Comments on: Inq. of the Week: Cataclysm? http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/ The Journal of Gamer Culture Fri, 25 May 2012 09:20:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: steve http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/#comment-66704 steve Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:09:09 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=4647#comment-66704 @dice girl: Im not 100% sure that the Worgen have been thrown into WoW as a character playable race because of Twilight (Gag, sorry any fans out there, but this whole teenybobber vampire thing makes me ill). WoW players have been ravenous to play as both Worgen and Goblins for awhile. Worgen fit the alliance because the storyline behind Shadowfang Keep and Arugial(sp) fit for the alliance. They were used as a weapon against the scourge so it fits that they wouldnt be welcome in the Horde. I just hate to think that a race that Ive really wanted to see as playable in WoW since its creation has to do with some teenybopper fad movie series... just saying. @dice girl:

Im not 100% sure that the Worgen have been thrown into WoW as a character playable race because of Twilight (Gag, sorry any fans out there, but this whole teenybobber vampire thing makes me ill). WoW players have been ravenous to play as both Worgen and Goblins for awhile. Worgen fit the alliance because the storyline behind Shadowfang Keep and Arugial(sp) fit for the alliance. They were used as a weapon against the scourge so it fits that they wouldnt be welcome in the Horde.

I just hate to think that a race that Ive really wanted to see as playable in WoW since its creation has to do with some teenybopper fad movie series… just saying.

]]> By: Dice_Girl http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/#comment-66703 Dice_Girl Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:14:21 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=4647#comment-66703 I started playing WOW about a year ago when my sister and her boyfriend finally helped my husband convince me that wow would be fun. It started with a free 14 day trial that took all of 1 day before I had purchased the game. I had tried to play Diablo before and I found it to be boring (no offense to any Diablo fans, I drive my husband up a wall with this stand). I think what I have found to be most interesting and exciting about WOW is how much I can customize my character. Plus Female Blood Elfs actually looked really awesome which is more than I could say about any of the other Horde characters. After a year on the Horde side of things, I have started playing Alliance on a different relam (gnomes are sooo cute!). I image I will play more of both sides once the new expansion comes out (that is assuming my husband doesn't convert us both over to Final Fanasty 14 instead, which honestly sounds more my style). I totally agree adding the Worgen to the Alliance side of things is just to attract Twilight fans (which actually has my sister a current blood elf fan wanting to switch sides). Personally I am not really sure that Worgen make a logical addition to the Alliance, they strike me as a better fit on the Horde, but Golbins fit the Horde better so Worgen just got tossed to the Alliance. My favorite part about the new expansion is the ability to play any class with a given race. I have always been a fan of the priest and very dissapointed (and part of the reason I played Horde in the first place) that I could not have a gnome priest. I started playing WOW about a year ago when my sister and her boyfriend finally helped my husband convince me that wow would be fun. It started with a free 14 day trial that took all of 1 day before I had purchased the game. I had tried to play Diablo before and I found it to be boring (no offense to any Diablo fans, I drive my husband up a wall with this stand).
I think what I have found to be most interesting and exciting about WOW is how much I can customize my character. Plus Female Blood Elfs actually looked really awesome which is more than I could say about any of the other Horde characters. After a year on the Horde side of things, I have started playing Alliance on a different relam (gnomes are sooo cute!).
I image I will play more of both sides once the new expansion comes out (that is assuming my husband doesn’t convert us both over to Final Fanasty 14 instead, which honestly sounds more my style).

I totally agree adding the Worgen to the Alliance side of things is just to attract Twilight fans (which actually has my sister a current blood elf fan wanting to switch sides). Personally I am not really sure that Worgen make a logical addition to the Alliance, they strike me as a better fit on the Horde, but Golbins fit the Horde better so Worgen just got tossed to the Alliance.

My favorite part about the new expansion is the ability to play any class with a given race. I have always been a fan of the priest and very dissapointed (and part of the reason I played Horde in the first place) that I could not have a gnome priest.

