I’d always known that there were many different types of players in World of Warcraft. Just like Richard Bartle’s essay on player types in MUDs, this MMORPG allows many different types of players to find satisfaction. I don’t think it really sunk in until after I met a few of those who fall into other player types such as killer and socializer.

I hadn’t played a lot of WoW since my first group experience. I played briefly during a lunch break at work on Day 5, but then I ran out of time to play later. On Day 6, I had reached level 10, so I focused on completing quests relating to the acquisition of the druid’s bear form.

I focused on individual activities like shopping and simple quests for most of the day. I was a bit careless a couple of times, such as when I got killed in an instant by a mysterious character in charge of wind mounts on disputed land. I also underestimated the power of some annoying Harpys in the Oracle Glade and got myself killed twice.

By Day 7, I felt empowered again after completing some quests by myself. Then I made one of the stupidest newbie mistakes: I assumed that I could do anything alone if I set my mind to it. I thought that I could single-handedly sneak into the Gnarlpine Hold and kill a vicious Gnarlpine leader. I thought I could follow my tested technique of picking the gnarlpines off one by one, but it just doesn’t work when the gnarlpines are close together, as they were in the Hold. I died several times and finally decided to give up and go on another quest.

I went back to the Timberling area to complete a quest for the same guy who wanted the tumors. I had to kill a big monster, and there happened to be a group there already trying to kill it. They were several male night elves that didn’t seem to care about much except killing things. I helped one of them figure out where to find the tumors he needed (which were on the Timberlings). Then I got the whole group to come to the Gnarlpine Hold with me.

Most of the people in this group were of lower levels than I was (between 4 and 7). However, they seemed to want to kill practically any creature in the forest. I led the way (burned in my memory from all my trips to revive to my corpse). I led a successful attack into the hold and they helped me kill the nasty gnarlpine boss just before most of us died. (I ended up dying about five times just trying to get out of the Gnarlpine Hold and eventually got enough time to transport out.)

Even if I died multiple times, I was so happy to have had some help. I am no longer ignorant of the fact that some quests really do require other players in order to succeed. It was fun to fight with those guys because they seemed happy just to kill. Dying didn’t even create much of an obstacle for them. In World of Warcaft, dying won’t set you back – it’s more of an annoyance. I can take a lesson from my group today and not even get annoyed. After all, there is great pleasure to be had from simply killing.  

On Day 4 of my World of Warcraft trial I decided to return to my search for the Gnarlpines. I went back to the area with the Gnarlpine camps to complete another quest, and I was lucky enough to run into a level 11 human mage who invited me to be in her group of two. She was completing one of the same quests that I was doing, and she said that we could go find those Gnarlpine Ambushers, as they were on the way. I was thrilled.

After about 10 minutes, our group reconvened in town and set off on our quest. While it was odd to share experience and money gained from fighting monsters, battles were much more efficient. I no longer had to fear death if more than one monster attacked me at the same time.

We did have to make a stop for one of our group members to complete a quest with those nasty gnarlpines (not the ambushers), but it took just a few minutes with all of us fighting. Then we ran off on a quest for relics.

The cave that contained the relics happened to be off the road and past a bunch of Gnarlpine Ambushers. They were right off the road, but very much out of sight. There were a lot of them, so I was really glad that I had two people with me so I didn’t get trapped. The cave with the relics was also filled with Gnarlpines of all kinds. They were a bit of a challenge because of the sheer number of them, not to mention a fairly rapid re-spawn rate. I really couldn't have done it alone.

It was really nice to explore a cave with a group of people who helped me and waited for each person to get what they needed to complete quests. We all finished a couple of quests in that cave. Then it came time to look for an exit.

We ran around the maze-like cave, but those nasty gnarlpines kept slowing us down. We went the wrong way twice and then we lost the highest-level person in our group (the level 11 mage). At that point, the other group member and I fought together but got separated shortly afterwards. Then we both died.

At this point, I had little experience in revival, but I knew that I did not want to revive in a cave full of tough gnarlpines without my group. I decided to revive in the graveyard and accept the durability damage and ten-minute disabilities. My group member then informed me how you could find your corpse, revive, and transport back to your inn using the Hearthstone. I felt a little stupid then, but I learned a lot from that group.

Despite the fact that my group fell apart at the end, it was a great experience. I don’t know who those people were, but they were both very helpful and didn’t make fun of me for asking questions. In a game like World of Warcraft, half the conversations I see are people asking where to go and what to do. I like the fact that you can ask others for help, but I think I prefer strategy guides. I never know if I can trust someone (even those who mean well sometimes give bad directions) and I hate bothering people with stupid questions because I’m naïve.

Today’s experiences have opened my mind. I am cautious about joining groups, but I am willing to take a chance if there are people out there like those I met today. Perhaps MMORPGs are okay after all.  

After Day 1 of my World of Warcraft trial, I wasn’t that convinced that it was an epic, addictive masterpiece that had the potential to take over some peoples’ lives. On Day 2, I kept telling myself, "It’s not that fun. I don’t see why everyone’s so excited about it." Yet when I quit, I would keep thinking about it, and I found myself logging back in a couple of times throughout the day.

I ran to a different town in Day 2 for the first time. I had to consult a map online to make sure I wasn’t running into certain doom, but I was already headed in the right direction. I found more interesting tasks there such as filling phials at moonwells and killing more advanced monsters. There is something fun about running errands for people – tasks that ordinarily don’t receive much glory in RPGs are rewarded with the appreciation of NPCs, a higher local reputation, and often money and/or an item.

One such quest involved obtaining tumors from monsters called Timberlings. It was a lot of fun because the Timberlings were very close to the quest giver and it was no trouble at all to help out a man who was trying to save the environment. The themes of environmentalism were part of the reason why I chose to be a night elf. I enjoy nature and have respect for it – another reason why I enjoyed Okami. Several Timberlings later, I had reached level 7 and quit for the day.

By Day 3, I had accepted a quest to kill Gnarlpine Ambushers, some beastly humanoids who were making the road to Darnassus unsafe (according to a pretty night elf who rode on a tiger). I searched far and wide for these beasts, but I could not find them anywhere. I asked around but no one seemed to know where they were. I went on other quests, but, by the end of the day, I still had not found those Gnarlpine Ambushers.

I asked a friend from the real world about the Gnarlplines. I was frustrated because I kept getting slowed down by other monsters when I went looking for the Gnarlpines. I found a few camps where there were many other types of Gnarlpines (Shamans, Warriors, etc.) but never any ambushers. My friend suggested that I try to group with some other players to make the fights end faster. I ruled out that possibility because I like to play games by myself without having to depend on other people or do their bidding. (This is one reason why I have avoided MMORPGs for so long – I don’t like to leave others in control of my destiny when I don’t even know who they are.)

I reached level 8 when I quit playing WoW today (Day 3), but I was extremely frustrated about my inability to locate those Gnarlpines. If this is how the game is going to be, I didn’t know how much I want to play. Perhaps it won’t be as addicting as I had feared.