So I'm at Wal-Mart. I'm only really here for cheap work shoes, but I feel the need to buy something else. I haven't spoiled myself in a while. I contemplate diving into a new platform altogether. PSP, DS, 360, Wii. None of them seem ripe enough yet. I pass.
So I look at the PC games. Crysis, Call of Duty 4, etc. None of them interest me. But World of Warcraft: BattleChest for $40? Hmm, comes with both DVDs, both manuals, 2 guest passes, a free month, and both BradyGames guides? That sounds like a bundle. I buy.
Now I'm not entirely fresh to this genre. I've tried nearly all of the highest rated "free" MMORPGs. I hated nearly all of them, but I did play
Rappelz for a solid month. I've tried out WoW a year prior, as well. Again, didn't get into it. But it's been patched many times. It's community matured (I assumed). I know I'm getting into this 3 years too late, but when
Mr. T and Shatner promote a game, it must be at it's peak. Or long past it's peak, depending on how you look at it.
So I install. Now with a high end DVD-RW drive and cable broadband, it took no less than 2 fucking hours to fully install and patch this bastard. That was ridiculous. At long last, I log-on, make an Undead Warlock, and trek on.
By about, oh, the 30th quest or 478th monster slain, whichever, I feel like I've already had my fill of this turd. For some reason, I assumed that if it's a game that requires a purchase AND a monthly fee, it must surely be more fun than a game that is completely free. Well, so far, that's just not the case. WoW lasted me 1 day. Rappelz lasted me 1 month.
Some of the core gripes:
1) The quests are boring and repetitive. Every single quest involves killing an enemy type, fetching an item, or speaking to someone. That's it. Nothing else. There's only so many little stories you can weave around these activities before it becomes far-fetched. Like...0 stories.
2) 9 million fucking subscribers, and yet I don't see anyone. In any given town, there are no more than 1 or 2 players (with the blue names). So...what gives? I went with the realm that it recommended me.
3) Related to the above gripe, I got invited to a guild as soon as I began, by some 19 year old who was clearly just spamming invites to amass a large guild full of strangers. I didn't even SEE this person in the game, nor have I seen any guild-mates as of yet. In this guild, no one does anything but chat about subjects I'd rather not know. One of the aliases belonged to a mother and son, who alternated on this game. This mother actually named her son Luke, after Star Wars, and gloated about how decked out her son's room was in Stars and Wars. I'm officially disturbed at this point, and starting to miss the little punks on Counter Strike calling me a cock-fag, because at least I can shoot them.
4) Everyone plays solo. As far as I can tell anyway. I don't see the point of a monthly fee when you don't play with anyone else online. If you want a single player adventure, buy a Final Fucking Fantasy. At least it has movies for you to watch to go with the grind. Grinding solo in WoW serves absolutely no purpose. There's just no reward. Can't these kids just go jackoff or something? At least they'll get something out of it.
5) Advertisement spam. It's a fucking epidemic, apparently. Every single time I log in, and multiple times an hour, douche-fists are PMing me messages like "$20 for undetectable hacks or your money back!". Well it's nice to know I just joined a community that's potentially full of hackers. That really motivates me to work hard on my character.
Anyways, since I'm so late to this party, I'm sure I'm stating nothing here that hasn't been said thousands of times before.
Do any of you play this shit? Do you enjoy it? If you do, can you teach me how to? The balloon tips sure aren't doing a very good job. I'll sit, be quiet, and absorb. Just take me under your wing and show me how to have fun in it. That's all I want.
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Also, a recommended server is normally just a low population server, and those are pretty boring unless you go there with a few friends.
I quit mainly because WoW became the only game I played, and I got tired of missing out on other stuff. The spamming wasn't nearly as bad back then, but with a MMO as popular as WoW it's inevitable. The mods can squash a dozen spammers and 50 more show up the next day.
At least that's how I see it. I can't really see how the game would be any fun unless you just get hopelessly addicted to it because you enjoy leveling. It seems like that's all MMORPGs really break down to. As far as I'm concerned, the only way to enjoy an online RPG is to have real life friends to play with you.
I tried WoW for a while and hated it. If the game can hook me with nice graphics or something right from the start, then I may stick with it just because I get addicted to grinding. WoW wasn't like that for me because I don't really care for the setting.
The only MMO I've ever played and actually enjoyed to some extent was Ragnarok Online (on various private servers). Even then, I mostly played because I got addicted to leveling. The only time it was really fun was with friends.
1.) Some of the quests are good, but its more the crazy ones, 99% are the same trite old crap you've done before.
2.) On low population (recommended) servers most players will either transfer a character (high level) or just not bother, go onto a medium or high server you'll see twinks etc running round in the starting zones and cities.
3.) This happens a lot, mostly people trying to get a guild started will spam invites NEVER accept, or if you do once its setup immediately leave (only do this if they offer G :D)
4.) Again recommended servers are usually low pop, so don't expect to see many people in town they're either grinding quests to level or just aren't there.
5.) Oh god those, I've not played in a while but I never got hack spam it was mainly "Buy 1000G for $xx @ werestupid.com" they seem to have a never ending amount of accounts, either that or blizz just suspends them and doesnt ban (which wouldn't surprise me).
Basically rules to having fun in WoW are pretty much either go and make friendly on high/medium pop servers to get friends, or find someone you know who plays and play with them. Otherwise its a lonely and boring experience, which is what most MMO's are like (Imho anyway).
I played Ragnarok Online for half a year with my ex and a bunch of friends from school. Only thing that kept me on that.
Myth Of Soma lasted me nearly 2 years I believe. Someone else paid for my account and I joined during beta and was one of the higher levels in the game. So when I did go online people were always chatting to me. Never had a problem finding people to hunt with, chat with etc etc. That's the major problem with mmo's these days. You have to either get right in there from the start to be recognized or run around for hours looking for people to party with.
I think I played wow for 20 mins?
The new world brings in both the Draenei and Blood Elf start areas and Outland (60 - 70)(the new continent reached through the dark portal). Most players will be in the outland areas, so you won't see anyone in the "old world" really. Most players will mainly be in the main city in outland called Shattrath.
Hopefully it makes a bit more sense now.
I started during open beta, cause it was free. Up to that point I refused to pay a monthly fee for a game. Funny thing, I ended up SAVING so much money by playing, mostly because I didn't leave my computer chair for anything but sex, food, or sleep (and occasionally to drink)
Raiding on a good guild is probably the most fun I have ever had while playing a video game. Being in a group with 40 people, trying to take out massive bosses that could take out your party in seconds if you screw up is very intense. You start to bond with your guildmates over time and end up making a lot of in-game friends.
There is also PVP, which you can also do solo (world PVP) or in groups (Battlegrounds and Arenas). If you never want to PVE again, you can just get rewards from PVP.
It sucks that you aren't enjoying the way to 60. I did on my first couple of characters, but by the end I couldn't stand to level anymore.
Also the fact that most people have made it to the level cap, or are in the Outlands by now probably doesn't help your problem with the population. Also, if you haven't hit 20 yet... you should at least try to keep going for a while. The game is rather boring when all you have is a bunch of plain items, barely any skills, and no talent points to customize your character.
At least they recently increased XP gain by 30% ;)
2) Others have said : recommended means "low pop", since high pop servers get very laggy. And most people who play have been playing for a while, which means that either they are high level or are soon going to be high level. So you won't see people.
A good way to look at WoW is this : it is two games. The first is the "level up" game, which is either grinding or doing quests, and is going to be largely a solo affair. You will definitely get bored along the way. The second is the "max level" game, where you can do a dozen different things, many of them with other people.