World of Warcraft

By Oli Welsh Published 18 March, 2008

We're going to need a bigger Internet.

Unlike most other games, MMOs change over time. Audiences grow or shrink, features are changed, interfaces are overhauled, game balance is adjusted, new content and play styles are added, communities thrive or die. A review of an MMO can't be set in stone. So, on Eurogamer's new MMO channel, we'll be regularly re-reviewing the games to let you know the current state of play, and to help you decide whether it's time to jump in - or time to leave. Here's the first of these, about the biggest game: World of Warcraft.

Talk about the elephant in the room. It's impossible to discuss MMOs at the moment without talking about World of Warcraft. It dominates almost every conversation, and lurks, a leviathan-sized subtext, under the surface of all the others. Its unstoppable and truly global success - that imposing, 10-million-subscription bulk - acts as both carrot and stick. WOW lures rivals into MMOs with the promise of riches beyond their wildest dreams, before the seemingly insurmountable challenge of taking it on drives them away with their tails between their legs.

In the circumstances, it's easy to be cynical, or even resentful. It's easy to characterise Blizzard as calculating and exploitative pushers and slave-masters. It's easy to gripe about the game's grind, its cheerfully cheesy fantasy schlock, its lack of high-concept innovations, its broad and sometimes basic populism.

None of that holds water. World of Warcraft is the biggest because it's the best - by far, on both counts. And although sceptics, lapsed addicts and rival developers won't want to hear it, it just keeps getting better.

WOW might have made Blizzard stupendously rich and powerful, but it hasn't made it complacent. Its maintenance of the game goes far beyond tinkering under the hood and bolting on new features. Its drive to improve every aspect of the game experience is tireless.

'World of Warcraft' Screenshot 1

Now you wish you'd picked Conjure Whiskas in the talent tree.

In November last year, Blizzard rolled out an update called The Gods of Zul'Aman, known to some as Patch 2.3. The title refers to the addition of a new dungeon in which ten max-level players can take on the barbaric jungle trolls and their animal gods. But behind this tasty morsel of fresh adventure lay a sweeping revision to the game, the second such revision inside a year, just ten months after the release of first expansion The Burning Crusade.

Crucially, The Gods of Zul'Aman increased the speed at which characters level up between levels 20 and 60. Sound like a simple adjustment of some sliding scales? Well, it is, but its effect on the game is profound. Much of WOW's success is down to the heady rush of its first 20 levels, when power and skills and possibilities are channelled to the player in a constant, intoxicating stream. Round about the mid-20s, that stream used to dry up.

The game became an epic, heroic slog, with thousands of in-game miles to travel between disparate, sparsely populated questing grounds and disjointed storylines. Real confusion and lack of direction set in around the mid-30s, and the game didn't regain its focus until level 50 approached, and the original finishing line appeared on the horizon. It still worked - and provided you with plenty of amazing sights and adventures along the way - but you needed stamina and determination to make it through, and not everyone did.

That's all changed. For new players - and the high percentage of max-level players who like to start new characters to try out the game's enthralling selection of classes - that initial rush now never stops. If you make use of Blizzard's masterstroke innovation and keep your character "rested" - allowing you to level at twice the speed if you play less, provided you log out in an inn or capital city - you can make a new level every time you turn the game on and play for a couple of hours, right the way up to level 40.

Not only is the reward faster and sense of accomplishment greater, you can also afford to be more selective in your questing, skirting some of the hoarier grinds and longer-distance schleps. The levelling speed has caught up with the number of quests in any particular area, meaning you can be less distracted, allowing yourself to get sucked deeper into the atmospheres and storylines of areas you specifically enjoy.

One of these will now probably be Dustwallow Marsh. A cloying, treacherous swamp for level 35-40 players, notable for its stand-offs between the game's factions - clean-cut Alliance and hardscrabble Horde - it's been substantially revamped in Gods of Zul'Aman. A new neutral town has been added, along with a lengthy quest line involving two new enemy encampments, and some bizarre, Burning Crusade-style steampunk/sci-fi shenanigans at a zeppelin crash-site.

The aim was to plug one of the more barren questing gaps in the progression through the game, and revive an overlooked area. As much as the Marsh needed it, it still seems like an odd choice: the new quests arrive a little later in the levelling curve than you'd like, and it's a tough area, thickly populated with wandering monsters and crossed by unsafe roads. It pays off, though, providing a satisfying crescendo as you approach 40. In keeping with the Burning Crusade philosophy, group quests have been made solo-able, the rewards - whether cash or equipment - are significantly tastier, and the storytelling is far stronger, with more dynamic, memorable quest design. There's more incident, more humour, the world and its NPC inhabitants seem more interlinked and alive.

'World of Warcraft' Screenshot 2

Audio track: Sid Vicious sings the Bear Necessities.

As was the case with the addition of Outland and the new starting areas for Blood Elf and Draenei in The Burning Crusade, it's so much better that the contrast with the original game is almost a problem. Older areas can feel mean-spirited, while newer ones seem like an embarrassment of riches where simply sneezing at a couple of weak monsters earns you a pile of gold and an awesomely ridiculous pair of barbed shoulderpads. In truth, the game's now pitch-perfect pace and more solid sense of context vastly improves even the slightest of the original zones. Meanwhile, complaining that new zones are too easy, rewarding and fun can only be the crazed bitterness of a veteran of WOW's lean times.

