[0:00] you know when you're a kid and you go to
[0:01] school and you have all these friends
[0:03] that have the same interests as you you
[0:05] go home after school with the excitement
[0:06] that you'll get to meet all your friends
[0:08] in this other world by logging into your
[0:10] favorite game and playing together for
[0:12] hours on end until your mom yells at you
[0:14] to go to bed or maybe the people in your
[0:16] school don't play games with you but
[0:18] you're such a social kid and you seem to
[0:20] fit in wherever you go you find it easy
[0:22] to fit in with groups of people online
[0:24] who you can share games with but as the
[0:25] years go on and you get older you start
[0:27] to notice that the people that you
[0:29] regularly hang out with with ingame are
[0:31] not coming online as regularly as you
[0:33] are maybe they're playing while you're
[0:35] busy or some eventually log out for the
[0:37] last time without warning and are never
[0:39] seen again you lose touch with these
[0:41] people because as your life gets busier
[0:43] you don't really have time to reply to
[0:45] the Skype message that's been sitting in
[0:47] your notification for weeks and when
[0:49] Skype eventually became outdated not
[0:51] everybody knew that you moved on to
[0:53] Discord or other socials to stay in
[0:55] contact with you maybe you stop checking
[0:57] messages there too your life getting
[0:59] busier doesn't NE necessarily mean that
[1:00] you stopped liking the hobbies and
[1:02] things that you loved as a kid so what
[1:04] happens if you still want to play World
[1:05] of Warcraft but all your friends are
[1:07] gone and you're not somebody who can
[1:09] easily fit in and make friends online
[1:11] anymore what if you can't keep up with
[1:13] guilds and other players do you get to
[1:15] enjoy the game at all is World of
[1:17] Warcraft just done for you at this stage
[1:19] today we're going to talk about World of
[1:20] Warcraft as a solo experience what is it
[1:23] like to play the game without friends or
[1:26] other people in general before we get
[1:28] started hi my name is Angelica and I
[1:30] actually do have friends they're all
[1:33] here you know when this exact scenario
[1:35] happened to me and I realized that I was
[1:38] all alone in Azeroth I was kind of sad
[1:40] about it it sucks not to be able to
[1:42] share this world with other people
[1:44] especially if that's all you've known
[1:46] now when I first started playing wow I
[1:48] was playing it by myself for a long time
[1:50] because I couldn't speak enough English
[1:52] to interact with people in a meaningful
[1:54] way but that was fine however when I
[1:56] finally got to embrace the social
[1:58] element of the game to its full capacity
[2:01] I realized that when I didn't have it I
[2:03] really missed it but as more time passed
[2:04] and I still had the craving to continue
[2:06] playing wow just because I really love
[2:08] the world and I find comfort in going
[2:10] back to it I realize that World of
[2:12] Warcraft is perfectly fine as a solo
[2:14] experience in fact I think it lets you
[2:16] view the world from a different
[2:18] perspective and arguably even enjoy your
[2:20] time there a lot more a lot of people
[2:22] don't really like World of workout
[2:23] because of its grindy element you could
[2:26] say that all the quests are exactly the
[2:28] same you either have to gather x amount
[2:30] of this thing or slay y amount of that
[2:33] thing deliver something speak to someone
[2:36] a constant back and forth involving a
[2:38] lot of running around at a moderately
[2:39] slow pace until you reach level 40 and
[2:42] then at a slightly quicker Pace if
[2:43] you're able to afford it that is I think
[2:45] that every Quest being the same more or
[2:47] less makes it kind of therapeutic you
[2:49] don't really have to think too much
[2:50] about what you're doing you can just go
[2:52] on autopilot and fully immerse yourself
[2:54] in the forests mountains valleys and
[2:57] plains of Azeroth there's no pressure to
[2:59] keep up with anyone or anything the
[3:02] world moves around you but you have your
[3:04] own path ahead that will take you where
[3:05] you want to go in your own time though
[3:08] this was always a possibility I only
[3:09] really started to view the world that
[3:11] way after playing classic in hardcore I
[3:13] started this experience myself before
[3:15] the official hardcore servers launched
[3:17] by using the add-on this was a
[3:19] thirdparty add-on created specifically
[3:21] for players who wanted to experience the
[3:22] game this way and some even say that
[3:25] this was better than the actual hardcore
[3:26] servers but I'll mention more on that
[3:28] later the Adam had its own Community
[3:30] website and there you could see the
[3:32] rules that you needed to follow in order
