Free Candy For Everyone

After an epic length download, install, patch download, patch install, repeat ad infinitum, I finally got my Wrath of the Lich King beta installed and playable tonight. There are really two options - copy over a character, or roll a death knight. I decided to start with the death knight because I figured everyone and their pet mouse would be doing that when the expansion actually hits so I’ll hold off for a bit and experience the 70-80 content at launch, not the death knight stuff.

I am Horde through and through (well, ok, I might have played Alliance at some point, but shhhh) so I decided to make a gnome Death Knight, of course. Well, I did! I figured I’d never ever roll a gnome once it goes live (well, mostly because I play on a PvP server and so I can’t) and this way I’ll get to see things from the other side. Plus gnomes are super cute. I’m going to share some screenshots and thoughts, but don’t worry, I’ll keep it spoiler free. Unless you want spoilers! Let me know, I took some quest text screenshots that are pretty funny.

I’m the little gal all the way on the right. I kinda look like a Jawa, don’t I? Deep hood, glowing eyes, yup. It was pretty funny to see all these newbie DKs of different races all in exactly the same matching armor. Mostly little folks in that screenshot, but I saw Draenei and others running around too.

The quests are really quite different and inventive. Like I said, I won’t go into details but there are lots of new mechanics and it’s quite cool. And there’s fun dialog. I don’t think this is a spoiler…

Even the mobs give me no respect. I’m just too darn cute, clearly. And the other players think so too!

(I’m Pandella)

Well, I’m not all cute and cuddly! I’m a fearsome Death Knight, beware. Here’s a better mood shot to help you get the hint.

Overall I was having a great time playing the new area. I only stopped because of a server shutdown, otherwise I’d probably still be playing, trying to finish out the DK starting quest chain!

I got an exciting email today from Blizzard, telling me that I’d been selected to participate in the Wrath of the Lich King beta. Yes, I get to take my precious spare time and test their pre-release software and like it. So I got home from work, all excited to give it a try and started the process to install the Beta client.

Five hours later, it’s still downloading. Hopefully it’ll finish up soon and I’ll be able to take a look. It’s funny, because I was so super excited about the idea of getting into the beta and seeing everything that’s going on with the game. Now that it comes down to it, I don’t know how much I’ll actually play the beta. You don’t get to keep any progress you make - everything is subject to change as well. I think I’ll take a little tour of the new world, maybe post some pictures, but try not to get too caught up in it.

There are a lot of people playing World of Warcraft out there, something like 10 million, in fact. For almost three years, I have been one of them. Which bets the question, why am I still playing after all this time?

Start with the obvious: the game is constantly changing and updating. The second character I ever made was a Paladin. I got her to level 29 and stopped because I just didn’t find her fun. I still haven’t gotten a pally above 35, but the last one I started was an eye opener. Everything was different! So many new abilities and complete changes to the way the class played, it was a completely new experience. Plus, Blizzard is always adding new quests and raids to play in. Getting a whole new dungeon to play in is always awesome.

There’s always another character class. At this point I have 3 70s - a mage, a shaman and a priest. I have characters of the other 6 classes scattered around across the level spectrum and I’m always up for leveling a new alt. Some people get tired of the “level grind” but the excitement of getting new spells/abilities and figuring out how to use them is just plain awesome to me.

But finally, there’s the real reason I haven’t quit WoW: the people. This one seems obvious, but it’s only in the last 6 months that I had any characters that I played purely with people I met online. In the past, I always played with real life friends, which is awesome, but I was always in small guilds of around 10 people and we never did any serious endgame content. My shaman is in a casual raiding guild and I’ve had the chance to experience 10 man and 25 man content. I love seeing new things, and I love being able to log on and see someone I know at any hour of the day. There’s usually someone around to help out with whatever.

All in all, I’m still wrapped up in WoW. I still don’t have a character at 70 who’s for serious PvP, or a character for tanking, so I’m leveling some more. Someday I’m sure it’ll all be too much, I’ll have done it all and finally feel ready to move on to something new. But for now, it’s been a fun three years, and I’m sure Wrath of the Lich King will only serve to feed my addiction more. Here’s to too much time online!