Original von SoCxRhijord
Introduction
World of Warcraft is a very simple game. Everyone can learn. The game was designed to the buffer between normal gamers and hardcore gamers. So hardcore
PvP elements may not make it into this game, therfore this game may only be enjoyable by those who enjoy MMORPGs because they are Massively multiplayer and they are RPGs, and by those who have imaginations.
I like this game. Some will be dissapointed with it though. In all honesty, people may get bored with Quests, and Guilds may not even have guild houses in the first release. Therefore I believe the community in WoW will play a huge part to the game's fun factor.
How the game looks
Every living thing in the world moves every part of their body. It's amazing. Wolves growl, shake, wag tales, lay down, move their paws, yawn, ears flap, their body wiggles. There are so many animations in the game, everything actually seems to be alive.
Combat was truely impresive. I saw an Orc Shaman cast lightning bolt on a wolf, the lightning struck and arced and sparked, then afterwards the wolf was smoking from being burned.
A defias theif attacked someone who was playing a
rogue night elf. I could hear grunts, clanks, bashes. The models reacted accordingly, they stepped back, blood splattering, the swords moved and collided with realistic physics. When you get hit with something that looks like it can hurt, your character reacts to it.
As one commented before, the landscape is truely unique. It is not generated. Every location is unique, you can remember where you are going because the characteristics. The world is realistic, the higher in altitude you get, you start seeing snow. And the land slopes are realisticly formed, they're not random. It's truely beleivable. The rep mentioned that there will not be "moss always on this side of the tree". Trees are all different, it seems.
Nothing is without creativity. The "dungeons" are definitly not boring, each seemed to have special characteristics - something you can remember with ease. You could probably ask a stranger what dungeon had this or that, and he could answer you.
Skeleton zombie death animation is too cool, it screams and its torso falls off.
Footprints in snow
Air Travel
Undead ride massive bats. Orcs, Tauren, and Trolls ride Wyverns. Dwarves, Humans, Gnomes ride Gryphons. Night Elves ride Hippogryphs
Beta
Rep doubted it would be out this year. Rep expected a 2004 release.
Game Facts
There are different kind of fishing poles, there are the best fishing poles, and the
newbie ones. I was surprised when they told me how fishing worked. You use the ability, and your character casts it out into the water. When your bobber goes under, you click it! And then a fish appears in your inventory.
If you don't click it, you lose the fish. The fish can be cooked with the cooking skill.
Beverages may not be in the game. They haven't been implimented yet. But cooking still will.
You can have an unlimited # of buffs, but the same versions of buffs do not
stack.
If you have +15 defense, and someone casts +20, you will forfeit the +15 defense
buff for the +20.
Siege weapons for
PvP are being discussed.
Gnome dance includes him slapping an imaginary butt.
Undead dance includes headbanging
Each Trade skill has about 30 things available to make.
Hunters can tame beasts. You can't tame dragons
Cartography will be a trade skill. It may reveal more map to you.
Shooting a ranged weapon works similarly to casting a spell, it has a "Shooting" bar at the bottem.
Race Cities stay true to their race's characteristics.
If you're a night elf, you may have to go to a Dwarven city to learn blacksmithing.
There are no undefeatable creeps. No creeps require 800 people to kill.
You can duel anywhere, when someone defeats another in a duel, they are left with 1
hp.
"Rituals" that require up to 20 people to do are being discussed. Not a sure-thing though. Rituals have to have specific classes and races in order to work.
There are special unique weapons that drop from a specific race of creeps, but are EXTREMELY rare.
If you kill 10,000 wolves, 1 special weapon with stats with the characteristic of a wolf will drop.. There are no server-special weapons. Anything can be found again by another player.
You can go to a racetrack and bet to win money. NPCs race, you bet which one will win.
Battle games such as "Capture the Flag" will be available. Guild wars can be fought in Arenas, and people can bet.
Mini-Games are still being discussed. Not implimented yet.
Vendors are organized. "Mace Vendor" "Sword Vendor" "Helmet Vendor" etc. (They have human names.)
There will be
PvP servers.
Troll Females are worse than Tauren and Orc females combined. Fat, hunchback, saggy, big, yeah.
Defense makes you harder to hit, Armor reduces damage done.
Duel weilders may find it much more difficult to defeat someone with high armor, due to the 1h weapons lower damage. 2h weapons are good against high armor, but 2h weapon users find it difficult to beat rogues - with low
hp and high damage / evade. Different things are good against different things.
Currently, Warriors and Rogues can duel-weild.
Horde Guilds can war Horde Guilds, and Alliance Guilds can do the same.
Guild houses are not implimented in yet. It might not make final release. the rep said it's like the Clan houses they wanted to do for Diablo II - but they never made it.
Torches are in the game, your character can carry a torch to light areas.
Not all classes have mana. Warriors have "Rage", Hunters have "Focus", Rogues have "Energy". Each of these can be used up for special attacks. Rage is gained by getting hit, or hitting. It vanishes slowly
if your not doing anything. Focus is getting by sitting still,
if you move - you lose focus. I'm not sure how you gain Energy, I think it works like mana.
Hitpoint regeneration stops during Combat.
There are no underwater dungeons that only the Undead can reach. The Undead can breath normally underwater but it is a conveniance thing.
You can jump from the highest point in the world, and land onto the lowest point without any damage being done to yourself.
When you step into a campfire, the fire engulfes you and embers go flying everywhere, damaging you quite quickly.
Warriors have a Kick ability, which primary use is to stop a spell from being casted.
You can change what language you speak in.
Technical Stuff
Game got a little slow sometimes. Machine was running Windows XP w/ a Geforce FX 5950 @ 1280x1024. I don't know the other specs.
Alt-Tab froze the game. Could have been anything, though.
You can remap controls.
There is a "look" button, where you hold it down and move the mouse, your character's head turns where you're lookin.
