Since the content of today’s strip is actually centered on a subject of some contention, I figured it was time to pair up a Holkinsian post with its release. I realized I had more to say on the subject that was not delivered in a way guaranteed to earn me scorn from one of the two sides of the argument.
While I do not discount what must have surely been a lot of effort and coordination for Athene and his merry band to level his paladin ‘toon from 80 to 85 in a matter of five hours, the whole episode and “World First” nonsense smacks of something that I just can’t bring myself to really care about as a WoW enthusiast. All of the different factors surrounding the apparent achievement leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The 9 hour head start over US servers, the access to the beta, the complete lack of anything individualistic about the process… the game is not designed to be a race. If it was, there would be great care made to switch on all the servers universally. Additionally, the whole “For science!” motivation didn’t impress me. Maybe my cynicism is kicking in, but when I heard what the method was– tagging mobs and then having others finish them off– I tuned out. This method has been used forever. There were no deep revelations to be found that I could see. I will leave open the possibility that maybe I tuned out too early.
On the other hand, I will not descend into the argument about whether this is “cheating” or not — Blizzard says what they did is legal, that’s fine with me. I just think it misses the point of the whole thing. Sure, if that’s how you get your kicks in WoW, then have fun, it doesn’t effect me at all. Just don’t expect me to throw a ticker-tape parade for you (and no, I’m not saying that they do).
In the end, for me, it was much ado about nothing. There are guilds that race to 85 and race to destroy the raid content in under a week. I’m just thankful that the game isn’t designed primarily for them.
it is official
rushing game content ruins game experience
I agree completely! I can understand the appeal of seeing how fast and efficiently you can complete a task. But I’m glad Blizzard doesn’t design the content around guilds that take down all of the raid content within a week!
/agree
I agree that yes, WoW is not a race and although the accomplishments of many world-firsters are interesting I really just don’t care about them.
On the other hand, I think the entire second half of his youtube vid where he proposes to set the entire world of science on its ear just by way of thinking of some clever stuff and writing a book is extremely unlikely. Say what you will about the academic process, but there’s a reason why we do peer review. It’s possible that he’s an undiscovered einstein or feynmann. It’s far more likely he’s undiscovered for a reason.
I’m really slightly disappointed in the short time it takes to get to 85. I sort-of expected a bit more.
I still don’t understand the people that want 85 asap… I mean seriously, a lot of people in my guild who are already 85 never actually -completed- any of the zones. It’s not like it’s hard (Hell, the zones are a full story! It’s amusing the whole way!), for the sake of the Naaru I did Hyjal in one day… It’s not hard, doesn’t take long… But all these people I see that are already 85 haven’t done those cool ‘ending’ quests yet.
And that’s depressing.
I play to -play-. It’s not a job people.
I left the game a month before Cataclysm, having a gut instinct I would be disappointed. Before the launch I was occasionally tempted to come back. But the more I hear about how fast people blow through content, the less inclined I am to plunk down $40 for a week or less of time to 85 and a rapid sweep of the new 1-60, just so I can go back to Outland and Northrend..
In WOLK, I hit 80 in 3 weeks (not a record by any means but it was a guild first) and still had awhile to go before my main got bored. Now, I’m hearing a whole lot of “is that all there is?” and the game hasn’t even been out a week.
I really don’t feel the urge to come back, TBH.
I’ve had a pretty similar experience as Amaxe; couldn’t have said it better. Glad I’m not the only one…doesn’t seem like we’re missing much.
I believe that though, not important in the long run, leveling quickly has its own luster. The only issue I have is how with the release of ‘Ruby Sanctem’ the vast majority of eu guilds moaned and groaned because the US was getting the release first, so blizzard went out of their way to make sure it was released unilatterally, but with cataclysm eu gets a 9-hour headstart? how does that make any sense at all?
There’s a LOT to do this expac besides blow through the content in a couple hours. A friend and I RP-quested through Hyjal, making an already amazing zone better for us due to slowing down to actually read the quest text and consider the story. I’ll probably go back and do Vashj’ir as well.
I’ve been going back on my main to the low level zones to see the changes (and most of them are awesome, and feel epic even at low levels). I’ve been playing with Archaeology, and doing my cooking and fishing dailies in SW.
