Week #2: World of Warcraft: Introduction Part 2
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The key to surviving in the World of Warcraft is to inspect your surroundings
at all times. The land is so large that sometimes the sense of freedom will
overwhelm you. Don’t expect to get lost too much though as WoW has one of the
best map and waypoint systems that the genre has to offer. Leaving Shadowglen
presented me with a feeling of freedom, but it was only the beginning, for every
area I leave, bigger ones appear showing me that I don’t really know “big”.
Let’s jump right back into things from last issue. Dolanaar is the most
populated of the smaller towns in Teldrassil. It houses most of the quests for
lower level players and people will find that after you reach a certain level,
Teldrasil quite literally becomes useless aside from the city of Darnassus.
Enemies simply become too easy to warrant any challenge or experience points.
While I was in Dolanaar, I considered training in cooking skills so that I could
have a fun little venture on the side, but at that time, it seemed far more
important to reach a higher level so that things would go more smoothly in the
wild.
Most of the quests I took dealt with the Moonwells scattered across
Teldrasill and the missions would often consist of taking an empty vial, filling
it with the well’s water and returning to the quest giver for my experience. The
missions became progressively more difficult, but I was rarely ever forced into
the position of grouping up, I did that on my own. One mission had me collecting
several artifacts from a cave filled with bear shamans (yea, weird) and I teamed
up with a fellow NightElf. Let’s just say, there were a lot of shaman corpses on
the ground after that little action packed adventure. Sometimes, you get so into
what you are doing, it often feels like you’re Frodo trying to get rid of that
damned ring in some epic quest of planetary proportions. But no, I was getting
several artifacts to make some random NPC happy. Luckily, the experiences
provided entertainment.
It would be impossible to clearly recall everything that has led up to me
being Level 14 as I had started my journey into the World of Warcraft before
this Journal had started up again. So it’s important that I quickly get the
beginning mumbo jumbo out of the way. I received a few more missions during my
stay in Teldrasil and I have to say that I thought I would be there for a long
time. As large as that place is (its huge, especially for being only one zone),
it was nothing compared to the world that waited outside. The NightElf capital
city of Darnassus is a jaw dropping metropolis that expresses every part of the
NightElf culture. I once again learned that while big, it paled to some other
areas such as Ironforge (which we will discuss later on). My last quest in
Teldrasill came from my warrior trainer who decided to send me on a quest to the
not so distant land of Darkshore. I thought “Hey, I’m level 10, what could
possibly be out there to put up a challenge?”. What a stupid question that was.
Darkshore turned out to be very different from Teldrasill and even more
challenging. While the zone isn’t as large as my starting area, it sure made up
for in the variety of its individual sections. The hub city of Darkshore is
Auberdine, a small town that is used by travelers to stock up on supplies and
hunt for quests to embark on. As a level 10 warrior, I probably should have
stayed in Teldrasill to level up a bit more, but it wouldn’t be long before I
made my own mark in the area. Starting out with crabs on the coast, I would sit
collection their loot and gaining experience so that I could take on some of the
newer quests. The first one I took in Auberdine was one in which I was recruited
to help fix Buzzboxes, small machines that allow contact over long distances. To
repair the box I had to collect a number of crab remains and then take them to
the box and place them inside. (right in Auberdine). I didn’t gain a terrible
amount of experience but I did manage to get some from the enemies I fought
(yea, crabs).
After a few hours of unnecessary crab slaying (I kept killing them, even
though I had no need to) I convinced myself that it was a sad and pathetic way
to gain experience. So I moved a bit east of the coast and tried my luck with a
Thistle Bear. Luck was not with me, as it seemed I had left my stance in
defensive position (warrior’s receive stances that affect skills and attributes
according to their specifications) and my attack power had been decreased
significantly. So while I was attack a giant bear with a sword with power
equivalent to a twig, it was thrashing through me like a knife to butter. I
decided that I would have to toughen up and really dedicate myself to
succeeding.
Reaching level 14 was no easy task. After taking on several fetch quest
missions, I decided it would be wise to try something a bit more difficult,
something that I couldn’t do on my own. So, I accepted a mission that had me
journeying to the ruins of Bashal Ar’an. When I arrived there, I proceeded to
investigate the blue light that had been the objective of my mission. A mystical
dwarf stood inside this bubble of blue energy protected from the sprites (sort
of like Goblins) around him. I was told to collect several earrings from the
Sprites and bring them back to him. The mission took around 10 minutes, and it
wasn’t that difficult to handle on my own. The second mission however had me
searching the satyrs (commanders of the sprites) for a scared stone. I was lucky
to find several people in the ruins doing the same quests. We teamed up and
eventually found the stone after I helped one of my teammates complete the
previous quest which I had initially completed. After this was all over, we
proceeded as a team to complete various other missions, basically anything we
could find. I believe I cleared around seven quests as part of a group, and
during this time I reached level 14.
All of these events (many more which were just too far behind to explain in
detail) took place in the first week of my playing World of Warcraft which also
happened to be in its second week of release. As you can see, the first 15
levels or so are intended to wean you into the game world. There is no tutorial
or babysitting, but the game isn’t just thrown in your face either. What I can
say with full confidence though, is that in my first week of playing the game,
this one week has surpassed the fun I have had with any previous MMORPG in my
entire time playing them. Surprising? Well, I’m not complaining, and hopefully
this column has started to dwell on areas of the game you may have wondered
about.
Starting next week, we will drop the general descriptions, flat out in your
face format and constant introductions. The column will take on a true journal
feel, with the dates and times of my sessions playing the game. Expect to hear
stories about my adventures, experiences with other players, and even my hidden
frustrations. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show from next week on.
For those wondering if I was ever going to play a horde character, lets just
say, I am a bit busy at the moment with my main, but for a little taste of whats
to come, take a look at my Orc Shaman's random moment of the week:
