Project Lore

MMORPG designers are a crafty bunch.  The genre may be relatively new, but by using design philosophies from single player titles, mainly standard RPGs, the minds behind MMOGs learned to keep a players entranced quickly.  Blizzard has nearly perfected the art of retaining its player base by implementing the relatively ancient knowledge of past video games into World of Warcraft.  They don't even hide their lifting of another company's ideas, as evidenced by the blatant use of Achievements, which is their most recent addition.  In all fairness, damn near everyone from Sony to Valve is ripping that off due to Microsoft's highly praised implementation. The massive flattery of the Achievement system is simply because it works.  The added goals, no matter how fleeting they may be, add to the longevity of any and all titles.  It was only a matter of time before MMOGs began implementing them in full force.  And what a powerful force they have become.  However, the age old catch - just gotta get this next mob/drop/quest/level - continues to drive my elongated playing sessions. I spend most of my time during my journey to Exalted for my third Northrend faction completing the group's half dozen daily quests.  But I always queue up for various Heroic dungeons, especially those that may have some piece of gear for Solidsamm.  Being of the overpopulated DPS archetype, I often grind through the dailies, get annoyed at never finding a group in under an hour and log off for the night or afk to make dinner before the raid.  Well, that is what used to happen.  Lately, right as I go to log I get ninja invited or join this or that party/raid. My original intention when I sign on these days is to complete an instance quickly.  Doing dailies is supposed to be the distraction during group formation.  After waiting so long, then getting ready to log, the late invites and formations can be hard to stick with.  In the end, it isn't any fault of Blizzard's that I hang around past my personal time limit.  Even after admitting that to myself, I can't shake that nagging feeling in the back of my brain that some designer in Anaheim is celebrating his small victory over my lack of willpower.  Bastard. Anyone else have this problem?  Do you always get pulled back in when you are on your way out?  When was the last time a 20 minute session became two hours for you?  And to those of you with willpower, can I have some?  Please?  Sugar on top?

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Love it or hate it, the Refer-a-Friend promotion seems to have been a big hit for Blizzard.  I have numerous acquaintances that have either signed up, signed up a friend or signed up themselves.  Surely, they must be getting very close to the 11 million mark with the new marketing scheme?  The benefits – mainly the 300% experience gain, including quest XP – are so high that it made my close friend resubscribe just to level a Hunter for the first time.  Seriously, he had no reason other than “it'll be easy.” Seeing as I was his only remaining friend who still plays World of Warcraft on a regular basis, we decided to link our accounts.  The free month will certainly be worth it so I figured what the heck.  What harm can come of some saved money, and a new level 70 character?  Or two.  Lack of sleep, that's what. My friend came over yesterday to watch the football games and we started questing while the Eagles trounced the Rams.  Then the second game came on...and the third.  It was 3:00 AM and I had to wake up in three hours to get ready for work.  What the hell? How did I let this happen again?  The class may be new to me (never leveled a Priest all the way) but the game isn't.  Why did I get sucked in again? After thinking on it for awhile, I came up with a conclusion.  The reason I got sucked in so entirely was because of the grind.  With the new 300% XP bonus, I was burning through those first 30 levels so fast that the “I will just finish this level” mentality was able to remain viable for much longer than normal. At this rate I should have a level 70 character in under five days played.  That is being a little on the safe side since I am already level 30 with just about a day played.  For those looking to get another character to 70 for Wrath, I highly recommend finding a friend to play with.  Or just /follow on a second computer.  The time you save on leveling is likely worth the two-month subscription fee and purchase of the battlechest. You mount collectors will surely want the Zhevra.  It is meh for me though.

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