Why I Play WoW Alone - The Solo Experience

[00:00] you know when you're a kid and you go to

[00:01] school and you have all these friends

[00:03] that have the same interests as you you

[00:05] go home after school with the excitement

[00:06] that you'll get to meet all your friends

[00:08] in this other world by logging into your

[00:10] favorite game and playing together for

[00:12] hours on end until your mom yells at you

[00:14] to go to bed or maybe the people in your

[00:16] school don't play games with you but

[00:18] you're such a social kid and you seem to

[00:20] fit in wherever you go you find it easy

[00:22] to fit in with groups of people online

[00:24] who you can share games with but as the

[00:25] years go on and you get older you start

[00:27] to notice that the people that you

[00:29] regularly hang out with with ingame are

[00:31] not coming online as regularly as you

[00:33] are maybe they're playing while you're

[00:35] busy or some eventually log out for the

[00:37] last time without warning and are never

[00:39] seen again you lose touch with these

[00:41] people because as your life gets busier

[00:43] you don't really have time to reply to

[00:45] the Skype message that's been sitting in

[00:47] your notification for weeks and when

[00:49] Skype eventually became outdated not

[00:51] everybody knew that you moved on to

[00:53] Discord or other socials to stay in

[00:55] contact with you maybe you stop checking

[00:57] messages there too your life getting

[00:59] busier doesn't NE necessarily mean that

[01:00] you stopped liking the hobbies and

[01:02] things that you loved as a kid so what

[01:04] happens if you still want to play World

[01:05] of Warcraft but all your friends are

[01:07] gone and you're not somebody who can

[01:09] easily fit in and make friends online

[01:11] anymore what if you can't keep up with

[01:13] guilds and other players do you get to

[01:15] enjoy the game at all is World of

[01:17] Warcraft just done for you at this stage

[01:19] today we're going to talk about World of

[01:20] Warcraft as a solo experience what is it

[01:23] like to play the game without friends or

[01:26] other people in general before we get

[01:28] started hi my name is Angelica and I

[01:30] actually do have friends they're all

[01:33] here you know when this exact scenario

[01:35] happened to me and I realized that I was

[01:38] all alone in Azeroth I was kind of sad

[01:40] about it it sucks not to be able to

[01:42] share this world with other people

[01:44] especially if that's all you've known

[01:46] now when I first started playing wow I

[01:48] was playing it by myself for a long time

[01:50] because I couldn't speak enough English

[01:52] to interact with people in a meaningful

[01:54] way but that was fine however when I

[01:56] finally got to embrace the social

[01:58] element of the game to its full capacity

[02:01] I realized that when I didn't have it I

[02:03] really missed it but as more time passed

[02:04] and I still had the craving to continue

[02:06] playing wow just because I really love

[02:08] the world and I find comfort in going

[02:10] back to it I realize that World of

[02:12] Warcraft is perfectly fine as a solo

[02:14] experience in fact I think it lets you

[02:16] view the world from a different

[02:18] perspective and arguably even enjoy your

[02:20] time there a lot more a lot of people

[02:22] don't really like World of workout

[02:23] because of its grindy element you could

[02:26] say that all the quests are exactly the

[02:28] same you either have to gather x amount

[02:30] of this thing or slay y amount of that

[02:33] thing deliver something speak to someone

[02:36] a constant back and forth involving a

[02:38] lot of running around at a moderately

[02:39] slow pace until you reach level 40 and

[02:42] then at a slightly quicker Pace if

[02:43] you're able to afford it that is I think

[02:45] that every Quest being the same more or

[02:47] less makes it kind of therapeutic you

[02:49] don't really have to think too much

[02:50] about what you're doing you can just go

[02:52] on autopilot and fully immerse yourself

[02:54] in the forests mountains valleys and

[02:57] plains of Azeroth there's no pressure to

[02:59] keep up with anyone or anything the

[03:02] world moves around you but you have your

[03:04] own path ahead that will take you where

[03:05] you want to go in your own time though

[03:08] this was always a possibility I only

[03:09] really started to view the world that

[03:11] way after playing classic in hardcore I

