World of Warcraft Beta Journal #1

MMORPGDot has begun a new beta journal for World of Warcraft, with the first installment discussing their first impressions and the quest system. An excerpt:
You're going to hear a lot about my love for the quests in World of Warcraft. The reason I find them so endearing is that the world is very obviously built for the quests. There are little side areas and monster haunts that, upon first sight simple do nothing but give you a landmark to remember. A level or two later, it turns out that the haunt is the location of a beast or item that a new friend of yours needs. One of the most enjoyable quests I did early in my carrier was a straight up monster hunt in a cave in the corner of Dun Morogh. I was around level 6, and a gentlman in the hamlet of Kharaonas asked me to whack some of the trolls that were residing in the cracks of the world. I hooked up with a small group of gnome adventurers and we headed in. The ease of grouping is extreme. Experience is divied fairly and the default looting scheme is "Round Robin". Each adventurer gets a chance in turn to loot the bodies of the monsters you slay. If a quest calls for a looted item, everyone in the party who has the quest gets a copy of the item, ensuring that groups *want* to form in order to quest for items. It's a great system that has no basis in "reality", but reinforces once again the excellence of the game design behind this game.