The Return

19 Jan 2007

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade came out on January the 16th. Since that time, I have been playing as much as I can. It is wonderful to be back.

The expansion has brought back all of the joy and fun of WoW for me. It feels just like it used to when I first started playing a couple of years ago in beta. There are some differences, such as this time I know a lot of people right from the get go.

I do have to say that I also enjoyed my time away from the game. I think it was about a three month break, maybe more. I’ve never been good with time. It was great to spend time with local friends and get to know Holly better. It was great to go on trips and little adventures. I still plan to continue doing all of these things.

It has been great to come back to the game that I left and see so many friendly faces. So many people that I used to hang out with in that virtual world. A few of whom I have met in real life. All of us have gone through so much together.

We have faced the depths of hardship, failure and loss. We have climbed to the heights of achievement and triumph. We have banged our collective heads in frustration while struggling with challenges that have forced us to learn more about eachother and how we work. We have celebrated loudly and wildly at the end, when we finally overcame those struggles. We have all made friends and enemies. We have helped eachother grow and change as people; good or bad. We have all been a part of eachother’s lives for over two years.

Really, when it comes down to it, how is playing something like WoW any different than being on a hockey team, in a theatre group, part of a band or part of some other random club? You end up hanging out with a group of people. You forge friendships. Undoubtedly there are teams formed. You all work together. It’s just, that now you can do it from the warmth of your home in your comfortable chair. You still face challenges. You still celebrate victory. You still practice to get better.

For me meeting up on a Thursday night to raid is like going to brunch or dinner with my RL friends, but with better food (some of my friends have poor tastes in restaurants). Maybe comparing it to a poker night make even more sense though.

I am trying to play it slowly and enjoy the leveling this time around. Pacing yourself is important. Doing the quests, gaining experience, and growing your character can be a great deal of fun. I don’t care who gets to 70 first. Once you hit 70, everything goes back to being raiding and PvP again.

So the real trick, is to find that happy balance of gaming and life. Ah, the eternal struggle. (No, not really. Life always wins :) )