To Begin...
Either you're playing World of Warcraft currently, or you don't plan to, but hey, I imagine there are a few people out there new to the scene, or still undecided. Today - or, tonight - I'll give a *somewhat* to-the-point review on what you need to know about the game. So, anywho...
Jason Reviews: World of Warcraft (and the Burning Crusade Expansion)
"Ooo, chilly; I feel a Blizzard coming on..."
Chances are, you know what a blizzard is, and if you're into gaming at all, you should know who "Blizzard" is, or to be technical, "Blizzard Entertainment", a division of Vivendi Games. Without getting into the history of it all, what you need to know is that Blizzard is the powerhouse that drove its Porsche down from the heavens, delivered games like Diablo, Starcraft and Warcraft upon the public, stole our money from game sales, then sped off into the distance.
The point is Blizzard - due to the games they've bestowed upon me - is one of my favorite names in gaming. Just hearing the words "new game" and "Blizzard" in the same sentence fills me with joy, this happening a bit ago with the announcement of Mumorpaguh... *Ahem*... MMORPG in the style of a previous game, specifically, Warcraft III, though the entire universe from the series is used. The hype was suffocating until, in 2004, "World of Warcraft" was released, and three years later, "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade". Happily, I've been a player since 2004, though not one of the guys you hear about who stock up on Mountain Dew and Fritos and have "power-sessions", getting a character to level seventy in a matter of days to a week or two.
That baffles me. Moving on, the REVIEW.
"I'm a Paladin with 18 charisma and 97 hit points. I can use my helm of disintegration and do one D4 damage as my half-elf mage wields his plus-five holy avenger."
That's a quote from Family Guy; I've always wanted to use it in similar contexts... Anyway, the first mentioning would be the classes and races. Sticking with usual Warcraft themes, eight classes - ten with the Burning Crusade - are playable: The Noble Alliance with Humans, Night-Elves, Gnomes, Dwarfs and Draenei, and The Hordish... Horde... with Orcs, Trolls, Tauren, Undead, and Blood-Elves, each race with special abilities and a variety of racial traits: for example, while Orcs can go into a "Bloodrage" frenzy and do more damage, and make better hunters, an Undead can cannibalize killed enemies to restore health, and make better rogues. Gnomes, having a higher intellect, would make an ideal mage, while a Night-Elf, with higher agility, would make a better hunter or rogue.
Which brings me into the classes. There are really only three specific class TYPES, and I'm even stretching for the third: you either A) hit enemies with a sword up close, B) shoot enemies with spells from farther away, or C) shoot enemies with a gun or bow from far away, then hit them when they get close, the hunter being the "C" in this.
There are nine classes to choose from: three mainly-melee classes - Warriors, Paladins and Rogues - four caster classes - Mages, Warlocks, Priests and Shamans - and two hybrid classes - Hunters and Druids. I say "hybrid" because, while I'll admit a Shaman and usually does melee a good deal, both the Hunter and Druid switch between close-quarters combat and long-range casting on a daily basis, while Shamans usually use spells that inter-change with their whacking away.
Each class has certain benefits and pitalls, and fit a certain kind of gamer. The warrior, being very strong and can withstand a multitude of blows, lacks any ranged attack and will be the "guy-in-front" in almost every group, and will fit the cocky, "leadership-oriented" player. The mage, while having devastating spells and the ability to summon food and water, and turn people into SHEEP, lacks proper armor to protect him or her, and spells drain a lot of mana - Mages fit the "slow-and-steady" player. Hunters, the... *superior* of all classes, having the ability to have a pet which takes the brunt of all attacks and the ability to sit back and unload arrows or bullets into an enemy without taking damage, lacks variety in the long run. Hunters fit the average gamer, I'd say: killing at an incredibly fast speed, making a lot of money, and going through levels at an incredible speed.
In a nutshell, there's a class for everyone, but finding your class will prove difficult, yet possible, through trial and error, my class-of-choice being the hunter.
"From the stout Dwarves of Ironforge, to the Brutish Orcs of Orgrimmar."
Currently, players can explore the lands of Azeroth, Kalimdor, and Outland, each - excluding Outland - housing the current homes of both Alliance and Horde races. The landscape - while only occupying a short section in the review - is as different depending on where you are as the real world. From the frozen climate in Dun Morogh to the desert atmosphere of Thousand Needles, to the dark, nature-enriched setting of Darkshore, the world is alive, and no two places are exactly the same.
That's all I really wanted to say about the world, really. Aside from the fact that the game is by no means "top-notch" in the graphics department - housing a very friendly, very new-player oriented cartoon-ish feel - the game can be beautiful, and at the same time, completely "Saturday Morning"-esque. That's it... seriously. Move on here. I'm done. Stop reading.
