Lars has been playing World of Warcraft again for a few weeks and has an ambivalent relationship with the ultimate authority in subscription MMOs. In his report, he describes the impressions he gained during his new start.
It is freezing winter on the Northrend continent of World of Warcraft, and Alliance troops, including a red-bearded dwarf, are struggling through the snowy heights of the Storm Peaks. A now longtime veteran of slaying firelords, dragons, and powerful half-demons, the dwarven warrior can’t wait to drive his sharpened ax into the head of the ancient god Yogg-Saron. Arriving at the massive gates of the ancient titan city of Ulduar, we are struck by the sheer size of the walls. A few meters away from us is a group of orcs, undead and blood elves. We wave, because the war with the Horde has been put on hold for the time being, in the truest sense of the word. Does this all sound too heroic to be true? That’s right – this week we are in the Titan City for the fourth time and the dream, ramming our blades into Yogg-Saron and his minions has come true – and has since been reduced to assembly line work. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, we roam Ulduar regularly weeding out the titan spawn. For loot of course. Because Arthas pulls together his forces and soon brings out the final blow. For this we must be armed and equipped. Without me! I imagined the life of a hero differently. At least I’m lucky enough to be employed by a raid, others are just loan heroes and constantly switch raids with conditions far below the minimum loot. That’s it in this world – other worlds are waiting for me. For now… on Fridays and Sundays we roam Ulduar, weeding out the titan spawn regularly. For loot of course. Because Arthas pulls together his forces and soon brings out the final blow. For this we must be armed and equipped. Without me! I imagined the life of a hero differently. At least I’m lucky enough to be employed by a raid, others are just loan heroes and constantly switch raids with conditions far below the minimum loot. That’s it in this world – other worlds are waiting for me. For now… on Fridays and Sundays we roam Ulduar, weeding out the titan spawn regularly. For loot of course. Because Arthas pulls together his forces and soon brings out the final blow. For this we must be armed and equipped. Without me! I imagined the life of a hero differently. At least I’m lucky enough to be employed by a raid, others are just loan heroes and constantly switch raids with conditions far below the minimum loot. That’s it in this world – other worlds are waiting for me. For now… At least I’m lucky enough to be employed by a raid, others are just loan heroes and constantly switch raids with conditions far below the minimum loot. That’s it in this world – other worlds are waiting for me. For now… At least I’m lucky enough to be employed by a raid, others are just loan heroes and constantly switch raids with conditions far below the minimum loot. That’s it in this world – other worlds are waiting for me. For now…
Four years later
The year is 2015 – Arthas, Yogg-Saron and the Titans manipulated have entered the realm of oblivion. The dwarf warrior has since gone through many reincarnations as Norn warriors, Templars battling literary figures come true, a Nord Dragonknight, and other law and order fighters lost in the dwarf’s mind. It’s time to return to Azeroth and see if the social fabric has changed for the better. After all, this “Warlords of Draenor” is present everywhere. This time it’s supposed to be an undead monk who beats his way to glory with fist and foot. After all, since you’re already a hero, level 90 goes straight to Draenor. Some orcs are doing something with a portal in the past and somehow want to change the course of history. So far so good. So bang through masses of orcs, demon orcs, orc demons, orc shamans, orc warlock masters, disfigured orcs, prosthetic orcs, draeneiorcs, orcdraenei, orcogers and ogre orcs and listen to the exciting story of how it all began and how Draenor became Outland. Exciting? Jain – my first thought is that Blizzard is wasting a lot of potential here. The quests haven’t changed much in four years. Sure, there were reasonably cool staged cutscenes that are quite epic. As is well known, Blizzard has a knack for this, but it’s not really 2015 either and most of the tasks are transported in boring quest texts. But let’s be fair: WoW is now ten years old, but I still find it difficult to get started. But the Blizzard-typical mechanism, which has already proven itself in Diablo and from the start in World of Warcraft, takes effect quickly: the treadmill.
More loot! More mounts! More… More stuff!
The hurdle of the sparsely populated quest stories and the landscape quite poor in vegetation and “points of interest” is quickly overcome, the first dungeons throw me lots of items thanks to Perso-Loot. Glyphs, enchantments and talents are coordinated and I notice that the WoW flair continues. Competition, whether in PvE or non-existent PvP, sets in. Recount is downloaded and DpS becomes the holy grail of collective orc mass destruction. The better my monk hits, the harder dungeons entice me, the more loot I make, the better my monk gets, and so on. The right add-ons add the necessary oomph to the user interface. moh! Needing some fresh air, I retire from the Blackrock Foundry. It’s time to leave Draenor to its orcs for a short while and take a look at the “old world”. After taking an airship from Orgrimmar to the Undercity (I still don’t accept the German equivalents!) and doing an exploratory flight over Tirisfal, the Plaguelands or Silverpine, doing a pet fight here and there, I remember: the charm, the thing that many players love to this day, is the attention to detail, which I only encountered a handful of times in Draenor.
Charming world of martial arts
As I roam the Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Northrend, and other areas of Azeroth that didn’t exist in WoW Classic, I discover many little things that evoke nostalgic feelings. When I fly past the gates of Ironforge, I see the place where brawls, insults, and boasts used to take place in Azeroth’s younger days. Like a real good village feast. In the Eastern Plaguelands, I fly past the Scarlet Crusade and discover the most coveted farm area for WoW Classic. Runic cloth sold exorbitantly well at NPC merchants for the time. In Orgrimmar, I remember the desperate attempts of the Alliance, including my dwarf, to conquer – okay: harass – the Horde capital. Past Ashenvale, in my mind’s eye I see the mass gatherings of Horde and Alliance in front of the Warsong Gorge portal. The many little things, the hidden gags, the hilarious quests, the silly names of the NPCs – all this made WoW great and created loyalty. Wistfully, we head back to Draenor, where there is one more task to complete.
Final Words
Back in Draenor, I fight my way through the final story quests, acquire better gear in the jungles of Tanaan to join the fray in Hellfire Citadel, slash my way through hordes of ogres in Highmaul to grab the legendary ring, and realize that World of Warcraft is now a mammoth in size. But mammoths are prehistoric, and that’s exactly how Warlords of Draenor feels. There are good approaches, good ideas, good innovations. But everything is implemented only half-heartedly. If the attention to detail is as present in WoD as it is in The Burning Crusade, for example, then I don’t get it. Many players only come online to raid, WoW has become a meeting place. A meeting place for people who have known each other for many years and don’t want to part with the coffee shop around the corner. Legion needs to be more than that. Legion needs to tell a compelling story again, convey a threat that calls heroes to the table and not tired assembly line workers. Legion needs to bring back the old charm and wit that made us love WoW.
What is WoW Classic?
World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.
Getting Started
All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.
- Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
- Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
- Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
- Click the Play button when the installation is complete.
You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!
Heroes&WIKI, WoW Classic, World of Warcraft Classic, WoW ClassicSpecial, WoW ClassicSpecials