it was fun for a month. I didn't renew my subscriptions tho. Its pretty cheap to just try it for the first month. i got the battle chest for like 20 bucks

In my experience, I really liked it at first, but as I got on I started finding the quests repetitive and the game got boring. Overall I am not happy that I spent the last of my birthday money on a two month subscription card.

I found the quests and leveling more fun than the endgame content, maybe because I took my time. Doing the same dungeons/dailies over and over again just to see my stats go up a little? No thanks.

Is it a good game? Yes, absolutely. I originally was entirely sceptical of the whole concept, and snubbed it for years (since it was no contender to Ultima Online) but when I actually tried it out I realised how well-designed it was. You can't discount its technical achievement, its polished style and its vibrant atmosphere, and that certain nerdy thrill of a pure numbers game. I never got into PVP, never encountered any Horde vs. Alliance rivalry, nor found any decent roleplaying, but I had a blast running around the gaming equivalent of Disney Land.

Is it worth the price? At ￡120 a year, hell no.

Depends how you look at it, cheaper than the UK TV license, and if like me it's one of the very few games you play regularly then it's worth it in my opinion, i bought about 5 games last year that i thought were ranging from mediocre to garbage in quality, i'd much rather have spent that money on WoW which all in all hasn't let me down.

WoW is more of a hobby than a game though, or at least takes up as much time as a hobby.

This really isn't true. The game itself isn't very demanding of your time, a lot of things that used to be real chores in MMOs have been trimmed down significantly. The game itself is not addictive either, no more than the tons of other single player games that share some of its principles. What gets people "hooked" are the hardcoe raiding guilds who put demands and expectations on their members. But that is a completely player-nurtured culture, and you can't put blame on the game itself for that.

There are many ways to play WoW. There are many who join social/casual raiding guilds, just log in a few evenings each week for raids, and that suits them just fine.

I used to think World of Warcraft was the most brilliant game ever but it has really become a very mediocre and even bad in some ways. Let me explain. (There is a long essay but the core of the matter is in bold at the bottom).

I started playing World of Warcraft back in vanilla and sure it had a lot of kinks back then but it sure as heck was pretty fun. You were given limited tools early on for survival and it would often be optimal to group with others to do quests that would be too hard and for those who liked the challenge trying to solo certain parts of the game was actually, well, a challenge.

Now however Blizzard has stripped all fun away from the leveling process, they're trying to remove it by removing any challenges yet rewarding you with endless experience just so you can rush up to highest level. I honestly can't see why they don't just let you start at level 85 if they feel everything aside from endgame is so worthless they don't need to put any effort into designing it.

I am however speaking about statistically, in terms of storytelling Blizzard gets two thumbs way up for their changes in the latest expansion Cataclysm, I could even go as far as to say it makes up for the lack of effort put into making content for the lower levels that isn't designed to be so easy it just becomes a trivial grind, even the specifically marked "elite" quests of the starting game have been designed to always have some sort of a function to make it easy such as doing the fight with some artifact of power that just happens to be there or with some strong NPC′s aiding you making anything you do trivial.

Then there is the aesthetic beauty of the game. Sometimes the game can really strike you with awe at just how well it looks, not in terms of graphical looks but simply in terms of scenery. The latest expansion Cataclysm has done some bad things regarding to this and some good things. Some places that looked really nice and could basically svck you into its atmosphere such as the in game zone Desolace have been changed for the worse (Beautiful desert flat-lands ? I know let's stick a forest in it!) while certain other places look a lot better. Basically I have mixed feelings about recent changes but overall the look and feel of everything in World of Warcraft can be really great.

Now onto the endgame. Let′s start with PvE. If you manage to find a whole 24 other people who are nice these days in that game then I truly do salute you. Most everyone has become really selfish in that game and they're not afraid to show it every time Blizzard presents them with the opportunity to *swearword* others over for their own benefit.

