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 - World of Warcraft WithdrawalI 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. Rating:  - Fun, but has problemsI 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. Rating: - 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. Rating: - BEST GAME EVER!!!AWESOME!!! I never thought I would like MMORPGs. I've always played games like Baldur's Gate II, Neverwinter Nights, and Diablo, but after the trial, I had to have more!!! I bet right now they have clinics for people with WOW (World of Warcraft) addiction. Rating: - Addictive, Fun Online Role-Playing GameWorld of Warcraft is an excellent, but not ground-breaking, online fantasy role-playing game with the potential for unlimited fun. The gameplay is typical of the genre: you select a class and race, start at level one, go off on a lot of quests, gain experience and money, complete tougher quests, repeat. Where this game shines, though, is the online experience with other players. Blizzard has succeeded in creating an online environment with great opportunities for interaction with other players. You can formally team up with other players in groups to complete individual quests, sharing loot and experience, or you can join guilds to have a larger group of friends ready and willing to help you out. Also, as often happens, you can informally help another player out with a battle or quest by simply helping them with a tough fight or casting a helpful spell on them. So far I've found the other players, by and large, courteous and very helpful. I've had more experienced players spend lots of their time helping me out by showing me new areas or features, and almost all are willing to answer a question or two. The gameplay is very well-done, with an intuitive but customizable interface. Often the quests aren't overly challenging, especially because of the poor AI of the bad guys, but they're still fun. Finally, Blizzard has created a huge world in World of Warcraft, and populated it with two factions. Players at higher levels may raid the homelands of the other factions, while players at lower levels experience the thrill and terror of real (not AI) threats bearing down on them. The opportunity to interact with other players, both on friendly and deadly terms, gives this game unlimited potential for exploration and fun. This is a highly-addictive game!
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