Calling RPG nerd friends...
So, before I "recruit" myself or Matt to a second account, I might as well ask here: Does anyone have a serious interest in playing World of Warcraft but doesn't already have an account?
I'll buy you the original WoW software and three months of play time for the new account if you agree to sign up for it using my "Recruit a Friend" code. Although you don't need to do anything more than that (no strings attached), the whole reason I am asking here instead of just doing it for myself is because I sorta would prefer it go to someone who thinks they will have the time and interest to enjoy that account for more than just a short trial. So, the expectation is you will at least play for the three months you're given, otherwise I would have been better off giving it to Matt. It would be vastly cooler if someone thought they might get long-term use out of it, though.
I'll be candid about my selfish motivation: Blizzard's current "recruit a friend" promotion gives the recruiter a super awesome ridin' rocket and I am a whore and desperately want to pull a Peter Sellers a la Dr. Stranglelove one. That's why the suspiciously generous offer. So, I'm going to be buying the game and playtime anyway and if someone can have a good time as a result, awesome.
Also useful, if you do intend to play more than just a trial period, is that our two accounts will be "linked" for that three months in a way that will grant you three times normal experience points on your new character when you play with my account. So, if you so desired, you could roll on my server and I could make an alt to play with you so level faster. (obviously you don't have to do this if you have friends on another server but the triple XP is pretty sweet) There are some other added special abilities like an hourly teleport ability in case we are separated and you will also gain the ability to grany a lower-level character on my account one "free" level for every two you earn, so I can catch up level-wise if you play a lot when I'm not around. I did this with my father when he started playing and it was pretty sweet for the both of us. We were both able to level new toons really fast and then he used his level granting to bring up a second alt of mine to match our main two for more group flexibility.
Miscellaneous WoW details:
• It's very typical fantasy-style MMO with all the classic RPG classes and monsters, just with the warcraft storyline (if you played the RTS games, you're already more familiar with it than I am, but if you didn't, it won't be a disadvantage in the game). You can shoot fireballs at demons or slay dragons with your sword, blah blah blah. There are 8 classic races, plus the the WoW-unique Tauren (cow people) and Draenei (cthulu-ish space goats - my fav!) and in the expansion coming later this year, we'll also get goblins and werewolves. All the races are divided into two warring factions that are enemies of each other. You get all the typical RPG classes and then some (there are 10 class options in total), although not every race can be every class.
• Despite the name, World of Warcraft is not very PvP (player verses player) oriented. It's strong point is PvE (player verses environment, ie, computer generated monsters and bad guys), so if you prefer fighting other players, another game might better suit you. That said, there are PvP servers, PvP battlegrounds (play games like capture the flag aganst the opposite faction or fight for resources), and a team arena system. I perfer PvE but find battlegrounds very fun (and good XP now).
• Learning curve for WoW is pretty smooth and gradual. It's easy to pick up the basics, especially if you have prior experience with RPG games. There are so many features that it's a little overwhelming but you can learn as you go because the design is very intuitive and you get lots of tools right out of the package (and there are hojillions of addons you can download if you want a feature that is not standard). This is just my personal opinion, but it's the best MMO of any I've played (and I pretty much trial them all), as far as depth, features and polish. Blizzard games are known for their quality and despite being such an enormous game, WoW is no different. There's a reason there are over 11million accounts worldwide.
• The game is very casual-friendly nowadays (hasn't always been the case). You don't need to feel obligated to play hours at a time or every day of the week to enjoy yourself. You can play just a couple times a week and have a good time and not feel frustrated at being left behind. Or you can play every night and still always have things to do. Note: I recommmended not trying WoW (or any MMO) out if you have an issue with addicition to that kind of thing because too many people end up letting their life get sucked in. All MMOs are designed to always have content available so if you can't stop until you've "finished," you'll never catch a break.
• Although killing monsters nets you XP, you will gain nearly all your experience points and gear through turning in quests (also dungeons & battlegrounds if you like those), so it is more engaging than just killing a hojillion bandits for hours to get XP. Most quests are simple soloable tasks with a basic story, like: kill X mobs (cut the heads off 10 bears for guy whose wife got eaten by bears) or kill 1 special mob ("go rescue my sister from the werewolve pack leader") or collection quests ("kill me some animals and collect their organs so I can make some kind of disgusting meat pie") or travel quests ("I am way too lazy to go over to that other continent to get my lucky rock, you do it instead"). They give you XP, gold and often a piece of gear as a reward. Some of the quest lines tell really, really great, memorable stories.
