One Month Has Passed Since The Arrival Of Cataclysm …

Last year, our national paper sent in one of our finest journalists – who unfortunately a lapsed World of Warcraft (WoW) gamer – to preview the new expansion: Cataclysm.  It is like asking a recently turned vegetarian to critic on a world class steakhouse dish (and in defense of my humble analogy, it was not clear if that journalist is at all an avid online gamer).  That write-up was less than inspiring.  If you have not played WoW in your life or better still, have not experienced MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game), I envy you.  You are at the golden age of online gaming.  A game that works in both PC and MAC platforms, works in low end high end machines, has been fine tuned and revamped for 6 years, has more than 12 millions subscribers (as of last year), and on day one of this expansion’s launch, 3.3 millions of copies were sold, 4.7 millions copies were sold on the first month.  Now, I know some of you are still on the fence thinking, “Hmmm, should I dive into Cataclysm?”  Cynthia and I have spent a good amount of hours playing the new expansion during the first month of launch.  And we have this write-up to share with you (probably more credible than the one you have read in our papers).

Admit it.  No one wants to buy and play a game that is not addictive.  If you look back in your gaming career, great games are the ones that keep you thinking about them the whole day while you are not at it.  And when you are at it, you wouldn’t want to stop.  In view of this, I am often intrigued by comments like “I am not trying WoW because I may get hooked into it”.  Having said that, I am a responsible person.  If this game has destroyed you in the past and you have still yet to figure out how to moderate your gaming behavior, please continue to stay out of it.  If you are unable to handle the social aspect of the game and cannot handle the fact that while most people are good, some are not, this new expansion is not likely to change your view.  It is like this.  You can play basketball in your backyard all day long.  You can also play basketball in a public court with your mates.  Or even better, you can form a team with new friends and random players and play a proper game of basketball.  Is there a guarantee that you will not meet anyone who is going to piss you off big time?  I think not.  Bullies and morons are everywhere.  That is life.  You can hide from them and miss out all the roses out there.  Or you can ignore them and focus on the good things in life.  There is nothing wrong with playing your own basketball game alone at your backyard though.  It is not as epic.

In this write-up, I am going to touch onto a rather wide range of topics.  Although my main target audiences are the experienced players, where possible, I will write with the new players in mind.  Because this game is big, I will need a little disclaimer here.  By clicking onto the following link, you agree that in the event whereby you are sucked into this game under the influence of my wall of text, the writer (i.e. I) and the website provider are not responsible or liable to any past, present, and future tangible damages (such as hard disk going on fire due to prolonged hours of game play) and intangible damage caused (such as your girlfriend leaving you, your cat deserts you, and your plants and your fish die on you).

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