]]> By: Dark Young http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/#comment-66702 Dark Young Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:49:12 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=4647#comment-66702 CAUTION: MMO life story to follow: It took awhile for me to get into WoW, many of my friends were playing it and expressed that of MMO's this was the coolest. After my poor experience with Shadowbane (I'd be slaughtered every time I logged on by an opposing player(s) who would camp the world trees after my guild city was destroyed) I wasn't interested in playing another MMO. But then my best friend told me he was picking it up for his birthday and I figured it'd be a cool and fun way to hang out with him at odd hours of the day. Then came lots of playing, my girlfriend started to play on my account because she wanted to see what was so much fun. Later we got married and transferred her character to her own account and we would often play online together during raids, etc. And it went this way through WoW:Classic, WoW:Burning Crusade, WoW:Wrath of the Lich King. Then my wife decided she wanted to stop playing and was going to delete her account. Which was fine with me, but I (maybe stupidly) convinced her not to delete her oldest/favorite character and transfer it to my account "just in case". What resulted is her playing on my account with regularity and me having a feeling of immense guilt if I was playing and she couldn't. So now, I barely play at all (once a month?), but will likely play with the Cataclysm expansion. I'm sure we'll get it and I'll play until I level up my two "mains" and then stop playing again. What did this teach me? Well, I've got a lot more free time to do things I've wanted to do for awhile since I've not been playing. Which is good. I do miss some of the fun things I enjoyed about the game, one of them was leveling which it appears Cataclysm will make fun/new again. And I will say, even though all of that previous play could be considered a "waste of time", I had a lot of fun and met a lot of cool people I still keep in contact with today. So that's my start/stop of playing. Possible minor restart. In terms of favorites, I loved the Lich King expansion. The way quests were set up and the world environment changed as you completed epic story lines made me feel like my character was really having an effect on the world around them. I hated Burning Crusade, everything was on fire, jagged, and floating randomly in space. While I look forward to the new expansion with its story and quests. I don't look forward to traveling through/over waste lands that have been blown up or destroyed by various elements. I look forward to the new low level quest and content rehash. It does seem to be lacking on the upper end of things in terms of content. CAUTION: MMO life story to follow:
It took awhile for me to get into WoW, many of my friends were playing it and expressed that of MMO’s this was the coolest. After my poor experience with Shadowbane (I’d be slaughtered every time I logged on by an opposing player(s) who would camp the world trees after my guild city was destroyed) I wasn’t interested in playing another MMO. But then my best friend told me he was picking it up for his birthday and I figured it’d be a cool and fun way to hang out with him at odd hours of the day.
Then came lots of playing, my girlfriend started to play on my account because she wanted to see what was so much fun. Later we got married and transferred her character to her own account and we would often play online together during raids, etc.
And it went this way through WoW:Classic, WoW:Burning Crusade, WoW:Wrath of the Lich King.
Then my wife decided she wanted to stop playing and was going to delete her account. Which was fine with me, but I (maybe stupidly) convinced her not to delete her oldest/favorite character and transfer it to my account “just in case”.
What resulted is her playing on my account with regularity and me having a feeling of immense guilt if I was playing and she couldn’t. So now, I barely play at all (once a month?), but will likely play with the Cataclysm expansion. I’m sure we’ll get it and I’ll play until I level up my two “mains” and then stop playing again.
What did this teach me?
Well, I’ve got a lot more free time to do things I’ve wanted to do for awhile since I’ve not been playing. Which is good.
I do miss some of the fun things I enjoyed about the game, one of them was leveling which it appears Cataclysm will make fun/new again.
And I will say, even though all of that previous play could be considered a “waste of time”, I had a lot of fun and met a lot of cool people I still keep in contact with today.

So that’s my start/stop of playing. Possible minor restart.

In terms of favorites, I loved the Lich King expansion. The way quests were set up and the world environment changed as you completed epic story lines made me feel like my character was really having an effect on the world around them.

I hated Burning Crusade, everything was on fire, jagged, and floating randomly in space.

While I look forward to the new expansion with its story and quests. I don’t look forward to traveling through/over waste lands that have been blown up or destroyed by various elements. I look forward to the new low level quest and content rehash. It does seem to be lacking on the upper end of things in terms of content.

