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The final lap! The WoW review from WoW beta testers!Follow

#1 Nov 20 2004 at 1:14 PM Rating: Good
***
1,430 posts
Well, it's Saturday, I have yet to sleep in 24 hours and my body is weakening ;_; I demand my WoW now! But lets skip on my addiction and focus on yours...

Beta testers, both open and closed, it's time to lay down the gauntlet: Is WoW worth the cash? Is it worth the Tuesday wait? Lets answer these questions once and for all...

(10 being the best and 1 being the worst)

Graphics: 1-10
Gameplay: 1-10
Sound: 1-10
Interface and control: 1-10
Fun Factor: 1-10

Final comments:


*points above to the boldness* Just copy and paste, make your final review of whether it's worth it or not. This is to assist those that are still at the sidelines and haven't played the betas.

I'll make my review later but I will say this: WoW is the cream of the crop of MMOs. It's a must buy in my book and is the best MMO out there. :)

Edited, Sat Nov 20 13:15:44 2004 by Redmoonxl
#2 Nov 20 2004 at 1:24 PM Rating: Decent
Graphics: 10
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 5
Interface and control: 9
Fun Factor: 10+

Graphics were great, 10 if you like the warcraft world. Gameplay to me consists of style, options, story and quests, all of which WoW has in abundance. My sound score is low, was still having audio problems when I was on, background music is great, but the sound effects from weapons would fade in and out and theres no *fight* music when you go into attack mode. Interface is excellent, very easy to pick up, but it would be nice if you could move pet attack options to the standard hotkeys instead of having to use ctrl +. Massive amounts of fun, and lots of options from questing, soloing, grouping, raiding, instances, trade skills and general world exploration.
Overall this game rates great for me, im a casual player and I cant compete playwise in games like FF11 and EQ, EQ2. Is it worth 80$ for the collectors? Probably not, and 50$ for the standard on release day is a bit much, but if it hits 30$ or 40$ theres no reason not to get it, 30 days free of this game is easily worth 30 bucks.
#3 Nov 20 2004 at 1:28 PM Rating: Decent
Graphics: 8.5
Gameplay: 9.5
Sound: 9.0
Interface and control: 8.5
Fun Factor: 9.5

Final comments: Destroys all other MMO's past and present.
#4 Nov 20 2004 at 1:42 PM Rating: Decent
I have to agree with Kriosym. The graphics are nice, but not a 10 thats for sure. Gameplay is pretty good. Sound is decent. I do find the controls pretty easy to use though and the game is lots of fun.
#5 Nov 20 2004 at 1:46 PM Rating: Good
*****
14,326 posts
Graphics: 9
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 7
Interface and control: 9
Fun Factor: 10++++

I love the graphics. The colors, the style. It's a real fantasy look.


Funnest game I've played in awhile.
#6 Nov 20 2004 at 1:49 PM Rating: Decent
23 posts
I played this for just a couple hours at a friend's house, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Graphics: 10
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 8
Interface and control: 9
Fun Factor: 10

Instead of doing a decent or half-decent job of making the world seem realistic, they did an excellent of enkeeping with the WW unique style. I have to give the fun factor and gameplay 10's each. The grind aspect of MMORPGs is very low and it's action-packed. I can't wait for Tuesday.
#7 Nov 20 2004 at 1:51 PM Rating: Decent
*
64 posts
Graphics: 10
Gameplay: 9
Sound: 7
Interface and control: 7
Fun Factor: 10

Final comments:
The only beef I have with WoW is it not having voice activated controls. I really really really love that feature, and I hope that it gets implemented at a later date. Thats the main reason for the passable score with controls. Also w/o some kinda quickey bar mod playing a caster type class is a pain, and I do so hate relying on mods..
The sound was decent, but far from the polish that the graphical side of the game recieved. More voiceovers would have done a long way in increasing the immersivness of the game. Its probably the only facet in the game in which blizzard really fails to keep up.
As for the fun factor, with the constant questing, a pvp system that doesn't seem to revolve around griefing, the way groups can share quests(though i do wish this was a little bit less strict, minor faction problems, 1 level differences, and being in the middle of a multipart quest prevent sharing :/ ), and the instance dungeons I don't really see how it could be improved much more.
#8 Nov 20 2004 at 1:53 PM Rating: Decent
Graphics: 8.5
Gameplay: 9
Sound: 8.5
Interface and control: 9
Fun Factor: 10

