After i no longer could play WoW. The game was so amazing, I felt i needed to write a review.
-=W A R N I N G=-To all ye who read these words. No spell check was used, so ye be warned!
My first impressions about the game when i first saw it (judging purly on looks) i thought it looked quite bad. For a game comming out now when there are higher poly, and basicaly more graphicly heavy games, it looked lacking and weak. I had no impression on gameplay (since i hadn't got to play). Now afterwards I found i was totaly wrong. This game has to be one of the most. . . dare i say. . . B E utiful games i have seen in some time.
The enviroments were very emersive. I played mostly in the Dwarven area, Dun Morogh, and the human area, Elwynn Forest. Each enviroment i visited felt very real. Felt like a place i can vist, flet like i was acctualy there. Every time you visited a new area, you get experince points. That added a reason to go adventure.
First off, Dun Morogh was very well done. The snow was made perfectly, and it felt very cold there. I would have like to have seen some weather effects, it would have been nice to see it snow. I usderstand why not to have weather effects, it cuts down on lag for people with not so good machines. When you enter taverns they felt really warm and comfortable, it felt very homely. Iron Forge is huge, my first impression of Iron Forge was, this place is to big. I got lost in iron forge the first time i went there. I was lost in Iron forge for about 15 minutes. After finding out that i can ask a guard for directions, it made finding stuff eaiser. I explored Iron Forge for a while looking at the great design of the massive fortress. It is quite amazing, the great forge itself is very cool.
After getting a good feeling for Dun Morogh, i left for the human part of the world. I took the griffin to Stormwind. After seeing Iron Forge i thought nothing could be bigger then it. I was wrong, Stormwind is much bigger. I wandered all over that place. Each part of Stormwind was amazing. Stormwind is divided up into many sections. After spending some time there, getting directions, running around this massive place was quite easy. Elwynn Forest out side Stormwind is quite nice also. It has a very foresty feel, with out being to cluttered woth trees. The lighting through the tress gave it a more imersive feel. Like the snow in Dun Morogh i would have like to see something ehre as well, mabey like some falling leaves, or occasional rain. None the less Elwynn Forest felt very real. It looked cool in the shade and felt warm in the sun. The occasional griffin flys trough the forest, as it swoops past you and disapears into the distance. The ambient sounds of the forest were really well done. The sounds added that extra belivibilty. The sounds were not too loud but not so low you can hardly hear them, once in a while you hear a bird sing, that small touch adds so much to a game. Unlike the Psychotic crickets from Everquest, it can be done wrong.
I also played on the Horde, and i have to say the Taurens and there home of Mulgore, were the best of the horde. The quest for the Taurens felt like they had mening behind them, and the ramping of the quest were just right. I never felt over powered, or stuck on a hard quest. The Taurens area is very Native American, it felt very belivable. There Quest also reflect a type of Native American type of style. They had Clensing the wells of evil, Spiritual quest, and Honorable quest. I rember my favorite is the spirit guid (spirit coyote). The colors are what stood out the most to me. The plain tan hide color, with white, dark red, and Turquoise. I enjoyed Thunder Bluff the most out of all the cities i visited (I say out of the ones I visited, because, I didn't see them all).
The Taurens were the only race i really enjoyed. I played as a troll, and i felt the ramping with the troll quest were quite steep. After i left the begining area i was trown into a land with creatures one to three levels above me. They have you head down to a village south of the orc and troll compound and you get some more quest there. Those quest were quite had also. I rember one being go to the islands east of the village and get a skull, and another kill a certian amout of people on that island. Going to that island there are critters one to two levels above me, and the people im suposed to kill either were to high level, where as i can handle one at a time. Or the would all attack me if i try and attack just one. I only had that problem once with the taurens, but that was my own fault, and the quest was beaten with a little tactics.
The Trolls as characters i liked. They looked very devious, and warrior like. The small touches to them were nice. For instance they didn't acctualy sit down they just kinda squat, almost like there always ready for an attack, or something to happen. I Didn't play as an Orc or Undead, so i can't coment on those.
As for the enviroment of the Orcs and Trolls. They also did a good job there. It always felt very hot. there were hardly any trees. It did fell very war torn, as i was adventuring around, i came across busted up catapults, and busted buildings. The architecture is quite unique, it looks as if was built very crudely. Like they were acctualy lacking the Technology to build correctly, unlike the humans in witch there buildings were very cleanly built.
One of the bigest things i noticed about the enviroments i visited, were that none of them were at all repetitive. I never once saw the same thing over and over. There were a couple of farms, but each one had a different feel, or look to it that made it different. There may have been more then one mine but each inside were different layouts. If i had to find somethign repetitive i would have to say the mines. Just for the fact they use the same style inside each mine. But i never went into a mine and thought i had been there already, if i haven't. It was never hard to find a town if you got a little lost. There was always a road nearby, or some trial to follow.
I played as a Hunter, Mage, and Rouge. I played other but not as much as these to get a good feel for them. I enjoyed each class each had there ups and downs. None of them were hard to play or hard to level up as. Some were easier to level up then others. Some had an easier time doing missions then others too.
