Blizzard's immensly successful MMO

Blizzard's immensly successful MMO must be doing something right, especially with the numerous people it has playing online at any given time. World of Warcraft was also another one of those highly-hyped games and apparently it lives up to its name...it seems.

Story :::: 7/10

The story varies from what race you choose, which varies from four different races on the two different sides. The two different sides, of course, are the epitome of Good vs. Evil; The Horde versus the Alliance. Point and case? One tries to eradicate the other. Does it get any more complex than that? In a sense it does.

Like a typical MMO, World of Warcraft is huge and thus in a huge world you will find many subquests you can partake in. How base are some of these quests? Well, some of them range from your typical "clear-out-this-place-of-rats!" to "please-help-me-find-(insert name here)!", except you don't end up finding that person but a corpse or an ambush or another quests or something else...Yeah, needless to say, most of the quests are just "kill rats!" I mean that figuratively, of course. When I say that I mean that it's just a basic smash and grab, where you run into the area, kill everything/everyone in it, and then return for your reward. Nothing extremely compelling.

What might be the most interesting part of the story all depends on what kind of server you play on. If you can, by some chance, join a role-playing server where the people are actually role-playing, then the story increases, mainly because another intelligent person is making one up as he encounters you or others as well. Though I will say finding a server like that where everyone or mostly everyone is dedicated like that is quite the challenge. Yes, in a role-playing server there are rules you must abide by, such as acting like you are role-playing, and there is punishment if you don't follow the rules, but I had yet to see any punishment of any kind of some kid running and jumping around in town saying, "WTB WTB WTB WTB (insert item here)!?!?!?!" Needless to say, if you persist well enough with the role-playing servers, you might have yourself a good time, but playing on the regular servers will just say, "What's the difference between this and Everquest?"

Graphics/Sound :::: 7/10

For a world that is happening all around you at almost every real second, I would have to say the graphics are well done for an MMO. The sound, on the other hand, really isn't. A lot of it is generic, including some of the voice acting (which is very little to none), but some of the emotes you can produce are actually quite funny. As a matter of fact, the emotes you can produce might save this section, as they are usually the most commonly heard thing.

Multiplayer/Gameplay :::: 6/10

Now let's cut to the chase; this is what matters about the game indefinitely. World of Warcraft always has an immense amount of players roaming around the lands and I can't tell you how many of them are imbeciles. Maybe a larger number then the Horde and Alliance combined? Who knows. What is known is that if you're a new player you will be on the end of non-playful banter soon enough. Also, as well, it's nearly impossible to run through a town without a cretin challenging you to a duel. The game itself is all based upon other players, which, unfortunetely, you will have to interact with if you wish to further progress in the game. Of course, like in other MMO's or casual RPG's, after a while you actually might find some intelligent people, whom you quickly add to your friend's list. Unfortunetely, that does not counteract the numerous simpletons running around and doing the choo choo train until you yank the speakers out of the wall.

Other than that, I must say World of Warcraft is actually designed quite well. Down to the immersement you can find yourself in some times, to the customization of your pack, your equipment, and other things of the like, that it's very interesting to play--if you can stomach the community. Sometimes it is quite fun to just run around in the wilderness and explore, especially on role-playing servers, where you might find a band of players at a camp and a discussion might insue (or, if they're simpletons, just a "go away noob!"). But, unfortunetely, things aren't always so easy. Some of the quests you partake in are quite challenging and the part that irks me the most is that you don't have a clue how hard it is until you've traveled half way across the map, get into a fight, and realize, "Oh, these enemies are about 20 levels too high for me." So why didn't the lady who gave me the quest mention this? Some RPG's or MMO's might put up level restrictions on a quest, or a little bit of info at the bottom that says, "You should only tackle this quest if you are above level x." But World of Warcraft doesn't have that. More than enough times I found myself, like the other newbies around me, taking on this quest, getting beaten to a pulp, running A VERY LONG WAY just to get to my body, revive myself, get a couple of hits in, and die once more. It's not until after the umpteenth time of dying that the other players finally give in to banding together and sharing the exp, mainly because that's the only real way to get through a quest. World of Warcraft doesn't just encourage team play, but it's a requirement. That's actually a great thing, but not when the majority of the community are reclusives who will stab you in the back if they get a chance.

Despite the customizability when it comes to your skills when you level up (which are nearly identical to the Diablo II system), the customizability of your character in creation and class as well, it still seems dry.

Play Time/Replayability :::: 4/10

It all depends on the player, really. If you can keep on churning the $10 monthly fee to play the game just to usually repeat battles to level up and cope with idiotic players, then this might be just for you. I will say though that it might just be worth it if you actually find some intelligent people who show you the ropes of the game. It's then, and usually only then, that you find out you will be killing many many rats if you ever want to get to the fun and exciting stuff, such as taking in part of huge battles that storm castles or cities. Needless to say, Blizzard designed it exactly like that, so that you would've spent enough money for them to have earned more than a big share of a profit for you to have truely experienced the game and then to say, "Ok, now what?" Knowing that that is the irony and the trap of an MMO, I relinquished my account only after a month. Can it be addictive? Of course it can. Hell, Blizzard made it; take a look at their other games; which one hasn't gone Gold or still doesn't have thousands of people playing it? So, in theory, it all depends on you.

Final Recommendation

If the MMO scene is your thing and killing the same creatures over and over to ascertain a certain level so you can finally be a challenge and partake in the next level of quests, then this game is for you. It requires patience and time, which would be fine if it didn't have a pay to play fee, but it does, so one must keep that in consideration as well. If you're willing to devote about six or seven months into this game to finally getting to be a worth-while opponent and being able to partake in huge battles, then go for it. If you're looking for a casual RPG then I suggest to go back to Diablo II.