I've had a turbulent relationship with the iconic MMORPG we all know and love. I started playing in '07 just after Burning Crusade came out. Some of my Air Force buddies played and I, a long-time fan of the Warcraft series, joined up and tried it out. I started with a Tauren Hunter, mostly for the pets, and like all RPGs with character options, proceeded to make one of everything. And I started a guild. With just me in it. And then I realized that this co-op gameplay experience required skill, social ties and above all dedicated work. So I gave it up. A few months later I was ready for more and I went back to find they had changed the game. A patch they called it. Except in my previous experience patches meant they were fixing bugs, not altering the fundamentals of game balance and play styles.
Over time I would take long breaks, come back and rebuild my shattered guild, level like mad for a few weeks and then jump back into the real world when I burned out. My last stint was probably my most successful. I had a mount, so travel times weren't death marches anymore, and I made the inevitable grinding a game in and of itself by tracking time spent playing and the tiny victories and goals on a homemade spreadsheet graph, with different colored lines for all my character's progress. And I had my wife start up an account, and my good friend Gus switched servers and helped me manage my guild. I played consistently for nearly a year and a half before having to shut it down again when I went to Basic Training.
When I got back they'd nerfed everything I loved into the dirt. As with all patches I found the bits I liked, and the ones I loathed and attempted to curb stomp them into a tolerable whole. So I played Wrath of the Lich King for about a month, decided I had better things to do with my money and gave it up again. Now Cataclysm is out, and with all the hype (and a tasty looking guild leveling system) I decided to give it the good ole college try this one last time. With no more foreseeable interruptions of internet access/cash flow/free time I embark on a quest for MMO gold.
I will grade Cataclysm on five scales from one to ten, hereby declared Base Ten Grading Scale. The catagories are:
1) Game Balance - If I wander through the broken husk of Azeroth and find that Paladins are still healing better than Holy Priests, or that anything else is fishy I will be most displeased.
2) Social Potential - I love playing with my friends and wife, so if the Guild Leveling isn't well done, or any particular gameplay elements make the social aspect of the game unpleasant or unworkable then my shiny new toy isn't so shiny. Also, my buddy Gus is likely to cancel his account as well since he has no one else to play with. Never let it be said that the social aspect of MMOs is undervalued by the players.
3) Intelligent Economics - If arbitrary gold sinks for nigh-critical features such as the ability to fly over a certain continent, or prohibitive costs for mounts, dial-spec talents, or any other advertised feature exist, I will not play. If the game feels like work, it is no longer a game. It's a job I'm paying to do.
4) Hunter Skillz - If I play my original main and no longer enjoy the level of proficiency and excellence I worked so hard to achieve, my ire will be kindled.
5) Loremastery - I'm a huge story buff in this game world, so if the new races are stupid, the cool flavor of the old world defiled beyond recognition, or some new weird add-on breaks canon too badly, I will no longer be playing a Warcraft game, I'll be playing a Warcraft spin-off. Not what I signed up for.
So with that said, I think my patches are just about finished patching and I'm off to enjoy some cool new exploration. Let the Legion's banner fly!
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