Editorial: Why I am not playing Cataclysm

Hello again, Lusi-sprites.

This is a lonely time for gamers outside of Azeroth. While our friends are off re-taking Shadowfang Keep and making friends with Goblins, we are left sitting at home all alone, twiddling our thumbs and crying into our bags of cheetos. Our Facebook and Twitter feeds are full of achievement unlocks and “now playing World of Warcraft” announcements. The conversation around ye olde water cooler revolves around who dinged 85 already, and why Warriors are so broken. (They are broken because they are a stupid class, FYI) We are generally left out, which is not necessarily an uncommon situation for gamer nerds, but still …. it hurts. If I had a heart it would ache. Fortunately my chest is full of bacon and potatoes, so I am pretty much okay.

I certainly could play World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and my friends would stop shunning me, and Lusipurr would stop badgering me to play. There are actually many many reasons to play. As far as game expansions go, it looks to be excellent, adding the requisite new content but also revamping the old content to make it fresh and appealing again to veteran players. Old zones have been revamped with new quests and new layouts. Character classes not only have the usual new talents and new skills, but have also gone through an extensive overhaul, with many classes now having a completely different feel to them. The story is engaging and moving. Although I am not playing the game currently, even knowing what is happening or going to happen to Thrall and Cairne stirs my pot of emotions. Even from an economic standpoint, now is a great time to play. While $15/month was a lot to ask previously, when the game was rather stale and stagnant, now with so much new content to experience, it is well worth the investment. Four months of Cataclysm would likely entertain me far more than one $60 game every four months.

So why for the love of the Great Potato am I not playing? The short answer is that I am a mean little competitive girl with an inferiority complex. I always have to be “teh best!” at games like WoW. That involves powering my way to max level so quickly that I barely even glance at quest text or my environment, missing half of the fun of the expansion. Then it involves joining a decent raiding guild and week in, week out, grinding out dungeons and raids, jockeying for position and competing for the phat lewtz. I obsessively watch the DPS charts when on my Hunter to ensure that I am rocking the meters, as they say. I feel almost sick to my stomach when we down a boss that I know drops a weapons upgrade for me, scared that it will not dropped, and scared that it will drop but someone else will get it, and become better than I am. I thought that switching to my discipline Priest would help, as healing charts are worthless to a disc Priest (unless it also calculates absorbed damage, which most people don’t bother with) but nooooooo. People would die, I would take it personally, or get really defensive.

In order to truly master WoW and be “teh best!” it requires a combination of time, skill and dumb luck. Time to grind out the levels and farm raids and dungeons. Skill to play your class effectively enough that people will want to bring you along and not see you as a liability. Dumb luck to ensure that the items you need drop, and that you will receive them. Time and skill I have. Dumb luck, though? Hard to say. I had absolutely abysmal luck in Wrath of the Lich King. Oh sure, for the first few months I was “teh best!” I was the 19th best geared person on my server, and my damage output reflected it. Then the tides turned and not for love nor money nor bacon could I get a weapon upgrade. It became a running joke in my guild that if we had a new Hunter who needed a weapon, have Ginia sit out and one would drop. If they needed armor, take Ginia along, because the only Hunter gear that drops in her presence are for the few slots she already has best in slot items for.

Perhaps I will go back. Perhaps I will move my Hunter to a nice PVE server where I can explore the new zones and new quests in relative peace. Perhaps I will play with Lusipurr on our server with my Priest, and he can pewpew while I put shiny bubbles around us. Perhaps I could be content for a little while like that, before the urge to raid became too strong and I have to stop playing again for the sake of my sanity. Until then, though, I am sure we can expect much feedback from Lusi and Lane regarding their Cataclysm experiences. Or perhaps writing this post and preaching the glories of Cataclysm along with my personal shortcomings has inspired me to reactivate my account.