Full disclosure: Battle for Azeroth code provided by Blizzard.
Man, I’ve done a lot in the past week in World of Warcraft. But before I dive in, a quick friendly reminder. I occasionally stream my adventures. So follow me on Twitter (@ShankTheTank) for updates when I go live on my Twitch, Mixer, YouTube, and Periscope. For a playlist of my adventures so far, check out this playlist.
Alright with that out of the way, I can honestly say that the more I play this game, the more I begin to appreciate why World of Warcraft has been a mainstay for 14 years. Every time I play it now, I’m just furiously kicking myself for not playing this earlier. I can only imagine how epic it must be to have been a Day 1 player and journeyed with the game for these last 14 years. To see the story unfold and mechanics evolve must be fascinating.
I’ve done quite a lot in the past week. Starting off my adventures, I initially went north to Stormsong Valley. But not fully understanding the questing mechanics, I definitely got a bit confused as I couldn’t figure out what the “main storyline” was.
Turns out, each one of those zones has its own storyline, something I quickly figured when, in my confusion, I abandoned Stormsong Valley and moved south into Tiragarde Sound. This is where World of Warcraft really hit its stride for me and things began to slowly lock into place.
Tiragarde Sound blew me away. I love the area, I love the pirate theme, and I just love the characters, particularly Flynn. In my time there, I learned more about the mechanics and structure of the game which definitely helped me appreciate the story all the more.
Watch LIVE -- Ballz Does #WorldOfWarcraft #BattleForAzeroth from MMORPGcom on www.twitch.tv
On Saturday, I adventured into Drustvar with Bradford. Here again, I fell in love with the darker tone of the place, seemingly in an eternal Autumn. I’m originally from Boston so seeing the orange trees really made me nostalgic for the beautiful foliage in New England.
I also found out about add-ons, something I didn’t think you could do in an MMORPG, but there we are. My friends told me to use TellMeWhen for my skill rotation as well as Bagnon for a better inventory consolidation. These are two fantastic quality of life add-ons that make my life as a newb much easier, allowing me to learn the mechanics better and concentrate on what I care about most in this game: the story.
Additionally, I was encouraged to try out different specializations with my Hunter. I spent some time a couple days ago re-speccing into the Survival specialization, and I really do dig the melee abilities, especially the Harpoon skill. That’s just legit.
And now, I’m back in Stormsong Valley, having completed the main storyline for Tiragarde Sound. I plan on finishing Stormsong Valley before moving over to Drustvar again. The more I play World of Warcraft, the more I fall in love with it. It’s truly remarkable and I really appreciate the lengths Blizzard has gone to in order to make the game more appealing to complete novices.
Some may see this as “dumbing down,” but I mean. Come on guys. It’s a video game. If the notion of making a game more appealing to new players somehow angers you, I propose that there are greater things to lose sleep over. From everything that I see in World of Warcraft, there is plenty of depth in the game to appeal to everyone. Personally, I’m having an absolute blast.
