It’s Dangerous to Go Alone! (and Also Epic!)

In just days you will join millions of other players as forces from both the Horde and Alliance travel to the Isle of Thunder to challenge Lei Shen and make short work of his return to life.

The day will come, be it in Raid Finder or Normal mode, where you strike the final blow against the Thunder King. Well, maybe the next to final blow. Or the fourth from final blow. I mean, there’s 17 DPS in the group so… who knows, right?

When it comes to a sense of accomplishment, defeating the “big bad” of an expansion or even a raid tier is a double-edged sword. Yes, there’s the fact that through teamwork and perseverance you all worked together to bring down an overpowering foe… but you’re just one cog in the machine. An important cog, but still a cog.

Friends and community are the cornerstones to what makes an MMO like World of Warcraft an enjoyable game. That said, sometimes I want to be “the hero.”

I want to be the one who was responsible for saving the day. The one person whom the entire faction I represent needed in one of its darkest hours. It can be argued there’s plenty of opportunites for that as you quest, but I find that desire still persists even at max level.

This is one of the fundamental reasons why the legendary quest line in its current form and the 5.2 solo scenarios exist, and personally I’m thrilled at the addition of this content.

During the time that 5.2 has been on the PTR, I’ve participated in the solo scenarios on the Isle of Thunder, including the treasure room scenario. Quite frankly, it’s some of the most fun I’ve had in the game since Mists of Pandaria launched, and that’s saying something considering how much I’ve enjoyed the expansion. I’m saving the green fire warlock quest and the scenarios that come with it for two reasons. First, I feel that’s going to be something so huge that I want to experience it for the first time on my warlock. Second… well, green fire doesn’t exist yet anyhow so why bother? (Okay, I’m kidding… mostly.)

I’ve heard the argument before that goes “if you want solo content, go play Skyrim or some other single player RPG.” Sure, I can do that and actually Skyrim has been my second game of choice for a while now. Still, it’s nice to have those moments where as an individual you feel like you’re part of something unique and special to the story.

Yes, many others like myself will experience the same content. I won’t be the only “savior of the Alliance (or Horde)” to overcome a difficult challenge during the solo scenario in the 5.2 portion of the Wrathion questline. It’s all about perspective though, and making the experience personal for that moment.

It’s moments like this that remind me when class quests were still around during the leveling experience and I earned my warlock mount in Dire Maul. That was an incredible time and one of the reason I stayed hooked to WoW way back then.

It’s nice to see Blizzard bringing some of that old magic back in a new form, and based on what I’ve seen in last week’s developer interviews, there’s more to come.