Ok, so here's the deal... Taking a cue from a friend, I decided maybe it was time to give World of Warcraft a try.
First, you need to understand something. I'm a bit of an Everquest snob. I played EQ since the very first expansion, and I play EQ2 now. I like Everquest, and Everquest 2 is just gorgeous. I've been playing some version of Everquest for about 7 years now, so I'm obviously biased.
You also need to understand that within EQ2, World of Warcraft has a pretty bad reputation. There are several oft-mentioned myths about WoW that make one wonder why their player base is so very big. So since WoW offers a free 10-day trial (as does EQ2 by the way), I figured I'd give it a try and see firsthand if these myths were true.
A quick word of warning to those who play WoW... I will in all likelihood say something about the game that you don't like. Don't get all pissy, like I said, I'm an EQ snob.
So here are a few of the most common myths heard outside WoW, and some I hope to affirm or deny with this trial.
Myth 1: You can never get into the game; the servers are always overloaded and you have to wait sometimes hours to play.
Myth 2: There is very little choice; few race/class options, and no real character customizations.
Myth 3: The game is filled with 12-year-olds (or at least millions of people with the mentality of 12-year-olds).
Myth 4: The game is too easy; you fly through levels and there's no challenge to playing.
Myth 5: WoW has over 8 million subscribers; really? over 8 million? I find that hard to believe... where do these numbers come from?
So hopefully over the next several days, I hope to either debunk or confirm some of these myths about WoW. In fact, I would be playing now, except on my first day trying to play, it's patch day... servers will be down until about 2 pm EST, actually 5 pm EST for several servers... This is not a good sign.
Actually.. the bad signs started last night. "I'm going to give WoW a try," I say. "They have a 10-day free trial." So I click the link, go through the account creation, then click the download link. Which downloads the whole game. All 3.5 GBs of it. "Ok, so, I'll play tomorrow..." I mutter while looking at the ~8-10 hour download window.
Two thoughts here. First, it's cool that I get the whole game for free, so I only need to upgrade to a paying account if I want to keep playing. Secondly, a 10-hour download may be a bit overwhelming to those who just want to see if the game is worth buying.
Anyway, the next day I get up and there's a happy little "Install World of Warcraft" link on my desktop. I click it. It installs. Let’s play.
Or... not. So I hit play, and the screen changes (starting the 3d environment) and I think "Cool, right into the game.. not bad." Especially since when you start EQ2 you get the patcher window, which patches, then it loads the 3D stuff.
Then I'm faced with the EULA. Well, I haven't bothered to read one of these yet, for any game/site/software/whatever, I see no reason to start now. So I go to click on the "I Agree" button and... I can't. They make it inactive until you scroll through the EULA. I HATE when companies do that. It doesn't make me read it, all it does is give you the false sense of security that if I'm at the bottom, some of your fake legalese must have reached my brain. Fine, it's a small nitpick, but it does add those few precious seconds of scrolling to the time it takes to get playing. I scroll. I click. And I'm faced with...
Another EULA. Seriously? WTF?!? Did I not just pretend to read this thing? Do you really need two of these things? And yet, again, I can't click "I Agree" until I scroll to the bottom. You know what? I STILL hate that! Fine... Grumbling, I scroll. I click.
Aha! A login screen. Took long enough. So I enter my log-in information and it accepts it and... Tells me there's an update. Um.. o.k. You'd think the software I just downloaded a couple of hours ago would be up to date... but nooooo. (note: this part is me being stupid, which I'll get to later, but I'm including it for posterity.)
Ok, so it downloads the update, loads it, then I have to start WoW again. Ok, but wait.. no, there are those EULA's to deal with. Maybe, I think to myself, there were only those two because it was the first time running the game. Nope. There they are again in all their scroll through me to click I agree glory. Both of them. /sigh
Ok, so I scroll. I click. I scroll again. I click again. (note that here I'm really trying to stress how annoying I find this. Are you annoyed yet? I am.) I log in... again. And now... it tells me there's another update. /bangs head on desk
Fine. Update. Scroll. Click. Scroll. Click. Log in. "That Username/Password is invalid." Huh? Do you mean the one I just used twice before to get in and download the updates? o. k. Um. maybe I mistyped it. Nope, still invalid. So I make my way to the WoW site and try to log in there. Nope, not happening. I, feeling somewhat clever, click their "If you forgot your password" link. I enter the username and it tells me it can't find it. Ok, so I, still feeling clever, click their "If you forgot your username" link. Ignoring the snide comments about how I stupid I must be for forgetting my username, I enter my email address. Which. It. Can't. Find.
They lost my account. WoW, that's impressive. (Get it... wow... WoW.. you see with the capita... never mind.)
Ok, so, now I go through, fill out the account info again, register my new account, close the browser, start the game, and... say it with me, everyone...
I scroll. I click. I scroll again. I click again. I log in. Success!!! ok, now, let's get started. (I should point out here that I, of course, being headstrong and sometimes stupid, fail to read the information to the left of the screen. Why would I? It's not like I read anything else they throw at me, like EULA's. In fact, a part of my brain tells me not to look, just in case, it is in fact a third EULA. /shudder
Besides, there are shiny buttons to click. Ok, so it asks me my preferred location, with which I would click the United States, except that, it's the only option. I mean, yeah, I am in the US, but what if I play at odd hours and preferred a European server? Or, you know, just preferred Europeans? And seriously, if you're only going to give me one choice, why a) call it a choice, or b) offer it at all? If I can only choose the US, should I really have to click something to, you know, choose it?
Alright, fine. I click the US, then select RolePlay style server. Cause, y'know, I like to roleplay, and I hear there are fewer 12-year-olds there. I click "Suggest Servers" and am presented with...
No servers at all. WoW, that sucks. (I did again, get it... wow.. WoW.. I'll shut up now). WTF!?!? No RP servers at all? Ok, fine, I click cancel, then click any of the other server options and each time am faced with a list of no servers.
At this point, the nagging little voice in my head tries to kick me and points to the left side of the screen. I wince, then look over slyly, out of the corner of my eye in case another EULA is trying to sneak up on me... and...
It's patch day. All the servers will be down until 2 pm EST... But wait, there's more. Today is a special patch day. A number of servers will be down until 5 pm EST... Oh, Joy! At least that (hopefully) explains why it updated twice.
I fume. I think "How typical". I close WoW and click my nice shiny EQ2 icon. I get the dreaded EULA, but I can just click through it, no scrolling.... and... there's only one! I log in, and there are no updates!!! /contented sigh
I should point out here one thing that I also found annoying by the second time I had to load WoW. When you first start the game it starts the 3D environment, before the EULA's, before the login, before patching. So that if there is a patch you have to do it all again. From a technical standpoint, EQ2 does it much better. You still get the EULA and the login before the patching, but it doesn't bother starting a 3D environment until all the patching is done and you press play.
See, it takes processing power to start a 3D environment, and it's kind of slow. Much better to log in and patch first (where if you do need to restart the game it doesn't have to unload the 3d environment and then reload it), then enter the game. Especially because WoW uses a separate piece of software to do the update.. so you have to restart the game every time there's an update. WTF!? At least with EQ2, unless it's patching the patcher itself, you can just patch and play.
So that's it. That was my first try at WoW. And after the patching is done and the servers are (potentially) up, I will once again have to scroll and click, and scroll, and click. /shudder
I swear, the fates do not want me to play this game, and maybe that's just as well.
