RIP WoW
So, my last public entry
was a goodbye to social
networks like FaceBook.
This one is something I said goodbye to
right before I bid farewell to FaceBook.
I'm talking about something I have been
a part of since even before MySpace,
and only recently stopped playing.
I'm talking about the one and only :
World of WarCraft
Intro and History
Ahhhh yes, MMORPG's.
WoW wasn't my first, though.
My first was Dark Age of Camelot.
DAoC was... okay... as a starter MMORPG.
It was very basic; mostly a grind-fest, but it did
serve its purpose to ease a newbie like myself into
the MMO world. Then around whenever WoW first came
out in late 2004, some friends said I should try it
and would probably enjoy it a hell of a lot more.
They were right.
DAoC by comparison sucked.
DAoC had maybe 3-4 different bits of music
in the entire game. They had more races and
classes, and 3 realms/factions, but it really
was not that impressive. Even with their 3rd
or 4th expansion, Catacombs, which really wasn't
worth the $40 or so I paid for it, let alone the
monthly fee (of which WoW was cheaper).
The base game of WoW even blew it out of the water.
When I tried out a new race or class, it really
did feel like a completely different game. I loved
how much detail they put into each different race's
starting areas; music, ambient elements, story line,
progressive quests, rewards, etc.
Didn't take me long to figure out which class was
my favorite. At the time, I was just disappointed it
was either Humans or Gnomes who could be a Warlock,
so I went with Human. Yeah, I started as Alliance
because of who I knew. After a while though, I
went Horde and never turned back :P
Unlike most who raved about original and The Burning
Crusade Expansion, I mostly enjoyed original and Wrath
of the Lich King, and I even liked Cataclysm. I played
that entire time over the years, excited with each new
patch released. I'm sorry, but TBC was just a boring
grind fest to me. Wrath had Dalaran, better music,
much more story, DK's were fun to play, and it made
it much easier for the non-stuck-up-elitist crowd to
finally get in on raiding action. It was also fun to
get a few decently geared top level people together
and pretty much mop the floor with original and even
TBC raids that were missed out on just because you
didn't want raiding as a second job or to deal with
the silly elitist dick sucking to keep your spot in
a high end raiding guild. However, I could appreciate
the effort people used to put into a raid... especially
when people would constantly bail on the dungeon and
raid queues.
Cataclysm, while I was a little weary at first, it
turned out to be pretty cool, and I really liked
most of the patch content they later released,
like Firelands and Dragon Soul and the accompanying
new dungeons. Great music too, as well as new use of
game mechanics.
However, it was also losing some of its qualities.
I soon had a feeling as everyone anticipated the
announcement of the upcoming expansion, that
whatever it was, it was going to either make
or break my choice in continuing to play the
game. And guess what? Yep, it made me nerd
rage to the extent of quitting for good.
A game for furries and anime kids
Now, while WoW was guilty of ripping off ideas
from other games before (and improving upon them,
mind you), I still really enjoyed the way they
implemented those ideas.
However...
As soon as Mists of Pandaria (or panda rape as I call it) was
announced to be the new expansion... I was so very disappointed...
and it pretty much showed me that WoW was officially waving the
sell-out flag. How? By blatantly gearing the game toward what is
probably the biggest market to tap into... as if Blizzard hasn't
been making enough money off of the rest of us all these years.
Yes, I get that everyone has their right to pursue their own
interests... but seriously? WoW, a game which had a pretty
strict yet diverse enough lore set to begin with, rather
than following the lore in the direction of The Emerald
Dream or an elemental plane, would rather go to the land
of the furries and give the game a total Asian feel? Not
just that, but seriously? You're going to practically
take the idea of the entire game of Pokemon and add
it as a sub-game for WoW by being able to catch,
level up, and make pets fight?
L-A-M-E.
And not only is the game infected with only one new race,
(which I know ALL the furries are flocking to, probably
being tired of playing Druids and Tauren) but one that
can be on both factions? Eww. Thanks for all the furrie
raiding the rest of us will have to deal with, along with
the already annoying anime kids. As if duel-whores weren't
bad enough, now we have to be bothered by Poke-nuts
desperately wanting to level their pets and think
they are Ash Ketchum or w/e.
I liked WoW because it was a nice ESCAPE from reality...
now you're bringing the most annoying parts of reality
TO us.
