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End of World of Warcraft Beta
Today the Beta servers will be shut down, and by next week when the game ships all character information will be wiped from the system. After over six months, the World of Warcraft Beta Test is coming to an end. The test's final days are not without problems. Shiptar writes "Seems that some of the World of Warcraft Forum Moderator accounts were hijacked, and some posts were made deriding the latest patch. There's a discussion on WoW Vault Boards. It's not clear if the Moderator accounts were compromised, or a vulnerability in the forum software was used. The WoW boards have been down since last night."
I downloaded the open beta fully intending to play while it was free and not get into it when the full game comes out.
:(
However, I was totally hooked and will be getting a copy as soon as i can. It should be noted, however, that although the game is great fun, it doesnt have the quite "finished" feel, if for no other reason that there is a lot of imbalance between the classes.
Paladins and Shamans seem to be considerably better than most other classes: some classes, like druid are pretty poor (I speak as a druid, and I love the druid abilities, but we do suck.)
Admittedly, most of the "discussion" on the forums seem to be bitching about other classes being too powerful, and requests to have things nerfed, but there IS a class imbalance. Its not even like Blizzard are trying to keep things balanced, they seem to be taking a more "fix the alliance map, fix this class, fix that class" rather than gradually improving everything.
Also, it takes forever to get anywhere. I nearly quit playing after my second day because i was so bored just walking from place to place; it can take 15 minutes, just walking, to get to certain areas. If you wanted to walk across the entire map, you could be talking about hours.
However, those small points aside, it is a beautiful game. I wish they would make movement slightly faster, but other than that i am in awe, and worship blizzard as gods.
I should also point out as well, i hated warcraft 3 (the skirmish mode, which was the reason i bought it, was insanely hard with no difficulty setting.) so its not like im a warcraft junkie.
Just wish Europe would get Warcraft earlier.
Aw crap...I was going to install it and check it out finally this weekend. Doh.
Moo.
This was /by far/ the best computer gaming experience I have ever had. From Wizardy, to the SSI "Gold Box" D&D games, the early Ultima games, hundreds of others over the years, console games galore, MUDs, what have you. Call me a fanboy if you will (fanboy!) but WoW just absolutely rocks. It receives a 10/10 from me, even though of /course/ I would have suggestions such as: real penalties for dying instead of not even a slap on the wrist; permanent death servers; better auto-attack.
This weekend will be one of withdrawal and suffering, before the solvent rush of renewed addiction.
MORTAR COMBAT!
They have done beautiful job with the game, nothing ground breaking its basically the same ol' stuff presented on a silver platter.
The classes do not seem to be completely balanced but all of the classes are fun to play. I have played every single class and I enjoyed them all, For example a druid has a bunch of spells, but also has the ability to tank by changing into bear form which is great!
Problems with the game right now... There have been times of extreme lag. Ofcourse the fanboi's will say that it is a stress test so thats why there was lag. But in my honest opinion that lag is going to exist when the game comes live. There very rarely is a miracle build and I doubt blizzard have one either.
No graphical glitches, no quest glitches (The quests are a lot of fun and a nice alternative to killing 5432 Kobolds to get a level), No crashes
The game is easy but it is fun! Methinks I am going to buy this game....
The alliance resorted to hit-and-run tactics, which whittled us down bit by bit untill we were at a size where their main force was finally assembled and steamrolled over us. Now that they had a sizeable army they figured it was a good time to attack our town (the crossroads) while we were down for the count.
Which in turn sparked another rally to regroup another force to counterattack (in additon to the two raid parties). It was bloodshed and meyhem, dead bodies everywhere!
I love this game, but first thing's first: need to upgrade my video card. All those players online really brought my old video card to it's knees..
I could go on for quite a while talking about this game, the ins and outs, the good and the bad, but it really all comes down to one single statement.
:D
/me shuts up now :x
I have subscribed to a lot of MMOGs and have spent a lot of time playing them. While there have been MMOGs with flashier graphics or more original gameplay ideas, this is by far the most complete and polished of them all.
The simple fact that you can level from 1 to 60 just by doing quests and never do the same quest twice (you can't repeat any of the quests) is a HUGE deal maker for me. Yes, there's a lot of running around involved, but as long as the areas are aesthetically pleasing (they are) and they're not empty (most MMOGs seem to have these vast expanses of land that is completely barren except for a small amount of vegetation), then I'm happy to run to and fro.
