World of Warcraft (2005 Video Game) User Reviews (34)

Great game if you can keep your cool.

[macnoos · 9/10 · 18 August 2006]

So, World of Warcraft... is it a great game you can spend days, weeks, months and even years on? The answer lies somewhere in between. I've had some really really great times playing wow and I've had some really really boring moments. The secret to loving WoW is to keep it somewhat at bay, do not let it ruin your life. I admit there were some weeks and even months where I did nothing but play WoW. And because of that I got so sick of it I hated myself when I was playing. WoW is highly addictive and it can consume you. I have friends who have done nothing but play WoW for over a year. 10+ hours of gaming every day of the week. I know for a fact that for lots and lots of people this is what they do. You always want that next thing which is slightly better than the one you've already got. You want to see your character looking all hot and being able to churn out lots of damage or keep the members in your party alive so you can prevail and yell "Victory!".

I've had many great times and met a lot of great people during my time in Azeroth and Kalimdor. I started out as Horde and it'll always be dear to me to see trolls, taurens, undead and fellow orcs. But this game takes its toll. You have to decide on how much time you want to spend on it. Level 1 to 60 is great for casual gamers who play some hours a day a few days of the week. And then when you hit level 60 you can just chill out and do the 5-10 man instances for the best and nicest blue gear possible from them, and have a hell of a good time doing it with good friends. But after you've done all that you have three choices. Option 1: Continue with that character and get him/her in a raiding guild to do some ZG/MC/BWL/AQ/Naxx and outdoor bosses. But this is not for everyone. Here you have to spend about 5 hours on each raid night and often several days of the week. And few people will not see the valid logical reasons for this. There must be a better way to spend your real life time on. Option 2: You continue playing but on another character. Either you want to try out the opposite faction or just another class so you can experience the game from a different point of view. Downside here is that the game won't feel as fresh as before and leveling can become a bit boring as you've done most of the quest before. Option 3: Simple. You logout and cancel your subscription and you quit playing WoW. Here you say to yourself, it was a great game and fun while it lasted. But it's time to move on.

World of Warcraft is a great game if you can manage to control your game time. You meet great people and it's fun to see your character getting stronger and wiser. But after a while (after level 60 sometime) you find yourself at a crossroad. It's up to you which road you want to follow.

Redefining video game addiction

[slant675 · 9/10 · 7 June 2006]

Blizzard has always delivered a quality, well-thought-out product. World of Warcraft is certainly no exception. When this game was announced, it already had many fans (prospective players): those who played the original Warcraft games (of which there were three).

This game now has 50.6% of the entire MMORPG market (according to http://www.mmogchart.com/) at the time of this writing. Blizzard is doing something that most other MMO creators have yet to do consistently: stay on top of the problems. Yes, it has some things that need to be fixed, but far less that any other MMO I've played.

The world in which this game is set is absolutely stunning and brilliant in complexity as well as it's immersive nature. Players choose sites between either the Horde or Alliance, then select a race followed by a class (i.e.: a warrior, a mage, etc). The Warcraft series has already developed a full, rich lore on which the World of Warcraft can draw it's own story line.

I know that Wikipedia isn't always overly accurate, but I must say, if you're curious about this game, I'd say read the Wikipedia article.

Best WoW expansion eveR

[rotlk4s · 9/10 · 25 December 2019]

Simply put: One of THE BEST video games ever made.

It's a game, dude!

[mecabeat · 10/10 · 2 June 2008]

Vastly more complicated than just hitting a lever for a banana, World of Warcraft is an adventure game with a great story that unfolds as you play. If you grew up loving fantasy books such as Lord of the Rings, and social interaction games like Dungeons and Dragons, you will probably like World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft may not be appropriate for uptight, impatient, junior-college behavioral psychology students, who were never allowed to play games as a child and therefore have no understanding of their value.

Cheers!

The most AMAZING Online Computer Game ever Created

[mark24 · 10/10 · 1 October 2005]

