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World of Warcraft (PC)



Official Website: www.worldofwarcraft.com
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Genre: MMORPG
Release Date: November 23, 2004

The Good
Huge playing world
Lots of playing time
You almost can�t finish it
Extremely well-done leveling system
Amazing music and sound
Intense PvP and PvE combat
Incredible money system

The Bad
$20 every month.
A little too addicting sometimes
Blizzard delays the release of the expansions

MMORPGs have been around for years, but this one is the most innovative and revolutionary. Gamespot says, �Here is the online role-playing game you should play, no matter who you are.� And I agree to that. Take your hero on exciting adventures through seventy levels of amazing PvE combat, taking days upon days of time spent on your character. Although you don�t have to just stick with the one character. There are nine different classes to choose from, and ten different races on two different factions. There are thousands of exclusive items to pick up in-game, including another thousand upon thousands of different weapons and amour to search for.

The PvE portion of the game is incredible, and is the best of any MMORPG I�ve ever seen or played. There are thousands of epic quests to take your hero on, starting from, �You can�t die during this quest�, to �You need forty people and it�s still hard�.

There are nine classes to choose from, on two different factions, on four different realm types. There are warlocks, rouges, hunters, druids, warriors, shamans, paladins, priests, and mages. All classes have something specific that they�re known for.

Warlocks are known for their PvP skills. They have spells which do damage over time (DOTS), and are hard to get rid of from the receiving end. They also have many different minions for use, and are one of the classes that use mana to use spells and abilities. Blood Elves, Orcs, Undead, Humans, and Gnomes are able to choose this class.

Rouges are known for their fast attacks, and stealth ability. They are amazing for PvP, and are very good with PvE. Rouges use energy for using abilities. Night Elves, Undead, Humans, Trolls, Gnomes, Dwarves, Blood Elves, and Orcs are able to use this class.

Hunters are known for their pets. At level ten you complete a simple quest to train a beast for use as a pet. This class is good in PvP, but better in PvE. They use mana for casting spells and abilities. Draenei, Blood Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Tauren, Humans, Trolls, and Night Elves have the option of a Hunter class.

Druids are known for shapeshifting. They can be casters, healers, tanks, and a damage class. Their casting form is their normal form, in which shapeshifting is not necessary. Their healer form is a tree form, which gives a buff (explained later on) to increase the healing done by all other members in the party. The tanking form is a bear, in which the mana is removed and rage replaces it. There is also a huge increase to the armor in this form. Finally, the damage class is a cat, in which the mana is removed and the energy takes its place. Only Night Elves and Taurens can choose this class.

Warriors are known for tanking, but can also DPS. They have three different stances to choose from, berserker stance, defensive stance, and battle stance. Berserker stance is good for dealing lots of damage in a short amount of time, but you have limited abilities. Defensive stance is used for tanking. While it decreases damage taken, it also decreases damage given, thus only used in instances and raids. Battle stance is a regular stance, which gives no bonus damage or armor. Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome, Orc, Taurn, Troll, Undead, and Draenei are the races that can choose this class.

Shamans are known for totems. They have four different types of totems, but each type has many different totems to choose from. The four types are: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Earth is used mainly for buffing, but at the same time can remove buffs. Air is specifically used for buffing, whether it�s buffing you and your party members, or you armor and weapon(s). Fire totems are used for damaging enemies. Whether it equips a DOT, or repeatedly attacks your enemy, these totems are bound to do some damage. Finally, water totems are used for regenerating mana and health and sometimes giving you a buff. These totems are best for PvE, but are also helpful for PvP. Taurens, Orcs, Trolls, and Draenei are fit for this class.

Paladins are known for their ability to do everything. Choose protection talent (I�ll get into talents in a bit) and you�re set for tanking, retribution is for DPS, and holy is for healing. Very few low level paladins choose protection or holy as it is not the best for leveling; most go with retribution until they hit seventy. Paladins are great for doing hard quests by yourself, because you can do lots of DPS and heal yourself at the same time. This class is only available to Dwarves, Humans, Blood Elves, and Draenei.

Priests are known for their healing, but they also have a DPS is also an option. The three talent traits for a priest are: Holy for healing, Shadow for DPS, and Discipline for a mix. Most low level priests, like paladins, don�t choose the holy talent until they�ve reached seventy, because you don�t do much damage. These are highly wanted in every raid or instance group. Humans, Dwarves, Night Elves, Undead, Trolls, Blood Elves, and Draenei are able to choose this class.

