NCTY - WOW - Game Review

WOW is such a popular game that there are tons of reviews available by just searching it on google. But I am doing it so I can use this as a measuring stick for newer games. Therefore, my empahsis is going to be on the game-playing features.

First, Official Trailer can be found:

http://trailers.gwn.com/movies/play.php/f/799/World_of_Warcraft_The_Burning_Crusade-Intro_Movie.html

Some Gameplay Video:

http://trailers.gwn.com/movies/play.php/f/735/World_of_Warcraft_The_Burning_Crusade-Blood_furnace_gameplay_clip.html

A pretty good review from Gamespot:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/worldofwarcraft/review.html?sid=6114072&print=1

Some background information on WOW:

WOW was released on November 23, 2004 in the USA. It was released in China on June 6, 2005. On January 16, 2007, the expansion pact The Burning Crusade was released in the USA.

In WOW, the players can choose from 2 factions, 8 different races and 9 different character classes. In addition, the player can choose professions.

There are two types of servers, normal (or PvE) and PvP servers. The vast majority of servers are the PvE (Player vs Environment) servers. On these servers, the players can’t be attacked by other players unless permission is given.

On PvP servers, players can be attacked by players from the other faction.

The vast majority of servers are PvE. WOW are basically a PvE game. Its emphasis is on role-playing. Its defining characteristics are its thousands of quests player can play.

Every players can have up to 20 quests available to them at any given time. The beginning quests are usually to introduce players to a certain area. The later quests are to allow players get random items, etc.

There are two basic type of quests. The basic quest and the instances. The instance are dungeon that are created just for you or your group. Therefore, you won’t compete with other player groups in the instance. This aspect is very similar to LAN (Local Area Network) game rather than a MMO game.

There is also auction house where players can buy/sell items from/to other players. This allows for an economic system.

There are also battlegound where up to 40 players on each side can go in and battle each other. Again, this aspect is like a LAN game.

In its core, WOW is really a PvE Role Playing game that is dominated by quests. The players can play the quests all game long and never have to do anything else.

For higher level players, it has many PvP features that keep players in the game after they are tired of the quests.

At this point, WOW is the most popular 3D game in China and is the benchmark for all future 3D games in China.