Zero Punctuation: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

[Shoggoth2588]

I played WoW for the very first time this Holiday...it went down like this:

started a Deathknight class to skip 55 levels (a blood elf because screw the alliance). I was killed in a tutorial fight. I figured out fighting is a one-click set-and-forget kinda thing unless you like buffing which I thought would be better off in a turn-based format. I did a couple of other tutorial quests, not reading the quest info, and quit once I realized the tears were from boredom and not awe. My last message was to the other people I assumed were around me, begging forgiveness for trespassing in their golden halls of PC gaming so that I could return to my console bound existence and some Saint's Row 2.

...

Though I'm told it's not as horrible if I start out at level one.

 

[Corven]

He is right though, congratulating people in that game is a conditioned response, I got the same amount of praise for getting a haircut in that game as I did for hitting level 80....

You all know there are add-ons that literally automatically congratulate someone for you for getting an achievement right?

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/gungrats.aspx

Yes I know my former guild master had one that congratulated people on leveling, earning achievements, and logging into the game.

Congratulating someone in the game had already lost any sense of genuine praise, and an add-on that does it for you just makes the person using it look like a jerk who doesn't want to spare a few moments for a half-hearted response.

 

[Jaebird]

Yeah; the game has always devolved into a numbers race in the end. And I think the playerbase has gotten worse in terms of socializing, because I've been seeing more and more jerks in PUGs. But then, I wouldn't expect anything less from Internet Land. Ironically, the opposite faction is more polite for not killing me on sight.

Edit: I've since stopped saying "grats" to anyone in a group when they level, because it happens up to seven times in one instance.

 

[BigHairyMarty]

Hah hah, I knew from the moment I read the title, that he'd take the opportunity to plug Mogworld, and I was right. Stumbling across that book during a shopping trip was one of the most pleasant surprises in recent memory.

That brief mention of Magicland Dizzy was nice. He's now put me in the mood to go and play it.

 

[tautologico]

But yeah... fun... but ultimately pointless. It's nice to quite and actually get shit done in life (or at least, more shit)

"Fun but ultimately pointless"... isn't this a description for all games? Or, actually, anything you do just for fun, like watching movies? Why do you play, then?

 

[buhee]

Meh, I play WoW. On Alliance. And I enjoy it. My boyfriend also plays, as do several of my real life friends. We have horde alts too, just our mains are alliance.
It is essentially numbers, and grinding and more numbers and more grinding for more numbers, but its also fun. Laughing at people who buy mysterious fortune cards for 20-50g only to receive 10 silver, doing heroics where people know tacts and you actually get the job done, levelling your profession numbers up to help your friends and guild mates with their gear numbers or just to up your gold numbers, its all good. But then, I don't let it consume me, I still have a life outside the game.

 

[angel85]

sometimes I wonder if it would be possible to make an MMO sandbox game, with an actual combat system and stuff instead of numbers and clicking things, a game I can play with a controller instead of mouse and keyboard.

 

[The Human Torch]

I did NOT see this review coming. I am still recovering from the shock here.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I wasn't expecting this review,but was very welcomed!

Great review and For the Horde!

 

[Plurralbles]

hat's probably a record for amount of probations...

Anyway: Hungry Hungry Hippos is awesome.

 

[OniaPL]

Didn't see that coming. However the review felt a little bland to me. Where is your usual wittiness, Yahtzee, you handsome bastard?

On the side note, I'm looking to try out a MMO and it has been couple of years since I bothered with any MMO. I am tired with the usual fantasy setting and the usual click-spam skill-loot-click next mob combat. Does anyone know any decent MMO that doesn't have a general fantasy setting/boring combat?

 

[Hellgate]

Good review ^^ But theres one thing i noticed ^^ he did NOT bash the game like the does with most of the games xD That is the power of WoW xD not even Yahtzee can hate on it xD

ow ye... one more thing...
FOR THE ALLIANCE!

