Customer Reviews

World of Warcraft Collector's Edition

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Until somebody writes the official specs for the Amazon ad, here's what they have on the WoW website that comes with the collectors edition.

# The full game on both CD-ROM and DVD-ROM
# 1-month subscription to World of Warcraft
# The Art of World of Warcraft, 200+ page hardcover art book
# World of Warcraft Behind-the-Scenes DVD
# Exclusive in-game pet
# Official soundtrack
# Cloth map charting the continents of Kalimdor, Azeroth, Khaz Modan, and Lordaeron
# Signed Collector's Edition game manual
# 10-Day Free Guest Pass - invite one of your friends to join the epic quest

The list is amazing all the extra stuff you get. A 200 page hard cover book, and the sound track easily are worth the extra $30. But they go on with 2 versions of the game in both CD's and DVDs. Plus, the ability to give a friend a trial version and the DVD of behind the scenes. If they are still available, I recommend buying this version over the regular if you really love the Warcraft series. It may be a risk to wait and see when the actual release date is, but they are nearing Open Beta, and my only guess is before Christmas.

First: I have never played a MMORPG before this time. I'm not some kid with a gaming habit. I'm 27, fairly busy, and not about to spend money on a game I won't enjoy.

Up until this time the most incredible game I have ever played was The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. It was a perfect role-playing experience for someone raised on classic D&D, and the only drawback I ever found was that it was quite the lonely game. Months ago some friends of mine started talking about World of Warcraft. I was not even familiar with Blizzard or the Warcraft strategy games, so took all the hype with a grain of salt. Out of curiosity, though, I joined the Open Beta. And wow, what a couple of weeks that was.

The Warcraft world is richly diverse and deep in beauty. The scenery is gorgeous and the ambient sounds perfect, with some of the most beautiful music fading in and out as you explore. During the beta I played as human, undead, orc and night elf, and each race comes with its own history and its own future. Appearance is customizable enough that you don't "see yourself" walking around all that much, and the classes are all have strengths and weaknesses. Had great fun running down and slashing enemies with my undead warrior, enjoyed striking them with lightning from a distance with my orc shaman, smote the little beasties with my human priest and bound them with roots with my night elf druid. During that time I also learned how to make bandages and apply first-aid, fish, cook, and use herbs. It is no problem at all to create a character you will enjoy role-playing, and no, there is never another character out there just like yourself.

Of course, all that isn't taking in the social aspects of the game, which truly bring it up above and beyond the Morrowind experience. I played mostly on the special Role-Playing servers, where there weren't alot of people casually chatting about server lag, Halo 2, etc. On the RP server you stayed in character as you played, whether you were whispering to a partner, speaking to those around you, talking among your party or chatting with guild-mates. I never had a problem with finding a group - in fact, many times I was invited into groups by strangers. The quests can be done solo but really are more fun with at least one other person, and a little easier as well. There are some speaking options for your character, as well as lots of fun emotes. You can sit or lie down, eat and drink, fish (fishing is great fun) swim and dive, dance (also great fun) and on and on, all with other people. It truly is a living world, sometimes helpful and friendly, sometimes busy and crass, but how can one really RP without a realistic world to RP in?

The worst part is, now that the beta is over I miss that world very much. It is a place you can casually go to, enjoy the experiece, and then return to at another time.

As far as the game itself, I ran it sucessfully on an old 1.1 Ghz desktop with an anceint video card without much trouble, though getting a new card and some memory definitly helped, especially with the detail and lighting of the graphics. The servers were impressively stalwart under the pressure of 500,000 beta-testers, and when they did go down, it wasn't for long and no data was lost.

I would definitly shell out $50 for simply an RPG of this caliber. To play with friends and other folks in a living world, with new quests, creatures and features constantly being added and such great support from the Blizzard staff, the monthly fee is hardly a thought. I'm building a new system partially just to play this game, and hope it is successful for a long, long time.

I am a 1 year+ veteran of Star wars galaxies and 2 year player of EQ1. Like many I am a VERY disappointed SOE customer who has been eaglerly awaiting some sort of shift in the MMORPG market, and it's here.

I was recently accepted to WoW's "Final Stress Test/Open Beta" and have been playing it hardcore style for 3 days now. This game is without a doubt the best overal MMORPG to date. Blizzard has once again upheld it's flawless reputation. Any of you RPG/RTS fans that have played Diablo/Warcraft/Starcraft will know what I mean. This game (even in beta) is VERY polished. Many gamers have dubbed WoW as the possible holy grail for the online genre of games. While some will definitely find fault with its "cartoonish" graphics, and comparitively fast leveling times, NO ONE can deny the fact that this game is a GIANT in the FUN category. This is due mostly to the staggering amount of enjoyable quests, an incredible looking landscape, and a fantastic user interface.