Final Comments: Ratings explained... Graphics get an 8.5 because of occasional frame rate drops to around 10 or less when entering large cities and sometimes randomly. Also, I got large and pixelated textures on some things (trees and plants stick out most in my mind.) Graphics are mostly seamless, high quality, and fluid. Gameplay gets a 9 game is easy to control, easy entry into the game world, and very enjoyable game experience. If I can account at all for not giving this game a 10 in gameplay it is because it is probably the best mmo I've played, but i'm hopeful that this gengre will keep getting better. Sound gets an 8.5... I didn't miss the "battle music" from other mmos. The sound is generally great. I did run into a few sound gliches and unsynced sound, probably attributable to the fact that it was a beta. Interface and control gets a 9... the game is so easy to play you have the option of using all hot-keys or clicking on the fully user driven interface. The score was not a 10 because sometimes the camera wasn't as easy to move as I'd like and I would at least like the option of trying a gamepad (which I used on my PC for other mmos). Fun factor is a 10. This game is completly engrossing from the start. The quests are involving and meaningful, easy to find, and rewarding. I don't know what the meta-narrative will comprise of for each class/race, but they seem to be setting you up for a larger and more involving story as the game progresses. One complaint is if you didn't talk to everyone with an orange exclamation point over there head everytime you went to town, you'd often end up having to go back over areas in order to complete quests because quest items wouldn't drop from mobs if you didn't have the proper quest. When I'd was killing mobs and would continually be getting no drops at all, I'd usually run back into town and look for what quest I missed.

I don't about you, but $50 dollars for a mmo isn't a bad deal. Even if you consider the montly fee- these games offer literally thousands of hours of gameplay. I would guess blizzard's high replay track record will make this one of the best fun/dollar games ever! I payed $80 for the collector's edition, something i have never done before.
#9 Nov 20 2004 at 1:55 PM Rating: Decent
*
118 posts
Graphics: 10 >>> EQ and ffxi never had environments that i could look at and just say that is beautiful...WoW delivers those types of places in handfuls.
Gameplay: 9 >>> the only thing that substracted from my gameplay was the community of people...if I didnt come over with friends from other mmorpgs it would be tough getting to know people because a lot of them were downright ********.
Sound: 9 >>> the soundtrack is incredible, the songs fit directly with the theme of the area you are in. My only problem is that we don't get to hear the incredible music enough, but i can understand that battles are so short that putting in fight music would seem very choppy.
Interface and control: 10>>> incredibly easy to learn
Fun Factor: 10>>> ive had more fun in ST2 and OB than i've ever had in my 3 years of playing mmorpgs
#10 Nov 20 2004 at 2:09 PM Rating: Good
***
1,430 posts
Nice reviews, guys. Must agree with a lot with what you guys say. Even though it has minor flaws, it all comes back to the question "Am I having fun?" I can see that the answer is a resounding "HELL YES!!!" :D

Keep it up, you guys are doing a good job. ^^
#11 Nov 20 2004 at 2:43 PM Rating: Default
sound? -_-;;

for some odd reason i would have strange sound time to time... and no music... time to time

/v silly was good but will not work 100%

Graphics: 7
Gameplay: 8
Sound: ???? it was beta ...buggy
Interface and control: 10
Fun Factor: 10


edit: graphices is not jaw dropping but it's the game play and the fun factor....

if i wanted eye candy that sucked i would be playing eq2 :D


Edited, Sat Nov 20 14:45:47 2004 by XvermonX
#12 Nov 20 2004 at 2:44 PM Rating: Good
*****
14,326 posts
I still remember the first time I walked out on one of Teladissil's limbs and looked down.

Wow.
#13 Nov 20 2004 at 2:46 PM Rating: Good
**
643 posts
Graphics: 8
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 9
Interface and control: 9
Fun Factor: 50

Explainations:

Graphics

I have played FFXI and the graphics there are great, I have also played and Horizons EQ and the graphics there suck. WoW isn't as great as FFXI in realism, but it is a far cry from the other two mentions. The graphics are great, not the best, but when put together with everything they are still breathtaking and it all really fits well together. I must say, considering FFXI is close to 7-8 gigs and WoW is only around 3-4 gigs, I was much happier with the graphics =)

Gameplay

Never have I had so much fun questing, or leveling. Learning the story lines for my race and class was quite fun and it wasnt so long and hard as it is in some other MMORPG's. Finding quest people is easy, and doing the quest is fun, plus the rewards are great. Exploration is also encouraged more in this game then any other, and I love to explore new places, even if such might end in my er... untimely demise heh.

