Seems like most of the issues are ironed out, and WOW is working pretty well lately. This is nice, as it comes just in time for the winter basement hibernation. Munk would no doubt wonder what the difference between winter basement hibernation and the rest of the year is, but she is a smartass. To the casual observer, I suppose the differences are subtle, but to an expert in basement dwelling species, they're pretty clear.
During the normal year, the basement dweller undertakes a variety of activities, from painting 40K models, reading 40K newsgroups, playing a variety of computer games, doing some CounterStrike map making, watching some Comedy Central, sometimes even venturing out to HobbyTown for supplies. To the trained eye, it's really a flurry of varied and diverse activity. However, when winter rolls around, the basement dweller enters a hibernation of sorts, which typically involves single game, most often the dreamlike world of an MMORPG. In past winters it was DAoC, this winter it's WOW.
It's a good thing that Blizzard got WOW going better, because I've been playing a lot lately. Nafuolt is now level 24, a strapping young Night Elf. He's an accomplished blacksmith, he wears some of his own hand made armor, and I feel like I'm starting to get a good grasp of how to play him. In the past I felt like I was a little behind the curve, having trouble with monsters equal to my own level, but since finding the auction house in Ironforge, Nafuolt has been able to keep himself in top notch gear, and thus is able to solo monsters of a couple levels above him.
The auction house is really a crazy innovation in the MMORPG world. It's basically eBay, but in a fantasy world. At first, I was skeptical, but I quickly realized that it was a major key to success in the game, as it's like a gear conversion filter. Monsters often drop nice loot, but any given item has about a one in twenty chance of being the right gear for you. It might be for a different class, it might be too low a level, but it's most probably not something you can use. So, you throw it on the auction house, get a good rate for it, and in turn you buy what you need there. You can bid and wait, sometimes people put a buyout price on an auction, so you can have it right then. It's just eBay for WOW stuff. Whatever you need, chances are it's there, and if you're willing to pay, you can have it.
Another facet of the economy that's interesting is the “soulbinding” process. Most quests grant the player an item. Other items are dropped by monsters as players kill them. In order to keep the game economy functioning, there has to be some control over these items, and that control is the soulbinding system. Once an item is soulbound to a player character, it can't be transferred to another player character. It can only be sold to an NPC, effectively removing it from the game. Quest items become soulbound when picked up (i.e. as soon as you get them). This means that you either use them, or you pawn them off to an NPC for a relatively small sum. If it weren't for this system, the game would be flooded with quest items that their owners have outgrown, which will in turn make questing pointless. Monster dropped items become soulbound when equipped (i.e. when you use them). This means that such items can be sold at auction, given to friends, etc. but once you choose to use it yourself, it's bound to you. Ultimately what this means, is that most items in the game will only ever have one “owner” before they leave the game by being sold to an NPC. This allows monsters to keep dropping items, quests to keep granting items, all the stuff that makes the game fun, without a risk of the game being flooded by items. All MMORPGs have some variation of this system, but WOW's is well thought out and adds depth to decisionmaking in game.
WOW has been a lot of fun so far. Munk has been talking about playing, and it's always nice to have a second acount for extra support characters (i.e. characters who your main characters give money and gear to so they can learn to craft, items or enchant items, whatever, on behalf of the main character). What I'd need to do first, is set up another machine that can play the game passably well, and put it at my desk downstairs. I could use Aluminium, which is Munk's machine now, it's got enough power to run the game pretty well, but right now it's upstairs at her desk. I'd rather not drop a grand on another gaming level machine, just so Munk can fiddle with the game for a week then get bored, and I can run alts on it... But, we shall see...