My husbie, J bought me the WoW battlechest for Christmas. I'm the kind of person who likes to try new things and I was looking for something to fill those dead zones in the day where Elouise is napping or I want to work off some energy before bed.
World of Warcraft was once the thing to play but now the hype has lessened I felt less intimidated to have a go. J went off to the nearest game-store as I had read online that you could now play as a panda on WoW. It was quickly explained to him that it was expansion so buying all the previous releases would be required. I had suspected that but had hoped that there was a set with all of them available but there wasn't so we settled for the basic playable set.
He brought it home and it felt like it took forever to install and it did rather, a fair few hours wait on our dodgy wireless connection. Poo.
I created a character, a Tauren warrior named Retromama and me and J took turns learning gameplay and how to control the character. It was really nice to share the exciting new experience with my husbie, he is a casual game console player - slower learner than myself - I'm a bit of an all-round nerd, knowledgeable about a wide range of things and quick to pick up things sometimes.
We soon got a bit frustrated with each other, both wanting our turn to play and J felt like I was being bossy... wanting to be helpful, explaining things whereas he wanted to learn from experience and was repeatedly killing my character.
The next day, J created his own character Verdesword, a Night Elf warrior. After he got his own character I reset Retromama as I was unhappy with how he had experienced things on my character I hadn't and I was at the time stuck in a loop of dying and returning to the area my character was left in only to die again. It really took the fun out of it so I restarted.
Since we got WoW it has been a learning experience, learning to share computer time and finding a good middle-ground where Elouise gets our time too, with each of us. I also found it to be like a little experiment, showing how we both differ in how we play given the same game.
J plays Verdesword much differently than I would, he wields a one-handed weapon as J likes his high-armour shield so much he refuses to fight without it. J plays more haphazard, charging enemies and J mashing the action keys until it dies. He likes to pick and choose h, is quests, choosing ones he thinks will benefit his character the best and spends most of his time travelling the map, discovering new towns and doing dungeons. He does that sort of blindly, often dropping himself in high-level areas and dying a fair few times in the allocated time.
I am a daily player preferring quietly soloing quests and collecting materials, I travel rarely concentrating instead on the one area. I love clearing out areas of enemies and could spend quite a while just killing and looting, I also wait for my favourite rare mobs and love grabbing good items. I hate dungeoning as I'm chicken and only do an instance if I have a high-level escort to help me out.
While I was new I filled my time with quest-chains. I'd solo from one to the other, barely seeing other players and after a while it felt a little lonely. I was request spammed by a guild so I joined them. I went up 10 levels without either seeing a member online or chatting or even posting achievements.
A bit irritated, not seeing the point of even being in a guild I was guild-less for a while before I read an article on the benefits of being in a guild... I then set myself the goal of finding a guild I was truly happy with.
I did my research of active guilds and actually thought about exactly what I wanted to become a member of. I found a guild I liked the look of... I made a note to myself and thought a bit about it overnight and then sent in a request.
As soon as I was accepted, all my doubts were gone. I was welcomed, chatted to and given great helpful answers to my newb questions... when you solo-play you can't ask anyone even the dumbest of questions.
So now with my free trial up, I made my choice to keep playing influenced by how much the guild improved my gaming experience. The chat rolls on, gaming advice and just general banter and it sort of feels as if we are all sitting around a table at Starbucks, gaming and talking crap.
Even if I don't type in guild-chat myself, it's always fun to read as I quest about. It is nice, I went from feeling lonely wanting to game, gaming and feeling lonely to feeling like a welcome part of the guild. I've spoken to other players and many have highlighted that some guilds are full of high-levellers who know each other in real-life and only help their own. This guild is a nice mix, not elitist... there are newbies, high-levellers and players of any level just working on bringing up their different characters.
J wants to continue to play too, he hasn't found a guild he likes yet so he mostly uses dungeon finder to fill his time. He wants to become a more casual-casual player, choosing to do two hours before bed. I plan to play less during the day, coming online quickly to do buybacks but having the night to play the most....in between checking emails, business talks and proofreading jobs.
All in all, WoW was much better than I expected and much better than I experienced at first. I didn't get to be a panda but that isn't a big issue as I think I just wanted that mostly for vanity purposes not considering gaming elements at all.
What I did during the free trial:
- I achieved my personal goal of reaching 100 gold
- I achieved my personal goal of reaching level 40
- I found a guild that is active, helpful and chatty
- I discovered I enjoy Herbalism but find Fishing the most boring profession
- I enjoyed earning reputation
- I like my character and didn't feel the need to run alts or toons like I thought I would
- I loved finding rare mobs
- I attended a Darkmoon Faire
- I learnt to pick my enemies, choose the best action-chains for swift kills
and I discovered that swimming is as dull as can be.
The best things a newbie needs to know:
Being told these tips, improved my gameplay experience, bettered my character...
- Always go back to your body if you die if you are able to [I didn't early on]
- Learn what gear is good for your class, don't just equip anything high-stat [another player taught me this when I thought anything was good]
- Always check the map before entering an area just to see what level it is [J still doesn't do this, he must love to die]
and if the game isn't fun because of a dragging quest, irritating player or dull farming, log off and play later or go do something else in the game. At the end of the day no one is forcing you to play.
Playing WoW has been fun, I look forward to levelling up more, discovering more rare mobs, earning reputation and maybe overcoming my fear of dungeons.
Playing WoW has inspired my real life too, it has filled me with the focus and confidence to work towards starting up my own business.
I'm working hard to get my offline goals as much as my in-game ones... saving for the move to a bigger, nicer house with a yard, collecting business contacts to work with, collecting stock and achieving a successful, workable business.
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