Sound

Having had to suffer through the at first nice then really annoying FFXI sounds (IMHO) the sound here is much more beautiful I loved the sound and there is nothing quite like walking into stormwind the first time.

Interface & Controls

They COULD have made this easier, but then you can always change things, I for one recommend highly all gamers get a Zboard, and they have a custom zboard keyset for WoW that really ads to the game play ease. It is hard to learn to look the first time you play, and the whole need to do mouse & keyboard work is just a tad annoying, but the game makes it worth it.

Fun Factor

I was a part of the original stress test, actually I wasn't a friend of mine was. I was a FFXI zealot, that routinely made jokes of WoW's suckiness, my friend said I should play it before bashing so I decided ok. I played 30 minutes. And I could not play FFXI afterwords... I became a WoW addict within 30 minutes and I never have been able to get as excited about any other game.

WoW is fun, hands down, compared to the others this is the most fun MMORPG out there.

WoW for the win!
#14 Nov 20 2004 at 2:46 PM Rating: Decent
Background:
I played Everquest for 3 1/2 years. I was level 66 and in a PoP raiding guild when I quit due to boredom. Quitting had nothing to do with WoW - I actually tended to get bored every few months, stop playing for a month or two, and then go back and have fun again. However, it's due to WoW I cancelled my account. I signed up for the final stress test and played in open beta. I got to level 21 with my "main."

I also played in the LineageII open beta. I haven't played any MMORPGs outside of that.


Graphics: 8

Personally, I love the graphics and have been surprised when I encountered people who think they look years old. But then, I've always valued style far above polygon count. Still, they lose out when compared to a game such as Lineage II, which has both style and... well, polygon count. But I also like the fact that WoW uses fewer system resources and loads quickly.


Gameplay: 10

What can I say? I can't wait until Tuesday. I like the soloability of it. It may seem ironic, but I cannot play an MMORPG very long if I can't solo. I enjoy grouping as well, but I love exploring the world and just doing stuff on my own, too. Groups, at least at low levels, are generally driven by quests - especially since if you all need the drop off of a boss mob, and your group kills him, you all get the drop - so it pays off for everyone. Groups are also necessary for instances, which also have quests and drop nice loot.

The speed at which you can progress felt about right for me - at least up until level 21, which is the level I was when open beta ended. There were always a lot of quests to keep me entertained, so it wasn't the "camp in one spot and grind" sort of deal. The quests are well-written and often funny. Also, you get new skills/spells every 2 levels, and a new talent every level. I liked this. However, if you're the type of person who prefers the grind because it makes it mean more when you finaly get to high level, WoW may not be for you.

Some people are concerned that everyone will hit 60 pretty fast, and won't have anything left to do. I'm not too concerned, because Blizzard is putting in PvE raid content, and I have a feeling they'll do a good job with it. I loved raiding in EQ, so I look forward to seeing how WoW turns out. There's also the option of PvP raids, and of course levelling alts. I'm the type of person who likes to try out different classes, so I know WoW will keep me, personally, entertained for months to come. No doubt that in the long term they will need expansions, however - just like every other MMORPG.

I did not participate in PvP, so I can't comment on that. But I like the fact that it's there, and I will be able to participate if I want, and (since I wasn't on a PvP server) not when I don't want.


Sound: 9

I like the music, although naturally it gets tiring after awhile. I haven't paid any particular attention to sound effects - which is maybe a good thing, because that means they blend in nicely with the world. There's also a lot of voice stuff - both voice emotes and voice feedback (like if you try to cast a spell that you don't have enough mana for, you'll hear your character say, "I don't have enough mana!" in conjuction with the text onscreen). I like it.


Interface and control: 8

I found the WoW interface to be relatively user friendly and natural-feeling, right from the start. It also can be modded in many ways, but I didn't make or install any mods. Still, it has its shortcomings. I think that the way the chat window is set up, at least without making changes to it, makes it hard to read text during battle. For one, I'm used to a bigger window. You can make new windows, but - at least by default - they go on different tabs. These tabs don't even show up unless you hover over the chat window a minute, so I never found it useful to split up, say, group and General into different tabs. I think you can make the windows moveable, but they aren't by default, so I never did.

