I have almost no experience with fantasy MMORPG's so I don't really have any concrete basis for comparison. My experience consists of:
- Playing Asheron's Call briefly. I hooked up with a couple of friends who gave me a bunch of phat lewt so my character was considerably more powerful than his level would indicate. I had little idea what I was doing and quickly tired of the game. I only played a couple of sessions.
- Playing Guild Wars briefly during their open beta. Again, only a couple of sessions since the beta was short.
- Watching a friend play Dark Age of Camelot.
Most of my massively-multiplayer game experience is with Planetside, which is a MMOFPS (massively-multiplayer online first-person shooter). I subscribed to it for a while and played several sessions. I may subscribe again now that my financial situation has improved, but I haven't decided for sure. There are still some RPG elements to the game but it's all PvP and you actually have to aim at what you're shooting at. It's much like Tribes 2 writ large, though without jetpacks. Not surprising as part of the team that developed Planetside also worked on Tribes and Tribes 2.
So here are my initial thoughts on World of Warcraft after putting a couple of hours into it.
First of all, it's very pretty. They take advantage of at least some of my video card's advanced capabilities. For example, when running across the snow, you can see it shining in the sun as it reflects the light. I'm sure it will scale very nicely to lower-end hardware. One of the things about such games is that they can't afford not having it run on lower-end hardware.
There are eight races to choose from; four from the "Alliance" and four from the "Horde." For each race, there are three or four character classes to choose from. For example, you have your basic warrior and mage, but also have classes such as hunter, priest, druid, shaman, and so on. Some classes are common to several races, others are unique to one or two. I have two characters I've played so far. I've worked both up to fifth level. The first is a Dwarf Paladin who is currently armed with a two-handed war hammer which deals a pretty good whack to its target. He has two magical abilities: the first is a self-targeting spell which allows him to do extra damage on each strike, the second is a healing spell which targets others. The second character is a Tauren Shaman who is currently wielding a one-handed mace and a wooden shield. Taurens are basically humanoid bulls; effectively minotaurs. He also has two magical abilities. The first is a lightning bolt for distance attack and the second is the standard heal others spell. In his case, a typical attack would consist of throwing a couple lightning bolts as the target charges at him, then wailing on it with the mace once it gets there.
Most of the races have their own section of the game world, but some do double up. The Taurens and the Undead are by themselves, but the Dwarves and Gnomes share a single area. I don't know how it works on the PvP servers; it may be that they all mix it up. This allows players of each race to experience quests that are specific to that race, without it getting too busy in any one area.
It's the quests which drive the game, at least as far as I've played. They're clearly tailored to build you up in level and ability with low chance of dying. I've died only once when my Tauren character wandered into an area that was clearly for higher level characters. Other than that, I've been able to handle the quests pretty easily. The quests also give you something to focus on rather than indiscriminate slaughter and destruction. I'm sure the other games in this genre do pretty much the same thing but this is the first time I've really sat down and played through several quests.
You have the staples of RPG games such as NPC's which serve the functions of merchants, weaponsmiths, armorers, etc. So far I've only bought one thing from any of these guys which was a better mace for my Tauren. Other than that I've made do with items I've looted from the bodies of critters I've killed and stuff I've received as rewards for completing quests.
The user interface, as you would expect from what's effectively a third-generation game in this genre, is well laid-out and pretty intuitive. As with any such game, you'll be well-advised to learn how to use the keyboard to access the various functions rather than clicking on them with the mouse. One nice thing which differs from Blizzard's Diablo games is that every item takes up one spot in your pack, rather than some being larger than others. Also, multiples of several items will stack in one slot rather than each taking a single slot. There is a limit, I think it's ten, though it may differ depending on the item. In addition, you can have additional storage pouches and bags on your belt which allow you to carry even more stuff.
The game allows for groups, which I'm sure the other games do as well. This adds a social element to the game which is very important. Groups can then complete quests together and the experience is shared between them. Planetside does the same thing with squads. In fact, you really need to be in squads if you want to advance in that game as you get much more experience than if you act alone. When I was playing Planetside, I had much more fun when I was in a squad. I haven't joined any groups in WoW yet since my quests have all been oriented toward solo action. But I'm sure that later quests will require cooperation between multiple players.
I've enjoyed playing it so far. It's much like Diablo writ large with the standard third-person 3D perspective and a whole lot of other players in the game with you. However, I doubt I'll subscribe to it when it releases to retail. The thing about these kinds of games is that there isn't any real skill involved when doing actual combat. You don't have to aim, you just attack and whether or not you hit, as well as the damage you do, is based on random number generation combined with your stats. Just like rolling dice in a tabletop RPG. The skill comes in choosing how to equip your character and knowing when it's time to run away. There is strategy, and some tactics, but the player doesn't have any direct effect on the outcome of combat. There's also the social aspect. What attracted me to Planetside was the FPS aspect where you actually have to aim at what you're shooting at. There is still the matter of how you equip your character, and you also do increase in ability which allows you to use more advanced weapons and drive various vehicles. The social aspect is also there as noted above.
In short, if you're a fan of Ultima Online, Everquest, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, and so on, you'll almost certainly like World of Warcraft. As for me, I'll probably play it until the beta expires but, if I'm going to spend actual money on an MMO game, I'll probably just go back to Planetside.
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