I am prettyboy, here me ROAR! /rawr !!!Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Genre: Fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game *gasp*What is a role playing game? Classic definition pictures this oftentimes Japanese genre as a single player affair wherein you take control of the characters, becoming the protagonists as you embark on a journey. These games typically feature sprawling, epic, heat-wrenching, tear-jerking stories that linger long after the game has finished, leaving a lasting impression on the player. While this effect is usually not witness in games other than Final Fantasy VII, being the so-called perfect example of RPG gaming, there is an entire sub-genre that continually sees to it that the definition of a role playing game is turned on its head and bludgeoned with a plus one mace.This is the massively multiplayer persuasion, the role playing game that pits you as just one of many aspiring heroes as they quest out into the world, quite literally, seeking to become the greatest in all of the lands. Of these games, there is perhaps one single title that is more known, and more played, than any other in the market across the globe – the World of Warcraft.While starting out as a real time strategy game, the fantastical land of Azeroth has simply seen too many conflicts over the years to be limited to simply one hero. The Humans and the Orcs have seen two great wars, and the Naga, the Defias, and now, the Burning Legion, are simply to great to be fought by even one person. The forces of the world have combined to join two factions – the Alliance and the Horde – in not only an eternal struggle against one another, but to defeat evils far greater than simple Gnomes or Trolls.And so, one is dropped into the massive world, but a member of a larger race and an even larger organization in an attempt to bring down the yadda yadda, blah blahs and the who gives a flying –
This could be you! After a few hundred hours of gameplay!From hereon out, or from 1990 on, you’ll never need to pay attention to the story, due to the fact that it is effectively non-existent. The hilarity of the genre makes the entire concept of a massively multiplayer story impossible, as because it is written as if you’re special. Of course you’re not! You’re just one of millions upon millions of players, meaning that your existence in Azeroth doesn’t matter in the slightest. Sure, there might be a story, there might be conflicts between to races, there might be somethingorother, but the sheer fact that it’s been done before, seven million times before, makes it absolutely wonton and ignorable.But we haven’t even delved into our world yet. One first picks a server from a fairly and thankfully large list, the realm in which you’ll be playing. These exist to reduce traffic on the world, meaning that all nine million people couldn’t occupy the world at once, and these do their job – there are enough severs to make sure that player population is very spread out, but not enough to make some realms barren. And, even within these severs, some are defined as normal, while others as PvP, where you are always flagged to be in battle with members of the opposite faction, others still as RP, role playing servers where you act as if you were your character. These differences mean that you can ensure you’re not being ganked by level 70’s and that you can have a more D&D experience… online.You’ve found a home; now it’s time to craft your character from the ground up. Firstly, you belong to either the Alliance, the ‘good guys’, or the ‘Horde’, the bad guys – with this definition, PvP can happen anywhere, and it also serves to provide the game a unique taste not found in other games were everyone is on the same side. The selection doesn’t particularly matter, though, as a general rule, Alliance characters have more zones, places on the world map, than Horde characters, and the Horde tends to be more focused on PvP, though these are broad assumptions and by no means definite.You now belong to one side of the battlefield; now it’s time to choose who as. Each side has, with the addition of the Burning Crusade expansion, five races available. Each race is limited to a certain number of classes (read below), but, in an additional leap of customization, each race has four unique inherent traits. For example, Humans have an increased reputation gain, while Orc’s pets deal additional damage. These racial bonuses, while sprucing up the characters beyond simple cosmetic choices, also means that the race you find cosmetically appealing may not have the bonuses that you like – it ultimately makes little difference, as each bonus can be worked in to an effective playstyle, but there are notable differences between Human, Gnome and Draenei Mages.Once you have chosen your race, you now make one of the most important choices in the game – your class. Your class determines how you play as your character, defining your equipment, your stats, your abilities, and your spells. Between all nine classes, however, there is a class and a playstyle that will suit any player’s needs. There are melee classes, the Warrior and Rogue, that fight on the frontlines to deal massive damage, there are magical classes, the Mage and Warlock, who use mystical arts to deal fire, frost and dark damage. There are blended classes, the Druid, the Paladin, and the Shaman, who bring together many different elements. Lastly, there is the supportive Priest and the ranged Hunter who fill in the last two slots.You’ve chosen your faction, your race, and your class; you are now free to roam about the World of Warcraft. And here is where the monotony beings.
