Genre: MMORPG
Year: 2004
Developed by: Blizzard Entertainment
Published by: Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms: PC, Mac OS X
#33
Feeling Like: A whole new world
I wish I could bottle the feeling I had when I first rode a Gryphon from Stormwind to Westfall. I literally couldn’t believe what I was seeing; this wasn’t a loading screen with a few flourishes to trick me into thinking there were fellow players running around beneath me. Those were actual players, from all over North American, on a quest to collect their next widget, or take down a boss, or group up for a dungeon. They were there.
There had been Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games before and after World of Warcraft but not for me. 10Six was the closest I’d ever come, and it was more of a curiosity than an obsession. I knew about EverQuest and Ultima Online but only as passing fancies when I’d read an article about them in PC Gamer. I was instantly confused. Wait, you had to keep paying? Every month? No that…no, that didn’t seem right. That felt like too much money, too much pressure. Plus, I never had a PC powerful enough nor an internet connection stable enough to warrant even an attempt.
Two things changed my mind. The first was my buddy Dave R.
Dave was a mainstay in my life at Mount Allison. We didn’t cross paths all that much until the end of our second year. Sitting next to him in the cafeteria, I asked him if he’d be my co-Social Chair for the following year. To this day, I don’t know why I asked him; he was quiet chap, and not overly social. I wasn’t sure if he was even interested. I didn’t even know if he liked me! But he piped up “sure!” without hesitation and from that moment on, we got on like a house on fire. Boy, was I stupid in my first few years to deprive myself of this gem of a human being.
Dave got into World of Warcraft before any of us. We lived together on King St., he was right next door to me. It was impossible for either of us (or Randy) to engage in any activity without the other two wandering in at some point, curious about the various noises. I must admit, I was intrigued; all the RPG stuff that I loved was there: Experience points, fantastical locations, various skills to learn, ridiculous set-pieces, grand battles, and exploration unlike anything I’d seen to date. To boot, the map was beautiful and each area seemed to lure you in, regardless of the dangers present.
I was starting to feel tempted.
Then, the South Park episode hit.
“Make Love, Not Warcraft” was the eight episode of the 10th season. It was hysterical. I was already a fan of the show and the fact that half the episode showed the voices of the characters overlayed on actual World of Warcraft models was the icing on the cake. I like how Trey Parker and Matt Stone don’t cheap out and make it so Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny were obsessed with something like World of Warcraft. A cheap knock off maybe, or an obvious satire. No, they’re real kids, so they’re into World of Warcraft made by Blizzard. And here it is, this is exactly what the game looks like. Some of the lines uttered are stone cold classics to this day.
“We can’t trust the Sword of a Thousand Truths to a noob!”
“Yeah, but I’m playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure.”
And, the best one – “How do you kill…that which has no life?”
Other members of our gang were starting to pick up the game. Greg was no surprise, he was big into RPGs. Neil? Ok, mild surprise, he only joins in if there’s something really worth playing. Hippie Jon, Jeff, Carlo and Stu? Ok, eyebrow raised. They usually like sports games, but not medieval fantasy as much. RANDY IS PLAYING?
Ok, enough universe. I get it. I hear you loud and clear. I’m all in.
I chose a Paladin, because of course I did. What other class was there? And of course I’m picking a human. The Princes of Pwnage were a Guild dedicated to eradicating the filthy Orc Horde, I’m not going against the grain. Why yes, my Paladin Dollerz did sort of look like me if I decided to stop eating carbs and instead worked out four times a day.
I was completely transfixed. For the next two years, I barely played anything else. I relished when we had a snow day – that meant uninterrupted World of Warcraft adventures for eight hours straight. I was constantly questing with my friends, to the point where pub visits became alarmingly short since all we discussed were which instances we could tackle as a group. If I was playing solo, that was fine I could catch up to the higher leveled members of the Guild. That was rarely the case – our TeamSpeak was often flooded with members waiting to join a party, or just to chat.
