On November 5, my morning started as it usually does. I rolled out of bed, greeted the cats, and started some coffee brewing. Then, I sat down to play World of Warcraft: Forever, Blizzard’s newest iteration on its long-running MMORPG. And play it I did, for approximately twelve hours that day.
My character is a Skyborne Beast Master Hunter. Basically, an elf from the elemental plane of air who runs around with an owlbear (sorry, ursera) shooting things with a bow. At time of writing, he’s level 17. I think I’ve already outleveled the first dungeon, Ragefire Chasm, but I haven’t bothered to check because I’ve been having too much fun questing and running around Azeroth.
This version of World of Warcraft is like what would happen if you took the original and gave it a serious coat of polish. The visual upgrades, in particular, are stunning. The water is beautiful, and the ominous forest on Zephras Isle looks truly foreboding. What I appreciate most, though, is that it preserves the original’s scope and pacing. You’re not saving the world every five minutes. You’re living a life in Azeroth as an adventurer—one of many. I spend most of my time collecting resources to level up my leatherworking and cooking skills in addition to doing whatever quests happen to be in the area. My quest log has gotten enormously full since I arrived in the Crossroads, that Horde village in the middle of the Barrens.
I think the reason I’m enjoying WoW: Forever so much is that the pace is much slower, and I can actually understand everything that’s happening on screen. That’s not often the case in modern MMORPGs. Most games throw a ton of information at you very quickly. I gave up trying to do Mythic dungeons in the retail version of World of Warcraft because I just can’t keep up anymore. In WoW: Forever, at any given moment I know exactly how much trouble I’m in.
The game has a camping feature where a player lays down a campfire, and then other players can sit by it (actually sit, with /sit) and wait a minute to get an hour-long buff. Players can also add a feature to the camp, like a tent or a camp chair, that adds an additional effect to the buff. It’s really neat. In practice, I see a lot of players stop by a camp and start chatting. Often they’ll end up staying beyond the one minute they need. One time, I stayed for fifteen minutes talking about cooking and favorite recipes.
I’m also intentionally avoiding online guides and forums for anything. When I have a question about something, I’ll ask in general chat in the game, or in guild chat. I’m getting back that feeling of discovery I got when playing World of Warcraft for the first time way back in 2004. I underestimated how good this would feel.