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World of Warcraft Details Announced

Posted by Zonk on from the oh-look-a-bear dept.

Warcry has some final details as the World of Warcraft launch looms closer. Pricing for WoW has finally been nailed down, with discounts going to folks who purchase more than one month at a time. There are also sneak peeks available, including footage from the special edition DVD and images from the Brady Games strategy guide. The guide includes Penny Arcade strips that illustrate game concepts. On character names: "I'm really sorry, Xaxziminrax. I tried to warn you, but I couldn't type your name in time. - 'Oh look, it's a bear' might also have worked."

51 comments

  1. Why not link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    To the actual World of Warcraft FAQ than to some random news site that just quotes it?

    1. Re:Why not link by sweede · · Score: 1

      you're giving the author of the article to much credit there..

      --
      I follow the SDK and GDN principles.. Spelling Dont Kount, Grammer Dont Neither
    2. Re:Why not link by fireduck · · Score: 3, Funny

      because random news site gets the ad views. journalism integrity at its highest...

  2. and I'm waiting to sign up! by feed_those_kitties · · Score: 2, Funny
    I'm sitting here at work hitting 'refresh' on http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/

    So far just a bunch of 404s, but I've got my fingers crossed.

    1. Re:and I'm waiting to sign up! by Issue9mm · · Score: 1

      Unless you've already got your CD key in hand, you're probably wasting your time, considering you needed one for each of the beta phases (except for open maybe).

      If you DO have yours in hand, where'd you get it? I can cancel my preorder.

      -9mm-

    2. Re:and I'm waiting to sign up! by feed_those_kitties · · Score: 1
      Nope, no cd key yet. :-(

      I would *think* that the signup is by your login, since you can play on multiple machines (that would probably have different cd keys installed on them.)

      Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. *grin*

    3. Re:and I'm waiting to sign up! by llefler · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I would *think* that the signup is by your login, since you can play on multiple machines (that would probably have different cd keys installed on them.)

      Doubtful. Open Beta required a key to create an account. WoW accounts have access to the game servers and the ability to post on their web site.

      More than likely, they are more concerned that each account has a CD key rather than each PC that has the software loaded. It's not possible to play without logging into their servers, so why would they care if you load the game on every PC in your house. You're only going to be able to log in with one account per CD key anyway.

      --
      It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. -- Harry Truman
    4. Re:and I'm waiting to sign up! by GrnArmadillo · · Score: 1

      Some stores have broken the release date, and many of the online vendors were apparantly permitted to ship pre-orders in a fashion to have them arrive on release day. This means that people who chose overnight shipping do already have their boxes, for all the good it does them before the servers go live.

    5. Re:and I'm waiting to sign up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Open Beta required a key to create an account.

      No it didn't. I created one, and I never had a key. Closed beta probably did (I wasn't involved in that).

    6. Re:and I'm waiting to sign up! by Arkham · · Score: 1

      The URL for signing up is:

      http://signup.worldofwarcraft.com/

      Just FYI. It'll hopefully be online by 8:30 AM EST, when I get home from Fry's with my copy.

      --
      - Vincit qui patitur.
    7. Re:and I'm waiting to sign up! by Jeff+Kelly · · Score: 1

      "No it didn't. I created one, and I never had a key. Closed beta probably did (I wasn't involved in that)."

      Yes it did. I also created one for Open Beta and a key was required. Fileplanet Subscribers allegedly got theirs by E-Mail. I subscribed through Blizzards open beta Page and the open beta key was listet right there on the account creation page (As a Graphic to discourage webcrawlers). and you had to enter it before continuing the registration. Hell the key even had the form xxxxxx-yyyyyy-open-beta.

      Jeff

  3. $12.99 by Anusien · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The cheapest possible rate they offer is $12.99/month for 6 months. I remember back when Evercrack was less than $10 a month for a similar package. Will they really keep it going with enough content to be worth that much? Most people I know that play MMOGs drop them after 2-3 months because they get boring.

  4. WoW by Alcimedes · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So, this is actually going to be the first MMPORG I sign up for. It was a little more level dependant than I would have liked, but fact is this is what peopel are going to be playing.

    Not to mention it was a lot of fun in the Beta, and they have both PC and Mac clients. That's pretty much all I needed from an MMPORG. Now to see if I stick with it.

  5. Here's the direct link by Slime-dogg · · Score: 1

    Here's the link to the collector's edition sneak peak.

    Why the heck does "Warcry" get linked to? It looks like it isn't even run by Blizzard.

    --
    You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
  6. That's not the worst part by Trikenstein · · Score: 2, Interesting
    The worst part is spending $50.00 or (iirc) $80.00 for the collectors edition.

