Facebook – Top 100 FAVORITE Video Games: 51

51: World of Warcraft (PC)
Developer: Blizzard
Year: 2004

The last time I did a list like this I had Everquest on in the 70’s area. So, here we are nearly a decade later and we have a much better MMORPG in a much higher slot. Some may complain that this game, which is endlessly addictive and hilarious to play with a good group of companions, should be higher on the list than this and you’re free to judge this list, and WoW’s placement upon it, as you see fit. As it stands, though, WoW, in all its huge-game-world glory, rests as the final game in the back half of the 100. Let me tell you why, though, before you judge me too harshly.

One of the things I love about this game is one of the things I hate about it, too; the storyline. Picking up after WarCraft III and its expansion, WoW’s narrative expands the entirety of the world and progresses the aftermath of the events of Arthas and company doing their things. From here, for the most part, its up to the player to “alter” the world by crafting their own story. In some ways, its nice, because it gives you a rich world with deep lore to experience and, for those who have played through the core games in the franchise, it provides enough backstory to understand why things are the way they are in the world. The real issue I have with this game, though, is the fact that its narrative progresses. This is cool, since its a shared experience game (meaning all players witness the same changes in the world at the same time). While this is awesome for an MMO, for a story that was birthed from a single-player experience (and one of the best in RTS history) its sad to know that a game this popular will keep it from going further for years and years, and that WC4 is likely not to happen for years to come. While the story is good enough, I’d rather get the great RTS gameplay, too.

But let’s talk about WoW’s gameplay, shall we? One of the things that’s great is the fact that any user can log on and play a great game and have a great time, meet some online friends, and great experiences are bound to be had by all. But while the gameplay system is easy and simple to understand, the real treat of the whole thing is the ease of questing, something EQ tried to do, back in the day, but failed at accomplishing because of a poor logging system. Having a method of tracking quests makes playing the game that much easier. But if there’s any one thing that I hate about this game’s gameplay mechanics (and that is to say, its great in this game, however), its that every MMO and – likewise – plenty of single player games have stolen so many aspects of this game. Golden !’s above people with quests to offer? They show up all over the place, now, and the look and feel have been utilized in so many other games, too, with art styles being heavily borrowed by a number of other games. Influence is one thing, but copycat mechanics and art styles are…

What do I love about this game? I seem to be spending a lot of time talking shit about the best MMO ever created, right? Well, here’s the deal: Everything about this game is far too fun for its own good. It steals lives, it keeps people up for hours, robs people of time to do things they’re supposed to do (study, get house work done, etc.) but its fun as hell. I can’t recall the number of hours I’ve poured into this game over the three-four years I played it regularly. The content is great, the visuals are awesome (if not dated, now, somewhat), and the greatness of having a party of like minded people playing the game together is wonderful. The problems I have with it are trivial in comparison to the reasons to love this game, of which there are many. The real deal, though, is its hard to write a review for an MMO in the same style as all the others, since its a collective experience, its harder to comment upon in the same fashion.

All in all, though, World of Warcraft is the MMO to play, for all comers. It offers a world that’s easy to enter and limitless fun for those that elect to seek it. Of course, you have to pay to play, but that’s OK; if you’re fine with getting your money’s worth, there is never any end to your play. I will admit, though, that this is one of the worst things I’ve ever written for this list, on par with the awfulness of the Top 10 Weapons post from a month-or-so back. Sorry, I guess?

Classic Moment:
Getting ganked by the Alliance for ten years sucks when you’re low-level in a PvP area. But eventually YOU’LL get to be high enough level that you’ll wanna try it yourself. And its awesome… for the first few kills. But after that you’re going to be either someone with a soul, someone who quits and moves on, understanding that you’ll never get back at those that did it to you, first… or you can be pure evil and just keep doing it for hours and hours and hours.

My god. Don’t even bother reading this.

---

Added February 23, 2017
I played this game for almost six years, with four of them being seriously dedicated to my characters. If I could go back and replace that time with something more… social? I wouldn’t do it, probably. Some of my favorite gaming experiences of all time were had playing that game with my family. I wouldn’t trade them for anything.