| World Of Warcraft |
Article Index for World Of |
Articles about World Of Warcraft |
Website Links For World |
Information AboutWorld Of Warcraft |
''World of Warcraft'' (commonly known as '''''WoW''''') is a pay-to-play ''. Blizzard Entertainment announced ''World of Warcraft'' on September 2 , 2001 .4 The game was released on November 23 , 2004 , celebrating the 10th anniversary of the ''Warcraft'' Franchise . Although its initial release was hampered by overpopulated servers,5 the game became a financial success G4 - Feature - World of WarCraft from G4TV.com Retrieved on 2006-01-16. World of Warcraft for PC Review from gamespot.com Retrieved on 2006-01-16. and the world's largest MMORPG in terms of monthly subscribers.6" MMOG Active Subscriptions 21.0 ", 2007 . Additionally, the game has over 8 million subscribers world wide as of August, 2007. The game has won numerous awards and recognitions, including GameSpot 's ''Game of the Year Award'' for 2004. The first official expansion pack of the game, '''' on August 3 , 2007 .8 The release date of ''Wrath of the Lich King'' has not yet been announced. There is also a '') published by Fantasy Flight Games and a Collectible Card Game (''see World Of Warcraft Trading Card Game '') published by Upper Deck Entertainment . GAMEPLAY Unlike previous games in the ''Warcraft'' series, ''World of Warcraft'' is not a '' expansion (yet to be released). In addition, players may opt to take part in battles against other players of an enemy faction, in PvP Battlegrounds or in normal world zones subject to the rules in place on the particular server (''see World Of Warcraft Player Versus Player ''). Duels can also be fought between members of the same or opposing factions, although these do not provide tangible rewards. The majority of the quests during the early and middle stages of gameplay can be completed without the help of other players, particularly if the player is at a higher level than that which the quest suggests. Other portions of the game such as dungeons (also called Instances ) are designed to require cooperation with other players for success. Dungeons are designed either for groups of two to five players, or for Raid Groups of up to 40 players for the larger and significantly more difficult dungeons. At the highest level, these complex dungeons (and some outdoor encounters) are designed to take raiding Guilds a number of hours to complete, usually after many attempts over a period of a few weeks or months before success is achieved. Raid dungeon progress is saved on the server, to allow completion of the dungeon over a few days. Characters Characters in ''World of Warcraft'' are tied to specific user accounts. User accounts can be used on all servers, or ''realms''. Characters can be moved between servers in the same region (e.g., from one European server to another, but not from a European server to an American one) for a fee. As of this time, one may move a character from a Player Versus Player (PvP) realm to another PvP realm, or a Player Versus Environment(PvE) realm, but one may not move a character from a PvE realm to a PvP realm. The two playable factions currently in the game are the Alliance and Horde both consisting of five different races each. There are a total of 9 playable classes. The '' Burning Crusade '' expansion added one new race to each faction (the Blood Elves and the '''Draenei'''). Races and classes See Also: Races in the Warcraft universe Classes in World of Warcraft Players create characters which serve as their Avatars in the online world of Azeroth . When creating a character in ''World of Warcraft'', the player can choose from ten different Races and nine different Character Classes . The races are split into two diametrically opposed factions, the Alliance and the Horde .