]]> By: steve http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/#comment-66701 steve Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:20:02 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=4647#comment-66701 @The O: as an off and on again WoWholic (yes, its a disease) I have to say that yes, the "old world" of wow will feel like it always has... stretched out and boring at times. I mean how many times have we bitched at each other about Depressolace??! but in all honesty there will be "new content". New raid dungeons and lets not forget we get to go at VC ala Herioc!!! I mean who can beat that?... but seriously. Theres one aspect that were missing here, and its the most important point of all... the Horde will finally have its own crew of shin bitters to counter those damn dirty gnomes.... oh and the Worgen... cant forget those ... @The O:

as an off and on again WoWholic (yes, its a disease) I have to say that yes, the “old world” of wow will feel like it always has… stretched out and boring at times. I mean how many times have we bitched at each other about Depressolace??! but in all honesty there will be “new content”. New raid dungeons and lets not forget we get to go at VC ala Herioc!!! I mean who can beat that?… but seriously.

Theres one aspect that were missing here, and its the most important point of all… the Horde will finally have its own crew of shin bitters to counter those damn dirty gnomes….

oh and the Worgen… cant forget those …

]]> By: XeroSided http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/#comment-66700 XeroSided Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:03:24 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=4647#comment-66700 @Bartoneus: but that's what I'm saying. I quit right after BC came out, and rejoined right before WotLK. When I came back, there was nobody in Azeroth and the 1-60 quest lines, most of which seemed interesting and worth spending time on (from a story POV), were just leveling fodder. I skipped all the interesting quests to rush level and get to Northrend, where every day I logged in to inseminate some elephant seals and steal badger cubs. Over, and over, and over again. When I realized this, I quit yet again. Funny though, when I reminisce about playing, I think back to Darkshire, Westfall, Wetlands, and even Desolace. I barely remember Outland and I shudder to think back on Northrend. I think stripping the old content away in place of new dailies is the wrong solution. I'd prefer they found a way to make all the old quests and zones relevant again, more or less as they were. @Bartoneus: but that’s what I’m saying. I quit right after BC came out, and rejoined right before WotLK. When I came back, there was nobody in Azeroth and the 1-60 quest lines, most of which seemed interesting and worth spending time on (from a story POV), were just leveling fodder. I skipped all the interesting quests to rush level and get to Northrend, where every day I logged in to inseminate some elephant seals and steal badger cubs. Over, and over, and over again. When I realized this, I quit yet again.

Funny though, when I reminisce about playing, I think back to Darkshire, Westfall, Wetlands, and even Desolace. I barely remember Outland and I shudder to think back on Northrend. I think stripping the old content away in place of new dailies is the wrong solution. I’d prefer they found a way to make all the old quests and zones relevant again, more or less as they were.

]]> By: The O http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/#comment-66699 The O Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:58:04 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=4647#comment-66699 I've been there since the beginning, baby! I'm the WoW whore amongst the CH crew :). TBH, not one thing about this expansion is exciting even in the slightest. After nearly 5 years of Azerothian content being around, the "old world" has grown old and weary and no amount of foliage and lava pits will make it thrilling again. To keep players more interested, as TBC and WotLK have done, they need to add entirely new content imho. All in all, I think this expansion is marking the beginning of the end of the MMO. I’ve been there since the beginning, baby! I’m the WoW whore amongst the CH crew :) .

TBH, not one thing about this expansion is exciting even in the slightest. After nearly 5 years of Azerothian content being around, the “old world” has grown old and weary and no amount of foliage and lava pits will make it thrilling again.

To keep players more interested, as TBC and WotLK have done, they need to add entirely new content imho. All in all, I think this expansion is marking the beginning of the end of the MMO.

]]> By: Abe http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/#comment-66698 Abe Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:50:42 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=4647#comment-66698 I frequently hear "lack of free time" as a reason for quitting MMOs. And I don't understand that argument when weighing it against the time investment required for tabletop gaming. The ability to log on and off at will, and the ability to search for cooperative pickup games, when I don't have the free time to schedule weekly meetups, is exactly what keeps me playing an MMO. The truth is I would rather be playing games in the same room with real people, but I don't because I don't have the free time. I frequently hear “lack of free time” as a reason for quitting MMOs. And I don’t understand that argument when weighing it against the time investment required for tabletop gaming.

The ability to log on and off at will, and the ability to search for cooperative pickup games, when I don’t have the free time to schedule weekly meetups, is exactly what keeps me playing an MMO.

The truth is I would rather be playing games in the same room with real people, but I don’t because I don’t have the free time.