Only Two words sum up World Of Warcraft, Sheer Brilliance. This is unlike any game you will ever play. You will be hooked as soon as you start to play as this game is SO darn addictive !! World of Warcraft is a massively multi-player online game that enables thousands of players to come together online and battle against the world and each other. Players from across the globe can leave the real world behind and undertake grand quests and heroic exploits in a land of fantastic adventure. At long last, the world of Azeroth, first glimpsed in Warcraft 1 and further enhanced in subsequent strategy games, is realised in glorious detail and ready for the arrival of millions of prospective players. World of warcraft is 20 times better than all current MMORPG's, simply because it is 20 times more FUN.There are a few reasons why WOW is ten times MORE FUN than other MMORPG's. Attack cities and kill its leader with 39 other people. Lots of PvP, Lots of fun. Warsong gulch is like capture the flag in Quake except its an RPG game instead of a First Person Shooter. Endless hours of fun there. The Battlegound Alterac valley. 40 vs 40 PvP-zone that is huge and even has PvP-quests in it. Hours of FUN. A huge pvp arena where fighting is too the death. A chest is dropped in an arena every 3 hours and opening it is interesting as pvp is free for all in there and everyone wants to open it and will do everything they can to stop you. MORE FUN. Instance Dungeons for level 60's like Stratholme, Scholomance, Black rock depths, Lower blackrock spire, upper blackrock spire. Dire maul north, dire maul west, dire maul east, Molten Core, Blackwing lair and so on and so on. Plus all the high level elite bosses roaming around the world that takes 30-40 people some effort to take down. More instances and brand new content added EVERY month in new patches (this is the reason why we pay our monthly fee, and we are well rewarded). A talent system that enables you to define you character from everyone else and also an Ability to redo your talents whenever you want which lets me do what I want when I want and the way I like it. OK this game does have it's downside's. Don't all games? The main problem with this game is the company that created it. Servers go offline with no warning, some servers can have bad lag at peak times, and most of the servers are full with queue times when you first log in. The customer service from Blizzard Entertainment is Auful, but it is getting better as time goes on. Also, a lot of younger players play this game and some more mature people will find this difficult, as playing with 12 year old children that spam the chat channels is not their idea of an Online game. If this does not appeal to you, play Everquest 2 instead. As a final word, World of Warcraft is the best Computer game available for the PC to date, and seeing its huge amount off success across the world, will be for a long time.

Amazing

[Jericokane · 10/10 · 3 July 2007]

Great Characters and Story lines. I never got bored of this game. There is no way of completing it, once you have reached the maximum level there are endless ways of bettering your character. Then you can start with a new race and have all new levels and quests. I also like looking for all of the homage to things in the real world. If you look at the trivia section in IMDb and have a look, some of them are really obvious but you don't see them.

Best game i have ever played. But the game takes over your life. If you are thinking of starting to play be very careful as it is highly addictive. But like i said it is the best game i have ever played. Enough said.

My first RPG on PC

[dapperbee · 1 March 2005]

Imagination is an understatement. This game lets you explore the closest thing to an alternate reality that one could experience. Loyalty, intelligence and a world, yeah, a HUGE world of exploring will make your social life take a turn, for a great way. Meet 1000's of other players that live to help, hinder or "gank" in more ways you could ever conceive in real life. It's a whole new world and with patches constantly updating and expanding the world it takes place in, there is no end to the future it has in front of it. There is no game ever made that can even come close. It makes friends and draws people to, at least for me, make the phrase "For the Horde" less dorky to the monumental amount of people I meet that play this game. Have to try it. 15 minutes and you'll drop your PS2 and Xbox. There are no limits, there's always more. Props to Bizzard.

Classic Was Great Then, Very Good Now

[Aegelis · 10/10 · 18 July 2021]

Excitement, adventure, and amazement unfolded when the game first came out, like opening the gates of a wonderland. Focused on polished game play and community, World of Warcraft learned much from its declining predecessors and impressively has this original version in tact. Role play servers were for role-players and was a norm both in random interaction as well as guilds.

Customer service is a definite highlight, changes are positive as they are in response to player's interests/requests. Finding quests can be a bit of a challenge at times and in the series, this version is the most difficult to survive questing especially solo.

Although Classic is still around today, the wave of nostalgia players have come and gone (now that Burning Crusade Classic is the rage). This means there's not really much of a community anymore as well as little to buy/sell at the auction house. Few role players can be found on the role play server. On the upside, there's no competition for questing, nuisance chat or spam, so the world feels big again. Difficulty is up, finding groups, earning gold, and a good-fit guild is down.

An Amazing game, but please don't play 5+ hours a day!

[bruser9980 · 10/10 · 16 December 2006]

World of Warcraft is by far one of the greatest games i have ever played.

--Pros

-Excellent game play and graphics.

-interesting environments

-creative spells/abilities/talents -Raids!

--Cons -Way to seductive and addicting..(but can you really blame the game)

-ocassionally pointless quests.

-having to deal with irritating players who will not leave you alone.

-Often having high latency, especially on heavily populated realms.