For those looking for an answer as to which game "EQ2 or WoW" is better...I will give both sides a try, but drawing on my years of experience with Sony Online, I would say that EQ2 players can expect absolutely astounding graphics, several time-sink methods, bugs, and bad customer service. This seems to be the SOE norm.

As for me....I'm putting down my lightsaber and picking up a Battle-Axe to battle "The Horde". See you in Azeroth!

Having already penned my thoughts on WoW itself this is exclusively on the CE additions since I own it. Rated how fun the game is as 5 stars but the CE additions warrant 3 stars. The CE contains (as listed above):

The full game on both CD-ROM and DVD-ROM

-- Somewhat useful. If one breaks you have a back-up.

One-month subscription to World of Warcraft

-- Nice addition to have. I would have put a 3 month subscription in it soley based upon the initial price. Mainly considering anyone purchasing the CE is going to be a long-term player so give them more perks.


The Art of World of Warcraft, 200+ page hardcover art book

-- This was a really nice little book. If you are interested in the Warcraft Universe or just have a passing interest in artwork (As i do) then it's neat to look through.

World of Warcraft behind-the-scenes DVD

-- This has a lot of content and has so much material it's almost as full and rich as the behind-the-scenes DVD that comes with a Lord of the Rings Special Edition DVD.

Exclusive in-game pet

-- Meh. Mixed thoughts. There are much cooler pets you can get ingame. The pet you get gives you only three choices. Either a Panda Cub (has a severe case of narcolepsy and falls asleep everywhere), a Mini-Diablo (A mini-me Diablo that occasionally breathes fire), and a Zergling (from the Starcraft games..occasionally it clicks its claws). I would have rather had more pets to choose from.

Official soundtrack

-- Soundtrack is well done and decent atmosphere music.

Cloth map charting the continents of Kalimdor, Azeroth, Khaz Modan, and Lor daeron

-- Whoopie doo. It's very very very small. I have washcloths bigger than this thing. It also smells like the inside of a Burlap sack after two rats just got done having relations in it.

Signed collector's-edition game manual

-- Who cares.

10-day free guest pass invite for one of your friends to join.

-- This was a good little addition. I gave this to a friend so they could check it out without having to spend any money by lending him the CD-ROM copy to check out.

Overall a 3 stars. There is a lot of good content, but based on the price there should have been a little more.

I have always enjoyed MMORPG's. I like the community (usually) and i like the teamwork that is involved. Unfortunately most of the MMORPG's I have played haved been strictly group oriented. Meaning that you have to find a good group to do anything worthwhile. Seeing as I was a casual gamer who would sometimes not play for stretches at a time i usually did not join a guild. And in most other MMORPG's soloing after a certain level is not an option. I think World of Warcraft is great. I love the game and will be preordering it. The quests are simple and straightforward. All you have to be able to do is read the quest log it almost always gives you directions. The game also flows easily and leveling is not too easy but at the same time it is not that difficult. Which is great, meaning i dont have to spend every waking moment playing the game. This is a game for casual gamers, Blizzard has stated this was their target demographic. For all the hardcore MMORPG players there is always EQ2. I personally will have my time split from school, halo 2, and WOW.

I was part of the testing for WoW, and I have played Everquest. As much fun as level-grinding and mindless, no-skill required games sound, I'm not so into Everquest 2. Everquest was fun for about the first week, but then after dying at level 6 (which they did finally fix) and having to kill 30 rats to level again, I guess I just got bored. WoW has much more action while still maintaining the MMORPG classic theme of running around and killing. In higher end of gameplay for Everquest (which I need to say takes EXTREMELY too much from a person's life) there is too much required to level and constant long downtime. What I liked about WoW was that not only was the gameplay constant, it was more quest-based--the way MMORPG's should be. Everquest only rewards the customers that pay more, and that isn't where the true heart of gaming is. Sure, server maintenance costs a bit, but the prestigious "Stormhammer" server from Everquest was outright ridiculous. The graphics will also eat most computers alive. Constant new system requirements and necessary updates to my computer was never fun. If you like a company that will rape your pocketbook for as little actual quality and gameplay as possible, go with EQ2, but if you are a true gamer at heart, you will enjoy WoW.

I have been playing MMORPG games since UO and I have to start off by saying that this game is the best I've had the pleasure to play. I started this game and also EQ2 at the same time to see which one I will play more. I made it to level 23 on EQ2 and thats where the fun in that game stops. Now take WoW, this game has exceded every expectation I had for it. What makes WoW so much fun is the time I invest into it I recieve satisfaction for the small amount of time I put into it or the large amount of time I put into it. I have a job and family and this game seems to fit right in with my lifestyle. I use to play EQ1 and I spent tons of time on that game and seem to get somewhere but I had to spend a huge portion of my time on it. Now with WoW I can log in for a couple of hours and get full satisfaction that my time is well spent. The one complaint I do have is the lag at times I get on the servers. It's understandable though since this game is so popular, and I have complete confidence Blizzard will do what they can to fix the problem.

