. I’m looking forward to making my own “kung fu panda”, I’m already working on some names so I will be ready at launch. I don’t know if I am going to buy the collector’s edition. I’m not sure that I am as much into the game as I was for Lich King and Cataclysm. I might just buy the digital version instead of going to Best Buy at midnight.

Blizzard has done a fantastic job with World of Warcraft and I’m glad that I chose to make it my hobby because I have made some terrific friends. It’s also been fun to unexpectedly meet a complete stranger because they yelled “For The Horde!” when they saw your Blizzard t-shirt.

Cheers!

WoW: Why I’m Not Going to Beta MoP

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On March 21, 2012

In Gaming, MMORPG, World of Warcraft

I suppose it wouldn’t be completely accurate to say that I won’t opt-in for the Mists of Pandaria beta, I probably will. In fact I may even log in to check it out, but I probably won’t do any long term testing of the expansion. In fact I probably won’t participate in any beta for a game (or expansion) that I intend to play when it goes live. I have decided this after playing the beta for SWTOR.

I discovered, after participating in the SWTOR for nearly 8 months, that once the game goes live, it starts to feel stale pretty quick. Granted there are some subtle changes and sometimes that is good and sometimes, not so good. For example, in SWTOR there was a preference in the Social options that I used all the time while I was in the beta, but when the game went live, they took it out. I never found out why but I was pretty disappointed to find it missing.

Eventually SWTOR became exciting again after I leveled past all the quests that I had already done repeatedly (because of data resets) in the beta. Be that as it may, I would still like to avoid that kind of repetition especially in an expansion where the level cap is only increased by five (which means there will already be some repetition, relatively quickly, when I start leveling the alts). I hope that I don’t discourage anyone else from participating in a beta. The beta test is an extremely important part of software development and the more people that participate the better the user experience will be (in theory) when the product goes live. It is also kind of fun to say that you had participated in the beta of a popular game.

Cheers!

WoW: Wrath Still the Favorite

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On March 13, 2012

In Gaming, World of Warcraft

I haven’t written too many blog posts about World of Warcraft. Most of my ramblings have been about gaming in general or SWTOR (when I was in the beta), so its kind of fun to blog about the game that really started it all (for me).

I have now played vanilla (though I did not reach max level before the expansion), Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King and now Cataclysm. I have watched the game change tremendously and I have tried to follow the lore throughout each expansion. I have been following along as more information about Mists of Pandaria is unveiled. I think, among all of the expansions (past and future), Wrath of the Lich King is still my favorite.

I played Warcraft III several times before and during college so I think that is why I enjoyed the lore so much in Wrath of the Lich King. The addition of the Death Knight as a playable class added an ironic twist to the story and the quest to defeat Arthas. I loved doing the quests specifically to follow the story and the lore and the homages it payed to Warcraft III. Every time you left Eastern Kingdoms (or Kalimdor) it felt like an expedition to Northrend, just as Arthas did (before he went totally nutz). Dalaran was, and still is, my favorite capital city. I still have my hearth set there for several of my toons. Sometimes its depressing to be there and see it so empty. I think that Ulduar and Icecrown Citadel are still the best raid instances in the game.

As WoW is declining in popularity, I think the timing of its decline is somewhat fitting. Despite the fact that Cataclysm brought many features players were clamoring for (ex: flight on the original continents), from a lore perspective I kind of feel like Wrath of the Lich King was the final chapter. It ended one of the biggest story lines in Warcraft lore. I would go so far as to say that any expansion that follows Wrath of the Lich King is just an appendix because its hard to imagine that any expansion could be better … unless there is an expansion dedicated to the Emerald Dream/Nightmare.

Or, maybe one day we will have to return to Northred … after all there always must be a Lich King 🙂

Cheers!

Bioware Has Blizzard Scared

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On October 23, 2011

In Gaming, SWTOR, World of Warcraft

So I have been watching Blizzcon to see all the new things Blizzard is introducing with their various gaming franchises. I think the biggest news from Blizzcon this year is the concept of the World of Warcraft Annual Pass where anyone who commits to keeping WoW for a year will receive Diablo 3 for free and a guaranteed entry into the Mists of Pandaria beta.

I thought that was a pretty bold move by Blizzard and then it occurred to me, I think this is a tactic to combat the release of Star Wars. I think Blizzard is actually scared about losing players to Star Wars. So much so that they want players to commit to playing their game for a year, and if you do, they will let you play their other game for free. I know that quite a few of the Blizzard employees are Star Wars fans, they have made many comments during other Blizzcons and there is the various Star Wars references in the game (ex: an NPC named Landoo). So I know they have been following the development of SWTOR just as much as the rest of us have been following (obsessively?) it.

I don’t know if any of you watched the in-depth coverage of Mists of Pandaria but some of the Monk abilities seem to have a Star Wars influence. The Monks have a Holy Power-like resource called Dark/Light Force and the Death Knights are getting a new ability called Asphyxiate. Asphyxiate is a new silence ability where the Death Knight chokes the target while lifting them in the air … seems blatantly obvious.

Perhaps Blizzard is trying to increase the Star Wars influence in the game to keep players from going to SWTOR. I’m sure that’s just wild conjecture but its hard to deny suspicion when some of these mechanics are “lovingly” ripped off from Star Wars.

Despite their best efforts, World of Warcraft will never be Star Wars. I’m sorry Bilzzard but no matter how close a Gamorrean is to an Orc, the two will never be the same. If Star Wars fans want to play SWTOR, they will play SWTOR regardless of the fact that a Death Knight can do a Force Choke.

Cheers!

Biggs On: Pre-Cataclysm World Event

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On November 20, 2010

In Biggs On, World of Warcraft

So the World of Warcraft Pre-Cataclysm World Event has been going on for a few weeks now. The first phase involved random earthquakes shaking old world Azeroth. Phase 2 brought random rifts in various parts of Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Northrend and Outlands that brought forth angry elementals; killing 10 of them would close the rift (and grant you a Feat of Stength achievement if you closed one of each kind of rift). Then Phase 3 started; the elementals are now attacking four of the major cities: Stormwind, Ironforge, Orgrimmar, and Thunderbluff. The events require that you put up fortifications, elite elementals are everywhere, the weather has turned to torrential rain, buildings are on fire … it is complete pandemonium! It is epic!

In my personal opinion, this is far better then the world event for Lich King. Yes, the zombies were fitting and the occasionally scourge attack on Orgrimmar and Stormwind Harbor were pretty cool but I think Blizzard definitely kicked it up a notch with this world event.

There is one more phase before December 7th and we will see Deathwing and he will randomly kill us all while changing the landscape, and the face, of Azeroth forever.

I can’t wait!

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