-people who tend to use 1337 so much you don't have a clue to what they are trying to tell you.

-Tuesday maintenance To some it up, World of Warcraft is a great game, and before you tear it down, try playing it. For those who have played it already and dislike it then i respect your opinion and i guess World of Warcraft isn't for everyone. People also need to realize there is a life out side of WoW, 1 hour....good, 2 hour....okay, 3 hour....well?, 4 hour.....rap it up!, 5 hour.......your done... P.S. to see some screwed up videos about WoW addicts go to YouTube.com... Surprising to find that WoW is as addicting as alcohol, gambling, etc.. Its also surprising what you could learn in the time that you spent playing a game.... Still never the less, great game, try it out if you have self control..

A highly gripping game

[h-rabbit · 10/10 · 19 June 2009]

You can choose any race out of the few. Humans, tall Night Elves, fat Dwarfs, or even the tiniest of Gnomes. You can choose the class, Warrior, Mage, Paladin, Warlock, and others. You can choose your name, crafting it into any form you like.

Then the journey begins.

World of Warcraft is an enthralling game that unfolds as you cross the worlds of Azeroth and Kalimdor and discover new locations, fight epic battles, finish quests, level up and much more. You can buy, sell, trade, and duel with others players, plus buy mounts, ground-based or flying, to traverse the enormous terrain. With new spells, weapons, skills and enemies, there's always a way you can improve yourself and strive to become the most powerful being in the World of Warcraft.

Definitely the best fantasy game ever made.

But there are downsides. And some afflict to some and maybe not to others. World of Warcraft is like any online game if anyone plays it too much. After spding months playing the game, the gamer will start to get more ruthless and addicting to it, straying away from his real life and making the game replace it. The gamer will start swearing as regular talk, rebelling against parents or superiors, and become very dull and ungreateful in life. These are the things that make a game addict, so be careful when playing World of Warcraft, do not get too addicted to it, and also keep in mind the things that matter more in life. But don't get me wrong, it is a great game, and I recommend it only to mature gamers, those who know to control their lives.

Total Mark: 8/10

By HowlingRabbit334

Great Game, but too consuming

[bruce428 · 7/10 · 19 January 2009]

World of Warcraft or WOW whatever you want to call it is A great game. Its fun, you meet with lots of other gamers, you feel a sense of accomplishment completing quests, and leveling up. While this game is that great it has the ability to consume people. This can take drastic effects on your life, and if you find yourself playing for more then 3 hours a day then you need to get help.

I played the game myself spent sunny summer days inside playing WOW doing instances that took 4-5 hours when I could have been outside swimming, hanging out with friends. Then I gave the game up for 2 years. I returned to the game got to level 40 but hung it up again after that. People have to realize there are other good things out there besides this Love, Friendship.

And if your in School playing this its simple find something else to do to kill time and make you forget it or if your out of school working go to the gym hang out with friends, my case I was in high school so I played on my high school football team to kill time and make me forget it. With all that going on I only had about 2 hours a night to play. I have seen friends get divorced because they got consumed don't let it happen.

The game is fun and OK and a lot of fun to play, when it gets to the point where it consumes you, you have to know when to stop before it gets dangerous. If you don't want it to consume you then best advice is to stay away from it.

Greatest game I've played.

[ash_heer4001 · 9/10 · 22 August 2006]

I give the game World of Warcraft a 9/10 because not all games are perfect. The game has a lot of lag. Also, I found some pretty impossible things, fantasy or not. Your cat carrier can't fit in your backpack, can it? No. But thats just the best Blizzard to do, and I usually don't find myself worrying about it. I currently own a Level 50 warrior, and I haven't got her there without having fun. You start off at level one. There's some 'fun' quests. You kill beasts to get to the next level. Sounds boring. The fun lies within other players. Making friends is what I've had fun with, and the game is just a bonus. I haven't once been on when no one else is, people are alway there. The looking for group channel always cheers me up - no matter what the people are making fun of. The game is called an MMORPG - Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Its not really an RP, more like a Sims type game.... but better.

Total Immersion Virtual Reality

[Autlan · 6/10 · 15 September 2006]

Sit back and let the screen dissolve the walls from your peripheral. Your vision will brighten to levels you've never experienced before. You have entered Blizzard's latest creation, real_life_+_2! You'll be so amazed by the sheer stupidity that engulfs you that you'll soon forget the everyday imbeciles knocking at your door and gladly spend any time you have and a bit more, engaging in mind-numbing activities.