And just when I thought the possibility of enjoying
an RP server once in a while was feasible (but often
disappointing anyway), now the hope is completely
shattered with these spastic, annoying, overly
emotional anime kids running rampant, and even
more teens who think their power level is over
9000 just because they are taking on the persona
of a CARTOON and NOT real "bad ass penis
compensator character".
WoW just needs to be re-named
"That big high school fantasy
game that was once great, but
went to shit".
Yes, I even played the Beta of MoP.
I was not impressed.
At all.
It just didn't feel like WoW anymore.
At least all the other expansions were
very diverse in the new zones... and
while I can see some of the appeal of
the Asian aesthetic, to make an entire
new expansion to only have that theme
is just a waste and laziness.
It's not that I think I could do better,
it's that I was paying for them to do
a much better job than what they did,
and they should do more to earn their
paycheck. Why? Well, they've done
better all these years, and now, like
most restaurants that become too big
for their own good, the quality goes
down, appealing to the lowest common
denominator, and to make the most money.
I'm not closed-minded... this is coming
from the same guy who, despite hating
everything to do with Twilight, still
went to the trouble to watch all the
movies so I wouldn't be basing my
opinion on an ignorant assumption.
I have quit, and I really don't think I will ever
be looking back. I'm glad I got into it back when
it was a much better game and the player base was
diverse and the system wasn't broken, even if it
had a few bugs (like Rogues always owning everyone
in the BG's :P). To me, WotLK was the peak of its
age, and Cata was a bitter-sweet farewell party.
I am also tired of spending so much money on it.
If I really want another quality MMORPG, I'll
probably go buy Guild Wars 2. Once you buy it,
you never have to pay again. Until I can even
afford that, I am actually giving Runes of Magic
a try. It's not bad, but it just isn't what I got
so spoiled on with WoW in its glory days.
Moving beyond technology
Who knows... I may even stop playing MMORPG's
totally. I really, really miss playing D&D
(Dungeons and Dragons). I don't mean the
computer game, I mean the table-top, every-
one puts thought into their characters, write
things down, rolls the dice, actually have to
do math and calculate and think about their
next action, references books, and use
their imagination to keep the game
going version.
The kind where, you know, you actually
look at and talk to and interact with
other people without any pixels kind
of game.
The original grandfather of all RPG's.
... Without which there'd be NO WoW.
I've even gotten into modern battle games like
Black Ops... but it only holds my attention for
so long. I really do think, following what I said
in another recent entry, that I may just be grow-
ing out of the whole young crowd gamer thing, and
honestly, am more interested in getting my future
on track to make a stable life for myself, to get
out into the world, and to settle down and start
a family.
... I could definitely see myself as a parent who
at least tries to get their kid(s) into D&D, and
anything else that would encourage them to use
their imagination and other mental processes.
I would want them to have toys that encourage
education and creativity (pencils, crayons,
paint, play-doh, paper, musical instruments,
safe toy weapons (like a family Nerf gun
battle every Christmas lol) etc).
While the computer can be a useful tool and
can be fun, I'd rather not have the children,
or myself for that matter, feel it necessary
to depend too much on it for entertainment or
to learn more about the world... let alone
for a false social life.
When they hit their teens, I will get them into
cars and to find other hobbies, probably also do
some volunteer work. Hell, I did, via JROTC. I
will teach them how to properly handle a firearm,
maybe even reload. I will also most likely inherit
my grandfather's wood working equipment and tools,
so I may even continue to use it as a hobby.
The bottom line is, would you rather spend hours
and hours and tons of money on something almost
anyone can do, or that you have to have a computer
to even see (even if it promotes a business), or
would you rather be able to grab an instrument or
possess other knowledge of real things in the world,
and demonstrate your talent right there? Such things
may be primitive to some in the face of constantly
expanding technology, but there's something to be
said for things that have helped sustain us for the
previous thousands of years, before all the little
gadgets that happened in the last 70 years of
Human existence.
Even with modern technology, we may create a few
new things, but more often, it's used to find a
new way to enjoy things we've always had; like
a program to play music or edit it, or to make
videos, or even create replacement parts for a
Human body, or to redesign a building to live
in a more comfortable, safe, artistic, and
efficient way.
We are still Human beings.
When we start to become like the Borg, then maybe
I will revamp my speech here. But even then, it's
still important we remember what we came from, and
to never lose sight of those things which make us
truly Human. Technology is only meant to enhance
that, not to allow us to enslave ourselves with it.
was a goodbye to social
networks like FaceBook.
