MMO Gaming

This the third of five WoW Insider interviews comes from Elizabeth Wachowski. I take it that Elizabeth is a pretty rare breed, the physically female WoW player (not all those female elves running around that are actually guys, that’s another story though). Thanks to Elizabeth for taking the time to answer my questions, but let’s not hold things up any longer with idle chit-chat. To the interview!

1. What game(s) (aside from WoW) are you currently playing?
Right now, I’m playing Final Fantasy 12 and Kingdom Hearts II, but I’m taking a break to enjoy Burning Crusade and maybe replay the Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance series. I was a hardcore console player before I got into WoW.

2. As a player of World of Warcraft do you think the success Blizzard has enjoyed is good or bad for MMOs in general?
I can see both sides. On one hand, WoW has really gotten a lot of people into MMOs that may not have played them before. On the other hand, it’ll be difficult for new games to measure up to WoW’s success. I suppose it’s been good on the whole, just because its popularity has made playing MMOs seem like a more mainstream thing, instead of a geeky subculture.

3. With the expansion just released what are your initial thoughts? What is your favorite addition so far? Least favorite?
I really like the expansion so far, although I wish I had more levels before I hit the 70 cap again so I could thoroughly explore all the new places. My favorite new thing is probably the Consortium and the Netherstorm domes, which I think are a neat addition to the WoW environment. My least favorite thing is the Aldor/Scryer choice – something about it just rubs me the wrong way.
(Ed. I thought I was the only one who hated choosing Aldor or Scryer, it reminded me of that god-forsaken quest in Desolace (which in itself is a god-forsaken zone) where you have to choose which centaurs to befriend, only with better rewards)

4. Which unfinished quest line would you be most interested in seeing completed (King of Stormwind quest line or Uldum quest line for instance)?
I’d like to see what Malfurion’s really been doing in the Emerald Dream for so long, but I guess they’ll fix that in an expansion. Since I’m Horde-side, I can’t think of many big uncompleted quests, lore-wise.

5. What is your biggest problem with WoW and how would you fix it?
I find the biggest problem with WoW, at least before Burning Crusade, was the total lack of character progression outside of hardcore PVP and raiding. I’ve raided up through Naxx, but it would really be nice to have ways to advance my character solo or in small groups, as well as see new content. As a rogue, it’s tough for me to find a guild that needs rogues without obscene attendance requirements.

6. The launch of World of Warcraft in ‘04 was riddled with problems, did you feel that Blizzard learned from that with the Burning Crusade launch? What problems, if any, did you run into on launch day?
Launch DAY was fine. The night after launch, my server – Magtheridon – kept going down every few minutes, and did it pretty consistently during primetime for the next few days. There’s still a lot of lag. I would say Blizzard has done more when it comes to finishing and polishing content, but still wasn’t entirely prepared for the server overload.

7. What is your favorite quest/instance/zone in the game?
Favorite quest is probably any of the really massive ones, like the AQ gate opening quest. Although I never finished one, it looked ridiculously awesome. I suppose the favorite one I’ve done has been the Linken quest, because I like Zelda references. My favorite instance is Blackwing Lair – just the right ratio of trash to boss fights. My favorite zone is probably Nagrand, simply because it’s the most beautiful.

8. There are a huge number of UI modifications available. What mods, if any, do you use? Also, how do you feel about Blizzard taking functionality from some mods and implementing it in the basic UI?
I use … let’s see … Titan Panel, La Vendetta Boss Mods, Slicer (a rogue slice and dice timer), PoisonPouch, KLH Threatmeter, SWStats, ItemRack, HitsMode, Atlas and AtlasLoot, CCWatch, Poisonmaster, and TheoryCraft 2. I also used Gatherer and Auctioneer before they became outdated. My favorite mod is definitely Jubei’s AEP, which applies the AEP formula some rogues use to figure out gear to anything that’s linked in chat. It’s an easy way to compare gear with divergent statistics, I don’t really have an opinion on Blizzard’s functionality thing, although I wish I could use Gatherer again.

9. What is your fondest WoW memory?
This is a long and slightly embarrassing one. In August of 2005, I was about level 38 and becoming frustrated with my guild. One night I went on a pug Scarlet Monastery run with a very nice warrior, who afterwards invited me to come to RFD. When I went up to RFD, I was greeted by three level 60s from his guild who came out just to help us run through – a warrior, a warlock and a hunter. I was impressed by this, and joined his guild shortly after.

A couple months later, I had hit 60 and had been promoted to a junior officer in the guild, although I was still terrified of the warlock, who was the guild master. One night the warlock and I were in a Scholo group, and he laid down – he was an undead – and started singing “Rest in Peace� from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical. I thought that was pretty awesome and we started talking, first about guild stuff and then about other things. We kept talking as we began raiding, and when the guild broke up, we still kept in contact. I went to visit him a few months later and ended up liking the area so much that I moved here, and the guild master is now my boyfriend. Yeah, yeah, geeky, I know. At least I never got free loot!

10. Now, the most important question of all; Horde or Alliance?
Horde, of course.

Final Comments: Thanks for providing us with the opportunity to do this interview, and I hope you keep reading WOW Insider!

Once again thank you to Elizabeth for answering the questions, even if she did get number 10 wrong

Blizzard, World of warcraft, burning crusade, WoW Insider, Elizabeth Wachowski, interview