What WoW is Missing

[Avada Kedavra]

OK, First let me say that I love playing WoW. I have for a while and will for a long time. This is not a hate thread.

ok, I have 9 90's currently, all but hunter(46) and DK(Horde 85). I was leveling my hunter and had a epiphany. I was at level running through Duskwood and realized something that had not happened in a very long time. I felt immersed. Humor me, If you havent, please go to duskwood and run through it on a ground mount and you will see what I am saying. There was a sense of mystery, danger, the trees covered the top so I could not see the sky. Its that totally surrounded feeling that I do not get at max level.

Flying mounts have sealed the fate of this I fear, but It was worth noting that moment.

Am I right or insane. thoughts?

[Killadrix]

OK, First let me say that I love playing WoW. I have for a while and will for a long time. This is not a hate thread.

ok, I have 9 90's currently, all but hunter(46) and DK(Horde 85). I was leveling my hunter and had a epiphany. I was at level running through Duskwood and realized something that had not happened in a very long time. I felt immersed. Humor me, If you havent, please go to duskwood and run through it on a ground mount and you will see what I am saying. There was a sense of mystery, danger, the trees covered the top so I could not see the sky. Its that totally surrounded feeling that I do not get at max level.

Flying mounts have sealed the fate of this I fear, but It was worth noting that moment.

Am I right or insane. thoughts?

I suppose you could just not use your Flying Mount if you feel it is impacting your immersion.

[Gimlix]

MMORPG's never have the thing called fear.
WoW isn't made to be scary, and it will probably never be.

[Deleted]

OK, First let me say that I love playing WoW. I have for a while and will for a long time. This is not a hate thread.

ok, I have 9 90's currently, all but hunter(46) and DK(Horde 85). I was leveling my hunter and had a epiphany. I was at level running through Duskwood and realized something that had not happened in a very long time. I felt immersed. Humor me, If you havent, please go to duskwood and run through it on a ground mount and you will see what I am saying. There was a sense of mystery, danger, the trees covered the top so I could not see the sky. Its that totally surrounded feeling that I do not get at max level.

Flying mounts have sealed the fate of this I fear, but It was worth noting that moment.

Am I right or insane. thoughts?

I agree with you, i one time leveled a char without using my flying mount, and i gotta say it brought both good and bad memories back. Its worth doing *nods*

[Allatar]

I suppose you could just not use your Flying Mount if you feel it is impacting your immersion.

Please don't spoil yet another 'flying mounts destroyed the game' thread by attempting to apply logic and well-thought argument. That'll never work.

[Darsithis]

I do enjoy both leveling through Duskwood and other gloomy, scary places on a ground mount and leveling through Pandaria on a ground mount, knowing that I can't avoid things. That I have to be smart about what I pull.

[Mosotti]

One day I was flying over Duskwood. It was dark, the impenetrable forest prevented me to see the hidden horrible dangers down there. I could feel them crawling, creeping around, waiting. For me. So I got the fucking hell outta there...

See what I did right there?

[Romeothecat]

I'd agree about needing more immersion. I think it could be fixed by giving us choices in how we do/complete quests, maybe blizz could do some dynamic events for zones, more intense weather in every zone is one that I think needs to happen(like the blood in the snow blizzard or valley of four winds thunderstorms)

A lot of times when i'm bored i'll hop on my rogue use my relic of argus to teleport me to a random location and then i'll only use my ground mount from then on. I'll explore the zone, do quests that I haven't done in that zone before, or do a dungeon if the zone has one. Sometimes you need to make your own fun.

I'd also agree about duskwood being one of the best immersion zones in game. It really is gloomy and tbh it is one of the only zones that really feels like a forest to me due to the tree line on the side of the road being so thick that you need to go into it to see what it hides. Whereas in Elywnn Forest the trees are very spread out and you can see for quite some distance.

[Avada Kedavra]

I'd agree about needing more immersion. I think it could be fixed by giving us choices in how we do/complete quests, maybe blizz could do some dynamic events for zones, more intense weather in every zone is one that I think needs to happen(like the blood in the snow blizzard or valley of four winds thunderstorms)

A lot of times when i'm bored i'll hop on my rogue use my relic of argus to teleport me to a random location and then i'll only use my ground mount from then on. I'll explore the zone, do quests that I haven't done in that zone before, or do a dungeon if the zone has one. Sometimes you need to make your own fun.

I'd also agree about duskwood being one of the best immersion zones in game. It really is gloomy and tbh it is one of the only zones that really feels like a forest to me due to the tree line on the side of the road being so thick that you need to go into it to see what it hides. Whereas in Elywnn Forest the trees are very spread out and you can see for quite some distance.

Weather is important. I think there is so much openness, it is hard to feel immersed. Dreaded Waste is a gloomy zone, but its very open.

[Darsithis]

I've always said immersion is on the player, not Blizzard. Immerse yourself. The tools are there. Turn off chats, zoom in on your character, read the quests, turn up the sound, and walk everywhere in zone.

Immersed.

[Valnoressa]

I've always said immersion is on the player, not Blizzard. Immerse yourself. The tools are there. Turn off chats, zoom in on your character, read the quests, turn up the sound, and walk everywhere in zone.

Immersed.

Pretty much this. Blizzard has set up the world for the player to be immersed but they can't force you into it. That's the job of the player or the right of the player to ignore it completely.

