World of Warcraft Replacing More Expensive Forms of Entertainment

What is World of Warcraft you ask? World of Warcraft or WoW as players commonly refer to the game, is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game or MMORPG for short. It was released by Blizzard Entertainment and is the forth in a series of games based on the WoW universe.

Players control a character avatar within a game world exploring, fighting creatures, doing quests, and interacting with other players in a one on one basis or in groups of up to as many as 40 people can band together to overcome extremely hard encounters. Players start at level 1 and can go as high as level 70 in the game now, with another 10 levels planned in the next expansion pack due to be released some time in 2008 or early 2009.

There are so many things to do in the game it will be a long time before you grow bored with the game so the replay concerns associated with other games are not as large with a MMORPG. Many players will soon join a guild of other players to cooperate in doing some of the group activities available to players in World Of Warcraft. These include group quests, instances or dungeons, battlegrounds where its a battle till last man standing with several twists along the way. Also a guild is a great place to get your questions answered if your new to the game. It is easy to get overwhelmed in the beginning because the World of Warcraft world is huge in comparison to your average role-playing game. It consists of 3 continents which have many territories to explore and many towns both friendly and unfriendly to encounter.

In the game there are two opposing factions, the Alliance and the Horde. When you make your character you can choose which faction you want to associate with. I would strongly suggest that people new to the game start with Alliance as the Horde side tends to attract hardcore gamers and people who have played for an extended period of time and you may find little or no help in the beginning to easy your learning curve in the game. Each faction has 5 races your avatar can be. Each race is very distinctive and has their own mannerisms, dances, and attitudes. In addition to 10 different races that can be played, players can choose one of 9 different classes to play as well. these include Warriors, Hunters, Shamans, Paladins, Mages, Warlocks, Rogues, Druids, and Priests. Each class is just as important as any other and all are needed at many points in the game. The game typically has a shortage of healers because so many people want to fight. So if you want to gain a reputation in the game rather quickly learn to play a healer well and you can pretty much go and do whatever you wish in the game just a tad easier in the group activities. Your character can also have up to two professions. Professions will be the way you usually make your gold to pay your way in the game. Professions can also allow you to make things like your armor, rings, weapons, potions and other beneficial items to make your game life easier while putting a gold or 2 in your pocket.

At level 40 you will get your first mount in the game. This allows you to go faster and shows the game world you are determined to join the rank and file of heroes on the server of your choice. Mounts vary by race but include horses, birds, elephants, rams, wolves, big cats, even has a mechanical strider type mount with little tiny mirrors on it. There are some very rare and special mounts in the game that can be achieved through much hard work and while they give no added functionality to your experience they do give you prestige and bragging rights among your friends. At level 60 you can purchase a faster land mount and at level 70 you can acquire a flying mount. There are several types of flying mounts in the game as well up to and including helicopters and dragons.

World of Warcraft is the largest online game of its type with over 8.5 million subscribers the last time I checked and I'm sure that's growing every day. There are people from many countries who are now playing WoW and you will meet a variety of personalities from a various cultures. The game will suggest a server near your home location simply because the speed will be better the closer the server is to your home. This difference can range from subtle to dramatic. There are several types of servers as well. You have the type named PVE or Player Vs. Everything server, which is your basic server where just about anything goes. You have your role playing server which attracts people interested in developing a character with depth to their personality and life in the game. And you have your PVP or Player Vs. Player server where battle between factions is a major attraction. On the PVP servers you can always be attacked by the opposing faction when you go out in the wilds away from your starting areas. many players find this interesting and more challenging than the role playing or PVE servers. There are also PVPRP servers where the battle can take on epic proportions at times and have a running story line.

The game has many features that promote the interaction of players in the game world. Not only are there several chat channels you can talk in, your guild will have its own channel and you can make any channel you choose. you can also talk or yell out loud and people around you will see what you are saying. There is a whisper function that will allow you to talk to another player in a more private way as well. World of Warcraft also has many emoticons that will allow your avatar to express his or her feeling in many different ways. Recently World of Warcraft added voice chat to the game as well so if you so desire you can talk to others in the game if they have the equipment to do so.

World of Warcraft is reasonable priced at around $30 for the basic package and that includes a free month of game play. If you want to go above level 60 you will have to purchase the current expansion pack which will allow you to get to level 70. The expansion cost around $30 as well. Each month you play will cost you about twelve to fifteen dollars and provides unlimited play time. This may seem expensive at first but you may find you enjoy the game so much it takes the place of other entertainments you used to engage in that cost much more money.

Try it you may like it you may not, but if you have never played a MMORPG you will be opening yourself to a whole new world of computing that you never knew existed. That alone would have been worth it for me.