As any one who follows me on Twitter knows, I'm not... Broadcasting Live from San Francisco. Just live from Chicago as usual. But what I did decide to write about this week while not being about GDC(Game Developers Conference) and not even about what I normally regularly write about. This article is about my return to World of Warcraft after not playing for three months and how things were different but still TOO MUCH the same.
A few days ago I decided to return to World of Warcraft mostly due to Blizzard wanting everyone to merge accounts to their new Battle.net accounts. Which was sneaky considering it got me thinking about my old characters and logging back in and seeing how some of the 3.0.9 changes worked out. However, even after a heart felt reunion with my guildies I kind of decided that playing World of Warcraft might not be the best use of my time.
Why you ask? The graphics had improved a little and a few things seemed to work a little better. Although being a Paladin, Death Knight, or Hunter didn't seem too much improved. Also, having played for around three hours that night and having rested XP enough for three more levels I STILL didn't level from 53-54 on my Paladin. Which seemed odd. Also odd that I think I gained maybe one bar of experience or maybe two. This was from a good deal of time spent grinding mobs and even completely a couple of quests.. I did faintly remember it being this grind happy but for some reason back then I dealt with it.
I played a ton of PVP both that night and one other and decided that it was STILL just as awful and inferior as it was two months ago and that is one of things I left WOW for Warhammer Online to begin with. The economy is still messed up, another words anything that isn't from Northrend doesn't sell. Of course, I also left Warhammer Online considering the endgame is kind of messed up.
I really do like MMORPGs but what I don't like is the constant grinding. Games like Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls Oblivion, and other western RPGs seem to be able to create REALLY nice games that DO have main plots but they also have more MMORPG-like structures. They isn't really any grinding or very little. These games can last anywhere from 40-80 hours. Lasting even longer with DLC. So why do we need to grind? Well, I suppose the reason is that games like World of Warcraft count on people playing for hundreds of hours rather than a 100. Well, that's great... But I'm tired of doing pointless quests for hundreds of hours just to do more pointless quests. I realize that this content is laborous to create and expensive. But if that same labor and money were put toward more fulfilling but shorter experiences it would seem that the average person would be more satisfied about spending their money on keeping it going.
Even worse, I'm tired of playing a PVP experience that while enjoyable offers little to no rewards. If I'm playing KIllzone 2, Call of Duty, or Halo 3; I get medals, ribbons, upgrades, new weapons, etc... What do I get for playing a PVP mode in a MMORPG? A little XP, a little silver, a little honor, or in the case of a LIVE EVENT in Warhammer Online, maybe an event item! Wow, stuff that cannot be used in future PVP games and in most cases is FAR too little to actually make any impact on my play experience, even if I WIN the game. So not only do I get to grind in the PVE experience but in the PVP experience as well.
In the NEW PATCH for World of Warcraft it's being promised that they are re-balancing their Arena Gear and Battlegrounds. Which is great. But it is FAR TOO LITTLE to make an impact on people who even after a lot of work, STILL have no where near enough Honor or marks to get descent gear to be competitive in the Arena. Incidentally to simply get better gear, to be more competitive; etc... And are still not able to get ANYTHING in anyway useful or cool with what little they have.
So what I REALLY love about MMORPGs is interacting with others and having a persistent world with a persistent character and making that character better to play with those people and the world to better effect. But these tiny steps that Blizzard and Mythic seem to be forcing people to take seem kind of crazy and in retrospect seem to be just time wasters while your waiting the "REAL GAME" to start whether at level 80 in WoW or at 40 in Warhammer. The end game or the level cap shouldn't be everyone's ultimate goal. It should be the icing on the cake, not the cake. The journey from 1-Level cap should be the cake.
Other MMORPGs seem to be promising this kind of play. But most, if not all of them seem to be scheduled for the VERY END of 2009 or sometime next year. Both are a LONG WAY OFF considering that at this point it doesn't seem like WoW or Warhammer are going to get THAT much better any time soon.
From a logic standpoint it seems pretty obvious that these structures have existed in both MMORPGs for a while and the fact that I couldn't see either one or I didn't care; seems crazy to me. But perhaps, just like SO MANY other problems people have. I was just too close to it at the time. Except that I left originally for a reason. I think it was mainly due to fact that I didn't seem to be GETTING ANYTHING OUT OF EITHER GAME. Which is sad.
This is not meant as some kind of rant against World of Warcraft or Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning. I think it is more of a rant against what is currently accepted as an MMORPG. Which unfortunately. to me, seems to be kind of pointless in the end and devoid of the kind of satisfaction you get from playing something like Fallout 3 or Mass Effect. There are plenty of ways to do this; but it seems like most current MMORPGs seem to be more focused on the old structures of MMORPGs; like grinding which encourages gold farming; over 30% of the MMORPG population can't be wrong.
While there are plenty of MMORPGs on the horizon that either don't use a payment structure like FreeRealms, which can I guess say, "What do you want for nothing?" Or the next generation MMORPGs like DC Universe, Agency, Champions Online, or Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic that promise less focus on grinding and more on story.
So yeah, I think it's safe to say that in the case of World of Warcraft you can't go home again, even if you might want to.
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