WoW - my impressions after the 1st week

[tcith]

Well I thought I would wait a few days an comment

Yes this is a new game - yes we are out of beta
my main MMORPG experience comes from 18months of playing Asherons Call and Asherons Call - Dark Majesty (the add on pack) - I have also played Ultima online and some EQ as well as various othyer MMORPG's - I found AC the best of the bunch but left AC due to the umber of exploits and "kiddies" on the servers. I played Asherons Calls from day 2 of release .. that's my bench mark

My opinions on WoW:
Negatives: servers/UI/Environment

1. Server up time - WoW is pathetic - I am now on my third server - my other two servers have never re-appeared have now made my home on a third (which is currently down) - yes i know this is a new game BUT even AC (which was managed by microsoft for gods sake) got this right.

2. Notifications - again pathetic - the notices offered by Blizzard are bare minimum and often out of date - if they bother to post at all - projected down times are completely bogus.

3. Web site - woefully out of date - much of the web site for world of warcraft still refers to beta or to "the upcoming release" also forums are not up to date, the forums for the Realms only mention those that where at release - all others are nowhere to be seen - yes I know they added these additional realms due to the demand (and I have no idea how they could not forsee the demand) but there is no reason why they also can't keep their web site in sync with their game servers

4. Server status still via forums - no up/down or condition web page (URL is present but when you click on it it says to refer to the forums)

5. for an "international" release where Australia and NZ where refered to in all coverage as equal we have to interprete USA times, USA holidays and seasons - there is no international flavour at all to the Web site - eg: "Servers will be at peak period over thankgiving", "we will add more capacity after fall" , numerous posting where the time of 0500 PST yet there is no indication what the local time is on the board - even short media (yay SM) allows me to indicate MY time zone and I see posts in local time.

6. No "co-ordinates" for locations in the game - very general "it's to the South west" etc - too easy to miss where your going.

7. Professions and skills too easy - zero failure means it's a bit "boring" to do trade skills

8. Quests are at times too simplistic - AC was more "obscure" so you had to figure out clues and assemble items to make unknown things - WoW is got to point A then B then C and you get "item" at end

9. Leveling seems easy - I am level 12 after an afternoon - Level 12 on AC took weeks of hard labour

10. Death penaly seems minor - am happy to kill myself then scout as a ghost so I can do the next run easier

11. AC ran an ongoing storyline with new content/quests etc being added each month - not sure if WoW embraces this concept - world story seems flat

12. The economy is $$ centric - want a new spell or ability you need the $$ to support it - no $$ then you are stalled in the game, AC allowed you to progress even without $$ - you just need the raw components to get the spell or learn the ability - all spells are bought in WoW

13. too much running distances on food guided by minimap - unable to navigate by world map - repeat no coordinates for locations

Good stuff

1. yes the game is adictive - but I was more addicted to HL2 - but I am tiring of it after a few days of play (server crashes and unavailabilty as well)

2. Graphics are not bad - AC was pretty damn good too

3. long distance transport is clever - but ......

4. spell bars and UI not bad

5. chat functions adequate

6. mail is an excellent feature

6. spell and enemy detail is fine


overall it's playable BUT I think I will get bored sooner than later - it lacks something to keep me interested for a long period of time

It's fun seeing Warcraft creatures rendered in 3d and figting them .... BUT .....

this said reason I am writing is that the realm I am on is down - they say for an hour ..... this remains to be seen

cheers

[Squill]

Hey there's always Everquest 2 :thumbsup: I was extremely suprised that EQ2 had a nice clean launch. The 1st day i loaded up the game and got on right away and played all day without the servers going down. The only problem I ran into was that the server I picked was the most popular server, so the popular areas (mainly inside the city) were laggy, but then they offered us a free char transfer to a new server and that new server is alot better.

[mmonnin]

Leveling will really start to slow down the more and more you play?

Have you tried Cosmos for WOW yet? It adds more spellbars and some nice features.

[EMT]

After playing the beta without much enjoyment as well as reading a few of your important complaints, I don't plan on buying this game. I'd expect Thrax'll come and discuss some of these points though, he's seemed to be quite a proponent of WoW.

