Monday, November 24, 2008

Proud BC Baby greeting the Children of Wrath

I’m a proud BC Baby! I didn’t know I was until recently, when Starman of Casual Raid Leader wrote a post about the next generation to enter the game for the first time: Children of Wrath.
In his post Starman asks us: What things will the Children of Wrath never see? What aspects of the world will they miss? What aspects will have changed so dramatically that they have no concept of things we speak of? He gives us a few good examples and wants us to write posts and add some more.

Here are a few that came into my mind.

The Children of Wrath will…
  • never experience the frustration of clams from nagas invading all of your bag space unless you stick to a strict open-them-at-once-routine.
  • get all their achievements recorded from the beginning. They won’t have to do Dead Mines over again just to proof they were there.
  • probably never do the TBC instances in heroic mode unless they’re very addicted to achievements.
  • unlikely set their foot into Shattered Halls, Shadow Labs or the Tempest Keep ones, for the same reason as I never cared about doing Dire Maul. Northrend is waiting for them at 68.
  • be utterly spoiled when it comes to bagspace, considering that BG tokens, mounts and pets have been removed from it.
  • be more likely to collect pets and mounts since there’s no problem to host them.
  • have other expectations on how quick and easy levelling should be, considering how spoiled they get on their way to 70.
  • not suffer from the monotony of doing the same instance over and over again for reputation. They’ll just wear the right tabard and pick any instance they like.
  • become used to carry smaller stacks of arcane powder, if they’re mages, and not know what it’s like to empty your mana pool right before a pull just because you need to buff five raid groups.

Yes, they’ll become spoiled little kids, those newbies, won’t they? But I’m so happy they’re joining our ranks. I haven’t met them yet. I think, they’re probably still levelling, and since I, like many others, am more or less permanently stationed in Northrend these days, it’s unlikely that our paths will cross.

However, the very knowledge about their existence made me smile. Their arrival means that I’ve moved up a step, gaining a veteran rank! It’s the same thing as in school when you moved from 1st to 2nd grade. Suddenly there was someone else who knew even less than I did, who couldn’t find their way to nurse, cafeteria or school library, someone who sneaked along the walls, watching all the Big Kids in awe and fear.

Time has come when I’ve been around long enough to understand most of the code words thrown around by the other veteran players. When someone described one of the bosses in a Northrend instance I did like “a little bit like Leotheras”, I knew exactly what he meant. If I had been a Child of Wrath I wouldn’t have had a clue. It’s like I’m part of a secret society.

Of course there’s a lot of stuff that I’ve missed being a BC Baby. I’ve only seen the old raid instances in an overpowered rush-through-them-at-level-70-for-nostalgic-reasons-mode, not as the huge challenges they once were. I’ve never stepped into Molten Core. And there’s really no way to make up for it now. I’m still locked out from the Inner Circle.

But now at least there are some fresh newbies around who knows even less than I do.

Sweet little Children of Wrath – welcome to our world. And who knows, in a year or two it may be your turn to climb up one level on the ranking.

11 comments:

krizzlybear said...

I'll still keep large numbers of stacks. 3 dusts for a table? I'm either never going to a BG again, or will have a server-wide reputation for never making a table.

Anonymous said...

I was about 56 on my priest when TBC got relesed so im a BC child as well.

Dont know how many expantions they can take out but reading up on the lore could end up being 100-120 LOL.

For the record i used to love Shadow labs i was exalted with lower city before i was even 70 through doing Setheck halls to get the hallowed trousers haha.

Anonymous said...

Children of Wrath...hehe I am one of the lucky ones that have been addicted for almost 4 years../sigh

Congratz on gaining rank =P

Good read

Gevlon said...

The Children of Wrath will definitely have easier way. Maybe too easy for their own good.

While they will never have the trouble of instance-grinding or Alterac-grinding for gear just to enter a raid, they may also miss the triumph over a challenging boss.

I'm afraid it will be like:
- reaching lvl cap - checked
- getting crafted blues - checked
- beating Malygos - checked

I will miss Vashj.

Anonymous said...

@Gevlon - man I hope it isn't quite that easy. As much as I hated the grind from regular to heroic and from heroic to raiding, it was the journey that was fun.

If it's too easy to get to Malygos without struggling with wipes, long instances (anyone else think the dungeons are too short?), and all the other gearing up / learning problems, I don't think Wrath will be as enjoyable.

Anonymous said...

@Krizzlybear: what are you saying? Three for a table...? Hm. Haven't come that far, I just gained the skill of making pies for myself, which made me very happy.

@Esdras: yeah, I wonder how many generations there will be. Maybe two more? 100 seems like a nice and even number to end at, even though I don't like the thought of and end coming to Wow...

@WtfSpaghetti: Thanks!

@Gevlon: well, it remains to see. I think it's a little bit too early to judge the game as too easy from the achievements of a little click of elite players. I want to wait and see it with my own eyes. I'm really curious to see what the heroics will be like for a thing.

@Kyrilean: From one point of view I can agree about the instances being short, but when I think about it the advantages are bigger than the shortcomings. If you have a pugged group that sucks you'll get out of the pain and misery quicker without having to be rude and just leave. And if you have a glorious group, well there's nothing that stops you from running another instance. It surely becomes more flexible.

Pixelated Executioner said...

Welcome to veteran status, Larisa. ^_^

Anonymous said...

If you guys think / are worried about WotLK being too easy.

Check out this post -

http://mordiceius.com/2008/11/21/the-difficulty-of-raids-or-why-care-about-nihilumsk-gaming/

Its excellent at explaining what is going on. I have a link to it on my blog as well

cheers

Anonymous said...

Hey! This post just got mentioned on WoW Insider. Gratz, kiddo! Get ready for the influx of readers. Just ask Euripedes what that traffic increase is like. I'm still waiting for my moment of glory. But I think I'd be like the dog who chases the car. I wouldn't know what to do with it if I caught it. Again, gratz! I'm proud to be a member of the Mage Blogosphere with you. =)

Anonymous said...

@Devv: yeah I just noticed. That's nice. All honor goes to Starman though, I'm just a happy follower :)

Actually being mentioned at WoWinsider is fun but it won't make any difference in the long run. From earlier experiences I've seen it will give you a huge pike of visitors for one day, but hardly any of them will return again... Anyway - to all of you who drop by here because of that link - feel welcome to my inn, have a seat and relax. It may be a one-time-visit but you're still my guests and should be treated apropriately.

Funeral said...

The "code words" you're talking about are right on the money. I was doing Violet Hold the other night and someone in the group asked how it works. I said "It's like CoT BM"... he said "wut?". So I repeated, it's like Caverns of Time, Black Morass...opening the dark portal.

Still... clueless.