Should I join the band wagon?

G'day,
Just sitting here wondering if I should join the band wagon and start to play WoW... Plenty of people play it, but would you recommend it? I'm not a huge gamer, but WoW seems to entice me.. Ha, anyways, play or not?

Cheers.

 

Yes, jump on that waste of life and time WoW bangwagon.

 

Haha, that's not a very enthusiastic response.

 

To me, unless you have a half dozen friends that want to play along with you it's a snore-fest.

 

Yeah, that's what I though... My brother is willing to play though, but I guess I need a few more. haha.

 

There is a 10 day trial, Play it. Only you knows if you will like it or not. I personally prefer MMOS like Eve and others.

 

Quoted. For. Truth.

 

No and Yes. Depends if you like MMOs. If you are looking for MMO boss raiding, WoW is unmatched. For anything else, there are better games that are cheaper and far less time consuming.

One thing to remember, WoW is not real. Anything you do in it is NOT an accomplishment. There is no space on a resume for what bosses you downed in WoW.

Also Blizzard does everything possible to keep you paying $15 a month which means they drag EVERYTHING out.

Can only down a 25 man raid boss only once per week. If there is gear you need, 5-10% chance of dropping and only downing it once a week really sucks. Then you usually have 3-4 other players competing which means you may not get the best gear for your class and spec for MONTHS. I raided damn Hyjal 3 months before I got my head piece. What a waste of time. You can only run a heroic dungeon once per day. Really sucks. You want to craft something, the best things have materials that are on 3-4 day cool downs. You want to get ready do to anything? The gear requirement, reading up on strategies are all insanely time consuming.

WoW is all about time. How much time are you willing to throw away, how many activites are you willing to throw away, how much time away from significant other and family are you willing to throw away for a game that has no value or accomplishments in the real world?

I'd say no. If you just want to game and have fun, there are better alternatives, my opinion.

That said I did play WOW. It was fun while I did it, but I also want that time back. I regret it as I'm not getting those wasted days, hours back. Luckily I did it only for months, not years.

 

Depends on what you want out of it. It's a neat game, and will give you a lot of hours of gameplay (maybe too much, as some have attested to!)

For me, I played through until I'd seen all the content a casual player could expect to see - mostly the world, quests, etc. that wasn't heavily instanced. (i.e. not many dungeons) and I still played fairly regularly for almost 3 years before I got a little bored with it.

Again, strictly speaking for myself, the fun was more in making new characters and seeing new content than getting gear and raiding. As a result, I ended up with about 20 characters, representing one each of every race and class available, and about half of them are at max level (the other half stalled out somewhere about 75-90% there...) Of course, there isn't any really good gear on any of them, as I never really raided, and only played casually.

I guess that's the point I'm trying to make - you CAN play this game casually in the couple-hours -a-night, three nights a week mode just like any other game. There are also folks out there who raid a lot more than that - every night, or 4 or 5 nights a week, for marathon sessions. You'll have to find what you enjoy for yourself.

I recently stopped playing, but it wasn't that I didn't enjoy my time. I just reached a point where I felt I'd seen everything I could at the casual level, and had no desire to try to 'gear up' by trying to get into raid groups and instances.

So, just recognize what you're getting into. If you want to be casual, you can do that and enjoy your time - but realize that you will not get the super high-quality stuff that hardcore players have. I think that's fair, to be honest - I never felt angry about other players having better gear than me, as they put in a lot more time to get to where they were. Recognize that there is a potential for you to spend a LOT of time in this game... I'm not your mom, so I'm not going to tell you if this is a good thing or a bad thing; I'll just caution you to make an informed choice based on what you know of yourself. If you think you're the type of person who could become obsessed with something like this, then maybe it isn't for you, or you'll have to try hard to set limits for yourself. If you don't think that will be a problem, and it looks like fun to you, then give it a try. I did, and got about 3 years playing time out of a computer game - not too many games I can say that about (in fact, off the top of my head, I can only think of one other game I've played longer than that...)

