I started playing World of Warcraft in the original open beta, and bought a retail copy on the day it was released. At the time, I was, as they say, a complete nub. I had played some MUDs (multi-user dungeons, the text-based precursors to today's massively-multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs) in high school, but hadn't ever tried Everquest or any of its previous competitors. I had no idea what a raid group was, and lacked even a rudimentary understanding of the concept of "threat," which is so crucial to group play. I've gone from there to being a fairly experienced raider (my guild is currently 11/12 in ICC25 and 8/12 ICC10H). I've played in a number of different guilds of very different kinds, including, for most of The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, a fairly casual guild in which I was a raid leader and a significant force pushing us to actually raid successfully. In that capacity, I have a lot of experience writing up explanations of non-obvious game mechanics for inexperienced raiders.
And let's face it, there are a lot of non-obvious game mechanics in World of Warcraft. Many people have the time and inclination to dig into the existing research on how the game works (there's quite a lot, if you know where to look), but I'm sure vastly many more do not. The intent of this blog, then, is to continue more publicly the sort of service I've often provided to guild mates, of trying to explain game mechanics in a way that's accessible to people who aren't already steeped in the theory. Some of my posts will probably (perhaps unintentionally) assume a certain amount of familiarity with various game concepts, but I want also to try to keep in mind as a hypothetical audience the sort of player I was when I started playing WoW. To that end, I might end up writing explanations of concepts that will seem to many readers too obvious for words. I hope you don't feel I'm insulting your intelligence; assume they are for someone else.
I also plan on doing a bit of writing about game design choices and the reactions of the player community to them. For example, I have in mind a series of posts about Blizzard's intention to make 10 and 25-player raids share a weekly lockout in the Cataclysm expansion. These posts will be devoted less to pure information and more to analysis and criticism.
I hope in the end this blog becomes a useful repository of information about World of Warcraft. Speaking for myself, I know that understanding the mechanics behind the scenes has made me a significantly better player. Perhaps some others will find my way of thinking about things to be helpful, too.
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