Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Feeling Epic: Why so many people like WoW?


Playing WoW is full of those moments that can potentially make you feel epic. We have all experienced it one way or another. It can be winning a 1 on 3 in arena when it seemed that there was no hope. It could be you duoing a boss down slowly but surely when the rest of your party bit the dust. It could be the first time that you solo and elite mob (perhaps even Hogger!).


I think that this is one of the reasons that we play the game. Sure, there are a million little things that are fun, but everyone want to feel special. People want to be the difference maker. They dont want to be the peons in Warcraft 2 saying "Jobs done". They want to be Lothar, either doing something Heroic or going out on their shields.


This is one of the main reason I always come back to WoW (along with the social interactions). Reaching the gold cap can make you feel epic, but that doesnt really show great skill. It shows some common sense and an adundance of time. Kiting two other players around and killing them after losing your partner in an arena match is instant gratification epic.


I started thinking about this yesterday in a Heroic HoL run. We pulled two many mobs which included the whirlwind guys as well as the Vanguards. Several went down, but the tank, healer, and all other dps were pulverized. Being on my Ret Pally, I popped my bubble and proceeded to solo three mobs to death and rez my party. Everyone is cheering in party chat, and it adds some great atmosphere to the game.


I remember another time doing arenas on my Warlock with my Ret Pally buddy at 70. He ended up dying leaving me one on two against a Mage and a Druid. I somehow managed to kite them around and kill the mage while the Druid was trying to pillar hump. I then took out the Druid with relative ease.


What kind of epic experiences have you had? Is it these experiences that keep you coming back to the game after so long?

5 comments:

Feather said...

Not coming back, but still standing there:

Playing a ret paladin in a raidguild on a germen server, still doing 10-men-os...a few weeks ago whem the servers weren't that stable we were doing 10-men-os an finally the holy-priest an the two tanks killed that guy because all of us others died in somme hidden voidzone noone could see:)
the voices in the party-chat were hilarious

*vlad* said...

Getting Kaelthas and Vashj down were and still are my happiest WoW moments.
What makes WoW so popular? I don't really know, but 99% of video games lose their appeal after a few weeks, whereas when I log onto WoW I always feel there is plenty to do still. Maybe that is it.

Feather said...

So this one does not for all of them, but on one point lot of people get fu**** up with it...because they reached their goal an its done so.

Fettsbounty said...

I'll always remember when 4 of us from the ol' SNK crew pugged Kara with our alts and all the pugs wiped on Romeo and Juliet. We may have failed but the four of us lasted for 10 more minutes and even downed Romulo. We just didn't have the interrupts to keep him down and keep the (female dog) from healing. It still felt epic.

Darraxus said...

Lol I remember that one. They kept telling us to die but we wouldnt.