So, I recently reached level 10. Let me tell you, was I in for a surprise.

There are a couple of interesting things when I finally hit double digits. First of all, one of my biggest issues with the game got addressed, however briefly. I don't like the impersonal feel the game has. The little intro cinematic told me that the fate of Ironforge was in my hands, but at this point I mostly feel like an intern running errands for the people with enough sense to build a house and stay put. When I reached level 10 however I received several quests which applied to me specifically (or at least created the illusion) regarding my hunter...dom. My hunterdom. I was taught by some hairy old dwarf hunter master how to tame animals to be my freinds. This took a little while, but eventually I left with a whole bunch of experiance and some neat abilities. While this still isn't as intimate as I would like the world to be, it certainly was a step in the right direction.

Immediatly after that fun little excursion I left snowy dwarf land and entered sunny dwarf land, which is gorgeous, esspeically Loch Modan which I just wanted to run down to and swim in (I wouldn't recomend it--there is an abundance of creatures normally ascociated with a certain other Loch). This new place introduced a whole number of interesting things including a new found ability to ride griffons which is so much fun it is actually worth the money I lose from not just using my hearthstone. However, the most relevant development I found was spiders. Giant spiders. Giant tarantullas more like it, actually. Naturally I tamed one as soon as I possibly could.


Hunters: the game COMPLETELY changes once you get a pet. My spider has more health than me, and does more dammage. It is like suddenly getting twice as powerful. Since taming Winsor (the name I have given my new partner) I have leveled up at least twice per session, not even close to my previous crawl (I hit level 14 by the next day). In addition it emphasized how much of a team game it really is. While he (or she?) runs up to our enemy, I just stand back with my gun and rattle of a bunch of shots and spells. There are few things we've encountered, including things four or five levels above us which don't go down almost immediatly.

So, I don't really know what this says about the game. It picks up, that's sure. I'm still not sure if it has picked up enough. After all, the excitement of running around with a gigantic spider is bound to wear off eventually. Until then though, Winsor and I are going to see how much dammage we can do to ourselves by jumping off cliffs (our current record is 256 dammage each).

Bonus Question: Which two words in this post would make the best movie title?
Answer: "Taming Winsor"