WOW: Adventuring - Just for the Sake Of

Adventuring – purely for the sake of doing so, seems less prevalent in the World of Warcraft. I’m not sure why that it is. I just know that it is. The death penalty is no higher in WOW than any other MMO, so why do I rarely feel the need to explore?

In AC2 and EQ2 exploration was a normal part of my routine. With no other objective in mind, I would mount up and ride. Or jump into the sea and swim as far as I could go, and randomly visit small islands scattered throughout the world. You know that "something" is there and it was fun to see what that something might be.

I rarely do that in WOW. I visit places that I have an explicit need to for grinding, questing, harvesting, etc. Rarely will I take the time to visit a far off place just because. Why is that? Is Azeroth bigger in scale than Dereth and Norrath? Even in the heavily instance and restrictive world of Guild Wars I tried venturing off the beaten path to discover the unknown. No need to even mention EVE Online. Exploration is a given in that environment.

Only two reasons come to mind when I think about why I don’t do that in WOW. First is perhaps the PVP environment. It’s the only game where I’ve leveled on PVP servers. A corpse run because of ganking would likely take away the fun of exploring. It’s annoying enough when you need to be where you’re at, let alone, doing it over much of nothing. However, I’m thinking that the primary reason is that Azeroth is not a beautiful place. It’s pretty with amazing graphics, but it’s not the most scenic of games. I’ve seen some really cool things but nothing that’s taken my breath away. Nothing that I’ve felt I would have been less for not having seen.

The odd thing is that there are some very interesting details built into the WOW environment – iconic references, pieces of lore, threads of NPC lives, etc. I wish they would make some of them interactive. When I see an exotic looking tome lying around, I should be able to read it – discover some lore. I’d love to collect some of these inanimate items. They don’t need to possess any monetary value for them to worthy of collecting. Let’s have some game content that is there simply to serve as fantasy fluff. Ya know – a little role playing for this mammoth mmoRPG.

Comments

[Relmstein]

Adventuring in WoW can be rewarding but you really have to work at it. There are interesting spots in the game but they don't always look breathtaking.

Some of my favorite "hidden" spots include:

Hero's Tomb on the mountain near the Wailing Cavern.

The Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands.

Old Serakis's Lair underwater in Black Fathom Depths.

Relmstein.blogspot.com

[Kinless]

I've not adventured as much as I've gone on long "walkabouts".

Imagine the journey of two young Tauren Hunters, newly level 10's, as they headed out to Teldrassil, the heart of the Night Elf homeland, and capture two Owls for pets.

Or the trip of two level 1 Night Elves, off to quest in the human lands, running up to Northshire from Aldrassil.

My Orc once travelled from Hammerfell, down through the Wetlands, up into Dun Moragh and Loch Modan to get into the Badlands where he stopped at Kargath. From there he flew down to Grom'gol and caught the Zeppelin back home.

One of my favorite "mystery" zones is Azshara. My level 48 NE Hunter hasn't got there yet, my 60 Tauren Shaman did only a few quests there. But what a fascinating place with the Nagas, and spirits, and giants walking about. The Furbolg, the High Elves, the island where Duke Hydraxis holds his court, that little landing place where that plane is sitting. Azshara is a pretty amazing place to explore.

[Saylah]

I've run two Night Elves from Aldrassil to Goldshire to level. But as I was easy meat for any and all things that passed me by, I ran, hid and died. There wasn't anytime for casual exploring. LOL

I will have to take a second look at Azshara on my Priest who is now level 47. I poked my head in for an hour or so the other day, but there were far too many level 50+ Horde around for me to stay. I spent more time hiding behind columns and melding into trees than harvesting the herbs I'd come to get.

So after your two posts and thinking some more, I think the reason must be that I'm on PVP servers. I wouldnt worry so much about exploring areas with higher level mobs that I, but the opposing faction is the problem. And of course, by the time you're level 60, you're focused on upgrading your armor, weapons, attunements and the alike.

I have considered transferring a toon to PVE to see the difference but that would split dependant professions so at a minimu, 2 toons would have to be moved. The 6 month wait to move again if I dont like it makes me too scared to actually give it a try.

[Relmstein]

Also its good to be level 60 before exploring since a lot of gankers are basically cowards. They can't inspect you to find out how many epics you have so most people won't 1v1 anyone whose level is 60 unles they are a PvP class.

Always expect rogues/mages/priests and hunters to attack you if they are higher.

[Liber]

Playing on a PVE server allows you more freedom with the environment. And although i'm still in my 40's the feeling of being able to explore all the pre expansion world is great.

I have yet to venture to Azshara but am getting excited by what I hear!

Check out my WOW Blog at:

http://theliber.blogspot.com/

[Capn John]

I went exploring on my Dwarf Hunter when I was perhaps mid 20s and still very new to the game, but I play on a PvE server. I went through the Wetlands into the Arathi Highlands, on into Hillsbrad and all the way up to the Undercity. My goal was to map as much of the map as possible, but my problem was I didn't understand how the map worked. I'd pass through areas but not get everything because I wouldn't get close enough to "Farmer Brown's Farm" to "discover" it.

Now there's not many areas I haven't been to on my 60, but there's still a lot to discover in the World of Warcraft.