Immersed?

Have you seen Yesterday's News, a short machinima by Slashdance? It was a contest entry for the "Rise to Power" sweepstakes and was featured on WoW.com's Moviewatch today. If you haven't seen it, I'll wait for you to watch it. Here it is.



Good, wasn't it? Then I read the article, and the comments. This comment, near the top of the second page, affected me the most.

Siorra (from the comments after the post)

Just goes to show how much of the game's immersion has been removed over the years. It's not a world of exploration any more, it's a city you wait around in until you 'magically' appear in a dungeon.

Is it true? Has this game I have chosen to lose myself in become less of a story and more of a time filling habit? I admit to spending many of the last several days of game time with my characters hanging around in a town, fiddling with gear or browsing the auction house for deals while they wait for the Looking for Group tool to whisk them away to their next adventure. BUT...

Delgada is my main Horde character. It is with her that I live the story, weaving her adventures in with questing and discovery. The other characters find a path, get to eighty, and become a bit like the "red shirt" in an old Trek episode, there to take the bullet, and sit out the juicy parts of the series. They might get a call back (if they weren't killed), but they never rise to the fame of the main characters. They're just there to help the main character's story advance. Delgada couldn't successfully go into Icecrown Citadel without her supporting crew of Carlotta, the elixir master, Shawndra, keeper of the exalted Hodir reputation, or even Rowena, all but forgotten 19 forever peddler of junk and keeper of the purse. Delgada would get no rest if it weren't for the playful flirtation of Niranjani, Maiera and Gwenna. Sorry, Maura and Lulubelle, though you are part of the team, you really are the red shirts right now. And space number ten? That is for when I either decide to immerse myself in the goblin culture when Cataclysm comes out, or for infiltrating the Alliance side of Smolderthorn with a worgen.

I think I am still plenty immersed. It is a choice. It is what I escape to WoW to do. Tonight, I choose to immerse myself with 9 other heroes in a quest to rid Icecrown Citadel of as many of the Lich King's lieutenants as will fall to our might. For the Horde!

After that maybe I'll put in a couple of hours hitting the random dungeons with Maiera, so that she can join the rest of my crew in Northrend. She's been hanging out in Nagrand, blowing up talbuk and clefthoof packs in between summons. Everyone needs twiddle time, right? I still think the random dungeon finder (and more recently the random battleground finder) are excellent ideas. I would never recommend them to a new player, especially now, when everything is on the verge of change. But for those of us who have seen about everything the game has to offer, there is no harm in it. Azeroth is a big world, and I have yet to see it all. I'm not leaving until I have exhausted every possibility it has to offer.