Egotistical-Priest
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Breakfast Topic: When did WoW click for you?
Surprisingly, yesterday's Breakfast Topic wasn't a flood of QQ as I'd initially feared. A lot of the posts were constructive, informative, and some were pretty well thought out. Admittedly some others were plain QQ, but you can't help that. Welcome to the Internet. Well, enough of the complaints. If you're reading WoW Insider, chances are you're playing the game and enjoying it. I know I am.Vonya over at The Egotistical Priest is enjoying the game, too, and I'm kidnapping her question for this morning. She relates how WoW just suddenly became more than just a game to her while traipsing through the fungus-laden caverns of Maraudon. She also recalls seeing a Devilsaur for the first time (or not seeing it and getting totally eaten by it, more likely...). There are moments in this game where it became really special for us. I know the very first time I entered the Undercity I was completely enthralled... I'd never played an MMO before, and I fell completely in love with the wacky, Tim Burtonesque design of the Forsaken capital. I spent hours just ogling and it wasn't even at Sylvanas.What was your moment? When did WoW become something special to you? When did the game reel you in? I know that our interest in this game waxes and wanes, but there was -- I'm certain of it -- a particular moment while playing where excitement and wonder coalesced, pushing World of Warcraft just a teensy bit over the definition of 'just another video game'. When did that happen for you? Oh, and yeah, that's a Whitney Houston video. You're welcome.
Quantifying Wrath's success
The Egotistical Priest has a good series of posts up attempting to somehow quantify whether Wrath has been an overall success or not. Of course, it's definitely a financial success, but has the game's second expansion delivered what both players and Blizzard expected it to? Vonya sets out to find out in what has turned into a three part post: you can find parts one and two on the site now, and part three is set to come out tomorrow.So far, the answer is yes: while the area of Tradeskills is noted as less than a success (it seems to me, too, that tradeskills had more variety and options in Burning Crusade than their current state in Wrath, though that might be because we're only partway through the expansion cycle), everything else is noted as a win for Blizzard: they've really beefed up questing, balance has been intriguing since Wrath (and even if one class has rubbed you wrong, consider how many players came running back with the expansion patch to re-try their class), and of course, Achievements have (predictably) brought the game to new levels of addiction and given players of all kinds new things to do.Vonya still plans to tackle instancing and raiding as the other two criteria for Wrath's success (and there are probably a few other ways you could test it -- lore? setting?), but by the reasoning so far, Wrath is a win no matter how you slice it. Blizzard has outdone themselves with the second expansion -- the only question is where they'll go from here.
15 Minutes of Fame: Phaelia goes Resto4Life
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.On a list of player names that serious WoW hobbyists should know, Phaelia definitely makes the cut. WoW Insider's Dan O'Halloran summed up why in his post last fall outlining druid blogs you should be reading: "Phaelia started Resto4Life.com back in March to educate herself about playing a better healing Druid. Turns out, she's educating the rest of us as well. Her entries delve into the many facets of a Tree Druid's gameplay: Re-evaluating Spirit, mp5 vs. +Healing and Getting More Out of Innervate are just a few of the many treasures to be found on this blog. Updated frequently with a friendly and informative tone, Resto4Life is the Big Red Kitty for Restoration druids." 15 Minutes of Fame visited with Resto4Life's creator, Phaelia of US Scarlet Crusade-A, about the many attractions of the Druid class. 15 Minutes of Fame: How did you get into WoW, Phaelia? Do you come from a gaming background?Phaelia: I started playing WoW during the first open beta. To be honest, I was less attracted to WoW than turned off by the idea of giving over another five years of my gaming life to another game from Sony Online Entertainment. I began my MMO career as a sophomore in college, and while quitting EverQuest 1 left a void in my gaming lifestyle, I knew I didn't want to play another game from the same company. Blizzard turned out to be the breath of fresh air and fun that I was looking for!