I′m not even really saying though that it's hard to find 24 other people who are nice and are willing to work as a team, but not as leaders with pack-dogs helping them on their personal quest to get better while taking the scraps of his bones once he's finished with them. It′s even quite easy to find such a large number of nice WoW players. But then comes the problem of schedules and classes. Do they all have appropriate classes to form a good raid group ? Can they all play at the same time you can play ? What do you do when someone suddenly can't show up ?

You will find that it's nearly impossible if not through some sort of a miracle to make everyone happy, there is always someone who gets *swearword* over and sometimes it's going to be you.

Oh and everyone is the same by the way. I was raiding as a DPS Feral Druid in WOTLK and all I had to say was "I′m a feral DPS" and people knew what talents I had. Sure there was sometimes leeway for like one or two talent points but that's hardly nothing if you want to customize your character to be a little different from others. There are always those cookie cutter builds which will do the most DPS or allow you to tank the best as a tank and heal the best as a healer. If you don't go by those you're going to get ridiculed when it comes to raiding, after all why would you not help the team by doing your best when everyone else is doing his best ?

So don't look at WoW as the sort of game where you have freedom over how you customize your character, any differences end once you've picked the class and which role you wish to fill with it.

Which brings me to the current state of the classes. Every single class can do nearly everything in one way or the other. Because PvP is a large factor within the game Blizzard takes great care to keep it balanced and I honestly can't blame them. But if they want balance they should just go with chess, a game that is nearly perfectly balanced aside from minor advantages (or disadvantages some would argue) based on white going first. Yet Blizzard is giving every class nearly everything the other classes have. There are still differences between the classes but I feel like they are getting less and less each year.

Basically it goes like this:

The Player-base: "Class X beats class Y every time!"
Blizzard: "Okay, let's change class Y so it has Z"
The Player-base: "Now class Y beats Q every time because of Z!"
Blizzard "Okay, let's change Q so it has..."

And it just goes on and on and on, Blizzard trying to achieve this impossible balance one change at a time making everyone have everything slowly but surely.

And then there is the grind, it doesn't matter what you do in the game, there is always grinding. Grinding mobs for gold, grinding with your profession for gold, grinding dungeons for gold, grinding battleground and arena matches for honor, tokens, points and such, grinding at the auction house for the best bids (even when you play the AH you end up stuck there sometimes). You are always grinding something if you are playing anything endgame and it honestly feels more like work than play. Some even grind through the low levels so they can get to grinding at high levels and they justify it all with "oh it's fun to get to do the last dungeon" but even after doing the last boss they end up grinding for gear they will never really need. Honestly the only sane way to enjoy WoW in my mind as it stands is to do the quests for the stories and scenery.

Even the Roleplay is dead, Blizzard makes little effort to keep RP servers free of people who just wish to bring down RP and it's very hard to get into character on such servers when no one around you is in character at any times. I could write an essay on my experiences with Roleplaying servers but I've already made you read one essay so I think I will pass it for now.

Basically what I recommend despite all I've said is to buy the game. Buy it and play through the quests, don't rush through them grinding levels just so you can get to grind even more at level 85. No take it slow, disable the quest tracking addons and read the quest text, take in all of the scenery and listen to what the NPC′s have to say. Take in the atmosphere of the game and actually have fun, don't just work the game, play it.

In fact it's been a while since I last played WoW now but I′m considering buying another game card, I've still got some quests I haven′t finished which I think may be interesting to do, even if they are so easy you can do them in the nvde with no talentpoints or weapons.

It can be fun, but it probably would have been better back in the earlier days, before all the expansions, rule changes, and evolution of the playerbase.

The player population is amazingly jerkass and negative now, and has been for at least a couple years. Not a friendly environment at all.


(It can still be entertaining to solo quest, though. So yeah - give the preview a try.)



edit: I say this as someone who's been "playing" on and off since the original release.... but I'm not a typical MMO gamer - I can't stand grouping with lots of random idiots, aren't interested in joining a big fraternity (guild), and don't care about PvP or "end game" Raiding. I played originally with a small circle of friends who got me into it, and when they all quit.... I just kept playing solo. I quested alot, did crafting professions, and leveled more and more additional characters, rather than concentrating on making one character Awesome?.

