World of Warcraft

There are two big genres that have taken over the PC market. In one hand you have shooters, which use computer's natural ability to generate high quality graphics to create realistic experiences of firefights. On the other hand, you have the huge market of the Massively Multiplayer Online games- the games created to take gamers hundreds of hours, be they Role Playing or flying a spaceship through asteroids. Ever since Everquest, Massively Multiplayer Online games have become the staple of the hardcore PC market, netting huge amounts of money from an economy and system that do not exist in the physical world. The sheer popularity of these games have led from fame to poverty, and in some cases, death from an overwhelming addiction to the game. Needless to say, the games are hugely popular in the gaming industry. But, from about the year 2000 on, the world experienced what could best be described as a game deficiency. The industry was bored with the games. Everquest was becoming boring to even the most hardcore players and showed a definite age, and even newer Massively Multiplayer games began to appear to many as being "Just another MMO". Nothing special.

That was, until Blizzard showed up. Blizzard, the company responsible for hit games like Diablo and Warcraft, did some behind-the-scenes thinking. The MMO industry at that time absolutely blew. Blizzard knew how to make one hell of an RPG, and had a license that had gamers coming in droves. So, what happened? They got together and made World of Warcraft, the Massively Multiplayer rendition of the strategy game.

I think the best way to do this review is to go step by step in the experience of World of Warcraft. Typically in reviews, I simply gloss over different aspects, from graphics to sound to all of the different factors you will encounter, and wrap it up with a Buy/No Buy statement. This time around, I will take you progressively into the world of World of Warcraft. This way, you can see this game beyond just being another generated game, and being an actual world. This is somewhat of a recompense for my horrible MMORPG reviews of my earlier GT years, so now you can actually see the world from my view.

World of Warcraft, or, WoW for short, first and formost, is a pay to play game. This means two things. One, it means that you are expected to pay for every month you play this game, which obviously means you need a credit card and some kind of income. Secondly, it means this game excepts itself from a lot of "Free to Play" Korean MMORPGs. The latter kind of games typically are overpopulated, have horrible economic systems, and are rife to exploit. To prevent this, Blizzard charges a feasible fee (Somewhere along the lines of $12 a month) for server upkeep, maintenance, and to make it, as I like to put it, "Free of Freebies". Thankfully, to offset this cost, I got the game itself free via a "Try it" CD, and simply upgraded my account, which is a godsend to us who consider the game "Warcrack".

Starting the game off is, thankfully, pretty simple. Installation of the game as well as signing up takes only approximately 20 minutes tops, and that time thanks to frequent update => restarts you must preform. While it's quite annoying, it definitely is a lot easier than the PlayOnline installation/registering (For Final Fantasy XI), which took a whopping hour and a half to complete. Click, click, boom, hello Title screen.

When you start off the game, you will quickly notice that this game has a surprising lenience towards server assignment. You can switch servers whenever you want (Though, do note that you don't carry characters from server to server), which allows you to accommodate for huge lag spikes or whatever may happen. However, the catch to this is the character carrying, and obviously once you hit level 60 on any given server, you're very unlikely to switch for no drastic reason.



The game engine itself is one of the most basic yet useful I have ever encountered in a MMORPG. Instead of being simply a converted format from a game console (FFXI) or an overly complex interface that confuses many new gamers (Everquest I/II), World of Warcraft's GUI (Graphical User Interface) and user interface options really set the game as quite simple. Everything is essentially on the bottom row, with hotkey assignments as well as an extremely useful Experience Points bar, health/mana counter, buttons to open up other menus (Such as your equipment loadout, your spell book), and your equipment (Which, for the most part, entails the backpacks and packs you have on your person). Other than that, the screen is very "Clean", and doesn't have the huge GUI and different animations of many MMOs. In fact, the game lets you go so far as to scale down the GUI, for more to see on your actual screen. Very nice, very simple, and the learning curve for such a game is so simple, I found it almost TOO easy.

When you first start out, you are presented with the character select system. This allows you to basically build a character from the ground up depending on set standards. From Human Magi to Tauren Hunters, the game gives you a surprising amount of changeable features for your character, from hairstyle to facial structure. While it's definitely nothing ultra unique, it at least makes virtually everyone look the same, and for the most part, you will not run into 100 different characters looking just like you. The class system is probably the most innovative of this feature, different classes and abilities each specializing in different skills and talents, the line between the classes very distinct, and every class inevitably is useful at some point. Unlike some MMORPGs where there are characters that are generally considered useless or for Goldfarmers (FFXI's Dragoon), all classes are useful and become good parts of any team. Of course, the same kind of problems apply in this game as in any RPG, online or not, such as the unfair weakness of the Mage characters and the crippling tank-qualities of the Warriors, but both end up playing integral parts of the game. Just for reference purposes, I'll quickly give you an idea of what kind of classes you will experience:

- Warriors, characters made specifically to take and give out physical damage,
- Paladins, similar to warriors except with healing ability and less raw power,
- Druids, able to transform as well as cast massive healing spells,
- Hunters, using pets as well as a variety of ranged weapons,
- Mages, casting devastating spells quickly and with high damage rates,
- Priests, users of light magic as well as curing magic,
- Rogues, able to dart around and cause huge amounts of damage with quick reflexes,
- Shaman, basically Mages for the Horde,
- and Warlocks, using insane dark magic to cause huge damage on any foe.

It's a pretty impressive list. Granted, a lot of the classes tend to intersect each other, but I must note that not all classes can be taken by all races, so overall when it's counted per race, every race has quite a substantial list of classes and abilities to be used.



