World of Warcraft Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, or MMORPG for short have long since been associated with gamers that like to dress up and re-enact favourite scenes from their beloved choice of game while pretending their size 9 Dr Martins are in fact, Boots of escaping, agility + 4, not that there’s anything wrong with this, but is does get a little weird when you see someone running down the street clad in Toys R Us children’s ‘knight armour’ shouting something along the lines of “Dragon be slain.” But now, those day’s are well behind us. Well the bit where MMORPG’s are associated with geeks that never see the sun unless it’s on at the Cinema and then they will have downloaded it from a P2P network. I’m sure there are still the odd few that enjoy a bit of a dress up every now and then. But I think it’s about time gamers shouldn’t have to hide the fact they play a game solely online without the fear of being shunned and excluded from society. Blizzard, the creators of some of the finest games to grace our personal computers. With a repertoire of games that boasts the Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft series’ it’s no surprise that once again Blizzard have delivered the goods with their latest addition to their line up. Going into the MMORPG market is dangerous enough these days with so much fierce competition around but Blizzard on their first outing in the genre have done themselves proud and have clearly been doing their homework. Using their expansive storyline the series Warcraft has to offer they had a very good building block with a large portion of the storyline already completed; something that must have helped out some way or another. With the game set in the Warcraft universe it would be argued even on paper the game was one step ahead of the majority of online games. The game offers a selection of playable races, Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Night Elf, Orc, Tauren, Undead and Troll. All these races are split between two factions, the Alliance and the Horde and depending on your choice of race will depend what faction you ‘align’ with. Apart from cosmetics, each race also has certain attributes that others won’t. For example Night Elves when dead can move in ‘wisp’ form giving a bonus to movement speed. Other attributes vary from a bonus in a certain weapon specialization to the ability to blend in with your surroundings making it harder for other players to see you. So, you’ve picked your faction / class and now you’re presented with the old dilemma of what class you will play. There are nine classes in total to choose from, although two of these class’s are faction specific. Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock and Warrior are open to both Alliance and Horde but are limited to what race can be each class. For example a Night Elf can’t be a Warlock, but they can be a Druid. The other two character classes are Shaman, which is the Horde only class, and the Paladin which by the process of elimination means it’s the Alliance only class. Character Race – check, Character Class – check then the big one, what you look like. Appearances are everything and one to many curls in that hair or eye brows that are to bushy can brand you unfashionable, while normally hair that can only get spiked in such way that a combine harvester has driven over it and is normally a shade of purple, green or blue will normally bring you lots of “cool” and “wicked.” A variety of customizable options is available and these vary between hair style and colour, facial features, skin colour and type are all there for you to tweak to your liking. It’s worth mentioning that different races have different customizable options, where for example when you customize the Undead’s facial features it can have a broad array of effects and can see lower halves of jaws removed to other ghastly appearances. Gnomes are probably the most fun playable race to customize as the facial hair option is unlike none other and it’s not uncommon to see a Gnome running around with a moustache a plumber who is a porn star in the evenings would be proud of, and that’s not all. They come in a variety of colours and can only be described like a well known confectionary advert “taste the rainbow.” Pink, Blue, Green, you name it; it’s all there for you to choose. Player names are limited to one word which is a shame as characters with a surname would be a very nice addition, but so far this is the only downside (if you can call it that so far.) You notice the time and realise it’s now taken you two hours to choose your race, class, appearance but now your stuck on your name you quickly scan your desk for inspiration and eventually end up with the name Tipex. So with all that done the only last thing for you to do is hit the login button that seems to have been calling out “press me, press me” in a seductive sensual voice ever since you opened the window. Depending on the choices you made earlier will depend where your character first begins life in the World of Warcraft (bad pun, I know, but save the rotten veg for later please.) Humans, Night Elf, Tauren and Undead all get their own starting locations while Dwarves and Orc’s find their homeland being shared by the Gnomes and Trolls respectively. Don’t worry though, reasons for the shared accommodation are all in the games storyline and is easily found, but don’t worry though, it doesn’t have any implication on your character except perhaps for the first few levels you’ll probably see at least two different races running around instead of the one if for example you picked Night Elf vary rarely see another player race as they start off in an isolated woodland realm. When you log in for the first time is probably one of the most important parts of the game for players, as it’s now when you begin to learn the games dynamics, combat system and all the other basics such as loot etc. A bad experience here and it’s down hill but World of Warcraft gets it down to a tee and you will quickly find yourself advancing through the beginner levels with the aid of various NPC’s (Non Playable Characters for anyone who’s interested) and the quests they have for you. One thing Blizzard have done right with the beginning is not treat everyone like six year old (no offence to any reading this.) You know what I mean when I say tutorials which basically assume you have the combined brain cells of two ice cream van mechanics (once again, no offence intended if any are reading this.) Instead the starting quests, which not only get you through the starting levels, teach you the basics such as loot, how to train new skills and spells but they do it in way which stay’s