Phase 1 (Starting):
It is not very hard to get me to buy an MMO. It is trivial, unless you cheated me before (FunCom).
I love fantasy worlds. I want to make a powerful avatar. The developer is big, so the game must have some quality. Character creation was nice, even if a bit shallow.
Phase 2 (First 15 minutes):
I like the interface. Very responsive – I feel like I am in 100% control of my character. I like the GUI; very organized. It is relatively easy to make my character do what I want him to do. Enemies are too weak, this is silly. But it may become harder later on. It’s probably a tutorial.
Phase 3 (Up to level 10, two hours):
I gain new skills, new stuff. I am learning and exploring a tiny part of the World of Warcraft. My character evolves at a very fast pace. I look forward to the next level. Lore is also well presented in those quests.
Phase 4 (Level 10-80):
Talent trees. Yes! So many new skills that I could learn. When I look at the trainer I can see all the skills I will get; up to level 80! I am curious. I want to wield these skills: A fiery blastwave that knocks enemies back, a water elemental, arcane power, …
Hopefully there are also some yet unknowns skills. Would hate it if there were no surprises at all.
Phase 5a (Leveling battlegrounds):
I can participate in battlegrounds. Instant teleport doesn’t make much sense – not very immersive at all. But instant action!
I am terribly weak. Hunters literally one-shot me. But I will become stronger; no problem yet.
At the end of the level bracket I become very strong. Level 19, 29, 39 .. It is fun playing BGs, but I need equip. More equip!
Phase 5b: (The Dungeon Finder):
I can get into a queue for dungeons of my level. A group of unknowns is assembled automatically. They know exactly where to go. Sometimes the tank, who leads, is very slow, sometimes the whole instance in cleared with a few big pulls and AE. It becomes old fast, but I get equip. The equip I will use in the battlegrounds.
Phase 5c (Questing):
Pure questing was fun at level 1-10, but really: The rewards suck and the enemies are a pushover! I find myself waiting in some major city near trainers and auction house, waiting for dungeons and battlegrounds to open. The only quests I do are some dungeon quests that people shared or a class-specific quest. The rewards suck, though.
General thoughts:
There is no community in World of Warcraft for me, every player does his own thing. I can even just leave battlegrounds or dungeons – a replacement is found very fast. Nobody cares. I care about my skills and my equip.
I wonder why there is not a single battleground that takes longer than 20 minutes.
Phase 6a (Level 80, battlegrounds):
I hit 80 and my character got all skills, but there is so much more loot to gain!
In battlegrounds I am weaker than ever. Somehow the loot of dungeons doesn’t help at all. I need specific PvP equip. I can get it by doing PvP. Little bit stupid. I liked the occasional dungeon and equipping my own individual character. Suddenly everybody looks the same. By the way: Does anybody know why the level 80 equip is pink?
Phase 6b (Level 80, raiding):
Here we are doing dungeons again. For emblems. Pretty boring. The dungeons are 100% linear. The loot is irrelevant. I need some thousand badges to be competitive. Well .. a few weeks later I got them. Let’s go raiding. There is only one raid dungeon with worthwhile rewards. I PUG and eventually kill the Lich King. Great. Now, .. let’s do it again – next week. I still need equip .. do I?
Phase 6c (Arena):
What a piece of shit! I join and get devastated. Again and again. They have better equip, but, honstly, they also are much better. My randomly assembled team is in bad mood all the time. After doing this for one evening I quit. Arena, my ass. Doesn't even make sense lore-wise.
Phase 6d (Questing):
Questing at 80 is so trivial it hurts. All enemies are super large, but die like a fly. The rewards suck big time.
Phase 7 (Burned out):
The 'world' is empty - is there even a world? I haven't left Dalaran for weeks. There is no community. There are only rewards and anonymity. My character is not powerful and will never be. I look like everybody else! Heroic raids are way too hard for the PUGs I joined! The 'old raids' are an AE-fest pushover. I silence the game and listen to music while the AE goes. I could just as well watch the endboss movies at youtube.
In battlegrounds people seem not to care about winning at 80. Resilience makes my crits extra small. Why don't they just give everybody more health? Healers are unkillable. Some players die in fractions of a second.
Ridiculous!
Phase 8 (Doing the fun stuff):
I reroll. Leveling was fun, endgame was a scam, but battlegrounds at level 35. Love it! They also open up much faster than the level 80 ones!
It is not very hard to get me to buy an MMO. It is trivial, unless you cheated me before (FunCom).
I love fantasy worlds. I want to make a powerful avatar. The developer is big, so the game must have some quality. Character creation was nice, even if a bit shallow.
Phase 2 (First 15 minutes):
I like the interface. Very responsive – I feel like I am in 100% control of my character. I like the GUI; very organized. It is relatively easy to make my character do what I want him to do. Enemies are too weak, this is silly. But it may become harder later on. It’s probably a tutorial.