]]> By: Bartoneus http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/#comment-66697 Bartoneus Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:03:46 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=4647#comment-66697 Ken Marable: We're right there with you! My wife and I played steadily through Beta and the Original game, we had stopped by the time Burning Crusade came out but then picked it back up for a little while. Now we just don't have the time or money for the game anymore! Xerosided: I'm hoping they are essentially saying there will be a "whole new game" for levels 1-60, I think it's been a needed change for some time since they've sped up the leveling process there is a lot of content someone playing for the first time is going to miss anyway because of how fast they're blasting through the zones. Ken Marable: We’re right there with you! My wife and I played steadily through Beta and the Original game, we had stopped by the time Burning Crusade came out but then picked it back up for a little while. Now we just don’t have the time or money for the game anymore!

Xerosided: I’m hoping they are essentially saying there will be a “whole new game” for levels 1-60, I think it’s been a needed change for some time since they’ve sped up the leveling process there is a lot of content someone playing for the first time is going to miss anyway because of how fast they’re blasting through the zones.

]]> By: Lunatyk http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/#comment-66696 Lunatyk Tue, 25 Aug 2009 05:09:15 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=4647#comment-66696 As long as it requires payment for the <i>possibility</i> of playing, I'm not touching it... As long as it requires payment for the possibility of playing, I’m not touching it…

]]> By: XeroSided http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/#comment-66695 XeroSided Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:38:15 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=4647#comment-66695 I've still got a lot of affection for the old world. I'm curious how these new developments are going to affect the old content. The tech exists to maintain two versions of Azeroth, pre- and post-Cataclysm; they tested it on a smaller scale in WotLK, and I'd love it if they did that. Though the old zones have gotten lonely and largely useless since everyone began massing to the expansion content, I think the original game still has a lot of character and flavor that shouldn't be thrown out with the bath water. If they do decide to scrap old Azeroth entirely in favor of new Azeroth however, I'm curious to see how they'll handle the 1-60 level progression. Might turn WoW into a whole new game. I’ve still got a lot of affection for the old world. I’m curious how these new developments are going to affect the old content. The tech exists to maintain two versions of Azeroth, pre- and post-Cataclysm; they tested it on a smaller scale in WotLK, and I’d love it if they did that.

Though the old zones have gotten lonely and largely useless since everyone began massing to the expansion content, I think the original game still has a lot of character and flavor that shouldn’t be thrown out with the bath water.

If they do decide to scrap old Azeroth entirely in favor of new Azeroth however, I’m curious to see how they’ll handle the 1-60 level progression. Might turn WoW into a whole new game.

]]> By: Ken Marable http://critical-hits.com/2009/08/24/inq-of-the-week-cataclysm/#comment-66694 Ken Marable Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:01:56 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=4647#comment-66694 I've only played Burning Crusade version for most of last year, and only started when we saw a free demo disk in our church's bookstore. We avoided it for years because we knew it would suck up too much of our time, and we were right. It was wonderful, but 4-5 nights a week playing until 2 in the morning and then going off to work at 8 wasn't a joy. Even trying to cut back in the end didn't help and we (my wife and I) quit because we just didn't have time anymore and found that we went weeks without ever logging on. I loved it and seeing the news on the expansion makes me want to get back into it, but being short on free time due to kids and other real life matters, I prefer to spend my free time playing tabletop than online. The graphics may be better in WoW, but the story in D&D still wins out. Now, if I somehow managed to have more free time, then I'd definitely be all over WoW again. I’ve only played Burning Crusade version for most of last year, and only started when we saw a free demo disk in our church’s bookstore. We avoided it for years because we knew it would suck up too much of our time, and we were right. It was wonderful, but 4-5 nights a week playing until 2 in the morning and then going off to work at 8 wasn’t a joy. Even trying to cut back in the end didn’t help and we (my wife and I) quit because we just didn’t have time anymore and found that we went weeks without ever logging on.

I loved it and seeing the news on the expansion makes me want to get back into it, but being short on free time due to kids and other real life matters, I prefer to spend my free time playing tabletop than online. The graphics may be better in WoW, but the story in D&D still wins out.

Now, if I somehow managed to have more free time, then I’d definitely be all over WoW again.

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