WoW is a serious game...

...now go help the ogre belly-flop onto spiders.

WoW has many deep and serious quest lines...

...like the one where you have to jump off a cliff in order to talk a dead dragon out of chatting up the Spirit Healers.

WoW has a deep, immersive environment...

...with selfies!

And they are just as flattering as they are in real life, too:

WoW is a serious game that deals with serious issues...

...for example: you see those monkeys, adventurer?  Give them these exploding bananas and watch them fly into the air.  Because there is clearly no better way to make them leave the vacinity.

WoW is a serious game with serious, gritty characters...

... like this guy who put a diving helmet on his pet wolf, even though everyone else uses magic to breath underwater.

(This cracked me up a lot more than it should have done and was an absolute hightlight for the zone.)

WoW is a serious game with serious themes...

...now please walk my mechanical chicken 300yards up the path because it needs higher ground to take off from.

WoW is a Serious Game...

....but I just spent 30 minutes helping a genetically modified velociraptor launch itself into space.

An Introduction, Explanation, or Whatever You Want To Call It.

I have been playing World of Warcraft since the end of the Burning Crusade era.  I was strong-armed into setting up an account by a friend who really wanted the refer-a-friend bonus, and at the time I was unemployed and generally disinclined to put up a fuss about it.  My first few attempts at the game were a disaster, as I struggled to keep up with my friends who already knew the game well, and eventually I purchased the Burning Crusade expansion in secret so I could play a Blood Elf without my Alliance-obsessed housemates finding me and forcing me to charge through the game at top speed.  I managed to get to level 17 before I was discovered.  Even so, I continued to play my Blood Elf, and he remains my main character even now.

(Yes, if they had brighter colours he would indeed be wearing them.)

I, like many players, took several breaks from the game for various reasons, but always ended up coming back in the end.  I have played many MMOs over the years, starting way back with Everquest and progressing through City of Heroes (a much-missed favourite), Lord of the Rings, Rift, FFOnline, Star Trek Online, Knights of the Old Republic, and Elder Scrolls Online, as well as a plethora of recent free-to-play titles such as Dragon's Prophet and Blade and Soul.

All of these games have provided me with hours of entertainment and escapism, but there is just something about World of Warcraft that makes it hard to stay away.
Perhaps it's the bright colours, or the music, or the vast continent-spanning world of enormous zones.  Some might argue that it's the game system itself, and the ever-expanding range of classes and races on offer for players to enjoy.  I honestly couldn't say, given that I've more-or-less only played one Blood Elf hunter since I first signed up- but there definitely is something to it that other games don't seem to have captured in quite the same way.  Even after world changes, game changes, and a number of controversial class/skill re-designs, the World of Warcraft is still going strong and retains a loyal player base.  Some of us are grumpy, complaining bastards.  Some of us are trolls (both figuratively and literally, at least in-game), and some are wide-eyed fans who won't hear a bad word about the game.

So, why after all these years am I finally making a blog about a game that I have been playing quietly for so long?
Simple.

I watched the movie.

I wasn't expecting much from it, because I've lived long enough to know that game-to-film adaptations have to be taken with a pinch of salt at best, and cyanide capsules at worst.  But the thing that really struck me- the thing that really stood out (other than Travis Fimmel's adorable struggle with acting)- was the oddly grim tone and 'gritty' atmosphere.  And it really grated.

Yes, the World of Warcraft has some very dark-themed quest lines and some moments of real (or badly forced) drama, and there are even one or two moments that may make a well-immersed RP-er a little choked up, too.  But, the vast, overwhelming majority of the game is not like that.  Big, scary, serious things happen, but most of the quests are light-hearted, the characters deliberately comical, and the locations cartoon-ish.

It was a fun film, and I don't regret watching it.  Hell, I might even admit to having enjoyed it, being the WoW fan that I am, but it wasn't quite the world that I know and love from the game.  It lacked the humour and joy of the setting I have grown to love, and seemed to imply that the game was a lot more straight-laced and serious than it actually is.

So, this blog is my retaliation- my celebration, if you will- of all the totally, 100% super-serious and gritty things that make the World of Warcraft what it is.

Just to clarify, this is what this blog is NOT about:
-complaining about class balance or changes to skills.
-complaining about PVP.
-bashing on races, classes, or individual people.
-complaining about Blizzard, or their employees.
-being in any way serious.

I would welcome submissions or suggestions, and I do hope that you enjoy and appreciate this wonderful, wacky world as much as I do.