Phase 3 (Up to level 10, two hours):
I gain new skills, new stuff. I am learning and exploring a tiny part of the World of Warcraft. My character evolves at a very fast pace. I look forward to the next level. Lore is also well presented in those quests.
Phase 4 (Level 10-80):
Talent trees. Yes! So many new skills that I could learn. When I look at the trainer I can see all the skills I will get; up to level 80! I am curious. I want to wield these skills: A fiery blastwave that knocks enemies back, a water elemental, arcane power, …
Hopefully there are also some yet unknowns skills. Would hate it if there were no surprises at all.
Phase 5a (Leveling battlegrounds):
I can participate in battlegrounds. Instant teleport doesn’t make much sense – not very immersive at all. But instant action!
I am terribly weak. Hunters literally one-shot me. But I will become stronger; no problem yet.
At the end of the level bracket I become very strong. Level 19, 29, 39 .. It is fun playing BGs, but I need equip. More equip!
Phase 5b: (The Dungeon Finder):
I can get into a queue for dungeons of my level. A group of unknowns is assembled automatically. They know exactly where to go. Sometimes the tank, who leads, is very slow, sometimes the whole instance in cleared with a few big pulls and AE. It becomes old fast, but I get equip. The equip I will use in the battlegrounds.
Phase 5c (Questing):
Pure questing was fun at level 1-10, but really: The rewards suck and the enemies are a pushover! I find myself waiting in some major city near trainers and auction house, waiting for dungeons and battlegrounds to open. The only quests I do are some dungeon quests that people shared or a class-specific quest. The rewards suck, though.
General thoughts:
There is no community in World of Warcraft for me, every player does his own thing. I can even just leave battlegrounds or dungeons – a replacement is found very fast. Nobody cares. I care about my skills and my equip.
I wonder why there is not a single battleground that takes longer than 20 minutes.
Phase 6a (Level 80, battlegrounds):
I hit 80 and my character got all skills, but there is so much more loot to gain!
In battlegrounds I am weaker than ever. Somehow the loot of dungeons doesn’t help at all. I need specific PvP equip. I can get it by doing PvP. Little bit stupid. I liked the occasional dungeon and equipping my own individual character. Suddenly everybody looks the same. By the way: Does anybody know why the level 80 equip is pink?
Phase 6b (Level 80, raiding):
Here we are doing dungeons again. For emblems. Pretty boring. The dungeons are 100% linear. The loot is irrelevant. I need some thousand badges to be competitive. Well .. a few weeks later I got them. Let’s go raiding. There is only one raid dungeon with worthwhile rewards. I PUG and eventually kill the Lich King. Great. Now, .. let’s do it again – next week. I still need equip .. do I?
Phase 6c (Arena):
What a piece of shit! I join and get devastated. Again and again. They have better equip, but, honstly, they also are much better. My randomly assembled team is in bad mood all the time. After doing this for one evening I quit. Arena, my ass. Doesn't even make sense lore-wise.
Phase 6d (Questing):
Questing at 80 is so trivial it hurts. All enemies are super large, but die like a fly. The rewards suck big time.
Phase 7 (Burned out):
The 'world' is empty - is there even a world? I haven't left Dalaran for weeks. There is no community. There are only rewards and anonymity. My character is not powerful and will never be. I look like everybody else! Heroic raids are way too hard for the PUGs I joined! The 'old raids' are an AE-fest pushover. I silence the game and listen to music while the AE goes. I could just as well watch the endboss movies at youtube.
In battlegrounds people seem not to care about winning at 80. Resilience makes my crits extra small. Why don't they just give everybody more health? Healers are unkillable. Some players die in fractions of a second.
Ridiculous!
Phase 8 (Doing the fun stuff):
I reroll. Leveling was fun, endgame was a scam, but battlegrounds at level 35. Love it! They also open up much faster than the level 80 ones!
a nice rundown and very accuracte ;)
ReplyDeleteBTW - you might want to consider trying "The Art of twinking" ie. twinking your character with the very best specific loot at a certain level. Now many started this for pwnage advantages in PvP in the BG's but there's a much more fun reason to try this that emerged after "End-Game" became so pointless..
New personal objectives - set yourself goals to get specifc lot to twink out a lvl1 Bank Alt, lvl 19 or 29/39 BG pwnstar etc in coolest gear you can find. The many great wow guides on web are great for this sort of pasttime.
Are you joking?
ReplyDeleteI am already much too powerful in greens with nowadays talents/mechanics! :)
Seriously: I twinked about 8 chars since WotLK. I had never twinked before. WotLK is over for me. Twinking was the last thing there was to do and this blog post emerged from trying to imagine how a new player would feel.
And about BGs: There is nothing better than to pawn people at lvl 25/35 in greens. Especially those that 'BG-twink'. ;)