Wow, That?s Complicated

[Shamus Young]

Wow, That?s Complicated

When sparkly vampires aren't an option, sometimes you just have to start over and play WoW.

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[Vhite]

Yay, reference to my C++ book!
Anyway, I dont remember having hard time being new in Wow and that was 4-5 years ago. To reach level 60 took me almost a year but it was probably the best part of game when you didnt knew whole game and there was always something new.

 

[Snotnarok]

No, sign off you fool before you look in the mirror and see nothing but beard and cheeto dust! .......It's too late we've lost him!

 

[V8 Ninja]

Hmm...interesting article. I don't know what the point of it was, but it was interesting to say the least.

 

[Vhite]

Hmm...interesting article. I don't know what the point of it was, but it was interesting to say the least.

I think it was that MMORPGs are too complicated for mere mortals.

 

[Vitor Goncalves]

A gnome?! Its the second *facepalm* you get from me this week shamus, very very disapointing. God forbid that you pick him for your next Shamus play, you should burn in hell if you do that.

OT: It took me 5 months to get to 60 and I did have some problems in the first weeks to play with my paladin. It was back in 2005. And I think I only understood what ranking and healing was like 6 months down the road.

 

[Lareia]

It's an interesting idea. But I think that this kind of tutorial system would be too much for anybody except for people who haven't played any kinds of fantasy games at all. I mean, I am by no means an avid gamer, I even very rarely finish games but WoW did not come off as difficult to me at all. It has basic elements like health and mana bar, inventory system, map and equipment slots, anybody who has even touched some kind of RPG-ish game before will know about those so going through a simplified tutorial might be a bit too much for them too.

What I am worrying about more is that they have made things a little bit too easy in the beginning areas. It used to be that for the first few quests you got mobs that will not attack you first, and after those the mobs turned more hostile. Now you only have non-hostile mobs in the low areas and it takes any kind of learning curve away from it. And as a reroller it's annoyingly boring too of course

I don't think that newb equals noob so that's why I think that there should actually some hostile mobs in the beginning area to teach more about the game and challenges it brings.

 

[enzilewulf]

WoW destroyed a perfectly good summer for me. Its to addicting even though its harder to figure out the terminology. Because once you ask some one what a certain phrase means you just get the shit flamed out of you. Its easier to just go buy Rosetta stone and learn a new language then figure out what everything in WoW means.

 

[Cody211282]

I don't know why but WoW and other MMOs have never held my attention for to long so I have never had that problem. Also nice beard.

 

[Arcanz]

WoW destroyed a perfectly good summer for me. Its to addicting even though its harder to figure out the terminology. Because once you ask some one what a certain phrase means you just get the shit flamed out of you. Its easier to just go buy Rosetta stone and learn a new language then figure out what everything in WoW means.

Then only way to get help in World of Warcraft is too create a level 1 Night Elf female, or blood elf, depending on faction. Take your clothes off, dance, and then ask questions. You will then have your questions answered and loads of gold. If you happend to buy just the game without the expansions, don't expect any help if you choose Horde. Since you don't have the blood elf, and the other races are not as appealing to the drooling masses, just fyi.

PS: Play female and act like one, you will get loads of free stuff and your entire gameplay experience will be better...and maybe a little more akward.

 

[Crops]

I think WoW actually has a pretty gentle learning curve. Especially since patch 3.(I don't remember) where they started holding your hand through the first 10-20 levels.

The interface may be overwhelming at first, but the necessities to get you going without much explanation (your abilities and a healing/mana item on your action bar) are all there.
All your abilities are automatically put on your action bar when you learn them for the first few levels, the map shows you where to go for the quest you received and every single class/race starting quest line takes you around the village to meet the NPC's that teach or sell you stuff.
You don't gain Skill points for the first few levels either, so all you need to worry about is familiarizing yourself with the basic combat and questing mechanics.

Oh, and that lv80 Nelf hunter ganking you.

By the time the game stops doing things for you, you've likely already figured things out for yourself, and if you haven't, there's still that popup.

When I started WoW, the only thing I didn't get is why they gave me so little bag space.

I mean, seriously, there is bound to be some character somewhere in this game that will need 60 Ruined Pelts for some reason, I ain't just gonna sell those or throw them away.

 

[enzilewulf]

WoW destroyed a perfectly good summer for me. Its to addicting even though its harder to figure out the terminology. Because once you ask some one what a certain phrase means you just get the shit flamed out of you. Its easier to just go buy Rosetta stone and learn a new language then figure out what everything in WoW means.

Then only way to get help in World of Warcraft is too create a level 1 Night Elf female, or blood elf, depending on faction. Take your clothes off, dance, and then ask questions. You will then have your questions answered and loads of gold. If you happend to buy just the game without the expansions, don't expect any help if you choose Horde. Since you don't have the blood elf, and the other races are not as appealing to the drooling masses, just fyi.

PS: Play female and act like one, you will get loads of free stuff and your entire gameplay experience will be better...and maybe a little more akward.

0_0....... Man some nerds are really desperate...

 

[Geoffrey42]

Your suggestion for how to start out the game reminds me a lot of Borderlands, and the point you make about making it a "level 0" area so that it is easily skippable, is exactly what is wrong with the beginning of Borderlands. Heck, the intro sequence even REFERENCES the fact that you'll be doing it over and over again, and they still made the tutorial portion un-skippable.

 

[Wolfram23]

Must... not... play... Catalyst...

 

[Baron Khaine]

Heh, EVE's tutorial system is awesome, it works its ass off to try and push you out the door and get yourself killed.

 

[swolf]

No, he's not gone. He's standing right over there *points to the corner*...and now he's arguing with his level 1 sock puppet...that's so sad.

 

[Egitor]

It's a shame you are hamstrung in the ability to grow facial hair because that's one truly sexy beard Mr Young.

I've not given much thought to this complexity, myself having learned over many years and different MMORPGs to play such games but this article has left me quite curious how Blizzard is intending to help out new players in their reshape of the original starting areas and implementing of fresh ones in the upcoming expansion.

 

[bakonslayer]

I've been playing on and off for a year and a half now, and I still learn something new about the game every day I login. Technically, I only know less than a third of the entire game after a year and a half because all I know so far is how to raise a character to level 80 and endgame tanking. I know nothing about healing, DPS, PvP, most classes and races, some zones, groups to gain rep with... Hmm... Man, I am such a newbie.

Also, I loved Shamus comparing the level 1 interface to that of a vehicle interface.

 

[Arcanz]

snip

I'm just stating facts here, that is the ONLY way you will get help in WoW.

 

[Khornefire]

The first thing I though in the "Good. I hate that guy" part was Yahtzee. I'm not sure which video that was, but it's still a reason for me to be worried.
On topic, good article offering logical insights. Wish I could say more, but the only mmorpg I've ever played was Runescape, back when I was small and dumb.