• The game is already two expansions in, and a third will be coming out at the end of this year. That means if you keep playing, you will want to buy them to get the extra levels (each one raises the level cap) and the new features and zones. These typically cost about $40 on initial release (and then get cheaper as time passes) but they only release one every year and a half or so, so it doesn't feel like you need to keep buying stuff constantly. You won't even need to buy them until you hit the level cap on the prior one, but I do recommend buying yourself Burning Crusade -- the first expansion -- right off the bat since it gives you more race, class and profession options, including my aforementioned favourite race, the tentacled Draenei. Each expansion gives us a TON of new stuff; new continents, races, classes, quests, features, etc, etc, so they are something to be excited about.
• There are also "free" content patches regularly, some of these nearly as hefty as the expansion packs. These give us tons of new features, abilities, and improve on existing ones. They also usually include new five man dungeons and a new raid instance. They're part of your subscription fee, no additional cost for the content.
• If you keep playing after the three months, the game is about $15 a month (cheaper if you pay annually or quarterly). Yes, another monthly bill, but upon reflection, that's about the price of a movie ticket, except it lasts more than a couple hours. The game is basically playable 24/7, except on Tuesday mornings when maintenance is done. Even if you only play a couple hours a week, it is a good cost:entertainment ratio.
• You don't need to have a brand new computer to play. This is not a FPS or a cutting-edge game. Although with each expansion, WoW's graphics get more advanced, you can typically put graphics on the lowest settting and do just fine even with older machines. However, you will experience some processor lag doing dungeons and in crowded cities if your machine is on the older side. I'd say if your machine is only a few years old and you have more than a gig of RAM, you'll be fine. You do need broadband (some people say they play with dialup but I can't image how much they actually "play"). There is a Windows and Mac client and Linux users can use Wine to play.
Miscellaneous Playing-With-Me details:
• If you do want to play with me, my availability is probably relevant: I play after work, usually between 5.30 and 11pm PST (not the whole time, but that's roughly when I'm available) on weeknights . However, I do raid on Monday, Tuesday, Friday from about 7.30 until 11pm PST so while I am online to chat and answer questions, I can't actually group with you during those specific raid hours. I do play occasionally on weekends, depending on my plans, so some flexibility there. I help run an "Intro to Raiding" raid on Sunday nights (6-7pm) with a friend, but it's super laid-back so I don't always go (as a bonus, if you hit 80 before the next expansion, you'll welcome to check it out).
• I play on two Role Playing servers, but that doesn't mean you have to actually role play (and most peope don't) so much as respect the rules of those who do. The social rules for the server are a little stricter and the community also self-moderates. Functionally, the main differences are that (1) you have to pick a character name that actually sounds like a name and not, like making your warrior named "Zomgillkillyou" and (2) public chat venues are supposed to be "in character" which means no obnoxious chat speak or saying stuff like "brb my wife is yelling at me to take out the trash" out loud in cities. I mean, you can, it's just discourged; the point is not to break people's immersion. If you do like role playing out storylines with your characters, there are guilds devoted to this purpose.
• I raid on my Alliance server, so that's where I am most, so you'd have to pick an alliance race (human, dwarf, gnome, night elf, draenei). I do have Horde toons on another server and although I very much like them, I do not play there very often since it's cut off from my raiding buddies, income and other advantages, so you won't run into me as much if you roll Horde. Both servers are PvE which means you can "flag up" to fight other people but it's optional, and high levels can't come along and kill you as you quest, unless you do something to them first.
• Alliance-side, I run my own guild full of close raiding buddies and my real family, and you are welcome to join to have non-strangers to talk to and request help, as well as access to some low-level crafting materials from our guild bank. Most in my guild raid, but we are not a raiding guild; we raid with The MCAlliance, a raiding coalition on my server. Help is just a /G away.
And I'm happy to answer any other questions if you're seriously might be interested.
