When writing down my initial impressions of “World of Warcraft” in an earlier article, I found the game structure to be archaic and seemingly uninteresting as I began leveling a character for the first time. Although these impressions may have been harsh after only experiencing a rather vertical slice of the gameplay and experience, after a significantly longer playtime (I am currently level 71), these earlier thoughts remain true. So the real question then becomes, if I dislike how a game is played, why have I bought both of the expansions as well as paying for a monthly subscription fee?

I guess the answer like most isn’t clear, even to me. Although I have no basis for knowing how much fun the WoW endgame content is, it is a motivating factor that has kept me playing. Especially with the newly added achievements, WoW is a game that truly makes you feel like you have accomplished something. Whether it is a long chain quest to get your epic riding mount, or reaching the expansion territories of Outlands or Northrend, these milestones carry more weight simply because of the investment of time that is required.

With my decision to play a character on a PvP server (Player Vs. Player), a server that allows players from opposing factions to fight each other whenever they are seen, I feel as if another level to the game is found. Certainly when I was simply trying to level as fast as I could these fights, which always ended with me dead and an alliance player usually pointing and laughing at my corpse, seemed bothersome, yet now that I have learned how to play the game I actually enjoy the challenge of fighting another player and taking a chance to show of the character the I created. Arena battles and battlegrounds are a way to somewhat artificially create these game conditions and are actually a ton of fun, but nothing can match the intensity of a spontaneous one on one duel.

Upon entering the expansion content I began to realize how much work Blizzard has put into refining the quest and zone structures. While many of the quests can still seem insignificant, a greater variety in structure as well as including famous characters from the Warcraft universe as both quest givers, as well as participants in certain quest events have helped their monotonous nature from destroying the experience entirely. While true in Outlands, but especially apparent in Northrend, Zones have been laid out with an optimal path through them, ushering a player from one quest to another as it slowly unveils the zone to them.

Over the past few months however, my impression of the pricing structures, as well as the subscription payment structure have changed dramatically. Initially my thoughts boiled down to never wanting to continue to pay for a title after I had bought it, but now I see it as actually a very convenient way of playing a game. Many of the titles I buy for consoles seem to sit on the shelf for quite a while as I am playing through another title, but WoW always retains a motivating factor to continue playing and logging in. In my earlier article I likened the World of Warcraft experience to having a high maintenance girlfriend, but ultimately as with any long term relationship you take the good with the bad in hopes of clinging on to the one thing that keeps the experience fresh…the sex…the ever changing game design.

-Eric Wall

Tags: character design, MMORPG, Subscription, World of Warcraft

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