I currently only play it because my brother pays the subscription fee (he wanted me to play with him) as I do not feel it is worth the monthly amount.

Tips for playing WoW:

1. Check server population ratios before selecting a server. Only join a PvP server as the faction that has a large population advantage or else you will be horrifically spawn camped (fail design by Blizz). PvE or RP servers should be checked for population levels (high and low pop are bad, look for medium).

2. Do not plan to experience any form of balanced PvP through Battlegrounds or Arenas. Blizzard is too lazy to develop separate PvP and PvE skills and talents (but they do have separate gear) and therefore most classes have only one spec that is even remotely viable (and that is usually either based on super high damage burst or super high control abilities).

3. Join a leveling guild for the XP bonus. Getting to 85 as fast as possible is the goal.

4. Check out your class forum for a guide on how to spec for PvE or PvP.

5. Put Trade Chat on its own tab. Only switch to it when you want to buy or sell.

6. Choose a hybrid class for your first character, pures can be fun, but have a lack of options.

7. Use Macros and avoid clicking (i.e. use your keybinds as they are faster).

Yes, why bother playing the game when you can just skip past most of it. :rolleyes:


(Personally, I've never understood the whole "the game begins at the level cap" thing. But, then, like I said in my earlier post, I care not for Raiding.)


------
For the OP:

"Raids" are very high level dungeons that require larger parties of players to complete. In WoW, this has ranged from 10-man raids to 40-man. (Right now, there are 10- and 25-man raids. 40 went away.) They typically involve lots of coordination & practice on the part of the team going in (depending on the difficulty of course), focus on the killing of huge Boss monsters, and reward the best gear in the game. Depending on overall difficulty, you'll probably need to be in a Guild to get anywhere in raiding.

People who are really into raiding tend to think that it's the only important and meaningful style of gameplay (hence comments like "The game only starts at the cap" and "Rush to the cap as fast as possible".)

Personally, I find that kind of silly - sure, if you've leveled other characters before, you might want to rush to the cap, but if you're a first time player - there's alot of world out there to explore! Plenty of quests & stories to see, lore to learn, etc. Take your time, enjoy yourself, see what parts you like best! The level cap will still be there when you get around to it....

Sounds just like me.

NO unless you wanna sell your soul and money to that bastard company called blizzard
i use to play and they wouldnt take off my card when i kept asking i was charged 4 extra times because they deleted my card

Disagree with you, (notice i disagreed with you instead of calling you a liar as you did to me) and i have five years experience of playing the game, yes WoW has become a lot more accessible to the casual player but it is still very problematic to those with an addictive personality and has an added social pressure of playing/raiding as you already mentioned.

To not point out this very obvious hazard to someone who may be about to play the game is highly irresponsible considering the large amount of people with sob-stories claiming that the game ruined their life, and the various clinics that deal with addicted WoW players, that you yourself don't have an addictive personality doesn't mean that others don't either, that is a very self-centred way of looking at things.



Yes, but as i already said, there are many WoW players who don't play that way, and who do sink vast amounts of time into the game simply through addiction.

3. That's not playing the game, that's grinding it. Someone who just wants to rush to 85 needs to re-evaluate what he seeks from gaming.

4. That only matters at end game, a part of the game I'd rather recommend skipping. Been through it three times in Vanilla, TBC and WOTLK and it was never worth the whole hassle just to get a few purples and orange items that only become useless in the next expansion.

7. Clicking can be just fine, many people who use a mix of macros and clicking are playing through end game content and are at the top of the Arena bracket. That you can't get by if you ever click anything is a myth.

Just wanted to throw out my opinions on what you're recommending for a new player. A new player should at least have the change to experience the game at its finest rather than rushing to the worst parts of it.

