Back to Wow!

Ever since I quit playing World of Warcraft five years ago, I've been searching for an MMORPG capable of quenching my thirst for fast-paced PVP, challenging raids, and vast worlds waiting to be explored. Over that span of five years, I tried almost every free to play MMORPG out there. Tera, Rift, Allods Online, Dragon's Nest, Vindictus, Wildstar, you name it, and I have probably tried it. I even paid for Guild Wars 2 and Elder Scrolls Online, but neither game had me hooked like WoW did so many years ago. So, I'm proud to say that I have finally found an MMORPG to satisfy my craving since I stopped playing WoW, and that game is... World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft is the gold standard for MMORPGs. It's like WoW is the Oreo, and all other MMORPGs that have been inspired by WoW are those imitation, off-brand Oreo cookies. Sure, some of them have some different elements. Maybe some are different colors, and maybe some have different fillings, like, peanut butter or something. Maybe some people even like imitation Oreos better than actual Oreos. My point is, WoW set the standard for MMORPGs, and even though some fantastic MMORPGs have been released since WoW, WoW is still the best MMO out there.

After renewing my WoW subscription, I immediately logged on, and created a Warlock. I had never played a caster at a high level, so I thought it would be fun to try something different. Giddy with excitement, me and my buddy skipped around the starting zone, and leveled to 15. After hitting 15, we immediately started to queue up for instances. When we ran through our first instance since Cataclysm, our minds were blown. The whole instance took under ten minutes, and we gained two levels from it. It was madness. People in our group were running around, killing elites in 1-2 hits.

So, we decided we would just sit in Orgrimmar, and level by repeatedly running instances. That got us to about level 46, until we realized that heirlooms, the gear that was making our group mates so powerful, actually gives XP boosts. At that point, I was sick of playing a caster because, well because I just don't like casters. I created a new character, a Rogue. This time around, I wanted to level with heirloom gear, so I scrounged together all the money I could on my old toons, and I bought five pieces of heirloom gear.

With heirloom gear equipped, leveling was a breeze. Also, I discovered that it isn't necessarily best to level by running the same instances over and over again, so I actually did some questing this time around. Now, I'm level 61, and I can't wait to get to max level.

Personally, I really like how the talent trees in the game no longer are trees. Now, talents are incredibly simplified, and it's nice that players are granted the freedom to change their talents whenever they please (as long as they are in a rest area). Also, giving players the ability to change specs free of charge, provided that they are in a rest area, is simply liberating. As a whole, the game feels more polished, and more user friendly.

When I renewed my subscription two weeks ago, I was almost positive that I would stop playing altogether at the end of the month. Now, I know that I am definitely going to keep renewing my subscription, and that I certainly will purchase the Legion expansion when it is released on August 30th.