So, those of you who follow my facebook page might know that Jen and I have returned to World of Warcraft (WoW) for the 50th time after a few months’ hiatus.
I vividly remember the first time I heard about this game from a friend. I poo-poo’d it at the time, having played a few fantasy MMOs in the dawn of (digital) time, but Jen was intrigued. So she bought a copy, installed it on her computer, and entered a world unlike anything we had ever seen before. She was hooked in the first minute. Watching over her shoulder while she played, it took me two minutes. So I grabbed my keys and ran out to the local box stores to get a copy. (It took me 2 days to get it, because the stores were all sold out.)(Yes, this is before digital download copies were available.)(Yes, I am old.)
We lost ourselves in the vivid world of Azeroth, with Jen playing a healer druid and me a bow-wielding hunter. We adventured from one end of the digital world to the other, slaying monsters and taking their loot. Along the way we met great people who were also sharing this experience, and some of them became real-life friends of the highest caliber. Friends we still treasure today, 12 years later.
Over the years, Jen and I would occasionally take a break from the game. Like anything else, a game can get repetitive. When we get bored, we cancel our subscriptions. But, invariably, a new expansion will come out, and we will get sucked back into WoW again. Like we just did a couple weeks ago.
I still have that hunter character, and Jen still has her druid (although we transferred them from the Alliance to the Horde side years ago.) But now I mainly play a priest who heals, and Jen’s been experimenting with the warlock class. Variety is the spice of life, eh? And now we’re focused much more on the player-versus-player combat than adventuring and raiding. But there’s still magic in this experience. We’ve tried tons of other online games, but we always return to WoW. It’s familiar, but it always manages to show us something new.
And there is no doubt in my mind that part of our love affair with this game involves each other. I couldn’t stick with a game for this long on my own. But having my love and best friend there with me is pure gold. It’s quality time we spend together, whether we’re assassinating elves or plunging into dark dungeons. We’re together, and that makes all the difference.
So, when our schedules permits, you can sometimes find us on Llane server, melting faces and having a blast together.