AND HEY IF NO ONE IS INTERESTED I WILL JUST GET MATT A SECOND ACCOUNT.
I'll buy you the original WoW software and three months of play time for the new account if you agree to sign up for it using my "Recruit a Friend" code. Although you don't need to do anything more than that (no strings attached), the whole reason I am asking here instead of just doing it for myself is because I sorta would prefer it go to someone who thinks they will have the time and interest to enjoy that account for more than just a short trial. So, the expectation is you will at least play for the three months you're given, otherwise I would have been better off giving it to Matt. It would be vastly cooler if someone thought they might get long-term use out of it, though.
I'll be candid about my selfish motivation: Blizzard's current "recruit a friend" promotion gives the recruiter a super awesome ridin' rocket and I am a whore and desperately want to pull a Peter Sellers a la Dr. Stranglelove one. That's why the suspiciously generous offer. So, I'm going to be buying the game and playtime anyway and if someone can have a good time as a result, awesome.
Also useful, if you do intend to play more than just a trial period, is that our two accounts will be "linked" for that three months in a way that will grant you three times normal experience points on your new character when you play with my account. So, if you so desired, you could roll on my server and I could make an alt to play with you so level faster. (obviously you don't have to do this if you have friends on another server but the triple XP is pretty sweet) There are some other added special abilities like an hourly teleport ability in case we are separated and you will also gain the ability to grany a lower-level character on my account one "free" level for every two you earn, so I can catch up level-wise if you play a lot when I'm not around. I did this with my father when he started playing and it was pretty sweet for the both of us. We were both able to level new toons really fast and then he used his level granting to bring up a second alt of mine to match our main two for more group flexibility.
Miscellaneous WoW details:
• It's very typical fantasy-style MMO with all the classic RPG classes and monsters, just with the warcraft storyline (if you played the RTS games, you're already more familiar with it than I am, but if you didn't, it won't be a disadvantage in the game). You can shoot fireballs at demons or slay dragons with your sword, blah blah blah. There are 8 classic races, plus the the WoW-unique Tauren (cow people) and Draenei (cthulu-ish space goats - my fav!) and in the expansion coming later this year, we'll also get goblins and werewolves. All the races are divided into two warring factions that are enemies of each other. You get all the typical RPG classes and then some (there are 10 class options in total), although not every race can be every class.
• Despite the name, World of Warcraft is not very PvP (player verses player) oriented. It's strong point is PvE (player verses environment, ie, computer generated monsters and bad guys), so if you prefer fighting other players, another game might better suit you. That said, there are PvP servers, PvP battlegrounds (play games like capture the flag aganst the opposite faction or fight for resources), and a team arena system. I perfer PvE but find battlegrounds very fun (and good XP now).
• Learning curve for WoW is pretty smooth and gradual. It's easy to pick up the basics, especially if you have prior experience with RPG games. There are so many features that it's a little overwhelming but you can learn as you go because the design is very intuitive and you get lots of tools right out of the package (and there are hojillions of addons you can download if you want a feature that is not standard). This is just my personal opinion, but it's the best MMO of any I've played (and I pretty much trial them all), as far as depth, features and polish. Blizzard games are known for their quality and despite being such an enormous game, WoW is no different. There's a reason there are over 11million accounts worldwide.
• The game is very casual-friendly nowadays (hasn't always been the case). You don't need to feel obligated to play hours at a time or every day of the week to enjoy yourself. You can play just a couple times a week and have a good time and not feel frustrated at being left behind. Or you can play every night and still always have things to do. Note: I recommmended not trying WoW (or any MMO) out if you have an issue with addicition to that kind of thing because too many people end up letting their life get sucked in. All MMOs are designed to always have content available so if you can't stop until you've "finished," you'll never catch a break.
• Although killing monsters nets you XP, you will gain nearly all your experience points and gear through turning in quests (also dungeons & battlegrounds if you like those), so it is more engaging than just killing a hojillion bandits for hours to get XP. Most quests are simple soloable tasks with a basic story, like: kill X mobs (cut the heads off 10 bears for guy whose wife got eaten by bears) or kill 1 special mob ("go rescue my sister from the werewolve pack leader") or collection quests ("kill me some animals and collect their organs so I can make some kind of disgusting meat pie") or travel quests ("I am way too lazy to go over to that other continent to get my lucky rock, you do it instead"). They give you XP, gold and often a piece of gear as a reward. Some of the quest lines tell really, really great, memorable stories.
