WoW Question

[Renegade Angel]

Hey all,

 

I was thinking about grabbing myself a copy of World of Warcraft (Hear its highly addictive... had some bad experiences with addictive games in the past XD).

So I was wondering, is this JUST an MMO or can is there a free Single Player Campaign kind of thing I can play? I mean, the online thing is cool and all, but I REALLY don't wanna have to pay large amounts of money every month just to play a video game when I could spend my money elsewhere...

 

 

Edit

One more question: Are the private servers free?

 

 

Thanks,

RA

[Sabretooth]

I don't know about the rest of your questions, but I'm pretty sure that the game includes no Singleplayer mode. I haven't played WoW, so you can safely ignore my post.

[Hallucination]

There is no single-player mode at all (unless you count disabling all chat), and private servers are illegal.

[Aash Li]

Wow is only addictive because its repetitive. Its not fun, its only entertaining until you get to about level 30, then it just get annoying and dull. Rehashes of the same mob-type 200 times with different names and appearances are boring.

 

The graphics are way way way out of date, as is the game engine, character creation is limited, and the armour art is pretty much the same as the mob-types. Blah blah of the whale, blah blah of the bat, and so on with the armour not looking any different.

 

The only bright spot in the whole game are the insanely-cute Draenei girls.

 

Theres Warcraft 1-3, with the Frozen Throne xpac in Warcraft 3, which is the recent historical events just before WoW.

 

Warcraft is just a pale imitation of Evergrind, and even that is relatively boring.

[Hallucination]

I play with RL friends and I have a tonne of fun...

Also, if you feel like giving it a shot there's a free trial on the official site.

[Jeff]

I think WoW is a fun game. Yes, it can be highly addictive at times but really doesn't that say that its a good game? Its definitely the best mmo out there imo so I think its worth the monthly fees.

 

But yeah, no singly player. I didn't know that private servers were illegal though.

[Rogue15]

i tried it, prefer SWG, even after NGE.

[Hallucination]

But yeah, no singly player. I didn't know that private servers were illegal though.

Blizzard makes money from people paying per month, and using a private server means they don't get any money, so they put it in the EULA.

[John Galt]

I tried WoW at a friend's house, and I tried SWG(at release and right after NGE). SWG blew it out of the water.

 

But I didn't subscribe to either.

[Renegade Angel]

Yeah I've seen some videos and pictures and IMO the graphics look.. eh... decent.

Well I don't think I'm going to buy it in the end, really hate paying so much money, and I don't care for breaking laws either XD

I might try the trial if I get the time though.

 

Thanks all,

Anthem

[Aash Li]

Yeah and then youre paying 15$/mo for a game that really is only worth about 8 or 9 - considering the shoddy customer service, and their lack of communication, and incessant nerfing of every class to try and "balance" the game.

[Ztalker]

Originally Posted by Aash Li

Yeah and then youre paying 15$/mo for a game that really is only worth about 8 or 9 - considering the shoddy customer service, and their lack of communication, and incessant nerfing of every class to try and "balance" the game.

 

Don't forget the outdated graphics engine and 'bad' expansion.

 

(Bad in a matter of 'feel', I mean. Each of the two sides had one unique class fitting their side. The Horde had the Shaman and the Alliance the Palladin. An evil sorcerer guy for the bad guys, a neat shiny armour monk for the good guys. With the expansion, these classes can be played by the opposite side as well. So there's no real...reason for someone to join on side or the other. Not a cool way to fix this.)

 

Plus; the updating system and game as whole seem to be...unstable. I heard (and had) some bad stories about it. Reinstalling the game for 3 times before getting to play. Combine this with the bad service like Aash Li said and you got your vicious circle.

 

I beta tested WoW and chose for a social life. I've seen...relationships break apart over the game...it isn't nice

[Samuel Dravis]

Blizzard makes money from people paying per month, and using a private server means they don't get any money, so they put it in the EULA.

Yeah, it's in the EULA. Whether the EULA means much of anything has yet to be tested in any court. I tend to think that's because publishers really don't want to find out it's just some stray electrons.

