World of Warcraft Community Magazine Issue 11 | Page 58

ARTICLE

58 // World of Warcraft Community Magazine

out there, and will work to find

The problem extends to an idea

care about the game in different

that one. Practicality and efficiency

I feel permeates the community:

amounts and more between people

are the names of zir games.

that the game does not ‘begin’

who find different aspects of the

until max level. No one enjoys

game enjoyable. Certainly there

effortless grinding, but to ignore

are those who most enjoy WoW

I think one of these profiles

the large facet of the game that is

for its lore and the opportunity

dominates the WoW metagame.

leveling feels disingenuous. This

to inhabit a new character’s

That being Spike. Personally, I align

issue is strongly correlated with

body for a spell; they deserve

myself as a Jenny-Timmy, so it

the ever-present conflict between

as much opportunity to do so.

can be disheartening to hear how

the ‘hardcore’ players and the

certain encounters can be ‘solved,’

‘casuals;’ the former having had

The point I am trying to make is

more or less, with exact placements

multiple 100’s since January, the

that there is a section of players who

and phases mapped out by mods.

latter begging for nerfs as soon as

advocate loudly for Blizzard to create

This is, admittedly, partly due to

raids debut -- or so it might seem.

content tailored to their preferred

Earlier, I had mentioned that

play style, and that the game needs

the nature of the beast: WoW is a
much more mechanical game than

In reality, I argue that the

MTG; each encounter is essentially

distinction between ‘hardcore’ and

a series of inputs and outputs.

to be built to suit the desires of a
much more diverse population.

‘casual’ is less between people who
Think about what type of player
you are -- Jenny, Timmy or Spike -and think about upcoming changes
to the game that might lead you
to consider next patch’s notes in
a different light. Yes, a given nerf
or buff might seem perplexing,
unnecessary, or even regressive to
you -- but how might it affect the
play experience for someone else?
World of Warcraft and Magic: The
Gathering are intensely different
games, yet their players are not all
that different. People go to games
for individual reasons, whether it
be to prove that they are the best

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