World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

Ten Ton Hammer: Tell us a little bit about your gaming history. It sounds like you've been a big gamer, so where did you start?

Matt: I've always enjoyed Blizzard games, but my sister's boyfriend introduced me to Starcraft. That was pretty much the end for me.

Ten Ton Hammer: Hooked?

Matt: Yeah. And then I played the original Warcraft and Diablo on the Playstation.

But what really sealed the deal was Diablo II and its hardcore mode. One summer we played on the hardcore server, and my buddies and I got really high on that. My friend had an Amazon up to level 88 before she died. He's a pretty mellow guy, but he just about broke his desk when he lost her. He's been my best friend for 15 years, and it's still angriest I've ever seen the guy.

I thought the hours were ridiculous, but that was before World of Warcraft came out.

Ten Ton Hammer: So was WoW your first MMO?

Matt: I definitely tried a whole bunch of others. Star Wars Galaxies...that game was one of the first and it was HARD. Diablo II is a pretty easy game, you don't need any real strategies in it. SWG needed time, and lots of people. We tried to make buildings, and I thought we were doing great, but we still sucked.

I also tried Final Fantasy XI, but both it and SWG seemed so slow.

Ten Ton Hammer: Walking back and forth between places took so long.

Matt: Exactly!

Ten Ton Hammer: So what's your main character in WoW?

Matt: I play a mage. I've got some decent gear, a few epics but nothing too good.

Ten Ton Hammer: What are you specced in?

Matt: Right now, I'm specced in Frost for our PvP team, but I usually change over to Frost/Fire for our raids.