I didn't sleep well, so I only played a short Poker session, and quit out while up 1 buyin. I wasn't in the mood for Hearthstone or League of Legends, debated on taking a nap, but decided I didn't want to mess up my sleep schedule. I felt like playing something casual ...
So I decided to the play the Starter Edition of World of Warcraft. Something I had installed when updating my Battlenet account for Hearthstone and Diablo 3. It was a good decision.
It's been a long time since I've played an MMO (massive multiplayer online) RPG (role-playing game). Blizzard has really geared the game for casual gamers. It was a very relaxing evening, as I played from level 1 to level 16 in less than 12 hours, with plenty of breaks. This would have been considered hardcore back in my days of Everquest. Not once did I have a fear of dying or even of losing my Ranger pet, nor need to worry about food, drink, potions, etc... all the tedious stuff has been removed for a smoother user experience. To get you hooked on the game, I would imagine. I can't imagine the PVE (player vs environment) is this easy all the way up to level 60 (level 70 if you have Worlds of Draenor expansion).
I do enjoy the harder aspects of most MMORPG's, but today was a casual day, and it was just right for that kind of day. I am only playing the Starter Edition, and you can't do certain things like you can with the full subscription version, like join a party with friends, or use the zone wide chat channels, etc... There were plenty of opportunities for me to "click to upgrade" to a subscription account, if I wanted to do so.
I was streaming on Twitch the entire time (
www.twitch.tv/thewookieway ) and went ahead and made a couple video highlights to cover levels 1 to 16 for any beginners that thought about playing, but wanted to see what was involved first. Since I haven't played WoW or anything similar since Rift, it was a nice refresher at a comfortable pace. They seem to have a good balance of easy quests to keep you from getting bored, or feeling bogged down with tedious tasks, and mixed in with a few spots of humor. (such as the Crazy Cat Lady with the meat cleaver!)
We'll see how things go from here, tomorrow....
