If WoW were the real world, with all its addictions, support groups and twelve steps, I'm beginning to think that my two main characters would have to go to Gamblers Anonymous. My paladin has finally hit 375 jewelcrafting and has bought a number of the rare JC cuts. However, she's still level 65, and can't really farm adamantite well on her own. So I've worked out a "farming trade" with a real-life friend who still owes me 1500 that I lent him for his epic mount -- he farms me ore and I make him potions. Getting those stacks of adamantite ore in the mail has proven to be a real rush, since I love prospecting and hoping to get a blue gem.

My rogue has also started "gambling", although she's going about it a different way. I've taken up solo farming the chests in Mechanar, which is a pretty popular way for rogues to make money, using a combination of stealth, Vanish, and conveniently timed jumps off of balconies. There are two gambles in this -- whether you can do it (Will the mob see me? Can I make that jump? Will my lockpicking fail?) and what you get (an excellent blue or some random cloth gear of the whale?)

After I started thinking about this, it suddenly seemed like everything in WoW was a gamble (other than rep grinds, of course.) Will my item sell in the AH, or will I fail and lose the deposit? Will my alchemy proc extras or a discovery, or did my rogue just make a ton of Adept's Elixir for nothing? Will Prince drop Malchazeen, or will it be another week of caster gear? And is the gambling/chance factor of WoW one of those things that keeps people hooked?

Do you enjoy the chance-based aspects of WoW, or would you rather have a more consistent way to progress your character?

Filed under: Virtual selves