Last but certainly not least, we have the mage, which are known for their PvP and ability to quickly destroy an enemy. They have extremely useful spells for PvP and PvE, including portals and conjure food and drink. Although their health lacks in size, their mana makes up for it; plus, mages aren�t very dependent on their health as they can polymorph any enemy target into a sheep. This class is available to Humans, Gnomes, Undead, Trolls, Blood Elves, and Draenei.

There is virtually no difference between the two factions (horde and alliance) except the animation of the characters and it seems the horde is more organized in PvP battles.

There are four different realm types to choose from: Normal, PvP, RP (role-playing), and RPPvP (role-playing player vs. player). Normal focuses on the PvE aspect of the game, although you have the option to enable PvP, which when in a contested area (coming up later), enables you to attack the opposing faction, and allowing them to attack you. PvP realm doesn�t focus on either PvE or PvP, but incorporates them both equally. In this realm if you are in a contested area, you don�t need to enable anything to attack the opposing faction, or have them attack you. RP is the same as a normal server, but players tend to talk as if they are the characters. This type of behavior is not supported in a PvP realm. RPPvP is a PvP server with the aspects of an RP server.

Sound is a very important issue in a game. There are three areas of sound I�ll cover: music, sound effects, and voices.

The music in this game is truly amazing. There are thirty different songs in the game, all for their own place in the game. Each major city in the game has a song to fit its environment, but each area in the game does not, although most do.

The game�s sound effects are terrific. There are sound effects for everything in the game. Riding a mount, attacking, swimming, walking, typing in a macro (which I�ll get to in a bit), or even idling, they all have an exclusive track.

Voices in the game are specific to each race. For instance, they got a Jamaican person�s voice for the troll voice. And since they took time on details every else, they have to here. When you click on an NPC, he or she will say something like, �How can I help you?� But if you continue to click on them, they will get frustrated at you and start saying, �You�re startin� to get on me nerves!� This game is top-notch for all around sound.

Visually this game is great but not amazing, which will change with the new expansion coming out next December I heard. Blizzard paid a lot of attention to detail, as much as they could. The game has an exclusive look to it, inspired by anime and comic book art, making it less �cartoony� than it could have been. As for detail, it is outstanding. Whether its birds fluttering in the sky, or a rabbit running across the road, it�s full of surprises. For example, if you�re playing past nine O�clock PM, Azeroth will be dark, and if you�re playing between six and twelve, it will be like a morning sunrise. I�m not big on knowing what�s what in the animation department, but I do know that the world has a great, creative look to it.

The fifteen, soon to be sixteen, professions that are incorporated into this game are extremely hard to get up to the highest rank, and will amaze your character in many ways. From equipping a jewel to your amour, or pulling an ore out of a rock, these expansions to your character will increase his or her capabilities.

Twenty-five instances, also known as dungeons, are incorporated amazingly well into the three continents. They are made so multiple groups can take on the bosses at once without interference. You can also set the difficulty to heroic, which cranks the rock on creatures and bosses. There are also raids, which are instances that need 10 or more people to conquer it. Some raids, post Burning Crusade, include, Gruul�s Lair, Karazhan, Zul�Aman, and the incredibly tough, Black Temple. Although not all raids occur in an instance. There are world bosses stationed in random places, and a rare spawn which always drops a blue or higher item (I�ll talk about items in a second). The bosses in all these instances have a special attack to throw you off your game. This requires lots of attention and deep thought to try and defeat them, and when/if you do, they always give a great reward. Whether it is gold, an amazing weapon, gear, or a potion or two, they�re always worth the tackle.

The items, gear, and weapons in this game are outstanding. There are thousands upon thousands of different gear to choose from, whether it be specific to PvP or PvE, they�re always worth the effort to get a party for an instance, or tackle a rare spawn yourself. There are six different levels of items, weapons, and gear, each having an exclusive color to distinguish between good and bad. Gray, being the worst, can drop anywhere in the world. When you get to higher levels they can sell for a lot. White, being the second best, is a great way to start off the game. All your starting gear is white, but doesn�t sell for much. White weapons or gear are not common in the levels forty and up. Green, being mediocre, is the most common gear for mid-ranged players. It gives a boost to your stats, which I�ll mention later on. Blue, being the most common and gives a great boost to your stats, is the most common around the level seventy group. It is a common find in all instances and raids, but is seldom found in PvE. Purple, being one of the greatest, is not a common find until you get to level fifty-eight and higher. It is an amazing boost to your stats, and usually has a special ability to help destroy your enemies. Orange, being the best weapons, gear, and items found in the game, give the best stats to your weapon, and always has a special ability. Although this is the best, it is nearly impossible to find. It is never found in PvE, or instances. You have to tackle the hardest raids in the game, and have about a 0.01% chance of finding it, so don�t bet your life on it. There are also artifacts in the game, but can only be used by Game Masters (GMs), who you aren�t able to see while playing.