 

The extent of what Blizzard can do to you is ban you, and if you're on some private server I'm not sure how they can do that. Perhaps they'd say "boo!" or something on their website - "Remember kids, using private servers is AGAINST THE EULA! There are SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES!"

 

Yeah right.

[True_Avery]

I played WoW for a good 3 years. Really fun, but only fun because of the people I talked to and Role-Played with. The game itself is simply, repetitive, and holds no real reward for doing anything. I basically paid $15 a month for a shiny instant messanger.

 

The graphics are outdated and old. I can personally make better models and probably skin them better too. They refuse to try and make the game look better, they refuse to make new model armor, and the re-use old skins over and over again because to be honest they are just lazy in that department.

 

The people? Oh ma gawd. You jump onto a PVP server, expect a bunch childish teens and adults (and even some actual children) to be running around spamming chats, killing people that have no chance to fight back, and mostly a bunch of bullies that try and make their e-peen as huge as possible.

RP server? Role-Playing servers are laughable for a number of reasons. Mostly because you have 3 groups: Those that do hard to the core RP, those who casually run around, and those that pop onto the server for the enjoyment of mocking people. Oh, and lets not forget the cyber chat.

RP-PvP server? Meh, I played on one for 3 years or so. You get the best and worst from both other servers as well as a mix of players.

 

In the end, all of their server systems suck because they are all under-moderated, and when they are moderated they almost never go ahead with punishments. Their customer service blows almost as hard as their failing class system which just keeps getting progressively worse.

 

But, if I had a chance to go back and never play the game I wouldn't take it. I had a strong bond with a group of people that I'll never forget, and I was later in a guild with some of the funniest and most interesting people I have had the luxury of knowing. Organizing a guild for a raid is so much more complicated than I think some people realize, and it really gave me some teamwork and leaderships skills even though it was all through chat, mic, and moving a 3D character around. I pop into their Vent server now and then and sometimes jump onto WoW to see how things are going. It really disapointed me to find the guild had lost nearly all its veteran members, but still funny to find that even though they now all play different games they still all jump onto the same server to talk all day after all these years. I laughed, I cried, and I went through all the range of emotion with those people and I name those 3 years the best 3 years of my life and possibly a time that had the most influence of shaping me into the person I am today.

 

I seriously got into the crazy stuff while in the game. We joked around all the time, talked about politics, got 40 people together to take down monsters a hundred times bigger than us, and helped eachother out whenever we could. I personally feel people let out a part of themselves through the internet sometimes that they hide in reality, getting into the fantasy to help remove the mask that everybody wears. I talked to people that were having spouse issues, having emotional issues, suicidal issues... just about anything you can think about, and we talked to eachother about them helped work eachother through it. They helped me through some incredible emotional things in my life, and I feel I personally changed a few people forever with my support and advise. That must sound incredibly stupid coming from an MMO game, but thats just how life goes sometime.

 

It really does sound silly, but I honestly cannot express how much that game and that hilarious group of people changed me and made me felt. I really miss all of them. Maybe I should drop by again and say hello...

 

Yes, MMO's suck for the most part. But a good group of friends playing with you, whether they live down your street or across the globe, can make you forget in hurry just how terrible the game is. Take it from me, there is always more than meets the eye. MMO's exist to get large or small groups of people from all over the world to play a game, and if you prefer the solo route to gaming then I suggest finding a solo game. If you are looking for interaction beyond a forum, yet a little more spice than an instant messanger, play an MMO. If you played an MMO and found all the people to be stupid and the game to be even worse, then maybe you didn't look hard enough.

 

But as far as WoW goes, the game went downhill and out the window for so many people when their so called expansion hit. Maybe expectations were higher, maybe it was the last straw, but a large number of people that I knew to play for a long long time quit some time after it came out. In my opinion, the game is no longer worth the money. It was a great MMO for years and years, but now a lot of us are just waiting for a new generation to take its place. Although, after talking about all of this I have the urge to go play again.