in touch with the game. You do believe that NPC Harry has asked you to obtain 8 pieces of wolf meat, and it’s only after you complete the quest that you realise, “hmm, I know how to loot now, cool.” Like I’ve said, the opening of the game is spot on and to change anything would be a silly mistake from the developers. But moving on then… Many MMORPG’s start off promising but soon begin to become a monotonous (no I couldn’t spell it right first time either) levelling grind that makes you want to tear your eye balls out and replace them with Satsuma’s (small orange fruit to anyone who’s not a fruitarian (yes, I did just make that word up, but MS word is happy with it which is good enough for me.)) World of Warcraft is different, it leaves you wanting more, and more, and then you soon find yourself shutting out the outside world in order to reach that glorious level so you can use the sword with strength + 6 on it you found one week earlier. I’ve played quite a lot of MMORPG’s, but never did I think I’d say this (braces himself) – Levelling is fun! Yep you heard me, levelling is indeed fun. While it is just like most games on the market where you have to kill mobs for experience or complete quests for an extra bunch of Exp goodness, World of Warcraft seems to have got the balance perfect and most of the times it doesn’t feel like you’re levelling at all. Quests, seeing as I’ve made a few references to them, I suppose I better explain them a bit more. Throughout your travels you’ll encounter hundreds of NPC’s, some might be guards, some may be Inn Keepers, whatever their occupation many of them will request your services one way or another. Easily picked out from the crowd by a Golden exclamation mark above their head (It will be grey if you’re to low level), these quests can see you do a selection of things. You may be asked to cleanse the lands and kill ‘X’ amount of ‘Y’ creature or perhaps it could be a delivery quest where you are asked to deliver some horseshoes to a blacksmith in a neighbouring town. Whatever the quest, one thing is for sure, there is always a reward. Be it in the form of some lovely experience, money or maybe an item, quests can be very rewarding so it makes sense to keep your eye out for any quest givers. NPC’s you need to speak to when you have completed a quest will be branding a golden question mark above their head (it will be grey if you’re yet to meet the quest requirements) making it very easy to distinguish which NPC you need to speak to. All the usual stuff is present, and by that I mean a party system where you can team up with some comrades and lay waste to some nasty beasts together or even go about completing quests together, choice is yours. For those tasks that require just a bit more horsepower, there is the option to create a raid. A raid simply put is like a party, but where the party is confined to 5 members, a raid can hold plenty more. Allowing you to take down that boss of Ultimate doom and vengeance that one hit killed your group of five a few days earlier. Partying and raids are where the fun is at and you’ll find yourself using these features on many occasions as you play through the game, especially towards end game when PvP becomes a bit more interesting to you. Guilds also feature in the game and also come with a few nice additions. Once your guild is established you may want to consider purchasing a guild tabard which members can then buy from all good retailers. These tabards are customizable by colour and you can also choose which crest to have displayed on yours. Probably the nicest thing about the tabards is that they are viewable by anyone else, as once equipped they are displayed on your character so can you proudly state where your elegance lies. Jumping back a notch I forget to mention talents. These talents become available at level 10, and you gain 1 talent point for every level you gain after that. You can then use these points to increase a variety of stats and even gain one or two new spells. For example a Mage might decide to increase the strength of his fireball by a small percentage, and he can do this by spending his talent points. This system offers another bit of customization and does help add to the individual but don’t be afraid if you make the wrong choice later on. For you’ll be able to reset your talents for a small charge. A bit fed up of levelling, been killed one to many times already today? Perhaps some crafting might cheer you up. For the crafting system is in my opinion up there with the very best of them. There’s a stocking full of professions to choose from and what’s even better, you can have more than one. While the usual is all there such as blacksmithing and mining, the addition of the likes of fishing, first aid and the mind boggling engineering really adds a whole new dimension to the game. What’s even better about crafting is that the goods players make are actually useful. Where in other games your heart would bleed so you could make a certain item, you would then find 30 minutes later that it’s useless and nobody wants to buy it from you. This is not the case in World of Warcraft (ok, I’ve avoided abbreviations enough WoW for short.) With some of the most sort after items all being player made, it really gives the game that other edge that so many lack. So what if you’re not the highest level in game, or have amazing skill in PvP, but if anyone wants a new piece of armour made, it’s you they turn to, perfect. The graphics, while I’m sure wont appeal to some, suit the game down to a tee and they really make the world seem alive and full of life. While the graphics are perhaps not in the realistic category such as Lineage II or Guild Wars, they suit the game; they are perfect for the game. High level content is there and is mostly in the form of PvP. With an honour system that rewards you for your PvP exploits with gifts of new items and in some cases, even a new mount. What’s more with ‘Battlegrounds’ now just on the horizon, which will allow players to go to war against each other on specific maps but it’s not just the case of “oh look enemy, get him.” By all means no, there’s more to it than that. With guards protecting your camp, it makes sense to upgrade them and what better way to upgrade them? By capturing the mine of course, all that valuable ore will come in use. With towers to capture and various other little features, Battlegrounds are the one thing most WoW players are waiting for at the moment. I’ve probably left something out, but overall all I can say is genius. Blizzard have made MMORPG’s fun again and I take my hat off to them. Amazing and definitely worth trying.
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