Gods of Zul'Aman also contained a second revolution, as profound as it was quiet. A handful of apparently simple changes to the game's interface have drastically overhauled its usability. Quest-givers are clearly marked on the mini-map, there's a drop down menu allowing speedy searches for certain vendors, trainers and important resources, while quest and gathering items in the world now have a subtle glow. These and a number of other blissfully welcome tweaks have eradicated countless hours of frustration and wasted time, and made it far less overwhelming for new players.

It's still a long, long road, of course, but progress along it is effortless now. That's also thanks in part to the game's community. WOW's enormous popularity and accessibility to younger players was certainly a mixed blessing in its early days, with chances high that you would end up grouping with catastrophically clueless, rude and illiterate adventurers. Although the servers are certainly still thriving, the game's audience has matured along with it. Its player base is now much more knowledgeable and social, and grouping with randoms to run a dungeon is more often than not a pleasant exercise in slotting into each other's groove.

If there's a downside to this, it's that WOW's social side can these days seem a little businesslike, a touch mechanical. Almost everyone is polite and capable, almost everyone knows the game inside out, and almost everyone seems engaged in a ruthlessly efficient race to the finish line. The riotous, chaotic amazement of the game's first year, when the world discovered WOW and ran amok, has abated. And, just as it ever was, this slight chill is at its sharpest when you reach maximum level.

Blizzard has bent over backwards to offer more options to level 70s than were available to 60s in the original game: fresh dungeon challenges for teams of 5, 10 and 25 players, the "heroic" difficulty setting, the Arena system for player-versus-player combat, and most notably the new, repeatable daily quests, which mean that even diehard solo players always have something to do.

The balance of power among the highest echelons of players seems to have swung from large raiding guilds to small arena teams. This bodes well for WOW's forthcoming move into eSports, but you can argue all night as to whether it actually makes the endgame more or less accessible (the organisational demands are lower, but the subculture is arguably even more intimidating).

But despite this tremendous effort on Blizzard's part, the silent majority of players will still find that WOW's dynamism inevitably ebbs away when that sweet, sweet levelling stops. It's an inescapable product of the game's greatest strength: World of Warcraft is all about the journey.

'World of Warcraft' Screenshot 3

Like Easter Island, but it takes longer to get there.

It's about exploring what must surely be the greatest gameworld ever created, an impossibly rich, vibrant, varied universe stuffed with beauty, soul, high drama and low humour. It's about drinking in the spectacle and the detail - although technically undemanding, WOW is still one of the best-looking games on PC and far more visually exciting than most other MMOs (thanks to the Blizzard's world-beating art staff, who could imbue four polygons with more personality than the entirety of some lesser online worlds).

It's about discovering the myriad idiosyncrasies of your chosen class or classes: the gradual dawning that even the most basic archetypes, from healer to warrior, have been embellished with countless opportunities for hybridisation, flexibility and subtle interplay with other classes. And it's about doing all this unimpeded by the game's interface and presentation, which are as slick and accessible as you could wish.

WOW doesn't just dominate the MMO landscape because it's the proverbial goose's golden egg. WOW dominates because, in pure quality terms, it's in a class of its own. Blizzard is constantly working to keep it that way, to improve not just on its weaknesses (the grind, the endgame) but its strengths (the interface, the world-building). It's made huge leaps forward on all those fronts in the last few months alone, and as a result, WOW is an even more inviting prospect for new or returning players than it ever was. It is, in short, a masterpiece.

10 / 10

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (79) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • syphaa #1 4 years ago

    Never got into WOW. More of a FPS online person. But have several friends who are hooked. It will be a game that holds prominence in MMO land for years I think.

  • vane101 #2 4 years ago

    Agree totally. No game has had such an effect on the MMO scene since the early days of Ultima Online and Everquest. WoW is the definitive MMO of our time whether some people like it or not!

  • Dizzy #3 4 years ago

    It was a good update for the lower level players. The next 2.4 patch will probably do the same for the high level players that are stuck in Kara of before giving them reasonably easy access to T5 gear via badges.

    That being said... I really enjoy raiding in ZA ;)

  • rob230 #4 4 years ago

    I think the only WoW i've ever seen is in the Leeroy Jenkins video and the South Park episode... I intend on keeping it that way ;)

  • George-Roper #5 4 years ago

    Unless you're willing to invest a lot of personal time into it, the game rapidly becomes a chore. Did my 1.5 year stint and said adios. Still keep going back, every once in a while, but the inevitable virtual-brick wall soon pops back up.

    I think the article hit the nail on the head about hitting the level cap. To lose that progression really affects the game. Blizz has to give capped, non-raid, non-arena, players a way to continue improving themselves beyond mindless daily quest grinds for rep. This is where, IMO, EQ got it right with AA points. It meant that XP still had meaning at capped level and gave players a method of casual play that still contributed to improving their character.

  • Physically_Insane #6 4 years ago

    wtf?

  • ruttyboy #7 4 years ago

    I recently tried to start playing this again (played briefly upon release when it was like crack to me). Gave up after a week as I found everyone at my level to be either non-existant or pretty unfriendly. Playing on your own is just dull :(

  • ecureuil #8 4 years ago

    What the hell..? Didn't expect this review at all.

  • Killerbee #9 4 years ago

    Nice re-review!

    I know I'd absolutely love this, but just don't have the time to play it and do it justice, therefore - with regret - I'm staying well clear.

    Now Starcraft II on the other hand... I'm there!

  • pollster #10 4 years ago

    Gave up WOW a while back. Trying to get back into it feels like taking up smoking again.

