Putting a sense mystery back in the game?

About a month ago, I wrote about the contrast between playing as a new player and playing as someone with more experience with WoW. Well, the topic has once again been brought to the forefront of my mind, because as I was taking my long-suffering shaman alt through Dragonblight today, I did a quest in a crypt that brought me back to my first serious character, an undead warrior (the crypt reminded me quite a bit of Tirisfal Glades, which is why it brought me back to that time of newbish-amazement). Once again, I was overwhelmed by that same sense that I talked about in my last post on the topic: that sense of immersion, of wonder, of amazement over what has been seen. It brought me back to that time when things were simpler, and I could enjoy these simple things without wanting/eagerly awaiting more.

I theorized in my last post that what differentiated my behavior as a player now and my behavior as a player then was the fact that I was more concerned about efficiency now; more concerned about efficiently leveling my character, efficiently leveling my professions, efficiently playing the game in general. The only reason I could be this concerned was that experience had given me the knowledge of various was of playing the game, as well as knowledge of the potential consequences of playing the game "incorrectly". Is it any surprise, then, that when I finally realized today what it was that made the game so amazing when I first started playing, the answer I hit upon was the simple concept of mystery?

It really is a very simple idea: if gaining knowledge of the game is what takes the wonder of it away, then not having that knowledge is what makes the game so wondrous. When we don't know what amazing abilities and spells are going to be available to us at later levels, it's easier to enjoy using the abilities and spells we have now. When we don't know that there are better designed quests waiting for us on a new continent, it's easier to enjoy the quests we are doing now. When we don't know how powerful the gear available to us at higher levels is, it's easier to be excited about an upgrade at a lower level. And in a larger sense, as I have said before, it's easier to enjoy the game now when you don't know that better content is on its way and you don't know just how much better than content is going to be.

So the question in my mind then becomes, is it ever possible to regain this sense of mystery? Is it ever possible to somehow return to a time when things were new? I doubt it's possible to do so without starting over in a completely new game, but I don't think it's completely impossible to do in WoW. The game is always changing, and WoW as it is now is a very different game from WoW when it first came out. Considering just how much is going to change in Cataclysm, there's certainly plenty of potential to rekindle that sense of mystery. The quests in the redesigned Azeroth will be quite new to us, as will the overall design of the zones. Though we will be getting many of the same abilities as we level a character, the order and pace at which we get them after Cataclysm comes out will be quite unlike the order and pace at which we get them now. The talent trees will also be quite different, and spending talents in them will be exceptionally different as well, for we will be getting one point every two levels.

Yes, the potential is certainly there, so the challenge lies, for me, at least, in spoiling as little as possible for myself. I've been dutifully avoiding spoilers of what the new zones and the redesigned zones look like and what their quests there will be like, but I recently discovered that I probably have to do even more to truly make Cataclysm the wonderous experience it can be. If I want Cataclysm to really bring back some of that mysterious wonder into the game, I need to try to stay as virginal as I can when it comes to knowledge of the mechanics as well. That's why I've stopped trying to become familiar with the rogue talent trees and the order in which rogues get abilities (my first alt after Cataclysm drops will probably be a rogue); I want the experience to be new, fresh, to be something that can revive that feeling I felt when I first started playing. And in order for that to happen, I need to know as little as possible going in.

And I'm ok with that. I'm ok with the idea of avoiding information for the sake of making the experience better, because I know it will be worth it. I'm also with the opposite, with sacrificing some small parts of the experience for the sake of knowing more when Cataclysm comes out. I do still keep up with many of the changes to the mechanics of the game, because as a new player, there's some level of foreknowledge that I just need to have, or else I won't feel comfortable going in. That sense of mystery can never be completely reclaimed, after all, so there really isn't any harm in knowing some things beforehand; it's just the way a player like me plays.