It also took my longer than it should've to figure out how to target myself (and therefore buff myself). You target other people by clicking on them. You can buff yourself by clicking the buff and then clicking on yourself (or friends/group memeber - this method doesn't change your target, which will probably prove to be very useful), but it seems you can't target yourself by clicking.

Overall, however, I liked the WoW interface. I quickly learned how to make hotkeys, make a friends list, bring up the map, invite people to group, etc. Another nice thing is that when you first get a whisper from someone, the game makes a sound to indicate it. This is extremely helpful, especially given the problems I have with the chat window. The sound is not made when you're going back and forth in conversation, but if some time passes, and they send you a whisper, it'll make the sound again.


Fun Factor: 9

I had a lot of fun in WoW. I mean, how could anyone not have fun in a game where you can make mechanical squirrels?!? (I love the little bits of humor). There's one reason I didn't give it a 10, though, and that's because there's an excessive amount of running around which feels slow. I love the flights from place to place - in fact, it's the shorter distances that bother me more than the long ones. Granted, it's better than, say, running from Freeport to Highhold Keep - there's no zoning, nothing attacks you if you stick to the roads, and you can see at night no matter what race you are. On the other hand, WoW requires a lot of running around due to quests. The 20th time running from The Crossroads to Ratchet? WTB SOW PLZ!


Final comments:

I like it (duh). It's not the be-all end-all or anything. I mean, you look at the class boards and see the same thing as every other MMORPG... "Class X doesn't have anything to offer groups over Class Y!" "Nobody has any reason to play Class Z anymore!" This doesn't mean that the classes are perfect - some could use some tweaking. But overall, I think that Blizzard did a good job with the game, and I'll be playing retail.
#15 Nov 20 2004 at 2:50 PM Rating: Decent
**
296 posts
Graphics 9: while the graphics are not "amazing", I find them extremly detailed and an interesting style of art.

Gameplay 10: I love it how BLizzard took away from the "grind" aspect.

Sound 7: Most of the music fits the place where I am perfectly. I'm not sure if this is only me but I noticed that it kind of "skipped" time to time.

Control 10: Only took a good minute to understand what does what. I can control the camera very easily.

Fun Factor 10: I have not had this much fun with a mmorpg in quite a while. From the cool storyline, no "farming", quests give real rewards, and no exp "grinding" this game kicks ***.

Edited, Sat Nov 20 14:51:28 2004 by Ashio
#16 Nov 20 2004 at 2:56 PM Rating: Good
"It also took my longer than it should've to figure out how to target myself (and therefore buff myself). You target other people by clicking on them. You can buff yourself by clicking the buff and then clicking on yourself (or friends/group memeber - this method doesn't change your target, which will probably prove to be very useful), but it seems you can't target yourself by clicking."

This is one of my favorite things about this game. This also works for healing spells so say you are a healer, but don't want to just sit there until you need to heal you can join in the fray and smack the mob and still heal your party members with ease. In EQ, EQ2, and FFXI you have to target the player to heal them which means you just sit on your but until it's time to target and heal whoever needs to be healed.
#17 Nov 20 2004 at 3:11 PM Rating: Decent
Graphics: 9
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 10
Interface and control: 10
Fun Factor: 10

a true gem of a game the graphics are really nice imo once you get into em the gameplay is awsome as well as the interface and controll my 8 year old niece started playing while i was afk one day and now we have another gamer in the family lol (she could handle the controlls fairly easy after a little practice) fun factor is really where its at this game is the most fun ive seen in an mmorpg
#18 Nov 20 2004 at 3:22 PM Rating: Decent
*
201 posts
I am going to be honest on this one, i really like WoW dont get me wrong, im just rating it compared to other games i have played =)

Graphics: 8.5, the graphics are good but they arent "M-Azing", i have seen better in a MMORPG

Gameplay: 9.0, Yes the game is fun but it can get tedious running places and trying to find certain quest NPCs, many of the quests become tedious as well, however this is the best game i have seen with the gameplay aspect, WAY better then FF11, EQ and L2

Sound: 8.0, Sound isnt really important to me as a gamer mainly because i turn off the comp sound and play music or something anyways, but i did test WoW sound and it wasnt all that great but it wasnt bad either.

Interface and Control: 8.5, This game has an "easy to use" aspect in its interface and control, however there are many things that could have been added that were not. I think they over simplified the Interface, the control arent bad but i find it hard to use my hotkeys for spells, #1-0, usually i am using the mouse or the "w" key to move so its hard to use spells without some good practice, its hard to click on spells because yo need to be fast, so it takes time to learn the hotkeys.

