Investigative Gaming

Issue 4: World of Warcraft, Part 4

Ok, the first point I want to get out is an apology who to those who were hoping this was going to be the last chapter on WoW's popularity in these Investigative Gaming articles. I recently delved in to Burning Crusade, and that deserves a mention here, as well. Also, I've began using add-ons more since my last article so that needs to be touched on. So, without further ado, here's Issue 4.

As WoW's first - and so far only - expansion, BC brings some meat to the table. Two new races are alone enough for some gamers, myself included, to be interested. The Draenei are interesting, in that they seem to hail from outer space and bring a new visual angle to the Alliance. On the other hand, the Blood Elves come off as almost too clean-cut compared to their Horde allies, but that can be seen as a perk as well, for those who can't stand the 'ugly monster' races. Each new race brings a class to it's faction that was not available before: Draenei are the first Alliance shamans while the Blood Elves give paladins a new twist. Their racial powers and starting areas make the original eight races seem somewhat boring in comparison. 

I've been using the Titan Panel add-on and it's subsequent extras for some time now, and I found it hard to play without it after the 2.4 patch invalidated it. I've since gotten the new version, and have also been using LightHeaded and TomTom to aid in my questing. My other favorite add-on is MobInfo 2. I'm a data nut and the more information I have at my fingertips the better,  so this allows me to keep tabs on all of the baddies I fight.

So let's add everything up so far. The game's longevity is helped by the multitude of quests, intuitive interface, comfortable gaming environment, loads of loot, and the mass of aftermarket add-ons. Things counting against WoW are it's time-sink mentality to acomplish anything, the monatonous running from point A to point B all of the time, as well as some imbalances in the quest lines. I'll try and tie all of this together in the next - and hopefully last - World of Warcraft Investigative Gaming article. Alphasim out.

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