this is humunculus.
i’ve never played world of warcraft before. since it’s half term i thought it was the perfect opportunity to use the 10 day free trial on the website and try to understand the attraction. 11 million people can’t be wrong, right?
one of the contributors on the pcgamer podcast always goes on about how amazing it is, and other than that southpark episode, i really didn’t have a clue what it was going to be like. i don’t know anyone that plays it so haven’t actually seen someone sit down in from of m&k. i logged in on sunday and the noob realm was full of valentines day stuff which was unexpected. the towns were full of noobs like me and we were all running around doing the same quests (individually) to level up. i think i spent a good 3 hours inside before getting a little bored. it’s a massive place. the realm (i forget the name) takes about 15mins to run across and it’s a small county on a big island that is the original game (not including the 2 extra add on packs). after about an hour of collecting 8 of this and killing 5 of that i used up all the quests available at the abbey and went to goldshire. it was busier and the people wandering around were all of a much higher level than me.
and then they attacked. there are the horde and the alliance. i wanted to be a ‘tank’ character and was alliance and logged into the realm where in order to fight someone you have to agree. so i stood there and watched as lv80 horde ran into the town pwning anything that stood in their way. [i just tried to find a picture to do them justice, but seeing a massive demon with glowing armour riding a massive snow leopard killing guards with a single blow was pretty cool]. all the while they were screaming “HORRRDDDDEEEEZZ RUUUULLLLLEEEE!!!!!!!!!” etc. and lots of alliance shouting “LOL”. i am level 8 or something so it would have been like coughing in their direction if i’d wanted to get involved.
so i went back to questing, which turned out to be harder than i thought. just getting to the place was a pain in the ass because a) it takes ages to run places b) once you leave the road there are bears and wolves and other shit that’s 2 levels higher than you, and c) once you get there 2 or more of whatever will attack you and usually kill me while i try to run away. it wasn’t very satisfying. i’m used to dominating online and i was thoroughly schooled, again and again.
i can’t see myself paying for the full version and subscribing each month (about £5 i think) but it is a pretty impressive place to look around. seeing the effort and detail that goes into some of the characters, the names, clothes and outfit of weapons makes you appreciate how much people love this game. they love the variety, they love the feeling of community and they love the fighting. it is simply, a world of crafted war. no, wait…
cheers, wiki.
no.plan. 