World of Warcraft

2004 was the year of Half Life 2. It was also the year of Doom 3, Halo 2, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Along the way it was also the year that brought us the impossibly good Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War and the supreme Pro Evolution Soccer 4. But after all those initial sales have died down, the glowing reviews have faded from memory, and these games are fondly placed back in their boxes, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion it’s a different game that will have left the greatest mark of all. World of Warcraft.

The evidence is there for all to see. Blizzard are currently destroying the internet, inadvertently. If they’re not sucking in bandwidth from far and wide with masses of new players flocking to WoW servers, they’re indirectly responsible for the abundant MMOG newbies (like me) clogging up messageboards with comments and questions like “so do I really have to pay every month to play!?”.

World of Warcraft truly is all that. This is the long awaited next step in Massively – or Massive, if that’s the way you swing – Multiplayer Online Gaming (henceforth referred to as MMOG). The step that demonstrates to all but the most sceptical of gamers that this is worth you regularly paying roughly a month to play. I counted myself amongst the most staunch of gamer tightwads. 20 clams a month is like 9 holes of golf (at a crappier course, admittedly), a decent sized bucket of fried chicken or the average wage of an NBL player. NOT to be sneezed at, I admit.

My point – and it's an obvious one – is that it’s no small undertaking for any gamer to commit themselves to parting with the retail box price upfront, then a regular monthly fee afterwards. But damn if it’s not worth it. This kind of title simply cannot be measured by the same criteria as normal games. The game world is constantly being improved and changed, and the old cliché about your fellow participants moulding the world are utterly valid.

You simply do not get bored with this game. There, I said it. Over the last couple of months, I guess I had more cause to get jaded with this game than most. Our preview series entailed me painstakingly levelling up each of the classes… after some initial cross-racial experimentation, I mainly stuck to humans wherever possible, which meant I grew VERY familiar with the quests and layout. But it just did not get boring. Strange but true. There’s enough going on, and enough new things to do and learn that you never get that “over it” impression. Unless you’re my flatmate, who as a non gamer has grown weary of hearing the game intone messages and that stirring soundtrack.

Do you need to know the storyline? Think of the World of Warcraft as being split into two facing landmasses. One populated by the Horde (Orcs, Minotaur-like Taurens, Undead and Trolls), the other populated by the Alliance (Night Elves, Humans, Dwarves, and Gnomes). Now it’s not as simple as hopping into a canoe and paddling over to the other spot to raise hell. You are strongly encouraged – to the point of peril – to build up your powers before venturing into the portals or going walkabout to places that will leave you in contact with the bad guys.

In-game transport is a thing of beauty. You soon will find running around on foot is for losers. Horde and Alliance players have their own beast specific flight services, and in addition there’s a tram system and other fun “official” carriers to play with. At higher levels players also can buy or summon their own mounts, which really add a touch of class and drama – imagine the reaction of the average level 4 peon scrabbling around as a level 50 mage sweeps by atop a thundering steed. Priceless.

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