This virtual collective follows cycles much like those in the three-D. Press your puffy eyes to the screen and the similarities will become clear. Turning on, you already took the necessary first step and abandoned any hope of completing the critical task you scheduled for today. What? You say it wasn't on purpose, you meant to, but you just couldn't move? Now you're getting it. Here's a delicious nutritious binary-encoded reward to promote and strengthen insalubrious root growth. Open up young sedent, quaff some more.

Begin your day as you would any other; the early bird catches the worm. In this case you'll find the far-eastern red-bellied gold gobbler already hard at work. I see you've jumped ahead and introduced yourself to this rare specimen. This action is unadvised, the brief friendship you might strike up will be one you might share with an intestinal parasite. Besides, even if this wasn't a migrant fleeing exploitation in an economic underclass far-far-away and he could understand you, his beak would still be too full of precious metals to answer. In this burden-less collective that accepts button mapping and a few levels of situational logic as hard work, it's best to observe this wonderous beast from afar and voice your disapproval for the support of casuals.

Now, if you cup your ear and lean into the wind, you might hear faint moans of dejection wafting over the hills. They're not cries for help, rather they belong to the social reject that even in a game filled with ambition-less impulse-driven machines finds himself banished to a far off land, picking mushrooms for an imaginary tea party. Not to be confused with the frenzied pitter-patter of obsessive compulsives hastening to treat every last quest as an order and leave no stone unturned; they're altogether quieter in their eagerness and as a result much less burdensome.

All that time wasted already. While you were busy ogling, the day moved into its busiest stage. Watch for the first indicator, society dropping off their mollycoddled mental degenerates at the cyber crèche. Now you'll be able to listen to them gibber incessantly for attention. If you're really lucky the seaside cutouts might treat you to a rippling montage of lingering homo-erotic poses. Flexing their inworldly spoils at an audience too pavlovian to invoke the illiterate jeers you'd expect them to fear from years of playground abuse.

The roaring river becomes a deluge as the bitter workforce returns to the nest with unwanted retellings of humorous stories they were told over an icy water cone. Having deftly lane-hopped their way out of gridlock to squeeze a few more hours out of the day, it's time for them to sit back in the comfort of their own home and enjoy a reenactment of the rush hour traffic they just escaped. Recreated electronically with an exaggerated cast of inconsiderate pedestrians and suicidal cyclists. At this point frustration drives every killing zone into ugly competition and every city becomes a swarming mass of pixels, slowing everything to a slow chug. Tardiness is next to ungodliness and should you fall into this group and fail to escape from the roads of mayhem, collect your punishment, more queueing.

Gradually bedtimes calm the world and sweet quiet drifts across the lands. The inebriated -- those you'd expect to find under a bridge wrestling over a half empty bottle of windowlene -- have managed to claw their way online. Students, mentalists, compensation settlers and the unemployed play out their staggered cycles here, tipping the scales precariously against sleep's favour. Eventually, after hours of scouring the lands forbidden during daylight, they'll pass out and eager chirping will fill the air once again.

Now, what are you doing tomorrow?.. I can hazard a guess.

A worthwhile addition to the WoW universe

[Rob_Taylor · 5/10 · 20 June 2007]

I resisted purchasing this expansion for awhile due to the inevitable bugs I thought would be present in it. Any new addon will have them. I'm glad I did hold off, though in retrospect, all I did was save money for a few months.

Burning Crusade (BC) is a welcome addition to World of Warcraft that adds an entire new continent (Outland) to the WoW universe. The new continent is as interesting as the old ones and perhaps a little more imaginative. The mushroom forest swamp of Zangarmarsh and The Blade's Edge Mountains are particularly well done.

That said, anyone familiar with WoW will feel immediately at home here, providing their characters are of sufficient level to survive the rigours of Outland. However, the quests are really more of the same that you should be used to by now from WoW. Gathering, killing, deliveries etc. There are a few more imaginative quests, such as placing markers, bombing runs and so on, but mostly more of the same.

I think Blizzard made a point of stating that players would take as long to get to level 70 from level 60 as they did to get to level 60 in the first place. This is a complete nonsense. If anything, I found the quests in Outland to be substantially easier to accomplish than many of the old WoW quests. In part, I suspect this is due to the giant leap in equipment power that occurs in Outland. Be prepared to have dumped most of your old kit (barring higher Tier stuff) by the time you've finished the first zone (Hellfire Peninsula). Even the standard "green" drops and quest rewards you get here are often much better than many "blue" items from WoW.