  • dryden555 #11 4 years ago

    No mention here of the very little kids (under 10 years!) that are often rampant on the servers. They act like kids (not their fault) but it ruins the experience for anyone over 16 while they call each other names and ask for free gold. I was happy to leave WOW after being in a big well-run guild. The guild started recruiting the little kids and that was it for me.

  • butler` #12 4 years ago

    Whilst I agree that the joy of WoW is primarily in the journey (rather than in the monotony of end game), I think you've neglected quite a lot of the low points to come out of WoW post-TBC.

    The devaluation of epics, everyone has them, gone are the days where characters with epics were looked up to.
    It hasn't seen any real end game content in 9 months since BT was cleared
    It has tagged on, un-RPGish PvP (arena) with false pretenses to eSports and competitive gaming.
    Flying mounts (along with the above) killed world PvP.

    I could go on and on but why bother, that's your job.

  • Benno #13 4 years ago

    http://ww w.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_po...

  • Byzanite #14 4 years ago

    He's a fan then lol

  • Slabbathepave #15 4 years ago

    I think Oli Welsh and wow should climb a tree together and begin kissing, then the rest of us could sing a little ditty about it.

  • berelain #16 4 years ago

    I would actually have liked to seen more comparisons with other games here. Having spent 2 years on WoW and left just over a couple of months ago (after a bit of a break) I have become rather disinfranchised with the WoW experience, and no matter have much quicker it might be to level now it can't escape the fact that the reputation grinding- be that for faction rep points or pvp honour- is just a tedious chore at any level. Kill X million critters to do this? Egh, not again, thanks. And when the best content in the game lies through these methods, its pretty time consuming and boredom inducing.

    Same goes for the high-end raid quests, where essentially all you do is repeat the same dungeons on the off chance that some boss *might* drop the shiny new shoulderpads you want.

    I have to confess, I left WoW for LOTRO, and never looked back.

  • Monkey_Puncher #17 4 years ago

    I had fun on it for about a month around Xmas time, but found once you get to the higher levels you need to start teaming up with other players a lot to go through instances and that's when the game lost me. Not because of the instances, but because of the attitude of a lot of the players. People who sit on the thing 24/7 and refuse to team up with new players and throw hissy fits when you use the wrong spells or mess up.

    If I wanted to get screamed at by 12 year olds because I cast the wrong healing spell or didn't have the right thing eqipped I'd go play Halo 3. It's no doubt a beautifully designed game, but unless you have a bunch of good friends that play the game, you'll find it's really hard to enter the game so late. The community seems to be very hostile to 'n00bs' one you hit level 45+

  • rodpad #18 4 years ago

    Yeah, for those wishing to try out World Of Warcraft for the first time (or those wishing to join fellow Eurogamers) please have a read <a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread _posts.php?thread_id=108943&group_id=0>here</a>

  • RamblinSydRumpo #19 4 years ago

    I left for LOTRO. Found that incredibly dull,went back, then left again for Tabula Rasa, which made LOTRO look exciting. I'm now firmly back on WoW and looking forward to the next expansion. Nobody has even come close yet. (Although I will be having a crack at Conan).

    And I haven't come across any problems with the community on my server. Always someone willing to lend a hand.
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/08 @ 15:58

  • J.C #20 4 years ago

    Technically it looks shit. looks a bit like a PS2 game, or maybe fable for the xbox. when
    will they release a new version i wonder? updated graphics etc.

  • Maledictus010 #21 4 years ago

    I'm still not convinced, even after this raving endorsement (again). Like every other MMO it has one big flaw: you're playing with other people. Most would consider this the greatest strength of this type of game, but i don't. Being clubbed to death by someone called "steaming_pile_of_dung" or "XgBgT56GG78JJ" doesn't really put me in the spirit of things... and now there's kids playing too? hmm... maybe if the price comes down...

  • Darren #22 4 years ago

    For the six months I played World of Warcraft some two years ago (jesus, was it really that long ago?), this was the best PC game ever in terms of atmosphere and immersiveness. I simply could not stop playing it, I was well and truly hooked in this slick and polished game world. Then I did stop playing it for some Xbox 360 game or other and when I returned to the game some months later I found most of the buzz and excitement had gone although I did play it for a few weeks. Shame really but I think it's safe for me to say that this is the finest, more compulsive PC game I've ever played such that nothing else has managed to live up to it on that platform, not even (the hitchy) Lord of the Rings Online. Oblivion came pretty damn close but it's a different kind of game experience.

  • Krelle #23 4 years ago

    a fine example of tldr
    please write a summary

  • Dizzy #24 4 years ago

    "The devaluation of epics, everyone has them, gone are the days where characters with epics were looked up to. "

    Oh please.. you one of those?

    Play a Korean MMO game if you want to feel special and show off your work-epix.

    "Technically it looks shit. looks a bit like a PS2 game, or maybe fable for the xbox. when
    will they release a new version i wonder? updated graphics etc. "

    * Blizzard wants this to run on medium machines (hence 8 million players)
    * The game has shitloads of assets that need to be displayed (all that armor and those weapons cost a lot of memory for a client machine). Hence the rather simple, yet nicely done, textures and reduced geometry.

    BTW a PS2 game would have the same resolution as my guild logo ingame.
    Edited by 2 at 18/03/08 @ 16:20

  • neuroniky #25 4 years ago

    The review left me surprised. Finally somebody that sees the game as I've saw. Everybody up there is raving about the endgame, but I found the journey to lvl 70 much more enjoyable than the endgame. I loved every minute in the outlands, but since my usual game session is less than one hour long, this means that the endgame for me is accessible only once in every two weeks, more or less, given the time needed to do an instance (a difficult one, too, given that I've just dinged).

