Here was my thought process two days ago:
Well, there aren't many games coming out right now, and I enjoyed watching the feature that Dan Ryckert's been doing on GB with World of Warcraft, why not try the game myself?
You see, I'd only ever tried the Starter Edition of WoW prior to a few days ago, and the game had never really interested me. Sure the world always seemed fascinatingly large in scope, and I liked the idea of getting a character to a high level and going on 3 hour long raids, but no one I know in real life plays the game. I always thought it would be insufferably boring without at least a partner to play with. Also, since I never even had to patience to get to level 20 (the cap for the Starter Edition of WoW), I didn't see the point in ever investing a lot of time into the game. But since it was relatively cheap to get the game up to Cataclysm for a month, I thought I'd try it. The way I looked at it, I couldn't recall ever playing a game consistently for an entire month, so if I got bored before the month was up, I'd never have to put any more money into the game. As it turns out, I hadn't even begun to scratch the surface of this gargantuan, genius, and diabolically designed game.
For the first 20 levels, all that occupied my mind was "I need a mount". Above all else the biggest frustration of the early stages of WoW is having to travel by foot everywhere (except when a travel point is accessible, but these aren't frequent enough to solve the problem). Performing the boring tasks that make up the early stages of an MMO is tedious indeed, but once you embrace the fact that these are simply there to get you to the good part quickly, it really isn't that bad. Perhaps the thing that has made WoW occupy my every waking thought so far is the fact that features are made accessible to the player at a fairly slow pace. Want to search for dungeons? You'll have to wait until level 15. Looking to access your classes specializations (extra skill trees), that isn't accessible immediately either. By offering the player these further choices at a slower pace, there is always something to look forward to in WoW. It was around five minutes before writing this that I truly began to worry about what I was getting into with this game. So far every quest I've completed has been with the goal of getting to level 20 to get a mount, which has already added up to close to 11 hours. This was over two days of playing the game, and I honestly don't know where that time went. With such a specific task in mind it's easy to get caught up in the process of grinding out quest after quest. I haven't joined a guild yet, I haven't played with anyone else (a close friend is also getting into the game though so that may change), yet I've already spent as much time in the game as is needed to complete many story-driven games. But enough of that, because getting caught up on time spent in game is a useless thing to worry about (luckily I have a job which prevents me from playing 24/7.
Once I get my mount though, I won't have as much of a goal. Perhaps I'll give a dungeon a try, matching up with randoms and perhaps making friends along the way. I'm looking forward to getting a response from my guild membership requests, which will offer more opportunities to play with other people. I got a Baneling pet in the mail a little while ago because I had bought the collectors edition of Heart of the Swarm when it came out, which made me a lot more happy than it probably should have. My hope is that I meet people to play with, as that is what the game is meant for. I think the biggest mistake I made while playing the game before however, was expecting to meet up with randoms from the get go and embarking on huge quests which dropped loot with the excess of Diablo 3 (a game which I love, for the record). But WoW, at least at the beginning, is a very slow-paced game, one which requires you to set your sights low at first (getting a horse to ride on!) and then working your way up slowly. This offers a refreshing change of pace from many other games where the sole purpose is to offer constant excitement. I realize I'm being manipulated with a constant "carrot on a stick" mentality with this game, but I really don't care. I'm having too much fun immersing myself in this gigantic world.
So the moral of the story is, I'm already lost in WoW, before I've entered a dungeon, met a friend, or gotten a mount. I couldn't be more excited to venture forth and see just how far this game goes (hint: it goes on forever). My questions for you are as follows: if you play WoW, why do you? What makes it fun for you, and what are some of the goals after getting your first mount? Thanks for any feedback!
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