[Thrax]

I'm not going to argue with opinion. The problems he set forth don't affect me, I pay little to no attention to, I will wait through, or are wrong (Just one was). I've seen the game as it was meant to be played for weeks at a time -- I have full confidence that it will return to that state over the next few weeks, and as such I am going to buy the collector's edition this afternoon.

[pseudonym]

I disagree with tcith. I haven't had any real server issues since the 2nd day, but thats because I got lucky and picked the right server. Some people have had big problems though. I would like to see some type of coordinate system, because some of the quests are very hard to find the right place if you don't get lucky. On the plus side it promotes exploration of an ENORMOUS world. The economy is money centric, but I find that a bit better than some other situations. Need some more money?? Go grind a bit and sell what you find. I'm lvl 18 and I have yet to have a money shortage, we'll see when you need higher level stuff all the time though.

My main complaint is class centric. I'm a warrior and it is VERY hard to find new weapons for some odd reason. Either its past my level, or I just can't find it if they are in the world somewhere. Armor is offered as a reward for almost every quest, but very rarely do they offer me a decent weapon, quite frustrating at times. This really makes it hard for me because of my lack of long range spells or pets. I HAVE to tank in there but generally can't handle more than 2 monsters easily (generally 1 depending on the level) because I can't do enough damage. Quite frustrating.

Anyways, minor gripes aside, I'm absolutely addicted to this game and I love it. I've never been into MMORPS till now, and I'm glad I did it...... at least until this weekends over.

[Thrax]

As a warlock I can't handle more than 2 easily. It's pretty standard with every class except the Hunter, which is probably going to attract the nerf bat.

To get weapons, hit the elite dungeons: Wailing Caverns and Ragefire for Horde (Sorry I don't know what they are for alliance :( ). You'll need a group and a dedicated healer to finish it. They're instanced, so it's just you and your friends, no one to gank your goods. You'll find a ridiculously good weapon in Wailing Cavners -- I believe the quest is had out of Ratchet or XR. Also, if you head into the stonetalon mountains, there's a quest you receive from a wanted sign on the left side of the road as you're headed up towards Sunrock Retreat.

There are similar quests for Alliance, but I don't know their locations. They're geared for groups of 18-22.

[tcith]

Like I said these where impressions and opinions from my MMORPG experience
I am still playing - level 12 Warlock now and the server I am on seems stable enough.

Alas my level 8 char I had on the server I started on was wiped, I won;t be back on that server anyhow as pop is too high - and the other server I had a level 5 on has never returned to the game -
So I have made my home on Dragonblight - low population Pacific server - have yet to find any other Aussies

The two servers the Aussie gamers net have "recomended" are full

think the biggest thing I would like is Map co-ords - getting someone to meet you in the wilderness is a pain especially with no "radar dots" to tell you they are just beside you but on the other side of the tree your standing next to.

anyhow - will give it another week and see if I can get into this more

Have fun guys

[keto]

If you are in a guild you can team up from any location remote from one another. Then, an icon shows on your map giving the location of your teammate. Less than ideal but better than what you stated. I've played a hunter to 15 (in beta) and currently a warrior at 14 and a priest at 13. Neither is particularly powerful and in fact the priest was tanked today by a same level beast when starting from full health and buffs - tho I admit to a bit of mismanagement, but not much. Almost every kill has me WAY down low on both mana and hp. I have also read on the boards that warriors got nerfed a while back, I believe it because my guy is certainly nothing special as a tank.

Psued is right about weps. I find myself sending good drops from the higher level toon to the lower level one, just to keep the lower one up to snuff. The level 7 mace the priest 'inherited' from the warrior is better than the lvl 12 mace the vendor sells. But the warrior got it at about lvl 10, no way anyone would be getting that thing at lvl 7 unless they had a party of 4 or more.

