Is WoW still working checking out?

[GodDelusion]

My significant other and I are looking for a MMORPG to join for some cooperative fun-time after the kiddies are settled in for the night. Our first thought was to join WoW, however, neither of us have played it before (our last joint effort was Ultima Online) and don't know if playing WoW is still enjoyable for late-comers such as ourselves.

Does anyone have advice related to this topic that they would care to share?

Thanks.

 

[Rackhir]

My significant other and I are looking for a MMORPG to join for some cooperative fun-time after the kiddies are settled in for the night. Our first thought was to join WoW, however, neither of us have played it before (our last joint effort was Ultima Online) and don't know if playing WoW is still enjoyable for late-comers such as ourselves.

Does anyone have advice related to this topic that they would care to share?

Thanks.

Well there's no penalty to being a "late-comer", everyone has to start at lvl 1 for their first character. They have done a LOT in just the past year to make a LOT of things easier. Instances (dungeons) which I used to avoid like a plague have had almost all the things that made them so annoying to do (if you weren't a tank or healer) removed and that makes getting MUCH better gear actually possible if you weren't a hardcore raider (raid are the really big difficult dungeons). Leveling is now faster so you can get to do the end game content much more quickly.

It does help if you can hook up with a decent guild. Having some max level characters to give you a hand with some of the more difficult (at level) quests/bad guys, is very helpful from time to time.

If you and the wife are looking at doing it together. I'd look into Bliz's recruit-a-friend promotion. You get a free 2 seater mount and some other benefits like leveling quicker when you are on together and grouped together. There's a couple more fringe benefits, but those are the biggies.

For casual play, you will probably want to avoid a PVP (player vs player) server, since it's open season on anyone from the opposing faction all the time. That can make it MUCH more difficult for low level characters particularly in "mixed" areas where both factions are present. On PVE or RP (roleplaying) servers you have to specifically "flag" or chose to be doing PVP. So you don't have to worry about PVP attacks unless you chose to be doing that sort of thing.

In general, Bliz does not hate it's customers (like Sony seemed to with Everquest) and does seem to make an effort to refine and improve things for the players. You can't please everyone and no game is ever perfect, but WoW has definitely gotten better with time.

 

[IronWolf]

A friend just bought me the game this past weekend. It has been my first time playing and it has been fun so far. I certainly have a lot to learn about the game, but I don't feel at tremendous disadvantage at this time.

 

[ancientvaults]

In my opinion Lord of the Rings Online blows the doors off of WoW or DDO. I was in a two hour raid last night in the Barrow Downs that felt like a roller coaster ride. Plus, LOTRO is free.

 

[Remus Lupin]

LOTR is free? Since when? Now I must check it out!

 

[ancientvaults]

September. Although playing for free has gotten me to sink $60 into the game for expansions (which became free in November--grrr!) and character slots/mounts/extras. If you ever want to check it out I am on the Imladris server and help people out when they are new. With a hobby (fishing) and several crafting choices characters are very deep and varied. Making the most of your character does help you get to a level in which you can deal out some hurt sooner.

Dang those Barrow Wights!

 

[Plissken]

Yeah, I would also recommend Lord of the Rings online. I just started playing recently and thought I would be a free player all throughout, but it was fun enough that I subscribed.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I tried LotRO, and it seemed to have a nice community, but I couldn't stand looking at my dwarf.

I much prefer WoW.

This is actually a good time to get into WoW; you can get the original and the two previous expansions for about $20, and then get the new expansion, Cataclysm, which comes out on 12/7. You don't *need* Cataclysm, as with vanilla, Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King they'll take you to 80 with a ton of content, but the worgen and goblin races added in Cataclysm are pretty cool.

They just went and overhauled the 1-60 leveling experience, too, basically redesigning the entirety of the old world with much better quests, using what they've learned over the last few years. Outland and Northrend (the continents for Burning Crusade and Wrath respectively) haven't significantly changed, but they're on the drawing board.

Brad

 

[Remus Lupin]

I'm pretty much an elf guy down the line at any rate. I downloaded last night. I'll have to install today!

 

[Felon]

Nice thing abuot free-to-play games is that you just got nothing to lose by giving them a try.

City of Heroes was my favorite MMO, but until they go free-to-play, I won't be coming back.