14 DAY TRIAL // Location: Bucharest, Romania. Date and time: November 12, 2008, 22:00. Event: The launch of "The Wrath of the Lich King," the second expansion to one of the world's most successful game titles to date, The World of Warcraft, an event that took place at midnight all over the world. While I’m not what you would call a WoW enthusiast, I do play the game, and I was actually looking forward to getting my hands on the new expansion for the World of Wacraft.
For a bit more clarity, if any is required, Romania is a country somewhere in Eastern Europe, which basically means that many Romanian WoW players got to install the new expansion and to upgrade their accounts ahead of most players around the world. However, there was a price to pay for being among the first to join the battle in the WoW expansion released by Blizzard, since, as you see or have heard, November isn't actually the warmest month of the year. Still, over 300, (if not more) World of Warcraft enthusiasts braved the harsh weather, anxiously waiting for Diverta (the shop where the launch event took place) to open its gates, and allow them to purchase the highly anticipated expansion.
I was there with a press pass, which actually meant that I was about to be among the very first to get my hands on "The Wrath of the Lich King" expansion DVD. This actually got me feeling all kinds of mixed things as I also had been anxiously waiting for the event for quite some time, but could not help but feel sorry for my fellow game players outside, who had to withstand the November cold. Still, the thought that I was just two hours away from upgrading my account to the new expansion was keeping my adrenaline level quite high.
After a quick introduction to what was new in "The Wrath of the Lich King," made by store representatives, me and fellow journalists were asked to wait until 12:00, when the official launch would take place for all users, and at which time we would be able to purchase the expansion.
One minute short of the highly awaited hour, gamers were allowed to enter the shop, and were directed to the counters where a small army of people was waiting to quickly provide them with the expansion DVD. Things were actually going very smoothly, as people were entering through one side of the shop, and exiting with their copy of the new WoW expansion through another.
At one point, since I had been holding my copy for almost one hour, I decided not to wait until all the people still waiting outside had gotten theirs. After all, the sense of anticipation is more than anyone can bear for too long, not to mention a gamer.
As soon as I got home, my PC was waiting for me to install a fresh copy of World of Warcraft (yes, there was no WoW installed on my PC, and things had been like that for a good while). Unfortunately, I only went so far as installing the game and upgrading the account to the expansion, since time does have a tendency to fly when you’re having fun – plus, the tiredness of a day’s work really got to me. Nevertheless, the weekend is just around the corner and the weather is as such that it’s practically inviting me to stay in and explore the new features in World of Warcraft. The Wrath of the Lich King.