Either way, it's a fun game with a lot to explore and see. The best bet may be the 10 day trial for you - go, have a look around, and see if it's something you like. (Remember though, it's a constant fee; though it was a fun game I shudder sometimes to think that, really, my 3 year game cost me about $470 in subscription costs... But, again, this was over 3 years, so I'd say it was probably worth it for the enjoyment I got out of it.)

 

Well, the truth is I only wanna play it because Leonard and Sheldon and Rajesh, and Howard play it on The Big Bang Theory, haha. But I think I would enjoy it, to an extent, but, do you think it would be too time consuming getting in the way of my studies, etc?

 

YES. it would get in the way of everything.

 

That's the thing - it CAN be time consuming, if you let it.

... so I guess we can't answer the time consuming question... the question is, will you LET it get in the way of your studies, etc?

I think the best answer is to know going in that it can be a possibility. If you are worried about this, then set limits for yourself - no WOW until homework's done. Or limit yourself to a certain number of hours per week. heck, if I remember right, you can even set up limits on your account through the use of the 'parental control' (not 100% sure on that, as I never messed with it...)

But all these things really come down to your willpower and desires, as they require you to limit yourself. If you're REALLY worried about it and don't feel you could limit yourself, then yeah, pass on it.

 

Haha. I don't think I should play it, because, the problem is, I WOULD let it get in the way, I'm the type of person who put's things off. If I tried to limit myself, I would get caught and keep playing it! Maybe I should learn when to stop, I think I might test it out with the Demo disc I got...

 

I tried the 10 day free trial of WoW, and was not impressed. If you want a good MMO, check out Lord of the Rings Online. Graphics don't look like they're out of the 1990's and the gameplay seemed like less of a grindfest to me.

 

Unfortunately you can't judge WoW by the 10 day trial.

The thing WoW is stand alone the best at, no other game comes even close it the boss raiding. So until you've actually been part of a great crew of 25 players, everyone seemlessly doing their role, and paying attention and downing a boss only .5% of 11 million players, is impressive.

I know WoW raiders who gave LOTR the full run, end game game etc, and all have said, it just pales in comparison. Just not the same.

WoW isn't about the graphics, it's about the gameplay and balance. Unmatched in my opinion by any MMO still.

But I would not recommend playing to anyone that has an addictive/obsessive personality.

 

Like everyone else said, try the trial. If you like it then buy it if not then atleast you saved some money.

 

Don't play it, it's very very addicting (which makes it a good games, I guess). The only non-shooter online game I play is Diablo 2.

 

It all depends who you are, two of my friends who I usually game with were pushing me to play, and I tried but I just couldn't get into it.

 

This is what I think I'll be like.

 

creators of wow did a very good job...

you develop a character that grows as you put in more time and money and effort...

when you've reached the max level (currently 80), then you realize that you will need to belong to a community (guild) in order to progress further...

either that, or as you were leveling, you have already met many folks and have already joined guilds...

vanilla wow was nice... you worked on getting your tier set epic gear and it was a good feeling...
nowadays, blizzard have made a wow-for-idiots version of everything and basically, casual gamers are walking around with tier sets... that are not really earned... and hence, you have really unskilled and un-guilded folks running around as if they are elites...

find a nice guild and it's fun...
find a bunch of good friends, either IRL or in game, it's fun...

i've met some good friends and even business contacts in there...
i've recently joined one of the oldest and still running guilds in my server... and it's great... sadly, my work load does not allow for raiding any more...

it really depends on the person...
i like the community aspect of it... back when it was 40 strangers coming together to "work" together...

nowadays, good guilds are breaking up, new guilds form and break... it only requires 10 man team to raid all of the end game content... so there is no effort to learn to work with each other... just go flex their e-peen and if it does not fit, then emo and quit guild to find yet another...

there's a plethora of charismatic guilds out there... finding the good ones... that's where the fun is...

try it out... it can be addictive... manage your time well...

 

It literally came to a point where I realized I was forcing myself to play, so I just logged off and never looked back.