This doesn't mean that you can go back to Azeroth after a few levels and run rings around Onyxia solo, but things will be a lot easier to accomplish. Dig out all those old quests that you gave up on and try them again.

With the new expansion has come the problem of finding enough people for certain old WoW group quests. Everyone disappears off to Outland as soon as they are able, leaving many struggling to get people together for Strat runs and the like. Join a good Guild and hope they do regular runs for members.

All in all, though a reasonably good addition to the WoW universe. However, as of writing, there are so many 70's on the server (Doomhammer) that I wonder what Blizzard will do next to keep players interested.

awesome

[a_wolfv · 8/10 · 12 January 2010]

Gold is easier to amass.

The new LFG system is one of the best additions ever to the game.

Recruit a friend bonuses and perks make for fast leveling.

Heirloom items bound to account make leveling Alts fun and very smooth.

The Game has never been this well rounded before.

I've played since original launch and have never had this much of a good time playing.

The new LFG system is painless and you are able to gain emblems with extreme ease.

Recruiting a friend makes the whole game a lot more fun. each of you gain perks and special abilities.

cant wait for the next expansion.

One of my favorite RPGs of all time!

[GingerStarWarsnerd · 10/10 · 30 June 2019]

I remember hearing about this game as a kid. I had seen commercials about a free trial. Eventually I did the free trial. Now, I'm hooked! Once I get my gaming laptop I can play again. The graphics are pretty good for a decade and a half old game. Gameplay is pretty good. You can fight other players and socialize too! You can have professions (only two at a time) like mining or collecting herbs. Be aware though, just like in D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) most classes are only available to certain races.

Perfect Sequel

[Aegelis · 10/10 · 18 July 2021]

With already solid footing, World of Warcraft put this fantastic capstone atop its remarkable successful game. The Burning crusade largely expanded the world in every direction including, questing, exploring, community, battlegrounds, dungeons and raids. Additionally were two more races with interesting backstories, as well as an overall developing story that most players could follow.

Community when this first came out was the highlight, as players were experienced from the previous but exposed to a lot of new content which drove them to be helpful as well as curious. Role play blossomed on role play servers including guilds.

Flying was a massive addition, there always seemed something new to do or people willing to join/help. Right now, Burning Crusade Classic is hot, so there's an influx of players, most of whom are just rushing through the ranks. Community is a fragmented, there's not a lot of helpfulness or role playing going on anymore even on role play servers.

Long ago I'd waited for the midnight release of the game, took off work the next day, and was not disappointed. Still today, the dungeons and equipment are amoung the best looking in the game.

A goof with the human lord of the rings joke

[Bondfan0317 · 10/10 · 20 November 2007]

In World of Warcraft you can do many things, fight, trade, put things up for auction as well as buy things at an auction house, found in Alliance cities like Stormwind, Ironforge, Darnassus, and Shattrah City and/or the Exodor, I don't know where they are in Horde, other than Oggrimar and I think The Undercity, but a funny thing to do is the emote system which is what I am talking about, you can enter in a word with a dash in front of it to see if you can do that action ie: /laugh makes your character laugh, or you can do /e then your name pops up and you can write your own action such as /e plays with a bunny rabbit. when you type in /silly your character will say a joke, one of the ones that a male human has is one where he tells a joke about "The Ruler of the Bracelet" and that they are followed by a murloc named goddum and 7 bracelet boogeymen, he says that the two gnomes that find the bracelet need to take it to the Burning Steppes and cast it into the cauldron, however, the area known as "The Cauldron" is actually in the Searing Gorge, the country I suppose, right next to it.

Too good to be true.

[Reddragon_Rdclan · 17 December 2005]

How many games have had you on the edge of your seat for countless hours? , how many games have got you so gripped that you pretty much kiss you're social life goodbye?, well World of Warcraft , is one of these games.

You make your account , log in , and begin to create your character , choosing from tons of features to make you're character look unique. After you're done making you're character you are ready to take on a massive game.

Now World of Warcraft is a MMORPG standing for Massivly Multi Player Online Role Playing Game. If you have been a fan of Role Playing games in the past , this may well be your ultimate game to play. As you begin to quest and kill the countless numbers of creatures in the game , you're start to feel like you are achieving something while spending you're time playing, witch i feel is a rare thing in most games.

One of the key things to be careful about with World of Warcraft is that it does require a fair amount of time to play , as you will be running "instance's" ( basically Duengions witch you and your party do too get experience points and items ), and killing other players characters ( PVP ).

