World of Warcraft

[Craftstar]

Platform: PC
Release Date: November 23 2004.
MSRP: Regular $49.99 -- Collector Edition $79.99
Monthly Subscription Price: $14.99 a month.
ESRB Rating: T

System Requirements:

Windows® System 98/ME/2000/XP OS:

800 MHz or higher CPU
256 MB or more of RAM
32 MB 3D graphics card with hardware transform and lighting, such as GeForce 2 or better
4 GB or more of available hard drive space
DirectX® 9.0c or above
A 56k or higher modem with an Internet connection

Mac® System OS X 10.3.5 OS:

933 MHz or higher G4 or G5 processor
512 MB RAM or higher; DDR RAM recommended
ATI or NVIDIA video hardware with 32 MB VRAM or more
4 GB or more of available hard drive space
MacOS X 10.3.5 or newer
56k or higher modem with an Internet connection



View the Cinematic Trailer Here


For more information and media visit http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/

 

[Crimson King]

Doesn't look very interesting to me at all. It just doesn't have that appeal. Will there be a interactive story or will it be laid out by the company?

 

[Craftstar]

Space Saver!

 

[Lieutenant Fox]

There's one thing you didn't mention though, there's going to be monthly fees with the online play of the game...

 

[Crimson King]

Then I don't plan on getting it. I have a more ambious title where the players affect the story. Of course I have little free time to work on all of it, but it will come.

Monthly Fees are very important. If you want crappy multiplayer servers ala Battle.Net then don't pay. I say if you can't pay for the staff's work and what not you don't deserve to play.

 

[Craftstar]

The reason you pay for MMORPGS:

Hosting that many people on a server costs Hundreds of even thousands of dollars to run, it takes up so much bandwidth. If they didn't charge fees, there would be NO MMORPGs. So don't complain about fees!

 

[Eor]

this game looks good. i wonder if they are cutting out the elves. i hope they dont, cause that would suck.


also, does anyone know what a regular fee is for a MMORPG?

 

[Ganbare]

About $10, sometimes slightly less. That's too much to pay in my opinion, and thus I own no MMORPGs. However, if I get a fast internet connection eventually, I will probably invest in Star Wars Galaxies. No way I can resist that. It's not that I don't like MMORPGs, I love RPGs and it seems like I would enjoy those too, but I would rather not have to be binded to playing these stupid monthly fee dealies and not be able to afford other games I want.

 

[SabreAnt]

True, SW Galaxies is gonna be the reason for my next system upgrade. WC3 looks good but I'll wait.

 

[Gilgamesh]

hehe, when these kind of games arrive in my country, there's always--- free local servers! and in spanish, to boot.

So i don't have to pay monthly fees. That makes the service less reliable, but i can't complain.

to you guys.

 

[shishkabob]

I wont be getting it because of the monthly fee of $10. My parents wont pay it. Battle.net does NOT stink. Except phor the newbies who quit 10 seconds into the game. lol. Not counting the fee, I would say this is the best Warcraft game yet.

 

[rudy292]

meh, I'm not looking forward to this as much as I am to TFT. WCIII is great, and TFT looks (even more) awesome.


Also, I like games with stories, and WCIII's was great, and I'm anxious to find out what happens to Arthas, Illidan, etc...

In conclusion, my 56k won't allow any MMORPG's, so my opinion is a bit one sided.

 

[shishkabob]

Rudy, if you want to find out about Arthras and Illidan, get The Frozen Throne, it continues the story with the war-wrecked Azeroth.

Whats TFT?

 

[Craftstar]

TFT is War3x
^_^

"TFT" is the abbreviation for "The Frozen Throne".

BTW if anyone notices this topic keeps changing, it's cause I'm currently updating it.

 

[Eor]

um, wasnt shiskabob banned?


Craftstar, u have turned me into a sucecfull convert. I wil definetly get this game. The $10 dollar fee wont hurt me, sicne i get $30 a week.

Go Orcs!

