World of Warcraft Review
World of Warcraft (WoW) is a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) created by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth game in the Warcraft series, and was released in November 2004, and since then, has become the worlds largest MMORPG, with over 9 million players worldwide, and has won huge amounts of praise winning many gaming awards.
The Burning Crusade expansion pack was released in January 2007, which further added to the huge amount of gaming content available, and recently, a second expansion pack has been announced, The Wrath of the Lich King, which will be available from August 3rd 2007.
Players create a character to enter the world of Azeroth, with 9 playable classes, 10 races, gender selection and detailed customisation of everything from peircings and skin colour, to beards and hairstyle, the possibilities for creating a unique character is huge. To play two of the newest races, Blood Elves and Draenei, the Burning Crusade is required.
Two factions exist in the game, who oppose each other greatly. The Alliance and The Horde. Each race belongs to either of the factions, so choosing to play as a gnome will put you on the side of the Alliance for example. The faction chosen will affect what area of the world you start in, which towns you can enter (without being attacked!) as well as who you can interact with in the game. Members of opposite factions can do little in the way of communication, only emotes can be used, of which there are many. If you plan to play along with friends, you will have to both be on the same side, in order to play together, share quests and help each other in dungeons.
Depending on the server you select to play on, will determine the rules when it comes to meeting a member of the opposite faction. On normal realms, you can only attack the opposite faction if they have activated PvP manually, whereas on PvP realms, you are vulnerable to attack constantly throughout the game.
Each class has very unique skills, and all classes have different playing styles:
The warrior for example is physically strong, with high strength and stamina, and is capable of wielding a huge variety of weapons.
The rogue is fragile, but deadly, and uses stealth and assassination techniques to deal out huge amounts of damage.
The warlock is an offensive spellcaster, who inflicts pain upon his enemies through curses and can summon various demons to aid him.
The mage is a master of the elements, and uses offensive spellcasting to create huge damage on its foes.
The druid can shapeshift, to become a bear, a cat, a seal, a moonkin, a tree or a bird, and each form has its own unique abilities.
The paladin is a hybrid class, that’s strengths are its melee damage capability and the use of holy spells, to heal and aid allies.
The priest can use holy spells to perform huge healing upon its allies, as well as use shadow spells to damage its opponents.
The shaman has the unique ability to summon totems to aid itself and allies, as well as deal potent damage from either melee, or from ranged spells, as well as having decent healing capability.
The hunter is a ranged attacker, using bows or guns to deal its damage. Also hunters can train wild beasts they find throughout the world, and turn them into loyal companions that fight by their side.
When starting out, after creating a new character, the world ahead can seem very daunting; 70 levels to attain, 60 different areas to explore, 47 dungeons to conquer, and countless numbers of items, armours and weapons to choose from. Thankfully, new players are introduced into the game comfortably, by being guided through their first quests and areas by handy tips and hints that pop up when a new action can be performed.
The control system is also very simple, WASD controls the movement of your character, and mouse clicks control interaction with the environment. The user interface is also very customisable, and the game allows you to download various UI add-ons, to further personalise your gameplay. When new combat skills are learnt, they can be dragged and place on one of the various action bars, then either pressing the corresponding keyboard key, or clicking on the icon with the mouse, will activate the skill.
This is a screenshot showing my current interface, which is slightly modified
After killing a monster, discovering a new area, or completing a quest, your character will gain experience. (exp) After gaining a certain amount of exp the character will level up, increasing their stats, and allowing the training of new skills. After gaining a number of levels, you will be able to travel between suitable areas to explore, of which there are many choices. At any one level, there are normally 2 or 3 areas which suit your needs perfectly, so even if playing the game on a second character, you have the opportunity to level along a different path.
Each character can master 2 trade skills while levelling up. The choices are mining, blacksmithing, engineering, jewelcrafting, herbalism, alchemy, skinning, leatherworking, enchanting and tailoring. Players can collect materials, and then craft items that they can use, for example, blacksmithing allows the creation of equipable weapons, and alchemy allows you to make beneficial potions and elixirs.
When reaching about level 14, you are a suitable level to explore your first instance dungeon. Instances are areas of the world that are separate to everywhere else, after finding a party of 5 suitable members, players enter a portal into the dungeon, which is unique for these characters as no other players outside the party can interact with the instance. Monsters inside instances are considerably tougher for their level than normal monsters, and are called Elite monsters, and can’t be defeated easily alone. Each instance contains different bosses, each which drops rare items with improved stats when killed.
Upon reaching level 70, players can participate in ‘raids,’ which are very difficult instances, requiring 10, 25 or 40 players to complete, and are aimed at those with superior equipment to challenge themselves and try to defeat a variety of formidable enemies, but which yield great rewards.
Battlegrounds are places within the world in which players from opposite factions fight in organised matches, and compete for objectives. There are 4 battlegrounds to choose from:
Warsong Gulch, which is available from level 10 onwards, is a capture the flag style game, in which players must enter the enemy base, retrieve their flag and return it to their own base.
Arathi Basin is based on collecting resources for your faction. Around the game map are various bases, which when captured give your team resources over time. This is available from level 20, and each team consists of 15 players.
Alterac Valley is a huge area, containing many bases, bunkers and towers that are capturable or destroyable. Each team starts with a number of reinforcements, and each time a boss is killed, a tower captured, a bunker destroyed or enemy players are killed, the number of reinforcements decreases. The team that eliminates enemy reinforcements first wins. This is available from level 50 onwards, and each team has a maximum of 40 players.
Eye of the Storm is a new battleground that was introduced with the Burning Crusade expansion pack; characters need to be level 70 to play this battleground. Around the map are 4 bases, which each give resources when captured by a faction, and a flag is placed in the middle of the area, which grants points to whoever can carry it to a base held by their faction.
Playing in PvP battlegrounds grants your character honour points, which can be spent on new equipment.
Verdict
Sound: 7/10
The soundtrack for World of Warcraft is huge, and overall impressive. Each monster makes unique sounds when in combat, characters voices differ depending on race, gender, and their situation, and the music really adds to the feeling of adventure.
My only criticism is that the in game music can be somewhat repetitive, but I solve this by listening to my own music in the background
Graphics: 9/10
Many criticise the graphics of this game, which I really can’t do. The style of them is almost cartoon like, but this blends with realistic effects such as fire spells and water effects very well. Developers didn’t try to make each character look completely lifelike, and I’m glad, as I am a huge fan of their unique style.
Gameplay: 10/10
What can I say? The best gameplay I’ve ever experienced from this genre. I love how customisable things such as the interface can be, as well as the huge choices players have on everything, from creating their characters down to tiny details to choosing which areas of the world to explore. The game is also easy to get into and for players to get a grip of basic controls, but can still take many hours to perfect and improve your play.
Replayability: 10/10
There is always something new to do on the game, and most of the content becomes available after reaching maximum level, so you are by no means finished when you achieve this. The game is almost infinitely replayable as each class chosen will approach the game in completely different ways, allowing for such variety of gameplay. If you’re bored of completing quests, why not visit a dungeon with friends? Or visit a battleground and do some PvP?
Overall: 10/10
THE best game I have ever played, and in my opinion, outclasses everything else in the genre. Many people are put off by the monthly fee, but you really get what you pay for. The game is constantly being updated, with new content being added, and mechanics changed, almost weekly. Blizzard has a great reputation for service, and they really live up to this. Their support for players is also immense, and will answer any problem players have through email, their website or the WoW forums.
Last word – You get what you pay for. I can’t see myself ever putting this game down.
