World of
Warcraft will be officially released to the public tomorrow,
November 23rd, after a long period of beta testing which is
something Blizzard has finally got us used to, but who can
complain really when a high quality game gets released in
the end, or at least that can be said about many of their
previous titles (we will let you judge by yourself once WoW
is out in the streets). I have been playing through the new
Warcraft since the earlier beta tests and will give you a
quick rundown on what to expect before you rush to the
stores to get the game.
With the purchase of the game, users
will receive a one-month free subscription. After the trial
has ended, players will be able to choose from three
different subscription plans: a basic monthly fee of $14.99,
a three-month plan costing $13.99 per month, and a six-month
plan costing $12.99 per month.
Right now, the lands of Azeroth,
Lordaeron, Khaz Modan, and the newly discovered land
Kalimdor are featured in the game. These names should seem
familiar because they are territories taken from the
original Warcraft line of games from Blizzard. Players will
be able to play eight unique races, with two different
alliances. The human alliance consists of Humans, Dwarves,
Night Elves, and Gnomes. The hordes, who are natural enemies
of the humans, consist of Orcs, Taurens, Trolls, and the
Undead.
Note: This
article was based on the early private beta test so a
few things might have changed through the course of the
open beta and final game.
After a player chooses what race they
want, there are nine different classes that can be chosen:
paladins, rogues, priests, hunters, warlocks, druids,
warriors, mages, and shamans. Much like in Diablo II, there
is a lot of room for experimentation with each of the
different races and classes.
Each player can learn a pair of
professions (trade-skills) that will allow characters to be
more successful at given tasks. The game consists of nine
primary professions and three secondary professions. The
nine primary professions include herbalism, mining,
skinning, alchemy, blacksmithing, engineering,
leatherworking, tailoring, and enchanting. The three
secondary professions are fishing, cooking, and first aid. A
player has to choose two primary professions and can train
in all three secondary professions.
Something that people do not care for
with Diablo II is the game sometime relies heavily on
cooperative or team play. WoW has a lot of flexibility and
will allow players the opportunity to roam freely throughout
the land, even without a party.
Since WoW is a MMORPG, it would be
rather difficult to transfer items, gold or supplies to
other characters. Blizzard solved this problem by
implementing a mailbox feature. The mailbox is a service
offered in many towns so players may communicate with one
another. In essence, you can send a letter (something like
an email), gold, and even items to other characters. This is
the easiest way to transfer items to another character when
no one is available to help.
One feature I really liked was the
unique and intricate towns and cities. There are six major
cities in the game: Stormwind, Ironforge, Darnassus,
Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, and The Undercity. Even though
each town's residents are a certain class, characters of a
different class can still visit other towns. Players have
the chance to interact with numerous NPCs capable of giving
quests, sell items, and even be attacked and killed during
raids. Sometimes it is actually a player's duty to help
protect a local town and kill invading enemies if guards are
not present to complete the task.
Inevitably, after a tough battle, death
is bound to happen. After a player dies, there are two
options and both are sometimes important in certain
situations. The first option is to be immediately
resurrected but be penalized a certain amount of experience
points and lose 10% durability on items. The second option
is to "corpse run." A "corpse run" is where a player runs
back to the corpse as a ghost. This allows players to
continue playing wherever they where without having to roam
the area and re-kill monsters that may have re-spawned.
Scouting as a ghost cannot happen because after a player
dies, the ghost is not able to see monsters or players.
Currently, there are over 1,500 quests
in World of Warcraft. The large number of quests insures
players will always have a task to accomplish in order to
receive handsome rewards that range from money, items, and
sometimes more quests. The Blizzard level designers have
also placed several secret locations or "easter eggs" into
the game so players always have something to do when they
connect to a server.
It is fairly easy to level up by using
items that are purchased from vendors in town, crafted by
players, and given as rewards to quests. Something that
turned a few people away from Diablo II was the items
provided by vendors in each act were not very powerful and
could not allow players to play the game efficiently.
One aspect I did not like about the game
very much was the transportation. Although there are unique
transportation systems that allow users to go from place to
place quickly, lower level characters may spend a lot of
time finding their way back to town after wandering a long
distance. At level forty characters can ride mounted
animals, specific to each race. Humans will ride warhorses,
Orcs will ride dire wolves, and Dwarves will ride battle
rams. Some towns allow players to hire flying mounts for a
small fee. The first few times it is fun and entertaining to
make the flight, but the process can become rather boring
and tedious after enough times. Also, during the closed
beta, the flying mounts sometimes didn't fly anywhere or
often flew in the wrong direction.
On November 23rd, Blizzard Entertainment
will release its debut MMORPG, and it appears that it won't
disappoint. World of Warcraft offers top-notch graphics,
vast land to explore, an ample amount of quests, and servers
packed with plenty of players. Although the thought of
playing something like a MMORPG may turn off Blizzard
fanatics, World of Warcraft is a game that should be at
least considered, if not taken seriously by veteran RPG
players.
