Thinking of buying...

[The Jack]

Hello all. Thinking about picking up WoW and I have a few questions.

CoH was my first mmo besides NWNs ( does that even count?) and I'm wondering about the simularities. CoH was fun, for the first month, then got drastically boring. How does this game compare? Also how does it compare mission/quest wise? Are the simular, meaning when I get a quest, will it just be me on the quest or will it be open to everybody. For example in COH when I recieved a mission, I went through a door and the mission was "all mine". Is it like this in WoW?

Also, how bad is the mobbing? In CoH, missions were useless if you wanted to level and people were forced to hit the streets. What can I expect to get from missions/quests? How much time will be spent on randowm roaming slaying of mobs? Has the game been infected with powergamers camping all the level specific spawns?

Are weapon drops and what not only in missions, or will I have to deal with people spawn camping? I'm about 50/50 onthe powergamer/roleplayer, how much fun will I have? Will it take me months to get to say lvl 20? I need progress, but I love to roleplay.

PVP or PVE are about the same to me, but my concern is in PvP, what are the penalties for dying? What are the rewards for killing?

That's about all I can think of at the moment. Thanks in advance to anyone how takes time to answer!

jack

[Kraxen]

Quests are a great way to level up and get good items.
There are some spawn camping in the non-instanced dungeons, but mobs spawn fairly quick so you don't have to wait long for you turn. Most people waiting for a quest mob to spawn are also often willing to group up to defeat it (quest items are given to everyone in the group, if you have the quest).
I was only in the stress-test, but I had a blast! I've already pre-ordered it. This is a great game, and you would be wise to get it.
As for pvp, that is not yet implemented in the game, sure you can go about killing lowbies and whatnot but the real pvp has yet to come. You can read some more about it here: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/battlegrounds.html
There are almost no penalty for dying, only the time it takes you to run back to your corpse. It's all good if you ask me.
The leveling is quite fast, you'd reach level 20 in 2 weeks if you play a couple of hours each day.

Wrap up; get WoW. You won't regret it.

[Niandralades]

Don't get it for another couple of months. There's absolutely no point. The game still isn't at a presentable point, the economy is inflated, major features aren't implemented (i.e. there's no point telling him about battlegrounds and to buy the game, when battlegrounds aren't implemented yet and won't be for at least 2 months in all likelihood). Honestly, I can't see any reason to buy the game now, instead of in a few months. You won't level up fast enough to be the first at anything, which is really the reason people buy the game straight away. I'd love to be the first level 60 in a game, or the first to do a big quest, or get an epic item, etc. But you just won't. People have already powerlevelled their character to hell and back.

[Kraxen]

You're not having fun playing wow, Nian? I have not played it anywhere near the amount you have of course, but seeing the lack of other fun games to ease my wait I'd get it as soon as I could, even if it is alittle rough around the edges.
Further more, I wasn't selling wow with the battleground argument. I was merely responding to his question about pvp.

Oh, and merry x-mas to yas!

[mbuhtz]

I'm also investigating WoW, and have never played an MMORGP before (always avoided them because of the bad rep of camping, etc). However, I've got a bi-coastal gaming group that wants to connect online, so I've started looking at WoW.

From what their website has to say, it looks like they've really tried to address the drawbacks (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/faq/gameplay.html for what they say about their game). I have a friend who's on the PvP server and loving it, and I'm looking at the PvE server for our game. There's also an RP server, where you must stay in character. Could be fun. You can share quests with your party (party limit is 5 people), so not everyone has to go talk to the quest giver to get the quest.

The website is really quite thorough, and I'll probably get it on the strength of that alone. Once I play some, and maybe talk to other friends who love it, I'll suggest it to my group.

[Nightfreez]

I have never played this type of game have played more 1st shooter game and this game rocks. This camping thing I here of thier is none you can ask to duel and if you lose nothing happens to you or you can decline. Teaming up is easy and helps alot. I should not have bought this because I go to bed at 2-3am up at 7am lol.

[Niandralades]

I am having fun, sometimes, Kraxen. It's just not the rip-roaring bellyache of frivolity that I thought it would and should be.

[Kraxen]

What is bothering you about wow? Is there a flaw in the basic design or just how certain aspects have been implimented?
What should the devs be doing to remedy this situation in your opinion?