 

FOnline!!! (a MMORPG version of Fallout 1 and 2)

I absolutely love it. It's completely free (no ads, no subscription, no base price). But note, it's in beta, and the Wasteland is a harsh place. Expect to be PKed for a while until you know which places are safe.

 

Dont Do It If You Value Having A Life!!!!

 

A lot wowphobia in this thread.

 

Yea, its funny how a lot of people cant even control their actions. "Dont do it, WoW is the devil and will consume your life!!!!!!!".

On a serious note, WoW at the moment is more casual friendly so you dont need to have hours and hours just to get the rewards. But as many already said, i would recommend playing it with 1-2 friends. At least that was the thing that made it more fun for me when i started playing and it was the reason i quitted in the end since many had to go in the army, and other life obligations. Mmorpg's without friends just gets boring at some time. You can always find 1-2 friends you want to play the game with, pay the game for a month or use the 10 day trial, although id recommend the 1 month payment since you cant see much in 10 days, then after a month discuss with them if they are willing to continue play it etc.

 

I started a thread about a month ago as I was in the same situation. This is my first mmo or rpg game period. Here are my thoughts after about 30 days:

-The 10 day trial isn't long enough to get a feel for it. I was luke warm a few days in because I realized that it was going to take much longer to understand this game.
-It's the first game since GTA 3 that I can play for hours on end. Prior to WoW I would usually log into Call of Duty:World at War or Left 4 Dead 2 for an hour at most. I can play WoW for probably 6 hours on any given Saturday.
-It feels like a job, but a fun job. At the end of the day (of real work) I feel compelled to put in a couple of hours at night to continue progressing through the game. Higher levels, more gear, more XP, more achievements, more, more. It's an endless cycle.
-It's definitely more fun with a partner but quite enjoyable solo as well.
-You make WoW what you want it to be. It's a giant world with many, many different things to do. Some people just quest. Others just raid. Some even put most of their time into the Auction House which is a game within a game. You do what you want to do when you want to do it. There's no parameters put on you.

It's fun. I'll be playing it for years to come most likely. I even got my wife into it. It can be addicting but so can anything that provides entertainment. Just have a little self-control and moderate your playing time. You'll be fine.

 

Well, it's entirely your (the OP) call.

I only saw WoW a couple of times which was played by my best friend over a year ago, and recently my cousin.
I wasn't really impressed with what I saw to be honest.

I got into live Beta of Star Trek: Online though, and was entertained for the most part, but it ultimately became a bore because it came down to 'same old' thing throughout the levels with little or no variety, and so much mindless shooting I just stopped bothering with it.

 

I only played for like 2 months and then it got boring for me but then again that's mostly because I don't really have my friends playing with me :/

Didn't really see much of what the hype is. It's basically like any other MMORPGs out there with a much much larger community

 

I've never played. It "sounds" like a waste of time. If you don't try it, you'll never know what you're missing

 

Have a look around at other options. i play eve online. its a bit more casual friendly. and depending on what your doing, much easier to hop off at any time. even while doing stuff with others.

 

Honestly, my no holds bar opinion...."Don't join that bandwagon, let that junk pass you by and wave". There are better and less time (and money)-consuming games out there.

 

if you have $15 to throw away like me every month, it's a pretty relax game.

i have no clue what ppl are talking about in terms of "time consuming" lol, unless you're like....one of those ppl who are "serious" gamers. they made the game SOOOOO easy, you can literally get the best gear or near best gear just running normal 10 minute long dungeons. if you play for 30 minutes a day at lvl 80, guaranteed in 5-6 days you'll be in almost the near best gear in the game which is tier 9 and buyable from npc's.

anyways, if you're just playing for fun like 1-2 hours a day, it's no different than mindlessly watching tv for the same amount of time. if you're the type that sits and games like it's your life...well, it's definitely a waste of time. the "achievements" aren't real of course. go and learn how to play guitar or breakdance, or something that impresses the ladies

 

WoW as it is today is insufficiently rewarding at any level of casualness/hardcoreness to be worth it.

