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Reflections: World of Warcraft (You Never Really Leave)

  • jlw6587
  • Nov 19, 2014
  • 3 min read

With the new expansion recently coming out, it’s amazing to see how many people get drawn back in so easily. People leave WoW for so many reasons -- money, boredom, having more important things to do, and more -- but with Warlords of Draenor I’ve witnessed so many people come back not only from leaving after finishing the last expansion, but from not having played since the first expansion. Blizzard has learned a lot over the years, and has learned how to make their game accessible to not only new players, but those who had played before.

WoW changed along with its players. In vanilla WoW, a lot of endgame content required huge amounts of time being spent on gearing up and finding a raiding group (up to 40 players!) and then finally raiding, having to go through again and again in order to learn the fights. The original players of WoW had that kind of time to put into the game. However, over the years they began to grow up and get jobs and start families, and a lot of that time was lost which required them to leave. Over the course of the five expansions, especially the last two, Blizzard has put a lot of effort into making the game more accessible to everybody. The Looking For Group, and later Looking For Raid, tool allowed players to quickly find a group to play with. The system grew so that you did not have to travel far across the world to get to a dungeon, but you could simply queue up and wait to be teleported in, run the dungeon with the random people you were paired with, and then teleport back to where you were. When cross-realm play was released, no longer were you limited from playing with friends by your realm. If you made a friend who also played WoW but was on a different realm, one of you would have to either pay to move your character or make and level up a new character on the other’s realm. Now with battlegroups each realm has connected realms that you can easily play with other players from, and if you are battle.net friends with someone (on the same faction, of course) you can run dungeons and raids together even if you’re in different battlegroups!

Blizzard has made talents simpler, and made abilities more streamlined. They introduced the dungeon/raid journal so that players can learn about fights before they do them, and they have made quests more interesting and interactive. WIth the level 90 boosts, returning players don’t have to spend humongous amounts of time to play with their friends at endgame, and their starting experience helps teach them how to use their moves and play their characters. Blizzard has learned how to tell more engaging stories, with the characters in the newest expansion catching the hearts of the players and pulling them in.

Since Warlords of Draenor came out, I feel like every time a current player tells an old player what it’s like, what’s been changed, and what you can do, the old player jumps back into the game shortly after. When you become a WoW player, it’s always in your heart somewhere. The world is enchanting, and Blizzard has done a great job of making it so that returning players can join back in, and continuing players are able to play with their friends and share the improved experience that comes with every expansion and new feature.

 
 
 

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