Meanwhile, Back in Azeroth

It’s been about two months since the second expansion to World of Warcraft, “Wrath of the Lich King,” came online. Much anticipated for over a year, the update for the popular online game (and Second Life’s biggest competitor) was finally up for sale on November 11, 2008. News stories showed people waiting in line at midnight for the game. I myself waited a week before going to the store to get a copy, which had a down payment from a gift card a friend gave me with the request that it be used only for it.

In Second Life, for about a couple weeks, the parties I went to were smaller. Although there was a fantasy con at the time, people suspected certain people were indulging just about all their free time into the game. Some certain others I never met at parties on my friend list were also absent. Perhaps it was just simply their time to take a break, perhaps not. But very few were willing to admit they couldn’t break away from WoW for a little time on SL.

As some residents of Second Life won’t, or no longer will, touch WoW, they were probably wondering just what was the fuss all about?

In the days leading up to the expansion, I began getting a lot of updates from Blizzard. Most meant little by themselves. Some were minor tweaks of the game. One big tweak was an update that came with another Profession available for characters: Inscription. Using inks obtained from herbs, Inscriptionists can make scrolls (for small combat bonuses), and make glyphs that give characters lasting combat bonuses, major glyphs giving obvious improvements, and minor ones more about convenience. I later read in WoWwiki that Inscription is available to those who don’t get any expansion, but in order to get a high skill at it, one needs “Lich King.” Then came the “Achievement” records, which would ring out to you, those nearby, and your guild when you did something notable from beating a dungeon, to finishing your 500th quest, to exploring a region, to learning how to ride a mount. I found it to be a nice little touch, as it gave one a sense of progress.

But something else was going on. A unique event went on, strange platforms appearing around certain cities and some other areas, with Scourge (one of the major groups of bad guys) appearing underneath. Special quests had players investigating and going after them. After some days, not long before the expansion was up for sale, the platforms and their deziens went away.

Buying the expansion, my one Lvl 70 character could start leveling again, with the chance to rise to 80. He also had access to a new continent, Northrend. Arriving at either the Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord regions, players will face stronger enemies and more powerful beasts, and more quests for glory. The opposition and quests get harder as one works his or her way into the frozen continent, leading ultimately to the Lich King’s fortress at Icecrown. One amusing series of quests involves an organization named DEHTA, a parody of real-life PETA.

A new class of character has been introduced, the death knight. A hybrid “tank/DPS” class (aka a combination of able to take a lot of damage and able to cause a lot), Blizzard calls this the first of it’s “hero” class characters. To play one, one has to have a character at least Level 55, which the death knight starts out as. Death knights can be of any race (although a gnone death knight is liable to get chuckles wherever he goes). The first series of quests for the death knight tell the story of how the character goes from being a minion of the Lich King to once again a hero, as well as providing the character with good armor and talents for the talent tree. Once the chain ends, the character’s path is as open as any other.

Two new battlegrounds have been introduced. And in these and some Northland quests are some siege machines which characters can pilot. In the new battlegrounds, these machines can destroy walls and buildings, meaning one cannot just simply wait out enemy fire from the supposed safety of a structure.

There are new mounts, armored bears and mammoths. There are also a few vehicles introduced, such as flying carpets and the Mechano-hog, a motorcycle mount. A motorbike in World of Warcraft? Even the license plate is “PWN.” On a design note, mounts also no longer take up space in one’s inventory.

I myself have only seen a small part of Northrend and got my most powerful character from Lvl 70 to 71, and starting up a death knight, not being as active as some friends of mine. Others quickly leveled up to 80. The most ambitious players were able to reach Level 80 in just a few days. Although there has been a little complaining about boredom, more often players are able to find something to do in Blizzard’s new battlefield, at least those whose chat I’ve been hearing.

Many SL residents still look down on World of Warcraft, or at least say they’re glad they no longer play. Second Life in contrast is almost never mentioned in WoW unless I bring it up. A few players did express interest when I talked about it. One who tried if before and quit told me she might be inclined to try it again someday, but only when it was no longer so full of bugs and lagging.

In any event, I’ll continue going about Second LIfe as usual, while making an occasional run to Northrend, working my way to that one day me and my buddies will face down the Lich King and show him who’s boss. Even then, my journeys there will be far from over.

“For the Horde!”

Bixyl Shuftan