I was watching season 2 of Mad Men this morning, and I wanted to play a game that wouldn’t require much of my attention, one where I could just let my fingers play while I watched TV. I found myself at WoW’s character selection screen before I really gave it any thought at all.
I followed the Quest Helper arrow, killed the stuff it told me to killed, looted any star-shrouded chests I came across, and honestly, I’m not sure I remember much about it at all. Stealth, distract, build combo points, finishing move, loot and move on.
Someone even asked me if I wanted to run Mana Tombs with them. I believe this is the first time in 67 levels I have ever been ASKED to join a group. Probably was asked because I happened to be questing in the zone. I declined because having to run an instance would ruin the perfect Zen vibe I was after.
I see and feel WoW’s power and attraction. And I don’t mean this in any negative way – I give Blizzard my $15/month just like everyone else, for exactly this reason. I LIKE being able to just sit down and play a game that won’t demand anything, not even my attention. Try that in most other MMOs, and I’d be making corpse runs or have huge repair bills. In WoW, you just go with the flow as little or as much as you like, and it doesn’t mean a thing.