Let me preface this by saying that I've played more hours than I care to think about in MMORPGs. (Everquest, Asheron's Call, Anarchy Online, Lineage II, and City of Heroes.) I've played many characters into the upper-middle levels of all of these games, but found that the actual gameplay didn't keep me involved enough to want to ascend to the highest levels. I believe that this is where World of Warcraft (WoW)has the greatest edge over the competition.

In other games, you find that the bulk of your experience is gained from killing monsters ("mobs") appropriate to your level. However, in WoW, there's no need to spend hours at a time beating up spiders, bears, and what have you. From the very start, you can be given quests from any NPC in your area. These quests have level appropriate rewards ranging from extra experience, money, and armor or items. And very often, a chosen quest won't end with the completion of the current mission, but start a chain of quests that bring you further along in the storyline for the zone/area that you're in.

One of the things that I thought was a fantastic addition is the ability to share quests with party members. This has allowed me to share some of my current quests with groupmates. So now, instead of a group of people that are questing for the same item having to "roll" against each other when the item is attained, each person is able to get the item without having to replay through the current quest. (Sharing missions is also a feature of City of Heroes, but I believe that WoW has refined the process.)

Not just looking to get levels for your characters? Interested in being a tradesperson? The trades/crafting aspect of WoW is another feature that keeps me playing the game night after night. Access to trainers (for learning new trades/skills) is well thought out, and the crafting system is great. Taking Smithing (Armor and Weapon crafting) for example:
When I first spoke to the Smithing trainer, I was able to choose Smithing as a profession with no cost to start. I also noted that the trainer (A Journeyman Smith) would be able to train me for later levels in the profession. The paterns for crafting items weren't too expensive for my level. And one of the best parts is that the items I can make are color coded to let me know when they're too easy for my skill level.

I could spend another few hours going over the amazing features of this game, but have to cut things short.

For more information on World of Warcraft, visit: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/

Overall, this is a great game that I would recommend to anyone that enjoys role playing games.

I, for one, can say that I played the stress and open beta tests, and the whole time I was playing never had a dull moment. I never had to wonder what I was going to do, or looking at stuff in bazaar wishing I could afford to get it. No broken quests, as of lvl 20, and have done well over 80. That's more quests than I ever did in EQ and I played for two years. Bottom line is don't listen to the EQ2 fanboys, this game is the best MMO I've ever played. Graphics are a little cartoony but Blizzard stuck with their original art of all the Warcraft series. It's a great game developers spent a lot more time making the gameplay fun instead of making the graphics look real, and gameplay is what matters in the end.

I told myself that I wasn't going to play WoW. I went into the final stress test with the lowest of expecations and only under peer pressure. I didn't think that WoW would have anything worthwhile to offer.

Well I was wrong.

It doesn't hit you right away. First off, the graphic style takes some getting use to as it looks like you're playing in some child's storybook. The storyline is probably vague to most people not familiar with the subject matter. And the interface and interactions in the game might be alien even to other MMO players.

But then you start to play awhile...and you come to a realization. It works. The game works...and it works well. That is the one outstanding quality of WoW. The graphics, the style, the characters, the world, the quests, everything....just seem to fit together perfectly. The once childish graphics take on a rich, lively quality. The once vague world and storyline get fleshed out in a series of engrossing and engaging quests. Never once (through level 35) did I feel like I was just "grinding" to my next level. (oh I still don't particularly like the intferface. While it is pretty and works well, it just lacks the options I'm use to. On that note there are several UI customizations programs already developed for WoW and such customization is encouraged by WoW).

You'll find yourself exploring various and vastly different areas from picturesque plains to snow capped mountains to searing chasms of lava. Every place you go will have its own feel and its own personality. You'll help Kings, bartenders, the town drunk...maybe even assassinate a few people. All the while immersing yourself in a fully realized world. On that note, the questing system is linear in a way. There was a point (past the initial sense of awe at all the places there were to explore) that I discovered that there were only a few places I could explore at any given level. Such a progression structure is understandable, but it did feel confining at times. Also, the questing system is based heavily on grouping with other people. And depending on what type of player you are, that can be a good or bad thing.

But on the whole, my gripes with WoW were minimal at most and mostly due to my own preferences.

So my hat is off to Blizzard for making a quality game. I have become jaded from past MMO experiences, but WoW might be the salve to soothe such wounds.