The end is near, w00t!

I haven’t kept a close watch on the WoW multiverse ever since the Blizzcon, mainly because I am somewhat busy with real life and also there is not much happening, is there?
You can feel it now, the end of Wrath of the Lich King is edging closer every day…finally! We’ve spent the past weeks discussing and analyzing every snippet of Cataclysm news but I’ve had enough now personally, I long for December and playing and testing myself what I’ve been reading about for so long!

What I’ve missed

I’ve had a look over at MMO Champ today and read about the elemental invasion and achievements, I haven’t actually bothered to log into the game to have a look around myself yet. And I’m not sure I want to now, it sounds as underwhelming as the Gnomeregan pre-quests were, titles and achievements thrown after you like candy at Halloween really kills the whole idea for me personally. I can’t say any of it feels epic.

The Arena Season 9 sets all look exactly the way I thought they would, maybe with exception of the hunter set – now that eyepatch makes no sense whatsoever but hey, it looks good!
The priest set is properly horrid, but no shock there. The Chakra changes were to be expected too even if it feels somewhat weird that they removed Renew from the equation. I’m ready for more surprises before taking on an update on Chakra again in Cataclysm.

One less for the hardware graveyard

I love the fact that Cataclysm is available for download and I am definitely going for that instead of the retail version. I have always been in favor of losing the wasteful hardware aspect of gaming as much as possible, it always felt wrong to buy games only to hold them in my hands for 5 minutes to get the key and install done and then throw the boxes in some dark corner for the dust to settle on forever. I can’t collect game packages anymore even if some of them look lovely, I simply lack space. Buying a box with several CDs makes no sense whatsoever if all you’re looking for is a key.

That’s what I love about XBOX live so much too: all the easy down-loadable games and demos are just awesome. And with MMOs especially, what is there to “own” anyway? The only thing we own about WoW is our experiences. If Blizzard shut their servers down tomorrow that would be the end of things. And I’m fairly certain anti-piracy campaigns welcome the change from paying for hardware to paying for downloads and subscriptions. Personally I do not mind this at all, I already know that as a gamer I am paying for something immaterial.

Speaking of which, I’m currently playing Dragon Age Origins which is an absolutely fantastic experience, a stunning game and must-play for anyone into RPGs! The Witcher is next in line, I have been shamefully negligent of both these great titles in the past (/blush) and on top of that Fable 3 just arrived in the mail today. So I guess there’s something good about having to wait for Cataclysm – another month is all I have in me though!

5 comments

  1. Dragon Age Origins is definitely an amazing game!! And while I haven’t played Fable 3 yet I will eventually get it as I have and love the first two installments. Sorry I just had to comment on that.

  2. It’s amazing indeed – the grafX and audio (godlike voice acting!) alone are stunning, but then you discover how great the story is on top of everything else and the combat system is quite refreshing too. bioware has achieved a remarkable package there, I hope the sequel will be just as good next year (I hear the expansions so far weren’t too brilliant).

  3. The expansion was ok – nothing special, it was all too easy though. The new traits and specials you got for lvl 20 and upwards made you unstoppable – especially for the tanks out there, you didn’t need any healing. Was still more of the same. Problems with a few bugs here and there but it was just as well thought out as the original.

    I’ve already pre-ordered Dragon Age 2 – am confident it will be just as good as the first, and you can never get too much of a good thing!

  4. I loved DA:O story telling and creative setting. But I abhored the uncreative story.

    I very much disliked the gameplay and the way my party members interacted with me. Seemed very artificial. All beautiful girls want to have sex, all party members are perfectly loyal and if one is not, he not desinterested, but a betrayer.

    I wrote a lengthy review last Dezember 🙂

  5. @Nils
    I agree the characters are rather traditional stereotypes, also the flirty stuff is totally superfluous imo. I have however avoided most of that entirely so far and just enjoyed the beautiful setting more than anything.

    and thast’s a nice overview, I have had a brief look but I am scared to spoil myself too much at this point! 😉

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