It's good, but it's not all it's cracked up to be.
PROS-- Large world, tons of things to do, adamant devourer of spare time.
CONS-- Repetitive, player base could do much better, repetitive, TOO MUCH stuff to do, repetitive, uninspired classes, you are only rewarded if you play (not if you are skilled) for long periods of time.
After playing this game for some time, and after seeing how long it's been since it's initial release, perhaps a re-review should be in order. The reason I say this is simply because, as in the EULA, "gameplay may change during online play."
First off, graphics. The graphics are an interesting mix of cartoons and maturity. Shading reminiscent of animated Disney features coating the walls, soft shading on stylized characters, and interesting effects abound. Imagine this shading is done inside of a city of undead monsters known as "The Forsaken." As such, it is dank, gothic, and if one concentrates, has that spicy smell of old metal. At least, if you've got a good imagination. It isn't just the sharpness of textures, either; animations for your characters are varied and plentiful. Both genders of every race have different animations for everything. These are generally interesting and have small, barely-there differences that become apparent after hours in the game. Orcish female's arms are are a little longer, giving them a more primal or animalistic look (as if the teeth and face weren't enough), while humans look more along the lines of midieval politicians occasionally in glowing holy garb or dank warlock robes.
Sound and music. They're typical Blizzard fare; of course, there is no techno to be found in this fantasy RPG. You may notice, however, that some of the music from older Warcraft games is being re-used--- if you are the hardcore gamer. This is barely noticable, and it's still warcraft, so it fits quite well (much like half life 2 re-using numerous tracks from half life 1.). Much of the music would be forgettable unless you're constantly listening to it, and the default value for music is to turn off after a single play-through (this can be changed in the options menu). Why this is, I don't quite know; awkward silence is wierd in the middle of a game with so much life seems to be an attempt for focusing on other things. Sound isn't lacking either, from the impact of a humble fireball to the wet crunch of a claymore hitting for critical damage, there is a great diversity.
Content. I say this, because it's an MMO-- any MMO that's worth it's salt sticks content between it's legs and hip-thrusts it to the masses. Don't laugh, you know it's true of marketing. This is where World of Warcraft is absolutely, obscenely, obssesively designed. There is so much stuff within the game, you'll likely not experience all of it. There are faction and class-specific quests to complete, that are typically there to have you learn a major class specific profession. Rogue's for example learn poisons, the ability to coat their weapons with various forms of temporary poisons that can cripple, damage, or even inhibit magical abilities for a short period of time. To earn poisons, one must finish a level 20 quest that varies based on the faction (Alliance, or Horde). However, much of Warcrafts content is repetitive. This is understandable from an enemy standpoint; recoloring and resizing an enemy into a large purple hyena instead of a brown small hyena is perfectly understandable, instead of making an entirely new set of monster found only in a specific zone. You will find that many mages will all be wearing the same exact gear, or looking to purchase one specific set of gear. If you enter an instance with a group, you will find that the one other spellcaster will want the exact same item you do. The rogues will be fighting or complaining over the fact they didn't get the specific knife they wanted from a specific enemy, which only appears while doing a specific quest-- which the entirety of your group will be doing.
On top of that, the 'awsome crafting system' is essentially making the same items from a recipe over and over again until you level enough to learn new recipes. Lather, rinse, repeat. You are typically aiming to get one specific recipe that will overpower your character or sell very well on an auction house, to make it over and over again to use, sell, or in the case of a friendly guild, give it to a guild member. There isn't really any way to customize your stuff beyond very specific things (though this will change in the upcoming expansion supposedly. I doubt this, however, as specific people will have specific and repetitive "gem builds' with the new interface. do a little research on this, and you'll see what I mean.). These can be iron weapon chains which will make certain your melee weapon cannot be disarmed through a rogue or warrior skill, for example, and a shield spike that does damage on a block. Weapon enchantment is as close as one gets to actual gear customization, however you will typically find that people will be calling out for the same enchantment on the trade channel. On top of that, enchantment is typically very, VERY expensive, due to the rarity of the materials (it won't stop people from getting the exact same enchantments, though.).