Fun Factor: 9.0, This game is really enjoyable, it has plenty of fun things to do and it never really gets boring killing mobs, i like the drop ratio, no matter whate you are killing you can always get some decent stuff and thats always exciting. There are a few places where it gets a bit angering/boring, The deadmines are a prime example, it took me over 9 tries to finally kill van cleef, for instances you need a very good group to even have a chance, i know that this is part of a MMORPG but i think they should look at the grouping part, i really hope they make the max group size bigger then 5, 5 is not enough.
#19 Nov 20 2004 at 4:28 PM Rating: Decent
***
1,075 posts
(10 being the best and 1 being the worst)

Graphics: 1-10:

I'd say 10. I'm not just talking eye candy, but personality and scalibility(word?) I've got a semi dated computer so I turn some stuff down and it still looks great. I leave anti aliasing on because otherwise the jaggies are really noticed.

The characters are just really well made, as are the creatures.


Gameplay: 1-10:

8, though in an mmorpg its kind of hard to quantify all the "gameplay." That is basically the entire game.

I like it but some of the things are needlessly irritating, such as the gigantic zones it takes forever to run around in while you don't get any speed acceleration until level 40 as a regular non druid class.


Sound: 1-10:

7,

I have some problems here. It sounds great on my Audigy 2 Ls or whatever, but I live in an apartment and don't want to disturb the neighbors yet I will if I have the sound up lound enough to make charcter voices understandable (especially the nightelves, which have fairly deep toned voices.)

If I have the sound up loud enough to hear the voices clearly, when I cast inner fire on myself or fight a creature it would wake up the block. I, as well as several other users, suggested a seperate "character voice" volume control for that reason.


Interface and control: 1-10:

Interface.

7, without cosmos, 8 after they added in their own tradeskill queing.
10, with cosmos (when it is working)

Control.

10, its very easy to get the hang of after Everquest and such.


Fun Factor: 1-10:

9, its a lot of fun apart from travelling around slow for most of the charaters life. Once you get a mount at 40, its like the difference between night and day.


Final comments:

9 for the entire package. It misses a 10 rating for some of the problems I cited.

A lot of the game is really excellent, its what I wanted Everquest to be for five years and is actually MORE "Everquest 2" than Everquest 2 is. It is the next logical step in a fantasy theme based mmorpg. Part of this is also a problem; its kind of like more everquest though its done really well. I'd recommend this more to someone who had barely played something like EQ rather than someone who hung around for five years. To the later person its going to get old hat sooner.

The tradeskill system is the best I've seen in any game. You make items which are not availible as drops, with some of them like the no drop (bind on pickup ) robe of power you can tailor for yourself at level 33 being about the best robe in the game you could be wearing at level 33. In stress/open, on server 8, my mission was to be wearing that robe of power in level 33. It took me until the middle of 34 instead, due to having to farm some of the elemental drops. In the final release, I'll already try to have most of them by 33; many of them come from mobs that you can start killing around 25- 30. The air elementals are a bit higher though.

Consistantly, on test server 8, I was making myself new cloth armor which was better than what I was seeing drop or sold at auction. It was that way up until the end when I was level 34. It would not really be that way so much if you started playing in six months, on a six month old server with a thriving economy, but on a new server having a tradeskill which makes YOUR armor type is very nice.

By contrast it was never that way in everquest. Also, unlike everquest and other games, tradeskilling is not laborious nor is it carpal tunnel inducing. It seems like blizzard said, "Why should they have to stand around making crud items repetitively and earning a skill point once in a blue moon? If its an orange item of difficulty they always earn a skill point. Why should they have to drag items around to a tailoring kit or something? If they have the items they can stand there and make it." Granted a smith has to be near a forge, but he is also making much better armor.

Tradeskills work in World of Warcraft the way I always thought they should have worked in Everquest.

The best recommendation I can make for world of warcraft is this:

At the state the game was in, as of thurday night when the beta closed, it did not seem like a beta. In fact, it did not even seem like a new mmorpg. If you took everything that the game had in it at that point, it was compareable to an mmorpg which had been out for at least 2 years and had 3 expansions.

Any other player in the mmorpg market, ANY player at all, would have come out with the game years ago with only the one continent. The other continent would have been added a year or more down the road, along with other content and possibly even instances. Any other player, especially someone like SOE, would have said that shipping it like that was enough.

