Yesterday, Blizzard had a little surprise waiting for me in my account. As part of a promotion (from what I could gather by googling), they offered me 10 days of free game time to try out Draenor. Yep, the new expansion – I was shocked. Ofcourse, I cannot actually get to level 91 – it caps out when it is short of 1 xp – but hey, free is free and I thought it was great I could try out Draenor since I was on the fence about buying it. Starry eyed and full of gnome powa, I took the plunge.
It was fun to be a gnome again, and I generally enjoyed the questing experience. They do a great job introducing the bad guys – I personally liked the little name tags they gave them because really, just too many orcs to keep track of at this point. The music is simply amazing by the way, so if you haven’t yet turned it on, I highly recommend it. I think they really outdid themselves there. Ofcourse, I haven’t got beyond early Shadowmoon Valley thanks to the cap – but I did get to build my garrison and got a peek at how it works.
So why I have I not bought it yet? Well much of that has to do with me and not so much the expansion. Life for me has changed a lot. Raiding feels like it was a lifetime ago, and I honestly don’t know how I managed to spend so much time doing it. It is impossible now. Heck, even the flexible size ones seem like a time commitment I may not be able to handle. I have concerts and travel and visits and a billion other things to keep me busy. And so, I’m asking some very different questions this time around.
Is there enough to do at level 100 without raiding for me? (And I’m talking really no raiding – not even LFR because that will just drive me up the wall) Do I enjoy any of the classes anymore? Can I really play WoW without raiding? I’m honestly not sure yet. I’ve played plenty of other games without endgame but WoW has always been about raiding for me. If I can enjoy Draenor without raiding that would be great. The last thing I want is to be sucked back into raiding because I really really like where I am right now. Lots of piano, great pieces and lots to do.
I welcome your opinions and experiences with Draenor so far – and if you think it has enough content to keep a non-raider busy for a bit. I realise ofcourse that all experiences are different and ultimately I need to figure out what works for me – but I could use the help! 🙂
Heals n Heels 