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Ex-WoW player, questions

T

The ArchAngel

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2008
202
0
Hey folks, ex-WoW player here, looking for some guidance on two fronts from the MacRumors gaming crew.

I recently purchased a MBP for grad school, and this is the first time I've owned a high-powered notebook since I quit playing WoW about 6 months after the game launched. My Xbox 360 recently stopped working, and I'm not that interested in purchasing a new one or having it repaired at the moment, so I've been considering picking up WoW casually again.

That said, before I quit playing the first time, I was a very casual player, maybe 4-5 hours a week, and would never be interested in playing any more than that in a week. I played a paladin up to level 60, but didn't really have anything that special in the way of gear on my character. If I recall correctly, I had most of the Lightforge set, but didn't go beyond that because 40-man raids were of absolutely no interest to me, and I didn't usually have more than an hour to 90 minutes to play at a time, which didn't jive with end-game raid content. From what I'm told now, however, the expansion offers a lot of solo and small-group content that I might really enjoy without fear of having to dedicate hours on end to a single playing session, which I won't be doing.

So, after having been away from the game for about 3 years now, is it worth coming back? For those currently playing, is there content in the game that I'd enjoy or am I better off just fixing the Xbox and staying clear of WoW? Like I said, I'm only going to have 4-5 hours a week to casually play, and I'm not that interested in 40-player raid content. Any commentary on what's changed over the last 3 years (at a high level, of course) would be appreciated.

My second question relates to how well the game will run on my hardware. I just purchased a 2.4Ghz 15" MBP last week (2GB RAM, 256MB Nvidia, 200GM 7200RPM drive), and am curious to hear thoughts on how well it performs and what settings you might recommend. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
It'll run fine on that rig, I raid 25-man T6 on a slower, older machine. All settings maxed out gives about 25fps in busy stuff, 40+ in the world.

The new expansion is more of the same, with new races and new content, there is a ton of content for solo play, and lots of new 5 man instances to group up in.

My advice would be to get into a casual, social guild and play with them, then you can worry about 10 man and above if and when you get there. You really can't beat the game, it's stupid to try.
 
saltyzoo said:
As an ex-wow addict, don't even start. Just don't.
Click to expand...

That's just it, I was never in that boat. I played a few hours a week, and setting the game aside wasn't a big deal (probably because of my low time investment).
 
The ArchAngel said:
That's just it, I was never in that boat. I played a few hours a week, and setting the game aside wasn't a big deal (probably because of my low time investment).
Click to expand...

6 months after launch and now are very different games. They've spent the last 3 years designing it to be difficult to quit.
 
saltyzoo said:
As an ex-wow addict, don't even start. Just don't.
Click to expand...

QFT. ESPECIALLY if you're in grad school! The MBP will run the game perfectly, but... just don't do it. The only reason I played so long was because I had a ton of RL friends that also played, but eventually most stopped. Some still do, but I'm happy spending my time in other ways now.
 
mikeyPotg said:
QFT. ESPECIALLY if you're in grad school! The MBP will run the game perfectly, but... just don't do it. The only reason I played so long was because I had a ton of RL friends that also played, but eventually most stopped. Some still do, but I'm happy spending my time in other ways now.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. You quit so everyone else should ?
 
Plutonius said:
Hmmm. You quit so everyone else should ?
Click to expand...

Lol, no. Surprised you took it that way? I was telling him MY OPINION, which he asked for - that if he's in grad school, wow would suck up his time which "IMO" is not a good idea. Sorry, but I don't think i ever said "everyone quit!" lol.
 
Plutonius said:
Hmmm. You quit so everyone else should ?
Click to expand...

No. But if you ask my advice, I'd tell you that I think you should quit. Can it be played responsibly? Yeah. Is it very easy to spend unhealthy amounts of time on the game? Heck yeah.
 
The new expansion does allow causal gamers to have more growth and activities to do even after hitting 70. Also, Blizzard seems to have adopt an approach of making content easier over time to allow more players to experience more end-game content.
 
WOW is fine on my MBP. I recently took some time off of WOW and just recently began playing but more casual now. So far about 3 to 4 hours a week. Currently not a member of any guild. I have a lot of outside activities right now since its summer so if I play any at all its for a short duration. I would rather be outside in the garden or some other activity. I assume my WOW playing will pick up more once summer is over and the cold drives me indoors. I have 4 characters so depends how or who I feel like playing. As long as you set yourself a fixed time which I have done and also use an alarm (WOWTimer is what I use) I have been able to break at a good point. I am in no rush so going to enjoy it as it comes. With the latest update a timer is also being added. Good Luck!

Bill......:apple:
 
I played for a year and half (starting at beta), quit for a year, then started back up for about 6 months with my wife who just never got into it. WoW is an incredible game if you can take it for what it is. But with all games eventually you will hit the wall with the "been there done that" feeling. The first time I faced it was as a L60 Paladin I was out collecting 15 of XX-whatever in Slitherin. That type of quest is just not satisfying to me anymore. And I've never been into large raiding, a huge repetivie time drain. Exploration and small groups is what kept me going in WoW for as long as it did.

