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World of Warcraft Review (continued)
More User Submitted World of Warcraft Reviews
Date: 2008-03-22
Many things to consider from an older, former console player
I used to play almost exclusively on Xbox 360 only using my cpu for surfing, documents, and the occasional trist in the world of Sid Meier's Civilizations. Over my Christams-New Years break I was introduced to this game by some friends I was visiting. The Xbox is now in a closet, the PC hooked up to the LCD TV, and I am hooked.
Since I started playing I have noticed a few things that people may want to consider before buying the product.
1) It is extremely beneficial to buy guides of some sort, so once you decide that you're going to play this game prepare for another layout of some bucks and also I recommend having a computer that can flip between windows as you may want to consult a website to help you get through some of the tougher quests.
2) If you like the game and can see yourself playing it for at least 6 months at a time go for the longer time option. 6 months at (I believe) $77 or so.
3) Most of the people on here seem to talk about PVP only servers where you are always flagged for PVP. There are also PVE servers where you can enable and disable PVP meaning you can quest without higher level players jumping you and basically play against the environment (although much of the really good equipment is only available through earning it in pvp arenas or battlegrounds).
4) The game is very addicting and time consuming. My highest charachter is at level 65 and I have already invested 12 days (288 hours) of time into building him (there are guides available that show you how to level faster, power level, but I really enjoy taking the game at my own pace.
5) The game can be soloed completely, and can also be run entirely with groups, although I've found that its best to have a mix of both.
6) Create more than 1 toon (charachter) at a time. If you dont touch use a charachter for some time they become rested and gain double exp for kills. This is an easy way to gain levels fast.
7) The game can be played out of the box with content dl only from Blizzard, but it is very beneficial to dl some third party addons. Many of these are easy to install, and have been used by millions with no problems, just check around before you dl something.
8) If Tuesday is you're main day for playing games don't buy. The servers are down most Tuesdays (sometimes for a short period, but they have been down till 3 or 4 eastern since I've started playing).
All in all WOW may be the most addicting game I have ever played. I have been mostly a PVP FPS player on consoles, but the depth of the game, the differing environments, the storyline, the RPG experience, and diversity of each charachter, along with all the added capabilities that the world of warcraft site and third party sites offer is incredible. For any gamer who likes RPG's that are realxing for the most part, but can be insanely intense during boss battles and PVP fighting. This game is definitely one of the best you'll buy. For those who consider money an issue.... if you buy one game a month that is more than the monthly fee for this game, and you probably won't want to buy many if any games (money saved). For those who don't consider money and issue, there are many other things you can purchase to enhace the experience and help you to level more efficiently. This game truly has something for everyone and is worth every dollar spent.
PS you can get a free trial and if you know someone who already has the game you can save them some money (get them to send you an email and they get a month for free if you pay for three months).
Date: 2008-03-10
Read the Review - esp. about it being Spyware - but still ok for me
I downloaded the trial version of WarCraft yesterday (Sun, 03/09/08) at about 11:30 AM EDT and didn't stop playing until 12:25 AM (Mon, 03/10/08). Needless to say I found WarCraft impressive. I went right to the '1' reviews here at Amazon and was also impressed by the fellow who basically called the program specialized spyware (because it is a EULA violation checker) and panned the customer service as arrogant and uncaring. I also read about 'after the 60 level" character limitation issue i.e. you have to join in a crowd to make any headway (i.e. not get killed .0001 seconds) unless you want to get into an endless loop of 'same-old, same-old'.
Well as I can get the program cheap for about $8.00 here at Amazon and since all I basically want to do is: kill monsters galore and freely and heavily flirt with the virtual hotties (God knows what these women look like behind the mask and I REALLY don't want to know) and as $15.00 per month is no hardship (cheaper than some dating services and I don't have to go on any expensive dates cringing about what she'll think of me or trying to be polite when she doesn't live up to the image she created in my mind with her online profile, emails and chat sessions) WarCraft should be fine for a past time for me and I do recommend.
Date: 2008-02-24
World of Warcraft Withdrawal
I have played all of Blizzard's previous Warcraft games, starting way back when with Warcraft I: Orcs and Humans in the early 90's. With each new game the series got deeper and by the end of Warcraft III it was clear that Blizzard was getting too deep storywise for another RTS game to adequately handle. I'm going to *greatly* miss playing Warcraft RTS games, because I've a sinking suspicion that they're not going to ever make another. World of Warcraft, for better or worse, is the wave of the future. More like a tidal wave of pure gaming heroin. This game builds upon the lore already laid down in the previous games in the franchise and immerses the player into one of the most well-thought out online games I've ever seen.
I should mention that while it's not necessary to have played the game's forebears it definitely adds to the overall enjoyment. You can visit famous battle sites and view some of the leftover relics of said battles in Loch Modan and Hillsbrad, be it destroyed Alliance ballistas or Horde watch towers . Swim around the sunken wrecks of Elvish Destroyers. Follow Arthas' path to insanity from Strahnbrad all the way to Stratholme, and see the aftermath of his actions in the ruins of the capital city of Lordaeron. Great pains have obviously been taken to provide previous Warcraft players with lots of detailed eye candy of historical battle sites that the players themselves commanded in the previous game installments.