"CRY HAVOC!, AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR!"
This is what it all boils down to; the online feel of forty-year old, overweight virgins in parents' basements battling against other forty-year old...
You get the point. The two mightiest words in the Warcraft World: Player versus Player. Well, it's three words, but one is repeated, so that still makes it two, right?... Anyway, moving on. Player versus player is exactly that: one player against another of an opposing faction - Horde vs. Alliance - or just duels between friends for dominance and/or bragging rights. The thrill of twenty Alliance fighters going up against twenty Horde skirmishers, spells of every color flying by, swirls of swords spinning around, bombs being thrown, arrows being shot, POTIONS being DRANK...
S... Sorry, almost lost control there. No matter how un-nerdy you promise yourself to stay, playing this game will almost always geek you out at some point. I'll refrain from this point on from completely departing from reality. Hopefully.
You know, player versus player. It's that. But it always comes with drawbacks. Though there are a variety of classes to play, some just couldn't possibly stand up against others without A) extreme skill or B) crazy gear. For example, an unexperienced priest will become cannon fodder for a lucky rogue; a mana-crazy warlock will lie down and take it when a warrior walks by; a hunter with a pet far away will almost always succumb to a rogue.
But hey, this would be find, if EVERY IDIOT AND HIS MOTHER'S SON WASN'T A DAMN ROGUE.
Deep breaths... Everyone in WoW - Come on, the game HAS to be good: the abbreviation is "Wow" - is a damn rogue, due to the fact that even an unexperienced rogue can breeze through the game without knowing squat about how to properly play, mixed with duel wielding, extremely unbalanced stats in the beginning levels, and poisons, and their...
[This portion of the review was removed to shorten it. In reality, nothing was written, and this is just a nice seg-way to the verdict without any more rambling.]
Verdict: Buy it!
The Good? Very addictive, fun to play, hard to stop playing, variety of classes, races, spells, attacks, and landscapes. Also, hunters. Hunters are "the" winning class. Very friendly menus and interface, very user-oriented.
The Bad? Monthly fee can be a hassle, but what do you expect? Also, finding a class that works for you takes a bit of trial and error.
The Ugly? Rogues.
Those damn Rogues... Gwarsh...
(( Ohh, any by the way, feel free to leave comments on what you thought about my rant, if you agree, disagree, feel the need to argue with someone you don't know: you know. YOU know... ))
Either you're playing World of Warcraft currently, or you don't plan to, but hey, I imagine there are a few people out there new to the scene, or still undecided. Today - or, tonight - I'll give a *somewhat* to-the-point review on what you need to know about the game. So, anywho...
Jason Reviews: World of Warcraft (and the Burning Crusade Expansion)
"Ooo, chilly; I feel a Blizzard coming on..."
Chances are, you know what a blizzard is, and if you're into gaming at all, you should know who "Blizzard" is, or to be technical, "Blizzard Entertainment", a division of Vivendi Games. Without getting into the history of it all, what you need to know is that Blizzard is the powerhouse that drove its Porsche down from the heavens, delivered games like Diablo, Starcraft and Warcraft upon the public, stole our money from game sales, then sped off into the distance.
The point is Blizzard - due to the games they've bestowed upon me - is one of my favorite names in gaming. Just hearing the words "new game" and "Blizzard" in the same sentence fills me with joy, this happening a bit ago with the announcement of Mumorpaguh... *Ahem*... MMORPG in the style of a previous game, specifically, Warcraft III, though the entire universe from the series is used. The hype was suffocating until, in 2004, "World of Warcraft" was released, and three years later, "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade". Happily, I've been a player since 2004, though not one of the guys you hear about who stock up on Mountain Dew and Fritos and have "power-sessions", getting a character to level seventy in a matter of days to a week or two.
That baffles me. Moving on, the REVIEW.
"I'm a Paladin with 18 charisma and 97 hit points. I can use my helm of disintegration and do one D4 damage as my half-elf mage wields his plus-five holy avenger."
That's a quote from Family Guy; I've always wanted to use it in similar contexts... Anyway, the first mentioning would be the classes and races. Sticking with usual Warcraft themes, eight classes - ten with the Burning Crusade - are playable: The Noble Alliance with Humans, Night-Elves, Gnomes, Dwarfs and Draenei, and The Hordish... Horde... with Orcs, Trolls, Tauren, Undead, and Blood-Elves, each race with special abilities and a variety of racial traits: for example, while Orcs can go into a "Bloodrage" frenzy and do more damage, and make better hunters, an Undead can cannibalize killed enemies to restore health, and make better rogues. Gnomes, having a higher intellect, would make an ideal mage, while a Night-Elf, with higher agility, would make a better hunter or rogue.
