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Blizzard's immensly successful MMO
Blizzard's immensly successful MMO must be doing something
right, especially with the numerous people it has playing online
at any given time. World of Warcraft was also another one of
those highly-hyped games and apparently it lives up to its
name...it seems.
Story :::: 7/10
The story varies from what race you choose, which varies from
four different races on the two different sides. The two
different sides, of course, are the epitome of Good vs. Evil;
The Horde versus the Alliance. Point and case? One tries to
eradicate the other. Does it get any more complex than that? In
a sense it does.
Like a typical MMO, World of Warcraft is huge and thus in a huge
world you will find many subquests you can partake in. How base
are some of these quests? Well, some of them range from your
typical "clear-out-this-place-of-rats!" to
"please-help-me-find-(insert name here)!", except you don't end
up finding that person but a corpse or an ambush or another
quests or something else...Yeah, needless to say, most of the
quests are just "kill rats!" I mean that figuratively, of
course. When I say that I mean that it's just a basic smash and
grab, where you run into the area, kill everything/everyone in
it, and then return for your reward. Nothing extremely
compelling.
What might be the most interesting part of the story all depends
on what kind of server you play on. If you can, by some chance,
join a role-playing server where the people are actually
role-playing, then the story increases, mainly because another
intelligent person is making one up as he encounters you or
others as well. Though I will say finding a server like that
where everyone or mostly everyone is dedicated like that is
quite the challenge. Yes, in a role-playing server there are
rules you must abide by, such as acting like you are
role-playing, and there is punishment if you don't follow the
rules, but I had yet to see any punishment of any kind of some
kid running and jumping around in town saying, "WTB WTB WTB WTB
(insert item here)!?!?!?!" Needless to say, if you persist well
enough with the role-playing servers, you might have yourself a
good time, but playing on the regular servers will just say,
"What's the difference between this and Everquest?"
Graphics/Sound :::: 7/10
For a world that is happening all around you at almost every
real second, I would have to say the graphics are well done for
an MMO. The sound, on the other hand, really isn't. A lot of it
is generic, including some of the voice acting (which is very
little to none), but some of the emotes you can produce are
actually quite funny. As a matter of fact, the emotes you can
produce might save this section, as they are usually the most
commonly heard thing.
Multiplayer/Gameplay :::: 6/10
Now let's cut to the chase; this is what matters about the game
indefinitely. World of Warcraft always has an immense amount of
players roaming around the lands and I can't tell you how many
of them are imbeciles. Maybe a larger number then the Horde and
Alliance combined? Who knows. What is known is that if you're a
new player you will be on the end of non-playful banter soon
enough. Also, as well, it's nearly impossible to run through a
town without a cretin challenging you to a duel. The game itself
is all based upon other players, which, unfortunetely, you will
have to interact with if you wish to further progress in the
game. Of course, like in other MMO's or casual RPG's, after a
while you actually might find some intelligent people, whom you
quickly add to your friend's list. Unfortunetely, that does not
counteract the numerous simpletons running around and doing the
choo choo train until you yank the speakers out of the wall.
Other than that, I must say World of Warcraft is actually
designed quite well. Down to the immersement you can find
yourself in some times, to the customization of your pack, your
equipment, and other things of the like, that it's very
interesting to play--if you can stomach the community. Sometimes
it is quite fun to just run around in the wilderness and
explore, especially on role-playing servers, where you might
find a band of players at a camp and a discussion might insue
(or, if they're simpletons, just a "go away noob!"). But,
unfortunetely, things aren't always so easy. Some of the quests
you partake in are quite challenging and the part that irks me
the most is that you don't have a clue how hard it is until
you've traveled half way across the map, get into a fight, and
realize, "Oh, these enemies are about 20 levels too high for
me." So why didn't the lady who gave me the quest mention this?
Some RPG's or MMO's might put up level restrictions on a quest,
or a little bit of info at the bottom that says, "You should
only tackle this quest if you are above level x." But World of
Warcraft doesn't have that. More than enough times I found
myself, like the other newbies around me, taking on this quest,
getting beaten to a pulp, running A VERY LONG WAY just to get to
my body, revive myself, get a couple of hits in, and die once
more. It's not until after the umpteenth time of dying that the
other players finally give in to banding together and sharing
the exp, mainly because that's the only real way to get through
a quest. World of Warcraft doesn't just encourage team play, but
it's a requirement. That's actually a great thing, but not when
the majority of the community are reclusives who will stab you
in the back if they get a chance.
Despite the customizability when it comes to your skills when
you level up (which are nearly identical to the Diablo II
system), the customizability of your character in creation and
class as well, it still seems dry.
Play Time/Replayability :::: 4/10
It all depends on the player, really. If you can keep on
churning the $10 monthly fee to play the game just to usually
repeat battles to level up and cope with idiotic players, then
this might be just for you. I will say though that it might just
be worth it if you actually find some intelligent people who
show you the ropes of the game. It's then, and usually only
then, that you find out you will be killing many many rats if
you ever want to get to the fun and exciting stuff, such as
taking in part of huge battles that storm castles or cities.
Needless to say, Blizzard designed it exactly like that, so that
you would've spent enough money for them to have earned more
than a big share of a profit for you to have truely experienced
the game and then to say, "Ok, now what?" Knowing that that is
the irony and the trap of an MMO, I relinquished my account only
after a month. Can it be addictive? Of course it can. Hell,
Blizzard made it; take a look at their other games; which one
hasn't gone Gold or still doesn't have thousands of people
playing it? So, in theory, it all depends on you.
Final Recommendation
If the MMO scene is your thing and killing the same creatures
over and over to ascertain a certain level so you can finally be
a challenge and partake in the next level of quests, then this
game is for you. It requires patience and time, which would be
fine if it didn't have a pay to play fee, but it does, so one
must keep that in consideration as well. If you're willing to
devote about six or seven months into this game to finally
getting to be a worth-while opponent and being able to partake
in huge battles, then go for it. If you're looking for a casual
RPG then I suggest to go back to Diablo II.
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