World of Warcraft

So Mel and I tore out of here at 10:00 in the PM to grab us a Starbucks. But it wasn’t meant to be. We live in Ventura County and the good God fearing folk out here in the country are in bed by long before Letterman. So, with the heat blasting and the two of us bellowing the Black Eyed Peas we tested the shocks and acceleration of German performance. No complaints.
Back at the house Mel went mad scientist in the kitchen and concocted her own version of a Vente Mocha and I gotta say…

Outstanding. I shall hereby call it Melanie Mocha.
So as we approach 11:00 o-clock on the PM, a litty more than an hour from the day we celebrate our arrival to the land of the free and our step-one of stealing a country from the Injuns, coyotes are screaming like little girls outside my window. Probably because it’s cold. Cold for here anyway but I love the cold. I’m sitting here in a pair of ratty shorts and Ugg Boots with my warm coffee and I’m awaiting the server reboot of World of Warcraft.
It came out yesterday and it has been less than a seamless launch. Which is a shame because I think I prefer it to EverQuest 2.
It’s a hard call. EverQuest is still plagued with the same crap and time sinks that existed in the original game. It takes forever to hook up with your friends and once you do then accomplishing anything requires trial and failure. And although the world is clearly designed with the best of graphics the design is dull, colorless….grey.
World of Warcraft is the other end of the spectrum. The colors are amazing.

Witness, the good Priest, Farmer. A dwarf standing over the recently killed body of a Wendigo. Notice the moonlight, the reflection off the snow. Notice how night time is “movie” night time. You know it’s night but you can still function.
With EQ night is freaking dark. You can’t see jack. This is the difference in thinking. The Warcraft Developers seem to put gameplay and enjoyment ahead. EQ puts obstacle and failure ahead.
It’s sad really. I wish I could take elements of both and make one game. Course, my phone ain’t ringing and neither company is asking for my opinion.

Melanie in EQ2. I mean, come on. How hot is that? And she kicks butt too. She’s a tank. Which means she runs in and taunts everything and just hopes that I can keep her alive with heals.

Then, here again is the Priest, Farmer. Grey vs Color. Real vs Cartoon. I guess it’s not unlike “Deep Impact” and “Armageddon”. I mean, some people are just drawn to the realism of Deep Impact. Others prefer the comic book style of Armageddon. It’s a tough call.

I mean, in EQ2 the other night, we and a friend were knee deep in skeletons, deep deep deep within a dark and brooding catacomb and we were loving it. The realism made it creepy. The graphics pretty freaking cool.
Then on Warcraft today as I started Shepherd, another priest on a different server, I faded into the game to the following view:

A line of dancing dwarves. I mean the pic doesn’t do it justice. They were dancing Russian style, butts near the ground, legs kicking into the air. And those aren’t computer programs. There are real people sitting around behind computers making them dance and simply goofing off because it’s fun. You don’t see that in EQ where everything is serious and life altering. But the dancing dorfs had me cracking up and of course, I joined them. But notice the simple difference in colors. EQ a bit more drab. And as for landscapes, Warcraft wins hands down. Stunning landscapes. And each one utterly unique. In EQ it all sort of looks the same.
Of course, I still got grudges against EQ for poor Yllo’s account hijacking. I suppose I’d leave EQ for WoW but then I went and got level 20 with my druid…who now becomes a Fury and gains the gift of shape-shifting.

Come on. How cool is that?
Reckon we’ll bounce back and forth for awhile.
Okay, servers should be back up over at the Warcraft so Mel and I will play a little longer then get some rest in preparation for Turkey with the Loreys tomorrow.
Goodnight you Princes of EverQuest, you Kings of Warcraft.