So, how does the game play? Well. When you play your character, you are inevitably lead into the addiction to the game which gives it the nickname "Warcrack.". The game is absolutely engrossing in every facet. From day one as a Paladin killing Wolves in a forest to day three as a level 20 Paladin trying to learn how to mine, the addiction stays for every second I play this game. In fact, this review wouldn't be being written if it were not for the depressing fact that my server, due to a Sunday rush, is full and the line to get in is huge. This is absolutely amazing to me, because it is this engrossing game play and great game style that gets me, who generally hates MMORPGs with a passion, into playing it nonstop every second I have free.

The game, which again is something I've never seen in a MMORPG before, is actually funner the more you play. Many MMORPGS fall into the bad habit of creating a great low-level experience than making the "10+" experience a boring level mill. WoW beats this with great quests, huge worlds to explore (Which, there are multiple areas for the same level range, unlike games which give you "An area for every 10 levels") and serious tasks to make you preform deep into the game. Many game players well into the current level limit (Which is a hard level 60) saying being "Stuck" at level 60 is funner than the earlier parts of the game, because Blizzard keeps World of Warcraft moving, no matter if you are level 10 or level 50. Tired of leveling? Quest. Tired of Questing? Go perform one of your two jobs. Tired of your jobs? Go help low level newbies and gain money. Tired of gaining money? Explore to find new areas. Tired of that? Go level. The whole array of options to you of "What to do" definitely makes what could have just been a boring level mill into an innovative platter of options. The feeling I got with World of Warcraft is a lot like the feeling I get at an all-you-can-eat buffet- there's so much to do, I don't even know where to start.

That all-you-can-eat analogy applies to most of this game. Even with a guide I found on the Internet for World of Warcraft, I found the sheer amount of choices as to what to do and how to do it left me feeling like I was beyond a simple MMORPG with a pseudo-linear path. For example, as a Paladin, I spent most of my time focusing on questing and leveling to boost my skill. Another Paladin, starting virtually the same time I did, spent most of his time on jobs and side quests. The result was simple- while I may be level 20, he has far superseded me in his ability to Mine and his Blacksmith profession. Another Paladin may opt to focus primarily on magical abilities, so while he may be my level, he may have insane magical prowess that allows him to work with enemies on a much more complex level than I. This amount of pure variety leads even two completely similar characters to different results, and as many may find, this makes the world truly unique.



So, with countless accounts by different friends, my own personal experience for the limited time I had, and the vast information available on the Internet, I can safely conclude this game is one of the, if not the most vast MMORPGs out there. While games like Everquest II may be the most complex so far as quantity goes, this does not necessarily mean that World of Warcraft is shallow in comparison. This leads me to one of the more important things in the game: the community.

The community in World of Warcraft is basically American. That statement means so much and so little at the same time, so I felt a paragraph or two would be needed to adequately explain what this means. Most Massively Multiplayer Online games on the market are either made by or generally inundated by Asian gamers. This generally means two things- one, the game servers tend to be occupied at odd times, and two, the attitudes of the players change. In general, Asian players are more polite and forgiving and tend to work together more than American players. They also tend to be less stupid, which tends to happen with American run games.



Much like Counter Strike, World of Warcraft's player base basically breaks into three categories. One being the elite, the people who play the game for hours which are in virtually every MMORPG. Just think of some sort of stuck up snob and you have these guys stereotyped quite nicely. Next, you have the up and coming players who generally work together, but also can be quite selfish. Basically, these guys run around begging for things, making fun of lower levels, and generally wanting to be elite, but not quite there. Then you have the American addition: the idiot. The idiot is the person, who, for all intents and purposes, fulfills his purpose in life: To be laughed at by everyone else. For example, not one hour in the game do I see a message yelled to everyone in the Stormwind area:

"HEY GUYS HOW DO I TURN OFF CAPS LOCK??????"

Well, okay. That's fine. Let's give this guy the benefit of the doubt and just presume he/she's new to computers. Obviously World of Warcraft was not the best gaming choice for them, but whatever. So, a good old player yells back:

"Push the button right below your TAB key, it's on the right side of your keyboard."

Then I thought it was over. Hopefully, with at least 102 keys on his keyboard, he could find one of two keys on there: Caps Lock or Tab. Those two keys are on virtually every keyboard, be you French, English, Russian, Bulgarian, Thai, Chinese, Korean, Japanese- ANY OF THEM. Hell, he would at least need some form of keyboard to install World of Warcraft. But no, we continue to get messages for the next thirty minutes along these lines:

"GUYS STOP MAKING FUN OF ME TELL ME HOW TO TURN OFF CAPS LOCK NOW YOU JERKS"

You know, I think he still may be typing in caps. But it's a great example of the type of people you may run across. For the most part, you may find great, fun people, but just be warned, you haven't played World of Warcraft until you've played it with the Idiot.

But, even with that kind of guy around, you will still have a blast. The price may be a little high, but for the resulting enjoyment you get from this game, I have no doubt that, if it hasn't already, this game will supersede Everquest II in sales, population, and popularity in general. There's a reason for that- World of Warcraft is, without a doubt, the best MMORPG I have ever played. Everything fits in perfectly into a nice buffet of variety and fun, and even though I've had a blast with other MMORPGs, none have engrossed me so much as this game. This game has continually won constant awards, and should continue to win them so long as it continues to be the great game it is. If you are looking into a Massively Multiplayer Online game, there is no realistic alternative: World of Warcraft. Go play it and enjoy it like thousands of players on close to a hundred servers have. You won't be disappointed one bit.

5 star(s) out of 5

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