World of Warcraft is the biggest and most popular MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) in the world. Topping nearly 11 million subscribers worldwide, all paying a monthly subscription, the World of Warcraft franchise is absolutely massive.
The basic idea behind World of Warcraft is to create a player/character and increase their level to the top level which currently is capped at 85. Along your journey you’ll explore the massive world, partake in a wide array of different quests and story lines and fight great monsters. As you become more and more powerful , you learn new abilities and gain new equipment too.
The game is divided into two factions, the Horde and the Alliance. Both have access to the same types of playing classes but differ in terms of what character types they can play within those classes.
Throughout the game you’ll meet other, real, players who can help you with those quests that require multiple players to complete. You’ll partake in Battleground fights where the Horde and the Alliance fight each other in various locations or you’ll join up with a party and complete one of the hundreds of dungeons that feature in World of Warcraft.
The game is set in the world of Azeroth, populated by almost anything your imagination can think of! The game features characters and parts from fantasy and science fiction, so you can expect to find such monsters as trolls, serpents, dragons, steam-powered enemies, goblins as well as spaceships, time travel and even alien worlds! World of Warcraft really does have it all. The environments and maps that the characters popular are equally as impressive, they can vary so much from being a nice green hilly area to a gorge full of rock shaped needles and much more.
For those who get into World of Warcraft, it can become incredibly addictive since it’s a game which you can never totally complete, there is always something to keep you playing..
Unfortunately World of Warcraft is a game where first time players are dropped right into the deep end, no matter how much you may have played other MMORPG’s. The game has so much content in it and so many things you can do that it is just overwhelming for a new player which deters some people at first.
In order to learn how to play the game and properly understand it you’ll need the help of an already experienced friend who can help and guide you through the first ten levels or so. Around level 10 you should have a basic understand of the game, its features and what you can do.
Personally I still play it now and again and even being nearly level 70 there are still aspects of the game I have never taken part in or even understand as there is no published guide line to the whole game. Nor is there likely to ever be- it’s just far too big! Not knowing parts of the game doesn’t ruin it at all though; the great thing about the game is you can do whatever you want in it. You can level out your character how you want, make money how you want and much more.
So what is the catch for a game that offers such a massive world of content? £9 a month. You can purchase a subscription 3 months, 6 months or 12 months at a time but you’ll have to remain subscribed in order to keep playing though.
For some this is going to seem like quite a lot of money as it’ll end up costing you more and the average game you usually play online. Last year, World of Warcraft had about 12 million subscribers to its game worldwide. Ass of today that number has dropped significantly down to around 10 million. Losing 2 million subscribers is a huge loss, and many have put it down to the game’s constant playing that is required and (perhaps surprisingly), a lack of content! For some people there’s just never enough!
There are players out there who have reached the top level, purchased all 3 World of Warcraft expansion packs and have been left with nothing to do, a fourth expansion pack is set to be released sometime this year in an attempt to get the higher level players back online.
The game has also been desperately trying to recruit new players too, running TV adverts featuring the likes of Chuck Norris and Ozzy Osbourne (lead singer with recently re-formed Black Sabbath) all over the world offering new comers the ability to play the game up to level 20 absolutely free. If you make use of the free trial to its full potential, by the time you get to level 20, chances are you’ll be hooked and will sign up for the subscription. Crafty marketing technique that!
On the other hand, the way players are dropped into the deep end is still a big issue, the developers have tried to make the game more welcoming and understanding to new players, but it is still a daunting experience at first. Unless players really stick with it and try hard to learn it they won’t be playing it for long.
At the end of the day, World of Warcraft is a fantastic game which everyone should try to see if they like it before passing judgement on it. Whether you want to start paying a subscription is up to you but you should visit www.trywarcraft.com and download the game to get a taste of what it’s all about. If it’s not for you then it hasn’t cost you anything, if it is then it’ll bring you days upon days of playtime. See you at level 85 some day!