World of Warcraft‘s new expansion, Warlords of Draenor, is out, an event that always revitalizes the nearly 10 year old game (for at least a few months). If you’re at all familiar with the game, you might be wondering to yourself “why did she put a picture from an old expansion (Wrath of the Lich King, 2008) on her post about the most recent release”? The answer is, quite simply, that World of Warcraft IS the Lich King. Let me explain.
At the end of the WotLK expansion, after relentlessly fighting against the Lich King (former human prince Arthas Menethil), players are treated to the shocking revelation that there must always be a Lich King. To not have a Lich King would cause a power vacuum, leaving chaos in its wake—the Lich King is a stabilization mechanism, preserving order in his own way.
Just to be clear: I’m not at all saying that WoW players are the scourge (I am one! My mom is one!), and I’m not saying Blizzard is the embodiment of evil (so far as we know). However, I think there are some interesting parallels between World of Warcraft, which Blizzard recently predicted would make it to see a twentieth anniversary, and the massive, relatively stagnant, stabilizing force of the Lich King. After all, there must always be a WoW expansion.
There are more levels, and new character models, and several updated systems (talents are in a perennial state of renewal, questing has been streamlined quite a bit, and gathering professions have been made easier to level). We now have the option to place “facebook games” (time-based resource-management style mini-games) within WoW via the garrison, in addition to still being able to play Pokémon in-game via the pet battles. Blizz has got some great designers, and they’ve put an amazing amount of polish on this old game.
For all my tongue-in-cheek dismissal of the garrison as being simply a “facebook game” in WoW, it’s actually surprisingly engaging. It manages to strike a nice balance between the hardcore version of playing that I don’t have time for- rushing to reach max level, get the best gear, be at the top of the brackets, etc.- and the extremely causal version of playing that quickly bores me- taking things at a criminally slow pace, with no clear goal or objective, and limited measurable reward. The garrison has me wanting to log in quickly’ before breakfast or after a class, to check my stuff, say hi to my guild, and then head out again. It manages to keep me hooked into the game, while at the same time not monopolizing my time.
At the same time, it is still that old game. I’m certain this expansion will bring back old players, and it will probably delight them for a bit longer—it’s certainly delighted me so far. Will it bring in new players? Will it grab those who’ve never giving WoW (or another MMO) a try? I’m less sure on that count- as I mentioned previously, I think the only thing that will kill WoW is WoW. This expansion is just one more link in a holding pattern as the game slowly declines.