    If your going to charge a monthly fee, at least provide the client software for free.

    Or at least have an option to download the client and purchase a key at a reduced rate for those that don't want another box lying around the house.

    1. Re:That's not the worst part by servognome · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The worst part is spending $50.00 or (iirc) $80.00 for the collectors edition.
      I just accept this as the price you pay for early adoption. Same as paying $300 for a PS2 to have it the day it came out, when I can get it for half now.
      Wait a couple months the price will drop, wait a couple years and there will be a free client.

      --
      D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
    2. Re:That's not the worst part by Ben+Brighton · · Score: 1

      The collectors edition comes with a free month, so it only costs $65.

      --
      Just back up one song from the album, and a text file that says "more shit like this". Think of the space you save -Mant
    3. Re:That's not the worst part by Alcimedes · · Score: 2, Funny

      Every edition comes with a free month, so it's $80 again.

    4. Re:That's not the worst part by macrom · · Score: 4, Interesting
      MMORPG Economics 101 :

      The price of the game at launch covers the costs to develop them game over the last n years.

      The monthly subscription covers the cost of maintaining the game and adding content as time goes on.

      EverQuest breaks these laws by charging for expansions every y months.

    5. Re:That's not the worst part by hckrdave · · Score: 1

      How do you have that option i was in the last beta but i never heard of anthing like that?

      --
      http://www.DaveNet.biz/
    6. Re:That's not the worst part by JFMulder · · Score: 1

      As far as I know when you get digital HD TV you buy the box and then you pay a subscription fee to have your box working afterwards. I don't see why it should be different for software. You have to cover the development expenses and then cover the support expenses.

    7. Re:That's not the worst part by Wylfing · · Score: 1
      The worst part is spending $50.00 or (iirc) $80.00 for the collectors edition.

      I just accept this as the price you pay for early adoption.

      Normal game economics don't quite work with some Blizzard products. Diablo II is still taking up retail shelf space at $20-30 a pop four years after its release. Now I hope WoW comes down in price after a while, but realistically I expect it will hold full retail value for 1-2 years minimum.

      --
      Our intelligent designer has never created an animal that we couldn't improve by strapping a bomb to it.
    8. Re:That's not the worst part by Callitrax · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The price of the game at launch covers the costs to develop them game over the last n years.

      Thats the official line. I would say that it a combination of habit and psychology.
      "If you're giving the game away it must not be any good"
      and
      "Well I already paid $50 for this, I need to subscribe to get my money's worth"

    9. Re:That's not the worst part by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Less hacking, more English Dave!

    10. Re:That's not the worst part by BollocksToThis · · Score: 1

      If your going to charge a monthly fee, at least provide the client software for free.

      Or at least don't charge the same damned inflated price as games that I can play without relying on Blizzard deciding WoW is still profitable to run. The excuse used to price games so ridiculously high is 'piracy' - where is the piracy for an online sub-based game?

      But let me say this, and hope that someone at Blizzard is actually reading it: When I go to the game store with a hard-earned $50, and I have to choose between a game I can play for the next year or a game I can play for the next 30 days, you can bet your ass my money is not going to be spent on the latter. The monthly fee is semi-reasonable, but the initial investment is not.

      --
      This sig is part of your complete breakfast.
    11. Re:That's not the worst part by Trikenstein · · Score: 1
      Do you really want to compare the two?

      With HDTV, the box is manufactured by a party other than my content provider. And all the content is provided by a multitud of parties other than my content provider.

      When looked at thusly, my content provider is just the tapeworm getting fat of everyone elses efforts.

    12. Re:That's not the worst part by will_die · · Score: 1

      The price of the game at launch covers the costs to develop them game over the last n years.
      With MMORPGs that is rarly the case. As a general rule the software company is going to get between $15-$18 per box sold in the store, rest going to the store and the distributer. Most MMORPGs cost around $20 million to make, EQ2 cost in the $30 million range for initial setup and development, CoH cost in the $15 million range.
      So to break even on a $20 million game at $15 a box back is going to require 1,333,334 boxes to sell. With a MMORPG the chance of that happening is close to 0%; EQ1,DaOC,UO,AC have not done it for the original packaging.

      Where the money and why everyone is making an MMORPG is for the monthly fees, figure that you are making $5 each month(have never seen multiple actual figures for this so low number) after costs and that is the equivalent of selling 4 games a year, great money.
      Also for the time value of money for an average game that is close to 13%, for a decent MMORPG it is close to 20% and some are reporting 30%.
      For some other actual numbers EQ takes in around $45 million a year in total revenue(expansion packs,monthly fees, other deals) and they spend an average of $14 million on all costs.