Meet Wocamai. He's still full of pep and vigor, ready to explore Azeroth! YAY~!Oh, but what a monotony it is! The visuals of World of Warcraft were once the best of the best, and, in some ways, they still do – there are some places that simply instill a sense of awe, of grandeur, thanks to some original and colorful presentation. The visuals are all done in a sort of cartoon-esque style that, while not literally detailed in a lifelike sense, allow for great depth and customization, as well as a great design aesthetic and level of detail.Yet another example of excellent redundancy is in the soundtrack – Blizzard often pulls together a great soundtrack, with WoW following suit, offering up a wide array of very well done, quite epic, songs. Unfortunately these songs all tend to file under the ‘largly opera’ genre, and all sort of blend in together, are there is no real variety between the songs themselves. The combination of this and each track’s shortness means that you’ll be stuck hearing the same old, beautifully sung gibberish that causes most every player to simply mute the game or listen to other, better, music.The sound effects apparent fares much better than the simple music, bringing together a large library of fantastic voice acting for each race, sex, as well as many, many other enemy and NPC units. While most of these voices are very well done, there are a few sour performances that tend to stick in the minds of players, such as the strange Russian Draenei and some especially overdramatic lines from many of the game’s bosses. Sound effects will repeat over and over, simply because you’ll be on long enough to hear all of them thousands of times over.From level one to level 70, you are going to be doing quests, receiving and turning in tasks for monetary, equipment, and experience rewards, and these quests almost always require you to kill things. This is pretty fun for a while, because you’ll be gaining quests and experience non-stop, but you’ll soon reach exhaust your resources in the minute starting area, and you’ll be forced to explore the larger part of the zone.
"We'll just stay in the forest. Killing boars."Here you’ll meet two of the many aggravating factors in WoW – scale and distance. Each zone is large, with some being expansive, filling up a large part of the continent. As such, it is going to take a long time to get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’. Distance is a non-issue for a while, but once you’ve gotten to the point where single zones don’t offer enough experience to breach the level range for the next batch of zones, you’ll have to cross the continent to simply continue the game. There are a few travel options to be had, thankfully:Firstly, few classes can obtain a ‘travel form’ spell, one that turns them into a beast and increasing movement. These are limited to Druids and Shamans, however, who earn these at level 20, and increase their speed by a respectable 40%. Now with a recent patch, you may now earn ‘mounts’ at level 30, allowing you to ride a horse or one of many other beasts to increase your speed by 60%... at a cost. At 60, you can purchase another, faster mount, doubling your movement speed. And, exclusive to the continent of Outland, you can purchase a flying mount, whose utility is immense in the mountain-riddled land. Beyond these, there are several free forms of travel – boats and zeppelins travel from continent to continent, providing easy travel across the seas.This travel is easy to work with, but is limited to travel within zones or across the world. To travel long distances across one continent, however, you’ll be forced to find a flight master and purchase a lift. This isn’t too bad, as these flights are relatively cheap, but travel occurs in real time, meaning that flights can take an upwards of twelve minutes, especially as each location is not immediately connected, meaning that, to fly from Tanaris to Feralas, two locations that are in reality not far apart, one must flight up and around, connecting through two other locations, causing the flight to take 8 more minutes than it very well should. Were it more instantaneous, it would be fairly bearable, but, as it is in real time, the trips are in serious need of an in-flight movie.
I know how to make this more fun. Do a barrel roll!Another annoyance is in the quests themselves – there is very little variety to be found in them. Some missions expressed include killing a set number of enemies, taking down a boss character, retrieving items from fallen corpses, escorting someone and protecting them from danger… the only quests that don’t have you killing things outright are deliveries and scouting missions, which ultimately place you in the mist of foes. There are rarely quests that introduce anything interesting to this mix, and those that do only introduce a different way to kill stuff.Another issue found with quests is their execution, namely in that it’s oftentimes difficult to where exactly to kill what you’re supposed to. Each quest does have a description, offering up relative set of directions on how to get there, but these are very vague, giving you only an idea as to where those mutated zombies hid out. This can be remedied with a quick installation of the QuestHelper addon, but the fact that you are adding a third-party program into the game to fix something, as well as the existence of the addon that tells you where your quests are, may hint to an issue found in the game.In fact, you may find yourself installing a wide variety of addons to the game to make it more of a convenience. These third-party mods modify the user interface of the game, allowing you to modify anything but the literal game mechanics – their use ranges from combining bags into one, condensed screen, or offering a graphical interface for a Shaman’s many totems. You’ll find that many of the greatest players have truly pimped out interface… not necessarily a ring to an issue, but a nod to some of the features that might be added to the game, namely additional options, to make it an overall better experience.
