The World of Warcraft community is maturing.
Originally, I was going to lead off with: The Warcraft community is maturing nicely. Then, a few more days into my triumphant return to Warcraft I realized that not all of the maturation is nice, but it still qualifies as maturation … inevitable, long overdue some might say, but not entirely nice.
Backtracking quickly: I went to play Guild Wars for a few months after release and very recently, I returned to World of Warcraft for a change of gaming pace. I spent a few hours the first day back just re-memorizing my UI and what skills/spells I had or still lacked, where the hell did all my craft materials go, goddamn I’ll need more money soon, bla bla — you know how it is when you leave a game for an extended period. I can’t be grouping or raiding until I have my mojo back, ffs. That would be embarassing AND dangerous.
Next few hours, I shopped around for a group or raid to join with the guildmates and a few strangers, and I was pleasantly surprised. Ya. Me. Surprised. And pleasantly.
Somehow, in my absence and with no further instruction from me, it seemed the entire server has learned some of the gaming fundamentals: winky dink casters stand BEHIND the warriors, rogues watch their own bacon, priests ditch aggro early and often, paladins aren’t wading into piles of elite mobs, the good news just kept on a’coming.
In fact, I had several groups and raids IN A ROW that were smashing successes.
This could not last.