This is essentially what the endgame becomes. If that sounds appealing to you, then you'll love WoW. If not, well, best move on. As someone who's played since vanilla, I think I can safely not recommend this game anymore. It had its flaws, but these were made up by many in game factors. Blizzard-Activision (no longer just Blizzard, very important to note) has changed the game and watered it down beyond recognition in the past several years. The game has been changed to be optimal for "casual" gameplay, but really it just ends up being a forced grind that will take you a set amount of time based on the limitations Blizzard-Activision put in place (caps on points and tokens achievable each day/week).

Frankly, the trial is hardly a good representation of the game and is quite crippled in comparison. Blizzard-Activision is quickly falling to the evil ways of Kotick and his love for all things monetary and I cannot in good conscious recommend anyone give money to them in any fashion. They don't even listen to their community, and the game is slowly losing it's playerbase. WoW is dying a slow death, and I can't wait.

Should you get WoW? I dunno, but I'd say heroin is a better choice, and this is coming from an ex-WoW player.

Speaking as a former addict............

90% of the game's population is illiterate, so avoid trade chat if possible.

Don't pour more than five hours a day into it, or you'll get burnt out by level 60.

PvP can be fun, but the rewards early in the game aren't nearly as easy to obtain as loot from random dungeons.

Play Horde.

Join a Guild fairly early on, with the new guild leveling system and all the advantages it brings, you would be a fool not to join one.

Play Horde.

Play Horde.

Play Horde.

Oh yeah, and don't forget to play Horde.

Kill some stinky Night Elf hippies for me.

Again someone recommending grinding the game but not playing it for fun. Why is everyone so obsessed with grinding themselves to 85 so that they can get into the minor stat changes grind ? Why can't people enjoy the quest content and stories created.

It can be a very good game - in some ways a better single player RPG than most dedicated ones. There are a ton of things to do in the game to the point of being overwhelming. PvP, instances and raids, solo play, crafting - the game is massive after three expansions. I would highly recommend shopping for a good guild. If you have friends who play the game ask them if they can recommend a good guild and possibly get you in. It makes all the difference. Faction doesn't matter as much as finding the right people to play with. I hope she doesn't mind my saying, but I know one of the moderators here started playing WoW last summer. She joined my guild (a very large one) and has had a good time and done a lot in the game - much more than I ever have/will. She's told me that she's made a lot of good online friends in the guild via playing. So yeah, it can still be worthwhile to a new player.



Doesn't matter anymore - same type of people play both factions now. In fact, I think Alliance has slowly become more mature than Horde the last few years (thanks Blood Elves! ).

I enjoy the story, but it gets to the point that its not worth it when it takes six days to go up one level.

You're either exaggerating or speaking of the 80-85 levels. And who says it's not okay to be the same level for six days You will be 85 for a ton more than 6 days anyway so no rush really.

Went and bought myself a new game card, gonna start a new troll warrior to check out the new quest-lines for the areas of Durotar and The Barrens (did Mulgore and then Stonetalone Mountains last time).

It's so easy to level up now, that you don't even have to complete the questline in an area before you're ready for the next.

I haven't played in quite some time.

3. I don't know if you have attempted to level a new character since Cataclysm was released or not, but the XP gains from quests, dungeons, and battlegrounds have been increased so drastically that you will hit level cap in 2-3 weeks of playing a pretty casual load. Grinding is what WoW is about since it is a subscription based product. They have redesigned the game to contain most of the content at level cap so that they can herd you into grind mode to keep you playing for as many months as possible. There simply isn't anything to do at low levels other than quests that push the story forward. The vast majority of players don't care about story (I do, but I'm in the minority) and if they aren't at level cap then they aren't doing anything. As further proof of this concept, they have been recycling old raids/dungeons since most players never even run them a single time while leveling.

4. Again, see 3. If you aren't at level cap, then you aren't playing WoW.

7. Clicking has it's uses, but it is inefficient. It is better to develop good habits early rather than have to break bad habits later. Telling someone it is OK to be a clicker is similar to telling a new driver that it is OK to never make left hand turns.

I guess I had more fun "not playing" WoW than playing it.


It's just a game...