Here is a paragraph that sums up what I felt, but couldn't vocalize:
In fact, I struggled to maintain interest in the game. World of Warcraft is structured around quests, almost all of which conform to a small set of patterns: kill x number of enemies, retrieve such and such an item (which usually requires killing x amount of enemies to procure), go interact with such and such an object (which usually requires killing x amount of enemies to get to). The various enemies in the game are often recycled versions of the same things that one sees scattered throughout one's gradual ascent in level. Many parts of the game are beautiful, but beyond a certain level of superficial art, there is simply smoothness. There is no more detail to be absorbed in an area than is immediately obvious, generally speaking, quite unlike the real world, which yields depths upon depths the more one peers. The best experiences were with other players; interaction with them was, of course, complicated and unpredictable.None of the play that I watched included interaction with other players, so the one part which the person who wrote this considered most worthwhile was the part I didn't see. (Truth be told though, I'm a lone gamer... playing with other people doesn't interest me.) But, it was the shallowness of the world... the lack of intimate details or hidden discoveries that created the deficiency. To me, the game seemed to consist of run-run-run, slash-slash-slash, grab-grab-grab, run-run-run.
1 comment:
I too am a solo style of gamer, but I did play and will say I rather enjoyed WOW. The quests were usually pretty monotonous and annoying, but there were some pretty interesting quests throughout, and at least for me it filled the niche that most RPG games rarely did fill, a real sense of accomplishment when I earned a new level or achieved a particular quest that I was struggling with, or acquired a weapon or piece of armor that was a more than a mere step up from what you had. The world is large enough that it feels like you could turn a corner and find something you never thought you would find. Flying over it on the back of a winged beast you see sights you later try and find pathways to try and get to (only in a few rare instances will this be possible) and the world feels a lot more alive than any solo game I have ever played.
But the cons are as great as the pros, for me was the other people playing the game. I never joined a guild so everyone who was anyone would ask for me to join their guild (or even shove a guild join request into my face) or just the constant begging from others for this or that, mostly money, or help to achieve something they should be able to do on their own (and given I mostly did everything on my own, I knew such was possible). I frequently asked on the forums if there was an ignore everyone on server command, which most people promptly said "You know this is a MMORPG, a massively multiplayer in otherwords" not understanding that maybe a person could like the game and hate the people within. But despite this I played one character from levels 1 through 70, and it literally took me like 7 or 8 months (I wasn't in a rush) and I had a great time doing it barring my problems above.
I wouldn't write off WOW as being without any worth so much even for the solo player, its not for everyone, and for those who do get into it, it can take over your life for a time, but it was a great experience in my opinion, and many others also find it so, which is kind of why Blizzard pulls in a nice chunk of change every month from it.
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