[3:34] for it to be an authentic hardcore
[3:36] experience the rules included things
[3:38] like no auction house no
[3:40] player-to-player mail or trading you
[3:42] could only run each dungeon once per
[3:44] character but the biggest thing for me
[3:46] was the rule about no grouping unless
[3:48] you're going to a dungeon I couldn't
[3:50] understand how people managed without
[3:52] grouping especially in a death delete
[3:55] scenario though it's intimidating once
[3:57] you get started you realize that this is
[3:59] actually one of the best ways to enjoy
[4:01] the game especially now so many years
[4:03] later when the classic experience has
[4:05] actually started to get a bit stale for
[4:06] people unless you're playing on Turtle
[4:08] wow those guys never seem to complain
[4:10] about anything but you do start to look
[4:11] at the world in a completely different
[4:13] way World of Warcraft being a social
[4:14] game no grouping was completely
[4:16] unfathomable to me and yet it's 100%
[4:19] possible and in a lot of ways more fun
[4:22] first of all no grouping in a hardcore
[4:23] scenario leaves you in a state where the
[4:25] only person you can rely on is yourself
[4:27] there's no lfm hoger know anyone for
[4:30] thorl son and certainly know lfg fenile
[4:34] this especially in a hardcore scenario
[4:36] forces you to get really good at your
[4:38] class really try and learn how to get
[4:40] the most out of your abilities at any
[4:42] given level maybe even consider
[4:44] professions to get you through since you
[4:46] can't use the auction house or trade
[4:48] with other people so you have to do
[4:50] everything by yourself in group
[4:51] scenarios I feel like very often
[4:53] particularly DPS classes can get away
[4:56] with doing the bare minimum if you're
[4:57] someone like a hunter or a mage you
[4:59] don't really have to do a whole lot and
[5:01] you're still able to top DPS meters
[5:03] easily there's no real need for you to
[5:04] get good at your class you can rely on
[5:06] other people and you probably don't even
[5:08] need to fully understand what you're
[5:10] doing at all and nobody would even
[5:11] notice when you're alone and you're
[5:13] facing a camp of nlls or maybe an elite
[5:15] mob for a quest you have to start using
[5:17] a lot more of your brain to figure out
[5:19] how to defeat the mobs and get out of
[5:21] there alive you have to exhaust all your
[5:24] resources plan ahead and really survive
[5:27] you need to be making decisions all the
[5:29] time is that Quest that's in a cave
[5:31] really worth it or are you going to get
[5:32] whooped when too many mobs respond at
[5:34] the same time and find you frolicking
[5:36] about it's all on you and there are real
[5:38] Stakes because if you make a mistake you
[5:40] will lose your character right there in
[5:42] that stupid cave this kind of
[5:44] self-reliance really makes you
[5:45] appreciate playing solo you're
[5:47] responsible for you nobody's holding you
[5:50] back and you're also able to play the
[5:52] game at your own pace one thought that I
[5:54] had about playing solo is that you're
[5:55] straight up unable to do certain Quests
[5:58] for example if you're leveling in red
[6:00] there are several Elite quests there
[6:01] that are kind of a big deal in terms of
[6:03] experience that you get there and you
[6:05] really need like a dungeon sized group
[6:08] to get through those it's true that some
[6:09] scenarios are best avoided when you're
[6:11] by yourself so you instead get to
[6:13] experience more of the world typically
[6:16] when you're leveling you have sort of a
[6:17] choice in terms of the zones that you're
[6:19] going to cover in any particular level
[6:21] bracket like you can choose between
[6:22] Westfall dark Shore or Loch Madan or if
[6:26] you're hoarde you might be looking at
[6:27] the Barons or silverpine Forest when
[6:29] you're by yourself especially in
[6:31] hardcore you might actually opt to do
[6:34] all of the zones for example when you're
[6:36] questing in Westfall starting at say
[6:38] level 11 you eventually get to a point
[6:40] when you feel a little underleveled as
[6:42] the quests that you're doing at level 15
[6:44] are in areas where a bunch of level 18
[6:47] mobs are walking around that might not
[6:48] be a huge difference but in a hardcore
[6:51] scenario if you have that level 18 and
[6:54] any other mob attacking you at the same
[6:55] time you might be cooked so you take a
[6:58] step back Trav to darkshore take the
[7:00] quests that are available there for
[7:02] level 11 onwards and with the XP you
[7:04] gather you're then able to return to
[7:06] Westfall and pick up where you left off
[7:08] I feel like this makes leveling more of
[7:10] a journey and more of an adventure
[7:12] you're covering more ground within a
[7:14] particular level bracket if you're