• The game is already two expansions in, and a third will be coming out at the end of this year. That means if you keep playing, you will want to buy them to get the extra levels (each one raises the level cap) and the new features and zones. These typically cost about $40 on initial release (and then get cheaper as time passes) but they only release one every year and a half or so, so it doesn't feel like you need to keep buying stuff constantly. You won't even need to buy them until you hit the level cap on the prior one, but I do recommend buying yourself Burning Crusade -- the first expansion -- right off the bat since it gives you more race, class and profession options, including my aforementioned favourite race, the tentacled Draenei. Each expansion gives us a TON of new stuff; new continents, races, classes, quests, features, etc, etc, so they are something to be excited about.
• There are also "free" content patches regularly, some of these nearly as hefty as the expansion packs. These give us tons of new features, abilities, and improve on existing ones. They also usually include new five man dungeons and a new raid instance. They're part of your subscription fee, no additional cost for the content.
• If you keep playing after the three months, the game is about $15 a month (cheaper if you pay annually or quarterly). Yes, another monthly bill, but upon reflection, that's about the price of a movie ticket, except it lasts more than a couple hours. The game is basically playable 24/7, except on Tuesday mornings when maintenance is done. Even if you only play a couple hours a week, it is a good cost:entertainment ratio.
• You don't need to have a brand new computer to play. This is not a FPS or a cutting-edge game. Although with each expansion, WoW's graphics get more advanced, you can typically put graphics on the lowest settting and do just fine even with older machines. However, you will experience some processor lag doing dungeons and in crowded cities if your machine is on the older side. I'd say if your machine is only a few years old and you have more than a gig of RAM, you'll be fine. You do need broadband (some people say they play with dialup but I can't image how much they actually "play"). There is a Windows and Mac client and Linux users can use Wine to play.
Miscellaneous Playing-With-Me details:
• If you do want to play with me, my availability is probably relevant: I play after work, usually between 5.30 and 11pm PST (not the whole time, but that's roughly when I'm available) on weeknights . However, I do raid on Monday, Tuesday, Friday from about 7.30 until 11pm PST so while I am online to chat and answer questions, I can't actually group with you during those specific raid hours. I do play occasionally on weekends, depending on my plans, so some flexibility there. I help run an "Intro to Raiding" raid on Sunday nights (6-7pm) with a friend, but it's super laid-back so I don't always go (as a bonus, if you hit 80 before the next expansion, you'll welcome to check it out).
• I play on two Role Playing servers, but that doesn't mean you have to actually role play (and most peope don't) so much as respect the rules of those who do. The social rules for the server are a little stricter and the community also self-moderates. Functionally, the main differences are that (1) you have to pick a character name that actually sounds like a name and not, like making your warrior named "Zomgillkillyou" and (2) public chat venues are supposed to be "in character" which means no obnoxious chat speak or saying stuff like "brb my wife is yelling at me to take out the trash" out loud in cities. I mean, you can, it's just discourged; the point is not to break people's immersion. If you do like role playing out storylines with your characters, there are guilds devoted to this purpose.
• I raid on my Alliance server, so that's where I am most, so you'd have to pick an alliance race (human, dwarf, gnome, night elf, draenei). I do have Horde toons on another server and although I very much like them, I do not play there very often since it's cut off from my raiding buddies, income and other advantages, so you won't run into me as much if you roll Horde. Both servers are PvE which means you can "flag up" to fight other people but it's optional, and high levels can't come along and kill you as you quest, unless you do something to them first.
• Alliance-side, I run my own guild full of close raiding buddies and my real family, and you are welcome to join to have non-strangers to talk to and request help, as well as access to some low-level crafting materials from our guild bank. Most in my guild raid, but we are not a raiding guild; we raid with The MCAlliance, a raiding coalition on my server. Help is just a /G away.
And I'm happy to answer any other questions if you're seriously might be interested.
AND HEY IF NO ONE IS INTERESTED I WILL JUST GET MATT A SECOND ACCOUNT.