I hope lots of  people and WoW lover enjoy the part 1 of my beginner’s Review of  World of Warcraft Experience, it take my more than what I think to put this part 2 together. I hope you will enjoy reading it…

WoW Requirements
An on-line account in Battle.net must be made in order to register.  Regular subscription via pre-paid game cards, credit or debit cards is required to continue playing.  A 10-day free trial can be obtained on-line by creating an account and downloading the installer which in turn downloads and installs the entire game.  Recommended hardware specifications include: 1.8 GigaHertz CPU,  15+ GigaBytes of Hard Drive Space, 1 Gigabyte of RAM, a 3D Capable Video Card with 128 Megabytes of VRAM, XGA (1,024 x 768) Screen Display, 256 Kbps Broadband Internet Connection, Windows XP SP3 or Mac OS 10.4.11, Keyboard and Mouse with Scroll Wheel.

World of warcraft

Game Maintenance
The WoW Development Team regularly updates the game with exciting new content, as well as performance enhancements and bug fixes. The game will be updated using any of the 4 Update Methods: content patches, hotfixes, emergency patches and localization patches.  Content Patches include major additions or modifications in the game that include functions, content, economy, interaction or fights which are mostly enhancement related.  These require several hours of maintenance and consist of a download and the patch notes usually on Tuesdays.  Hotfixes are critical updates that too urgent to wait for the next regular scheduled patch.  They are server-side changes that do not require subscriber intervention.  Emergency Patches are similar to Hotfixes but require a download that is accompanied by a patch note.  Localization Patches are about the language implementation in WoW and occurs to all versions which comprises of a download and its notes.

The Price of War
At the end of the trial period or the free month bundled with the retail package, additional subscription is needed to continue playing WoW. Three subscription options are available: a 1-month package for $14.99, a 3-month plan for $41.97, and a 6-month plan for $77.94.  These fees are used to cover the maintenance costs required for the high-levels of quality service, support and ongoing content development which make WoW an exciting game to play.

The WoW Market Share
WoW holds approximately 62 percent of the Massively Multiplayer Online Game subscription market in April 2008.  As of December 2008, WoW had more than 11.5 million subscribers thus earning it a Guinness World Record of being the most popular MMORPG in terms of subscribers.  WoW is currently the world’s most popular MMORPG considering these figures.

The Good:

• System Investment: minimal hardware & software (system) requirements, can be played on 2004-era computers and small Netbooks, widely supported because of minimal requirements
• Graphics Quality: adequate 3D representation of a virtual world using 2D mapping
• Graphics Performance: easily rendered corner details on simple polygon surfaces
• Aesthetics: Essential and Non-essential entities and places are included for authenticity
• Music and Sound Effects: music, sounds effects and voices of characters/NPCs provide credibility
• Environment: real-world representation and unrestricted movement
• Storyline: consistent with previous chronicles of the franchise, some humor & reality references
• Playable Characters: customizable, increasing variations, interesting backgrounds
• Non-Playable Characters: credible roles, adds realism, interesting behaviors
• User Interface: high-resolution, intuitive, simple, context-sensitive
• Level Advancement: attainable and challenging, multiple venues for leveling-up, very replayable
• Content: regularly updated and improved, keeps game interesting, anticipated expansion sets
• Challenge: players can choose the challenges they want, flexible participation and pacing
• Bug/Patch Response: highly responsive development team, immediately resolves most issues
• Technical Support: high-availability, multiple support options
• Datacenter Performance: high uptime hours, scheduled downtimes for maintenance & repairs
• Subscription Rates: 1, 3 or 6-month packages with 6-7% discount on longer subscriptions

The Bad:

• System Investment: moderate performance gain even on higher-end systems
• Graphics Quality: plain projection of shaded 2D graphics on simple 3D surfaces to simulate 3D depth and detail
• Graphics Performance: real-time performance on more powerful video cards
• Aesthetics: Lower quality of details under higher resolution displays, use of shadows to cheat
• Music and Sound Effects: extremely high level of activity during mass combat can be noisy
• Environment: Simulated depth of field to create the illusion of distance, low detail on plants
• Storyline: some inconsistent external phenomena in WoW universe were added for relief
• Playable Characters: races, classes and characters are implausibly added at some expansions
• Non-Playable Characters: some have incredible backgrounds, appearances and roles
• User Interface: default setting needs to be customized, floating names can be distracting at times
• Level Advancement: leveling-up is necessary to enjoy the game further and every aspect of it
• Content: less frequent expansions, decrease of player interest between expansions
• Challenge: more advanced players may find themselves bored prior to the release of updates
• Bug/Patch Response: mostly adequate, responsive deployment, players are immediately notified
• Technical Support: may be saturated during peak times of widespread need for tech support
• Datacenter Performance: peak time performance bottlenecks
• Subscription Rates: relatively expensive compared to other MMO Games with similar realism

The Verdict: World of Warcraft – in Cataclysm?
While WoW is perceived as a King in its class of MMORPG, it still has a lot of areas to improve on.  Aside from making it too friendly for new subscribers, it needs to add more depth and gravity in its content to be seen as a mature and serious offering for its mature and serious gamers.  No doubt, the polished content released every expansion set will revive its dormant subscribers and invite new players, but what it needs is a genuine reason to keep most, if not all, of its members always active in the first place.  WoW is a good place to start for those who are still window shopping for an established on-line game and is an excellent training ground for the next generation of hardcore gamers for years to come.  As with every updates, the pending release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will hold the key to the latest judgment of the franchise.  Only then can we know if WoW is really destined to prevail or bound to cataclysm.

Related posts:

1. The World of Warcraft Experience – A Beginner’s Review (Part 1)
2. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Dated