[Niandralades]

It isn't any one problem, it's a slew of really poor gameplay decisions. If you were to try and sum it up as one problem, then it would be "WoW is absolutely no different to Everquest". I've said this multiple times on this forum in the last few weeks, so feel free to just look through my posts or something, but the biggest problem with WoW is simply that the same people who came up with the original idea, and the original vision for what an MMORPG should be, are not the ones still working on the game. The people making WoW now, are grizzled MMORPG veterans, who have simply turned the game into Everquest, circa 1999.

[Plaque Man]

It isn't any one problem, it's a slew of really poor gameplay decisions. If you were to try and sum it up as one problem, then it would be "WoW is absolutely no different to Everquest". I've said this multiple times on this forum in the last few weeks, so feel free to just look through my posts or something, but the biggest problem with WoW is simply that the same people who came up with the original idea, and the original vision for what an MMORPG should be, are not the ones still working on the game. The people making WoW now, are grizzled MMORPG veterans, who have simply turned the game into Everquest, circa 1999.

I have to disagree with you just on the fact that you think it is everquest. I could not stand EQ I quit that game almost as soon as I started it. This game has similar quests and such and I will admit that I havent read your other posts on the subject so I may be jumping the gun. However simply running to the rescue of the game I have enjoyed. I have found very few things about this game that I have not enjoyed a lot. I have played past games and this one has a more friendly feel to it. Although I dont group quite as much as I did in these other ones (DAOC, FF). That said I find people are quicker to help you on the little "need help killing this one guy only" Quests.

[Niandralades]

Yeah, it definitely has a better community than DAoC. It's not as good as AO by any stretch of the imagination, but it's probably the second best MMORPG community I've seen. Odd, since one of the things people were most afraid of was the "bnet kiddy" influx. I still think the community is a little flawed though, simply because you rarely need to group with people to finish quests. If you think about a new zone you've entered, the amount of quests you actually need to group up for are quite few. I'm seeing more and more of them as I level up, so I'm hopeful it's just a game device to ease players into things. But still, most groups I'm in break up as soon as the one difficult mob we grouped for is killed, and that's a shame.

I think you're wrong about it being very different from EQ though. I'm talking about fundamental similarities, obviously. I'm not saying EQ had goblin engineers and infernals and so on, I'm talking about the actual crux of the gameplay. If you don't think they're about...I'd say roughly 90% similar in terms of gameplay, then I think you're being blinded by sugar coating (graphics, quest texts, etc) instead of seeing the bare bones of the game. And good for you, really. It means you're a lot less cynical and analytical than me.

[Plaque Man]

You could be right. Perhaps its because I gave up on EQ so quickly that I am thinking that it is not similar. The way that I am mainly comparing the two though is in grouping. I definitly agree with you that as soon as a quest or mob is dead the group more times then not falls apart. I Have seen this happen a number of times. Also though I have found that even in those short times of grouping with some people it is way to long. Then there are other times that I have wished it were longer. That however is off the subject.

I compare it to eq in the sence that in EQ you needed to group to do vitualy anything at all. I hated waiting for a group to happen. This game at least if you cant find a group there is other stuff you can do while you wait. Just to say something on the last part of your comment about the quest groups getting better. My roomate plays a level 60 char. Everytime I see him play he is in a high level instance and rarely is he solo anymore. So it would apear that you are correct in the fact that grouping does get better at higher levels. I am not quite there yet either though, as I am a very casual player and play 2 different chars (only level 27and 25). So will be a while before I get to that level.

I am really looking forward to the release of the PVP battlegrounds those were my favorite thing In DAOC. Have read the only update on them I have found, and if they turn out to be as unique as they are making them sound. Then it looks like it will be a very good time.

[Niandralades]

Yeah, battlegrounds SHOULD be good. I'm still very very iffy of them, because I don't really trust Blizzard anymore. They've gradually made the game worse and worse, and their original ideas seem to be getting struck off the list more and more, so I'm not too hopeful at all, but it SHOULD be good.

[FieryPaladin]

It's really up to you dude i mean i really like the game but if your looking for a good game to play i think this one will be really good for you the gameplay is really amazing and the content of the game is kick ass, i really love how they built the characters and i think that you would enjoy this game as for CoH it was a good game but like you said i also played it for a month but then it got really boring. i been playing wow since beta and i havent got bored since, so choose this game bro, you wont regrete it :sm7: