One of my long-standing gaming goals has always been to get a character in Warcraft to level 80. That probably sounds stupid to many of you that aren’t into MMORPGs, or games for that matter, and those of you that are probably look at that sentence and chuckle. “It only took you 5 years to get to end game? Impressive,” I hear you say. Fair enough, but back when WoW launched back in 2004, I didn’t have much interest in it. FFXI still had me wrapped strongly around it’s finger at this point, and wouldn’t be letting go for another year. Outside of casual Starcraft and (classic) Warcraft runs, I didn’t follow Blizzard or it’s games all that strongly. So it came as a huge surprise to me when Warcraft launched with the critical acclaim and popularity that it did. Then again, I suppose it surprised just about everyone, Blizzard included (considering how grossly they underestimated their launch infrastructure.)
Eventually I did pick up the game though, and rolled my first character: a troll priest. I found the game a welcome relief from the no-nonsense grind of FFXI, but something about it didn’t hold my attention. Most likely it was the “crayola” art style, as I’ve heard many of my friends similarly discuss. I gave up after reaching the Barrens. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Looking back now, I realize that my experience in MMO grinds up until that point had been rather basic. Though I enjoyed countless hours in FFXI, I never got past level 50. I spent most of my time crafting, and exploring. That’s what I loved to do, so I did. I was still in the sandbox mindset of Star Wars Galaxies and Ultima Online, the MMOs that in many ways shaped me as an online gamer.
It didn't take me long to fall in love with the Rogue
Over the years I’d pick the game up every so often, each time making a little more progress than the last, but always rolling a new character. In time I came to roll with some of the good friends I made with FFXI, and fell in love with the Rogue class. Alas, I still found the game’s PvE content difficult to swallow. Even the incentive of leveling alongside my friends wasn’t enough to keep me interested, as much as I enjoyed it. It was not until I reached end game in EverQuest 2 and had my first real taste of raiding that I started to rethink how I looked at MMOs. Suddenly I had an interest in seeing the dangers that laid at the farthest reaches of these worlds.
Of course, wanting to see end game and getting there are two different matters. I had the interest, but did I have the drive? As I said, I did it in EverQuest 2, but EQ2 had me hooked because of the people I played with, not the game. Getting to end game was, frankly, just a nice bonus. [Note: And that's the way it should be!] I still had a bad taste in my mouth from my experiences in the Barrens, and a bitter and frankly misguided opinion of Warcraft at this point, so I decided to dive into Warhammer Online along with the rest of my guild. After all, all the blogs were heralding it as the WoW killer. Why not get on board at the ground floor?
My friends and I in the early days
Needless to say, Warhammer did not turn out to be everything Mythic or it’s fans had dreamed. The churn rate of subscriptions was agonizing, and the game was plagued with issues. Still, I really loved the game, and more importantly held a very loyal mentality to my guild’s presence there. So, I stuck it out. I took my Shadow Warrior all the way to 40, and from there all the way to renown rank 55- which is no small task, let me assure you. In a bizarre turn of events from my previous MMO experiences, I fell in love with the PvP RvR experience. Granted, the end game PvE content is horrible so I didn’t have much of a choice, but that doesn’t change the fact that I really enjoyed the epic keep sieges and battlefield skirmishes. I ended up rather nicely geared, too. I am still proud of the progress I made in that game.
Alas, as is the case with all MMO games, I ultimately grew tired of Warhammer and decided to move on. The question was, move on to what? There was nothing that interested me available, or even on the immediate horizon. I decided to give Warcraft one more try. With the progress I made in Warhammer to boost my confidence, and the long standing interest in seeing Warcraft’s raid content, I rolled a fresh Blood Elf Rogue on my friends’ server and began the trek to 80.
Outlands at Last
I leveled quickly, thanks in no small part to the tweaked leveling curve since the last time I had played, but I think largely because of the improved newbie experienced of the Blood Elves over the “vanilla” races I had sampled in the past. I found the questing addictive, and it felt like in no time I was taking my first step on Outland’s otherworldly soil. While I had enjoyed much of my questing in the old world, the design and art style seemed very dated outside of Silvermoon. Finally getting to see updated content was very refreshing, and rekindled my drive to level.
I can’t recall how long it took me to get to 68 and graduating from Shadowmoon Valley, but I recall it taking just a matter of a week or two at most. I was a levelin’ machine… relative to my past experiences, of course. I’m sure many of you reading this have a dozen level 80 characters at this point, but don’t pee on my cornflakes here.
Northrend is Calling
As excited as I was to be so close to 80, I relapsed. At level 70 I hit that ugly leveling hump that many of you know- that bizarrely long gap between 70 and 71 that seems to take forever. For me it took months, as I returned to Warhammer to experience the new “live expansion” content they had released, and look after what remained of our guild’s numbers there. Eventually I did come back, though, and made it past that ugly grind. 72 onward was a pretty smooth journey, after I left Borean Tundra and began to experience the epic questing out there, and especially the phasing system. I think experiencing the The Battle for Undercity scenario at 73 is what really forged this game into my soul; I dare you to think of a more epic MMO questing experience than that.
Long story short, I hit 80 and loved every moment of it. More so, I’ve loved every moment of the game since level 80. Finally getting to experience the raid content and gaming with my friends (the same friends I tried to roll with so long ago) on their level and see all these incredible dungeons and boss fights that they had spoken so often to me about… It’s done my MMO gamer’s heart good. As silly as it sounds, I feel complete. I’ve finally found an MMO that I enjoy through and through, and can’t wait till the next opportunity I get to login.
Will it last? Who can say. I see nothing to stop it now, and the recent announcement of Cataclysm and the redesign of all the original world content just makes me want to go back and re-experience it all the more. [Note: Heck, I did; I acquired the Loremaster achievement for going back and completing nearly all the quests in the game.] What matters, though, is that I’m having fun right now, and I can’t wait to see what Blizzard has in store for me next.
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