  7. A warning on the strategy guide! by MWoody · · Score: 5, Informative
    If you buy the strategy guide, make sure you do it for the Penny Arcade stuff. In terms of being an actual guide, it's crap. Information is incomplete or outdated, and typos are at a one-per-page ratio AT LEAST. And we're talking really obvious stuff, like sentences ending halfway through and such, or huge chart titles in colored title plaques being mispelled: "Enchanments". And boy was I surprised to learn, having played the open beta, that I was losing XP when I died and Tauren have to quest for Plainsrunning (both these features were taken out several versions ago), among numerous other inaccuracies.

    In short: this guide was put together EXTREMELY quickly, long before the final version of the game, and it shows. BOY, does it show. Use http://worldofwarcraft.com for info on classes, races, etc., and avoid this book.

    ...unless you want the PA cartoons; those are quite funny.

    1. Re:A warning on the strategy guide! by pezpunk · · Score: 1

      well ... seriously, what do you expect? the guide obviously had to be finished before the beta test is near completion. blizzard will still make major changes, i'm sure, for years to come. look at Diablo 2. it barely resembles the game it was when it was released. strategy guides are useless for this type of game.

      having said that, i AM gonna buy it anyway, for the Penny Arcade strips =(

      --
      i could live a little longer in this prison
    2. Re:A warning on the strategy guide! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Er...I wouldn't call a guide that's 430 pages long something that was put together at the last second. That's what you call a Prima Guide ^_^.

      And something else that sets this Brady guide apart from the Prima ones is that Brady will be doing dynamic updates to the guide as the game grows. Any changes or corrections that are made will be emailed to people who purchase the guide and sign-up for updates...did I mention that the updates would be free?

      I agree that the guide is slighty out of date, but not on the scale you put it of one per page. The 130 pages that comprise the zone/monster/quest portion is accurate, as well as most of the class and race portions (they got the racial talents in, but not the recent Paladin/Warrior changes). But like I said, such changes will be emailed out to those who get this book.

      Don't just write this off as another useless paperbook guide! When Brady put's a guide together, they slam anything that Prima could ever dish out. And this guide does it.

    3. Re:A warning on the strategy guide! by MWoody · · Score: 1

      Yes, but still, there's no excuse for its horrible quality, even excusing the fact that the information is outdated. I mean, seriously, you'll see it once you get it: you can't go a page without a serious typographical error of some sort. The sort of things a high school student would catch on his first read-through of the rough draft.

    4. Re:A warning on the strategy guide! by pezpunk · · Score: 1

      you know, you're right, that's inexcusable.

      actual "strategy" details i'm willing to forgive, but sloppy editing is frustrating. oh well.

      --
      i could live a little longer in this prison
  8. Slash Quote Coincidence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I've seen it. It's rubbish." -- Marvin the Paranoid Android

  9. Latin American Servers by dfiguero · · Score: 1

    Any announcements on Latin Americans being able to play in U.S. or other international servers? It seems we got stuck in limbo with only U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia being included.

    --
    My penguin ate my sig
    1. Re:Latin American Servers by 1001011010110101 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm from South America, and I'm buying the standard edition from US via a seller at eBay. He's also selling the timecards, and is going to mail me the keys needed to play the game ( I already have the beta client installed), so I dont have to pay ~40$ on Shipping and handling.

    2. Re:Latin American Servers by Issue9mm · · Score: 1

      Just FYI, but between closed beta and open beta, you had to download a new version. Not sure what kind of integrity check they're enforcing, but you'll likely need the installable media in order to play, or at least have someone upload it for you.

      -9mm-

    3. Re:Latin American Servers by prator · · Score: 2, Informative

      According to some posts from Blizzard in the beta forums, you can use the beta client in retail. I've managed to find one of the posts.

      -prator

    4. Re:Latin American Servers by PedanticSpellingTrol · · Score: 1

      Yeah, the open beta client will work for the released game providing you create an account with the cd-key you bought in the store. The real question is going to be wether or not Blizzard filters ISPs by netblock.

    5. Re:Latin American Servers by 1001011010110101 · · Score: 1

      They already said that you only need to have US billing address to play...if you are from US , living in another country, you can play in the US servers. So, I really doubt it. Only thing I'm worried about is that they require a CC to redeem the free month of gameplay when you sign up, or some other kind of address verification.

  10. World of Warcraft by linzeal · · Score: 5, Informative
    You can click on anybody's name in text chat and it will respond to them in a tell (/t). So long as you are communicating with them in the first place or at least hearing thme it is easy to communicate with them.