In addition to the ten playable races there are many NPC races including (but not limited to) Goblins , Ogres , Murloc s, and Naga . The nine available classes are Druid , Hunter , Mage , Paladin , Priest , Rogue , Shaman , Warlock , and Warrior . The Paladin class was previously only available to the Alliance, and the Shaman only available to the Horde. However with the release of ''Burning Crusade'' the Draenei (Alliance) are able to be Shamans and the Blood Elves (Horde) are able to be Paladins, thus removing the previous faction exclusivity. In the '' Wrath Of The Lich King '' expansion, a tenth class known as the Death Knight will be added, which will also be the game's first Hero class. Classes are primarily limited by race: for example Night Elves can only be Druids, Hunters, Priests, Rogues or Warriors. Character types There are two types of characters in the game: Player Characters (PC) and Non-Player Characters (NPCs). A Player Character is a player's avatar in the world of Azeroth. The color of a PC's name tag can vary from white, green, yellow or red depending on faction and Player vs. Player (PvP) status. Non-Player Characters are AI-controlled characters that can only interact with PCs through scripted events or Artificial Intelligence (AI). There are three types of NPCs. Friendly NPCs, whose names are displayed in green, cannot attack friendly characters and vice versa. Hostile NPCs, whose names are in red, are either of the opposing faction or are Mobs (enemies controlled by AI) and will freely attack any PC with whom they are hostile. Neutral NPCs, whose names are displayed in yellow, are neutral and will only attack if provoked. Some NPC interaction is affected by the reputation a PC has with them. For example, certain NPC merchants will have more items available for sale if that PC has a higher reputation with the merchant’s faction. PCs’ standing with a faction can be increased or decreased by killing certain mobs or handing in items to certain NPCs. However, PCs cannot gain reputation with opposing factions, so a Horde character cannot gain reputation with any Alliance-only faction and vice versa. NPCs in major and minor cities can buy and sell merchandise, train class and profession skills, give quests and provide a large number of services that are needed in the game. While some will merely offer advice or further the story, others, such as city guards, patrol around set paths to keep cities defended against attacking PCs or hostile NPCs that may attempt to invade. Professions During the course of playing the game, players may choose to develop side skills for their character(s). These non-combat skills are called professions. Professions are divided into two separate categories, primary and secondary. Primary professions are those skills related to the creation and enhancement of weapons and armor, and can be subdivided into gathering and crafting professions. The gathering professions in WoW are Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning. Crafting professions include Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, Tailoring, Alchemy, Engineering, Enchanting, Jewelcrafting (added in the ''Burning Crusade'' expansion), and Inscription (to be added in the ''Wrath of the Lich King'' expansion). Crafting professions also have specialization categories that when trained, allow for more diverse items to be created, depending on the character's direction in the game. There is also the Enchanting profession, which allows a character to enchant weapons and armor, and also disenchant magical items in his or her possession. A character is limited to two primary professions. Secondary professions are skills that serve to enhance the player's experience. The Secondary professions are First Aid, Cooking and Fishing. Characters can learn all three Secondary professions. The Rogue class has two unique secondary professions: Poisons and Lockpicking. Items and equipment Player characters can acquire various items in the game. Items can vary from resources such as herbs or raw ores to items to be retrieved for quests. Player characters can also equip different weapons and armor, either to customize their character or improve abilities such as better attacks or defense skills. Item rarity is classified by the color of the item name: grey means poor rarity, white means common, green means uncommon, blue means rare, purple means "epic" and orange means "legendary". Mounts See Also: Mounts (World of Warcraft) A ''mount'' refers to an item that, upon activation, changes the character to show that the player is riding an animal, as opposed to the normal movement of walking/running. Players of certain levels and skill ability have available to them the option of acquiring these mounts in order to increase their movement speed on land. Mounts can also be acquired via reputation with certain factions, completion of quests or through special items produced in related material, or as very rare loot drops obtained by defeating bosses in instances. In the expansion pack Burning Crusade , the ability to purchase or acquire flying mounts became available in the expansion areas. PvP rankings See Also: Player versus player in World of Warcraft Upon defeating another player of the opposite faction in a PvP combat the victor earns "Honor Points" which may be spent as currency to purchase various rewards like armor, weapons and mounts. Some rewards require marks of honor from various Battlegrounds as well (a loss in a battleground awards the losing team 1 mark, while a victory awards the winning team 3). A recently added PvP activity (the Arenas) offer gladiator-like combat in a World of Warcraft setting. The ArenasArena