It’s
very hard to not make the obvious pun, but I’ll resist. Wow is great
fun. I have to give some disclaimers right here in the beginning. I
have played -- either live, or in beta, or both -- every major MMORPG
out since EQ. My last E3 report was titled "Building a Better
Mousetrap" and though it was not a depressing article, you might have
gotten the sense that a tiny bit of jadedness may have crept into my
otherwise blissful online life.
I
thought that jadedness would have carried me through Alpha and Beta of
Wow -- after all, it’s still essentially a familiar game. Humans,
Dwarves, Gnomes, Elves, Orcs (but they are good orcs), and, OK throw in
some minotaur like creatures, all of these abound in Wow. Wow also has
duels, leveling, loot, chat channels, quests, hotkeys, instance
dungeons, trade skills, long distance travel methods, and it will have
rideable mounts. Nothing we all haven’t seen before right?
So why
did Wow reach out and drag me back into the world of staying up till
4AM and only realizing how late it was because the sky outside was
starting to get light? That’s the question that I’m going to keep in
mind as I write up the following sections.
I’ve
seen Wow before at E3, I liked the graphics then, they had a different
style to them than all else I have seen or did see at that E3. But
other than that they didn’t bowl me over too much. In Alpha I got to
the character creation screen in Wow and saw blood red lit clouds
moving in a background as a torn flag swayed in the wind. I liked it,
it felt like a place for an orc, and a place for some unknown battle.
I logged
into the game and all of a sudden I got a distinct feeling of being
here before. No, not exactly, here, in this newbie orc town but "here"
in this ethereal space. It felt like early EQ. The non realistic
graphics that I had to accept as a sort of suspension of disbelief
helped me suspend my belief in other ways. I was back in a virtual
world.
Now,
that’s not to say that all graphics in this game are of first
generation EQ quality. Far from it. Water is well done, as are the sky,
wind effects and ambient touches. The terrain -- waterfalls, grasses,
lava etc. are terrific. Animation is excellent and people and NPCs move
as if they really do have joints. I, of course, tried all the emotes
right off the bat. An intriguing addition to the usual line up was the
voiced emotes. "For Durotar!" I yelled, punching my fist into the air
with what I deemed an appropriate battlecry for my warrior. This was a
nice touch and I thought it well voiced by who ever did it. "What’s my
motivation?" "OK, you’re a female orc and you’re going into battle
against a Zehvra".
What
*is* unrealistic, in that first EQ way, was how drastically terrain
could change just by going over a narrow river for instance. But you
know what? I liked that. Variety is the spice of life and eye candy
doesn’t always have to apply only to scantily clad females (more on
that later). In DAoC I realized part of my fatigue in the game was that
when I ran from one small town in Midgard to another small town in
Midgard, it looked exactly the same. In Wow you make that run and not
only is it different but you get an exp bonus for discovering it!
Oh yes,
you heard me. Wow rewards adventurers. I can’t say you could level off
of it, but it’s still a nice bonus and because they put enough
variation in terrain, the fun is back in adventuring to places unknown.
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Interface
Hotkey
banks, bag slots, configurable key board bindings with alternate keys
for the same command, the option to bring in your own XML GUI -- all
familiar options to modern MMORPG players. It all works, not too much
to say on this point.
Almost Everything with a purpose?
So it
soon came to my attention as a young warrior that certain flowers in
the terrain, seemed to not just be part of the background. Why else
would my cursor change as I went over the Peacebloom flower? What was
this? And what about that rock over there with the little shiny things
sticking out of it: Copper Vein?
What it
was I later found out, was that Wow has cleverly found a way to more
creatively integrate trade skill item collection. The flower was in
demand by herbalists and alchemists. Yet various creatures stalked near
it. It was likely that if you were to go pick the flower you would have
to slay the beasts first. Which is why I noticed the flower in the
first place, I was there for the kill. Yes, there are still situations
where you have to slay many of one kind of animal to get their skin for
example, but you could also skin an animal that someone else left lying
around.
Another
example of almost everything with a purpose:. Usually when you had a
quest, and you killed a mob and got an item needed for a quest, it
would be marked with "Quest Item" on it. But, occasionally there are
items that are for quests that also happen to be useful for a trade
skill as well, or perhaps just to sell to get cash, these were not
marked. This is intriguing because if had the knowledge you could
barter those items for something you want from other players, or save
them for yourself when you intend to run that quest.
The almost
everything part I’ll leave to those who end up playing the game to
discover, but let’s just say that the ambient creatures rock! Here are
a few other not necessarily purposeful aspects to the game: there are
flower shops; there is wrapping paper; there are odd things that you
find in creatures’ stomachs, in clam shells, and from fishing in the
sea; there are areas that are empty that may or may not be intended to
remain that way when the game goes live. Do all of these have a
purpose? If the purpose was to draw me into the game, it worked.
Questing and Fighting
I enjoy
the quest system. Why? There seem to be so many quests available
anywhere you go. Some quests lead to others as part of a series. Some
are the obvious, "take this letter to someone so you can find a place
more to your level" type. Most of them are fun (one which was not got
tweaked during Alpha so it might be more fun now). I quest more in Wow
than I did in any other game I’ve played, with the possible exceptions
of missions in Anarchy Online. There’s another nice feature for you...
there are instance dungeons for elite quests, yet for those opposed to
that, there are also elite quests that aren’t in instances. The "high
end" game has not yet been tested as there is a level cap of 30.
Fighting.
Up to a certain level it seems that you can choose to group or solo.
