Thursday, February 7, 2008

Would you quit WoW after a reset?

Shadowbane, a PvP-centric MMORPG that pretty much failed, is trying to get things into balance by doing a reset. All characters will be deleted, and everybody starts over fresh at level 1. Pretty radical stuff that. The interesting part of that is that it reveals a lot about the reasons why we play: If we play for the entertainment, a reset might not be so bad, especially if it is combined with some improvements to the game. If we play for the achievement, a reset is lethal, as it wipes out all of that achievement.

Imagine something really, really bad happened to World of Warcraft. Like during maintenance some technician accidentally destroys all character data including backup by copying empty files over them in the worst possible order. Or some bug randomly shuffles everyone's equipment, leaving level 1 n00bs in T6 epics and raiders holding a pointy stick, with no way to reverse it. Or some duping bug totally destroys the economy. And the only way to fix the mess would be to reset World of Warcraft, deleting all characters and having everyone restart at level 1. Would you quit WoW if that happens? Or would you rely on your guild forum being sufficient to find your friends back, and have fun starting over? Would that decision depend on Blizzard making improvements to the level 1-60 content?

If WoW would reset, and you would start over, what would you change? Would you move to a different server, for example from PvP to normal, or trying to find a server that is more populated or less populated. Would you change faction from Horde to Alliance or vice versa? Would you play the same class you are playing now, or try something completely different?

I think if WoW would reset I would keep playing. I'd discuss with my guild whether we wanted to change server or faction, but go with whatever they decide. But I would play a class I haven't played much, a druid maybe, or a warlock. Of course I would miss my current characters, but on the good side I would have the opportunity to visit the old world dungeons again with a proper group of friends. What about you?

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