    I've recently reverted to LOTRO, and while its not as polished as WoW, it is still a great game that has got a great, great journey. And, yes, I'm loving this more than instancing again and again in WoW...

    Maybe I'm just too much a solo player, maybe I've just dinged 70 too late to enjoy instancing with my guildmates... maybe I just need more time to enjoy it properly, but recently I've found many other activities to substitute my WoW addiction that are, in the end, more rewarding than playing 2 hours for the possibility of getting one good item. That will be thrown away when the next expansion comes...

  • Riggers #26 4 years ago

    "Almost everyone is polite and capable, almost everyone knows the game inside out, and almost everyone seems engaged in a ruthlessly efficient race to the finish line."

    Good lord, which server is that?!

  • paulf #27 4 years ago

    @ j.c. graphics arent the reason to play WOW - personally I dont think it's aged that badly - plus the relatively low system specs needed to play have contibuted to its success by allowing more people to get the game without having to upgrade

  • Zelos #28 4 years ago

    @Riggers

    Exactly what I was thinking - can I come play on that server? Mine's full of spam, idiots begging for gold and ninja-looters. Somebody asked me to give them "enough gold for a mount" yesterday in Stormwind.

    That said, with a decent group running an instance is excellent fun and there are a lot of good, polite players as well.

  • anomagnus #29 4 years ago

    Is this guy on the Blizzard payroll?

    I'm an on off player of WoW, i have a few level 70's, and i enjoy the game in doses, but if you spend even a casual amount of time iwth it over a few years (i'm not a hardcore raider, seen Kara a few times, and thats about it), you will find the game is HORRIBLY empty, and soulless. This game could NOT be more by the numbers, business like and efficent.

    Theres no humour, no personality. Its like being with your perfect partner, but finding out that after a while, theres NOTHING to talk about.

    The game is very good at hooking you in for short periods of time, but it simply does nothing to sustain your interest.

    I guess there comes a point when being TOO slick is a negative

  • Mantra #30 4 years ago

    Never played this mmo.....didnt like the graphics, and heard its kids all over it

  • darc #31 4 years ago

    "Crucially, The Gods of Zul'Aman increased the speed at which characters level up between levels 20 and 60."

    Alright, so I'm one of those guys who got bored and fell off at around L35. What does this mean for me? I'm confused by the whole expansion thing. To benefit from this improvement I would have to buy and install an additional product, and then play in certain areas that would otherwise be inaccessible?

  • Zelos #32 4 years ago

    @darc

    No, when you log on you'll just spend a few hours downloading a couple of gigabytes of free patches that will add all the new content. You only need the expansion to play as one of the new races or to level past 60.

    I just hit 40 (Paladin), the leveling is definitely much faster than before the patch: I got bored at level 20 back then.

  • darc #33 4 years ago

    Thanks Zelos. So this increased leveling speed is in effect all over the world (of warcraft lol), for all quests, all beasties, etc?

    I wonder if getting to tinker with my character on level-ups more often would help. Like a few other posters here, I began to find this - and pretty much all MMO's - unbearably repetetive and predictable. But I like leveling as much as anybody. :)

  • gruntboy #34 4 years ago

    @ darc

    No, I don't think so. There were improvements to pre-TBC zones that came with the "Gods of Zul'Aman" patch. Original WOW got "patched" when TBC came out, so any later TBC patches which contain updates for lower level content found in the original game should be open to you without the need to buy TBC. You wouldn't be able to access the new starter areas (Blood Elf and Draenei), level past 60, or reach Outland.

    Pretty sure that's accurate.

  • Zelos #35 4 years ago

    @darc

    Yes, there seem to be a lot more quests around than I remember before, you can generally work on 2 or 3 at once in an area.

    The increased speed of getting new abilities definitely makes it more interesting, but getting into a guild or having a group of friends to play with is still a really good idea

  • dryden555 #36 4 years ago

    This re-review misses the key issue that one's WOW experience extremely and utterly depends on the reasonable-ness and amiability of other human players. For me, there were too many evening when other players (both in and out of the guild) were ruining the fun. That got old.

  • craziii #37 4 years ago

    if you play wow and not in a guild, don't play. I am sure every server got it's share of casual guilds, the ones that are not hell bent on being the best pvp or pve.

  • prolific8 #38 4 years ago

    I stopped playing around December 2006, is it likely my character is recoverable should I choose to take another look? Like a few others on here I got to around level 50 and was just getting bored; my guildmates all had much more time to play than me and were already hitting the raid dungeons, so opportunities for non-PUG questing (which was dismal on the server I was on) were few and far between.

    It's a fantastic experience, and I fell in love with it from the moment I logged into the beta. It got too much like the Matrix for me though, eventually all I could see were numbers and stats instead of the story and characters.

  • Nallen #39 4 years ago

    Yeah, yeah. 10/10. A bland, repetitive grind through 70 levels of tedium through out which for all intents and purposes it is practically impossible to lose anything other than a very small amount of time away from the 'fight'. If the first 20 levels are truly indicative of the best of WOW I'm glad that's all I ever bothered with.

    It's the gaming equivalent of The Sun newspaper and the amazing art and epic fantasy world you keep banging on about (as far as I could see ripped pretty much wholesale from Games Workshop, a lot like say...StarCraft) are no more than the page three titties, up front and ready to draw you in for another epic bout of time wasting, lowest common denominator, challenge free pap.