You can also choose to do quests which are accomplishable solo.
Recovering
Mana
based classes don’t have "med" however they can regain mana faster by
drinking a beverage or a potion. Beverages have a decent price range
for anyone’s budget and have a minimum level limit on the more
expensive ones. Both melee and mana based classes can regain health
from eating food. Food is also available with a decent price range
choice and players who take up cooking can create dishes that give you
more health back than their original ingredients. One can take up
fishing to get free food (raw fish) and have the option to cook the
fish if you are a cook and have a nearby fire. Food stuff, and
beverages, can be gained from mobs or chests. Another option to regain
health is to use bind wounds, which is under the skill of First Aid. A
melee character can have virtually no down time if they should carry
bandages, food, and healing and/or regen potions. On another note,
there is a factor called "spirit" which effects how fast you regain
mana and health. One can increase spirit by having a campfire,
something someone with the survival skill can make.
Death
Death
reminds me most of DAoC. Once you die you can either lie there hoping
for a res (and the following res sickness) or release immediately to
end up at the nearest bindstone as a ghost. Once there you can talk to
the healer who will res you at the cost of some experience points, or
run in ghost mode (you run faster) to your corpse and can then res
yourself (again with a res sickness effect). This has made death less
painful for the most part, but if you died admist many mobs, you can
still be in a pickle and may find it worth it to lose exp. So far, I
like this system. It isn’t the same penalty as in other games, but I
wonder my attitude is also partly due to it "still being Alpha" so I’m
not necessarily as invested in my alpha characters as I would be in my
"live" ones.
The Races
Races
are divided into Alliance versus Horde. PvP, except in the form of
duels, has not yet been implemented but it is said that each team will
not be able to talk to the members of the other team. I smell a war
brewing, don’t you?.
Horde
- Orcs
- Big brutes. Their civilization has a shamanistic slant. The orcs have
apparently been misunderstood in the past. They look great.
- Undead - Creepy guys. Graveyards and fog. Immune to sleep and don’t need to breathe underwater.
- Taurens
- The bull people. Their culture seems to have an American Indian
touch. I liked them at E3, but I laughed when I saw the female avatar
on my creation screen. Many cow jokes have already been done. If you
get into Beta please don’t tell them in general chat.
- Trolls
- Tall and skinny, slightly creepy. It’s the Addam’s Family. No, it’s
not, I’m just joking. They aren’t like other trolls I"ve met but they
seem fun. They tend to speak with a Caribbean(?) accent. Perhaps they
are going for a Voodoo feel.
Alliance
- Humans
- I like the female avatars better than the male ones for face choices
otherwise, nice models. Supposed bonus stats for this race.
- Gnomes
- Sorry more traditional gnome lovers. These gnomes have an anime touch
to them. They have huge heads! The female ones are nicer looking than
the male ones. Their culture is as you would expect, tinkerers and
engineers (engineering is an interesting trade skill in the game, by
the way). Gnome vocals when they get hit are highly annoying (this may
change as a lot of feedback has been given on this).
- Night Elves
- Sigh. My first disappointment. They look rather noble in screenshots,
their city looks great, a slightly Oriental influence perhaps. But...
if you make a male dark elf do the dance emote, he dances like Michael
Jackson. I’m not kidding. The female dance has been dubbed The Panty
Dance by one of my fellow testers. One can overcome this, but it’s too
bad I’ve already seen it because the dark elves will never have the
mystique I thought they could have had for me.
- Dwarves
- I like these dwarves. They look better in game than at the creation
screen. They have fantastic voiced emotes and animations. Their capital
city is Moria -- um I mean Ironforge. Dwarf lovers, you’ve found your
niche.
"Missing
races" - High Elves and Goblins can be seen as NPCs but they are not
playable races. Perhaps they’ll be making appearances as playable races
in an expansion?
The Community
Well it
being Alpha (and now Beta) one might expect that the breed in there is
not what will end up being the majority in the live game. I concede
this possiblity so I can only say that I’ve enjoyed the community I’ve
experienced thus far. I will; however, address some people’s fears that
Wow will be overrun by an immature lot, examples of which one can find
on the Battle.net boards. I will remind you that that there is a world
of difference between what one might read on a mish mash general forum
board, such as Whineplay or Flamevault (whose true names shall not be
divulged) and what one experiences in game. Should you run into a bad
apple, the handy and famliar /ignore command works in Wow as it does in
other games. Instance dungeons will also help you escape the maddening
crowd. Lastly, special rules servers, such as a roleplaying server,
have also been suggested and may come to exist once the game goes live.
Conclusion
Looking
over what I’ve written, I have to close with the acknowledgement that
Wow is not a pixel universe shattering MMORPG. There is neither a truly
new PvP system (not yet at least), nor player housing, nor a 4 year
arching story line, nor any other "new" element to the game. The
interface is easy and familiar, the roles one can play slightly
different yet fun (orcs can be your friends now, hehe). Yet I believe
what has me hooked is that Wow has created an enticing mix of old
MMORPG features with some slightly modified ones and served them up in
a world that is fantastical enough to make me take notice, yet familiar
enough to let older RP models exist. I highly recommend Wow to anyone
missing the old days of EQ, to casual gamers, to those tired of the
MMORPG they are playing now and to those wanting to make a fresh start
in a game setting where they can imagine their own history.
"PS rogues, I love you"
My rogue report will be my next article up. I’ll also be posting a Rogue Beta Guide in the Safehouse Wow forum.