We gunna' pimp yo' interface!As you make the grind and gain more and more experience, you’ll reach new heights, opening up several new gameplay elements for you to play around with. At level ten, you’ll be introduced to the talent system. With each level comes one talent point, which can be spent in one of three areas, dependant on your class. These talent trees are linked to an individual playstyle – for example, the protection tree on a Warrior increases his ability to tank, being a damage soaker, while points into the fury talent spec will make the Warrior a true melee powerhouse. This is both a blessing and a curse.On the bright side, it allows you to make the abilities you use the most better, by decreasing cooldowns and mana costs, increasing damage and critical hit chance, or even offering up new spells and attacks. By focusing in one tree, you can become a powerhouse in one field, being able to DoT up a foe as an Affliction Warlock, slowly killing opponents, or become a Beastmaster Hunter, whose pet is a powerful, deadly utility; these focused fighters are great in their field, and certain specs are more sought after than others.On the negative side, the focus on one talent reduces your ability to multitask to the point where you can do one, and only one, thing. As a Tankadin, you’ll lose almost the entirety of your offensive prowess, and, as a Fire Mage, you’ll be completely devoted to offense. This specification is ultimately limited to only three classes – the Druid, Shaman and Paladin – whose utility comes mostly from their blend of playstyles. You’ll have to focus on one area to become anything decent, as putting points into all trees greatly reduces your strengths later in the game. Overall, the talents are a great way to create a playstyle all your own, but blended classes may find it a bit more crippling than player classes with a unique prowess.
Where's the love?Also, as you become more and more powerful, you’ll have the ability to enter various instances. These are sealed off, unique dungeons filled with elite monsters who require a party to defeat. One of the better elements of the game, this is a fun addition that allows you to get together with friends and take down some seriously tough foes for some of the best equipment in the game. The only possible downsides are the large time commitments, as some can take several hours to complete, as well as the required party, as pulling together even a five-man group can take some time.Thankfully, finding a group isn’t always difficult if you’re in a guild. These are groups of players all united under one name who can work together for raids, instances, or just get-togethers. Depending on if you have a guild or not, as well as the quality of your guild, your playtime may be a lot more entertaining – with a guild, you can get help from your guildys, as well as have some fun, but, oftentimes, guilds may be unwilling to help members, or may end up causing more grief than happiness. Just keep your eye out for a group that looks interesting, and you’ll eventually find a party of friends to make WoW much more fun.In addition to these, you can also pick up one of several different ‘professions,’ or jobs, that allow you to perform a wide array of additional tasks, such as mining for various ores and gems, crafting together leatherworks, or enchanting equipment with the powers of magic. These secondary jobs are fun and very useful in the world, as many players will ask for certain professions to craft them an item or enchant a weapon, so everyone can be in demand. The items crafted can also be used by the classes, so a jewelcrafter could create various rings and trinkets for himself and other players, while tailors might supply simple cloth-wearing magicians with great armor. While each player is limited to two of these main professions, this limitation matters not in the slightest, as those two professions can add something fun to do in the game’s downtime.
WoW: Now with 33% more virtual menial labor!Even with the good, the bad, the ugly, and every single thing in between, World of Warcraft has a glaring flaw, a problem that becomes all the more apparent as you sink more and more time into the game, as your grow from a simple noob into a proficient player. While more devoted players may not be entirely aware, more ‘casual’ players, people who are just looking for another game to play, will find it hilariously obvious as to what this problem is.World of Warcraft has no point.That does stink of an exaggeration, but let me put it in other terms. I, a level 46 Shaman, have spent approximately 60, possibly even 70 hours, playing as that character alone – this doesn’t even account for the amount of time I’ve spent on other characters… add it all up, and I’ve devoted a long period of time to this game.Unfortunately, this time is effectively wasted, as there is no real ‘goal’ to the game. Sure, you could consider reaching that glorious level 70 a goal, but there is so much content after that point that you’ll still continue on playing. But you can’t beat this game – there’s no point where you can say you’ve exhausted the game’s material, or that you’ve become the greatest, because that’s an impossible task. It’s kind of like playing Solitare or Minesweeper on your computer – just something to do so that you aren’t doing nothing… except, with WoW, you pay money to have something to do so you aren’t doing nothing.Oh, yes, video games are this entirely; perhaps. But, in the case of any other game, there is an end, there is a goal, there is a point where you can have beaten the game. In WoW, there is no such thing. Games that share some of WoW’s traits, namely gigantic worlds and endless content, often make players feel as if they aren’t really doing anything, simply because their accomplishments so far are a simple chunk of the grander picture.
