Open World Review: World of Warcraft
In my younger days, I played a lot of World of Warcraft. Ever since I watched the trailer for the game on the Warcraft III: Frozen Throne CD, I was obsessed. My parents wouldn’t let me get the game for a long time, as it had a monthly subscription, a whopping $20, not the kind of money a 11 year old has. It wasn’t just the orcs, dragons, dwarves, dungeons, swords and magic that fed my obsession, it was the sheer scale of the world itself. I had always loved playing videogames, but had never seen anything even remotely like World of Warcraft. I first played the game at a good friend of mines, and he showed me the starting area of one of the games various playable races. It was only once we left that area that I remarked ‘Oh, there’s more?’. This was when the map covered the screen. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I played that game for the following seven years after that moment. While I don’t play the game any more nowadays, I’ll never forget what that open world had to offer. I’ve still checked back every few years to see what’s different, but these days it’s very different to the game I played as a child. The easiest way to talk about World of Warcraft’s world design is to compare its earlier incarnations to the more relevant ones. When world of warcraft first came out, it was laid out in a way that really made you feel like you were a unique and important person in the world, and that you were making decisions for yourself. Quests in World of Warcraft were all essentially optional, and there was nothing stopping a Troll player from running all the way to the Orc’s starter zone, to complete the quests there and play through the game as if they were an orc themselves. Did this have a huge effect on the gameplay? No. But did that simple fact that you COULD do that make you feel like someone with agency in the world? Definitely. Now, thirteen years on, you can still do that. But there are a lot of things you have changed. Those quests I mentioned earlier? While most of them weren’t designed very well (essentially every quest was a kill/fetch quest: kill x amount of a monster, collect x amount of this thing a monster drops when killed), accepting them, going and doing them, and then handing them in required a bit of skill. Firstly, you’d have to find the area you wanted to quest in on the map, and make sure it was for the right level bracket you were in. If it was too low level, you’d get virtually no experience, and you’d receive outdated loot. If it was too high, you’d get your arse handed to you just simply trying to get there. Once you found the place, you had to find the hub, usually a town or outpost of some form. Once there, you’d run around the town collecting all the quests from prospective quest-givers. You’d have to read each quest, absorbing the hand-written information like a sponge as you stared at the map and tried to figure out where everything was in the zone. You would then plot a mental path in your mind, a path that would take you around the zone in a logical fashion, so that you could complete multiple quests in one journey, and hand them all in back in town at the same time for massive experience. You’d stock up on health and mana potions, reagents you needed to make certain objects to help keep you safe in the wilderness for longer. You’d send messages to all of your friends, to see if they were around and if they wanted to tag along to help you out. Sometimes you’d bump into random players while out on a quest, and you’d team up with them. It felt really organic. There was strategy, there was planning, and there was a huge sense of exploration. The friends you made on the road could become some of your best friends, and could even invite you to join their guild. Once in a guild, the world grew even bigger again, as access to the games darkest, scariest, meanest content was only possibly with very organised teamwork. Nowadays, while the core things are the same, there are some huge differences that really make the game a lot more autonomous, streamlined, and monotonous. Questing is essentially the same: You look at the map, you find the zone, you get the quests, etc. Only now, your map highlights everything you’re supposed to do, where it is, and in what order you should do them. Each zone on the map has it’s level bracket displayed, and once in a zone, little highlighted areas show you exactly where the monsters are, how many of them /10 you’ve killed, and there’s a handy little arrow on your minimap showing you exactly where to go. The game plays itself. You don't really need to think all that much, you just have to press the buttons. Need a party to team up with? No need to travel into town and talk to anyone, just click the ‘party finder’ button, and join the que. Need to beat a dungeon? Join the ‘Dungeon finder’ que. Need a guild? Same deal. Health and mana replenish themselves quickly outside of combat, so don’t bother buying/making potions and food anymore. No one ever needs to read another quest, just instantly smash the ‘accept’ button, and follow the arrow. While the game is far more accessible now, the magic has been lost in that quest for accessibility. No longer can you get lost in a poisonous swamp. No longer will you run out stuff and have to claw your way back to town. If you do get in a pickle, don’t rely on that stranger to help you, they won’t notice you, they’re just staring at their minimap. The world is longer designed to amaze you, to crush you, to confuse you, to reward you. It’s designed to get you through it as quickly as possible, so you can get to that precious end-game content. |
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