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Posted by: Jonboy on Jan 15, 2007 - 07:38 AM
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First in a (hopefully) long series of articles on World of Warcraft.
I have about a billion WoW related topics I want to write about, so I'm starting up a weekly column. I'm going to try to stick to a single topic each week. It's easy this week. We're so close to BC that I can't really advance my character that much in the time that remains. Plus there's a login bug which is keeping me from logging into WoW =]
I'm a gamer, and I really like thinking about game design, so that's where the focus of this column is going to be. There are many game design choices that Blizzard made for WoW. Most of these columns will be picking out a few of those, and discussing them.
In the Warcraft fiction, the Alliance and the Horde are bitter enemies. From the player's perspective, however, the relationship can be accurately described as a rivalry. Now, I'm a huge fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The past few years, the Steelers have had a bitter rivalry with the Cincinnati Bengals. When I think about rivalries, a choice quote of Bengals QB Carson Palmer comes to mind:
"I hate the Steelers. I hate their colors. I hate their fans. I hate everything about them."
Hate is such a strong word, but that's what a rivalry is. Now that is not to say that Carson Palmer personally hates the Steelers. He is good friends with Steelers Safety Troy Polamalu. On the one hand, he doesn't hate the Steelers. On the other hand, when he puts on a Bengals uniform and takes the football field, he hates the Steelers.
I'm a Steelers fan. I don't personally hate Carson Palmer. But when I see him on the football field with a Bengals uniform on, I hate him. I want the Bengals to lose, and I want Carson Palmer to lose. That's what a rivalry is.
When I play WoW, I hate the Horde. I play on a PVP server. I have probably been ganked over 500 times. I've been corpse camped and harassed. It was very easy for me to develop a hatred of the Horde.
The other day I was out grinding some trash mobs for rep. I took on a few too many, and I was down to about a third of my health, and I was out of mana. A level 55 rogue attacks me when I am still fighting the last mob. Players, generally, are far more dangerous than mobs, so I immediately turn my attention to the rogue. But he kills me, as I am unable to deal with both him and the mob at the same time.
This irritated me. I hate the Horde. So I rezzed, I found the rogue and I killed him. Then I waited for him to rez again, then I attacked him. He tried to run. I chased him down and killed him. At this point, I didn't care that I was losing quality grinding time. I didn't even care if the rogue rezzed again. I got on my epic mount, and started to do laps around his body. About ten minutes later, it became clear that he wasn't going to rez with me standing over him. Plus, I was planning to log in a few minutes. So I started riding about 100 yards from his body, then riding back, then about 100 yards in the other direction. Every time I rode past I rode directly over his body, symbolically trampling it. About five minutes later, he finally called a guildy in. It was a warlock. I'm a paladin with <T1 gear. I have no chance against a warlock. But I'm still on my epic mount, so I ride about 200 yards, dismount, then bubble hearth. I was planning to log out anyway, and I wanted to deny satisfaction.
So I hate the Horde. I wonder how much of this rivalry was intended by Blizzard. Clearly, they anticipated it to some extent, which is why they made communication between the two factions impossible. Oh sure, you can /wave. But you can also /spit.
Tune in next week, when I discuss the happenings of week 1 of The Burning Crusade expansion pack.
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| The House of Pwn: The Alliance/Horde Rivalry | Log-in or register a new user account | 1 Comment |
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Re: The House of Pwn: The Alliance/Horde Rivalry
(Score: 1)
by Jonboy on Jan 16, 2007 - 02:32 AM
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As I switch to disc 3 of 4, I remember why I wanted Collector's Edition. Curse you Blizzard!
I can buy a PC with a Blu Ray Rom Drive, but I still can't get my games on DVD. Hey games industry... this is 2007... ship your PC games on DVD...
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