[03:13] started this experience myself before

[03:15] the official hardcore servers launched

[03:17] by using the add-on this was a

[03:19] thirdparty add-on created specifically

[03:21] for players who wanted to experience the

[03:22] game this way and some even say that

[03:25] this was better than the actual hardcore

[03:26] servers but I'll mention more on that

[03:28] later the Adam had its own Community

[03:30] website and there you could see the

[03:32] rules that you needed to follow in order

[03:34] for it to be an authentic hardcore

[03:36] experience the rules included things

[03:38] like no auction house no

[03:40] player-to-player mail or trading you

[03:42] could only run each dungeon once per

[03:44] character but the biggest thing for me

[03:46] was the rule about no grouping unless

[03:48] you're going to a dungeon I couldn't

[03:50] understand how people managed without

[03:52] grouping especially in a death delete

[03:55] scenario though it's intimidating once

[03:57] you get started you realize that this is

[03:59] actually one of the best ways to enjoy

[04:01] the game especially now so many years

[04:03] later when the classic experience has

[04:05] actually started to get a bit stale for

[04:06] people unless you're playing on Turtle

[04:08] wow those guys never seem to complain

[04:10] about anything but you do start to look

[04:11] at the world in a completely different

[04:13] way World of Warcraft being a social

[04:14] game no grouping was completely

[04:16] unfathomable to me and yet it's 100%

[04:19] possible and in a lot of ways more fun

[04:22] first of all no grouping in a hardcore

[04:23] scenario leaves you in a state where the

[04:25] only person you can rely on is yourself

[04:27] there's no lfm hoger know anyone for

[04:30] thorl son and certainly know lfg fenile

[04:34] this especially in a hardcore scenario

[04:36] forces you to get really good at your

[04:38] class really try and learn how to get

[04:40] the most out of your abilities at any

[04:42] given level maybe even consider

[04:44] professions to get you through since you

[04:46] can't use the auction house or trade

[04:48] with other people so you have to do

[04:50] everything by yourself in group

[04:51] scenarios I feel like very often

[04:53] particularly DPS classes can get away

[04:56] with doing the bare minimum if you're

[04:57] someone like a hunter or a mage you

[04:59] don't really have to do a whole lot and

[05:01] you're still able to top DPS meters

[05:03] easily there's no real need for you to

[05:04] get good at your class you can rely on

[05:06] other people and you probably don't even

[05:08] need to fully understand what you're

[05:10] doing at all and nobody would even

[05:11] notice when you're alone and you're

[05:13] facing a camp of nlls or maybe an elite

[05:15] mob for a quest you have to start using

[05:17] a lot more of your brain to figure out

[05:19] how to defeat the mobs and get out of

[05:21] there alive you have to exhaust all your

[05:24] resources plan ahead and really survive

[05:27] you need to be making decisions all the

[05:29] time is that Quest that's in a cave

[05:31] really worth it or are you going to get

[05:32] whooped when too many mobs respond at

[05:34] the same time and find you frolicking

[05:36] about it's all on you and there are real

[05:38] Stakes because if you make a mistake you

[05:40] will lose your character right there in

[05:42] that stupid cave this kind of

[05:44] self-reliance really makes you

[05:45] appreciate playing solo you're

[05:47] responsible for you nobody's holding you

[05:50] back and you're also able to play the

[05:52] game at your own pace one thought that I

[05:54] had about playing solo is that you're

[05:55] straight up unable to do certain Quests

[05:58] for example if you're leveling in red

[06:00] there are several Elite quests there

[06:01] that are kind of a big deal in terms of

[06:03] experience that you get there and you

[06:05] really need like a dungeon sized group

[06:08] to get through those it's true that some

[06:09] scenarios are best avoided when you're

[06:11] by yourself so you instead get to

[06:13] experience more of the world typically

[06:16] when you're leveling you have sort of a

[06:17] choice in terms of the zones that you're

[06:19] going to cover in any particular level

[06:21] bracket like you can choose between

[06:22] Westfall dark Shore or Loch Madan or if

[06:26] you're hoarde you might be looking at

[06:27] the Barons or silverpine Forest when

[06:29] you're by yourself especially in