 

I beta tested WoW and chose for a social life. I've seen...relationships break apart over the game...it isn't nice

Indeed. But, there is an incredible irony to steriotyping MMOs like that. We had a few -married- couples, along with a some couples seeing eachother that actually met ingame and decided to move in together in real life because they found they liked eachother so much. Some moved half way around the world to be together. Like I said, my WoW experience was a crazy one

 

Yeah and then youre paying 15$/mo for a game that really is only worth about 8 or 9 - considering the shoddy customer service, and their lack of communication, and incessant nerfing of every class to try and "balance" the game.

Agreed, not worth the $15 a month. I would put it at around 10 at its prime, but now the free Guild Wars is better is some respects.

 

I tried WoW at a friend's house, and I tried SWG(at release and right after NGE). SWG blew it out of the water.

 

But I didn't subscribe to either.

I knew/know I guy named Vye on WoW. Funniests and most unorthodox person I have ever met, yet a genius in so many respects. He played SWG and became one of the first Jedi, and became the richest person on his server. Then when they gave the ability to be a Jedi from anybody, thats when he explained the entire game no longer held a lot of meaning and lead to its "death". Funny how WoW did the same thing to itself with its expansion. Funny though, Vye runs a guild and is now possibly the richest person on the server currently. It must be great to have no life

 

I think WoW is a fun game. Yes, it can be highly addictive at times but really doesn't that say that its a good game? Its definitely the best mmo out there imo so I think its worth the monthly fees.

Definitely the best current MMO, but not the best MMO that it could be itself. At least before the expansion anyway.

 

Wow is only addictive because its repetitive. Its not fun, its only entertaining until you get to about level 30, then it just get annoying and dull. Rehashes of the same mob-type 200 times with different names and appearances are boring.

Thought the exact same thing until I hit 60 for awhile, then found myself in an end-game raiding guild. The difference between playing by yourself and playing with 40 people is staggering imo.

 

I might try the trial if I get the time though.

Try out the trial. You may find you love it, you may find you hate it. Never know until you try. I thought it was a silly idea at first too, but then got hooked for 3 years.

 

Oh dear, I really talk on and on when I'm tired huh?

[Aash Li]

(Bad in a matter of 'feel', I mean. Each of the two sides had one unique class fitting their side. The Horde had the Shaman and the Alliance the Palladin. An evil sorcerer guy for the bad guys, a neat shiny armour monk for the good guys. With the expansion, these classes can be played by the opposite side as well. So there's no real...reason for someone to join on side or the other. Not a cool way to fix this.)

 

The common misconception about the Horde is that they are evil. Thats really not true, I would likely say that they are amoral at the very least. And Shamans are hardly evil sorcerers... unless youre playing it like a voodoo priest/ess or something. The only race that was even partly evil was the undead and the blood elves.

 

Draenei shamans were my favourite class (female in that level 24 plate mail set is so sexy lol), but the class, to be honest, seemed shoe-horned in. And the ghost wolf form didnt fit their theme at all, especially considering that the wolf was a motif of the horde. Their lame excuse was that the Horde taught them their shamanism, and so thats why they have a wolf form... @.@

[Pho3nix]

Oh dear, I really talk on and on when I'm tired huh?

 

Yes you do Avery

 

I was in the World of Warcraft final beta, and bought the game when it was released February 11th or 12th (can't remember the exact date) 2005. I loved it because all my friends played it as well and the amount of achievement that you feel when you kill a hard boss is awesome. It is also designed in a way that a rookie player can learn the basics in less than 5 minutes. It is simply the best MMORPG ever created. In my opinion at least.

 

I stopped playing when the expansion-set The Burning Crusade was released. The game didn't feel like World of Warcraft anymore with Blood Elves in Orgrimmar and a weird Sci-fi inspired Outland. I had a blast playing it though, I probably still would if it weren't for the Burning Crusade.

 

I recommend you try out the trial, as for the monthly fee it is quite low compared to Galaxies which costs ~$15 a month.

