Breakfast Topic: Your first impressions
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 29th 2008 at 8:00AM
I've got something to celebrate -- not only is my birthday just around the corner (May 6th, cash and cake both accepted as presents), but my WoW-nniversary has just passed also. It was three years ago, in mid April of 2005, I think, that I bought World of Warcraft as a birthday present to myself, and I've been playing the game ever since. So in celebration of my third anniversary as a WoW player, let's ask a first-timer question today (courtesy of WI's own Elizabeth Wachowski): what did you think when you first played this game?I started up as a Night Elf, and even though I'd played Dark Age of Camelot before, and read up completely on World of Warcraft, I was pretty overwhelmed. I was clueless, too -- I had no idea there was any world beyond Teldrassil. I didn't discover Stormwind or Ironforge until I was at least level 30. But I did like it -- Dark Age of Camelot's long, low-reward grind had left me jaded, and so when a green item dropped for me within a few minutes of rolling up my character, I knew I'd found a game with a reward system as good as Diablo II.
What did you first think of World of Warcraft? I can't imagine anyone hating the game completely (and staying around long enough to answer a discussion question here), but did you hate it for some reason? Did you love it from the start, or were there things that you missed until much later on? Did you start in beta and think it was unfinished, or did you start after Burning Crusade and wonder why it was so empty? What were your first impressions of WoW?
Filed under: Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Everto Apr 29th 2008 8:12AM
The game intrigued me from the start, but my first deadmines run was what really got me hooked. (And I mean a REAL run with people at my level, not some 70 friend running me through with me cleaning up after him.)
Xerone Apr 29th 2008 8:20AM
I think I got hooked at the same time. I ran Deadmines with my guild leader (she was the same level) and a bunch of other similarly leveled players. I was a terrible healer my first run through, but I loved it! Can't say I've loved any of the other old world instances as much, but I am enjoying the BC instances right now.
I started out after my Dad (I am 19, by the way.) got a 10-Day trial and told me I had to try. I admit, I was really skeptical, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it and have been playing for the past couple months. In fact, I just got my holy paladin to level 70 yesterday. :D
jrbrewin Apr 29th 2008 9:01AM
in all honesty, i think my initial thoughts (as in the first few hours) were "is this it?!". The first few levels, as you'd expect, are particularly lack lustre, with nothing more than single key pressing as gameplay.
This was back during the open beta. I kept going because of the ramblings of a workmate that had reached lvl30 or by the time i joined, and it sounded fantastic.
The thing that hooked me was, as a gnome lock, getting my imp, seeing ironforge in the distant, which is pretty amazing to behold for the first time, being able to walk there without loading times, and being blown away by that. Everything else that came after that, over the years, has been a bonus.
Anji Apr 29th 2008 8:12AM
I remember watching my hubby play and thinking...there's a game I have no intrest in at all. I couldn't understand how he could stay up all night and play this game. About 2 months after he had started I tried it. I felt a little overwhelmed by how big it was. I thought "I'm never going to be able to find anything by myself here". But I got hooked quick and now have 5, 70's of my own. I enjoy the lvl'ing asspect of the game and I'm sure I will have more toon's to lvl up.
Nick S Apr 29th 2008 1:56PM
haha anji i know the feeling. when i first started (a night elf, /embarrassed) one of my friends who had a 60 at the time told me "you should go to stormwind, the quests are better there."
so i tried... boy, i tried. it took me about 3 RL days of asking people for directions to get there. i pretty much got everywhere else... finally, a kindly 60 (pre-BC, natch) helped me find my way. (and gave me loots!)
now i'm in T5 content. how times have changed...
Twotoe Apr 29th 2008 8:19AM
It took me about a day to find Orgrimmar, and why it was so important.
hugh Apr 30th 2008 2:16AM
When i first started playing, it was not in beta (unfortunatly not many australians good play it without experincing IMMENSE LAG and i was too busy playing all the new half life 2 stuff.
But anyway, i liked it to start, but reflecting, i had no clue when i first saw the red suit of armor (durability) and thought it was similar to the diablo 2 hardcore... in which you got 1 chance...
The learning curve was so massive and i think they still have such a way to go...
when i started, i had no concept of talents and that inhibited me untill a had a friend over and saw my build (he was already raiding molten core... and to this day is still an absolute freak at WoW... so am i to some extent.. but my learning curve was so much longer...
JPN Apr 29th 2008 8:16AM
January of 2007 :)
Reinard Apr 29th 2008 8:17AM
More or less the same first experience as you, although I found Stormwind and Ironforge a tad bit earlier than 30 ;)
Teldrassil is harsh and unforgiving, though. If it weren't so enclosed and confusing, it'd probably be no problem, but I definitely think a night elf is one of the worst races to START the game on just because of that place. Particularly a night elf druid, as it's probably one of the hardest classes to truly comprehend as a noob.
Who remembers back in the day when 1 or 2g was "a lot"? Huh? And 20 was a high level, and 60 was waaay out of the realm of possibility?