facts taken from http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/arena/index.xml have a separate system from the Battlegrounds. Instead of honor, the Arenas give "Arena Points" which can be spent to purchase items just like Honor Points. There are also "Arena seasons" where, at the end of each season, the best Arena teams in each category(2v2, 3v3 and 5v5) are awarded unique Epic or Legendary quality items. Only level 70 players can participate in rated arena matches. Lower level players can always participate in arenas but no arena points are awarded. Players can also be rewarded with titles http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/arena/index.xml bottom part of the page in the Arenas if they belong to one of the top teams at the end of an Arena season. These ranks are (from highest to lowest) Gladiator, Duelist, Rival and Challenger. With the release of version 2.0, a change was made to the honor system making it easier to obtain certain powerful items. This change was met with mixed reactions. Some criticized the change, claiming that the huge dedication in time and effort that players put forth under the old system had now been cheapened. Others, however, welcomed the change, since they felt the massive amount of time required under the old system was excessive and unhealthy, and was unreasonable for most people with jobs and other responsibilities. As of March 2007, Blizzard has added a section to their main website where any player on any realm can view their current arena team's rankings called "The Armory".9 In addition, this can also be used to view a player's equipped items, professions, and lifetime Honorable Kills. Reputation levels See Also: Reputation in World of Warcraft The reputation system is complex and can have direct impact on players character advancement. World Geography The current Virtual World consists of two planets; Azeroth and Draenor (a.k.a Outlands). Azeroth consists of two main continents, Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor , Azuremyst and Bloodmyst Isles which are located northwest of Kalimdor, and Teldrassil which is also located to the northwest of Kalimdor. Kalimdor contains the starting areas for Horde races of the ''Orcs'', ''Trolls'', and ''Tauren''. The Alliance ''Night Elves'' and ''Draenei'' both begin in areas off the coast of Kalimdor (Darnassus and Azuremyst and Bloodmyst Isles respectively), but move to the mainland fairly early. The Eastern Kingdoms contains the beginning areas for the Horde races of the ''Undead'' and ''Blood Elves'' as well as the Alliance races of the ''Humans'', ''Dwarves'', and ''Gnomes''. Draenor, added with the release of ''The Burning Crusade'', is only accessible to those who have purchased and activated the expansion pack. It is reached through the Dark Portal in the south of Eastern Kingdoms or through in-game teleportation such as Hearthstones, mage teleports, or engineering devices. Draenor was the original home of the Orcs and was also inhabited by the Draenei for over 200 years. The '' Wrath Of The Lich King '' expansion will add the continent of Northrend in the northern region of Azeroth and will be available exclusively to those players who purchase and activate that expansion pack. Cities There are four capital cities for each faction and one neutral city. Horde cities include:
Alliance cities include:
Neutral cities include:
Villages and outposts The Horde and Alliance both have several villages and outposts that serve as quest and flight hubs to players. Horde villages include Revantusk Village, Splintertree Post, Ghost Walker Post and more. Alliance villages include Refuge Pointe, Lakeshire, Theramore and more. In addition, several in-game factions maintain villages and outposts where either Alliance or Horde (or both) can obtain quests, reputation-based items or flight paths. Such neutral areas may have auction houses and/or banks. The most well-known neutral settlements are the Goblin villages of ''Ratchet'', ''Booty Bay'', ''Gadgetzan'', and ''Everlook''. Other examples include the posts and villages maintained by the Cenarion Circle, Sporeggar, Argent Dawn, Thorium Brotherhood and other organizations. Instances See Also: Instance (World of Warcraft) Instances, also known as instance dungeons or simply "dungeons", are areas where multiple copies of the same area can exist concurrently.10 This means that multiple groups can both be doing the same activities in the same location, yet not interfere with one another. "Instance" can also refer to a particular copy of such an area. Other areas, such as Battlegrounds , are also instances, enabling multiple groups of players to participate at the same time. Major world events For a time, it was argued that dynamic world-changing events were in extremely short supply in Warcraft. There was an overall feeling that the ongoing "wars" from which the game takes its name were external and out of touch from the player base. The only cross-faction interaction took place during server-crashing city raids and skirmishes in certain "hot spots" around the world such as the popular "Southshore Tug of War" in which Alliance and Horde forces would fight back and forth over the stretch of land between Southshore and Tarren Mill. The first world events were added in the form of outdoor raid bosses that could be accessed without entering an instance. These bosses were the blue dragon Azuregos of Azshara and the Burning Legion demon Lord Kazzak in the Blasted Lands. These were followed by four green dragons corrupted by the "Emerald Nightmare." In addition, certain areas of Azeroth experience an "elemental invasion" where waves of elemental-class monsters will run rampant