Episode 407: Third Time’s the Charm

If you’re wondering where the podcast has been, it’s been in technical hell. Twice the podcast was recorded each week, and both times there were serious technical issues. This time, we’ve got it right, and even have Paul dropping by to discuss his new book, “Gaymers: the Difference a ‘Y’ Makes: How (and Why) to Make Video Games LGBT Players Care About“. Actually, it’s mostly dominated by a discussion of an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

Otherwise, the news items include:

The Question of the Week: “Who is your favorite superhero?”

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It’s been a year since my last addiction. I jumped into World of Warcraft a year after heavily playing Guild Wars (roughly 2005), I left WoW a year later due to boredom with leveling and grinding. There were so many other games I could get into that didn’t involve the time investment into this MMORPG.

Then, in 2007 I returned on the eve of Burning Crusade. Blizzard had me… they put out an expansion and drew me back in even though I never had a character (“toon”) that could leverage the powers of the new content. I had two characters at level forty four but most of my friends left for other adventures once I quit the game. I started over yet again, only now on a PvP server instead of the “too easy” PvE server everyone abandoned. This time I made it to level eighteen with one character and level twenty with another but I left not long after because of time issues and managing my life around other games (and my kids).

Here I stand now, a third attempt at World of Warcraft with little to no expectations but a small goal: be ready for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion due out later this year. If I can reach those goals I’ll have also conquered the Burning Crusade content I’ve never achieved. Not even three hours into gaming I’ve re-rolled another character which my distract from my goal.

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It’s tough playing an expansion when new updates have changed a few ways the system works. I’ve also had some troubles because most of my addons do not function in the Lich King beta. There are a few quests that have left people confused and screaming “how do I turn in the horse quest?” when the repeated response “press 1 to turn in quest!!”

Along with new terrain comes new questions and new solutions, many World of Warcraft gamers are used to the areas found in Azeroth and throughout much of Burning Crusades content. One of the fresh new experiences of an expansion is being able to play the game you love, but with new experiences not simply “more experience.”

It took me roughly fourty minutes to figure out how to get on my mount and ride off into the sunset. Because they’ve changed a bit about how the mount is placed in your inventory, instead being in the “pet” tab in your character profile; this new addition was a slight adjustment to my usual method of play.

Although information is growing on Lich King and its content you’ll find the general chat the best place to get answers as others have already experienced much of the introduction areas once or twice; some folks are on their third iteration of their best Death Knight.

Thus far, the introduction areas are a great way to exercise the powers of the Death Knight and best understand your abilities. You’ll find yourself gaining epic amounts of experience with ease, pushing 12,000 experience for a basic quest. When you’re at level 55, you’ll need a ton of experience to level up so the newbie areas tends to doll out tons of experience to give you a clue how the game mechanics.

Initially, you’ll probably be wondering what runes are, runic powers and what the talents the Death Knight holds under his/her black cape of doom.

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