  • Kluff #40 4 years ago

    It is, in short, a masterpiece

    And I don't care about it!
    To each his own, I guess.
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/08 @ 17:55

  • MightyMouse #41 4 years ago

    I think the problem with any review of an MMO is that the experience is entirely different depending on which point you're at. The levelling journey is certainly fun, and if you're someone who raids and hasn't cleared BT yet, then it's fun. If you have cleared BT or you prefer pvp, then I think 10/10 is very generous. This point is not the same as saying that once you've completed Uncharted then doing it again may be less fun, since the gameplay of an MMO supposedly keeps going.

    If you have to give WoW a score then the only one you can really give is 10/10, but you have to accept the falsehood inherent in the score.

  • Gaol #42 4 years ago

    "The Warlock suffers from the same problem - the Voidwalker is the only viable solo-quest demon in the entire game and after 60 levels, you are sick to fucking death of it. "

    Been a while since I played but /facepalm

  • Zelos #43 4 years ago

    through out which for all intents and purposes it is practically impossible to lose anything other than a very small amount of time away from the 'fight'.

    That's true for pretty much any game, what's your point?

    A good 5 man instance run in WoW is as hectic and demanding as any FPS.

  • Jigglybean #44 4 years ago

    The game is utter rubbish. Come on please! Linear 'Quests', the fact that if you buy the expansion, you cant actually use it until you reach level 58. Combat is flawed. Its just a polished turd of a game. People play it because it is easy to get to grips with and will play on any PC - not because its THAT good to score a 10. 7/10 maybe

  • OnlyMe #45 4 years ago

    It deserves a 10 for being addictive. Other than that... not even close to that score. LOTRO has taken most of the good things in WoW and improved upon them. And they've left out most of the annoying stuff. LOTRO isn't perfect, but it's a damn lot better than WoW. It's a slow starter, but once you get going, it's really good. Playing a Guardian (tank) is incredibly boring, though. But Hunter is an incredibly cool class to play.

  • tobsen #46 4 years ago

    I am so happy that I didn't get hooked on WOW when I tried it out a few months back. The last thing I need in my life is a crack-cocaine addiction to a computer game, even if it's a "perfect ten".

  • Tormeh #47 4 years ago

    It's an endless grind! I never even reached level 30...

    That it's the best MMO out there says everything I need to know about the rest of them.
    In short, MMO's is just as boring as sportsmanagement-simulators. At least MMO's have potential.

  • Sniffer #48 4 years ago

    Great review and a deserved score for one of the greatest video games ever created.

    It's easy to get pissy and whinge about this being a ten, every score and every opinion is wholly subjective, but either way, can anybody think of a more ambitious project in gaming to have captivated so many loyal followers?

    Best part of 10m people aren't playing it because they like paying £9 a month, they're playing it because it offers an experience that isn't replicated anywhere else.

    Fair play to Blizzard, the boys done good with this one...

  • Aretak #49 4 years ago

    "Absurd review, for an increasingly absurd website. We're at IGN levels of crap now... I used to think this website was reliable. >_>"

    Fuck off then.

  • VMerken #50 4 years ago

    Nah, not my thing, I prefer the strategy game. Yes, my liege, even the elder races get tired of waiting, and all that.
    So yes, Starcraft II, let it come please...

  • Stickman #51 4 years ago

    Crofto, nearly every single games media outlet in the western world thinks that WOW is a 10/10 or near as damn it. Apart from you apparently.

    However I believe you. You're absurd Eurogamer. ABSURD!

  • TexMurphy01 #52 4 years ago

    You must kill 10 Eurogamer reviewers and then return to me. 10XP!

    Seriously? 10?
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/08 @ 22:24

  • bdc #53 4 years ago

    WoW will fuck you up the ass and run away with your soul.

    Long live WoW!

  • crestedzulu #54 4 years ago

    Im really happy to see a review of WoW that for once has been made by an actual player,rather than it being done as a "job".

    Its been just over 3 years since i began playing and i can only echo the comments made by the OP.

    WoW has single handedly revised the way millions of players spend their free time,these players arent idiots,they pay top whack for the best experience currently available.

    Rather than getting embroiled in pointless subjective arguements id just like to say thank you for representing the community.

    2.4 indeed brought an influx of much needed changes and regardless of the ongoing PvE v PvP debate,Blizzard indeed deserve recognition for satisfying the needs of players,rather than lining their own pockets by having players level so slow in old content.

    Im all for constructive criticism as well as unbiased reporting,i shall look forward to future re-visits from Eurogamer.

  • MightyMouse #55 4 years ago

    @crestedzulu

    Representing the community? Surely that would be moaning about something being OP and posting random rickrolls? (yes, there is irony inherent here)

    Talking of which, whatever happened to decent internet fads? Been a while now since rickrolling and chuck norris, 4chan are being boring. Honestly the internet's nearly dead.

  • crestedzulu #56 4 years ago

    Haha Mighty,i see your aware of the WoW forums (and) trolls too.

    Like i said though,id rather sidestep the subjective stuff and focus on what i feel was a nicely written piece by someone who clearly understands the game.

    As outlandish (pun intended) as it may seem,there actually is a player base out there whom appreciate what Blizzard does,plays the game as it was intended and loves the stuff they put out.

    The very English ethic of build `em up and then knock `em down style of reporting is something that WoW has suffered more than most,so i can only applaud the review as it echoes the majority of players viewpoints.

