I started WOW for the first time almost a month ago. I don't intend to subscribe, but during my free month I have levelled up to level 81.
I have written pretty extensively about my experiences in the game in the OT over the past few weeks, so I don't think I'll get into it too much here.
I think it's a cool experience. I like that it exists for end-game content (of which I haven't really experienced but can reasonably understand) alone. The questing/leveling up phase of the game, which has been the entirety of my experience, feels very, very manipulative, and with no difficulty curve in sight, it speaks volumes about Blizzard's ability to manipulate their players that I have actually seen it through, will continue to for my month and, most importantly, will actually really enjoy myself in the process. Walking/riding/flying into new zones and experiencing the quest-chains (mostly through implied narrative, I rarely read the logs) and slowly uncovering all the different sections of a zone is very satisfying for me. So in that regard, it seems like we play for similar reasons. I'm not really in it solely for the loot or the grind.
But see, I disagree with a lot of you criticisms. I feel like it's important to remember that just prior to the dungeon finder and flying mounts around the Old World, they had more than ten million people already playing. Offering these people quick solutions solely as a means of levelling up a second character quickly, after years of playing, seems like a very forward-thinking, appropriate move on their behalf.
If you'd like to travel to dungeons with a read-made party, you can. If you want to travel around the world and experience it on foot, you can. And, hell, Blizzard agrees with the flying mount shenanigans insofar as they intentionally denied players access to flying mounts in certain Northrend zones until a certain level to prevent people from skimming over the world. This has since been scaled back and is available for purchase upon hitting the continent, but once again it is only an option that you can actively avoid.
I feel like, at this point in the game's lifecycle, streamlining players through their six year old content into the shiny new stuff serves two purposes: it eases the strain on people leveling an old and keeps new players who moved in during the Cataclysm hype phase to get to that content that everyone is playing and talking about swiftly, if they so choose.
I think that's WOW's biggest success. It accommodates nearly everyone playing in any play-style they'd like. Take it as slow and organic or fast and methodical as you'd like, there's probably tools to accommodate you in there!
