Breakfast Topic: Thank you for the music
by Anne Stickney 
Mar 19th 2010 at 8:00AM
The very first time I made a character in World of Warcraft was way back during the original beta -- I made a night elf. And then I logged in for the first time, and was immediately assaulted with visual eye-candy that has kept me entertained for over five years. But on top of the graphics, there was the music -- something about the soundtrack just gelled the whole thing into a game I really, really wanted to continue playing. The first time I entered Stormwind, the solemn choral accompaniment made the whole place seem... huge. Dramatic. This was a place where grand and interesting things happened.
After the game's launch, I made another night elf. But once I'd hit 60 and realized the only thing to do was run Scholo or Strat or UBRS if you could find someone with the key over and over until you had your blue set of amazing awesome that had just had the graphics updated... right. I got bored. I rolled Horde to see what that side of the game looked like, and once again, it wasn't just the visuals when I first walked into Orgrimmar, it was the music that really hit me.
Some time after that I started raiding, and some time after that, I'm not sure exactly when, the repetitive tracks that I'd heard play over and over again just stopped drawing me in. And so I turned them off, and enjoyed a mostly silent game in which I could play whatever happened to be on iTunes at the time. It wasn't until years later when stepping into Kara for the first time that I realized something was missing, and I went into the options and turned up the music slider. I'm glad I did, the tracks from Kara remain some of my favorite WoW music to date; they mesh with the zone so well that I can't go into the zone without listening to it.
Blizzard has really stepped up the music with Northrend. With the Invincible track that was released, and the datamined tracks from the Gnomeregan and Echo Isles events that have been posted here and there, I've fallen in love with it all over again -- although I still tend to turn it down in raids. So Breakfast Topic people -- do you leave the music on, or turn it off? What's your favorite WoW track?
After the game's launch, I made another night elf. But once I'd hit 60 and realized the only thing to do was run Scholo or Strat or UBRS if you could find someone with the key over and over until you had your blue set of amazing awesome that had just had the graphics updated... right. I got bored. I rolled Horde to see what that side of the game looked like, and once again, it wasn't just the visuals when I first walked into Orgrimmar, it was the music that really hit me.
Some time after that I started raiding, and some time after that, I'm not sure exactly when, the repetitive tracks that I'd heard play over and over again just stopped drawing me in. And so I turned them off, and enjoyed a mostly silent game in which I could play whatever happened to be on iTunes at the time. It wasn't until years later when stepping into Kara for the first time that I realized something was missing, and I went into the options and turned up the music slider. I'm glad I did, the tracks from Kara remain some of my favorite WoW music to date; they mesh with the zone so well that I can't go into the zone without listening to it.
Blizzard has really stepped up the music with Northrend. With the Invincible track that was released, and the datamined tracks from the Gnomeregan and Echo Isles events that have been posted here and there, I've fallen in love with it all over again -- although I still tend to turn it down in raids. So Breakfast Topic people -- do you leave the music on, or turn it off? What's your favorite WoW track?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
Gamer am I Mar 19th 2010 8:04AM
I leave the music on. The game just feels incomplete without it. By far, my favorite music is the Teldrassil music. I have leveled many Night Elves through that zone (being an altaholic and all), and I just love the ambiance it creates.
Derrek Mar 19th 2010 2:05PM
I've gotta agree with you there. I'd roll another Night Elf just for the music. Shadowmeld has absolutely nothing to do with it. At all.
Artificial Mar 19th 2010 5:13PM
I frequently play with the music off, but I turn it back on when I don't have something else I'm listening to. Nothing sets the mood better than the music that starts up as you walk through the front gates of Orgrimmar, or as you walk down the stairs into the courtyard of Shadowfang Keep.
mds Mar 19th 2010 8:05AM
Leave the music on.
No love for the Tauren inn music? Some of my favorite pieces there. Also love the Sholazar Basin music.
Wulfkin Mar 19th 2010 11:02AM
Right there with you with the Tauren Inn music. I sometimes go to sleep listening to a playlist of Tauren soundtracks and the Barrens music. Beautiful, soulful, laced with intrigue and rugged wonder. Lovely stuff.
