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Originally Posted by Qwikshot
Still thinking about this game...
I want to know what is to like about this game, and what is Blizzard doing to keep the game fresh (future expansions?)
Thanks
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In case it helps...
Still fleshing this out, but this is what I've got so far, after about 50 hours of play total...
Good stuff
1. The shear immensity of the WoW world cannot be overstated. Massive does not even begin to describe the world. It makes Morrowind look like a sandbox. My highest level character has gotten to Level 20 in about 35 hours of play. She is probably two hours away from finishing the quests in the second “area” she has been to. And get this: there are 44 areas in the game world. Not all areas are as fleshed out as the two I’ve been in, some horde areas aren’t as playable for my character, and probably 10 hours of my 35 hours with this character has been lost due to my newbie inefficiency, but still, a conservative estimate would say that there are at least 300 hours worth of game world to explore and static quests to do from one character’s perspective alone. Play a character or two from the horde side and you’ve probably got another 200 hours of new content.
To give you even another idea of the game's size: I bought the strategy guide, which is an 8.5" by 11", 432-page phone book of guide, all in relatively small print. This tome is totally inadequate in describing the game world. It would need to be three times the size in order to cover the world in any depth.
The world is also tremendously varied. The verdant shadowy forests of the Night Elves look and feel completely different than the ochre wasteland of the Trolls. The heavy gray of the Forsaken’s land is much different than the bright green medieval woods of the Humans. The sense of exploration the game offers is unparalleled.
2. Character development is complex, intuitive, and rewarding.
3. Solo play works.
4. Game is stable, and gameplay (for me, anyway) has been nearly lag free.
5. Playing in short time bursts works great.
6. Interaction can be a blast. People for the most part are friendly (at least on the role playing servers where I've played). There are a lot of high quality guilds, and there is a surprisingly large number of mature, interesting players.
7. Quests are excellent.
8. The entire game exudes quality and care. There is great attention to detail in every aspect of gameplay.
9. The trailer for the game rocks. Really. It is the only game trailer I have ever watched more than once.
The Negatives:
1. A vast majority of the gamers is rushing around on a frantic leveling treadmill.
2. The maturity level of the average gamer is relatively low. You can take the leetspeak out of the world, but you can't take the leet out of the gamer.
3. Even on the role-playing servers, there is relatively little role-playing.
4. Combat, although complex, is not necessarily varied.
5. There is at present no dynamic content, which translates into the player having negligible impact on the world around him. Coming from a single-player experience where the gamer’s character dramatically alters the gameworld to WoW, where monsters I defeat often respawn on top of me before I’ve cleared the area, I’ve had to adjust my focus to other things in order to get the most enjoyment out of the game. Once I accepted that only the gamers’ characters will change in the gameworld, I was able to have a lot more fun.
6. The static, respawning nature of the gameworld makes true role-playing difficult.
7. The graphics are sufficient, but not cutting edge.
Overall...
I've been really surprised at how enjoyable WoW has been for me. It has been a long time since I've had this much fun playing a game. At 50 hours of play, my interest meter is still sky high. My new copy of Football Manager, my half-complete Civ 3 game, and all my other games have collected dust since WoW's arrival.
The other pleasant aspect for me is that I don't feel like I've become addicted to the game. There are lots of natural breaks in the game, places where it makes sense to teleport back to your inn, sell stuff, and call it a day. You can have a very good time playing the game for only 20-30 minutes a day. I play for a couple hours before going to bed (which is generally all the gaming time I have) and the occasional 30-minute break during the workday, and have been able to stop within reason most nights.
This game gets a big, big thumbs up from me.
As far as new content goes to keep the game fresh...
The world is so immense that I think I could play this game for a good half year and still not run out of things to see and do. The character classes are also varied, and gameplay is different depending on your character/faction. There is literally ten games worth of content in this game (which is good, because with the monthly fee, you end up paying five games' worth of money in a year). In any case, Blizzard is still finishing up some of the content (battlegrounds) that was supposed to be in the original game, but they have spoken about making new content in the future (aka, expansion packs).