 

[Craftstar]

While the fee may turn some people off, it's actually quite necessary... but I'll inform everyone about that in a special section of the headliner post of this topic--later.

For now, everyone admire my new signiture, featuring a Night Elf theme!

 

[Crimson King]

Yes, fees are the essential life blood of an MMO.

Think of it this way. There are 200,000+ people on Ultima Online. They use 25 servers total. If they didn't charge a monthly fee they would drop to 1 server and have to turn people away. This is a BAD idea on all parts. Hence, the reason why Battle.net sucks so much.


That's why I am stand-offish to WoW(or any Blizzard game involving online play), with the service as terrible as Battle.net I wonder what will they do when they go to a larger scale.

 

[Craftstar]

battle.net and the World of Warcraft servers are not related by any way--they have nothing to do with each other at all.

And considering battle.net is the world's largest free online gaming service, I really don't think its that bad.

 

[Crimson King]

Well, CS, AOL has the most subscribers nation-wide, so I guess that makes it good?


Fact is, Battle.net is too easy to hack into(this killed Diablo for me), had too many people playing one type of game(BGH with SC), can't support a lot of people(All Blizzard games get laggy from time to time because of this), or you are matched with unfair challenges WC3( too many times I was matched with people too easy and they game wouldn't be fun.)

I never said Battle.net was the WOW server. I just said that from Blizzards past with online games it makes me standoffish.

 

[Arkane]

****************

 

[Crimson King]

OSI's Ultima Online
200,000+ players and 25 servers(like a good online game should have)

Graphics also mean very little. Look at Everquest.

I am just saying don't get your hopes up for a huge revoltionary game because that always falls short of true MMO gamers expectations that UO set.(Shadowbane, hacked recently and overall really bad and Star Wars Galaxies supposedly got really watered down as in one death with Jedis and what not.)

I've seen it happen again and again.

 

[Craftstar]

Originally posted by Eric_The_Red
OSI's Ultima Online
200,000+ players and 25 servers(like a good online game should have)

Graphics also mean very little. Look at Everquest.

I am just saying don't get your hopes up for a huge revoltionary game because that always falls short of true MMO gamers expectations that UO set.(Shadowbane, hacked recently and overall really bad and Star Wars Galaxies supposedly got really watered down as in one death with Jedis and what not.)

I've seen it happen again and again.

First of all, I never said Bnet was perfect--it's not. However, you won't see that sort of hacking going on in WoW... It's obvious they're going to go to extreme measure to keep them as safe as possible. Also, MMORPGs ARE harder to hack. Shadowbane DID get hacked, but thats because the company which produced it failed to secure GM controls to only GMs. Graphics mean quite a bit actually. Yes Everquest's crappy graphics aren't directly related to how much it sucks, but it doesn't help either.

And as far as the game getting watered down and features being removed, I tell you this: Blizzard is not releasing info like otehr companies do. They only release certain information on a feature once they're sure thats how it will be. They don't promise things and then edit it out of the game (like SWG crew has done). They have stated this many times in their forums. The fact of the matter is, I AM expectin a revolutionary MMORPG because Blizzard never offers anything less than the best. If you take the time to doa littl research into WoW, you'll see how deep the game is right now... and it's not even in beta yet.

And Hardcore Jedi in SWG is complete crap... any company that pull that kind of crap in an MMORPG needs to be shot.

 

[Crimson King]

Of course the game will be deep now, it's still in concept and development. Most games are extremely deep before they hit beta. I am not getting my hopes up, but I will still play it.

 

[Craftstar]

It's actually in Alpha stages, and only a couple months away from beta. It can only get better from what it is right now.

 

[Crimson King]

Time will tell, CS. Just don't let your hopes get too high.

 

[Craftstar]

All the e3 impressions on the game were that it is simply amazing right now--almost every source has said that it plays better now than a lot of games do on release. Now, you can't honestly think that the beta is going to make the game worse (much of the game is already complete, they have a few features to announce and put in, but all the things they've announced are already in the game).

 

[Crimson King]

I am not giving any stance till it is released.