However I agree that questing with friends is what makes the game addictive. With friends I could probably play it again, but my fantasy is to wait for a dynamic open world MMO to come along. When, who knows?
 
Huntn said:
I played for a year and half (starting at beta), quit for a year, then started back up for about 6 months with my wife who just never got into it. WoW is an incredible game if you can take it for what it is. But with all games eventually you will hit the wall with the "been there done that" feeling. The first time I faced it was as a L60 Paladin I was out collecting 15 of XX-whatever in Slitherin. That type of quest is just not satisfying to me anymore. And I've never been into large raiding, a huge repetivie time drain. Exploration and small groups is what kept me going in WoW for as long as it did.

However I agree that questing with friends is what makes the game addictive. With friends I could probably play it again, but my fantasy is to wait for a dynamic open world MMO to come along. When, who knows?
Click to expand...

I can guarantee you when that world comes along it will NOT be playable in OS X. Blizzard is the only thing that makes OS X even a semi-passable gaming platform. :/ I wish it wasnt like that but money and numbers speak louder then the cries of a few of us.
 
Hi!

The game will run fine on this MBP under OSX and slightly better on Windoof. Settings I think can be high. I prefer max distance viewing and terrain drawing over shadows, lighting, screen glow and such.

You will want to buy the expansion The Burning Crusade otherwise you wont find people to play with nor content at level 60. I mean technically it is there (lvl 60 40-man instances and such) but nobody goes there anymore on a regular basis. It is fun decked out in T6 to wade through Molten Core and nuke away and listen to the boss room chors, but then it only happens now and then.

TBC introduced many features into the game, and some people say it is much different from the old Azeroth version that you know, others will say it is still the same (old) game with specific improvements and just more content.

Having a lvl 60 character lets you casually playing reach level 70 in 6-7 gametime days.

Coming back after 3years I personally think you will find enough new features and new content amid a familiar interface to play around.

Regards
 
Thanks folks for the feedback, it's appreciated. So, the content for the casual players is there, it sounds like. I might take advantage of the 10-day trial to see if I can get back into the swing of things. If not, I might just get the Xbox fixed after all.

Thanks again!
 
WOW Alternative?

The ArchAngel said:
Thanks folks for the feedback, it's appreciated. So, the content for the casual players is there, it sounds like. I might take advantage of the 10-day trial to see if I can get back into the swing of things. If not, I might just get the Xbox fixed after all.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

I've considered going back into WOW, but only because there is no real alternative, that and my guild disbanded ages ago and I don't really want to start all that virtual 'bonding' again.
 
Renderz said:
I've considered going back into WOW, but only because there is no real alternative, that and my guild disbanded ages ago and I don't really want to start all that virtual 'bonding' again.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I am taking a few weeks off from work before I go back to school, so I'm going to give it a shot Sunday with my old level 60 paladin. We'll see how it works out. I might also try rolling a new character on a different server with some friends of mine that play casually.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback.
 
The ArchAngel said:
That's just it, I was never in that boat. I played a few hours a week, and setting the game aside wasn't a big deal (probably because of my low time investment).
Click to expand...

Meh, WoW addicts and ex-addicts assume that everyone who plays is an addict. I play at about your level of commitment -- and did all through grad school, incidentally -- and I would say it's definitely worth it to see the new content. There are of course many new grinds to undertake but none of them are required unless of course you want the uber fancy supercool crap.

You should be perfectly fine playing on that computer.
 
Casual Can Still Be Very Fun in WoW

I play WoW on my MBP (2.6) and it doesn't even breathe hard. I use the same mods I had on my PC and except for the added features the Mac client has (keybinds for iTunes control, video capture) it doesn't seem any different than playing on a PC.

There is certainly plenty to see and do even for casual players. My guild is a casual guild that raids (10-man mostly). We make that distinction because raiding guilds are far from casual, yet most people do want experience as much content as possible. My suggestion is to find a guild that fits your style and time. When searching, look for one that's been around a couple years without disbanding or reforming and you're much more likely to find a stable group of people and enjoy your time in-game a lot more.

<shameless plug>
Fight With Honor, Stonemaul
http://www.fightwithhonor.net

The ArchAngel said:
Thanks folks for the feedback, it's appreciated. So, the content for the casual players is there, it sounds like. I might take advantage of the 10-day trial to see if I can get back into the swing of things. If not, I might just get the Xbox fixed after all.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...
 
They did away with 40-man raids in The Burning Crusade.

But right now in TBC if you want to enjoy endgame content, it's still fairly time consuming. I'm raiding T6 with my guild (and RL friends) and enjoy it, but I have to skip raids sometimes 'cause I want to do other things. :)

Wait for Wrath of the Lich King. All raid content will be available in 10-man and 25-man versions. They've also reportedly tried to make 5-man instances shorter, and there's more PvP stuff. Leveling from 60->80 however would take some time.
 
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