This one is something I said goodbye to
right before I bid farewell to FaceBook.
I'm talking about something I have been
a part of since even before MySpace,
and only recently stopped playing.
I'm talking about the one and only :
World of WarCraft
Intro and History
Ahhhh yes, MMORPG's.
WoW wasn't my first, though.
My first was Dark Age of Camelot.
DAoC was... okay... as a starter MMORPG.
It was very basic; mostly a grind-fest, but it did
serve its purpose to ease a newbie like myself into
the MMO world. Then around whenever WoW first came
out in late 2004, some friends said I should try it
and would probably enjoy it a hell of a lot more.
They were right.
DAoC by comparison sucked.
DAoC had maybe 3-4 different bits of music
in the entire game. They had more races and
classes, and 3 realms/factions, but it really
was not that impressive. Even with their 3rd
or 4th expansion, Catacombs, which really wasn't
worth the $40 or so I paid for it, let alone the
monthly fee (of which WoW was cheaper).
The base game of WoW even blew it out of the water.
When I tried out a new race or class, it really
did feel like a completely different game. I loved
how much detail they put into each different race's
starting areas; music, ambient elements, story line,
progressive quests, rewards, etc.
Didn't take me long to figure out which class was
my favorite. At the time, I was just disappointed it
was either Humans or Gnomes who could be a Warlock,
so I went with Human. Yeah, I started as Alliance
because of who I knew. After a while though, I
went Horde and never turned back :P
Unlike most who raved about original and The Burning
Crusade Expansion, I mostly enjoyed original and Wrath
of the Lich King, and I even liked Cataclysm. I played
that entire time over the years, excited with each new
patch released. I'm sorry, but TBC was just a boring
grind fest to me. Wrath had Dalaran, better music,
much more story, DK's were fun to play, and it made
it much easier for the non-stuck-up-elitist crowd to
finally get in on raiding action. It was also fun to
get a few decently geared top level people together
and pretty much mop the floor with original and even
TBC raids that were missed out on just because you
didn't want raiding as a second job or to deal with
the silly elitist dick sucking to keep your spot in
a high end raiding guild. However, I could appreciate
the effort people used to put into a raid... especially
when people would constantly bail on the dungeon and
raid queues.
Cataclysm, while I was a little weary at first, it
turned out to be pretty cool, and I really liked
most of the patch content they later released,
like Firelands and Dragon Soul and the accompanying
new dungeons. Great music too, as well as new use of
game mechanics.
However, it was also losing some of its qualities.
I soon had a feeling as everyone anticipated the
announcement of the upcoming expansion, that
whatever it was, it was going to either make
or break my choice in continuing to play the
game. And guess what? Yep, it made me nerd
rage to the extent of quitting for good.
A game for furries and anime kids
Now, while WoW was guilty of ripping off ideas
from other games before (and improving upon them,
mind you), I still really enjoyed the way they
implemented those ideas.
However...
As soon as Mists of Pandaria (or panda rape as I call it) was
announced to be the new expansion... I was so very disappointed...
and it pretty much showed me that WoW was officially waving the
sell-out flag. How? By blatantly gearing the game toward what is
probably the biggest market to tap into... as if Blizzard hasn't
been making enough money off of the rest of us all these years.
Yes, I get that everyone has their right to pursue their own
interests... but seriously? WoW, a game which had a pretty
strict yet diverse enough lore set to begin with, rather
than following the lore in the direction of The Emerald
Dream or an elemental plane, would rather go to the land
of the furries and give the game a total Asian feel? Not
just that, but seriously? You're going to practically
take the idea of the entire game of Pokemon and add
it as a sub-game for WoW by being able to catch,
level up, and make pets fight?
L-A-M-E.
And not only is the game infected with only one new race,
(which I know ALL the furries are flocking to, probably
being tired of playing Druids and Tauren) but one that
can be on both factions? Eww. Thanks for all the furrie
raiding the rest of us will have to deal with, along with
the already annoying anime kids. As if duel-whores weren't
bad enough, now we have to be bothered by Poke-nuts
desperately wanting to level their pets and think
they are Ash Ketchum or w/e.
I liked WoW because it was a nice ESCAPE from reality...
now you're bringing the most annoying parts of reality
TO us.
