Memorable

Every so often I ponder my enjoyment of WoW. Clearly, this is a game I enjoy. I don't find it horribly punishing as a gamer. I don't consider myself to be particularly hardcore, but I'm also not the type to take "ease" for granted.

I tried MUDs back in the day. My first real online game was EverQuest - loss of experience on death, running back to your corpse alive and NAKED, etc. I made a conscious decision NOT to play games where other players could kill me at their own discretion (rather than mine) and then steal some or all of my character's stuff. Nor games that, if you died, that was the end of your character.

With that out of the way, I'll admit that the amusement I'm finding in game is becoming few and far between. I think it's just what happens when you've basically cleared the most recent content completely (hard modes being icing, not actual new content - Look, you've jumped. That's pretty cool. Now do it through this ring of FIRE! More exciting, eh? Here. Have a cookie... a cookie with frosting and sprinkles!) So I wind up pondering what keeps me coming back for more.

Part of it is the nostalgia. That first month, first year of a new game. Everything is new, or at least new enough or different enough to masquerade as new. That first span of time holds something special, I think, for most players. Some particular event or interaction may provide that spark that lights the fire that keeps us playing for years afterward.

I've identified my spark.

For me, it would have to be running through Deadmines with my friends for the first time.

None of us had ever been, before (that I recall), and I certainly knew nothing of the instance. It's annoying to get to if you're unfamiliar with the tunnels down there, and if you're the Priest lagging behind at the back because the group keeps taking damage, killing stuff, and not giving you quite enough time to heal everyone back up before moving on it also becomes rather painful as the stuff that HAD been beating on your crew turns as one to start NOMMING on your face. The interior of the instance, as well, is rather disappointing. Mining tunnels, more mining tunnels, Defias miners leaping out at the unwary but over-curious Priest checking all the nooks and crannies for something of interest. Perhaps a treasure chest.

The mechanics of clearing that first boss, healing up and getting mana topped off only to start getting your head bashed in by a strategically timed spawning of a patrol from behind - a shock, but also great fun to find yourself ambushed and manage to put those ambushers in their place. Then the goblin in the shredder - beat him twice if you want him to stay down! The goblins in the round room were just obnoxious, so let's skip over them.

Here's where Deadmines nailed me. In the end, it starts with the blasting powder you need to use to blow the final door open. And you HEAR a guy calling out to check for intruders. And as the dust clears you see ... docks, pirates, red macaw pets -- and the ship from Goonies. You fight your way past the pirates and annoying birds who are slowing down your healing spells because the tank doesn't know what's going on and the DPS can't be bothered to look at anything not shoving off cleavage or chest hair, and you see a treasure chest at the base of a ramp. Someone gets greedy and runs up, and suddenly a pair of stealthed pirates pounce! Gah! Tank, save the unwary! Priest, heal them before they die! And then we've got Mr. Smite. Because two stealthed pirates weren't exciting enough, we've now triggered a boss.

The scripting of that small event just blew me away. As I stood there, stunned and helpless and appalled at how unfair it all was, I was just astonished. Here was voice acting. Here was something completely different from everything I'd experienced in WoW so far (EDIT: Or any other game I'd ever romped around in, in fact). This was a character I would alternately hate and adore encountering - on the one hand, completely helpless in the face of the way the encounter worked, and on the other hand, so very... immersive for me, I suppose. EDIT: I clearly remember thinking, "If there are more fights like this ahead of me in WoW, I can tell I'll be having a lot of fun." Unfortunately, there've been echoes of this sort of thing but nothing nearly so intense or awe inspiring since that time.

Cookie is fun, Van Cleef is interesting in his own way.

But Mr. Smite has my heart, as he has for nearly five years now.

Have you got any memories that you feel pegged you to the board and made you take notice of WoW? Hopefully good ones. Are they of the players themselves, or an NPC? A quest, a vista you took in as you cleared a hilltop, an ambiance you hadn't expected to find in a computer game?