I also have end of the semester papers and finals to contend with, on top of a couple hours of work each day, and I like to sleep at some point.
I don’t feel a need to blow through the content and gear up instantly. There’s so much stuff to do, even with only 5 levels. I’m looking forward to seeing what they offer in the upcoming patches to continue these stories as well.
@ Amaxe and rawrkitty
Guys, although it does “seem” like the whole fun experience of the game is disappointing because of the “lack” of content, i would to inform you first of all the yes, 80-85 is indeed fast. The point though is that yes you can complete whole zones before hitting 85 and for me at least the time was just perfect. About the content, i am sure you both know that this game has never been a game where you can say that you don’t have anything to do. After all, only some of the top guilds per server in a game to 20million ppl have finished the content… i mean, it’s math. If you were members of a top world guild then yes, the game is disappointing. If not, come and enjoy it.
In case you actually do that because you don’t want to play anymore for personal reasons, the game sux and you should burn all your wow dvds and deleted your accounts.
” *booohooohooo* Why didn’t I get world first? *boooooooohooooooooohooooo* Well fuck them! I’m just gonna write about how stupid it is… yeah! It’s not… *sniff* it’s not like i care…. at all! *sniff*…*boohoooohoooo* ”
- You made me lol
This is the line of attack that makes me laugh the hardest, this idea that I’m jealous because I totally wanted some world first or something. The truth? I’m STILL level 84, and my guild is calling me a slowpoke. You know why? Because I’m too busy making a webcomic.
Good effort though, maybe better luck next time.
I disagree. People who are saying “levelling to 85 and raiding is all there is” are wrong. There are so many quests to do, stories to witness unfold, exploring to do. Amaxe mentions “A rapid sweep of 1-60″. Why would you go through that rapidly? I’ve been levelling a worgen and I have to say the new questing experiences are genuinely enjoyable.
Besides that, there’s the new archeology with a lot of backstory about the races we all know, the new worgen and goblins, flying in Azeroth. There are so many things besides the general rush to 85 and raid idea. People who rush to 85 imo play this game as a job, and not as a game.
It’s only because you lack any competitive nature whatsoever. This article screams butthurt.
The logistics behind achieving this are huge. His community shut down the area where he was leveling on every competitive server in Europe and he organized consumables etc.
If you wanted to get in beta but you didn’t you are seriously doing something wrong.
I was in beta, actually. And if you notice, I did acknowledge the logistics needed to pull it off, and laud them for their effort. Bully for them. The point though is that given all of the different circumstances, it’s more of a novelty than a victory from my perspective, that’s all.
I continue to be utterly amazed by how seriously you and others take this whole escapade.
Successful troll is successful..
On a side note.. I “rushed” to 85 (wasnt much of a rush, my friends made it two days before me) because I love to pvp. Not go out and gank lowbies or anything like that but to do BGs and Arena.
Anyways, awesome comic.. GG
It is just plain surprising how none of the comments says that people should do whatever they want to do and that none should deserve bitter criticism.
If I want to rush the content because I appreciate the feeling of being the FIRST ONE to discover a new boss or whatever, then why on earth should anyone else be affected.
If I get 85 in one day, in what sense does this affect someone taking its time? Leveling is the part I dislike THE MOST so why would I not rush this part?
Criticising people for doing something they like and which in no way is degrading the experience of other people can just be described as bitterness and jealousy. Seriously, get a f***ing brain people and stop bitching around for everything.
And BTW, Chris, EVERYTHING “can” be a race. If you missed something, competition is what thrills a lot of people nowadays, why being sarcastic about it? Its not a bad thing in itself!
All comments display some level of English and writing skills so I suppose you are not 12 year old kids whining without a reason. Yet the content doesnt change much. Im glad I stopped WoW to limit my interraction with such people as yourself.
(I was raiding hardcore until the last extension and I never gave a f*** about what people where thinking of my way of having fun. But I NEVER looked down on casuals or people that were taking their time to discover the game etc etc…)
Well, you missed the entire point of his world first didn’t you?
Jeez some people…
Brilliant comic, pointless discussion.
