Initial 'Wrath' impressions (or why I suck at leveling)

My name is Eric Franklin and I am a World of Warcraft slacker. You wouldn't know it, however, judging by the weekend I had. From Thursday morning until Sunday night I collectively played more than 40 hours of the new WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.

I played whenever I could, but with household responsibilities, a guest in town, and annoying necessities like eating, bio breaks, and sleep, I am unsatisfied with my progress after four days.

I decided to level one character straight from 70 to 80 and forgo creating a Death Knight for now. I thought maybe I could get to 77 by the end of the weekend and earn the use of my flying mount. Especially since by Saturday afternoon Death Knights--which start at level 55--were running around at a higher level than my Warlock, who started at 70!

See that lil guy in the middle? That's me, about to die. Again.

(Credit: Eric Franklin/CNET Networks)

Did I mention that I'm on a PVP server and that I mostly only quest by myself? That may have something to do with my slow progression. As much as I wanted to level quickly it was not always up to me. No, guys with names like Foodfoodz would kill me constantly and then offer food to my still warm body. Seriously.

After the initial frustration this provided, I actually began to find the constant ganking humorous. I eventually did group with a few people and take on Mr. Foodz and his two Rogue buddies. That was a satisfying end to my night.

The new content is great. Blizzard isn't reinventing the wheel here by any stretch, but aside from a few quest bugs this stuff is spit-shined polished. The zones are huge and beautiful, the instances engaging, and the quests laid out in a logical pattern.

Come to think of it, the game is so great, I'm resenting that I have to write this and do other real-life stuff instead of play right now. It's possible that this speaks more to my personality than the game, however (something my girlfriend could attest to). Your tendency to be a completely OCD WoW zealot may vary.

The biggest discouragement of the weekend was learning that one of the new uber pro guilds actually "beat the game" already. I mean these guys are pros and go way beyond my commitment and skill, but for them it's pretty much over until the next major content patch.

Hmmm, you know, I think I've come full circle since I first started writing this. At my current level of 74, I'd much rather have six levels to go with incredible and challenging (for me at least) content waiting, than to be sitting there with the game, bored within a few days of its release. Sometimes I guess being "months behind" ain't all that bad. Or maybe I'm just fooling myself.

[tek-ed]

People who run through a game and get through it as quickly as possible defeat the game's main purpose. These games are for immersion. You need to spend time exploring the environment, noticing the subtlties and interacting with NPCs. The developers spent a lot of time and effort to make the game as full and complete as possible...it is a disservice to those who created the game to just blaze through it and declare yourself king of the mountain because you finished first...you know what? In my opinion, those people *aren't* winners, they're loosers because they failed to become part of the game. They failed the game's main purpose...to create a realm you can get lost in. I think it is sad...I've watched people play games like Halo, or Return of the Jedi or Half Life 2 and they just run through the environments without even looking at anything...all they do is kill the baddies and run to the next scene...They don't wait to see the cut scenes, they don't interact with the NPCs...they're only goal is to get to the next level...I feel sorry for these disillusioned people...their travels IRL must be pathetic. Rushing through the experience of life just to get to the end...but we all know what happens at the end if life...it ends and you're dead. For real! So, like life, take a journey...try to stay away from the end for as long as possible...see everything, interact with everything...the goal is not the end, it's how you play the game!
Ed
web/gadget guru

[walsh84]

That may be what you look for, and expect out of the game, but the same can not blindly be said for all. Some people (myself included) are not as concerned with lore and avatar development as they are character/guild progression.

People power through the game for different reasons, you can't say they are wasting Blizzard's hard work. Why do you think they rush to 80? If you were Blizzard, would you not take it as a compliment that people are powering through to experience the new PvP, 10 man, and 25 man content? If you've even played any of the end-game content (which it sounds like you haven't) you'd realize that this is not the END for many, it's just the beginning. The process of obtaining new gear, enchants, defeating group encounters,etc. is far more exciting than mind-numbing quests whose formula has not changed since the original title.

Get off your self-titled "web/gadget guru" soap box.

[LiveStronger]

@ Walsh - No, Blizzard wouldn't. WotLK has the greatest graphics, most beautiful areas and some of the most fun and random quests I've ever seen. Ed is right in saying that those people who bypass the hard work of the developers, who put just as much time in making an awe-inspiring environment as they did crunching the numbers for different classes and gear. The problem with blitzkrieging to 80 is it's very lonely, and trade chat has been plagued with around bored level 76+ toons doing lower-level instances because there's no one at their level. Yes, Level 80 does have more pvp, 5/10/25 mans, but at the same time, everyone they'll want to group or pvp with (i.e. the masses) won't be close to their level any time soon.