[Pull My Finger]

I don't know what it is with all this immersion talk. I don't find it difficult to get immersed in the game when I feel like it. But then again, I'm often shocked to see and hear how many other people play. They put on their Dubstep or Screamo Metal noise music on, crank up the Quest Helper, gab with people on Vent, mass-accept quests, mass-pull mobs, do their Facebook crap and what not simultaneously, and then they go to forums and complain how "WoW isn't immersive any more". I don't know.

[Zaqwert]

Trying to say "It's on the player" it such a cop out and is said to defend Blizzard from pretty much every bad decision they've ever made.

Believe it or not, the actual creator of the game has a huge say in how immersive it is! Shocking I know.

Part of being a good game developer is setting the parameters to keep the game healthy. Having a game with no parameters and then just wiping your hands and saying "Well, it's up to the players to create them!" is at best lazy and at worst a complete lie.

[XanderZone]

I like to explore and hang out in my favorite areas such as Dun Morogh, Loch Modan, Winterspring and Grizzly Hills. Doing so brings back many memories and gets me immersed. Way back when you could go to any zone your level and just start questing without feeling like you're "off the tracks". That's what breaks immersion for me these days, everything seems like its a track. Everyone does the same quests, and it's basically just a race to get to the next zone.

[Valnoressa]

Trying to say "It's on the player" it such a cop out and is said to defend Blizzard from pretty much every bad decision they've ever made.

Believe it or not, the actual creator of the game has a huge say in how immersive it is! Shocking I know.

Part of being a good game developer is setting the parameters to keep the game healthy. Having a game with no parameters and then just wiping your hands and saying "Well, it's up to the players to create them!" is at best lazy and at worst a complete lie.

But it really is on the player. They can't force us into immersion, only point us in the right direction. That's not to say they couldn't do more to give players a shove towards it but that shove needs to hard enough to show that they care about immersing players but light enough to not feel like they're forcing players into it.

A hard thing to balance.

[Pull My Finger]

Trying to say "It's on the player" it such a cop out and is said to defend Blizzard from pretty much every bad decision they've ever made.

Believe it or not, the actual creator of the game has a huge say in how immersive it is! Shocking I know.

Part of being a good game developer is setting the parameters to keep the game healthy. Having a game with no parameters and then just wiping your hands and saying "Well, it's up to the players to create them!" is at best lazy and at worst a complete lie.

That doesn't sound like more than cheap talk either if you don't specify those "parameters" you're thinking of.

[Vigilant]

I've always said immersion is on the player, not Blizzard. Immerse yourself. The tools are there. Turn off chats, zoom in on your character, read the quests, turn up the sound, and walk everywhere in zone.

Immersed.

In theory, I agree. However, it seems like tons of players start playing the game and then become disinterested and leave, without ever knowing that a lack of immersion is what fueled their disinterest. In that respect, I think it's on Blizzard to "force" a certain level of immersion on players.

[Deleted]

I am an RPer that play on an RP server. I can feel immersed while flying over Westfall on a red disc, while listening to k-pop. It's all about your mentality, tbh.

[Avada Kedavra]

I am an RPer that play on an RP server. I can feel immersed while flying over Westfall on a red disc, while listening to k-pop. It's all about your mentality, tbh.

I can level with this. I agree that is is about state of mind, but not 100%. My example was in Duskwood on a ground mount, I felt immersed. Now fly 30 feet in the air - immersion gone. I think that is more environmental than state of mind. You are immersed in the sense you are surrounded by the "game".

Its a fine line between player choice and game design. IMO flying has degraded this, but you gain convenience. How do you balance convenience and gameplay.

[MoanaLisa]

I don't know what it is with all this immersion talk.

People apparently think it's reasonable to play the game for nearly 10 years and expect it to be as fresh and new as the first week they played it. People expect a lot of things. People are out-of-touch with reality.

Here's what I do when leveling:
- Remove myself entirely from a guild. No extra XP from that quarter and no random chit-chat to worry about.
- I don't use heirlooms ever.
- I read the quests, even now.
- I sometimes stop to chat to people I see and ask them if they want any help. +1 for CRZ.
- Always use a ground mount unless there's no other way to access the quest area (see Cataclysm zones for a few examples).
- If it's not really too far. I won't use even a ground mount. Running is good training.
- I don't take portals if there's another way to travel to the same place.
- Turn on the game music. Turn off everything else.
- I set my hearth to whatever zone I'm questing in when possible or nearest place feasible.
- I travel back to the main capital when bags are full. I rarely hearth there.
- As much as I can I maximise the adventure elements with regard to travel, exploration, sight-seeing.
- I don't rush.
- I don't use a questhelper any longer although they're really not needed now.
- I finish zones if I'm interested in the story lines. If I outlevel the zone, that's OK as long as I'm engaged with the story.
- I turn off my cell phone.
- For the most part, the only thing running on my PC is WoW. No browsers or anything else.
- As much as possible I disconnect from the real world entirely.
- New toons get a set of bags and 100 gold from my main. After that they're on their own.

And immersion/forgetting to check the clock is relatively easy even after seven or eight years. I also tend to find a 'home' place where I stash my character when not out on adventure. Darnassus is good but any place that you really like is fine. It's important to have a home base as it were. It really can be anywhere but the more exotic the better.

An RP element: Construct a minimal story for your character, who they are and why they're doing this. What are the goals. It doesn't need to be complicated or written down but just enough to know why your character exists in the world.

Then when you do play, try to set aside enough time to actually live in the game for a while.