Yes, I Do Actually Like Playing Them

While you might think that my Grumpy Old Man (tm) posts about World of Warcraft and other MMOs indicate I'm not having fun these days, I disagree.

I may not be having as much fun as I had while I was initially playing WoW back in 2009/2010, but to me it is... comfortable. I can laugh at MMOs now and not consider it 'srs bznss', but I can also enjoy myself while recognize it's limitations.

This is something that simply doesn't happen
in WoW since... Wrath, maybe?
From Know Your Meme and Justin Parks.

Yes, there are things that annoy me. I'm opinionated enough that I'll always find something to annoy me,* but finding and complaining about annoyances doesn't mean I think that a game is irredeemable. (Old Blanchy notwithstanding.)

One thing I have noticed the longer I've played video games in general is that I'm at my happiest when I'm playing my favorite parts of video games. For Classic WoW, it's in the leveling process and just hanging around various parts of Azeroth.** Sure, I also like running 5-person instances and a good match of Alterac Valley, but that's in smaller doses rather than repeat runs for a deeper goal. For example, last weekend was Alterac Valley weekend, so I got onto the Classic Era servers and ran Alterac Valley a handful of times, but that was it. I didn't have a need to do that more than just those half a dozen or so runs, so once I got that out of my system I was fine on not doing any others all weekend.

Or, in Retail, instead of grumping about Old Blanchy's demise, I decided to go exploring along the well-trod path from Stormwind to Theramore. The path is pretty traditional if you decide to not take a flight path straight to Menethil Harbor***:

• Tram Ride from Stormwind to Ironforge
• Run from Ironforge east through Dun Morogh
• Take the pass (either North or South) from Dun Morogh to Loch Modan. 
• Head north from Loch Modan into the pass down toward the Wetlands.
• run north and then east along the main road through the Wetlands to Menethil Harbor.
• Take a ship from the Harbor to Theramore.

Obviously, I chose running along the scenic route because it was an option. It gave me a chance to explore at a slow pace and enjoy the sights as I knew them in the pre-Cataclysm times.

Okay, that quest hub is new for Cataclysm...

I didn't see a soul along the way, but that was fine. 

To be fair, this is the fewest number of people
on a ship to Theramore that I've seen in quite a while.

What was even better was at the end:

Do I know you? You look familiar.

My lone toon that has reached max level in 2014 used to be able to fly through a Theramore that was devoid of NPCs and everybody else, because she never participated in the Destruction of Theramore event.**** It is nice to see that a brand new toon doesn't have a completely empty Theramore, but rather a Theramore that's as it was in Cataclysm. (And largely what it was like from the TBC Era.)

***

There's also a measure of comfort when visiting areas I have fond memories of.

I've been married for over 30 years, and I simply
can't comprehend why all these women would
accept hanging around and sharing Darmas like that.
Maybe it's transactional by nature, but...

The Vanilla SWTOR planets, particularly the low level ones, bring back most of my nostalgia for the game. The same goes for Vvardenfell and ESO:

I think the screencap is off a bit, as it looked much
more vibrant on the screen.

I've also been known to roam the halls of Spacedock...

I frequently get lost in this place. What a fine example
of Starfleet training I am.

Or just chill in town, whether it be Darkshire...

Or Stormwind...

I consider all of these (lack of) activities to be "playing the game", even though I might not have a specific plan at the moment. You don't have to have a specific plan to play MMOs, so why not lean into it if that's what you feel like doing?

Besides, it keeps me from complaining about whatever people are hyped up about these days, so that's a good thing.

*Even among my favorite bands. I read an article yesterday out of BBC Music that had a list of what the author believed were the top Prog Rock albums released in 1975. Among them he put Rush's Caress of Steel. "Uh..." I stuttered, not believing what I was reading. I mean, there was a reason why Caress of Steel's tour was informally described by the band as "The Down the Tubes Tour". In my opinion, Caress was the worst Rush album they ever put out, and it's not really even close. 

**That holds true for me in SWTOR as well, as I prefer the "Vanilla SWTOR" leveling experience more than anything else in the game. I can't say the same for LOTRO or ESO as I've not played multiple toons in either MMO, but I can say that I enjoyed the story in each that I've completed so far.

***It is also apparently a thing in Retail that a new toon has access to all of the flight paths that other toons have --at least in the Old World-- and for probably 1/10 the cost. I was quite shocked when I first clicked on a Gryphon Master to see what was available and this popped up:

Holy crap.

****That has since been corrected, as in preparation for this post I went back to Theramore and discovered that Az could see NPCs and everybody else in Theramore as it was. I guess Blizz finally corrected that gap in their event design.

EtA: Corrected spelling.