Here’s our conclusion to our two part epic. Sadly I have not concluded the web site redesign. Packing and cleaning is taking up a lot of my time, and I still barely have a clue of what I’m doing.

Blizzard announced another expansion to World of Warcraft. This one is titled Cataclysm. I’m rather lukewarm about the announcement. I find it difficult to care, but my friends are going to start playing again once it goes live, which is enough of a reason for me to play. Truth be told, I’ve always really found the game to be a chore and rather boring. If this is enraging enough to you, feel free to send me some hate mail (leo[dot]fungasm[at]gmail[dot]com). Please. My e-mail account is lonely, much like the Last of the Mohicans.

I’ve never actually seen that movie.

Back to World of Borecraft. Ok, that’s not really fair, the actual lore behind the Warcraft universe has always been interesting to me, but the cinematic draw which pulled me into Warcraft III is missing in the MMO. I realize the constraints of the genre, especially when the game was first made, and Cataclysm gives me some hope, since it’s designed to restructure Azeroth, but it’s more the interactivity between my character and me. There’s very little immersion for me, and I’d like to see more of it. When I say that I found the Tailoring more interesting than the meat of the gameplay I am completely serious. I reached 300 skill level before I even got near Outlands.

One of the most disappointing things about the MMO genre is that all the cool things that happen, happen elsewhere. Allegiance shifts, betrayals, drama, and the actual story seem to either happen as back story or I don’t get a chance to be involved. The Old Republic interests me because it seems to be designed to combat this flaw. How well the execution is going to be is another matter.

For me the main pull of MMOs is playing with friends. Unfortunately, most are designed to make it difficult for you to catch up if you get behind, or start behind. As I cannot commit myself to play this game to the same degree as some other people, it’s really crushing to your desire when your friends are far ahead of you to begin with. The only game I’ve effectively seen implement a mechanic against this is City of Heroes. The Sidekick/Exemplar system was fantastic, and I know that FFXI recently included such a mechanic.

My hope is that Blizzard implements a similar system.

- Leo