We've been playing as a family for about a year now- I've run the gamut of feeling guilty or "BAD" for letting my kids play, or for myself playing all night sometimes, all the way to feeling all right about WOW.
My husband and I run several characters/alts, on two accounts, and the only thing I would go back and do differently, is to go back and have my own account, and him to have his own- although the mix on both accounts works out in the end.
A few months ago, I decided that playing WOW together was more interactive than sitting on the couch watching TV, which we had mostly been doing once the kids were in bed for years- now I see two benefits, at least- 1, we watch WAY less TV and use our tivo to it's full potential :-), and 2 we TALK and WORK together to solve quests and play together. SO, a game that gets couples talking isn't a bad thing. Also, I found that back-seat driving my husband with his character (as described in the NYT article), while fun social interaction, was not as much fun as running my own. So two accounts is a must, and yeah- I agree with whoever said, put the computers next to each other if across the room is too far. And yes, trouble will come in a relationship where only one person is interested in WOW (or any other game)- that situation should be addressed, or a break-up will probably be in their future.
We also limit the time we play (a kitchen timer is a great way to let yourself know you've been playing an hour and a half or more :-)) and we pace ourselves and our kids too- we've had friends who played like maniacs up to 70, who then just cut off the game cold turkey, complaining about how much time they wasted on the game; I kept saying pace yourself, it's a lot more fun if you don't eat the whole cake at once, so to speak. anyway, to each their own- but if you can get you or your significant other to accept game play as a substitute for TV, more people would have a positive "WOW" view.
Well, truth is, there is a lot of repetition in WoW- same mobs, different costumes or abilities, same sort of countyside, different colors or tree shapes- if you play at all, you have a pretty good feel for what is "new" allready.
I manage to miss the spoilers anyone is jabbering about on trade or general channel, because I don't multi task that well- if I'm playing, I concentrate on that and not the chatter- plus a lot of chatter goes by so fast I miss the context when I am in a location thst allows for reading (ie in a city or town).
On top of that, all of my toons are too low to even go to the Outland let alone anywhere else that will be "New" any time soon.
Sooooooo. I don't look for spoilers, but I will look stuff up if I'm having trouble with an instance or finding something :-).
Our family is sorta new to WOW- only been playing for a little over a year. All of our mains (spread out on two accounts for 4 people :-)) were newbies running around the starter areas when BC came out. Needless to say, we decided to wait on picking up BC, so I have no storys of waiting out in the bitter cold; we got our first copy of BC- the collectors edition, in July ('07), for my daughter's birthday, then realized we really had to get a copy for the other account- I think sometime in October('07). Only one person in our family has a character high enough to even go to the Outlands yet, and none of our other mains or recently rolled Belfs and Draineis are above 30........YET.
SO I have a feeling we're going to greet the Litch King with about the same level of excitement and wait until a few months arfter it comes out to buy it.
I willl say the starter areas got WAY less crowded for a while after BC came out, so I'm wondering if the Litch King will have a similer effect- suddenly more room to do what we want without lots of people steppping on us (or nija-ing our loots :-)).
Oh yeah- "the just one more thing".. I didn't understand WOW when my kids first started playing it; I'd yell "Quit NOW! your time is up!" only to be told, "But Mom, I have to (fillin the blank with: turn in a quest, get two more guys, find one more herb, get to a safe inn...), and then I'll quit!"
So it was only when I finally rolled a character and started playing did I understand. And only when we tried to run Wailing Caverns with 6 people did I understand the throwing yourself against the bosses one last time (armor in shreads, all weapons busted) and five hours later you realise you can't even see straight......
The next day people were inviting me to run WC and I kept saying NO- spent 5 or 6 hours in there the other night.....
Not a horror story, exactly, but my kids were saying, "I told you so!"
Interesting- I run a very small horde guild on Maiev- mainly friends that my husband and I know in the real world, and one or two others who signed the charter when I asked politely. We're hovering around 10-17 players (and their alts); I created this guild mainly for the chat features, and tracking who was on when I logged in, but above everything else, so that I wouldn't get asked to other people's guilds all the time :-).
We're not "tight-knit"- I don't demand that people "show up and play" at certain times or anything- very occationally I'll get some of us together via real-world email for an instance run or something, but we really aren't intense in the way that has been described in other replies.
Also, I don't think you have to leave your guild to go do solo stuff or join other folks in running dungeons or instances, I don't understand the hang-up about that. So, if you want a very low-pressure horde guild on a PvP server.... personally, I wouldn't be upset if a person left, especially if our guild doesn't "play" their way, or acheive the kind of social/goals they were looking for.
