WoW: Forever lets players hit a scorpion with a club for 38 seconds straight, and one writer says that is exactly why the beta is worth watching.
Lincoln, a longtime MMO writer whose career includes stints at Waypoint, Polygon and Fanbyte, spent a half-minute watching his orc bludgeon a scorpion in the Valley of Trials. He found the slow grind more satisfying than any frantic fight.
Club Fight That Stuck
The encounter came early in the Forever beta. Lincoln’s orc emerged from the introductory quests into the wider scrublands of Durotar, where a hostile scorpion wandered too close to the road toward Razor Hill. For 38 seconds, Lincoln did nothing but watch the orc swing a wooden club at the creature.
He describes the moment with full sincerity: those 38 seconds were “peak gaming.”
Slowing Down MMOs
Lincoln is not arguing that MMOs should return to a broken past. He is making a broader point about pace. Modern games push players toward constant action — faster kills, bigger numbers, instant rewards. That pace has spread beyond combat into every corner of play.
MMOs now assume low-level characters should enjoy a frenzy of special attacks, button presses and near-instant kill times. Forever, by contrast, slows things down. Lincoln’s orc swings slowly, and the game gives him room to look around.
What Gets Lost
When games move at top speed, they leave little room for thought. Players rush from one objective to the next without pausing. Lincoln says that pace has made him miss the simple act of wandering and wondering.
In the 38-second club fight, he had time to admire the sunrise spilling over the redstone crags of the Horde heartland. He could hear the ambient wind and the distant war drums of the soundtrack. He could watch a troll warlock moving toward him in the distance and wonder what business that player was running.
Those moments of curiosity are the heart of his argument. MMOs have traded depth for velocity, and he believes the genre would be better off slowing back down.
Testing the Idea
Lincoln tested this idea during a week with Star Wars Galaxies, where he forwarded the belief that MMOs should rediscover their willingness to burn more of our time. The scorpion fight in Forever has only strengthened that conviction.
“Those were 38 seconds of peak gaming.”
The comparison is telling. One game pushes players forward. The other asks them to sit still for half a minute and watch a club swing.
| Game | Pace | Player Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Star Wars Galaxies | Fast | Constant action, quick rewards |
| WoW: Forever | Slow | Room to look around, wander, wonder |
Popular Response
Forever’s popularity has validated the idea that slower MMOs can satisfy players. Lincoln frames the beta’s success as proof that the genre has room to move away from constant acceleration.
The question is whether the shift sticks this time.
A Writer’s Long Road
Lincoln has been writing about games for 12 years. He has leveraged his World of Warcraft background to cover sites like Waypoint, Polygon and Fanbyte, and he spent three years freelancing for PC Gamer before joining as a full-time News Writer in 2024.
His portfolio includes Caves of Qud bird diplomacy, getting sons killed in Crusader Kings, and hitting dinosaurs with hammers in Monster Hunter. That range shows a writer who has spent his career looking at games from unusual angles.
The scorpion fight fits that pattern. It is a small moment, but it captures something real about how players want to spend their time.
The Bottom Line
The scorpion fight is a joke. It is also a serious observation about pace. MMOs have moved so fast that players rarely stop to look around. Forever asks players to do exactly that.
Lincoln’s orc swung a club for 38 seconds. He enjoyed the moment, and he wrote about it. That is a kind of honesty the genre rarely allows itself.
The MMO industry chases constant acceleration. Forever suggests there is value in the opposite direction. Whether the genre listens is another question.
For now, the lesson is simple: sometimes it is fun to hit a scorpion with a club for 38 seconds.
Source material: “Sometimes it's fun to hit a scorpion with a club for 38 seconds,” PC Gamer.
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