Yeahhhh I play more or less casually – and it IS a game, after all. That said, my husband has been frothing to get to 85 “asap” … here’s the funny. Without trying to grind or rush, my warrior just hit 84. His shammy? Still stuck halfway through 83 because he apparently can’t craft and quest at the same time
I was honestly kind of sick of hearing about “world first” and all within the first, oh, hour on my server (Terenas if you’re wondering). When you start seeing “Realm First!” messages scrolling like spam – for tradeskills! – and this is occurring 35 minutes after the expansion goes live…? Yeah, it lost its glamor REAL quick.
Great that this guy and his friends accomplished something they wanted so badly. I think the friends deserve 90% of the credit, and I’m now ready to forget them and go back to the interesting part of the game
I’m in no rush to get to lvl 85. There is a lot to see despite what some people are saying about ‘is that all there is?’. No, there’s a lot to do in those five new upper level zones and I got to 85 in beta before even finishing half the quests. If people want to rush to 85, then that is the prerogative, I do not intend to do that. I just feel I will get there when I get there. On the other hand, the fact that they are rushing to the end just makes me feel as if they have not experienced the game themselves.
But, if their ego is that they need to be realm/world first, go for it. I’d rather take my time and see the sights.
I think part of it — at least for me — is this frantic feeling of not wanting to fall behind. Many of my guildmates have reached 85 while I still slowly putter away at the low end of 83 and they’re gearing up in heroics and having to answer my questions about a quest I can’t figure out, etc, and for a brief, glimmering moment, early on December 7th, I was caught up.
But no, it’s not a race, and I don’t care at all about World First or Realm First or any of that nonsense. I just have to embrace that I’m a ridiculously slow leveler, which I did… back in Burning Crusade.
@Chris-
Don’t feel bad. I’m at lvl 81 on my Shaman. I am taking it slowly. I see no need to rush to 85. Plus, I also don’t know why people have to resort to the stupid attacks on those of us who would rather take the route that is more fun.
“Route that is more fun” To you maybe. This is the issue right here, to each person what is fun is simply subjective. Some people have more fun racing to 85 and getting to do end game content over and over again while others like to take it slow and level at a slow pace.
There’s nothing wrong with either of these playstyles, Blizzard themselves said they don’t mind it. With 12 million players you should expect many playstyles. Demeaning somebody for their rush to 85 or lack there of is simply childish. They pay to play as well, play in their own fashion. Their $15 a month is worth just as much as your $15 a month is, don’t try and act all uppity because they simply enjoy the game a different way.
World firsts are cool. There can be no denying that the developer’s of wow encourage challenges, competition and races. Achievements encourage it, feats of strength encourage it, server and community recognition encourage it and internet websites encourage it.
It may feel hollow and pointless to you (and to be honest to me as well) but much like the Highlander, there can be only one! I’d probably put this feat up in line with hotdog eating contests and child beauty pagaents. I don’t really understand the motivation, but at the end of the day if you can eat hotdogs faster than anyone else in the world…congrats to you.
Also, anybody who says the urge to not return isn’t there, it obviously is if you have researched into Cataclysm, visit WoW websites on a daily basis and respond to them. Come on, don’t kid yourself here.
While I have no interest in taking the race myself, I fully understand the people who do. Yes, the game has a lot of content to offer that those people racing skipped. However, this content is not going away when you reach lvl 85.
You can always go back, take your time to read the quests, enjoy the lore, watch the cut scenes, etc. You can even do that on multiple characters (most experienced wow players typically have at least 1 or more max level alts).
The thing I like about WoW is that everyone can have their fun in a different way.
I rushed game content.. and freaking loved it. cy@ space cowboys.
People play for different reasons. Some people like to raid. Some people like to show off. Some people like to experience the story. Some people like to PvP.
For people who want to raid, PvP, or show off, leveling as fast as possible is a reasonable path. You can’t do any of those things until you level to 85, so why drag it out?
For those people who aren’t in a rush, or are interested in the story, doing the quests and reading the content is worthwhile and fun. I enjoyed a lot of the quests myself.