for a time or until they are destroyed.11 Blizzard has also implemented holiday content that could be considered a world event. Valentine's Day , Easter , Independence Day , Halloween , Thanksgiving , Christmas , as well as New Year's and its Lunar Counterpart all have their Warcraft-themed counterparts. During these week-long events players partake in holiday-themed quests usually involving humorous references to real-world pop culture surrounding the holiday. For example, one of the Winter's Veil (Christmas) quests involves fighting a creature known as the Greench and rescuing a kidnapped reindeer named Metzen (styled after lead designer, Chris Metzen). The Darkmoon Faire In patch 1.6, players were given the opportunity to plunder the first new 40-player raid dungeon added since launch: Blackwing Lair. However, a more peaceful distraction appeared traveling across Azeroth and coming to rest in Mulgore and Elwynn Forest on opposing months called ''The Darkmoon Faire''. The Darkmoon Faire features attractions from across the globe such as the world's strongest woman, a petting zoo for some of Azeroth's most interesting creatures, various games of skill, a fortune teller, a giant human-launching cannon, and plenty of ale. Players can perform quests for various members of the Faire and receive Darkmoon Prize Tickets in return. These tickets can then be redeemed for items of various quality, from ''Month-Old Mutton'' to epic-quality jewelry. Additionally, players can occasionally find Darkmoon Cards scattered throughout the world. Eight sets exist at the present time: Beasts, Elementals, Portals, Warlords, Blessings, Furies, Lunacy, and Storms.12 Collecting all eight cards of a set (Ace through 8) allows the player to combine them into a deck and redeem them for a powerful, epic-quality trinket depending on which set was completed. The Faire sees sporadic updates and expansions in a semi-regular fashion. The most recent addition was a 'battle' minigame in which players take control of tiny, remote controlled tanks called 'Tonks' which use various weapons to disable other Tonks. Recently, in celebration of the upcoming Blizzcon '07, the Darkmoon Faire has appeared outside of Shattrath City in Outlands. The popular band, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain, will be performing their one sound "Power of the Horde" at every hour". Just be warned, the ogre bouncers do not take kindly to any kind of disturbance during the concert. Corrupted Blood plague See Also: Corrupted Blood While not an intentional world event, the Corrupted Blood plague nonetheless was one of the first events to affect entire servers. Patch 1.7 saw the opening of Zul'Gurub, the game's first 20-player raid dungeon where players faced off against an ancient tribe of jungle trolls under the sway of the ancient Blood God, Hakkar the Soulflayer. Upon engaging Hakkar, players were stricken by a debuff (a spell that negatively affects a player) called "Corrupted Blood" which would periodically sap their life. The disease would also be passed on to other players who were simply standing in close proximity to an infected person. Originally this malady was confined within the Zul'Gurub instance but made its way into the outside world by way of hunter or warlock pets that contracted the disease. Within hours Corrupted Blood had infected entire cities such as Ironforge and Orgrimmar because of their high player concentrations. Low-level players were killed in seconds by the high-damage disease. Eventually Blizzard fixed the issue so that the plague could not exist outside of Zul'Gurub. The corrupted blood plague so closely resembled the outbreak of real-world epidemics that scientists are currently looking at ways MMORPGs or other massively-distributed systems can model human behavior during outbreaks. The reaction of players to the plague closely resembled previously hard-to-model aspectis of human behavior that may allow researchers to more accurately predict how diseases and outbreaks spread amongst a population http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6951918.stm. The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj Patch 1.9 saw the first true world event in the ''World of Warcraft''. Located in the mysterious insect-infested, quasi-Egyptian themed area of Silithus , Ahn'Qiraj was the capital city of the powerful Qiraji, a race of magical creatures under the thrall of an ancient and terrible Old God who was chained beneath the earth in ages past. A coalition of Night Elves and dragons of the Four Flights fought a war against the Qiraji and their Silithid minions and sealed them behind the Scarab Wall. However, after many centuries the bonds of their prison began to break and Silithus was overrun by the creatures once more. A call for War against Ahn'Qiraj went out and the combined might of the Alliance and Horde sealed away the menace of the Old God for good. The world event was triggered by a twofold action. First, the entire server population was able to take part in the Ahn'Qiraj War Effort. Players of every level could turn in various items in both Ironforge and Orgrimmar for their faction's respective war preparations. Metals, herbs, textiles, and other commodities were all collected in great quantities. For example, one collector in Ironforge required players to turn in a stack of 20 runecloth bandages at a time. The total number of runecloth bandages required numbered in the tens of thousands. The faster materials were turned in, the faster the War would commence. In the weeks leading up to the opening of the gates many servers were neck-and-neck as Blizzard provided a rankings page to monitor the progress of each realm. In