Ooops, I wasn't going to run on and on about this.
Initially, I was holding out for WoW, but my friends got me hooked on FFXI. At that point, I was unsure if I'd even care if WoW would ever come out. Now, I'm at the point where I'm considering letting my character just fade away in FFXI, so I can conduct new and exciting adventures in Azeroth.
Honestly, even with the beta flaws, the game was great.
The negative:
No PvP reward system.
Massive lag
Game occasinally crashed while in PvP
Class imbalances, mage types appeared to have a major advantage over all other classes
bugged quests, abilities, etc..
Whiny kids asking for everbody in general chat to guide them through every single quest regardless of whether the quest log told them exactly what to do. Mind you that when the lag occured they were the first to type, "OMG!!!!11111 LAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGG"
The positive:
Good graphics
PvP reward system should be in at retail
Massive world to explore
PvP was fun for the first couple of days till it became apparent that it simply detracted from questing and xping (I had alot of fun with it regardless).
Lots of interesting quests, this is the best way to lv your character. Also, it I found it best to always find quests that took place in the same general area, so you didn't have to run back and forth as much. An example area is duskwood where you had to trek to Raven's hill many many times ( a 15+ minute walk from Duskwood).
Casual feel makes the game fun, instead of like work.
Lots of humerous little things such as Gubber Blump, a sort of dunce, who is WoW's equivalent to Forest Gump.
In any case, I find it a shame that all our characters are being deleted. I expected it, but there was a rumor going around that Blizzard was going to let us keep our characters for retail.
Many people, including myself fear that all the "nooby" areas upon release will have massive amounts of players attemping to quest and xp. Choking the areas, and creating a sort of frustration. Hopefully it won't be as bad as I fear.
I also hope they get the lag problems solved. Many people said that it was mainly part of the stress test, but who knows. Blizzard isn't infallable and while they're doing a good job, really they are in uncharted waters.
I have played lotsa MMORPG - DSO,UO, EQ, AO, EB, CoH, SWG, AC 1, AC2, and now WOW (crap I look at that its really embarassing)
WoW is very clean for a release title - the only bugs were with lag and database writes when they were at the height of the stress test - just a few days before that it was flawless.
It's a more casual game. Although you can kill kobolds for a level its faster (and more fun) to do quests, some of which make you kill kobolds.
I played the warrior, paladin, rogue, warlock, and mage for a few days each. The thing I didnt like was Blizzard was starting to get into the nerf things mode yet locking you into decisions you had already made (like CoH before they added respec missions).
I think they are going to try to cater a little to the power crowd of EQ, but not to the extent that EQ1 has. There was just a massive amount of content in the first 20 levels...more than any other game that has come out. Massive - like I ran probably 200-300 unique quests - not the script generated crap of CoH and AO.
I had a few CTD problems but few actual in game problems. It humors me that fanbois think a magic version is in the box - its the same client as was in beta just a week behind because of when it went to press.
I think this game really caters to people who don't want to play 10 hours a day like FFXI or EQ1. I played every night and had fun, some people who are in the Gov;t cheese line were ahead of me in level - but I was progressing at a reasonable pace and having fun.
I think there is a big round of class balancing that will happen a month or so after retail goes live. I also think the battle.net crowd is going whine like crazy about PvP imbalances...but its a good game, good company...price is too much at 14.99 a month...but at least you can make lots of characters and play 2 sides, pve, pvp, etc.
I will see you in Azeroth on day one. All of my other game accounts are cancelled already. WoW is good stuff - everyone I talked to in the beta liked the game. I think its going to be a big hit and be a major player for a long time.
Twi
I played the beta and I won't be paying to play. I'm reminded of a saying I once heard. A dog walks on its two back legs, people who know dogs know how hard this and are impressed, people that don't know dogs take one look and say "it's not very good at it". I don't know MMOGs very well, so I see it only in comparison with general computer games and I just don't find it that fun.
A truly worthwhile "quest system" should come close to what people expect from a pen-and-paper RPG. True adventures with adventure hooks, clues, the thrill of the chase, and a real reward at the end. After all, in my pen-and-paper days, I don't remember a DM ever telling me that such-and-such NPC needed 8 wolf meats, and that other guy wanted me to deliver someone's beer for 7 coppers. Even my most-hard-up D&D character would never stoop to being someone's barmaid.