So far, there are a few of the "unknown" signers who have not left, exactly, but some of them haven't logged in for several months either. One of these guys is soloing; I think happily- he hasn't g/quited, or gotten in touch with me; I am begining to think I am remiss in not getting in touch with him, since he's out there "alone." My friends and I run around doing our stuff and never think to ask him along... This article has made me think I ought to get in touch, perhaps....
Interesting- I run a very small horde guild on Maiev- mainly friends that my husband and I know in the real world, and one or two others who signed the charter when I asked politely. We're hovering around 10-17 players (and their alts); I created this guild mainly for the chat features, and tracking who was on when I logged in, but above everything else, so that I wouldn't get asked to other people's guilds all the time :-).
We're not "tight-knit"- I don't demand that people "show up and play" at certain times or anything- very occationally I'll get some of us together via real-world email for an instance run or something, but we really aren't intense in the way that has been described in other replies.
Also, I don't think you have to leave your guild to go do solo stuff or join other folks in running dungeons or instances, I don't understand the hang-up about that. So, if you want a very low-pressure horde guild on a PvP server.... personally, I wouldn't be upset if a person left, especially if our guild doesn't "play" their way, or acheive the kind of social/goals they were looking for.
So far, there are a few of the "unknown" signers who have not left, exactly, but some of them haven't logged in for several months either. One of these guys is soloing; I think happily- he hasn't g/quited, or gotten in touch with me; I am begining to think I am remiss in not getting in touch with him, since he's out there "alone." My friends and I run around doing our stuff and never think to ask him along... This article has made me think I ought to get in touch, perhaps....
I run a small guild on a PvP server with one of my alts, for family and friends that we know, mostly. Mainly we use it for comunication in game, finding each other, sharing items of value, and repairs but not for much else...yet... This article tells me maybe I better get some of this sorted out for the future...
It begs the question, what is a guild for? We made ours mainly for the reasons listed above, but also so that people wouldn't keep inviting us to THEIR guild, and so that our commitment to the game remained resonable... We're largely weekend gamers and folks who want to solo without being pestered to join a guild all the time.
I've played my Night Elf Druid to 46, in Balance. She's my main character- I've played her mostly solo, but also with small groups in instances. I must say, she is a great fill-in, jack-of-all trades kind of character. I was new to WoW and didn't know what class to roll at first, and I thought since the Druid did so many different things, it would give me a good feel for the game and other classes.
It has, and now I have 11 other characters (I'm gonna slim the roster down, soon, I promise :-)).
I have since been told that druids aren't the easiest class to play, but I really enjoy mine. Maybe the druid would be too much to juggle for a person new to the game, but if you can effectifly run a druid, you can tackle nearly every other class. Ok, I'll amend that to, "on the Alliance side," at least. I hear that shamen are even trickier to master, but with even more of a pay-off at the end game. I know that Draenei can roll shamen class, but I still tend to think of it as a hoard class)
And in my tool bar, it is hurricane, by the way, not cyclone or whirlwind :) though with so many icons re-used and renamed for different things, that's a minor quibble- I knew what the writer meant :-).
I'll also chime in on the newest patch and the faster leveling- very cool! Maybe I'll get to see the Outland and spread my wings by President's Day '08 :-).
And of course, no one said anything about Grand Theft Auto (yet)... I have not played that one, but the write up and everything I've heard about it, says it leaves choices like whether or not to kill someone up to the player. In WoW one can take out a bunch of mobs with the comforting thought that they'll be back in five or ten minutes. For that matter, the mobs can take your character out with the comfoting thought that you'll be back in five or ten minutes, and they can do it again....
WoW certainly has enough races that such content (racial conflict) could be worked into the story lines, but honestly, I think most people play these sort of role playing games to escape reality, and not be judged by their ethnicity, age or real life capabilites. I don't know anyone in real life with the shape changing ability of my Druid character, and I certainly woudn't want to be hated in game, just because my ears were really long and I had green hair.
Maybe that's over-simplifying things, but WoW strikes a balance- the guy one has to kill in a quest, while he may be of a different race to the quest giver, one usually has to kill him because he "done the quest-giver wrong" in some way (invaded his/her turf, stole his/her necklace, the list goes on).
I can't speak to the Star Trek games- I haven't played them (yet) but with the Voyager TV show at least, I thought the story writers missed the boat for character/racial conflict by making the Maqui "like" the Federation crew, at least on the ship so far from home; I have a feeling they'll duck putting in racial issues to any great depth in their games, handled intellegently or not.