But that would not be good enough for Blizzard, their love of the game that they obviously make and obviously want to play is just plain.. well obvious. You've heard people like the makers of Everquest or SWG say that they "play" the game too, sure they play it sometimes but they don't "PLAY" the game. They all said they were making the game they also wanted to play, but I never felt it was true until I was playing World of Warcraft. The removal of most of the more irritating timesinks, as well as removing the ability of tradeskills to cause carpal tunnel syndrome or be needlessly laborious, is just an example of some of the many ways in which its OBVIOUS that they are making the mmorpg they wanted to play but which never has existed.

I can actually picture them playing everquest when it first came out, saying what was wrong with it, then saying "Hey, lets start writing up how we'd do it. Somewhere near six odd years later, here we are.
#20 Nov 20 2004 at 4:35 PM Rating: Decent
Graphics: 9.0
Before this, I was an avid FFXI'er, and truth be told, I really don't see the big deal about FFXIs's graphics. They're perfectly neat and clean looking, and make it very easy to see where everything (and everyone) is, which is of course useful, but as for the astounding realism everyone seems to find in them, I'm not sure I see it. Likewise, WoW dosent have the 'realism' aspect, but I like the graphical style immensely. Textures, models, and especially the water effects are a culmination of Blizzard's aesthetic development. My first time underwater swimming to Echo Isles was breathtaking.


Gameplay: 9.0
I'm going to give this the high marks it deserves despite the number of glitches I found running around, cause hey, it's a beta. When I first saw how fast-paced the fights were, I wondered how it could possilbly flow as a party. Keep in mind, I'm coming from 1 year of FFXI, so I'm used to being able to see every action taken by every party member, and eventually know which action is coming next throughout every fight. I am very fond of the Renkei (skillchain) system in FFXI, though I won't detract from WoW's gameplay score for not having something similar, since it was one of the more unique aspects of FFXI.
When I did finally find my first [good] party, I was very impressed however. From what I hear, Warriors can no longer spam Taunt, meaning other jobs have to hold back on their nukes/heals to avoid getting all the aggro, but despite this the fights were very fast paced, and it was much easier than I thought it would be to coordinate our battle plan.


Sound: 8.5
Sweet, I finally get to say this!
Has anyone else noticed that the ambient background music in Durotar and the Barrens sounds very much like the tune to Madonna's 'Like a Prayer'? No no, before you laugh, go find the song somewhere and listen to the first three lines:
"Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone
I hear you call my name
And it feels like home"

Ever since I noticed that, I end up humming that freaking song every time I make a long run through the area. XD
Other than that, the music seems to fit nicely with the surroundings. Given the brevity of the battles, I'm glad it dosent cut to an upbeat battle music every time you attack something, because the transition back to the mellow background music would probably sound pretty unnatural. For the most part, I wasnt blown away by any sound effects or music, though I do like the voiceovers for assorted actions.

Interface and control: 8.5
When I was first setting up my hotkeys for Warrior, I found myself hoping I would remember which I could do in which stance, until I realized you had a seperate action bar for each. I got used to the interface immediately, and after the 2nd day it became complete second nature. The only complaint I have, and the only reason it didn't get a 10, is because I'd like a more efficient keyboard targeting system, especially for looting corpses, so I didn't have to keep switching between mouse and keyboard. My guess is however this was done to deter botting, and probably does it very efficiently.

Fun Factor: 10.0
Despite any flaws I found in any of the above categories, this is a pure, unadulterated 10+. Any small inconvenience that exists (long walks back to quest-givers, framerate drops in densely crowded areas) are completely overshadowed by the sheer immersiveness of the larger picture. I'm missing the game sorely in the three remaining days until I have it, because as I quoted to a friend on another board, "This game has a steeper addiction curve than crack." I find myself unable to open FFXI back up in the meantime, as loyal as I am to my Paladin and Red Mage charachters, and everyone in my linkshell, because it all seems so tame and tedius after experiencing WoW. Without a doubt it is the most fun I've had in a game in a very long time, and while I've only experienced 21 levels of one class on one race, I would venture to put it near the top of the list of the most fun RPG's I've played in any form, muchless online.

Final Comments:
I think I've pretty much summed up all I can without really starting to shake from withdrawal. I have 2 jobs and go to school, and still the time before release seems like an eternity. Once the box gets here, and my new charachter is set up, I have my recreational activity covered for a very, very long time.