The Hunter class is quite enjoyable. I picked to be a tauren hunter. You start out with a Axe and a Gun. If you pick either troll or Night Elf, you get a bow instead, not sure about the other races though. Leveling up was steady with the hunter. I was able to kill critters fairly easily. I would shot from afar and use my axe upclose. By level ten i was a skilled hunter, you get some effects you can use to help ranged attackes, and also one you can use for melee combat too. At level ten you could also get a pet which i enjoyed to have, i had a wolf I named "wolfwood". Taming a pet was easy, and controlling him was simple also. They kept you paying attetion to your pet by have the pet require food. Your pet wont just eat anything though. I had to feed mine ribs. He had a taste for meat of his own kind apearntly. I only played hunter to level thirteen, and up to that level it was still keeping my intrest and was quite enjoyable. I would have like to see some more meele skills to learn for my hunter. He felt too ranged attacker for me. I could hold my own in a fight, but all my new skills were for ranged attacks. I got very little for melee.
The Mage class is one of my two favorites. I chose to be a Dwarf Mage. You start mage with a simple wooden staff, and some basic powers. Level progression was the hardest with the mage at begining levels. Due to the fact of my spells not being to powerful yet, and mages not being goot at close range attacks. I could get off atleast two firebolts before the enemy if right in my face. I can then either beat him with my staff, or conjure up another fire ball. Down side is that if i conjure up another fireball, it takes longer since im getting hit while casting. I leveled my mage up to sixteen. At that level i got a good feel for mage and i was quite powerful, i could get enemys healt down to a quarter before they reach me, and i could now cast instand spells for quick hits. You get one spell as a mage that you cast, and you pick a spot on the gound to use it. Its a area attack spell, and that is quite nice, it doesnt hit to hard, but does some decent damage. I didn't really get to use that spell much due to the fact i got it right before the end of teh stress test. Mage was prety powerful but due to the fact of really no type of melee attack, it was nicely balanced.
The Rouge i picked up last. I chose a Dwarf rogue. The rougues are a very nice class. I enjoyed the sneaking aspect of them, and also the fact i can pickpocket, backstab, or stun a target from behind to give me an advantage. I took on a small camp of three gnolls, i was level eleven, and there were two level nines, and a level ten. I Knocked out the level ten and attacked the two level nines. By the time i got the last level nine down to a quarter of health, the level ten woke up and attacked. I finnished off the level nine, and then proceded to kill the level ten gnoll. Some times you don't even have to kill anyone to complete missions you would other wise have to kill. I got a mission to get some simmerweed from some trolls up on a hill. Now i would have had to kill each one and loot the simmerweed. I figured, "hey wouldn't they just keep it in their pocket?". So i snuck to each troll around the camp, and pickpocketed all the simmerweed i needed. I didn't need to kill a troll at all. The rogues are quite strong, but not over powered. They are not stonger then warriors, but instead use more tactics to clober enemys. At level ten you get to duel weild weapons. So I ended up with one sword and one dagger. Like with my mage i didn't get to play as much as i hoped with them since time was up. Rogue was a very nice class over all.
One thing that amazed me the most, was how it acctualy got me to play Player versus Player. First off, you have to type "/pvp" to join in on the fighting, and you are in PvP mode for 5 mins if you are not fighting. I usualy don't do any PvPing. I tried a bit in Star Wars, but the fact of making sure you cloned, insured everything, and have no battle fatigue. It seemed to much of a hassle. The you have the "leet" player that mock you and make it very unenjoyable, and you see that every one has the same composite aromor, and are all bounty hunter spamming eyeshot or what ever else is the most powerful at that time. I haven't done any Star Wars PvP in a while, so i don't know. I watch it happen though, and its still basicaly the same. In Warcraft PvP, i never felt agrovaded, or penalized for dying. It was just run back to my dead body revive and go die again. There was alway s big mixture of classes fighting. Even though my computer droped down to about one to two frames per second, it was still enjoyable. One night coldridge valley (the begining dwarf and gnome place) was under attack. So i go there and there were level "??" people, and level twenty and up. I fought and was beaten, but the horde that attacked, never mocked or anything. They acctualy started dancing and then we all danced. Well, except for me, apearntly dwarf ladies cant dance. My experince with PvP, was great, i like doing it now.
There were some bugs in this game, but none that really brought the game down at all. There was the occasional stuck in a tree or rock, or enemy stuck in a spot where you cant attack him. He just keeps evading and doesnt fight back, but you can't hurt him at all. One bug that was most irritating, was a weird animation one. With my rogue, i would throw my knives, but when i throw my arm get stuck in the ready position to throw a knife. so i switch to my dagers, but it still apears that im holding a knife, and i see no more animations for my attacks. I acctualy had to throw another knife and quickly holster it and stand still to let my arms fall down to my sides. After that the bug would go away. None of the bugs destroyed my gaming experince, just slowed me down sometimes to fix. It is expected though, it is beta.
All in all this is a damn good game. According to things i read from the blizzard forums, and their site. There is still more to add. I would gladly pay for this game as it is right now. My whole experince with the game was amazing. It never felt repetitve (unless i restared a character). The enviroments were amazing. The characters all looked unique and different. There were some bugs here and there, but that is expected in beta.
That was a long review. Heh. I miss the game already.
There was more i wanted to say but its way to long already.
