I have been playing World of Warcraft (WOW) since the first day of its release in 2004. Four years later I am still amazed at the addiction I have to the virtual world provided by Blizzard Entertainment. Instead of me throwing my personal opinion around for pages of endless reading, let me start by listing the annual awards this game has compiled since its release. WOW has been named Best Game, Best PC Game, Best Massive Multi Player Online Game (twice), Editors Choice (twice), Best Role Playing Game, Best Online Role Playing Game (twice), and Best Persistent World Game (twice). It also won an award for being the Most Addictive Game, ever.
Now that you see the resume, let me get a little more personal with the experience involved with playing WOW. First you must understand that if you get into this game, and you fall in love with it, as most online gamers do, your life will be at risk. Your wife, or girlfriend, will probably leave you. You will probably get fired from your job. This game is a virtual world, and it never stops. I will pretty much bet that you will either love it, or hate it. If you are not prepared to dedicate the next few years of your life to a virtual world with combat challenging levels and all out Alliance (good) vs Horde (evil) brawls, I would not roll the dice. You can live happily ever after with console games. They at least have a pause button.
There are so many reasons NOT to like this game. There is a very limited character selection, only five races for each faction, with only nine classes to choose from (and races only allow four to five of the class types). This means that most of the game you will see characters that look exactly like you. Your gear is supposed to make your character look different, but all the high level guys have the same gear, so it doesn’t help. The map is huge, and not only must you travel to far away lands as you level, but many times you will be asked to go across the map to achieve a quest requirement. You wont be able to get a mount (which increases your running speed) until level forty, which will take about four months of average online gaming. It is so hard to find groups for dungeon levels (5, 10, 25, and 40 man teams required). Each WOW world, or realm, is held on a server. The number of characters allowed per server is limited to maximize game performance. Bottom line, there will be times you want to do a dungeon level, and you will not be able to find a group to help you. You are forced to either do quests, PVP (player vs player), or turn off the game (my favorite choice).
Ok, a quick run down of the concept of this game would sound like this. You make a character, you kill stuff and do quests for experience and gold. As you gain experience you gain levels, which means you can get better gear, and do higher level dungeon levels. Your character can choose talents points as they level, which enable you to customize your class (for example a Priest can spec Holy to heal, Shadow to kill stuff, or Discipline for PVP). You can also choose to learn trades like fishing, cooking, tailoring, etc. but none of these are needed to play, or beat, the game. When you make a character, your mission is to reach top level, which is currently 70 and will be changing to 80 with the next expansion. Whatever gear, talents, gold, or trades you have during the troop really means nothing, they only helped you get to top level. When you hit top level, the game begins. What? The game BEGINS? Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that the game begins when you hit top level (which would take about a year of average online gaming). That is why the average online gamer hates this game, with a glowing passion. If you are an above average online game, do not dare to continue this review before asking yourself one question. Are you ready?
Ok, let me take a deep breath... and begin. The dungeon levels start at around level 12, but the elite WOW players will jump in around level 10. These levels require a group to complete. Your group should always consist of a tank, a healer, and three DPS (damage per second) characters. The strategy and cooperation needed to complete these levels is above challenging. You will find yourself stuck to the screen for hours, doing your job to help your group kill everything, including super strong bosses (usually three to five in each level). The game play is similar to Gauntlet, where four players run around and kill stuff. The difference is that all Gauntlet players are DPS, which means they all kill stuff. WOW requires each group member to take a role, and responsibility, which will determine the fate of the group. Some characters also have the responsibility to CC (crowd control), for example a Mage might be needed to polymorph (turn an enemy to a sheep) while the other enemies in the mob are killed. Each dungeon level has different environments, enemies, strategies, etc. which make each new challenge a new and exciting experience. As you gain level, you will need to find the next dungeon within your level range, and you can follow this pattern until top level.
When you reach level 60, you will be introduced to dungeon levels that require 10, 20, or even 40 members to complete. Now, instead of needing a tank, a healer, and three DPS, you can use different sets of classes. The concept is the same as the 5 man levels, but the difficulty is greatly increased. These levels will have harder bosses, better gear drops, and require elite WOW skills to complete, but they will take a long time. Be prepared to dedicate three to four hours to a single level if needed, and sometimes more. When you reach level 70, and the game officially begins, you will being defeating 25 man dungeons to get elite gear. Once your group has grabbed enough gear, they will be ready to advance to the next level, which will have increased difficulty, better gear drops, etc. This cycle, if you are skilled enough to ever advance in, will lead you to Illidan, who is the last boss of the game.
Even if you defeat Illidan, the game will not end. It never ends. You can always, at any time you want, log into the world and do quests (given at towns by random computer generated characters), PVP (battle Alliance vs Horde style in arena or battlegrounds), or just run around and do whatever. You can go anywhere and do anything, it’s a virtual world. Personally, I do not find any pleasure in questing, PVP, or just running around, but the dungeon levels are beyond words. The idea of the strategy and cooperation needed to beat this game is what makes it the best game ever, for PC or console. If you happen to get involved, you will see what I mean.
For those who are not excited by the idea of dungeon levels, WOW has made PVP a whole new game within itself. PVP matches up Alliance players to Horde players (all within a level range) and lets them have all out war. They also have games like capture the flag, and a few others, that Alliance and Horde can battle in. Arena teams can be purchased, and Alliance can fight Horde 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, and 5v5. The purchased team keeps a record of wins and losses, and also keeps a ranking for each player and team.
Altogether, WOW has made is easy for an above average online gamer to find a home in this virtual world, and at the same time has found a way to piss off everyone else, and even make them cry about how bad the game is. I can understand why anyone would hate this game, but I could not understand how an elite online RPG gamer would not fall in love with it. I agree that even though you may fall in love, the hype will eventually calm down, and you might even think of dropping the game forever, and I can live with that. Personally, I will be playing this game until I hate it, or until both my hands get cut off by my future wife, Carmela. Yeah I love you baby, but as God is my witness, I love this game more.
Note: A future post will be made on World of Warcraft giving a detailed guide on how to start a character, what to do to level fast, and how to maximize the gaming experience.
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