As everyone in the world probably knows, Wrath Of The Lich King for WoW was just released. And just like that, one player has already maxed his character at level 80, the new cap.
WOTLK came out a day early in Europe because of the time difference. And French player Nymh wasted no time at all. With a little help from a healer who kept him going, Nymh found a spot where mobs spawned in rapid succession. Very rapid.
I’m not surprised. Much the same thing happened when Burning Crusade hit the racks. There is always someone who has to be first to hit the top, whatever it takes, and that usually means a lot of grinding.
Naturally, Nymh skipped much (if not most) of the new content. You can’t do too much exploring when you’re annihilating mobs hour after hour. Maybe now he’ll take his maxed spellcaster on a more leisurely tour of Northrend.
Still, it seems strange to me that anyone who was anticipating WOTLK would bypass all the new material just to gain levels so quickly. And I have no doubts that other players with 70th-level characters are busily trying to max out, too.
What is it that drives people to level up so fast? What’s left after you hit that cap? Just more raids, right? Okay, maybe we can add in some better loot. But that seems small reward for so much effort.
In some ways, it’s similar to how gamers run through a new SP product. The game is hardly out, and some have finished it before others have broken the shrinkwrap. It can’t just be the “deluge of games” alone.
Why don’t players take time anymore to enjoy the games they have? Maybe it’s related to the speed of the modern world, where anything that takes more than five seconds is too slow? Have we lost the capacity for patience? Or is it that games are mostly just consumables of mediocre quality, something to fill in the time, fast food of little “nutrition” for the gaming habit?
The e-peen measuring brigade attaches great value to being fr1st [sic] to do anything.
And you kids, get off my lawn!
I’m quite guilty of stretching games out over long time frames. Games that I enjoy will get return playthrus to see if I missed anything, or to try a different build. MMORPGs are a bane to casual and leisurely gaming since they encourage using your paid subscription time on that title alone.
yeah e-peen bragging rights are all important to the tween crowd (and the early twenty somethings that are still mentally 1x in age).
that and being 80 in a 70 world does have advantages to hacking thru quests designed for lvl 70.
or he could be the lazy type that likes the quest completely solved before going on it – you know read all the cheat/notes and then do an hour quest in 15 minutes. which is also something of the tweenie crowd more into ‘doing’ the quest then ‘solving’ the quest, the hold on let me read the walkthru then we go on it.
Foxtrot Sunday Comic:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/foxtrot;_ylt=AoKbIKcumbdR0hIXkxqT00cH_b4F
Race to be first bragging rights. It pretty much covers every game these days, online or stand-alone.
Considering that I don’t even have a level 40 character in Lord of the Rings Online, which I was in early Friend & Family Beta, speaks to the casual “There will always be time to level” philosophy. -)
Dolnor “Slo-Poke” Numbwit
Eternal Noob
So glad I don’t play MMO’s anymore.
Left4Dead releases tomorrow. I’ve been playing the demo all week and can’t wait. The demo scared the hoohoo out of me a few times. Now I’m going to have to choose between Fallout 3 and Left4Dead – and then The Witcher UK edition which shipped today!