And just when I thought the possibility of enjoying
an RP server once in a while was feasible (but often
disappointing anyway), now the hope is completely
shattered with these spastic, annoying, overly
emotional anime kids running rampant, and even
more teens who think their power level is over
9000 just because they are taking on the persona
of a CARTOON and NOT real "bad ass penis
compensator character".
WoW just needs to be re-named
"That big high school fantasy
game that was once great, but
went to shit".
Yes, I even played the Beta of MoP.
I was not impressed.
At all.
It just didn't feel like WoW anymore.
At least all the other expansions were
very diverse in the new zones... and
while I can see some of the appeal of
the Asian aesthetic, to make an entire
new expansion to only have that theme
is just a waste and laziness.
It's not that I think I could do better,
it's that I was paying for them to do
a much better job than what they did,
and they should do more to earn their
paycheck. Why? Well, they've done
better all these years, and now, like
most restaurants that become too big
for their own good, the quality goes
down, appealing to the lowest common
denominator, and to make the most money.
I'm not closed-minded... this is coming
from the same guy who, despite hating
everything to do with Twilight, still
went to the trouble to watch all the
movies so I wouldn't be basing my
opinion on an ignorant assumption.
I have quit, and I really don't think I will ever
be looking back. I'm glad I got into it back when
it was a much better game and the player base was
diverse and the system wasn't broken, even if it
had a few bugs (like Rogues always owning everyone
in the BG's :P). To me, WotLK was the peak of its
age, and Cata was a bitter-sweet farewell party.
I am also tired of spending so much money on it.
If I really want another quality MMORPG, I'll
probably go buy Guild Wars 2. Once you buy it,
you never have to pay again. Until I can even
afford that, I am actually giving Runes of Magic
a try. It's not bad, but it just isn't what I got
so spoiled on with WoW in its glory days.
Moving beyond technology
Who knows... I may even stop playing MMORPG's
totally. I really, really miss playing D&D
(Dungeons and Dragons). I don't mean the
computer game, I mean the table-top, every-
one puts thought into their characters, write
things down, rolls the dice, actually have to
do math and calculate and think about their
next action, references books, and use
their imagination to keep the game
going version.
The kind where, you know, you actually
look at and talk to and interact with
other people without any pixels kind
of game.
The original grandfather of all RPG's.
... Without which there'd be NO WoW.
I've even gotten into modern battle games like
Black Ops... but it only holds my attention for
so long. I really do think, following what I said
in another recent entry, that I may just be grow-
ing out of the whole young crowd gamer thing, and
honestly, am more interested in getting my future
on track to make a stable life for myself, to get
out into the world, and to settle down and start
a family.
... I could definitely see myself as a parent who
at least tries to get their kid(s) into D&D, and
anything else that would encourage them to use
their imagination and other mental processes.
I would want them to have toys that encourage
education and creativity (pencils, crayons,
paint, play-doh, paper, musical instruments,
safe toy weapons (like a family Nerf gun
battle every Christmas lol) etc).
While the computer can be a useful tool and
can be fun, I'd rather not have the children,
or myself for that matter, feel it necessary
to depend too much on it for entertainment or
to learn more about the world... let alone
for a false social life.
When they hit their teens, I will get them into
cars and to find other hobbies, probably also do
some volunteer work. Hell, I did, via JROTC. I
will teach them how to properly handle a firearm,
maybe even reload. I will also most likely inherit
my grandfather's wood working equipment and tools,
so I may even continue to use it as a hobby.
The bottom line is, would you rather spend hours
and hours and tons of money on something almost
anyone can do, or that you have to have a computer
to even see (even if it promotes a business), or
would you rather be able to grab an instrument or
possess other knowledge of real things in the world,
and demonstrate your talent right there? Such things
may be primitive to some in the face of constantly
expanding technology, but there's something to be
said for things that have helped sustain us for the
previous thousands of years, before all the little
gadgets that happened in the last 70 years of
Human existence.
Even with modern technology, we may create a few
new things, but more often, it's used to find a
new way to enjoy things we've always had; like
a program to play music or edit it, or to make
videos, or even create replacement parts for a
Human body, or to redesign a building to live
in a more comfortable, safe, artistic, and
efficient way.
We are still Human beings.
When we start to become like the Borg, then maybe
I will revamp my speech here. But even then, it's
still important we remember what we came from, and
to never lose sight of those things which make us
truly Human. Technology is only meant to enhance
that, not to allow us to enslave ourselves with it.