Willenator Unscripted

Because Normal Is Overrated

Tag: World of Warcraft

  • The WOW Feels

    I mentioned two posts ago that I was feeling a bit left out with the current expansion of World of Warcraft (WOW), or maybe more that I was getting that itch to play again.

    Today, I’m just randomly going through some YouTube Shorts, and this video pops up:

    Short, sweet, and to the point. However, I started playing WOW when I was 25, so I definitely wasn’t a kid at the time, but this short got me a little emotional because it is right. I can’t go back to the first time I played WOW and the feeling I got of this massive world and me running around in it. I remember being super amazed at everything and feeling like it looked so good.

    I was introduced to WOW by a co-worker. At the time, I was working the graveyard shifts at convenience store in a town in Southeastern Idaho. I worked with two other people on a rotation. There were always two of us at night, and we would rotate on who would be there. Two nights on and one night off.

    The one that introduced me to the game was a guy named Tim. He loved video games. I hadn’t played a video game since high school. I had gone away from playing them and primarily did coding stuff because at the time, I liked tinkering with writing small scripts or programs to that could make a computer do stuff, and it fascianted me.

    Tim started talking about the game one night and how much work he put into it. I found it weird that you could get so much out of a game. I wasn’t a big fan of Warcraft because I remember a high school friend of mine would play Warcraft, and it never looked fun. So, I was thinking it was still the top-down looking style game, and when Tim said I should give World of Warcraft a try, I said that I wasn’t interested.

    A few months later, he invites me over to his how, and he shows me the game. I was blown away seeing him run around and basically doing whatever he wanted. That idea blew my mind. I decided to take him up on his offer. He purchased a copy of the game for me and gave me money to pay for my first month of gameplay.

    I was hooked pretty quick. He invited me into his guild. Introduced me to a bunch of people, and we played whenever we could since both of us worked at the same place, it was very common that we didn’t have a ton of time together. I moved on to another location within the company, but he and I kept in touch and we kept playing for a few more years as guildmates before I moved on to playing more with my brothers and cousins.

    I kept in Touch with Tim after that, and he would always reach out and see if I was going to play the next expansion that was coming out. Sadly, he passed away from a heart attack about 8 years ago. Losing one of my WOW buddies really hit me hard especially since he was my original WOW buddy. Every so often I will see something WOW related, and it will bring back those memories of playing with him again.

    That YouTube Short did just that. I know I’ll never be able to jump into the game again with him and run around doing silly stuff. It still hurts sometimes, but I am happy for the memories we created. WOW is a part of who I am even if I don’t play anymore. That doesn’t mean I won’t. I’ll probably jump back in when the newest expansion goes on sale because I always love the stories it tells, and I’ve invested a lot of time over the years to be a part of those stories.

    I wasn’t expecting to have the WOW feels today, but I did, and I wanted to share.

  • The World of Warcraft Addiction

    A World of Warcraft screenshot shows a player character named Lyrun standing on cracked, dry earth in the Barrens, accompanied by a small pet named Sparkles. The landscape is a warm orange savanna with sparse trees and distant hills under a sunset‑colored sky. The game interface displays Lyrun’s and Sparkles’ health bars in the top left, a minimap labeled “The Barrens” in the top right, and an active quest titled “The Demon Seed” marked as completed. The bottom of the screen shows action bar abilities, while the chat box contains a single message referencing “chuck norris.”

    I started playing World of Warcraft in late 2006. I was introduced to the game by a friend I made at work. He actually purchased the game for me and my first month of game time. I think I played almost daily for a few years and loved it. Found out I had family that played as well and ended up spending a lot of time in the game.

    I remember playing through the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. After that one, I think I’ve played off and on since. A lot of my family stopped playing, and some of the guilds I was a part of over the years disappeared leaving me to mainly play solo now, so I don’t really jump in like I used too. However, I still feel that pull to jump back in and see how the current story is playing out.

    World of Warcraft just came out with another expansion called Midnight. I am experiencing a bit of FOMO right now. I really want to play, but I am much busier now than I was 20 years ago, and I don’t know if I can justify a monthly subscription for it only to play occasionally. But I really want to play again. It’s amazing to me how addicting a game can be.

  • Happy new expansion day to all who celebrate!

  • WoW: Dragonflight Will Soon Let Players Run Dungeons With NPC Companions

    I’ve been playing World of Warcraft (WOW) for a long time. I had a good friend introduce me to the game back at the end of 2005, and I’ve been playing it off and on ever since. I really enjoy the game, the lore, and the ability to play with friends and family.

    However, there is one aspect of the game that I have not enjoyed very much: dungeons and raids. I am not the best player out there, and I struggle with all the abilities of my character in the game. I have all these years, but it hasn’t been as big of a struggle when I first started playing because I had friends and then family to run with. We did dungeons together and raids together, and I always had people to help me along the way, but I still had moments where mistakes were made and I caused issues for others that queued up with us. It always made me feel anxious because I don’t want to ruin another player’s game experience.

    Over the years, less and less of my friends play the game and most of my family members no longer play leaving me to my own devices in the game now, which has caused me some issues in learning new dungeons with other players. I’ve been yelled at and kicked out of a good number of dungeons because I was struggling. My anxiety has increased because of this, and I find that I avoid dungeons and raids altogether now.

    So, imagine my excitement when I read today that they are doing something new in the next expansion called Follower Dungeons where I can run with AI players and run a dungeon at my own pace. I’m super excited for this because it means I can actually enjoy giving a dungeon I haven’t tired a go by myself with the AI and learn it before I run it with other players. This will allow me to build up my confidence in running a dungeon. I’m so happy to give this a try when it drops.