It’s nobody’s place to tell other people how they should enjoy the game. However, I agree that there’s no point in getting too excited about Athene for doing it in 5 hours through mob tagging. If you want to do something to impress me, do something hard, not exploit through trivial content to do it fast.
“All there is”? How ridiculous. My guild is having a blast clearing the new heroics. It’s fun as hell.
I thought the webcomic was pretty hilarious. But in combination with this post it just shows a hint of jealousy. Obviously not centered around the fact that he leveled so quickly, but perhaps that he is actually getting some recognition.
I agree with you, what athene did is not amazing, or deserving of a parade in my eyes. The same way Paragon or whatever top guild got world first heroic Lich King 25 didn’t drastically change my life either. The fact is, the things that are worthy of front page news on mmo-champion are things that less than a fraction of a percent of the player base is going to be able to accomplish. Nothing in this game is “individualistic” in actuality. Would you rather a list be posted of all the players that achieved server first level 525 professions in the world? But wait, if they bought ore off the auction house then it wasn’t an individual effort.
Everyone makes this game what they want it to be and they find importance where they want to see it. A Gladiator to one person may mean as much as Jenkins to another. Athene played this smart. He has a project he probably wants/needs a lot of following on to get funds/support/whatever. He knew that a good majority of the 12 million subscribers would care about who the illusive “World First 85″ would be. He said it himself in the video, he hasn’t played WoW in a good while. He came back and made a video for the same reasons he always does, to stir people up and get attention. To that end, he succeeded. I used to watch some of his more serious videos back when he was being a paladouche and the guy is actually pretty smart.
He wasn’t expecting a parade from you. This happened almost a week ago. Most people, even those who cared, had forgotten about Athene and his for science tomfoolery days ago. But instead of letting it fade into the past you got irked that people actually cared about his meaningless accomplishment and… made a web comic to draw more attention to him? This is one of the best ticker-tape parades I’ve seen.
Fair play to Athene. He aimed to become the first person in the world to reach level 85 and he achieved his goal. I personally wouldn’t hold such ambitions as I derive my enjoyment in game through other means, but I can certainly see why he wanted to go for it.
I so understand why it bothers you that the EU had a lead time over the US. Athene had fewer players to compete against as a consequence. That’s not really his fault though. The US servers patch on a Tuesday where the EU patches on a Wednesday so the US will still hold the advantage for world first raid kills. With that said, the EU always seems to win the World First kills despite patching later! Riddle me that Batman!
Some people are so funny. As soon as Cataclysm came out, me and my girlfriend started doing refer-a-friend to see all the new content. We’ll level some toons, enjoy everything that blizzard spent time and effort crafting, then after a while check out the new level 80 stuff.
Why on earth you would want to rush through content after 11 months of killing Arthas is beyond me. Even if people do it to see if it can be done, it doesn’t affect your experience of the game. Let the guy have his 2 minutes in the sun. The only time it gets annoying is when people do it, then COMPLAIN that there isn’t enough content, at which point I’d rather slap them in the face, because that fact obviously isn’t true at all.
Just a comment on some misinterpretations.
I wouldn’t want to rush through the content. However, it seems the content is kind of short and what I liked about my first time through LK was the loving the story. I didn’t rush to 80 to be 80. I got there in three weeks because the story in the quests kept having me say “what happens next?”
Once I finally finished the non-Instance part of Icecrown, (and I had been 80 for awhile) that was when the “Is that all there is?” hit me.
I’m no raider. I like the lore and quests and story. However, from what I hear, it seems that people are hitting 60 fast, and hitting 85 fast.
To me that is a red flag. It means what I liked about WoW is going to be much less than I had hoped.
Aye. I watched realm firsts zip on buy as I leveled up and wondered what sort of energy that entailed, putting time and effort and gold into a profession, or getting there first. The only thing I wished for was two more starting areas to spread out some of the population. I felt like I was in line for the latest Harry Potter movie trying to quest.
WoW is only a race for those that like to race. I am such a player. When I was frantically rushing to lvl 84, I was pissed when I saw the server first message show up. This competition is what drives me to play. Of course, not everyone like this. Most of guildmates are taking their time with the game, and it’s not a race at all for them. That is cool.