    Preaching to the converted?Maybe...but all the same,i found it refreshing.
    Edited by 1 at 19/03/08 @ 01:38

  • Bloodloss #57 4 years ago

    To all the people saying 'OMG it has loads of children in it!' - You will find idiots and little kids in everything, especially very popular, accessible things like World of Warcraft. It is, however, not difficult to go 'ah well,' add the idiots to your ignore list, then find a more mature guild that only recruits people who are 18 or over, or something.

    To all the people saying 'It has loads of grinding in it! How can you give it a 10?!' - As you will see, he compares it to other MMOs and says it's the best of its kind, which it is. Grinding is essentially what an MMO is, practically all MMOs have loads of grinding. WoW actually has a lot less grinding than most MMOs to reach the max level etc. If this style of play isn't appealing to you, then you should leave the MMO section really, as MMOs in general aren't for you.

    Personally, I quit a long time ago as I didn't feel like putting the time required in, was having issues finding a good guild at the time, and was utterly, utterly fed up of being forced onto the EU servers and having to put up with 'SWE?!' every 2 seconds, and practically all guilds and parties etc on my server (and other ones I played on) only allowing people of X nationality in. So it was a choice of continuing to play like that, or buying a US copy of the game and the expansion, having to put up with all the lag and time difference (making raids almost impossible). I chose neither. I still plan to go back to it, some day.

  • orakio #58 4 years ago

    The score is completely deserved, and would have been deserved if it scored 10 a year ago as well.

    Am I a fanboy? Am I pro-WoW in all circumstances? No, I'm not. I quit playing WoW somewhere during 2006, I think it was august or september, and I utterly hate and despise it now. I've had enough, and that's all there is to it.

    Other people make valid points about somewhat everything the game has to offer, both positive and negative.
    The truth is: If one game can inspire so many people to play it for years in a row AND incite them to pay for it every month... Then it's definitly worth the 10.

  • Henrik_se #59 4 years ago

    Another thing is that if you compare WoW to other single-player RPGs out there, it blows all of them away, apart from the fact that you can't "beat" the game or be the world-changing protagonist. But in all other aspects, WoW is just better at all the core mechanics of a RPG: Race and class balance, skill progression, environment, questing, quest hubs, quest rewards, exploration, location vectoring, difficulty. It is all very, very well crafted. Compare it to Morrowind and Gothic 3 where I often found myself asking "Where the fuck should I go now?" something that never happens in WoW while you're levelling up.

    I played since EU beta for a bit more than two years, and when I look back, I had a lot of fun. It eventually got boring and repetitive for me, so I simply quit. But I can't think of any game that has given me more enjoyment than WoW. It really deserves 10/10.

  • berelain #60 4 years ago

    Xiphos

    Could you do an honest, balls to bone, quick recap on why LOTR is different? Why you play it in the mmorpg realm?
    Haven't tried it. And I love Tolkien.

    Erk. Where to start? Ok, real quick, bullet-point recap.

    * Overarching storyline that permeates the whole game. Gives a sense of plot progression as elements are introduced in the introduction which don't get resolved until much later on in the game, and that doesn't interfere with the storyline of LOTR.
    * Instanced areas (not just dungeons) for solo and group players, which offer unique challenges but are much shorter than their WoW counterparts
    * Diverse classes that fit the world nicely and offer a somewhat unique blend of skills- warriors, for instance, are split into two categories, Guardian (for tanking) and Champion (for damage dealing and area of effect attacks).
    * Fellowship Conjunctions, similar to EQ2 Heroic Opportunities, which reward you for playing as a group and communicating with each other
    * Player housing system which gives a sense of community and pride, showing off your house (including its garden and decorations) to friends.
    * Familiar, easy-to-play mechanics that are every bit as easy to play and as long-lasting as WoW's combat system, but individual battles tend to be over much quicker.
    * Emphasis on exploration of the huge world- with Traits to reward you for exploring
    * Trait and Title system which offers rewards for doing otherwise monotonous tasks like killing creatures
    * Plenty of non-combat quests, like the Shire post deliveries and pie deliveries
    * Beautiful visuals that convey a sense that the world is actually alive and things are going on around you
    * Great community that are actually very helpful, at least in my experience
    * GM's who (for the most part) respond to problems promptly and fairly well. In one instance a boss bugged out on us, and we could not kill him. A GM came within 10 minutes after posting a ticket, reset the boss, and defeated it, giving us all quest credit as normal.
    * high-end items aren't drops from enemies, they are rewards from quests and reputation, so you don't need to grind the same instances over and over again to get the item you want
    * Ability to play musical instruments! Sounds silly, but when you walk into Bree-Town and someone is playing the Fellowship theme from the movies on their lute, its pretty magical.
    * Great sense of community- on my server a band of player characters were holding a concert in the Prancing Pony, playing music from various movies.

    Eck, thats all I can think of for now. And granted, you get a lot of those in whatever MMO you play. But for me, LOTRO just has that special 'spark'.

  • neuroniky #61 4 years ago

    "I'm an on off player of WoW, i have a few level 70's [...]
    The game is very good at hooking you in for short periods of time, but it simply does nothing to sustain your interest."

    This kind of comment drives me crazy.

