World of Warcraft and I have had an on again-off again relationship for almost 3 years now. There are times when she gets really boring and I seek solace from my 360 every night, and other times where I can't help but staring into her beautiful face for hours at a time relishing every pixelly detail. The Wrath of the Lich King launch in November brought us back to a good part of our relationship, after months of stagnation (a few of which I even left her completely).
As much as I like doing end-game raids and instances with my guild, there is nothing quite like taking your first character through unknown areas and experiencing the quests and locales for the first time. My travel between 70 to 80 was pretty brutal in one sense because of my refusal to change Aziraphale from a healing spec to anything that does some sort of damage. However, this also gave me a good chance to spend time actually looking around the continent of Northrend, and I have to say Blizzard completely outdid themselves. Northrend is leaps beyond the zones of Outland, and quests were varied and interesting enough that I never really found myself getting bored.
The new Death Knight class is so awesome that I haven't played it for longer than 2 hours. The only reason I haven't invested more time into him is because I like to finish everything I possibly can with Azi before moving to another character. From what I've heard though, Death Knights have got a really cool starting zone and the quests that you go through before you enter into the regular world of Azeroth are supposed to be some of the best that Blizzard has done.
Quite possibly my favorite addition that Lich King has brought along is the much discussed phasing aspect, wherein things that you do actually have an affect on the world. The place where this is most obvious is the Icecrown zone, where I started off in a corner with only one safe place to land. As I quested along and helped the Argent Crusade (and later the Ebon Knights) gain ground, they set up new encampments and safehouses for me to enjoy. The only frustrating thing about this phasing is whenever you are trying to help someone else complete a quest beyond where you've been, because if it is not within the same phase for both of you, you won't be able to see them or the mob that they are attacking. It makes sense to be that way, because your character has not helped the factions advance that far within the zone, so you shouldn't be able to see it, but it would be nice if while grouped with someone like that, the game could help out a little.
The other super awesomeness of Lich King is the focus on story. In Burning Crusade and the original WoW, I rarely paid attention to quests and where they were leading me, but there is something about Arthas and his story (perhaps it's because Warcraft 3 was my first introduction to the world) that got me interested in the things I was doing around Northrend. Plus, there are those times that you get to run into Arthas and see the effect that your quests have had on his plans (normally very little).
Now for the downside. Just like before, Lich King can become boring. I'm already level 80 and the guild is raiding, but as nice as that is, I don't know how long I can keep doing it. It's cool getting better gear and learning how to become better at fighting through different bosses and raids, but with the 360 in the same room now, it's becoming harder and harder to say no to a game of Left 4 Dead or putting some time into Fallout 3.
I will say that the unequivocal best (and worst) part of WoW is the people. If it wasn't for my guild and friends around it, I wouldn't be playing. And as for you Horde who like to come up and kill me when I'm in the middle of combat and then camp me... screw you.
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