World of Warcraft Details Announced

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."

Comments

Why not link

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:Why not link

[fireduck]

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

and I'm waiting to sign up!

[feed_those_kitties]

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.

Re:and I'm waiting to sign up!

[llefler]

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.

$12.99

[Anusien]

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.

WoW

[Alcimedes]

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.

That's not the worst part

[Trikenstein]

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.

Re:That's not the worst part

[servognome]

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.

Re:That's not the worst part

[Alcimedes]

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

Re:That's not the worst part

[macrom]

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.

Re:That's not the worst part

[Callitrax]

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"

A warning on the strategy guide!

[MWoody]

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.

Re:Latin American Servers

[1001011010110101]

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.

Re:Latin American Servers

[prator]

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

World of Warcraft

[linzeal]

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.

Re:How does the '10-DAY GUEST PASS' work?

[_xeno_]

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!

Re:Do they have server names published yet?

[AgentTim3]

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.