 

[Xirema]

Since I actually did however I've got a question... how does the expansion impact those who don't have it?

This biggest selling point of this expansion was the redoing of all the 1-60 content (minus the level 60 raids, which, save for ZG20, were left completely alone) to bring them up to new quality standards that Blizzard themselves have established.

The biggest change is that most of the old quests that were rehashings of the "Go here, kill 20 guys, come back" were either removed or rebuilt with a new gimmick ("Go here, kill 10 guys, each of whom will blow up in your face if you don't kill them a certain way"). The point wasn't really to break away from the time-tested tradition of quest design, but rather to break up the monotony of the whole thing. One quest that comes to mind is one for the alliance where you have to kill a bunch of elite horde mobs, but they have tons of health (for your level), so instead you target propane (Or some incendiary by that name) tanks on their backs which have much less health and combust upon defeat, killing the mob in question.

 

[Thespian]

I always get drawn in by WoW, usually for the races, or the huge expansive world.

But then I play it for three months and get to level 40 or so and get called a nub, n00b, newb, newbie, newfag or any variation of that for not dropping out of school and selling my tooth fillings for more WoW playtime, and realize that it's just a tedious singleplayer game with crappy graphics and eleven million obnoxious NPCs with poor grammar.

To me, anyway.

 

[mechanixis]

It's like I always say: WoW is basically a math class with pauldrons.

I'm glad Yahtzee cut to the heart of this one, WoW and similar MMOs are pretty insidious creatures. They're almost like much larger, much more polished, much more expensive Zynga games. I know Blizzard has aspirations of making an engaging story and interesting world, but at the end of the day their predominant clientele is the OCD, operant-conditioning crowd that has become all too attached to a series of numbers.

 

[tautologico]

Thank you for addressing the problem with raiding and instances. You're only gathering gear to gather more gear.

I played World of Warcraft for a very brief period of time(because I try things before I bash them) and I never understood the point. Once you've gathered the best gear you possibly can, there's nothing left to do but PvP, and the PvP system is so shit that it's not even worth doing.

That, or wait for the new content to release, level a new alt, train your professions, try a different spec ( that might require other, better gear.)

The game is hardly evil, the people that do get stuck in it are just pathetic.
And I'm totally allowed to make that judgement, for I've been a casual player for the last 6 years.

Yes, you heard me.
I have been playing this game for six years, it never bothered with my school, it never bothered with my social life, it might have kept me up a few nights for 'one more level' but hey, so did Civ V, and we're not calling that evil.

Well, we would if it was just as popular. But it isn't, so Civ V is just fun and awesome.

I don't like quoting posts just to add "this", but yeah. This.

 

[crouchingtigress01]

I love this review because it was so unexpected, but overall I'm glad he didn't bash it as bad as I thought he would have ^__^ Now I think I'll take a page out of yahtzee's play book and see some alliance towns from my flying mount and awww over cute puppies (worgen)

 

[Karousawai]

Why do people raid at the endgame?

Because it's fun? Is that really so hard to admit? I love my guildies and raiding with them has been a pleasure. Sure you get the odd stupidly hard boss or have to wait half the expansion for a bit of gear you need but thats life. Nothing beat when we downed LK the first time. One of the most awesome video game experiences I've had at least

When people ask me "oh how can you raid, it's so time consuming and sad?" I just ask them why they play games. When they wheel out "because its fun", you know you've won. And its no more sad than getting all the achievements in a game or speedrunning an old mario game.

I appreciate that ZP is in the interest of cynical humor, but I stand up for wow in that respect. My fanboy nature is showing /shame.

 

[DoomBlackDragon]

I always found the trolls chicks hotter then the blood elfs. Really Blood elfs are to make kids play the alliance. Still was even shock he played wow. More shock he got to 58 in vinalla and got to 60 this time. Which took him what 1 week lol. Well not like he missing out on much. BC sucks as well as Lich King. Think cata was there first good expanction.