It seems almost impossible to play video games for extended periods of time and not fall into some sort of rut or routine. We figure out what’s most beneficial and enjoyable, and we tend to do those same activities over and over again until one day, we flame out hard. As you wouldn’t want to over-farm the same piece of land, it’s a bad idea to endlessly repeat the same content the same way.
So if this is how you’re feeling in World of Warcraft lately — that you’ve been in a deep rut — then there’s some really good news that doesn’t require waiting for Blizzard to chuck new content your way. Players have come up with some pretty fun optional challenges that can shake things up and help you approach this MMO from a fresh perspective. Today, I’m going to share six of these with you (and no, none of them will be hardcore permadeath, since that’s now an official ruleset).
The Ironman Challenge
If you (rightly) feel that World of Warcraft’s leveling game is a complete joke, then this challenge is for you. The Ironman Challenge voluntarily strips away a lot of help and power while you’re leveling to create a much more difficult experience from 1 to 70.
Partakers of this challenge reject any heirloom gear or gear that’s above grey or white quality. Additionally, you can’t enhance gear, add enchantments, use talent points, access professions, chug down potions, eat food, group up, run dungeons, use addons, or join a guild (except for an Ironman guild). Now, you may use mounts, equip bags, and do quests, but that’s about it.
Traditional Ironman runs also throw a hardcore element — no deaths or else you restart. That’s up to you, honestly. I can see it being quite fun even if you do allow resurrections.
The Loremaster Challenge
This one is as simple as it is lengthy: complete the Loremaster achievement. This means visiting every named area of every zone in the game. Granted, this is easier with flying, but it still takes a good long while and is best attempted in chunks here and there. Not only will this take you on an extensive tour of the entire world, but you’ll get the “Loremaster” title for supreme bragging rights.
The Nomadic Challenge
This one’s been around a while, but that’s a good sign of enduring popularity, right? The idea with the Nomadic Challenge is that instead of equipping heirloom, quest reward, or dungeon gear, you can wear only gear that you find, craft, or buy from a vendor out in the world. Hence the name “nomadic,” since it’ll force you to travel around for the best in purchasable (or craftable) items.
The Pacifist Challenge
Can you level to the cap without killing a single anything? That’s the high standard set by the famous Pacifist challenge. You’ll mainly be leveling through gathering, crafting, and exploration — which, as you might imagine, is pretty tough to do if you’re not allowed to kill any of the critters that often cross your path.
You can ratchet up the difficulty of this run even further by giving yourself only one life, eschewing any XP-boosting items or activities, and only wearing gear that’s white or grey quality.
The Blood Thirsty Challenge
The polar opposite of pacifist, the Blood Thirsty Challenge throws down a mighty gauntlet: You can only level by killing mobs — no questing, dungeons, raids, or availing yourself of other sources of XP. So basically, it’s a massive grindfest.
There are a few exceptions for questing, mostly to access certain expansions or zones and to finish racial or class introductions that are otherwise inescapable. Also, the maximum quality gear you can wear in this challenge is green (better than some of the other challenges, but still).
The Naked Challenge
As the title implies, you’ll have to strip down to your skivvies and see how well you can conquer Azeroth with everyone laughing (or leering) at your birthday suit. Generally with this challenge you can equip white or grey weapons but no gear (even rings or trinkets), and you have the option whether or not you want to make this journey with hardcore rules in place or give yourself some grace by allowing for deaths.
Have you ever tried one of these challenges or another one entirely? Let us know in the comments!
War never changes, but World of Warcraft does, with almost two decades of history and a huge footprint in the MMORPG industry. Join Eliot Lefebvre and Justin Olivetti for new installments of WoW Factor as they examine the enormous MMO, how it interacts with the larger world of online gaming, and what’s new in the worlds of Azeroth and Draenor.
