Played Lately: World of Warcraft

• Having played Guild Wars for as long as I have must tell you something about me. Several things even, depending on how long you've been grinding levels of geek. Heck, all you have to do is read one preview or review to know what the primary draw for most people seems to be: no subscription fees.


• Subscription fees for video games are an affront to man and god.


• Nonetheless, you can only read about how World of Warcraft is like onto the returning messiah in electronic form everyday for a couple years without wondering what all the fuss is about. I'd grown somewhat disillusioned with Guild Wars, I knew I needed something else to feed the game addiction. Plus, I figured twenty dollars to start up an account wouldn't kill me if I played for a month and cancelled my account.


• Big mistake.


• WoW, like any other MMO, gets under the skin like an itch that only gets worse when you scratch it. I tried out a Guest Pass way back in July of 2005, but escaped only slightly scarred since I was still fiending for GW at the time. Heck, I barely made it past Northshire Abbey before I gave up on my fledgling warrior.


• The funny thing is that what actually got me to take a second look at World of Warcraft again was the impending release of the Burning Crusade expansion. There is a feeling that expansions are about keeping the current player base happy while reminding potential or lapsed players that the game still exists. In this case, it worked.


• I started my account on New Year's Eve while I was waiting for the big ball to drop. I had just spent several days getting sick of City of Heroes and I wanted to start the year with a game I actually wanted to play.


• Now I have a level 39 human paladin and a level 24 blood elf mage and I can't stop myself from playing. Take last night for instance. I knew my pally had a couple of quests I could polish off quickly, so I jumped into the game and had at it. After completing the quests, I had a bag full of ore and the itch to work on my blacksmithing. So I took a quick flight to Theramore, the boat to Menethil Harbor, and the another flight to Ironforge to work the Great Forge. While I was there, I realized that level 39 was a great time to work out my PvP and bulk up my honor. See where I'm going with this? That's right: 2 AM.


• Sleep is for the weak. I've got experience to grind.