Upon logging in to WoW to play the expansion, I already feel like a grind-bot.
Nothing I do matters in WoW. Especially since it’s the same thing done in the very same way, pre-designed all the way down to the way u push buttons. It’s their way, or the highway.
In CE the way you build, the place you choose, and what you do with that land all matters, not only to you, but everyone else around you. Everything you do in CE is an extension of your will.
But in WoW… it’s like everything you do is an extension of the designers. Every feeling, every achievement, strategy, down to the way you push the buttons… all that you earn is designed. Sure, one could argue that in CE everything is designed too, but where I build public maprooms, bridges, wells and elevators and how isn’t necessarily designed on a macro scale.
The combat also feels simple and satisfying. It feels so much better than WoW’s combat, despite it having been "streamlined"and dumbed down… it feels so danm artificial now, whereas CE’s combat is ALOT more organic.
In CE it’s sword hits enemy. Enemy get hurt.
In WoW it’s like “Apply buff to enhance attack, hit enemy, until other button is shiny. Hit shiny button, to make other shiny button shiny, then hit that shiny button.” It’s bloody hotbar whackamole.
In CE, you know how and when and which button to press, in the middle of combat, to form combos as you go. the combos you WANT to do, not the combos that make the most DPS. When something so simple has a lot of nuance, that’s a combat system done right.
Just… wanted to put this out there.
I am not gonna even bother with the new WoW expansion cuz i’ve already played all of it, by playing the first 10 minutes.
Same with Monster Hunter. It’s a fun game… but I can see the end of it from here.
In CE i’m already at the end of the game. I already have everything, except for the bugged stuff, like Njoror and the bugged purge crafters…and yet i’m having a blast, because I don’t play CE, i live it.
I love the lifestyle of CE. You literally can just go out and do whatever the hell you want, short of building a spaceship and exploring other worlds, but I don’t mind, because I like this feeling of scoped familiarity.
In this RL world of constant change, flow and ebb, it’s information overload. I find Conan Exile’s perfect combination of freedom and simplicity to be incredibly meditative.
Also, in other games everywhere you go, everything’s decorational. Like, buildings are just hollow blocks with drawn on windows, cuz they are decoration… but in CE, player buildings are actually buildings with purpose and design. It feels 10384934 more real than the oversized props used most games.
Maybe i’m just getting old. But I no longer gain pleasure from imaginary killing or competition. My pleasure now comes from influencing other people’s experiences positively, while improving my own… because that to me is as real as it can get. A choice made from the heart, not by instinct or design.
Maybe I just need to get a kid. rofl