[06:31] hardcore you might actually opt to do

[06:34] all of the zones for example when you're

[06:36] questing in Westfall starting at say

[06:38] level 11 you eventually get to a point

[06:40] when you feel a little underleveled as

[06:42] the quests that you're doing at level 15

[06:44] are in areas where a bunch of level 18

[06:47] mobs are walking around that might not

[06:48] be a huge difference but in a hardcore

[06:51] scenario if you have that level 18 and

[06:54] any other mob attacking you at the same

[06:55] time you might be cooked so you take a

[06:58] step back Trav to darkshore take the

[07:00] quests that are available there for

[07:02] level 11 onwards and with the XP you

[07:04] gather you're then able to return to

[07:06] Westfall and pick up where you left off

[07:08] I feel like this makes leveling more of

[07:10] a journey and more of an adventure

[07:12] you're covering more ground within a

[07:14] particular level bracket if you're

[07:16] taking advantage of any XP that you can

[07:18] get more or less safely you might also

[07:20] discover quests in areas of the game

[07:22] that you would have otherwise ignored

[07:23] because you level too quickly for them

[07:25] one such example for me was a quest that

[07:27] you can get between the wetlands and the

[07:29] the highlands I always skipped this

[07:31] Quest because it was on like a broken

[07:33] off part of the bridge that's really

[07:35] hard to get to you have to do like

[07:37] really weird parkour to get to it it had

[07:39] an unusually high amount of XP for it

[07:41] being just a speak to this other NPC in

[07:44] this safe location Quest so I was

[07:46] determined to get it I was at a bit of a

[07:48] standstill in hardcore in terms of safe

[07:51] quests that I could do without dying so

[07:53] it was a decent option not without its

[07:55] risks however the first time I tried it

[07:57] I nearly had a heart attack fell all the

[07:59] way down but I realized it's more or

[08:00] less safe you don't die you end up in

[08:03] water if you fall right there is a bit

[08:05] of a platform just before the water that

[08:07] you can land on now I was doing this for

[08:09] a very long time because when you fell

[08:11] into the water you also had to swim up

[08:13] and go all the way around up the

[08:15] mountain and through a dark iron dwarf

[08:17] Camp so again it wasn't the safest it it

[08:20] was okay it was manageable I eventually

[08:23] did succeed as you can see it was quite

[08:25] exciting I don't remember the last time

[08:27] I was this excited about wow in a group

[08:29] setting so for me this sort of solo

[08:32] Hardcore gameplay really revived the

[08:34] game I was really happy and in general

[08:37] getting things done yourself and not

[08:39] dying in the process was a new kind of

[08:41] rewarding and special something that no

[08:43] matter how many friends I played with I

[08:45] just hadn't experienced in WoW for a

[08:47] long time this was my experience with

[08:49] the add-on they of course did later

[08:51] release the official hardcore servers

[08:53] and those didn't restrict

[08:55] player-to-player mail the auction house

[08:57] trading or grouping I think that this

[09:00] diminished the hardcore experience it

[09:02] was definitely more hardcore if you were

[09:03] following the add-on blizzard seemed to

[09:06] kind of embrace this solo player

[09:09] initiative by adding something called

[09:11] the self-found mode this did restrict

[09:14] the auction house mail and trading but

[09:16] it didn't restrict grouping which is why

[09:18] I also personally think that the add-on

[09:20] and the rules that they had there were

[09:22] Superior just if we're speaking of a

[09:24] more hardcore experience and this has

[09:27] been my experience as a solo player

[09:29] maybe if you're someone like me and

[09:30] you've been playing the game for years

[09:32] since childhood as an adult you'll enjoy

[09:35] the solo experience a lot more it's sad

[09:37] to think about all the people that you

[09:39] used to hang out with in game that just

[09:41] logged out one day and never came back

[09:43] but it's nice to remember all the good

[09:44] times with Guild mates and just other

[09:46] people you meet in the world and had all

[09:48] these fun interactions with Wow has

[09:50] always been a social game but I feel

[09:52] like modern advances and social media

[09:54] and how accessible communication is now

[09:56] really changes the way we interact with

[09:58] 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]