The Queue: This post's comments are everything
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.
Last night I was going through old posts to see if I could dig up a few things on Jeff Kaplan we've written (I couldn't find them, for what it's worth). In my travels I got to looking at a bunch of other things, and then veered off track for three hours.
I stumbled upon this post making light of all the changes to clams that came about in the early patch 3.0 cycle. Yes, you read that right: clams. Most of the changes were to help bag space be conserved, which isn't exciting really -- but still, it was interesting to look at.
In that post, however, there is just about every type of comment. The designers get attacked, random stuff gets posted, WoW Insider get attacked, I get attacked, Ghostcrawler gets linked (back when we thought he was a she). That post's comments are a microcosm of what the WoW community was like back in 2009.
Thank god we've moved on to more enlightened discourse.
Kageokami asked:
Anyone else feel like TI is like playing "old school" EQ1 ( in a possitive way ). Organically forming groups with people actually ... *gasp* ... intereacting with each other. You know actually using "/say"?
It's old school in a very big way.
The Timeless Isle throws us back to classic WoW (and yes, even the original EverQuest, minus the god awful mechanics that Jeff Kaplan became famous for revolting against). The return isn't one of bad mechanics, per se, but instead to a system of not having your hand held the entire way. You don't enter a zone and immediately have an a-b-c progression to it. You need to feel your way around, get used to your surroundings, and then stumble your way up the hill to reach your goal (quite literally).
There's no dungeon finder for that, no instant "I Win" button, nor is there any way to do it all alone. The system might look flawed compared to the mechanized steam engine content of today, but the flaws are the beauty. A perfect person is only interesting so long, however a person with character, with history, with the good and the bad, will keep you enthralled for a lifetime.
Timeless Isle is the significant other you want to marry; perfect in its abject and honest beauty.
Kageokami asked:
why do people feel "entitled" to access to content that they don't have the "ability" to access? Why do people feel they "pay for the content" rather than "access to the game"? Why is it hard to see that if anyone can access everything then it waters down everything? Why bust your rear to get gear to see the content when you know that .. meh I can just wait a few months and get access on my ghetto gear? Has all the sense of challenge and a true value of reward for risk incurred truely died in this age of entitlement?
I am honestly asking. I will in full disclosure say that I have seen next to none of the content in the WoW MMORPG in my eight years of playing. Due to personal play style and avoiding the new toxic culture of grouping. Also in all honesty I haven't earned the right to see it at the jump because I didn't do the work to see it when it comes out. Its like not getting your dessert because you didn't eat your vegettables.
What's next? Hey I didn't get my legendary!!!! But I PAYED for that legendary?
I'm sorry that you feel like this. I think you're missing out on a lot of great content, and I hope that you're able to put aside your feelings about worth and assumed value to just enjoy the game as you want to. A lot of players are having a great time right now, and I'm sure that you can join their ranks.
I'd recommend that you find a good guild, one that isn't toxic, and one that is okay with your level of commitment to the game. But try not judge other people's play styles... that judgment creates a toxic environment in itself, and allows other's negativity to grow unaccounted for. Everyone can enjoy WoW at whatever level they want -- no one is better than anyone else.
Adam observed:
I was a god awful writer.
Finally, and a little off topic as I look through the last of the recent applications... Do not ever take something we did back in 2008 as the way we want you to write now. Look at this piece of garbage I wrote then. I'm not saying that I'm a brilliant wordsmith now by any means (I'm not), but that thing? If it wouldn't get me in loads of trouble I'd delete it. Terrible sentence structure, no narrative beyond asking questions with obvious answers (okay, maybe I still do this), and too much nonsensical word repetition.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