I too, have way to many characters- and spread out on three servers, 5 on PvE, 4 on RP and 3 on PvP. Yeah, I notice a certain lack of direction when I come back to a character, and a re-learning curve for their various talents and skills; I agree with Trilliad on the quest-log, keeping all, or at least x-number of quests completed in some kind of note pad accesable through the game; it would cut down on having to switch between the game and a word processer or have multiple machines up at the same time just to track a characters progress in the game.
Forced time off from the game has a detrimental effect for me too, but sometimes it's unavoidable; power outages, house guests that require my attention, or vacations away from home. All of them disrupt play-time.
It does take me a while to get back in the groove, but not too long. After about 20 minutes I'm reaquainted with the skills of a character, if not all the quests, and sometimes I make better progress after a break- if it was late a night when I quit, the rest bonus was gone, and I'd been dying at the hands of a boss over and over... A week later, I come back to the problem, and everything suddenly goes better! Voila! The boss dies in flurry of blows...
Anyway, there are pros and cons, but the interuptions are inevitable, so I just go with the flow.
New York Times can't let WoW duo get away with it
Feb 26th 2008 12:08PM (WoW)My husband and I run several characters/alts, on two accounts, and the only thing I would go back and do differently, is to go back and have my own account, and him to have his own- although the mix on both accounts works out in the end.
A few months ago, I decided that playing WOW together was more interactive than sitting on the couch watching TV, which we had mostly been doing once the kids were in bed for years- now I see two benefits, at least- 1, we watch WAY less TV and use our tivo to it's full potential :-), and 2 we TALK and WORK together to solve quests and play together. SO, a game that gets couples talking isn't a bad thing. Also, I found that back-seat driving my husband with his character (as described in the NYT article), while fun social interaction, was not as much fun as running my own. So two accounts is a must, and yeah- I agree with whoever said, put the computers next to each other if across the room is too far. And yes, trouble will come in a relationship where only one person is interested in WOW (or any other game)- that situation should be addressed, or a break-up will probably be in their future.
We also limit the time we play (a kitchen timer is a great way to let yourself know you've been playing an hour and a half or more :-)) and we pace ourselves and our kids too- we've had friends who played like maniacs up to 70, who then just cut off the game cold turkey, complaining about how much time they wasted on the game; I kept saying pace yourself, it's a lot more fun if you don't eat the whole cake at once, so to speak. anyway, to each their own- but if you can get you or your significant other to accept game play as a substitute for TV, more people would have a positive "WOW" view.
Cheers,
Jurarandonee
Breakfast Topic: Spoiled rotten vs ignorant bliss
Jan 29th 2008 12:21PM (WoW)I manage to miss the spoilers anyone is jabbering about on trade or general channel, because I don't multi task that well- if I'm playing, I concentrate on that and not the chatter- plus a lot of chatter goes by so fast I miss the context when I am in a location thst allows for reading (ie in a city or town).
On top of that, all of my toons are too low to even go to the Outland let alone anywhere else that will be "New" any time soon.
Sooooooo. I don't look for spoilers, but I will look stuff up if I'm having trouble with an instance or finding something :-).
Cheers,
Jurarandonee
Happy birthday to Outland
Jan 17th 2008 2:06PM (WoW)SO I have a feeling we're going to greet the Litch King with about the same level of excitement and wait until a few months arfter it comes out to buy it.
I willl say the starter areas got WAY less crowded for a while after BC came out, so I'm wondering if the Litch King will have a similer effect- suddenly more room to do what we want without lots of people steppping on us (or nija-ing our loots :-)).
Cheers,
Jurarndonee
Breakfast Topic: I'm late!
Jan 16th 2008 11:29AM (WoW)So it was only when I finally rolled a character and started playing did I understand. And only when we tried to run Wailing Caverns with 6 people did I understand the throwing yourself against the bosses one last time (armor in shreads, all weapons busted) and five hours later you realise you can't even see straight......
The next day people were inviting me to run WC and I kept saying NO- spent 5 or 6 hours in there the other night.....
Not a horror story, exactly, but my kids were saying, "I told you so!"
Cheers,
Jurarndonee
Breakfast Topic: The stealth /gquit and other lost art forms
Jan 11th 2008 1:05PM (WoW)We're not "tight-knit"- I don't demand that people "show up and play" at certain times or anything- very occationally I'll get some of us together via real-world email for an instance run or something, but we really aren't intense in the way that has been described in other replies.
Also, I don't think you have to leave your guild to go do solo stuff or join other folks in running dungeons or instances, I don't understand the hang-up about that. So, if you want a very low-pressure horde guild on a PvP server.... personally, I wouldn't be upset if a person left, especially if our guild doesn't "play" their way, or acheive the kind of social/goals they were looking for.
