WoW Review: Welcome Heroes of Azeroth!

By Kei Beneza (Dividelife), Onrpg writer

There's no denying the fact that World of Warcraft (WoW) served as a pioneer for some of the latest MMO features today. WoW carries on from the worldly renowned real-time-strategy game Warcraft 3, allowing players to create their own personal relations with the world of Azeroth. The powers of the infamous Lich King grows stronger each day, and it's up to you to make a difference. The cold war between the Horde and Alliance hasn't reached perfect stasis, making it hard for everyone to work together despite their horrid conditions.
 
WoW takes role-playing to a whole new level, giving players a chance to experience the Lore firsthand.  Getting to interact with famous Warcraft characters also served as a plus for this game; especially since the lore is loved by millions of gamers worldwide. Its pretty much given that people would ask for a chance to coexist with these heroes and heroines hence this famous MMO RPG.
 

We Hate Each Other... But We Have No Choice

WoW focuses on two factions namely: the Horde and the Alliance. These two factions have been at it since the game's RTS predecessors. Upon the arrival of the putrid undead Scourge, the two factions were forced into a momentary truce. Although we know that there's a bit of bad blood (ok... maybe a whole lot of bad blood) towards each other, both factions must band together in order face their greatest enemy yet. 
 

Class Differences

Unlike other MMOs, WoW's classes each have their own User Interface (UI) as well as their unique  form of gameplay.
For example: Warriors don’t have mana the same way mages do, nor do they earn rage points (warriors mana) like spell casters gain mana for spells. Why the hell would real warriors use mana? All they do is grunt, slash and shout anyway.
 
This gives players a chance to experience a different play style when playing other classes, making it less routinely thus enhancing the game's replay value. This feature is designed to optimize each class' performance, allowing them to function well in their designated roles both for raids and PVP.
 

Character Customization At Its Finest

Each class has three Talent Trees to choose from. Like most MMOs, this feature lets players customize their characters-- helping them fit the player's scope of gameplay. Talent points are acquired as you level up throughout the game, and though these points lock firmly in place after you use them, you can always ask your local class trainer to reset your talent points for a small fee.
 
Each tree represents a different play style. An Affliction based warlock can function well on raids unlike Demonology ones are better with questing and doing PVP. This serves as a concrete form of balance, giving each tree its own specialty thus removing the linear feeling of a certain class being played by different players. Since you can distribute points on each tree regardless of which tree you start with, you can also create a perfectly balanced character at the cost of not getting a certain tree's final feature. This may sound dull but it works well for most of the players online.
 

Thank Elune for Dual Spec

Ever had those moments when your character is at the bottom of the food chain? It is pretty hard knowing that your build isn't good enough for a particular situation. Since most of the Epic gears can be found in raids, PVP-type characters would have to re-spec often. Believe me, you wouldn't want to be the center of attraction just because they expected your character to be something else.
 
Upon the arrival of patch 3.1.0, players were granted the dual spec (dual specializations) system. Upon visiting their local trainers, players can pay a generous fee of 1000 gold for them to unlock their dual spec feature. This feature lets players reserve another talent build allowing them to switch builds at any given time. It also replaces your action bar (hotkey) settings, just so you wouldn't have to fix your skills every time you change your talent tree. This removes the difficulty of having to adjust to your surroundings, letting you switch to your reserved spec for trials that may give you a hard time while in your current build.
 
Talent Tree
Talent Tree
 
Although the feature is as great as hell, some players would rather do things the old-fashion way. It's probably because of the steep price (I mean come on! 1000 gold doesn't grow on tree elementals you know). Though this new addition seems promising, a 15 gold manual re-spec seems to be a lot cheaper and more practical than the given feature.


We Are SPECIAL!

When choosing a race, one must consider what further enhances his desired play style; it's far more important than choosing a race only because it looks cooler than the rest. Each race is blessed with their own unique racial skill that could improve your character's performance. A Tauren Warrior may be ideal for a devastating stun lock due to the Tauren's 'Warstomp' ability, while Orcs can increase their melee damage making them deadly at close range.

All in all, the whole idea of getting to choose your race and class gives you a good definition of what your character's role would be.

 

The Ultimate PVP Experience

PVP in WoW is much rewarding compared to other online games so far. Honor points are gained by killing members of the opposing faction. These points can be used to purchase gears and upgrades; therefore, making your lust for blood quite reasonable.

PVP can be found almost everywhere in the world of Azeroth. There's group PVP, 2 versus 2, 1 on 1 and even an all-out war for territorial advantage. Since the war is ongoing, players may kill anyone from the opposite faction even in the comforts of their home. You may also kill town NPCs in order to slow down their opponents' progress, killing quest givers to stop them from turning in quests to gain experience.

 

Raiding Like Never Before!

Unlike other games, WoW gives you bosses like you've never seen before. Most games would usually ponder on who hits harder, with tons of blood thirsty players hacking and slashing while the tank takes all the damage. Players would need more than powerful gear to beat raid bosses in WoW. Some even require you to catch his spears, wherein the only way to beat him is to throw it back at him causing his barrier to go down. Some are rather merciless, blocking any form of heals making the healer more or less useless throughout the fight.
 
Raid
WoW Raid
 
 
WoW raiding requires harmony and proper attempts; you can't always go around thinking that you're safe from the boss' attack or that he will give you enough time to heal yourself. Like I said, everyone has their own role to play.


Warcraft 3 Graphics On Steroids

The graphics look like a more detailed version of the early Warcraft models, rendered beautifully while still sharing the colorful Warcraft 3 trademark visuals. It’s as though you were really yanked inside the World of Warcraft. The graphics may not be as good as that of Hellgate London or other up-to-date MMOs but the low output may also be a key for it to work well on old computers. He visuals are incomparable to any other game and one glimpse would instantly bring you into saying that the game you're looking at is undoubtedly World of Warcraft.

 

EPIC Sounds For An EPIC Game

The soundtrack is just amazing with tons of tracks to boost your personal relationship with your surroundings. Unlike other games the music in WoW doesn't standout; instead, it blends along with the ambiance creating a harmonious combination that pulls you deeper into the game (possibly the same effect as what made people cry in movies). 
 

The Verdict

World of Warcraft is a great game all in all, with hundreds of servers ready to cater players with WoW goodness. The different forms of classes allows players to find their own meta of gameplay making it easier for other gamers to know why they actually chose that class. The name World of Warcraft pretty much defines what this game is all about or what you can expect upon signing up. Even if you're not a big fan of the lore, this game is still worth playing. The game has a lot of quests, so many that I think no one has ever done them all with a single character before. With good quest lineups and a big variety of armors and equipment, I'm sure there's more than enough to satisfy any MMO gamer out there.
 
Pros
- Great system
- Excellent replay value
- Intense PVP battles
- Tantalizing raids
- Broad character customization
- Good quest lineup
- Gigantic world map
 
Cons
- Quite Expensive to play
- The main thought of having to buy the game and then subscription

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