My First Foray into Warlords of Draenor

Warlords of Draenor has just been released and of course I was lined up and waiting to log in at 11pm GMT on the dot to get my WoW on. Having been around for the releases of Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm (Mists of Pandaria coincided with a break I was having), I’ve experienced some pretty cool initial adventures into the new territories these new expansions offer. None of them though have compared to the start of Warlords of Draenor.

After the maybe seven minutes of disconnections and world servers down, which always seem much longer when they’re happening, I was logged in and launched on a journey unlike anything I’ve ever seen in World of Warcraft. So what was it about Warlords that made it so different? Why did I enjoy it so much? One word: story.

One of the major potential problems with World of Warcraft is the ability to just skip reading quests. You know the drill: box pops up, you click accept and then follow the gold arrow to whatever clickable or killable thing it is you need to find. This, while making levelling quicker, takes away from the plot of the world you’re in and in a newly launched expansion, this is even more poignant. The beginning just becomes a case of racing from one place to another to get to maximum level as quickly as possible and you miss out on all the lore that is going on around you.

The people behind Warlords have gone beyond the extra mile to make that first trip to Draenor an unforgettable one. There are lots of cutscenes introducing you to characters and explaining what’s happening, working to make sure you are fully involved in the events. Basically there’s no way you could get through that initial section without being aware of the story behind the expansion.

This is exactly what needed to happen, creating something so immersive that it pulls players in and reignites that love that we all had before the jaded click-and-run technique set in. I cannot help but be impressed by Warlords even with the short period of time I’ve had with it.

Time will tell how it holds up, but I for one am confident it will keep me entertained.