Gameplay. Here is where things get the most repetitive. Up to about level 11 or 12, things are decently varied. At this point, however, one will realize it's starting to take a lot more enemies to gain a level, and the quests are running together. Since you aren't high enough level to go to a higher zone, you will be stuck in a certain zone (or even just a certain area of a certain zone) killing the same monsters over and over. As far as questing goes, one quote pops into the mind. "Errands of Azeroth." They can be summed up into a few different types. Fetch (go and find an item in area), kill (kill a certain amount of enemies, or a specific boss enemy), Find and examine (find specific things and look at them), kill and collect (kill a specific type of enemy and collect a quest-specific 'badge' they drop), or simple collection (gathering resources). There are a few gems placed in there (For example, a paladin quest for a shield, where you must protect a farming woman from being killed in a bandit raid as a favor to her husband.), but they are few and far between or are class specific.
There are dungeons known as instances in the game, where you have your own personal copy of the dungeon. What is unspoken, however, is that later level dungeons are actually restricted and require many, many people (raid groups, around 40 people.). You 'sign up' for the dungeon, wait in line (for LONG periods of time) and if you die, you must 'sign up' and start over again. It goes to note that players have gone so far as to use 'add-ons' to simplify their playing experience in this regard; you will find priests will instantly cure you of poison or disease, and cast the perfect amount of healing for exactly the right target with uncanny speed and accuracy, all in the midst of 40 people and a ton of monsters. This is because they have a player made 'add-on,' (a nice word for 'bot' or hack') and sometimes, guilds will not let you play in later level dungeons if you do not have these installed because 'you are a liability."
This brings up community, another thing relative to an MMO game. The community of the game, is, of course, varied as in any MMO. Some are helpful, some are mean, some are completely illegible, and some are naked midgets named "LOOKATMELOL" dancing on top of a mailbox. From what I remember in a quick census, however, at least 1/4th of the entire population - over five million strong - is a specific race and class, the Night Elf Rogue. That is, a purple elf that can turn invisible and backstab for massive damage (PvP anyone?). The community as a whole, however, can be either offensive or actually TOO helpful. You will have a guy insulting you entirely in l33t speak while referring to Chuck Norris for asking him where a merchant was, or you will have a level 60 doing a level 12 quest for you. Seeing a max-level character running his guildmates through an entire dungeon (dungeons are much harder than average and are always in groups) is commonplace, since he's waiting in line for a different dungeon anyway.
PvP wise, there are options. To a degree. It starts on server choice. You can be in a 'normal' server, in which you will only be attacked if you are 'flagged' or instigate a PvP scenario by attacking a flagged player. If you don't wanna die to another player, then you don't fly your flag. On a raw PvP server, you are only safe in your factions controlled zones. In the alliance's Stormwind city, you are safe against attack if you don't attack of flag. Then, there are 'contested zones.' If you travel into these, it's open season for the opposite faction, weather you are level 15 or level 60. RP servers are "Role Playing servers;" they act like normal servers, but players occasionally act as their characters would. DnD style. Choose wisely, as if you chose a PvP server you will likely be getting thrust into a PvP environment by level 20 and have no choice on if you're attacked by max level groups. Level 60's are certainly not above backstabbing you for a one-hit kill, then waiting for you to get back into your body so they can repeat it.
This is where battlegrounds come in. Battlegrounds are specific PvP areas, with different rules-- two teams enter, it's not an open environement. Essentially, a PvP dungeon pitting the two against one another. I never got to experience these, for one reason-- they are so unbelievably clogged, it's typical to have long periods of waiting before you. Getting frustrated with long waits was never so much fun, as you can do stuff during the waiting periods and not be booted from the queue; you'll get put in the battlefield as soon as it's your 'turn.' I cannot comment further on this, since I didn't experience them, and it had no impact on my initial review (no points given, or subtracted).
All in all, Warcraft is not for a casual player. It requires a great deal of time to 'keep up,' and the speed at which things go is dictated by other, more hardcore than thou players (as well as the economy of the game). If you have the time to waste, then it is a good game for you; it's entertaining for all it's merits. Anybody that wants to play a game for an hour and go do something else, this is NOT for you. It's definitely not a bad game, but please, play responsibly. Don't make it a lifestyle.