World of Warcraft

"12 million approved."

I'd like to start this review with one phrase. Objectivity breeds clarity. It's easy to say "this game is better than that game", but to truly understand what sets WoW apart from other MMo's, one has to look at every aspect the game provides. I will focus on everything the game has given to the player so far. From early levels, to end game dungeons.

Visuals/System Requirements; Lets get this out of the way first. Anyone who Youtube's or even Googles WoW will notice its not the best when it comes to graphics, it's not even the mediocre. But that in of itself makes WoW stand out, it doesn't focus all the graphics on the huge world you will play in, but rather the character and said bosses are whats piovtal when it comes to graphics.

Blizzard has shown, that it can keep up with the latest MMO's, with the simplest idea, less is more. In this case less is better than more. I enjoy running WoW smoothly on a five year old rig. Or playing on a raid with my three year old laptop. The system requirements are exactly what every MMO should aspire to be. Easy to install and ready for nearly any set up on any desktop. Truly this alone was a huge number of subscribers. Not everyone can afford a top of the line Alienware super rig. And WoW doesn't ask you to.

Gameplay; This will be pretty much, the meat of the game, the hack and slash. The grindfest. Simple and yet complex in execution. Each class comes with three trees, suited for however you want to play, for example; If you choose a Warrior, your are given three options on where to spend your talent points, which are achieved by reaching every level after 10. The three talent trees for a Warrior are; Arms, Protection, and Fury.

Arms focuses on weapon strength and damage over time abilities. Fury, as it sounds, makes the player a wailing juggernaut, dealing out tremendous damage with each swing, generating "rage" faster than the other trees. And lastly Protection, serves as a team specialist. Overall, it focuses on the highest defense and dodge ability out of the three. Purely made for taking on big groups and providing the team with a Tank with high life points and even higher armor.

These talents serve as a fun way to level up your character, none are better than the other, as each comes with its own specialty. Each is however gear dependant and will require some time and practice.

Leveling is fundamental in WoW, its the basis for getting new armor and reaching new dungeons. WoW has become synonymous with the word "solo", as getting levels is no hard task. Every class can solo effectively. In my opinion, it's a love hate thing. I love being able to solo and level very fast, but I hate not being able to get on teams because of it. Many will choose to solo on principle alone. This has been the biggest downfall for the game in my eyes. It only becomes team oriented when people wish to hit a dungeon or a raid. Beyond or before that, it is mostly a solo friendly game.

Quests in WoW are easy to understand and even easier to accomplish. Some are fun and others are outright boring. Some are repetitive and others are memorable parts of the game. This myriad of quests is a great feature and allow the player to feel more in tuned with the game. It's easy to fall in to the rhythm of questing when its this easy.

Environment; Another outstanding feature of WoW are the huge landscapes. Enough to fill your afternoon with interesting enemies to vast deserts or lush forests. This on the other hand has made many players hate the distance of said landscape as quests will require you to traverse many an unknown location. It does take some time getting use to but with enough looking, a player can easily accomplish the task at hand.

Add ons; Probably one of the best features WoW allows are the "add ons". The ability to download say a new character frame, or an easier to read tray, is truly a remarkable thing in game. This feature has been probably the most popular thing one can get into when playing the game. Add on's like Questhelper or Xperl, help the player further "mod" his gameplay experience. This also adds to the customizable feel of the player's user interface. Easily applied and even easier to use, add on's are a huge device in the MMO World.

PVP; Fighting another player has never been easier, as fights can happen anywhere you go. But if you so choose you can enter the arena and earn points to get better weapons, items , or armor. The option to PVP is easy to understand. You can even enter a PVP server and have at it. It's that easy no more complex then completing a quest or creating your character.

Community; The online community for WoW is a mixed bunch, through my experience I have had many people who wish to help and other's who would rather insult. Of course the former outweighing the latter. People are generally nice when it comes to either hitting a dungeon or completing a quest. Sometimes you'll run into the "elitist" who tells you to get better armor or use more skill. And other times you will run into the "casual gamer" who will ask for your help, or even humor you in topical conversation. It's a vast world, you will come across all the likes.

Sound/Music; In game music is beautiful, it actually feels like your immersed in a different environment everytime you reach a new area. This is a great feature as most MMO's out there will play the same generic music for every location. WoW will keep you in with the music alone. As far as sound goes, the emotes are another little feature that I and many others find amusing. Something to waste time or get a good laugh with.

Jobs; As in every classic MMO' job are a bit taxing. As many in the game require money or a lot of time building up. All jobs in game start at 0, you build them up by meeting the requirements of said profession. Usually it comes down to creating said object in said profession, I.e. if im a tailor and have just received the "how to build silk shoes" book, I merely need to collect the required amount of silk said in book, to create the shoes. This as made evident, is a very big part of the game, as you can become a Tailor, a blacksmith, an armor expert, etc. It is time consuming but is a huge feature in WoW, such so that its part of the economy, as you can auction off certain created items for a high price.

Combat; Again, pretty much all you'll be doing is hitting something in the face with said object in WoW. Its what helps you level and ultimately what decides if you win in PVP. Combat is pretty straight forward and requires you either Macro your moves or have very fast reflex's for certain moves. Blizzard has added a feature in which your opponent need to be facing you to actually even attack you. This applies to the player as well and in PVP makes for a new level of fighting, instead of just standing in front of each other, you move around, using tactic to make your opponent not hit or to keep your foe at a distance.

Dungeons/Raids As with any MMO, eventually end game arrives and your left with nothing to do but raid.Raids (a type of group) are parties of 6 to 40 people, divided into 2 to 8 groups of up to 5 players. The terms "raid" and "raiding" primarily and traditionally refer to PVE raid-specific instances and zones. As party leader, a player can convert their group into a raid group by accessing the "Social" Panel, selecting "Raid", and choosing "Convert Group to Raid." From then on, any new players invited to the group will join the raid group (up to a maximum of 40).

While in a raid group, players do not receive credit for completing quest objectives unless the quest calls for a raid. Players also receive an experience reduction for any mob killed while in a raid group. These are to prevent players from creating very large groups in order to complete normal quests or other game content intended for parties of 5 or fewer. This experience reduction is simply that the usual "group XP bonus" is not applied while in a raid group.

In World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, all 25-man raids are also available to complete with 10 players.

In conclusion, WoW provides room for both the elitist and casual player. You can raid till you drop or level a few times and sign off. Its a very simple game with complex executions. Giving this game a full weeks attention is required to see how you decide on whether to keep it or leave it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/22/09

Game Release: World of Warcraft (US, 11/23/04)