Which brings me into the classes. There are really only three specific class TYPES, and I'm even stretching for the third: you either A) hit enemies with a sword up close, B) shoot enemies with spells from farther away, or C) shoot enemies with a gun or bow from far away, then hit them when they get close, the hunter being the "C" in this.
There are nine classes to choose from: three mainly-melee classes - Warriors, Paladins and Rogues - four caster classes - Mages, Warlocks, Priests and Shamans - and two hybrid classes - Hunters and Druids. I say "hybrid" because, while I'll admit a Shaman and usually does melee a good deal, both the Hunter and Druid switch between close-quarters combat and long-range casting on a daily basis, while Shamans usually use spells that inter-change with their whacking away.
Each class has certain benefits and pitalls, and fit a certain kind of gamer. The warrior, being very strong and can withstand a multitude of blows, lacks any ranged attack and will be the "guy-in-front" in almost every group, and will fit the cocky, "leadership-oriented" player. The mage, while having devastating spells and the ability to summon food and water, and turn people into SHEEP, lacks proper armor to protect him or her, and spells drain a lot of mana - Mages fit the "slow-and-steady" player. Hunters, the... *superior* of all classes, having the ability to have a pet which takes the brunt of all attacks and the ability to sit back and unload arrows or bullets into an enemy without taking damage, lacks variety in the long run. Hunters fit the average gamer, I'd say: killing at an incredibly fast speed, making a lot of money, and going through levels at an incredible speed.
In a nutshell, there's a class for everyone, but finding your class will prove difficult, yet possible, through trial and error, my class-of-choice being the hunter.
"From the stout Dwarves of Ironforge, to the Brutish Orcs of Orgrimmar."
Currently, players can explore the lands of Azeroth, Kalimdor, and Outland, each - excluding Outland - housing the current homes of both Alliance and Horde races. The landscape - while only occupying a short section in the review - is as different depending on where you are as the real world. From the frozen climate in Dun Morogh to the desert atmosphere of Thousand Needles, to the dark, nature-enriched setting of Darkshore, the world is alive, and no two places are exactly the same.
That's all I really wanted to say about the world, really. Aside from the fact that the game is by no means "top-notch" in the graphics department - housing a very friendly, very new-player oriented cartoon-ish feel - the game can be beautiful, and at the same time, completely "Saturday Morning"-esque. That's it... seriously. Move on here. I'm done. Stop reading.
"CRY HAVOC!, AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR!"
This is what it all boils down to; the online feel of forty-year old, overweight virgins in parents' basements battling against other forty-year old...
You get the point. The two mightiest words in the Warcraft World: Player versus Player. Well, it's three words, but one is repeated, so that still makes it two, right?... Anyway, moving on. Player versus player is exactly that: one player against another of an opposing faction - Horde vs. Alliance - or just duels between friends for dominance and/or bragging rights. The thrill of twenty Alliance fighters going up against twenty Horde skirmishers, spells of every color flying by, swirls of swords spinning around, bombs being thrown, arrows being shot, POTIONS being DRANK...
S... Sorry, almost lost control there. No matter how un-nerdy you promise yourself to stay, playing this game will almost always geek you out at some point. I'll refrain from this point on from completely departing from reality. Hopefully.
You know, player versus player. It's that. But it always comes with drawbacks. Though there are a variety of classes to play, some just couldn't possibly stand up against others without A) extreme skill or B) crazy gear. For example, an unexperienced priest will become cannon fodder for a lucky rogue; a mana-crazy warlock will lie down and take it when a warrior walks by; a hunter with a pet far away will almost always succumb to a rogue.
But hey, this would be find, if EVERY IDIOT AND HIS MOTHER'S SON WASN'T A DAMN ROGUE.
Deep breaths... Everyone in WoW - Come on, the game HAS to be good: the abbreviation is "Wow" - is a damn rogue, due to the fact that even an unexperienced rogue can breeze through the game without knowing squat about how to properly play, mixed with duel wielding, extremely unbalanced stats in the beginning levels, and poisons, and their...
[This portion of the review was removed to shorten it. In reality, nothing was written, and this is just a nice seg-way to the verdict without any more rambling.]
Verdict: Buy it!
The Good? Very addictive, fun to play, hard to stop playing, variety of classes, races, spells, attacks, and landscapes. Also, hunters. Hunters are "the" winning class. Very friendly menus and interface, very user-oriented.
The Bad? Monthly fee can be a hassle, but what do you expect? Also, finding a class that works for you takes a bit of trial and error.
The Ugly? Rogues.
Those damn Rogues... Gwarsh...
(( Ohh, any by the way, feel free to leave comments on what you thought about my rant, if you agree, disagree, feel the need to argue with someone you don't know: you know. YOU know... ))