Sundae Apr 29th 2008 9:58AM
Reinard you've just described my first WoW experience. NE druid way back before BGs, honour system, AQ etc. I had no idea what I was doing, and spent an age in Ashenvale - so long that I simply refuse to go there with any other character. Druids were terrible back then... and I tried to level balance. Shame.
dacamper Apr 29th 2008 8:19AM
Coming from Star Wars Galaxies, where you could end up walking for 10s of minutes not seeing anything, my first impression was of a vibrant, packed world. The quest system was awesome; questgivers were obvious and you could group up and complete the same quest together (not the case in SWG).
I rolled druid and the flexibility and fun to be had with the class was wonderful. When I discovered that Teldrassil was a big tree and there were places to explore in Darkshore and the highly dangerous Ashenvale (for a lowbie nelf) I was blown away.
I started on launch in Europe and so you used to get teleported from Darkshore to Menehil instantly. I was less impressed when Blizzard added boats... all very nice for an immersive world, but now we had to wait...
ORLIC Apr 29th 2008 8:26AM
I came to wow after playing matrix online for 2 months
my friend was playing the trial, and had a undead lock
how cool is that your a zombie, summoned a imp (....lol) and throw shadow bolts at peoples
we started up on ally side tho, because he wanted to try ally.
pally/preist combo
i did the cardinal sin of splitting my tallent points down all 3 trees hahaha but the chars died at 20's and we changed realm after realm, race after race, class after class.. altaholics curse
but that was easyly a year ago and i LOVE wow now, even have my GF playing AND we moving soon, and having a "wow room" hehe
Lenyssia Apr 29th 2008 8:36AM
Coming from Star Wars Galaxies (as Master Politician / Master Architect), I was a bit disappointed in the lack of player housing, and in a more general in the poor craft skills (compared to SWG).
I still am, I can't wait for the day when player housing is introduced to the game, if ever !
Other than that the game was pretty awesome from the beginning of the leaked beta, where Armor value wasn't even working as intended !
I also have a very fond memory of my first Deadmines run (we agreed not to log off after creating our characters 'till we killed Van Cleef... And so we did... at least 10 times before going to sleep :D)
Jack Apr 29th 2008 8:35AM
I first started the game as a Dwarf Hunter about 3 years ago. I got to about lvl 20 then tried to go from loch modan to Badlands and I couldn't figure out why things were agroing from 2 miles away. I ended up quiting and playing City of Villians for awhile till someone in that game was talking about WoW and I remember saying "That game sux" (just because i couldn't figure out where to go past 20 from loch modan) and he said that was bullcrap. That it was the best game ever. He said that he switched between WoW and CoV. So i went out and bought another copy of WoW cus i had sold my old one to a friend. Jumped on a Night Elf Druid and never looked back. Until BC when i started a BElf Mage which i took as my Main until i got him all pvp geared out. I am not finishing up my Nelf Druid he is 69 and i cant wait to get him to 70 to start getting all 3 sets of his pvp gear
gliterhammer Apr 29th 2008 10:00AM
ROFL - Loch Modan to Badlands.
I did exactly the same with my dwarven Hunter and remember thinking "I'll never be able to kill those Dwarves outside Uldaman."
And..
"I wonder what Uldaman is?"
ReflectedSky Apr 29th 2008 8:36AM
Because WoW was so wildly popular, I had actually stubbornly resisted playing it for its first year...and when my friend finally did get me to start playing, I initlally pretty disdainful of the game's cartoony style. (I admit that I can be a difficult sort of gamer at times.) I stuck with it, though, mostly for the sake of my friend who loved grouping up with me.
However, for all that, the game managed to really grow on me. It has a way of doing that. :) I now feel the game's popularity is truly well deserved, and I think that the "hand-painted" graphics style is really lovely and quite proper for the virtual Warcraft world. Funny how things change!
Jewbanks Apr 29th 2008 1:22PM
My friend whines about the cartoony graphics, because hes such an everquest fanboi. He plays everquest II which is unbelievably dull. He also played Final Fantasy Online and sings its praise. Thats the worst game ever. It's so dull.
Big.Daddy Apr 29th 2008 8:43AM
I stareted playing in Beta, having only played City of Heroes before that. I rolled a gnome mage, and due to the lag and my dislike of caster classes, I gave up on the Beta and didn't come back for some time. When I picked WoW up again I played for several months *very* casually until my comp died.
I started playing again in December of 06', ignored my previous characters, and have been more in love with it than I should be. When Shandris opened in January of '07 (a week before BC), I made it my permanent home.
Big.Daddy Apr 29th 2008 9:25AM
I guess I should have added what I thought. Well, in Beta I thought it was a beautiful world, I loved the intro and cut scenes, loved the lore. I did not like the lack of character customization (especially coming from City of Heroes), and the lag. The lag was killer and is what eventually forced me to quit playing the beta
stacy Apr 29th 2008 8:48AM
When I first started playing, a rolled a Troll Shaman, I remember the first time I was impressed was walking into Orgrimmar. After exploring durotar and the barrens, I thought I would go Ally to see what it was like. What got me hooked in was my brand new Nelf rogue. I saw teldrassil I realized - the game is not all ugly deserts... but it can be.. pretty? Right on ;)