However, WoW is first and foremost an MMO. Comparing Athene’s mob tagging to a marathon seems unfair because marathons aren’t co-operative in nature. I’d compare it more to a relay race. Maybe no one else is doing the relay together, but there is nothing preventing them from doing so. As such, any complaints about the Forscience team winning just looks like QQ.
Also, I’m 90% sure that the whole science literature thing is just a troll to hype up their upcoming Cata mockumentary.
World firsts are abit meh to me. No one except the person who got them wll remember in a week anyway.
Thats what makes the game fun for me. Do whats fun for you and don’t worry about the haters.
Everyone plays for different reasons and if that was your biggest goal then gratz but i wouldn’t put someone down for it (unless they ‘haha” ed the rest of ther server ofcourse). I collect mounts and pets as my side obsession and some ppl just don’t understand me either. But thats how i play
Race to 85? I hit 85 on my Troll Shaman in about a week. I work 50+ hours a week as an executive for a Fortune 100 Company…(I know…hard to believe…we really do exist…and not in the mythical Tauren Rogue way)…Been playing Blizzard games for as long as I can remember…at least 16 years since I first played Orcs and Humans.
That being said I’m sooo confused about this Race to 85 thing. Is there a new race I’m not getting? I thought Goblins and Worgen were the new races. Race to 85 must be a super secret race… Can someone explain the whole new “Race” thing…
Aye. I watched realm firsts zip on buy as I leveled up and wondered what sort of energy that entailed, putting time and effort and gold into a profession, or getting there first. The only thing I wished for was two more starting areas to spread out some of the population. I felt like I was in line for the latest Harry Potter movie trying to quest.
World firsts are abit meh to me. No one except the person who got them wll remember in a week anyway. Everyone plays for different reasons and if that was your biggest goal then gratz but i wouldn’t put someone down for it (unless they ‘haha” ed the rest of ther server ofcourse). I collect mounts and pets as my side obsession and some ppl just don’t understand me either. But thats how i play
Thats what makes the game fun for me. Do whats fun for you and don’t worry about the haters.
Just a comment on some misinterpretations. I wouldn’t want to rush through the content. However, it seems the content is kind of short and what I liked about my first time through LK was the loving the story. I didn’t rush to 80 to be 80. I got there in three weeks because the story in the quests kept having me say “what happens next?” Once I finally finished the non-Instance part of Icecrown, (and I had been 80 for awhile) that was when the “Is that all there is?” hit me. I’m no raider. I like the lore and quests and story. However, from what I hear, it seems that people are hitting 60 fast, and hitting 85 fast. To me that is a red flag. It means what I liked about WoW is going to be much less than I had hoped.
Aye. I watched realm firsts zip on buy as I leveled up and wondered what sort of energy that entailed, putting time and effort and gold into a profession, or getting there first. The only thing I wished for was two more starting areas to spread out some of the population. I felt like I was in line for the latest Harry Potter movie trying to quest.
Agreed. However keep in mind:
a) WoW end content is really good, it’s probably the area where the game shines the most. And to be able to do that, you need max level
b) Quests are still relatively dull. They improved them massively, especially the 80-85 quests are amazing, but there’s still a lot of dull or grindy quests, especially at the lower levels.
c) It helps when you stay relatively in line with the rest of the players. For example, you should have started raiding ToC when ToC was current, not started raiding ToC when ICC was current. You can of course “take it slow”, but don’t stray too far from the rest.
d) People will try everything that is doable and seems like a challenge. Speedruns/kills are very popular, across all games. There’s a speedrun through Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind at ~7 minutes. That’s insane, and the game was of course not designed at all for speeding through. Still, it’s a challenge to find such a short way, and it’s a legitimate way to impress other players and feel proud of yourself (an achievement is an achievement, no matter what).
e) I’d assume the majority of people don’t care about the “other” aspects of WoW other than end-game PvE and PvP content, plus getting better gear, money and profession skills. It’s kind of sad but true – not many people like questing, role-playing, trying some crazy achievements, collecting stuff, or other things like that. WoW has a huge feature set and almost limitless possibilities what you can do, but only the most prominent parts (end-game PvE/PvP) are getting attention.