Another amazing aspect of the game is the character, including stats and abilities. There are six attributes to upgrade your characters attack, attack speed, damage, health, intellect, amour, and regeneration (some do more than one). These stats can be improved from amour, weapons, and abilities. Although these improve all characters, some classes need a lot of some, but don�t need others at all. For instance, a warrior needs strength, stamina, and armor, but don�t need any intellect whatsoever. On the other hand, a priest needs spirit and intellect, but needs close to no strength or agility.
Abilities can be expressed in two different ways, buffs, or attacks, and are upgraded throughout the levels. Buffs are spells that can upgrade your stats. Like if a mage uses Arcane Intellect, the targeted played gains an amount of intellect, depending on which level you are. Spells, on the other hand, are another way to destroy your enemy. Some spells are instant, some are channeled, and some have a cast time. Instant means you click on the icon and the spell hits your opponent immediately. Channeled means you click on the icon and the cast bar time goes down as the spell is being cast. When it has reached the end, the spell is over. Spells with a cast time means you click on the icon and the cast bar goes up until it has reached the end. When it has reached the end, it shoots the ability you have just cast, and throws it towards the opponent. But you can�t keep casting these spells over and over. Each spell costs an amount of mana, and most have a cooldown time. A cooldown time means after you cast the spell, it has to �cool down� before you can cast it again. Most spells have this moment as just a second, but instant spells usually have it at about ten seconds. Some spells that do an amazing amount of damage, or heal you fully, can have up to an hour for a cooldown time. These spells usually also have a very high mana cost, and are saved for desperate measures.

The money system incorporated into the game is pretty complex. You start out with no money, but as soon as you finish your first quest you get some. As soon as you get one hundred copper, you have a silver, which is when gold comes into play. One hundred silver equals one gold, which is then broken up if you spend it to lower you amount below one gold. Vendoring items is also a way to get gold. Whenever you move your mouse over top of an NPC and they show a money bag, you can sell useless items to them. But not all items are just sold to a vendor. Some are put into the auction house where other players can buy them.

Some may say, �I sort of want to play World of Warcraft, but I don�t want to pay $20 a month�. Well then this game isn�t for you. I think the cost was made so people like that aren�t playing it. It�s more of a game for people who are serious and are willing to pay a little extra.

Scores

Storyline: 10/10 The storyline is not in the game itself, but in the releasing of expansions.
Music: 10/10
Online: 10/10
Graphics: 9/10
Game play: 10/10
Multiplayer: 10/10

Overall: 9.5/10

I may have left some stuff out . Oops

Wow, great review! 5 points. I'll critique it later

Later as in... today?

Yes, 5 points. VERY THOROUGH REVIEW. The only thing I could say is that you could get into sound a little more. Also, you didn't say the Paladin was the best class so I don't know if you deserve a 5...........

JK good review

It may have been thorough, but a little biased.

First off, the money system is exactly like the one found in most MMOs today.
Secondly, I've gone hours playing without noticing there even IS music.
The leveling system is fair, but not "Extremely well done."
The PvE IS intense, but the PvP is mediocre.

My opinion/

Yeah so you can't even say his review was biased because that was HIS opinion

1) Ok, doesnt mean it's great.
2) Ok, then you have no taste in music.
3) Well if you read the patch notes from the whatever it is now, it's more complex than you think.
4) Well, if you suck at PvP, then yeah it's gonna suck.

Yeah if you don't like PVP that usually means you aren't very good at it. And while the music rocks all of the original music and the sounds effects come from a nice little game called "Baldur's Gate". So most of the music isn't original. And the leveling system is VERY complex

The leveling system is as follows:

-Obtain enough experience to reach the next level.
-Buy any skills that you may have unlocked.
-Repeat.

And also, I don't suck at PvP. I'm quite good.

Well no, there a lot to the leveling system. Every single skill, every class being expertly balanced and all of the different variables that come into it when you do get it. And if you are very good at PVP that means you have played it lots so you are saying it isn't very good?

Yeah but the gaining experience is changes as follows:
1) Difficutly of quest
2) Level of creatures
3) Level of you
4) Difficutly of creature (elite or basic)
5) If you're in a party
a) How many people
Level of other people

So yeah, sorry for screwing up your whole point there...

Yeah. The leveling system is identical to that of most other MMOs. In short, WoW is as follows:

You get to level 70 so you can raid so you can get better gear so you can raid better so you can get better gear so you can raid better so you can get better gear so you can what?