Now i'll explain a bit about player vs player combat. As in most rpgs of this genre killing other players is a key point. In world of warcraft there are two factions , these being the Alliance ( good guys if you like ) and the mighty Horde ( bad guys ). In case you hadn't guessed Alliance and Horde are at war. War is taken place in BattleGrounds ( like instance's , but in maps such as Warsong Gutch ). Each Battle Ground has a goal your faction must complete in order to win the match. In Warsong Gutch the goal is to capture the flag and bring it to you're base. Sounds easy eh , well when there's a big Tauren standing in front of you with a massive two handed mace , things start to look a little harder. Now PVP doesn't always take place in a battle ground, there are areas that are "contested" , meaning that the factions can fight each other there as well as in a battleground. There are many many contested areas in the game.

The thing is there are TONS of things to do in the game , more than i can explain, there really is something for everyone. Weather you enjoy making items , such as weapons armour , potions of all sorts, killing monsters and hunting items , trading , exploring lands , role-playing , player vs player combat, riding mounts , mining , skinning , leveling.

In my opinion World of Warcraft is the best game ever made. And worth every penny of my money.

A breath of fresh air!

[andy_owens_01 · 9/10 · 4 January 2011]

Compared to the previous WoW expansions I believe that Cataclysm is the best yet. This is mainly because whilst changing a huge number of features in the game, such as the general landscape, level flow and race and class combo's it brings back a many things one hasn't seen since the Vanilla days (before any expansions) I.e. harder dungeons, which require crowd control, a refreshed conflict between the horde and alliance, and a more universal feel to the game. The graphics have also been greatly improved with a new water effect, and on top of that, the texture levels in the game and much better than before on items and in the landscape. The two new races added in the expansion (Goblin and Worgen) give a larger sense of diversity in an ever growing community. Both are very fun to play and have very exciting and imaginative starting zones which use the art of phasing very well. However I did enjoy the Worgen experience a little more than the Goblin. Blizzard have out done themselves again but even more so than any previous expansion. Whilst having an 'old school' feel to it which reminds players of the vanilla days, World of Warcraft Cataclysm brings a huge number of new elements to Azeroth which are most welcome and which definitely hot things up. Overall a very solid effort, which is almost perfect. I can only hope that each expansion Blizzard release for WoW will be as good as this one. *********

The best extension

[CoinLooting · 10/10 · 27 August 2022]

I started playing WotLK back when WoW was released. This is by far the best expansion for World of Warcraft.

Here are some points that I liked very much.

• The PvP is very balanced
• Each class is very strong and has few disadvantages.

• The raids are absolutely great and also fun. Even if you do them every week again.

My leveling experience was as follows: After I had created a human warrior I started in the Elvyn forest. Unlike previous expansions like The Burning Crusade or even vanilla WoW, the level speed is significantly higher. In just 3 days of 6 hours of gameplay each, I've also already entered Outland (TBC content). Then quickly through Outland and finally to the continent of Northrend. What I particularly liked about it were the varied level areas. From icy landscapes to green forests, everything is represented there. So if you feel like reliving this experience, you can start at the new WoW WotLK Classic servers. The first ones will be released on August 30, 2022.

Fairly decent but please be careful

[addisonparrish106 · 6/10 · 12 July 2012]

To be honest i was shocked when i saw this was coming out. Very excited got the collectors edition as i will with pandaria too and i downloaded it and at first i thought it was dazzling. The raids they new places and everything. But then when ds came out i really was somewhat disappointed. It was a raid that had no strategy except spine. Madness was easiest fight but on to my biggest concern which is pvp. The game has changed this season. Arena teams are more crafty and sometimes play like poons. When your a ranged this can be difficult for you because melee such as rogues will play this way. It could be the other way around too but beware you could rage significantly when losing to a class like a rogue so use caution. Overall though, this is a decent expansion but is my least favorite. Im hoping pandaria will make up for it

Magic Long Since Extinguished

[YellowTea · 6/10 · 13 August 2022]

I have been playing WOW since release, just as I entered high school. I was super excited for it and watched the trailer again and again.

Wow was incredible back then, before the first expansion pack, which, in my view, signalled the end of WOW as I knew it and as I loved it.

So, what killed it? In essence, the challenge and hence, sense of reward was done away with. With each subsequent expansion pack, the game became easier and easier and geared itself almost entirely towards the casual players who are seeking maximum reward for little time investment. The sense of community was also killed when cross-server play was enabled. Once upon a time you knew those on your server, you knew the top players, the top guilds, etc... now, everyone is a nameless face from a different server that you'll never see again (and whom barely utters a word during instances or any other group activity).

