Breakfast Topic: WoW Background Music
by David Nelson 
Aug 17th 2006 at 8:00AM
I know several World of Warcraft players personally, and not a one of them listens to the soundtrack while playing anymore. I turned my music off after about a week. It wasn't that I didn't like it, I thought it was really good, but I just got sick of it after hearing the Iron Forge music for the fiftieth time. I can't imagine just my little circle of WoW friends being the only ones who have turned off the soundtrack, which makes me wonder, what exactly is it that everyone is listening to as they romp through Azeroth? My best friend listens to In Flames at extremely high volume, which is a little too hardcore for me. Another buddy listens to classical music while playing, but that seems a little too boring. I have bounced back and forth between all kinds of different music, from Top 40 garbage to harder rock, but I seem to have settled on no music at all as of late. My newest WoW background obsession is Nick At Nite. I have seen every episode of Roseanne and The Fresh Prince about five times each since I started watching earlier this year, but even on their fifth viewing they are still the perfect mindless background. Stopping to drink? Glance up for 5 seconds and see Will calling Uncle Phil tubby. Recovering from a wipe? Watch Roseanne yell at Becky for a little while.
What provides the background music for your WoW experience? Is there a perfect soundtrack that would bring me back to listening to music while I play?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jonathan Aug 17th 2006 8:27AM
Classical music boring? Blimey, have you never heard Mahler, Wagner, Shostakovitch? Beethoven's 9th symphony?
I put my iTunes on 'random classical album' (I've got about 100gig of music in there) and you'd be surprised how often the music matches what's going on. Whether it's dramatic, climactic stuff (listen to the end of Mahler's 2nd symphony) or unaccompanied choral music (anything by Tavener), it always seems to fit.
Duwanis Aug 17th 2006 8:35AM
I guess it depends on how much you like music. I have a good bit of music (I'm closing in on 'audiophile' status, I guess), so I just leave WinAmp or Foobar2000 up in the background on random. It's not exactly a specific soundtrack, but I can listen to it for a few days without hearing anything more than once or twice.
Mordiceius Aug 17th 2006 8:35AM
I usually just keep myTV on FUSE, Adult Swim on Cartoon Network if I am chatting with guildies or just run winamp if I'm solo grinding.
Giffo Aug 17th 2006 8:56AM
i use my fancy logitech g15 keyboard to use winamp while ingame, the first thing i did when i started playing WoW was jump straight into the options and turn off the damn game music.
Currently the playlist is a few albums of Magnetophone and Nirvana with a bit of Johnny Cash.
CGL Aug 17th 2006 9:10AM
I just turn my speakers off and listen to my iPod. I'll listen to anything from Bob Seger to Dave Matthews Band. Kind of strange with WoW, but I like it.
JimJimBinks Aug 17th 2006 9:14AM
I listen to the banshee like wailings of my wife telling me to stop playing WoW and start paying attention to her.
Jexra Aug 17th 2006 9:38AM
I generally turn on one of the radio stations in iTunes once I get the game up and running. The default game music is goood, but the constant repetition caused me to turn off the music within a week of playing...
Nis Aug 17th 2006 10:04AM
Get a massive playlist of everything, From Johnny Cash to Slipknot. Then scroll through if your not in the mood for something eventually you'll come to what you want to hear. Heavy metal when your smashing in pvp seems to really match the mood, give it a try.
squirtin Aug 17th 2006 10:09AM
WOW JimJim my wife playes with me and we usually listen to contry or when we are raiding we just listen to poeple on vent :P
Zephy Aug 17th 2006 10:36AM
I listen to Nick at Nite too! or Adult Swim.
Mostly during raids but don't tell my guild that, I'm supposed to be concentrating or something like that, I'm not too sure though . . . .
"haha, that's funny. oh, what do you want me to sheep?"
Niekon Aug 17th 2006 11:30AM
I typically have one of the stations from Sirius on... or I'll pop something in from my digitized music collection that will get me through at least an eight hour stint online.
If I'm on TeamSpeak then all music is off just so I can try to listen to the folks on the other end and they aren't going deaf from my music in the background.
sollaires Aug 17th 2006 11:40AM
My girlfriend and I have a screen in between us that we watch tv shows and movies on. It's a fantastic way to make the grind more interesting. We've gotten through many a season of CSI, X-Files, West Wing, and a ton of others (popular TV shows are the best because they only require about 30% of your brain/attention, so just glancing occassionally will keep you up to date).
In an instance or a battleground, we generally just don't have anything on at all and are complaining to each other about the noobs in our group. Although sometimes we stream This American Life of Car Talk or other snooty NPR shows on some speakers.
Mat Aug 17th 2006 12:06PM
I switch back and forth between overly hip and overly bad music. Let me tell ya, you haven't lived until you've started a raid boss fight with The Veronicas and ended it with Tapes n' Tapes.
And Sollaires, NPR isn't snooty :(, it's interesting.
Jestah Aug 17th 2006 12:10PM
I cant function at all without some good music on. I have different playlists for my different moods, so I am always listening to a big variety of different stuff. At the moment, I have some Frank Sinatra on. If I decide to do some PvP in a little bit, I might throw on my PvP playlist with stuff like As I lay Dying, Darkest Hour, and Comback Kid. The hard stuff really gets me pumped and on the edge of my seat for Battlegrounds :)
-Jestah of Mannaroth
Guyledouche Aug 17th 2006 12:12PM
I used to listen to music on my Media Center PC, then I switched to watching TV shows like Futurama and Family Guy. Adult Swim FTW
Tryst Aug 17th 2006 12:16PM
In-game music for me, I don't think I even hear it anymore, but my husband has some sort of mod that allows plays the LOTR soundtrack instead.
Mccullough Aug 17th 2006 12:35PM
Well mostly classical music for me, and John Williams soundtracs. But when it comes to PvP and battlegrounds, nothing beats Manowar.
Kaigami Aug 17th 2006 1:06PM
Dual screens + large pirated tv and movie collection = Happy WoW Gaming :D
Just dont pay too pick anything that needs attention or has subtitles.
Sorry to that MC group i crashed...but that ep of scrubs was just too funny :D
UncleVinny Aug 17th 2006 1:52PM
I listened to in-game music for about 3 months, and then switched it off. I still like turning it on once in a while for the Kharanos music...I love it, it's so wistful.
I actually play in "silence", now. I keep very busy listening to raid chat on Vent, and picking up audio cues from spell casting sounds, rogues going in and out of stealth, etc.
While we're talking about sound though, does anyone else think that the party buff sounds are way too loud? Arcane Brilliance isn't so bad, but the priest buffs are like thunderclaps...much louder than anything else in the game, and they always seem to happen right when critical raid instructions are going out on Vent....
Ikazuchi Aug 17th 2006 4:04PM
Apocalyptica has so far been some of the best music I've ever listened to whilst playing WoW. Rocking and epic. All the power of metal and the sound of classical.