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Gen Con Reveals New World Of Warcraft Details

Posted by simoniker on from the shatner-and-blizzard-all-at-once dept.

Thanks to RPGDot for pointing to a Battle.net forum post revealing a wealth of new detail regarding Blizzard's upcoming PC MMO title World Of Warcraft. WoW Stratics also has screenshots and brief comments on Blizzard's showing at Gen Con in Los Angeles, including comments that "Blizzard has one thing completely, undeniably wrong: they simply don't know the definition of 'alpha'. Both Anarchy Online and WWII Online were less polished and complete three months after release than WoW is right now." WoW is due out later in 2004, with a closed Beta early next year, and PlanetWarcraft also has some hands-on impressions.

28 comments

  1. Game stability clear after a convention? by DeadScreenSky · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't understand how someone could determine MMORPG stability during a brief convention. How many players were involved? Surely not the tens of thousands that would be on a real server. And how often do you only find bugs in something (especially slow progression games like MMORPGs) after several hours of play? Making claims about the game's lack of bugginess after such limited experience seems crazy.

    --
    There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
    1. Re:Game stability clear after a convention? by GeneralCern · · Score: 0

      There is probably some Blizzard bias involved. If it didn't have "Warcraft" and "Blizzard" stamped on it it probably would have come under harsher scrutiny.

    2. Re:Game stability clear after a convention? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, the fact that two systems ran WoW for the 5-ish hours the author was there, with only 1 crash indicates a pretty healthy dose of stability in the client. There are still MMORPGs that are having stability issues to this day.

    3. Re:Game stability clear after a convention? by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 1

      Yes, but in fairness, the only fuck up Blizzard have made with online stuff that I can remember is dramatically underestimating server loads for Diablo 2 when it was released. Blizzard learnt a lesson there, and have a reputation for releasing stuff when it's ready, and not before.

      The companies prior track record would lead many to believe they're going to do this right.

      I just wish they'd start the bastarding beta already:) I WANT IN!:)

    4. Re:Game stability clear after a convention? by newbiescum · · Score: 2, Funny

      You just don't realize how crappy Anarchy Online and WWII Online were when they first started. :)

      In seriousness, you probably can't tell the stability and the testers probably were only shown things that were guaranteed to work. However, at least it appears fun and things work as intended.

    5. Re:Game stability clear after a convention? by Aoreias · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Obviously you can't get a good estimate on how stable the server is (that's what stress testing is for), you CAN get a decent estimate on how stable the client is. By the statements that only one of the two computers crashed once in a 10 hour period suggests that the client software is surprisingly stable. Games with lots of bugs (SWG, AO) become apparent pretty quickly. The guy spent a ton of time lingering around the WoW booth, so he probably saw whether a fair amount of bugs appeared.

      --
      We've upped our standards. Up yours.
    6. Re:Game stability clear after a convention? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, exactly. Blizzard's never really had a problem with client-side stability, but they've had a huge problem with server stability with EVERY single game that they've shipped.

      From what I understood the "beta" is a very, very closed version. The framerates look nice cuz there's like 250 people on at any one time. I think if SWG had that few people on, it'd probably look pretty damn cool...so to say that this is further along than the games they mentioned (well maybe it's fair for WW2 Online...) is kinda stupid.

    7. Re:Game stability clear after a convention? by GeneralCern · · Score: 0

      Absolutely. I didn't mean it to sound like the praise was undeserved, as they do have a great track record, my point was that track record is what they are banking on when they proclaim the game ready in alpha.

    8. Re:Game stability clear after a convention? by Grym · · Score: 1

      Stability was determined by the fact that they had two machines running the game for over 10 hours with only one crash to desktop. Remember, the game isn't even in BETA stages yet. That's when the real tests, like server stability will be done. -Grym

  2. nVidia's Dawn ?! by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

    Anyone else wondery why game includes a picture of nVidia's "Dawn" girl?
    Screenshot 11

    1. Re:nVidia's Dawn ?! by ubrkl · · Score: 2, Informative

      The booth was a nVidia booth demoing WoW. The picture in question is actually a camera shot, not a screen capture from in-game.

    2. Re:nVidia's Dawn ?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, it's just a display on the side of the screen. They just didn't bother to frame the picture better, or crop it out afterwords.

  3. Alpha by Cosmik · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think Blizzard do know the meaning of alpha, and are using that time to get rid of many bugs.