The difference in gear between someone who plays 1 hour a week and someone who plays 100 hours a week is too small to give either a casual player any motivation to play more, or to give a hardcore player any of the fruits of utter domination over the majority of the server.

 

You need a better dps meter to measure the difference.

 

I was comparing WoW to the kind of MMORPG where a top-20 player can take any 2 non top-20 players and come out with more than 50% of their health without needing any healing or really even trying.

In WoW you'd need to be fighting 2 underleveled players wearing quest greens or something to do that. Heck, even if you have the full arena set you still can't even consistently 1 shot a level 80 wearing quest greens.

 

I know what you mean. But the requirement to get into the top end guild still not casual at all in order to see bleeding edge content to fight bleeding edge bosses.

 

I suppose there is that attraction for some people, but as an ex-WoW player, I find it rather annoying.

I have a friend who's played WoW from launch until now, and every time Blizz adds a new raid, I hear nothing but nonstop whining for the first few days about one of these things:

1) He just got the last piece of the previous tier set a week or 2 ago and whines about not being able to enjoy it longer.
2) The instance is so buggy that it's impossible to complete. Though Blizz seems to have gotten their act together over the past year, this was all I ever heard when WotLK first came out.

Sometimes I wonder if he's actually happy playing WoW, or if he simply feels some sort of obligation to stay on top, but I don't have the heart to ask since I don't want to send his world crashing down on him.

 

I'm pretty sure hes happy. Complaining is probably hes second sport, i like that one too. Nothing like whining while getting the job done, lol.

 

This. I don't play it and I don't ever plan on playing it, and to most people, I would advise you to stay away from it. You will eventually become so engrossed within it that will lose sight of your outside life.

 

Dont play WoW wait for the new Final Fantasy MMO

Or skip all MMO's since if your not already addicted there is no reason to tempt yourself. Its like caffeine, smoking, drugs. If you know its bad for you its kinda of a obvious question to ask "hey should I join the bandwagon and smoke?" sure somebody is going to say WoW is not bad for you, or its ok in moderation.

But somebody would probably say that about smoking too.

Signed ViciousXUSMC former WoW addict sober for over 4 years now.

 

If you have an "addictive" or "perfectionist" personality I would advise you to avoid it. But if you're a more casual player like myself, its a lot of fun if you have people to play with. I convinced my girlfriend to give it a try and she really likes it even though she wont play past the trial because shes too busy with sports, work etc. Shes not a gamer at all

 

Nah. I'd really recommend City of Heroes / VIllains. It is way different than any game on the market.

 

Don't do it

 

I think from all the response I have got, I don't think I should. Thanks for all your responses! -I dont think WoW is for me! I wouldn't be able to help myself!

 

We don't care about your GF.

 

Seems not being a gamer doesn't have much to do with it as much as she's too busy living her life

 

I know i'm very phrone to become very addicted to MMORPG's, so that and the fact that you need to pay every month, kept and will keep me away from WoW.
I gamed a lot all my life and I realise that doing things in real life, however stupid or lame they may be, give me much more joy.

 

You mean you dont buy at least one game every month ? ($30), $15 for a game that can pretty much keep you occupy as much as a new game isnt that bad, so price isnt an issue.

As for real life, if you skip things you want to do in real life (that you really want to do) due to games then you shouldnt be playing games to begin with. If you cant control it dont start it...

 

lol ur a twit... don't be so rude... but personally , many of my classmates were warcraft addicts and it didn't help in their studies and life... ur better off without it... in my case , i don't even like it and am hopeless at it

 

I used to buy a lot of games, but since I started studying, I have like 10 games (like 5 of em still wrapped) for the ps2 which I still need to finish.
The 'newest' games I bought were cod4 this summer, assassins creed 1 which I bought 2-3 months ago. I still play them when I have the time.

The problem with games, in my personal experience is that they make me lazy, and if I MMORPG's my lazyness gets worse due to the adictive effect.

I can have a blast with games, and have some very nice memories (the spyro games for the ps1, final fantasy/ratchet and clank/timesplitters/dbz on the ps2), but I just realized that...they don't make me 'really' happy.