[7:16] taking advantage of any XP that you can
[7:18] get more or less safely you might also
[7:20] discover quests in areas of the game
[7:22] that you would have otherwise ignored
[7:23] because you level too quickly for them
[7:25] one such example for me was a quest that
[7:27] you can get between the wetlands and the
[7:29] the highlands I always skipped this
[7:31] Quest because it was on like a broken
[7:33] off part of the bridge that's really
[7:35] hard to get to you have to do like
[7:37] really weird parkour to get to it it had
[7:39] an unusually high amount of XP for it
[7:41] being just a speak to this other NPC in
[7:44] this safe location Quest so I was
[7:46] determined to get it I was at a bit of a
[7:48] standstill in hardcore in terms of safe
[7:51] quests that I could do without dying so
[7:53] it was a decent option not without its
[7:55] risks however the first time I tried it
[7:57] I nearly had a heart attack fell all the
[7:59] way down but I realized it's more or
[8:00] less safe you don't die you end up in
[8:03] water if you fall right there is a bit
[8:05] of a platform just before the water that
[8:07] you can land on now I was doing this for
[8:09] a very long time because when you fell
[8:11] into the water you also had to swim up
[8:13] and go all the way around up the
[8:15] mountain and through a dark iron dwarf
[8:17] Camp so again it wasn't the safest it it
[8:20] was okay it was manageable I eventually
[8:23] did succeed as you can see it was quite
[8:25] exciting I don't remember the last time
[8:27] I was this excited about wow in a group
[8:29] setting so for me this sort of solo
[8:32] Hardcore gameplay really revived the
[8:34] game I was really happy and in general
[8:37] getting things done yourself and not
[8:39] dying in the process was a new kind of
[8:41] rewarding and special something that no
[8:43] matter how many friends I played with I
[8:45] just hadn't experienced in WoW for a
[8:47] long time this was my experience with
[8:49] the add-on they of course did later
[8:51] release the official hardcore servers
[8:53] and those didn't restrict
[8:55] player-to-player mail the auction house
[8:57] trading or grouping I think that this
[9:00] diminished the hardcore experience it
[9:02] was definitely more hardcore if you were
[9:03] following the add-on blizzard seemed to
[9:06] kind of embrace this solo player
[9:09] initiative by adding something called
[9:11] the self-found mode this did restrict
[9:14] the auction house mail and trading but
[9:16] it didn't restrict grouping which is why
[9:18] I also personally think that the add-on
[9:20] and the rules that they had there were
[9:22] Superior just if we're speaking of a
[9:24] more hardcore experience and this has
[9:27] been my experience as a solo player
[9:29] maybe if you're someone like me and
[9:30] you've been playing the game for years
[9:32] since childhood as an adult you'll enjoy
[9:35] the solo experience a lot more it's sad
[9:37] to think about all the people that you
[9:39] used to hang out with in game that just
[9:41] logged out one day and never came back
[9:43] but it's nice to remember all the good
[9:44] times with Guild mates and just other
[9:46] people you meet in the world and had all
[9:48] these fun interactions with Wow has
[9:50] always been a social game but I feel
[9:52] like modern advances and social media
[9:54] and how accessible communication is now
[9:56] really changes the way we interact with
[9:58] people in game I think that now we are
[10:00] oversaturated with all the different
[10:01] ways in which we can communicate and I
[10:03] find that even if you look for
[10:04] interaction in wow these days people are
[10:07] a lot less responsive and tend to stick
[10:09] to themselves anyway so becoming a solo
[10:11] player may not have even been a you
[10:13] thing it's just the landscape isn't the
[10:15] same anymore but hopefully after this
[10:17] video you can see that it's still
[10:19] possible to get enjoyment out of wow
[10:21] just in a different capacity also
[10:22] there's nothing wrong with spending time
[10:24] on your own and learning how to enjoy
[10:26] things for yourself and by yourself I
[10:29] feel like if you learn to enjoy doing
[10:31] some things alone in the long run you'll
[10:34] be able to build more meaningful
[10:36] friendships and relationships in the
[10:38] game and in the real world after all if
[10:40] you don't like spending time with
[10:41] yourself why would anyone else enjoy
[10:43] your company and that about covers it
[10:45] for this video I do hope you enjoyed if
[10:47] you did as always please be sure to
[10:48] leave a like And subscribe I really
[10:50] appreciate it big shout out to my
[10:51] channel members you guys are great thank
[10:53] you so much and I'll see you all in the
[10:55] next video be seeing you bye
[11:00] [Music]