I did decide to upgrade my account to Cataclysm, which means I also had to buy Wrath of the Lich King as well, and getting a month-at-a-time subscription.

As you can guess from the title above, even though I did decided to subscribe and (hopefully) play, I wasn’t very impressed with my 10-day trial experience. The first nine levels of the Dwarf zone were not as different as I expected. They have definitely been cleaned up and some of the more generic side-quests removed, but I expected more somehow.

So why did I end up spending the money? I was been back and forth about a dozen times over whether or not to subscribe. While I’m interested in seeing the Worgen starting zone, that’s not really worth the $60+ it cost to upgrade my account. I’m also not certain how much time I’ll really get to play in December, it is going to be very busy month for me between work and the Christmas holiday. I decided to go ahead now, rather than wait until January, because now is when most of the people that I know are playing and I expect that come January quite a few will have moved on to other games.

See you in Azeroth, or you will once I decide where I’m rolling.

Playing WoW… but not wowed yet.
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11 thoughts on “Playing WoW… but not wowed yet.

  • December 13, 2010 at 1:13 am
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    This is one game I never got into. I played it two months at launch and I never returned. The classes I guess just didn’t do it for me. I wanted more of a bard class. In fact I’m back in Everquest with some friends and I think that is the only reason I’m playing EQ. I hope you’re return is a fun experience!

    • December 13, 2010 at 12:29 pm
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      Wow, back in EQ1? I’m not sure I could go back that far. Not including Minecraft, I’m too shallow to go back and play really old games. I’m glad you’re having fun though.

  • December 13, 2010 at 7:04 am
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    This is, literally, the first Cataclysm post that isn’t blatant support, or masked support of the new content.

    • December 13, 2010 at 12:31 pm
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      Well, I call it like I see it. Who knows, maybe the subliminal messages embedded in the game just haven’t triggered yet.

      I did play a bit last night and got my little Dwarven Hunter to 11 and made it to the airport quest hub, supposedly things pick up from here. I certainly hope so.

      • December 13, 2010 at 1:49 pm
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        I’ve been having fun with my Dwarven Hunter, now level 28, started just after the Shattering. It’s not a fundamentally different game, but there’s enough to see and do that I’m still having fun with it. I don’t expect that to last for a long time, for a variety of reasons, but it’s still interesting to see what they have done with the world and how they are trying to maintain a death grip on the industry.

  • December 13, 2010 at 2:52 pm
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    The vanilla WoW and TBC starter experiences were “guided” enough and better than the new post-cataclysm imagining of the leveling process. Yes, better, this silly “for people who never ever saw a computer or MMO before” argument shows how lame the early experience has become.

    What Blizzard offers as “World” of Warcraft or calls “MMO” by now is the Farmville version of MMOs, accessible for players who apparently have very different demands and desires than the original EverQuest/UO/DAOC crowd.

    • December 13, 2010 at 4:29 pm
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      And yet, the rest of the world is still out there to go get lost in. The presence of rails doesn’t delete the rest of the world. Sure, some will be content to just be led by the nose along the golden path, but that’s a personal problem, not a game design problem.

      • December 13, 2010 at 6:28 pm
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        I already answered that on your blog. I did not get lost in the World of Warcraft.

      • December 13, 2010 at 6:34 pm
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        I agree with Tesh. Sometimes, I get the feeling that calling a themepark MMO “on rails” is a compliment rather than a criticism. Taking you for a ride is what the game is designed to do, and for what it’s worth I think WoW does it well. While the beginning areas have become rather easy, I can still bring myself to enjoy it even as a veteran player. However, if I were someone who preferred a more open-ended experience, this game would not be for me. It all comes down to personal taste.

  • December 13, 2010 at 6:36 pm
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    I can totally understand where you’re coming from. Levels 1-10 are still relatively unchanged for all the pre-Cataclysm classes and after playing the Worgen area, I don’t think I can ever go back to these other races again. Seriously, the night elf area was bland and tedious in comparison, and if what you experienced in the dwarf starting area was anything like that, I can see why you weren’t that impressed.

  • December 21, 2010 at 8:37 am
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    Well, from someone that recently resubscribed after a long break (stopped right after TBC), I can say I’m enjoying the game. Offcourse, I did roll a Worgen character, so I got to see the guided newbie experience. And I like it. Maybe a bit to guided at times, but it is enjoyable nonetheless.

    Granted, also I did create a dwarven warrior just for fun, but I stopped playing him. The dwarven zone is very *bleh* compared to the Worgen.

    I’m actually curious if the time spent to level 80 is going to be a lonely experience. Up until now (lvl 42) I did not have to group once with another person in order to finish a quest. There is just no need to. Xp and quest are on speed (which is good), but I wonder what happens when you get to Outland and Northrend? These zone must be pretty barren, besides the occasional Worgen and Goblin.

    Oh well, I’ll soon find out.

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