    By the way, community-run guides usually do much better over the long term than paper guides anyways.

    For those interested it looks like Blizzard has also brought the World of Warcraft world to the pen and paper set, for those old-schoolers out there.

    --
    An Education is the Font of All Liberty
  11. Do they have server names published yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do they have server names published yet?

    This is an important detail when trying to get an existing guild, friends, and family to all get on the same server at launch. We kinda need that info before we have the game in our hands, M'kay?

    1. Re:Do they have server names published yet? by xoff00 · · Score: 1
      Do they have server names published yet?


      No, they haven't. Its quite annoying, too. Blizzard's stated reason is crap ("We don't want everyone jumping on just a few server").

      My friends and I are resorting to "The first server starting with 'Ti' or just 'T' if there isn't a 'Ti'".

      But its about the only complaint I have about WoW. I love it otherwise!
      --
      ...Xoff
      Phineas J. Whoopie, you're the greatest!
    2. Re:Do they have server names published yet? by AgentTim3 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Blizzard's stated reason isn't crap at all, it's perfectly legitimate. Of course you don't realize this, but you're proving that fact just by complaining about it. They want the majority of people, as many as they can, to select their server based on whichever one currently has the least population. Thus insuring a somewhat distribution of players across servers. The only way to make that happen is to have people pick their servers when they first log in and see the screen. If you're already arbitrarily chosen based on server names they've released it completely defeats the purpose.

      If they release the names early, then l33t guild A gets to tell everyone they know that they'll be playing on the Sargeras server because it's uber. Guilds B and C want to be allied [with|against] guild A. The effect snowballs and suddenly Sargeras is unbalanced -- not a good thing.

      Sorry but what they're doing is entirely justified. What they're doing is in your and everyone else's best interest, as it will keep lag down. Quit whining about it.

    3. Re:Do they have server names published yet? by Snaller · · Score: 1


      What they're doing is in your and everyone else's best interest, as it will keep lag down.

      Sure its in everbodies interests they can't get to play with their friends. Good work Blizzard.

      --
      If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
  12. How does the '10-DAY GUEST PASS' work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    On the WOW site the description of the collectors edition states that it includes:

    * The full game on both CDs and DVD-ROM.

    * Keep the disk set you prefer (CDs or DVD-ROM), then give the other set to a friend along with the FREE 10-DAY GUEST PASS (also included).

    How does the 10-DAY GUEST PASS work? Will the 'friend' still be required to go out and buy the retail pack or is there an option to purchase a full license online?

    1. Re:How does the '10-DAY GUEST PASS' work? by _xeno_ · · Score: 2, Informative

      The friend will have to go out and buy the full retail pack. The information is on the World of Warcraft Community Site, but it's a ways towards the bottom, so scroll down a bit. It says:

      Collector's Edition 10-Day Guest Pass

      Players who will be accessing the game through the 10-day pass will create their account for that exactly the same way as a normal player, by visiting the account-creation webpage.

      Those who wish to continue playing the game once the 10-day free period is over must first visit their local retailer or online store to purchase a copy of World of Warcraft. Once they have obtained a copy of the game, they can log in to WorldofWarcraft.com using their 10-day pass login information and then enter the authentication key that came with boxed copy into the field found at the bottom of their account page.

      That's all that's required to activate a full-fledged World of Warcraft account once the 10-day free period has expired. Any characters that players have created during the 10-day trial, along with all their items, will be available for them to continue playing!

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
    2. Re:How does the '10-DAY GUEST PASS' work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who the fuck modded this up? I just looked over that page several times, and that information is nowhere to be found.

      Informative my ass.

  13. The local Wal-Mart... by Trikenstein · · Score: 1

    Will have it on the shelves at 12am 11/23/04. The sad part is, all I have is a wal-mart, or buy online...

  14. WoW website busted still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will see if they magicaly fix it for tomorrow
    or at least midnight pst.

    Currently you cannont even sign up.

    Blizzard is screwing up a buncha things here for opening day.
    Hope they fixed the server siezure fits as well.

    1. Re:WoW website busted still by AgentTim3 · · Score: 1

      The "server fits" were related 100% to the number of players per server. The open beta was in fact a stress test, and Blizzard did that intentionally. They're tripling the number of servers when it goes live, and there will be far fewer players online, so these issues are effectively moot.

  15. Still, why bother? by AgentTim3 · · Score: 1

    Even if you're getting emailed updates every once in awhile, there's no reason to spend your hard-earned duckets on a guide like this. For the same ten bucks you could get a year's subscription to a site like Allakhazam's, which will have daily updates and generally the most recent info on the game that's known.