wow-wrath-glacier-header

At this point in the game’s lifespan, a betting man would be wise to wager that you the gamer have played, or at least trialed, World of Warcraft. It’s also safe to assume that even if you’ve avoided the cyberscapes of Azeroth, you know at least one person suckling the Warcraft teat. Blizzard’s flagship title with its 11.5 million players is a testament to the staying power of this particular MMO, and the new expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, is an all-out effort on Blizzard’s part to keep it at the top.

“But Aaron,” some may inevitably ask, “why would I play the same game after it’s already been stomping on its competitors for the past four years? It’s not going to change that much.” That’s a reasonable question, for sure. They may also assume World of Warcraft is like any other MMO, with a never-ending series of expansion packs aimed primarily at the hardcore, top-tier players with enough time on their hands to complete the numerous, escalating challenges presented. This was what happened with the previous expansion, The Burning Crusade. Fortunately, Wrath is more new than it is old, and while being true to the golden formula of  [1 engaging quest system + rapid combat * (mountains of loot)²] that Blizzard created with vanilla WoW and BC before it, the bottom line is, simply, Wrath is the most fun I’ve had playing an MMO in many, many years.
Read the rest of this entry »