The first major blow, which came about with The Burning Crusade from memory, was the removal of the pvp system. Having spent many, many hours, grinding my dwarf paladin to rank 10, I was beyond irritated to see it stripped from me for no good reason; then hard-got epic items became worthless, became the new greens. How can something be epic if it's commonplace?

The instances became easier and easier. I remember in the day they had to be coordinated over VOIP software like Ventrillo (which was a novelty at the time). Now, you can just queue, not speak, stand there and your health barely seems to disappear even without heals.

Now, I have also thought about the fact that I have indeed aged with the game, so that may have somewhat affected my appraisal, but, I don't think so, at least not majorly. Come to think of it, the game has been a lot worse now than it's been good. I would say it was really only good for about 2 years tops, which is shocking considering that it is now 18 years old.

In short, the game has become far too easy and therefore less rewarding and enjoyable as a whole. There's almost no sense of achievement and everything feels meaningless.

What do you value? What you've had to work hard to get and what very few people have? Or what you didn't have to work hard for and what everyone has?

The game is basically now a queer mod free for all wherein Taurens can be paladins and you can fly everywhere at lightning speed, ruining the sense of mystery and exploration.

A sad, shambling corpse that was once amazing.

A Good Expansion with a few "hmmmm" moments.

[Rob_Taylor · 5/10 · 20 December 2014]

So, to begin with, I really like this expansion. Whilst it is, essentially, more of the same, there are enough added features (that I like) to make it worth the money.

At launch, there were some issues with the expansion and people getting stuck, but really, this is par for the course these days for nearly every game launch, so it wasn't much of an issue for me.

So I've been playing for over a month now, and have levelled one character all the way to 100 and done the anniversary raid. Additionally, I've run five alts through the Draenor starting area. I see that part of the game in my sleep, I've done it so much.

So what do I like about the expansion? Firstly, Blizzard have listened (sort of...) to the cries for some sort of player housing and given us garrisons. A place to build up and expand that is unique to your character. Of course, with each character having their own garrison, it quickly becomes very samey, and very time-consuming, but at least it gives you something to work towards. You attract followers through your character levelling progression that join your garrison and go on missions for you, often rewarding you with items, money or even experience for your character. Levelling up these followers is a game in itself, much like the previous pet battles system, though less hands-on than that mini-game.

Garrisons are quite good fun and you can build each one up just as you prefer, allowing you to try different combinations of buildings to see what works best for each character. If you put in a building that proves to be not as helpful as you imagined, then you can simply replace it with another.

From logging in, it takes about ten minutes or so to run your character around your garrison doing your daily chores (mining, herb gathering etc.) starting work orders in the buildings you have, gathering resources and then assigning your followers to do missions. Which doesn't sound like it is particularly tedious, but if you have several alts, each with their own garrison... you can see the time starts to mount up! It would be nice to see some sort of mobile app for this portion of the game, or at least perhaps an in-game "Steward" that will automate some of this for you, because it does become a little tedious at times.

There is also now a new pet/mount/toybox window that shows you all that you have and all that you don't have! It is a nice little account-level organisational touch that means you no longer have to have items in your inventory and they are accessible by all your toons.

In similar vein, there is now a new bank tab for reagants and crafting mats. Again, you no longer have to keep all the tools of your trade on your character. Mats can be used straight from the bank tab no matter where you are.

So, what didn't I like? Okay, so in giving us some nice things there are inevitably going to be casualties elsewhere.

Guilds have been nerfed. They no longer have levels or generate additional guild income. Also gone is the rep bonus and a few other things. Blizzard say they have rebalanced the game to take account of all this, but I'm not sure. It was kind of nice working towards levelling your guild up and getting bonuses. Now, everyone gets the same bonuses and rewards, barring the ones that required guild activities to obtain, which remain the same.

Money, in this expansion, seems ridiculously easy to get. In levelling the one character to lvl 100 from 90, I vendored all the usual trash drops and greens (I couldn't be bothered to either disenchant or sell them on the AH) and I made in excess of 10k gold. Once the garrison is up and running, you can expect your followers to net you two or three hundred per day easily from missions. The average vendor price for items gathered from quests and drops seems to be between 10-50 gold per item and even junk sells for 1-10 gold.

In short, money so far hasn't been a problem for me.

The power level has been nerfed somewhat, but mostly just in terms of the numbers. You won't see items with +700 stamina anymore, but +200 or so is still quite common. Play-wise, the change makes little difference. Mobs have been nerfed too, so you still fight them at about the same level of difficulty.