This is what you get for 'beating' WoW. Merry ****ing Christmas.There aren’t many games where you feel bad for playing it, and, when you do, it’s usually some thirty-year-old playing Pokémon, but, in the case of WoW, you feel bad for wasting so much time on it. All those hours, days, months, and for some, years spent playing this game that feels just like a second job could have been spent doing something else – hell, even playing a different game, one that has greater substance. This all sounds preachy, when, in the sick reality, video games are a complete waste of time, but, with World of Warcraft, there are definitely better ways to waste your precious time.WoW definitely offers up good things – the social interaction amongst players, friends, parties and guilds, the great, colorful visuals, the oftentimes epic soundtrack, great voice acting, deep gameplay, more content than most people will ever even witness, as well as constant work, attention, and patching from the Blizzard staff all make this game what it is. World of Warcraft is a worldwide phenomenon, played by millions upon millions of players in every part of the globe.Unfortunately, the redundancy of the genre itself make WoW for devoted players only – redundant music, questing, traveling, navigation, and questing means that it’s going to be the same thing, level after level. The combined factors of an overall lack of purpose and a fairly expensive monthly fee of $15 USD all come together to make World of Warcraft what it is:An overly redundant, yet excellently made, game. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you either own World of Warcraft or simply haven’t played it. Thanks to relatively easy to come by players and free demos galore, I strongly urge you to pick it up and try it out for yourself – who knows, you may not like it, you may become addicted to it; it all lies in the player itself and whether or not you enjoy the style of gameplay it offers. WoW fills a nitch perfectly, and you might just be the nitch player that’s been looking for a game just like this.Be warned, though – if you plan on playing WoW religiously, say goodbye to your family, your social life, and whatever you love, because you’ll be playing this either all the time or not at all. There is no casual, in-between player for this game. I’ve seen people’s lives go down the drain, devoted to this game entirely, writing off themselves and even their families, but I’ve also seen people turn it into great things; relationships, meeting places, rehabilitation.There’s a reason this game is known as World of Warcrack.Presentation, 8/10: Menus are very easy to follow, and every element of the game is defined in simple, plain English. Unfortunately, this presentation doesn’t always follow though, as some options are extremely vague, hard to find, or simply not present, causing a wide variety of user interface mods to help remedy some of the problems found navigating the game.Graphics, 7/10: The visuals of WoW are oftentimes awe inspiring for their grandeur, displaying great, defined, detailed, colorful visuals that display everything in the game with a unique flair that can’t be copied. However, nowadays, the graphics don’t’ always live up to other titles, and some of the geometry itself that makes up the visuals is extremely simple and hard to navigate.Sound, 8/10: The music of WoW is definitely well done, and definitely could be called ‘epic’ in some cases, but the short track time and limited library mean that you’ll be muting the game’s music in favor of your own after very little play time. Voice acting is great on most parts with only the occasional sour performance, and sound effects, while good, will be heard many times over.Gameplay, 6/10: Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy – this game is the same thing over and over again. While the combat can be exciting and detailed, the professions entertaining, the social elements fantastic, the sheer fact of the genre means that you’ll be stuck doing it over and over again. With the additional kick to the balls in the lack of variety, ridiculous travel, lack of direction, and redundancy, playing this game can oftentimes feel more like work and less like entertainment. And, yes, I’ve said this game is redundant many times, but it bears repeating for a somewhat hilarious, oxymoronic, message.Replay Value, 3/10: There’s enough content in this game to keep every single player gasping over the next great thing – even the installation of the game and its expansion takes up nine discs, not counting the hours of patching afterwords – but the low score is derived from the fact that you can’t replay a game that can’t be beat.Final Score, 38/50: World of Warcraft is a good game. It brings a lot of hard effort together to create an experience that really can’t be had in other MMO’s, or really in all of gaming. There’s a sort of sick addiction that each player experience when first starting the game, something that makes it all seem so magical, so brilliant. Unfortunately, after hours, weeks, and even years of playing, this brilliance becomes only a lackluster sparkle, as the sheer redundancy and pointlessness of the MMO genre itself, particularly in WoW in that there are no other features, like a coherent, somewhat meaningful storyline, that can keep casual players going.WoW is bad by no standards, but the type of player it caters to isn’t going to be doing much of anything else. You can attempt to do other things, but the guilt that sets in for not playing for weeks at a time due to the monetary factors, as well as the fact that only playing for an hour or two every night will only get you so far before it takes weeks to hit just that next level.It’s an all or nothing experience – there is no middle ground, no ‘casual player.’ If you really want to give this game a whirl, prepare to dedicate a lot of time to making it a worthwhile time.
TL:DR version - endorsed by William Shatner.~~~4,022 words. I'm seriously not joking, this entire thing is almost twice that of my SSBB and FFTA2 reviews. I don't really feel like writing much of anything more at the moment, but I'll just add on this little post-review statement.The obvious question now is - OMG WHO R U!!?!?!?!? Well, I am, currently:Ethermagus, 48 Enhancement Shaman, to respec Restoration at 70 if our guild needs a healer over a DPS
Arcanicus, 22 Fire Mage, who thought that Frost would be fun. That ended as soon as I started questing over instance-ingBoth characters are Draenei, both are on the Echo Islands normal realm, and both belong to the Roving Nomads guild. If you ever make a character on that server, feel free to drop me a line - I can always help you out, add you to the guild, or lend you a bit of money. Just make sure you tell me why in the world you know my WoW name 0.o