World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
, by Blizzard is a very popular (insanely popular, at this point) online role-playing game made by the folks who brought the world the Diablo and Warcraft series. If you've played Warcraft III, you'll fall right into place in this world, considering how much of the lore of Warcraft is pulled into this online masterpiece. Of course, if you're a Warcraft fan, I don't know how you may have missed World of Warcraft, honestly... you're prolly already logged in!
Eight playable character races and nine classes (not all playable by each race) offer a nice blend of variety and simplicity in character creation. There are other games with many more choices, but I've found it refreshing to have a more finite palette to get me rolling. Of course, as I've gotten further in the game (and opened up some 10 different characters of my own,) I am happy to see that the upcoming Burning Crusade expansion will add another two playable races and possibly more classes and professions.
WoW is one of the player vs. player (PvP) friendly games that I would actually say I enjoy as a PvP experience... mostly. I'm a major fan of soloing in MMOGs, as many of you already know, so PvP can really cause me trouble. WoW has done it very well and the feeling of being in a larger "war" between the two factions (Horde and Alliance) means you're fighting against roughly half the server population, not every other player in the game, like other PvP experiences I've had. This means you have a lot of friends that you can look to for help or support when things get messy. It's much less stressful than looking out for ALL other players as possible enemies, I think. Yeah, I might be a "care bear" at heart, so this PvP experience gets my vote... lots of big battles and exciting stress while roaming about the land, but I can still come home to Darnassus and not worry about being ganked while I buy more empty crystal vials... well usually. Those damn Rogues and their sneaky little selves!!
Graphics rock.. flat out. If you don't have a solid machine, you might have video settings down a bit, but if you have the ability to crank everything up, it's a splendid-looking game, IMO! Some people scoff at the funky proportions of players and exaggerated features of the landscape and architecture, but I think that's much of what I like about it... it's got great style!
Well, that's the quick rundown of this bad-boy! Of course there's a ton of stuff to cover on a game like this, but I never said this was a full review/preview or whatever... in fact, I didn't say anything. If you want more info, it's out there in spades.
MassMOG.com Gaming Summary: