Saturday, October 20, 2007About Me...
Like many World of Warcraft players I was a huge Everquest addict before I was into WoW. I played a ton of EQ back in its hay day. I loved RPGs in general so once I tried EQ I was hooked. EQ was my first MMORPG and its level of immersion, character leveling, quest for better gear/weapons and most importantly ability to let me hang out and raid with my friends in-game all created an irressistable experience that I couldn't get enough of. Greater Faydark FTW!
I played EQ for a good 4(+?) years but surprisingly only leveled 1 character past 50 ("Rhydius" the rogue on Veeshan server). I was a member of the Dread Templar guild for most of that time. After the 1st couple EQ expansion packs I started having computer problems since the expansion packs required a faster computer. So around the time the 3rd (Luclin) expansion pack came out my EQ addiction was sadly almost gone. A good number of guild members had stopped playing around that time as well, so I eventually stopped playing as well. However, by that time news of "Everquest 2" was already on the horizon so I was hopeful that my love (addiction) for the game would come back when EQ2 came out...
Unfortunately when EQ2 came out things took a turn for the worse. While there were various issues w/the game the one that killed it for me was the hardware/technical issues with it. The game had incredibly high system requirements and even if you had a system capable of playing it there were still issues with slow video performance, audio issues etc. I gave the game a good 2 months of "Oh I'm sure they'll release a patch to fix everything" - but nothing ever came. I was crushed to accept the reality that I was just not going to be able to play Everquest 2.Around this time a game called "World of Warcraft" had come out and was a direct competitor to Everquest 2. I was very against the idea of myself ever playing WoW just for the dumb/stubborn reason that it was a competitor of Everquest - and even though I was currently going mad with technical problems with Everquest 2, I refused to even contemplate trying WoW myself.Eventually one of my EQ1 friends told me he and some other guildies were playing WoW and loving it. I was pretty shocked that they would betray EQ. But, after realizing that EQ2 was never going to work on my computer, I finally gave in, bought the game, installed the game on my computer and signed up for a trial account thinking..."I'll just try this while I wait for EQ2 to get fixed..."
I was hooked on WoW on the 1st day I tried it! I uninstalled EQ2 that same day and have never looked back! I've been playing WoW for over 3 years now and so no signs of slowing down yet! As of writing this I have four characters at max level (70), one in his mid 60s and then a few other mid-level alts - See this page for details about my characters. I'm currently in a great guild of around 30 people all around my age (mid-20s, to early 40s) and I also have a number of in-game friends from other guilds. I go on 2-3 regular raids a week and play whenever my other free time allows.
About WoW
For those who don't know what World of Warcraft (WoW) is here's my humble attempt at describing it...
WoW isn't the #1 MMORPG by default or by accident though - it earns that title by being a true "eighth wonder of the [PC gaming] world". Here are a few reasons why this PC gaming juggernaut is so popular likely to stay that way for quite a while...
- Level of Polish
The game's level of polish on all fronts surpasses any other game I've ever played. The user interface, the combat, the mechanics of character development are all not only extremely intuitive but are gleefully entertaining to interact with as well. So many game developers skimp on "polishing" various aspects of their game but BLIZZARD makes it a point/standard to maintain an extremely high level of polish on everything in the game and it certainly pays off. - Art/Design & Environments
With the incredible variety of landscape types (snow, mountains, forests, jungles etc), the real-time day/night mechanic and unique musical scores written for each area it's really impossible to describe how amazing the game world is. After playing the game as much as I have it's easy to overlook the beauty of the game world but I still find myself stopping and smelling the roses (read: "taking screenshots") as my characters through the world. I literally catch myself going "Wow.. that is awesome looking..." every once in a while (still!). - Engaging Storeyline/Lore
As you'd expect from any RPG, the storyline/lore in WoW is always intriguing and engaging. The "Warcraft" world actually had quite a storyline developed before it was an MMORPG thanks to the "Warcraft" RTS games that came before it. - Endless List of Things to Do and Support for Multiple Play Styles
There is an almost endless list of things you can do in-game. You can pickup a tradeskill and sell your wares, farm materials and sell them on the auction house, raid with your guild or pickup groups through the various "dungeons" in the game, go up against other players in arenas or battlegrounds, or just play solo and quest and kill stuff for gold/loot!
The game also provides an enjoyable experience for all sorts of players with all different amounts of available playtime. You can play just an hour or two a night or spend all day in-game. - Frequent Game Updates & Patches and Expansion Packs
Blizzard keeps the game fresh and bug-free by releasing frequent content and gameplay updates. In addition, their expansion packs seem to have the potential to extend the game for years to come.
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