Platform: Windows (Vista/XP/2K/ME/98)
Singapore Publisher: AsiaSoft Online Pte Ltd
Game Genre: Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game (MMORPG)
Pricing: US$15 per month (credit card), S$47.50 (2-mth prepaid card)
Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) Rating: Teen
Media Development Agency (MDA) Rating: Not Rated
INTRODUCTION
World of Warcraft (WoW) is arguably the most well known online game in gaming circles today. The original game was launched in 2004 and two expansion sets, The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, have been added since then. The expansion sets introduced additional game content and features, prolonging the life of this five year old game. It is not uncommon for players to devote hundreds of hours every month living their virtual characters in this award-winning Warcraft universe, interacting with thousands from all over the globe.
GENERAL GAMEPLAY
Players start by creating a level 1 game character. As the character increases in level (through gaining "experience"), he obtains more skills and becomes more powerful. Every game character belongs to one of two factions in the game รข€“ Alliance or Horde. Each game character would also have a race (eg, dwarf, human, elf) and a class (eg, paladin, mage, druid).
WoW has essentially two modes of gameplay, Player versus Environment (PvE) and Player versus Player (PvP).
PvE focuses on killing computer-controlled monsters or super monsters ("bosses") and clearing dungeons or instances (which are places filled with monsters) either by playing alone or together with other players in a party. For monsters and dungeons of lower difficulty, playing alone or with a small party is sufficient. However, once you reach the max level, which is as of now level 80, you would need a guild (an organized group with a common identity) or find a big group of other players in order to go for more valuable treasure. The size of the parties would depend on the type of dungeons that are being challenged and it can consist of 10, 25 or 40 players. On a side note, in order to accommodate the real-life schedule of members that make up the raids (which is the term for an expedition to conquer a dungeon), most guilds fix their raid timings to be between 6pm-1am.
PvP, as its name suggest, involves challenging and killing other players. There are three modes of PvP, known in the game as World PvP, Battlegrounds and Arenas. World PvP happens when players kill each other in the game world. Battlegrounds take the form of a mini-game which can involve up to 80 players. Each team is given an objective to accomplish, such as to capture the opponent's flag or hold a particular location against the other team. The Arena is the most competitive form of PvP as the game developers are keen to promote this as a form of competitive sport. Forming teams of 2, 3 or 5, the best Arena teams can obtain significant in-game rewards and even worldwide acclaim. The game developers organize tournaments which showcase the skills of professional Arena teams and offer prizes up to USD50,000.
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