Armaggedon's coming!

BA topic de jour, a great question for many reasons and worth taking a step back and considering – it may keep you sane….

Why I play at all…

Back when I was young, it was practically socially acceptable (here in Oz anyway) to (binge) drink and drive – even if not legally acceptable.

Times have changed and “all my friends are getting married, yeah they’re all growing old. They all staying home on the weekends, they’re all doing what their told….“ (Skyhooks reference for the Aussies). Not only that but we all seem to have picked a compass point of Melbourne (or Australia in general) and moved – each move seems to put greater physical distance than the last.

So online games, particularly WoW, have enabled a continued social life with progressively more distant friends, without the risk of a run in with the pigs (not talking polymorph spell here).

Real Life commitments also effect the ability for regular catchups at “the local”. Nearly all my friends are “married with children”, two of them getting the first of their litter in the last month. Thus virtual encounters are much more likely.

My sales pitch to my wife…

I had to sell the concept of me playing WoW to my wife… she knew I was gaining a mistress in the form of the game, so I had to sell it… here’s my sales pitch.

I could…

• Go to the pub with my mates every Friday for 6 hours.
• Spend $100 each night
• Get blind drunk and incapacitated for 2 days.
• Risk loosing my license
• Pick up chicks at the bar (or at least ogle them through my beer goggles)

or….

• Stay at home on a Friday night with my family – while catching up with my mates online.
• Spend $20 a month on a subscription and $10 a week on a six-pack.
• Wake up a little tired on Saturday morning, but otherwise be ready for action.
• Only risk the computer chair.
• Pick up virtual chicks… who most likely will be my mates playing female toons.

That’s the sales pitch that allowed me to play WoW.. but I think I had her at “Hoooonnnneeey….”

There are other diversions of course – TV etc… but I like the interactive, semi-scripted, progressive-yet never ending concept of WoW. I can achieve something while communicating with humans and interacting with bits & bytes.

I’m a one-game-man and that game is WoW. I don’t have any slack in my RL schedule or finances to pick up additional side activities – the rest of my life is devoted to my family, or supporting them. So that’s why I WoW vs the multitude of other options.

Looking a little deeper…

Why PvE and not PvP?

Pretty simple really. I know I suck at 1st person shooters and my BG escapades are a nice sideline – but I wouldn’t want them to be the norm. This is a leisure activity and can be frustrating enough – why make it harder? Ohh and I guess my mates had not interest in PvP server… and I cam catching up with my mates remember…

Deeper Still…

Why I play the various content.

Grinding…

Arrgggh, well I don’t if I can help it. Well maybe for the occasional recipe or Basilisk meat, but even that now I prefer to source off the AH. I hate rep & xp grinds but cope with them as an evil necessity.

Quests…

Generally I enjoy quests. I think I miss most of the story line (err sorry, Lore) just because I tend to be cramming as much as possible. But I find they are a great device for exploring the world – well with the exception of those designed to make you explore the world – you know the ones – “take x item to y npc in z zone” – Yeah whatever, already been there…

Instances…

I love, or at least used to love, 5 mans. The used to is because our group of 5 mates is now a group of 7.. so who sits out? My primary objective is to play with mates, so some of the shine has gone from instances. Still, I like the limitation of making do with the classes you have. You can just feel some instances are made for a different mix – but you just have to do it.

Raids…

I love the Chaos – particularly in 25 mans. So much going on. Not knowing which way to duck or dive. Of course, there is also that feeling when the boss finally goes down.

Loot…

I would like to say that loot is just another enabler and I am not a loot-whore, but I do love researching the best and hunting it down. I love the feeling of winning a piece with a roll of “7″. I love looking at it offline, feeling proud that I got it and my spell damage has gone from 0 to 1,000.. and still counting. Of course I love imaging how I will one-shot Nightbane solo now that I have an extra +5 spell damage… never seems to happen though.

PvP…

I love PvP, but I love having the choice of when to PvP and pick the location and form. Thus my preference for PvE servers and BGs. I like the BGs and their 1st person capture the x feel. There is a definite objective and it can be achieved. I don’t mind i it lasts 10 minutes or 2 hours, it’s all fun and afterwards I can go back to my carebear lifestyle.

So why I WoW…

• To be with my mates while staying legal and yet close to my family.
• To experience the whole gamut of the game – maybe not the deep (top) end, but definitely the breadth it has to offer.

So when I get itchy about not achieving x, y, z I remember why I WoW, and realize I have already and continue daily to experience my “end game” wishes.

Gnomer and Out!