So far, there are a few of the "unknown" signers who have not left, exactly, but some of them haven't logged in for several months either. One of these guys is soloing; I think happily- he hasn't g/quited, or gotten in touch with me; I am begining to think I am remiss in not getting in touch with him, since he's out there "alone." My friends and I run around doing our stuff and never think to ask him along... This article has made me think I ought to get in touch, perhaps....
Cheers,
Jurarandonee (Kelti on Maiev)
Breakfast Topic: The stealth /gquit and other lost art forms
Jan 11th 2008 12:57PM (WoW)We're not "tight-knit"- I don't demand that people "show up and play" at certain times or anything- very occationally I'll get some of us together via real-world email for an instance run or something, but we really aren't intense in the way that has been described in other replies.
Also, I don't think you have to leave your guild to go do solo stuff or join other folks in running dungeons or instances, I don't understand the hang-up about that. So, if you want a very low-pressure horde guild on a PvP server.... personally, I wouldn't be upset if a person left, especially if our guild doesn't "play" their way, or acheive the kind of social/goals they were looking for.
So far, there are a few of the "unknown" signers who have not left, exactly, but some of them haven't logged in for several months either. One of these guys is soloing; I think happily- he hasn't g/quited, or gotten in touch with me; I am begining to think I am remiss in not getting in touch with him, since he's out there "alone." My friends and I run around doing our stuff and never think to ask him along... This article has made me think I ought to get in touch, perhaps....
Cheers,
Jurarandonee (Kelti on Maiev)
Officers' Quarters: Two heads > one
Dec 17th 2007 11:41AM (WoW)It begs the question, what is a guild for? We made ours mainly for the reasons listed above, but also so that people wouldn't keep inviting us to THEIR guild, and so that our commitment to the game remained resonable... We're largely weekend gamers and folks who want to solo without being pestered to join a guild all the time.
Cheers,
Jurarandonee
Cheers,
Jurandonee
Shifting Perspectives: So you're thinking of playing a Druid
Dec 17th 2007 1:06AM (WoW)It has, and now I have 11 other characters (I'm gonna slim the roster down, soon, I promise :-)).
I have since been told that druids aren't the easiest class to play, but I really enjoy mine. Maybe the druid would be too much to juggle for a person new to the game, but if you can effectifly run a druid, you can tackle nearly every other class. Ok, I'll amend that to, "on the Alliance side," at least. I hear that shamen are even trickier to master, but with even more of a pay-off at the end game. I know that Draenei can roll shamen class, but I still tend to think of it as a hoard class)
And in my tool bar, it is hurricane, by the way, not cyclone or whirlwind :) though with so many icons re-used and renamed for different things, that's a minor quibble- I knew what the writer meant :-).
I'll also chime in on the newest patch and the faster leveling- very cool! Maybe I'll get to see the Outland and spread my wings by President's Day '08 :-).
Cheers,
Jurarandonee
Behind the Curtain: Moral & Ethical choices
Dec 16th 2007 11:07PM (Massively)WoW certainly has enough races that such content (racial conflict) could be worked into the story lines, but honestly, I think most people play these sort of role playing games to escape reality, and not be judged by their ethnicity, age or real life capabilites. I don't know anyone in real life with the shape changing ability of my Druid character, and I certainly woudn't want to be hated in game, just because my ears were really long and I had green hair.
Maybe that's over-simplifying things, but WoW strikes a balance- the guy one has to kill in a quest, while he may be of a different race to the quest giver, one usually has to kill him because he "done the quest-giver wrong" in some way (invaded his/her turf, stole his/her necklace, the list goes on).
I can't speak to the Star Trek games- I haven't played them (yet) but with the Voyager TV show at least, I thought the story writers missed the boat for character/racial conflict by making the Maqui "like" the Federation crew, at least on the ship so far from home; I have a feeling they'll duck putting in racial issues to any great depth in their games, handled intellegently or not.
Cheers,
Jurarandonee
Forced fasting
Dec 16th 2007 6:17PM (WoW)Forced time off from the game has a detrimental effect for me too, but sometimes it's unavoidable; power outages, house guests that require my attention, or vacations away from home. All of them disrupt play-time.
It does take me a while to get back in the groove, but not too long. After about 20 minutes I'm reaquainted with the skills of a character, if not all the quests, and sometimes I make better progress after a break- if it was late a night when I quit, the rest bonus was gone, and I'd been dying at the hands of a boss over and over... A week later, I come back to the problem, and everything suddenly goes better! Voila! The boss dies in flurry of blows...
Anyway, there are pros and cons, but the interuptions are inevitable, so I just go with the flow.
Cheers,
Jurarandonee