I have played to many betas and trials to get hyped up on a game just because it can be good.

 

[Craftstar]

I have played to many betas and trials to get hyped up on a game just because it can be good.

You could narrow your comment down and just say "Star Wars Galaxies"

But thats SOE for you =D

 

[Crimson King]

Haha, I never got to beta test it because I was out the first week it started then politics came in, but I talked to plenty beta testers who were so disappointed with it. Most quit because it went so far downhill since the beta.

SOE isn't all bad. Everquest is a great game, but it lacks one fun thing, PVP. That would make it competitive with UO.

 

[Craftstar]

Keep in mind that no one has ever actually hacked battle.net. They've created trainer programs which affect the game clients. Since all the information in WoW will be stored in the server, you'd need to hack the server in order to do that. If anyone manages to do that, they aren't just threatened with a ban, they can go to jail. This makes hacking in MMORPG a lot less likely and lot harder.

New information on Worldo of Warcraft will probably come out soon, but exactly when, no one knows. Most likely AFTER The Frozen Throne.

 

[Eor]

most after the frozen throne? really? well, no ****.

lets see, the beta is around august, yet frozen throne comes out on July 1. Hmmmm....that must mean its before!


seriously, did anyone belive it was going to come out in a few days?

 

[Craftstar]

Not all information will come out before the beta. A lot of features may be implmented during the beta, so not EVERYTHING will come out before the beta which will probably happen more towards October.

 

[Eor]

srry craftstar, i missread ur post. I thought u said that WoW will probally not come out untill after Frozen Throne. srry.

 

[Craftstar]

Three gameplay videos were taken that I HAVE to show. They're so high-quality that everyone needs to see them!

Right click and "save as".

Movie 1

Movie 3

Movie 3

 

[StealthyZargon]

This game is going to be so great... Can't wait till I make my human warrior. Only problem i see is meeting up with my friend since he wants to make a Nelf. dont really feel like walking would be the way to go, but transports will be expensive in the beggining of the game.

 

[HolyTony]

I heard that druids can transform into innocent little animals. Maybe I'll be a druid and scare the newbies. But then again, I'm not into MMORPGS. But maybe I'll like this one..

 

[Craftstar]

Yeah, Druids can take the form of many different feirce monsters, but they can slo shapeshift into innocent critters. In PvP you'll have to watch those sheeps behind you ^.^

 

[spaz519]

not a bump

Thanks to your awesome topic, CS, you have convinced me to get this. Star Wars as a game has failed me once again >.<

Cool topic. Very informative and/or professional. I can see why you'd be good staff at Warcry.

 

[firaga01]

Heh, I guess I never congratulate people anymore, either. If it wasn't for this thread, I would've have never gone to the Warcraft forums for more information, and as a result would have never been as hyped as I am about this MMORPG. Although I still have my reservations about paying a monthly fee, I thank everyone who posted in this thread for making me reconsider my stance on this genre of video gaming.

Anyways, back to the topic. Has there been any news on what kind of vehicles/animals can ride or use in the world? I'd love to be able to ride a Gryphon or a wolf across Azeroth. Also, I deem there hasn't been any news on sailing the seas to other continents, has there?

Another thing I want Blizzard to comment on is what the economic system of WoW will be like. If it's anything like Galaxies, then I already feel sorry for them. What gamers want to know is just how rare that item they're hoarding is and how much they could get for it (in other words, a standard, "blue-book" price). Without direct intervention from Blizzard about prices, players would be left to run things by themselves, effectively creating monopolies, pools, and other forms of controlling the economy. It would seriously be an error in Blizzard's judgment to declare a "laissez-fair" (whatever is good for business is good for the country) type of economic policy for the game.

 

[Craftstar]

For more information on transportation check out the Transportation section. Each race has it's own unique mount (including wolves for orcs), and with a Riding skill, a player can even master the mounts of other races (A human could ride a Wolf). Gryphons are not player flown, but are like an air taxi service to scout out a location or travel one place very quickly.

Seaing across the sea on boats will be possible.