    On the other hand it's the majority of other MMORPG developers that don't know the meaning of alpha, or beta, or 'stable' for that matter.

    Final Fantasy XI was such a breath of fresh air - I know it's been released in Japan for over a year now, but to have it released in the rest of the world with a stable launch was excellent. I'm now spoiled by it, and look forward to a smooth Blizzard launch. Lineage 2 is also looking promising, considering it's been released in Korea for a year now.

    If only other developers (and publishers - they are the true criminals here) would take some time out and stop chasing the almight buck, thinking if they don't release soon they won't meet their monetary target. Here's a clue: releasing too early won't get you there either.

    1. Re:Alpha by bugbread · · Score: 1

      " I think Blizzard do know the meaning of alpha, and are using that time to get rid of many bugs. "

      The original comment was a joke. Laugh.

    2. Re:Alpha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Final Fantasy XI was such a breath of fresh air - I know it's been released in Japan for over a year now, but to have it released in the rest of the world with a stable launch was excellent.

      This entire post is based on the faulty premise that Square is some sainted company that is staffed by super-geniuses who posess the secrets to a bug free MMO launch. The fact is FFXI was shit at launch just like all the others, they just waited a year to grace us with it's release. The greedy bastards didn't even give us fresh English speaking servers. It marks my last purchase of anything from that company.

    3. Re:Alpha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fact that tons of people got to play it a year before me, and I didnt even get a chance, would indicate that sony doesnt give a shit about their american counterparts.

    4. Re:Alpha by Cosmik · · Score: 1

      It wasn't a joke.

      It the type of comment that game 'journalists' usually write in an effort to hype up a game and show a love for a company.

      It's the same thing as saying an athlete doesn't know the meaning of 'quit'. That comment isn't a joke, but flattery.

  4. Alpha? I think they know. by OnyxRaven · · Score: 1

    yeah... I think they do know the meaning of "alpha" - the state before feature-completeness. Beta is feature complete, but bug-hunting.

    Or at least it should be.

    Games that have gone into release without testing systems in 'Beta' (*cough*horizons*cough*ac2*cough*) do not know the meaning of the different phases.

    --
    --onyx--
  5. WoW might wow me by donkeyoverlord · · Score: 1

    Here's hoping that Blizzard can bring some life back into the MMORPG genre. From the sounds of it WoW may be more than just your Everquest clone. Knowing Blizzard I can trust that it will be playable and not pushed out the door like some other MMORPG that I was looking forward to (Shadowbane... GRRR)!

    1. Re:WoW might wow me by donkeyoverlord · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I really like the idea of doing the randomized loot like in Diablo. That should really help make everyone a little different and cut way down on the cookie cutter characters, like in other games. At level 10 camp this spot and get this sword, keep it until level 15 when you can get X. Sounds like it could be fun.

  6. No lie... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sharing a booth with nvidia at CES. Maybe I can wedge my way in for a beta signup.

  7. Chock full of goodness by Alcimedes · · Score: 2

    Interesting read. It sounds like the folks at Blizzard have put a lot of though into this game (like not picking stats right from the start). They've had a chance to see where other MMPORG's fail, and will have an opportunity to relsease one that doesn't suck.

    Toss into the mix that I'll be able to play this on my PowerBook, and I might have to go back on my "never pay a monthly fee" attitude.

    1. Re:Chock full of goodness by August_zero · · Score: 1

      I'm with you.

      I salivate for this game, and I am not even a big MMORPG gamer. PSO is the closest thing I have to an online RPG obession.

      Blizzard is the master of the hype machine, but they are also terrific game designers. What they lack in innovation they more than make up for in refinement.

      --
      On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
  8. That's an easy one by Maserati · · Score: 2, Insightful

    C'mon, I'm sure WoW is more polished than WW2OL three months ago. And I'm playing WW2OL so I should know. That, of course, is just banking^w betting on Blizzard's usual standards. Given the usual state of MMO's at launch Blizzard isn't aiming all that high.

    --
    Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
  9. Features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's nice that they're taking the time to balance the game and work out all the bugs, but the article never answers the really important questions, like:

    Can you click on other players to make them say things against their will?

    If you click other players repeatedly, will they explode?

  10. Congratulations! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...On doing a bang-up job reading the article and learning how the game differs in respect to other MMOs. Keep up the good work!