The game itself allows you to play in one of two factions; Horde or Alliance. Horde faction allows the player to choose from several races; Orc, Tauren, Troll, Undead, or Blood Elf (if you have the Burning Crusade expansion). Alliance allows you to play a Human, Gnome, Dwarf, Night Elf, or Dranei, the latter if you, again, have the expansion. Each race has it's own starting city. Each major city has an adjacent "Newbie zone" which allows new players to gradually advance in level in phases, without dumping the uninformed player right in the middle of things, much like Ever Quest did. In addition to the race selection players can choose your standard class types, from Paladin, Warrior, Shaman, Mage, Priest, and the usual assortment of types.
As the player advances from the earliest levels they'll have the opportunity to engage in certain tradeskills. With this set of alternate "jobs" players can craft new swords, make rifles, brew potions and tinctures, manufacture leather goods, and the like. This is not shoved down the players throats and is completely optional.
At it's root this game, like many before it, is a game about favors. You, as the player, are constantly doing "favors" for various NPC's. "I need you to kill X number of X for me", or "Gather X number of this raw material for me" style quests. The quests themselves are not *nearly* as complex as they were with Ever Quest, where making a simple Soulfire paladin sword involved something near 20 individual steps and 5 or 6 unique actions. The quests in WoW are overly formulaic and one is nearly identical to the next, and that may eventually drive some people to boredom. Personally I am a big fan of solo play and don't like to be bothered with grouping unless there's no other way around a quest. WoW caters to my type almost perfectly, but also rewards those that like to group. In fact you'll find that the best weapons, armor, and items drop during group excursions, prompting even soloers like me to engage in group quests when the need arises.
World of Warcraft does provide ample rewards for the player that make up for any weaknesses on the quest side. At level 40 players can acquire their first "mount"; horses for Humans, Kodo beasts for Tauren, etc. Players can ride these mounts at a faster speed than they would normally traverse on foot and it saves for a lot of travel time. At level 60 one can get an upgraded mount for substantially more money, but a greatly increased travel speed. And if you get your mitts on the Burning Crusade expansion you'll have access to flying mounts and gyrocopters, although they're only usable in Outland.
The game, graphically, is very easy on the eyes and will run on the majority of PC's without any major issues, provided you're not in one of the major cities during peak hours (Ironforge is bad with lag, but Shat'rath is almost unbearable until 4am). The major cities each have their own unique feel about them, from the industrial motif of Dwarven Ironforge, to the shamanistic Tauren dwellings of Thunder Bluff, to the overly nature-themed Darnassus, home of the Night Elves. Music is also very well done with zone specific themes that play. And much of it is pretty catchy stuff, truth be told.
If Blizzard has one glaring weakness with this series it's that it doesn't release expansion packs in any manner that resembles timeliness. Expansions are made about once every other year, and given that there is a point where players will hit a "wall" where they can no longer advance in any substantial way, that's not at all a good thing. The next expansion is due for release sometime this summer, and it's already feeling long overdue. If Ever Quest I had any one advantage it was it's constant release of new material on a regular basis, almost like an "Expansion of the Month" kind of feel.
This game is a great value though and will provide you with many, many countless hours of enjoyment. It is addictive to a fault and will have you ever craving for more. Blizzard will even give you the first two weeks on a free trial basis to try out. There's nothing wrong with that.
Date: 2008-02-23
Fun, but has problems
I played for about a year, and really enjoyed it most of the time, I can't argue it's not a really fun, in depth game. However, you pay [...] dollars a month, but patches often break the game and/or down the servers. The focus of the game keeps changing, favoring pvp sometimes and pve sometimes. It is designed to be addictive, like a drug it's easily rewarding at first, but later painfully difficult to get rewarded. This can be very dangerous, and you must monitor yourself. After level 70 and some casual raiding, without significant time invested, you may hit a wall and be bored and make little/no progress. The servers are also loaded with bots, paid foreign farmers, racists, homophobes, and general idiots. Like many, many people, I became addicted and ruined my life playing the game, be warned.
Date: 2008-02-20
Confused.
To the poster that said they have over 100 people on ignore per day. You're just extremely uptight and must be doing something to piss off people in the game. Been playing this game since Beta Day 4 and I think the entire time I've been playing the only people on ignore have been friends and gold farmers.
Don't be misinformed by people claiming that everyone in game is out to get you. In fact, in most cases it's the exact opposite. Sure there's going to be the jerks out there but you'll also come to find some really nice players.
Also, to the person that said they never see anyone except in the big cities, go reroll on a higher population server. How do you expect Blizzard to keep 10 million people all on the same server? It's impossible there is no computer in the world that could handle even 1% of all that would be going on on that server.
It's a great game. People become addicted very easily. Don't fall into the trap, still keep time for real life if you plan on playing.
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