    My first and only 70 took me 15 days of /played. That's 360 hours spent on this single game. Let's assume you went faster cause you played the game in a more efficient way than me (and you didn't have a paladin :D), and your first 70 took you, like, 12 days? Then we add a few more lvl 70 to the equation. Let's say two more. 10 days of played each in average. That's a grand total of 32 days of played just to reach lvl 70. That's, emh, 768 hours spent on this single game. And then you say you're not a raid player but you've been to Kara, which means on top of that you've spent some good time instancing on top lvl dungeons and heroics.

    Now, explain me, how can WoW "do nothing to sustain your interest" when you managed to spend around 1000 hours of your time on it, while the average game often struggles to keep a gamers attention for 10-15 hours?

    I'm always in a love-hate relationship with WoW, but I've spent 400+ hours on it, which is more than I spent with any other game in my gaming life (a total rivaled only by the hours spent playing NBA 2K series during the years) and this can mean only one thing: it is THAT good.

  • Wellytopp #62 4 years ago

    The biggest element I've found about WoW is meeting people from all walks of life who, by tradition, were never a 'hardcore' gamesplayer prior to WoW, you can sum up WoW in a nutshell and that’s people, people can make or break the experience, this in turn could also reflect any MMO's out there but its such a versatile product one doesn’t need to invest their time if it isn’t ya cuppa tea.

    Another point I'd like to make, for those of you not privy to playing any MMO's prior to WoW, Blizzard looked at the core elements that constructed this genre of a product and effectively produced something that took away ALOT of the pain in the market place and presented something allot more mainstream, if you like. Blizzard have always plagiarized and bastardized many sources to craft something within their own franchise but with human nature nobody likes someone to become too successful.

    At the end of the day it’s only a game.

  • neuroniky #63 4 years ago

    @Xiphos: LOTRO is so much similar to WoW, and at the same time is different. It's easier to play, less "technical" (forget about the talent tree / itemization / enchantment perfectionism of WoW) and more about the atmosphere and the story. It is still a grinder, but somehow it manages to convey more sense to what you're dong. You end up caring more for the quest descriptions, and the overarching game story is something central to the game. In WoW you have some overarching stories, but these are so diluited in the game (usually each story progress at the next instance), that you end up not caring that much. The mini instances are nice, but in many cases they could have been left to the open world without damage... they are just there to avoid that you could skip monsters in one area because somebody else passed there before you, and they are here so that you have to follow some part of the stories. They remind me of the kind of approach that D&D online had, which is kinda good. Combat tend to be better than in WoW, but I still have to get into an endgame boss fight so I can't really compare the level of skill needed for high level encounters (where WoW stops being foolproof and starts being challenging).
    The real problem with LOTRO for me is that it loses some of the aspects that made WoW great: the tons of different items, the high level of customization you can have on your character, the great differentiation between zones (the world of warcraft is a two (three) isle patchwork of all kind of terrain you can think of, while the world of LOTR is a much more coherent, but repetitive, vision of a "real" fantasy world).
    It is good though, and I'm now getting more and more into it after getting tired of WoW. See you there if you decide to start adventuring in Middle Earth.

  • LetsGo #64 4 years ago

    WOW is one of the most boring, repetitive, dull games I have ever played.
    Yet it’s one of the most visually appeasing, exciting, and additive games I have ever played.
    Yes that statement sounds strange welcome to WOW.
    A deserved 10.

  • erp #65 4 years ago

    10lol

  • neuroniky #66 4 years ago

    "WOW is one of the most boring, repetitive, dull games I have ever played.
    Yet it’s one of the most visually appeasing, exciting, and additive games I have ever played.
    A deserved 10."

    Sums it up PERFECTLY.

  • RichGL #67 4 years ago

    After a long break playing wow I'm back playing it again and as far as the population in concerned it seems exactly the same as before.

    There always have been kids calling each other names and begging for money. Since day one, as I remember thinking begging was actually part of the game when I first played it (on day one of release, not beta).

    There always have been unhelpful and unfriendly people, as much as there has been helpful, friendly people.

    The levelling speed change does make the game more fun in my opinion, it's certainly refreshing not to have to tackle every quest.

    It's definitely a 10, read the scoring policy if you need explanation as to why. It's pretty clear.

  • node #68 4 years ago

    I have to point out the problem with this review - it only covers half the game as it now stands. Getting to 70 is only the start. Sure, raiding takes a huge amount of time and effort, but those who enjoy it feel the rewards and sense of achievement and guild collaboration match the time and effort. The journey to Black Temple tells a fantastic story which is half the point of WoW.

    To instead skim over that huge element by claiming the best bit is simply the journey to 70 really doesn't constitute a fair and complete review. Will the rest of EuroGamer MMO be from that casual perspective or will we be seeing writing from more dedicated players here? I don't mean to sound like an elitist moaner, consider this a constructive opinion from part of your target audience. :)

  • iNwFireFly #69 4 years ago

    I've been playing WoW since day 1 and still love it. My main is a lvl70 night elf warrior with over 2500 hours played on that character.

    I tried LOTRO for a couple of months but just couldn't get into it, however I'm sure I'll go back to it at some point.

    Really looking forward to Warhammer and Conan.

  • aburt2001 #70 4 years ago

    "over 2500 hours played on that character"

    bloody hell... i thought my 335 hours on my main was bad!

  • Faldrath #71 4 years ago

    The title refers to the addition of a new dungeon in which ten max-level players can take on the barbaric jungle trolls and their animal gods.

    Forest trolls, not jungle trolls.