[lukeiamyourdad]

Complaints about graphics are illogical. The game was made to be accessible to most people. Being graphically inferior allows people with weaker computers and slower internet connections to play. Besides, which Blizzard game ever had great graphics? Where they fail in quality, they win in art design.

 

Also, most of the complaints about the community stems from people who don't seem to have much MP experience at all. It's not better or worse then other games. Ever played Counter Strike? StarCraft? Diablo 2? BF1942? X-Y-Z? Didn't think so. It's the internet, some people act like idiots, some are nice, just like real life. Yeah, it's not as well moderated like this forum, but Lucasforums is an exception, not the norm. Browse the internet and see how most forums are full of a-holes and idiots running around with the moderating team doing nothing. If you find good people to play with, doing instances and group quests, it's a blast. If you don't, you're unlucky.

 

The only true criticism I can 100% agree with is the monthly fee, more how it doesn't fluctuate. Since WoW almost has a monopoly on the MMO world, the 15$, the old standard, the fee doesn't change. Only when a competitor manages to grab a significant chunk of it's player base will a lower fee be considered, which is both sad and regrettable.

 

 

The common misconception about the Horde is that they are evil.*

 

Unfortunately, people don't play WarCraft before playing World of WarCraft, so something escapes them. For example, a lot of complaints were made back during the days about how Paladins were defensive support classes. One example used was how Diablo 2's paladin was very capable offensively. Of course, if one had played WarCraft 3, one would know that Paladin were indeed defensive and had only support spells.

[Aash Li]

True true... lousy graphics do make it easier to play the game on older systems. But they could still update certain things... they could also update the game play, like make different quests once in a while for the holiday quests. Who wants to do the same christmas quest every year? Im not saying remove the old quests, just add new ones.

 

Theres a lot of things in EQ2 that would make Warcrack a hell of a lot more fun, like housing, housing placeables crafting, give more quests that are class specific; currently if you want to have fun doing the shaman class quests youd have to play a Hordeling; which just smacks of laziness.

 

And then theres these places that are forever underconstruction, like for example that draenei colony in Ashenvale over near WSG. That will likely never become a new town, I could probly go back to the game next year and still find the same workers hammering away on a shell for a building.

 

The game setting isnt dynamic, its static with animated placeables. Nothing changes, theres that dead dwarf in that dock town that you go to, to get to darnassus... if I had control of the game, stuff like that would only appear once you reach the required level to do the quest, and then once its complete, the thing disappears then; it would cut down on the amount of crap that has to be rendered.

[lukeiamyourdad]

And then theres these places that are forever underconstruction, like for example that draenei colony in Ashenvale over near WSG. That will likely never become a new town, I could probly go back to the game next year and still find the same workers hammering away on a shell for a building.

 

But that is the bane of MMO RPGs. Though LOTRO did do something in this respect (the destruction of the human starting area for example), the non-dynamic world is necessary so that people can all enjoy the same content. It would be a bit weird if the Ashenvale Draenei compound appeared built for some players and not for others. Technically, it's not possible. It would have to be a different zone or instance.

 

I do agree about adding new holiday quests.

[HerbieZ]

Im banking on Star Trek Online, hopefully i'll meet a nice Trill girl and we can settle down and have some trek babies!

[Renegade Angel]

I like to play Oblivion and Morrowind on here in my spare time.

Oblivion takes quite a toll on my memory.

This computer is brand new (Its great and all, but it seems anytime you buy a great computer you get an out dated, low end graphics card with it.)

Morrowinds graphics arent very fancy, and I can get about 75-90 FPS on that (with highest resolution and pixel shading) versus the 10-15 FPS I get on Oblivion before my game crashes (This is on Low graphical settings.)

So I can see why they would have outdated graphics for WoW.

 

 

And for the social part, I used to skateboard with a good friend of mine named Ben.

He bought World of Warcraft last year and I barely talk to him anymore.

Kind of sad how games can affect people's social lives. =[

 

{snip} Off topic part removed. If you are wondering where the rules are RA, here you go... Forum Rules. -RH