Money hasn't been a problem, though both characters have skinning and I am a scavenger, stopping for every corpse I see. It only takes a couple of seconds and every 10 light leather are worth 1s50c. I can easily make 5-8s just from leathers in an hour, if I'm in the right area (about anywhere around Crossroads, for example), over and above XP from killing everything that moves and extra $$ from the drops.

I find levelling slow after about 8-9. I played the priest for about 6 hours today, started right at lvl 12 beginning, got to 13 plus about half towards 14. Which doesn't seem all that fast to me, and it's going to get slower every step up.

[TheSmJ]

You do get "radar dots" if you group up with the person you're looking to meet with.

[tcith]

Guilds and grouping was one of the reasons I was looking for an "aussie friendly server" pointless being in a guild if no one from your guild is on in the same time zone - finding that the few friends I have added on my list have never been on again unless I play at 4am my time

but still early days - finding soloing with casual group togethers for the low level quests o.k for now - not sure how it will go once I am up to the "instances" - will look to starting a second toon as well now that my Warlock can provide "hand me downs"

I am finding money o.k - I spend it just as fast
am a tailor/enchanter

Making a killing on making bags right now

[pseudonym]

So... addicted.... must.... stop..... playing....

lvl 20 warrior now. My armor is helping to make up for my lack of weapon. Money is an issue now though since I went on a training binge (ran to ironforge and then stormwind to train in axes, dual wield etc). I've got decent weaps now but they are 2 handers, haven't tried it all out as of yet though. Must get to bed anyways.

[TheSmJ]

So... addicted.... must.... stop..... playing....

lvl 20 warrior now. My armor is helping to make up for my lack of weapon. Money is an issue now though since I went on a training binge (ran to ironforge and then stormwind to train in axes, dual wield etc). I've got decent weaps now but they are 2 handers, haven't tried it all out as of yet though. Must get to bed anyways.


Just don't let us hear about you dropping dead in some cyber cafe in a couple weeks from now, k?

[tcith]

Argh this daily maintence is right in my peak "time for myself" time - partner is in bed rading a book and this is my time to myself - oh well guess I can't use this time to play WoW. if this continues I'll dump the game as I want better up time than this from a service I pay for - I know it;s early days but this service maintence from day one is a worry other MMORPG's have not had this level of problem

[Thrax]

No other MMO received 250,000 players their first week, either. :) Keep that in mind. And.. Your first month is free.. You're not paying for anything right the moment.

I understand your frustrations, but at the same time... Imagine the frustration they're having. Staff working 'round the clock on hardware and software to provide you with the level of service you expect, with a demand that's never existed in the history of MMO gaming.

[tcith]

No other MMO received 250,000 players their first week, either. :) Keep that in mind. And.. Your first month is free.. You're not paying for anything right the moment.

I understand your frustrations, but at the same time... Imagine the frustration they're having. Staff working 'round the clock on hardware and software to provide you with the level of service you expect, with a demand that's never existed in the history of MMO gaming.

Hmm I am a little "dubious" of this repeated comment of it being the "biggest launch" etc etc - they stress tested this in beta with over 250k people, they knew the demand from the pre orders, they manufactured the software YET they still can't cope with the 1st week of players.

Yes I know it's free but at this stage I won't be paying for a second month as I can't play, the server never came back up after maintence after I waited around an hour - so I gave up - So currently my 1st "free month" has been about 7 hours of actual up time, not counting the 5 hours of extremely laggy play on a server that njow does not exist and character has been wiped, I have lost count of the number of times I have gone to play and can't due their servers are down (with no reason in the forums) or down for maintence - unfortunately it seems this falls in your down time (early hours morning USA time) but in Australian peak gaming time

So at this stage I will say my experience with WoW has been far from "fantastic"

There is a long forum thread on WoW forums (now 16 pages long) as a request from Aussies to have maintence times on at least "Aussie prefered" servers changed to not conflict with Aussie peak gamers times

and yes I am on a low population server - Pacific time

[Thrax]

The stress test had 500,000 UNPAID players. There's no possible formula to predict the amount of people willing to play once a monthly fee comes up.. Nor can you accurately predict from preorders: I myself know 15 people (Personally) that play WoW, not a one of us preordered.