The notion that we were surrounded by an interactive playground alongside thousands of other real life players never failed to inspire awe. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t fathom the systems were this mechanically sound – all the moves felt great, upgrades and gear felt meaningful and I barely ever experienced any kind of glitch. Auto-attacking a target was new, but easily learned. Hunting for a specific piece of loot, or achievement meant there was always something to do and it wasn’t always necessarily grinding the same enemies over and over (though, there was plenty of that too).
Getting my horse mount (FINALLY) completely opened up the world and enticed me to explore every inch of every location on the map, instead of slinking through at the recommended areas. It became a suicidal game within a game, particularly when the expansions came out with brand new continents to explore. Look, I know I should be level 70 to be in this zone, but there’s map to be filled in! One hit kills from a random gargoyle never deterred me, though the gold cost to repair my gear was getting prohibitively expensive. Obtaining a flying mount nearly broke my brain. I could go anywhere!
It wasn’t boredom, or failed video cards, or prepping for exams that halted our Guildship. It was graduation. Once we emigrated from Sackville and were in five different time zones, the partying stopped. I would’ve been sad – I racked up about 400 hours of playtime before retreating to my parent’s place while looking for a job. But I knew Dobbo and his fellow WoW players were still heavily into World of Warcraft at the time and I still wasn’t done with Azeroth. They were in my time zone. I wanted back in.
Trouble was, they were on the Horde side. And they were all at the maximum level, busy with raiding a place called Karazhan. If I wanted to participate, I’d have to start a new character and grind him up to Level 70.
Sigh. So be it. At least by then Blizzard had introduced the Blood Elves, which looked like me except they had even less sun exposure and didn’t ever get their hair cut. Good enough. I went the Retribution route, since that was a more solo friendly build and I could kill mobs more quickly.
It took forever and after dozens of hours, it was as if somebody turned the lights on. I enjoyed digitally meeting some of Dob’s friends (mercifully, Jeff Pedlow was there to keep me company), but their focus and attention was elsewhere. I was the little sibling, always wanting to tag along but nowhere near strong enough to be of any help. I did eventually make it to Karazhan and a few other massive Raids with them before finally un-installing. I’ve never gone back.
Do I miss it at all? Hell yes, sometimes. I know You Can’t Go Home Again, but I admit a tingling of longing when I read up about a new expansion pack, or how they’ve increased the level cap, or all the new bells and whistles that make it easier to find a party for a specific instance. There are new ways to progress, new mounts to ride, seasonal challenges and more ways than ever to show off your prowess, gear and fighting ability. It’s almost too much – if i had to pick one game to play for the rest of my life, World of Warcraft would not be a bad candidate.
With this many hours played comes endless memories – spats with randoms who also want the item I’m farming. Swimming from Ironforge to Westfall with Eric – you’re not supposed to do that, there is a handy tram that takes you to Stormwind. The perils and hilarities of ignorance!
Consecrating the ground with holy fire while I watch our Warriors tank the attention away from our spellcasters. Being resurrected, only to fall again. The infamous Gnomeregan disaster with Randy, Neil, Greg and Stu (ahhh’m invincible, jerk-offs!). The Corrupted Blood incident (before my time, but everyone heard of the legend). The never ending wonder at the art style that could seemingly be run on any computer.
The variety of journeys and landscapes is staggering, beyond anything I’ve ever played. I know I took a ton of screenshots during my sojourn, but they’ve been lost to time or in some folder I can’t find. Still, I’m sure by now you get the gist. I wanted to heal my friends just as much as I wanted to pound Murlocs over the head with my hammer. Every city was like a whole new game in itself, familiarizing myself with merchant locations and what kind of quests were available, or the local gathering spot to find that fifth member for the Scarlet Halls.
Two years of playing a single game may seem like a long time, but there are those that played for longer. Some are still going. Blizzard eventually stopped bragging about how many monthly users they had (I think at their peak, it was close to 12 million), but the game’s stamp on gaming history has long since been etched. I may never play another MMO in my life, but if that’s the case, I had one hell of a time with the one I did plunge into.
The 500 