So much for that WoW itch

So much for that WoW itch post thumbnail image

Hi, my name is Scormus, and I’m a WoWaholic.

I started playing “World of Warcraft” back in early 2005, not long after the game launched. While I haven’t played regularly for several years, I do keep feeling this need to return every so often. In fact, recently I was once again feeling that itch to play some WoW coming back, and was considering signing back up, if only to play some WoW Classic.

Yeah, about that. I killed that itch in short order, without giving Blizzard one red cent!

You see, I was chatting with some friends recently – yes, I do have friends – and one of them had been playing WoW, and was having a great time. This really got my itch to play again going into overdrive, as he talked about the different parts of the game he was enjoying, and how he really would like some friends to come play with him on his server. But what really pushed me over the edge was this: He wasn’t actually playing “World of Warcraft”. He was playing a heavily-modified version of the game, on a private server (no, I won’t mention which one).

Well, I asked him a bit about this, and ended up giving the service a try. It was free, after all, so what was the harm in downloading the client, right?

I got about ten minutes into making my new Tauren (because I always play at least one Tauren), and stopped cold. Why? Because there’s one factor to this service that I simply could not abide, and that was their server selections. When I first went to choose a server, the client listed that there were servers of each type, Normal, RP, PvP, and RP-PvP. But when I marked that I wanted to play on an RP server, I was only allowed to play PvP.

Because every server they have – and they have several – are PvP.

I don’t play on PvP servers.

Once I had that first disappointment, the realization that – private server or not – this was still WoW. There were many, many reasons, built up over years, why I wasn’t playing WoW. That itch I had was simply nostalgia for a game that no longer existed, not even under WoW Classic, and nothing was going to bring it back.

So why was I sitting on a PvP-focused private server, then?

Well, after some reflection, I could see one good use for this private server: It made a great reminder as to why I didn’t play WoW. You see, this private server offered exactly what I left WoW for in the first place: Disappointment. Blizzard said they would provide a full, enriching MMORPG experience, then failed to do so, in favor of an endgame built around Raiding alone. Likewise, this private server stated they were offering servers of each style, giving us options in how we wanted to play… then only actually let you play on PvP servers.

Basically, the ol’ Bait & Switch.

In the end, I didn’t give this private server any money, so no real loss. In fact, I did gain something out of the very brief experience, in a reminder as to why I don’t play WoW anymore. It scratched that gnawing itch, which should keep it at bay for at least a while longer.

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