See you guys in retail :)
#21 Nov 20 2004 at 4:37 PM Rating: Decent
Graphics: 10
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 10
Interface and control: 10
Fun Factor: 12

Final Comments: This game.. is beyond amazing.. oh god Im going to cry. BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!1
#22 Nov 20 2004 at 4:46 PM Rating: Decent
Graphics: 9 (Right up at the top)

Gameplay: 10 (Awesome Awesome Awesome)

Sound: 8 (I was too into the game to pay attention, but it wasn't annoying or crappy)

Interface and control: 10 (And if you don't like the generic one you can download Cosmos to improve it a little better.)

Fun Factor: 10 (Too damn fun actually. I have had many 1-3 hrs of sleep nights, if any sleep at all, just so I can get as much playing in before I had to go to work)


This game is the best game I had played in regards to MMORPGs and I've got plenty under my belt to include, but not limited to:

Dark Age of Camelot (Original, Shrouded Isles, Trials of Altantis)
EverQuest (just about all expansions)
Linage II
Asheron's Call
Asheron's Call II
Star Wars: Galaxies (Original + Jump to Lightspeed)
Final Fantasy XI Online
Horizons


The one thing I liked the most in this game is the group requirements. After about level 10 it's very difficult to complete many even con quests by yourself. It makes you go out and make friends and help each other out in the game. Graphics, Gameplay, and Fun levels for this game is very high. I don't like the addictiveness of this game, but I'll live. :) Compared to EverQuest II, World of Warcraft is the game to play. In fact I consider this to be the best MMORPG that has ever been released to this date.

Lucied
Night Elf Warrior
Guild: "Divine"
Test Server 10
#23 Nov 20 2004 at 4:51 PM Rating: Decent
For the past 4 years, MMORPG fanatics have been waiting for an "EQ killer". The wait is over. This game trounces all the competition in my opinion. I played wow from ST2 till they closed down the server, had 2 lvl 14 chars and 1 lvl 30 char and all were extremely different play styles and very fun. 10's across the board.
#24 Nov 20 2004 at 4:55 PM Rating: Decent
Graphics: 8.5 - Very detailed worlds, the terrain textures are fantastic and blend together great. Amazing indoor areas and cities. However, speaking as a UT2004 mapper, the areas have lots of fog popping where the fog color on extreme distant terrain and objects doesnt match the sky, so when it comes into range and is drawn on the screen, it "pop"s out from the background.

Gameplay: 10 - Definately one of the funner games ive played. The sense of discovery is awesome when you decide to go exploring and end up in a haunted forest, or finding a giant castle.

Sound: 6 - Easily the low point. Im not going to criticize for the lack of music in most areas since it was a beta, and im sure they cut out most of the music (or just hadnt had it mastered by the time they released the beta). The music in the cities is the excellent orchestral expected in a blizzard game. However, overall i just thought the sound is weak. Quiet, not very powerful or interesting. Again speaking as a UT2004 mapper, the areas lack lots of ambience. Sure, most areas have a generic looping ambient background like crickets in the marsh and such, but birds chirping up in the trees, and burbling water and other little touches would have made the game that much more immersive. I also had lots of sound related bugs, most notably after going in some caves and mines, lots of sounds would stop playing, and instead all i could hear was that ludicrously loud "generic cave rushing sound", you know what im talking about.

Interface & Control: 8.5 - Very good overall, intiuitive interface, the ability to customize is a very very cool feature. However as was already mentioned, playing a caster is IRRITATING having hordes of skills to put in the hotkey slots. The shift+mousewheel is clunky, it would be much better if they only had say 3 or 4 skill bars that would toggle, and holding down shift, alt, or control would access them.

Fun: 10 - As i said, one of the funner games ive played for a long time. I kept futzing around with different characters until i found the race/class that i enjoyed most. But even with starting as almost all of the races at least once, and going on a last-day exploring binge with some of my guild, its obvious that theres much more to the world to be explored.

Overall, im buying it. Im already suffering from withdrawls.
#25 Nov 20 2004 at 5:00 PM Rating: Decent
All Subjects:10
The real joy is the PVP, i mean cmon its warcraft. Lets just say i give it one star for every elf i wasted : P
#26 Nov 20 2004 at 5:07 PM Rating: Good
****
4,520 posts
Warchief SeomanP wrote:
I still remember the first time I walked out on one of Teladissil's limbs and looked down.


Try falling from them...OUCH
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