So yeah.. I leave the music on and play it even when I'm not playing WoW! :)
thebarrenschat.wordpress.com
napier Mar 19th 2010 11:26AM
I turned off the music after awhile, turned it back on again for TBC. I have to say I agree with you and glad you brought it up, Karazhan is the absolute best music! So great to play too, and you really feel your'e in the raid, and lore of it, not just there fer killin stuff. Sometimes I'd just go back there with me 80 to just run around, help some 70's out because I liked it so much. Wish there were more like this with Cata...
Also been enjoying the WOTLK music...Sorta like grizzly hills :D
slamovir Mar 19th 2010 8:08AM
I love Lament of the Highborne - it's very dramatic. It can be sometimes heard in UC when somebody returns locklet (quest item) to the Sylvanas.
Tim Mar 19th 2010 10:03AM
It is also played in ICC sometimes. I can't remember what was happening when it started playing but my GM pointed it out and posted the batch files.
Batch files are a thing right?
Meadow Mar 19th 2010 2:10PM
It's played on the Queen Lan'athel fight, for one. It's really haunting there.
omedon666 Mar 19th 2010 8:08AM
One of the more haunting nightelf forest themes is one of my favourite overatures in the game. I go through phases of having the music on or off (kinda sick to death of the Dalaran music) but whenever I'm in a kalimdor forest in nightelven lands, I make a point of turning it back on.
wow Mar 19th 2010 8:07AM
The first time I heard the Lament of the Highborne was one of the most powerful moving experiences I've had in any video game. And it was so unexpected, I couldn't pull myself away from Sylvanis and her choir of tortured souls...
manboat Mar 19th 2010 11:01AM
I completely agree. That piece of music was powerful enough in it's effects to make me completely reconsider the Forsaken's tragic situation, rather than experiencing them just as a typical race.
In fact, at this point every hoard faction has a very strong identity and charcters associated with them but the tauren. They pretty much have one charcter of note, a one dimensional minotaur native-american theme and fairly boring music associated with them. Heres hoping we see more development with them as cataclysm approaches.
Tim Mar 19th 2010 10:06AM
Also, "Sylvanis and her choir of tortured souls" is now my new band
Philomene Mar 19th 2010 3:54PM
I have the GryphonHeart Items addon, and I made an item specifically to play this song on-demand.
It is unbelievably haunting, that melody.
Irysh Mar 19th 2010 8:08AM
In vanilla I used to play with the game music on, turned down a bit from default so I could hear Teamspeak. In TBC I basically muted the game and listened exclusively to iTunes, and now, depending on the instance/location, it's a blend of both.
Swifteye Mar 19th 2010 8:46AM
I'm ashamed to admit this, but after over a year I haven't really heard ANY of the music in this game, save for the cinematics. I live with my boyfriend and my brother and they're always wanting to watch television or listen to their own games' soundtracks, so if there's any noise coming out of my PC I get yelled at.
Maybe I should invest in some earbuds or something; all I have are the big closed-air headphones, and I never use them because the pressure from them makes the back of my earrings dig uncomfortably into the side of my neck. Lame excuse, I know...
Well shoot, now you have me wanting to listen to WoW music! I'll have to find a good time and a place to do that, heh.
Hoggersbud Mar 19th 2010 10:35AM
Take our your earrings, put in some padded studs, or get some headphones that are larger and don't put pressure on your head, but whatever you do, don't get earbuds. They are terrible for sound and really, I find them more painful than headphones.
vinniedcleaner Mar 19th 2010 10:56AM
sounds like u need a new boyfriend... :-)
nikdaheratik Mar 19th 2010 1:06PM
Get a decent pair of earbuds and they're fine. They're not like surround sound Dolby 5.1 SuperAwesomeSauce but you can listen to the sound for hours, take one out if you want to hear what people are saying (and then put it back when you find out they're just being boring), and wearing won't won't interfere with your earrings or whatever.
icepyro Mar 19th 2010 5:18PM
My roomie invested in the Logitech G35 headphones. They completely surround the ear, not just sit on top. It actually feels kinda weird at first not feel the pressure on the ears. They also use software to give the illusion of surround sound in a very convincing manner. My roommate insisted there was multiple speakers in each earphone until he was presented with a how it works. I can tell a difference if I strain my hearing, but if I'm playing, they sound surround to me.
They may be expensive, but it sounds like you are not enjoying surround sound or the music anyways. I have not bought them only because he has so now I can turn up my surround and not interfere. ;)
Or you could always get a new boyfriend and kick your brother out.