Chapter 633: This Game is Too Realistic (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Unlike typical MMORPGs, World of Warcraft was different.

He quickly discovered its unique aspects, starting with the in-game maps and quests.

It didn't precisely mark specific coordinates on the map.

Instead, it was truly as if he were in a real world, giving players a corresponding area and letting them figure it out themselves. This made quests a bit troublesome, though the areas weren't excessively large.

At the same time, the team developing the game had implemented clear UI prompts above the heads of quest-related NPCs, so players wouldn't get stuck trying to find them.

Well… unless you were directionally challenged, of course.

Another thing that left Song Ren a bit bewildered was that despite completing many quests, he hadn't yet received a main quest.

Most MMORPGs typically featured two modes: main quests and side quests.

Side quests usually served to increase a player's power and introduce them to different gameplay mechanics. However, in World of Warcraft, Song Ren still hadn't encountered any so-called main quests.

Despite this, Song Ren didn't feel bored at all.

Because up until now, his questing hadn't stopped.

The game offered a truly extensive array of quests.

There were common, mundane tasks, but also quests that unveiled snippets of the game's background story. This was actually a subtle change Chen Xu had implemented for World of Warcraft.

He utilized the attraction anchor law from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to design World of Warcraft's terrain and quests. As it was a VR version, compared to the World of Warcraft of his previous life, Chen Xu couldn't perfectly replicate every tree, blade of grass, and rock, aside from some iconic landmarks. His focus was primarily on recreating the terrain.

For instance, if it was Elwynn Forest, Chen Xu couldn't possibly turn it into an ocean.

Beyond terrain, there were the quests. In World of Warcraft, there were no main quests in the strict sense. There were only a series of side quests.

Furthermore, Chen Xu made slight adjustments to some of the less important quests. Simply put, it was a matryoshka doll system, allowing players to discover new locations through quests in the early stages, preventing them from feeling lost.

Players would receive a quest in Northshire Abbey, which would gradually lead them all the way to Goldshire. But it wouldn't aggressively tell players that the quest-giving NPC was in Goldshire. Visual effects and quest allure were used to their fullest to attract players. It was like how in Bloodborne and Dark Souls, items were designed to glow with a conspicuous white light – that's the most basic attraction anchor mechanic.

In World of Warcraft, landmarks like Goldshire, Northshire Abbey, and Stormwind all had distinct styles across the lands of Azeroth. This made them crucial attraction points. Coupled with the yellow exclamation marks above NPCs' heads, it was hard for players to ignore them.

Especially for players with OCD, could you really sleep at night if you saw that yellow exclamation mark and didn't interact with the NPC?

Though Song Ren wasn't an OCD player, curiosity was certainly present. So, under these circumstances, as he cleared quests, Song Ren found himself unable to stop.

It felt to Song Ren like playing a single-player game. The stories of these quests perfectly fit the game's lore. Each story felt like it was telling the player a tale, making them unconsciously continue playing.

It perfectly captured the customs and culture of Azeroth.

However, the small team that had originally planned to quickly gather together was now scattered. Each person's newbie village had plenty of content.

Of course, another point was that everyone was just starting out and wasn't quite sure how to quickly get to other people's areas.

So, everyone decided to play on their own for now and regroup once they understood the game's intricacies better.

As for the so-called dungeons, they still didn't know where the entrances were.

“But leveling up is really hard!” Song Ren couldn't help but exclaim in the group chat.

It was fine near Northshire Abbey, but after accepting the first quest about the Brotherhood bandits, Song Ren felt things getting a bit difficult.

The monsters he encountered were mostly red, actively attacking if he wandered too close. Thankfully, since the server had just launched, there were many people in the newbie village.

But even so, some solo players venturing into secluded corners accidentally aggroed two or three monsters, then died tragically and became withered bones in Elwynn Forest.

Compared to the World of Warcraft of his previous life, Chen Xu had also adopted the original visual setting for this VR version: after dying, players would turn into withered bones that wouldn't disappear (in non-human inhabited areas). Theoretically, if a player died enough times in the wilderness, it could create a scene where bones paved the way. Players could even distinguish the race of the deceased by their skeletons.

Furthermore, characters like Undead were also skeletal, though not made too terrifying, as this was an MMORPG.

As Song Ren's words fell, a sense of resonance spread through the group.

The other teammates also spoke up.

'Yeah! Yeah! Leveling is so hard, skills are expensive, equipment repairs are expensive, and I can't even bear to use potions,' Zhang Yi complained in the chat group.

'Just pulling two monsters gets me killed,' Joey, still in Teldrassil's Shadowglen, agreed.

'Stop talking, you guys. My Paladin barely scratches monsters! Good thing Old Zhang is next to me,' Wang Han also complained. Of course, what she really wanted to complain about wasn't the Paladin class, but her Dwarf character.

She never imagined that while female Dwarves looked decent in concept art, they were so unattractive in-game. Weren't they much better in the promotional CG?

'Really? My Mage levels pretty easily, just a bit squishy. Plus, I just learned to conjure bread. When I run out of mana, I drink water out of combat, and when I'm low on health, I eat bread. You guys probably have Mages there, right? Say something nice to the Mage-lords and ask for some bread and water; it'll greatly boost your efficiency.' This was Wang Yifan's humblebragging in the discussion group.

Song Ren and the other three teammates fell silent. The small five-person group chat was quiet.

“You shut up!” the four said in unison.

Without waiting for Wang Yifan to reply, the four tacitly closed the chat group.

Was being a Mage so comfortable in the early game? Why was everyone's gaming experience completely different?

Song Ren mused as he traveled. The only flaw was that Song Ren felt the game was too damn realistic.

This realism wasn't just reflected in the customs of Azeroth, or the game's combat system, etc.

It was also reflected in his gaming experience as the future greatest warrior of Azeroth.

Equipment repair costs were outrageously expensive.

Learning skills was outrageously expensive.

Buying supplies was outrageously expensive.

To learn skills, he almost had to sell off all his equipment.

And when leveling up and fighting monsters, he could only take them on one by one.

Otherwise, he was very likely to be in mortal danger.

If he ran out of health, he could only recover it slowly.

Every expenditure felt like cutting flesh from his own body.

But complaints aside, Song Ren felt very satisfied so far, and he quite liked the Warrior class. Compared to the previous life, the VR version of World of Warcraft developed by Chen Xu had an epic enhancement.

That was the sense of impact – the visceral feeling of every blow landing, which was simply irresistible.

And as the class that could best enjoy this pure impact, with three different stances, a little hardship wasn't unbearable after all, he thought.

“Forget it, I’ll finish this quest first,” Song Ren sighed, expressing his feelings.

Having just completed the Millie's Grapes quest, Song Ren was preparing to also tackle a bounty quest he had previously accepted, called Garrick Padfoot.

However, as he followed the map, taking a small path to the quest objective at Northshire Farm, he was stunned.

(End of Chapter) <>