Filed under: World of Warcraft
Over the past week, I ran both my level 65 rogue and 62 priest through Ramparts and Blood Furnace, two of the introductory five-man instances in Burning Crusade. Each can be completed in under an hour. This casual instancing was a refreshing change after memories of whole nights spent in MC and BWL with nothing to show for it but a hefty repair bill. WoW is the only MMO where I made it to–or participated in–endgame. And it was ultimately the monotony and scripted class roles of endgame raiding that burnt me out just prior to Burning Crusade’s release last year.
BC has given me the chance to return to what made WoW so appealing to me when I first discovered it three years ago–exploring the quirky, stylized world; adventuring with, and making new, in-game friends; and feeling like I’ve progressed in at least some very little way virtually every time I log off at the end of the night. My guild is a very big factor in making the game for me as well, so I have all of them to thank. I’m sure my year away from the game did a world of good too, but I have to give credit where credit is due.
Another thing WoW does right that many new games are always missing the boat on is Blizzard do a LOT with a little. Though the graphics are not the most advanced, I’d argue it looks better than any game out there outside of LoTRO and EVE. I know a lot of people have qualms with the Disney-esque, cartoonish world, but I’ll go to my grave preferring that look and feel to the rigid Barbie doll avatars of most other titles.
My relationship with WoW is definitely love/hate and right now I’m in the midst of my second honeymoon. If nothing else, my return has reminded me that just because I tend to root for the underdog, that doesn’t mean that the prom king can’t have redeeming qualities too.
On this week’s Shut Up We’re Talking podcast, Brent from VirginWorlds dared suggest that despite all our bitching, MMORPGers LIKE grinding on some level. I immediately thought, “Hell no!”
As I finished my fifth “Kill 10 scary monsters and return to me with 10 scary monster scalps” quest in Vanguard tonight, something hit me. I was having a good time. And damn it, Brent had a point. But the fact remains, even if Marilyn Monroe is dangling a carrot in front of me, eventually I’m gonna get tired of looking at her. It’s not a question of whether or not MMOs will ever be grind-free. All “grind” really implies is that something has stopped feeling rewarding. Or perhaps more accurately, grind begins once repetition and monotony outweigh potential reward.
As the Ancient Gaming Noob pointed out in the same podcast, there are things that’d be downright monotonous that become a lot of fun if say, you’re engaging in those tasks with a group of friends. The multiplayer element of MMOs throws a random factor into tasks that, if performed solo, would become brain-numbingly repetitious pretty darn quickly. The right group dynamic offers a built-in social element, an added tactical element, and the extra satisfaction of working as a team that turns even the most repetitive Whac-A-Mole Furlbog rep grind into a night well spent.
If there’s enough variety to how they make me jump through hoops, I’ll do it again and again. Sometimes I want Marilyn dangling the carrot. Other times I’ll settle for Jayne Mansfield. I am a pretty simple animal. Initially all designers had to do is change the pretty scenery every so often, make the monsters bigger and scarier, throw me some coins and decent loot here and there, and I’d grind ’til the cows come home. This is where WoW lost me. They began using the same old formula for every rep grind and virtually every dungeon and every form of character advancement.
I don’t necessarily need an MMO that plays like a console game or an FPS. Eventually it’ll be a fun twist once someone actually gets it right–but honestly, for all my longing for that ‘next-gen’ title to blow the lid off the industry like UO or WoW did, all game companies really have to do is come up with more clever ways to throw me off: different formulas, different game mechanics, and different types of character progression.