Another thing that has changed is the quest helper mechanics. Beforehand, you picked up quests without reading the text, followed the map to the area and then looked for the highlighted mobs to kill. I didn't think they could make this any easier, but somehow they have! In addition to the above, specific areas of the highlighted mape area are themselves highlighted, indicating particular goals of each quest. When you loot a mob, the quest items are highlingted. In essence, you no longer need to have any idea what the quest is about in order to complete it successfully, which is a bit of a shame really.

FINAL EDIT: So, it all kind of went sour when Blizz failed to support the expansion properly. A zone that was supposed to be in from the start only appeared in patch 6.2. Endless sodding Apexis Crystal grinds. The flying debacle. Selfie patches! PvP horribly broken. Lack of content. Cats and dogs, living together...

This expansion now looks like what it is... a filler between MoP and Legion, put out at full price, but with sub-par quantity, and quality, of content. 45% of the subscriber base gone within six months of launch.

Apparently, it is not just the players that get a "need/greed" loot roll. The developers do, too! And they chose greed.

You have to take the rough, with the smooth....

[Rob_Taylor · 5/10 · 11 May 2011]

So this is Blizzard's third expansion for WoW. After having played vanilla WoW and BC I took a little hiatus from playing. I did buy WotLK when it came out but never actually played it....until Cataclysm came around. I liked what I hear of the changes Cata was going to bring, so I fired up my old account, dusted off my 60 and 70's and got down to playing.

So...initial impressions were good. I made a Death Knight, was favourably disposed towards their starting area, then ventured out into the new Eastern Kingdoms! Graphically, the changes are interesting. Some nice new zones, lots of new content etc. The water graphics update looked a bit weird at first, having been used to the old version, but it grew on me, although it now makes the rest of the scenery look sub-standard by comparison.

As my DK went thru 60 and 70 and I played thru BC and WotLK I was reminded of the good old days. Of course, the power jump that was so marked in BC, whereby all your old equipment becomes useless within the first zone, was very evident in WotLK and extremely evident in Cata. It's not just a matter of a little bit better, either. It's vastly more powerful as you go from one to the other.

Likewise there have been a lot of gameplay changes since I last played. Personally, I think the game has never been easier to get into, but that's also (at least for me) a drawback. The questing is so easy now, that it's a waste of time to read the quest text. Just pick up all the quests, open your map and head off to the nearest one. Creatures that need killing are highlighted for you, so you really have to have zero knowledge of what your doing in order to progress. This is a little too easy, to my mind.

Likewise (and I don't know when they brought this in) old class quests, such as the Paladin's mount quest, or master profession quests, have vanished entirely. Now you just buy that Warhorse, or the next level of a profession. There's no real struggle.

Flying is now doable at lvl 60 (It used to be 70). Riding is now 20 (was 40) and learning these skills and buying the mounts is cheaper than ever before. Oddly, though, gaining gold is also easier.

There are new races and classes and even new secondary professions, but essentially, its more of the same, but made even easier.

I suspect that end game raiding is still much the same and I haven't looked into PvP much but it also seems similar.

With each new expansion, Blizzard move the goal posts and up the power level. But what they are really doing is just reissuing the same game with new toys and areas and bolting it on to what is already there. It really is just more of the same.

It would be nice if, rather than doing this, they made the game have more long term appeal. I know there are lots of subscribers, like me, who buy the new expansion, play it and then quit until the next one comes along. Wouldn't it be better to keep those players that quit? Give them something else to do in the meantime? The endless grinding of end-game bosses in order to get a 1% drop chance of some ludicrously over-the-top piece of armour or weapon can't be all there is to this game.

Having said that, WoW does remain the premier mmorpg out there. But in the six years since I wrote my original review of WoW the graphics have barely changed and the gameplay has gotten simpler and easier. It's difficult to think of Blizzard actually bothering to add anything substantially new to the game any time soon.

No doubt, though I have serious reservations and mixed feelings about its worth, I will buy the next expansion. And I'll buy it with the certainty that all I'm getting is more of the same, just with higher power levels and the same awful graphics and simplistic gameplay. But, as before, I expect I will play it thru then unsub again.

And all the while I'll have that feeling that I've wasted money and time I could have better spent elsewhere.

EDIT (To add thoughts on the next expansion): It has Pandas! And Pokemons! And Monks! Oh my! Also, as I suspected, more of the same and even simpler gameplay. Will I get it? I'll wait and see what else they reveal before making a decision. Gut instinct is no, it's not for me. But we'll see.