the end the realm Medivh succeeded in being the first to open the gates of Ahn'Qiraj . At the same time the War Effort was taking in supplies, high level players could engage in a quest chain that spanned the entire world to piece together an artifact called the Scepter of the Shifting Sands. This item would be necessary to ring the Scarab Gong and break the seals holding the Scarab Wall closed. When the War Effort was completed the armies of the Alliance and Horde would march to Ahn'Qiraj. In a spectacular set-piece the armies formed ranks outside the Scarab Wall and the gong was sounded by one lucky person per server. The gates opened and the minions of the Qiraji spilled out in a titanic melee. Additionally, invasions of Silithid insects occurred in almost every populated area of Azeroth. With the initial event completed the gates were open to everyone on a given server and players were able to access two new raid dungeons: the 20-man ruins zone and the 40-man temple zone and a few new quests. The Scourge Invasion The Invasion began with the launch of patch 1.11. Outside each major city and at various high level zones in the game players could encounter floating undead constructs called Necropoleis or necropolises with at least four groups of undead creatures spread out in a diamond formation below. At each point lay a necrotic crystal guarded by legions of undead. Upon destroying these crystals players could render the accompanying necropolis inert for a time and score a "victory" against the Scourge . The Dark Portal opens On '' expansion, much of the content of which is accessed by going through the portal. The demon leader Lord Kazzak escaped through the portal, replacing his presence with Highlord Kruul who attacked several areas in the game world. The world event lasted for a week before the release of The Burning Crusade expansion. REALMS Blizzard posts announcements on the login screen of ''World of Warcraft'' and on the official forums about realm status or issues. The status for each realm can also be viewed on their main website.
On the PvE (also known as Normal) realms throughout most of the world the PvP flag may only be enabled by actively turning it on, attacking a PvP-flagged player or NPC, entering a "PvP Territory" (such as a Battleground), entering an "Enemy Territory" (an enemy faction Capital City) or casting a positive spell on a friendly PvP-flagged player or NPC. The PvP flag will be removed after 5 minutes from the last PvP action. If the PvP flag was enabled using the command the player will need to turn it off using the same command and then avoid PvP combat for 5 minutes.
On a PvP realm, players are flagged for PvP by default. This flag is only disabled when a character is in a friendly faction city or a zone dedicated to newly created characters. All other zones are considered "contested territory" - players are automatically flagged for PvP upon entering a contested zone. Most players will not need to enter a contested zone until roughly level 20. On PvP servers, a player is limited to creating characters on one faction. This is in contrast to PvE servers, where a player may create both Horde and Alliance characters. The PvP servers also feature a more "hands-off" approach to server policies, facilitating the state of open war in these servers. Thus, The in-game GMs will deal with PvP related offenses differently than on the PvE realms, and some player actions are allowed to occur. These actions include, but are not limited to, Corpse Camping , Spawn Camping , and other PvP related sections of Blizzard's harassment policy.
The Roleplaying servers use the same ruleset as PvE realms, with the exception that players must act and behave In Character , and must follow "naming rules" when they name their character. This means that if players go onto one of these realms, those players act as their characters and anything that is not said in character is then Out Of Character and usually in ((double parentheses)), or preceded by "OOC:". It is also against the rules to be off-topic in all public channels, such as General and Trade.15 However, out of character chat is not uncommon on RP servers, though usually not in such a blatant manner as on non-RP servers.
The role-playing PvP realms are an extension to the role-playing realms in that they use the PvP ruleset instead of the Normal (PvE) ruleset. Blizzard did not initially have this server type when the game was launched; it was added later, largely due to player request. VERSION HISTORY ''World of Warcraft'' runs natively on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. Boxed copies of the game use a Hybrid CD to install the game, eliminating the need for separate Mac and Windows retail products. The game allows all users to play together, regardless of their Operating System . Although there is no official version for any other platform, support for ''World of Warcraft'' is present in Windows API implementations Wine and Cedega , allowing the game to be played under Linux16 and FreeBSD . As of Patch 1.9.3 the game added native support for the newer Intel-powered Macs , making ''World of Warcraft'' a Universal Application (as defined by Apple). As a result of this, the minimum supported Mac OS X version has been changed to 10.3.9; ''World of Warcraft'' version 1.9.3 and later will not launch on older versions of Mac OS X.17 Due to the fact that new content is constantly being added to the game official system requirements often change. As of version 1.12.0 the requirements for Windows have increased from requiring 256 MB to 512 MB of RAM and official Windows 98 technical support has been dropped even though the game should still run fine. |
|
|