    Nitpick aside, it's a good review - if you keep in mind (and lots of people here haven't) that MMO reviews are obviously going to be much more subjective than single-player reviews. Your experience in WoW will vary greatly according to a lot of factors you don't control (especially if you're new to it) - which server you end up in, which guild you join, etc. I have been fortunate enough to roll on a good server and join a great guild, so I log in the game every night to spend some very nice hours with friends I really care about. Your mileage may vary because of these random conditions, and because you're the one that sets your goals in the game (pvp, pve, rp, socializing, etc.) - so depending on this, it may be a horrible experience or an extremely rewarding one.

  • SentientNr6 #72 4 years ago

    10 for addicts.
    8 for the rest of us.

  • dryden555 #73 4 years ago

    Well here's what WOW should have and still doesnt. The ability to customize the colors of my gear as one can in City of Heroes. The crafting systems are still strangely 90% useless. Most of the stuff is worthless in every sense and every new patch doesnt really improve crafting. A way to _quickly_ create a viable party rather than having to wait around for 20 minutes for a group to form, then have someone immediately go away from keyboard. Argh.

  • Wyrm #74 4 years ago

    WoW is a 10. No question.

    After you see the depth and interaction an MMO offers, it's hard to go back.

  • Wyrm #75 4 years ago

    I should say, the first time I played WoW, I didn't get it.

    The learning curve is STEEP. There is so, so much going on in the game now, it must be horrible for a newbie to learn everything.

    I played as a gnome for a bit, decided it was a shit and gave in.

    Then I went back with a friend and I've ended up with a lv 70 Priest.

    You get out what you put in. Once I hit the top level and was in a guild doing raids on Vent, I can honestly say, in over 20 years of playing games, i have never enjoyed myself more. I fucking loved those guys.

  • marco.antonio.costa #76 4 years ago

    "WOW is still one of the best-looking games on PC"

    That's a good one.

    And a 10? WoW got an 8 when first released, Guild Wars was a 9 and deservedly. Ok, Guild Wars has gotten worse by the dumb campaign-expansion thing, bloating the game and alienated any freaks who just bought the first game ( me ). But sorry, WoW did NOT get 10/10 better.

    Eurogamer, please, go back to the serious, and more importantly, skeptic, (mostly) hype-free reviewing that made me scoff at Gamespot.

  • Taemojitsu #77 4 years ago

    Correct: Blizzard has an excellent art team. They know how to make something distinctive, and they know how to exploit an environment so a 2D video display doesn't seem to misrepresent how large things are.

    Incorrect: the leveling changes are an objective increase in the quality of the game.

    Incorrect: Blizzard is good at 'hybrids' in WoW.


    If changed leveling XP requirements yet again so it took only 1/4 as long as it does now, so you'd get someone who'd powerlevel to 60 in 8 hours /played instead of just over a day /played, would that make it a better game? The article hints at this problem. From page 3:

    "...social side can these days seem a little businesslike, a touch mechanical. Almost everyone is polite and capable, almost everyone knows the game inside out, and almost everyone seems engaged in a ruthlessly efficient race to the finish line."

    A faster leveling curve does not make the game more enjoyable for the new player, because for many casual players the game ENDS once you reach the level cap and making it easier (both in time and in complexity, see glowy sparkles on already easy-to-find quest items) does nothing to improve the experience. The faster curve appeals mainly to those for whom the game BEGINS once you reach the level cap, and the crucial flaw is that instead of improving the game so that players did not feel they had to reach the level cap before they could start having fun, Blizzard just made it easier to endure.

    The problem was not with the leveling curve; what made leveling feel too long for some players, and what is still the problem today and in the future, is what is what happens once you get there... and unlike the leveling curve, this is not something Blizzard knows how to fix, because their efforts to offer "more to do" (aka different ways to grind items) in fact only increase the pressure on players to acquire items, leaving less and less time for players to socialize and have fun taking their time in the game.


    Hybrids are a similar example of Blizzard's efforts to 'improve' the game only making it worse. The forced specialization in endgame raiding causes so many problems I don't even want to list them all. Yes, shadow priests and maybe even other, non-mana-battery 'dps hybrids' may be viable in endgame raiding now... but when was the last time you saw a raiding druid with a half-resto, half-feral spec? Or a ret pally in an endgame raiding guild (and there are ret pallies at the highest level) who found it an efficient use of their time and mana to toss out a single heal?

    There are no real dps/healing hybrids in endgame raiding; in a top guild, even an elemental shaman with +1300 dps/healing will not find it efficient to use a single heal. There are no dps/tanking hybrids (not fluid hybrids at least, which is a necessary requirement for them to affect encounter design and break the specialization feedback loop). There are no PvE/PvP hybrids either... except maybe rogues who can exploit their defensive cooldowns enough to make PvE gear viable in PvP, but even they require a respec. The article presents hybrids as having more options than ever as the game goes on, but the truth is that the number of cookie-cutter specs and playstyles becomes narrower and narrower as time goes, and this punishment for originality will only continue to increase in the future.

  • a9bian #78 3 years ago

    …
    Edited by 8 at 08/12/08 @ 16:38

  • wowgoldpaladin #79 3 years ago

    This game is great! However, you need a lot of time to farm wow gold

    Graphics: 10/10
    Gameplay: 8/10
    Overall: 9/10

  • chronus #80 3 years ago

    I don't believe this was a player. I think it was written by blizzard.

    WOW has a lot of bugs that don't get fixed. Every time there is a patch, major things get broken.

    Periodically WOW will change its mind about the rules and things that players have worked for (over weeks or months) will just go away. Too bad for the player.

    I suggest finding a different game. One where the developers haven't lost the formula of what made the game great.