World of Warcraft

Popular programs in Role Playing

What is World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is an MMORPG, which means "massively multiplayer online roleplaying game". The universe of Warcraft was first created back in 1994, but the WoW that most players now know and love was released in 2004. The game has four expansions, with a fifth scheduled to be released in 2014. At its peak, World of Warcraft boasted seven million subscribers, and it is still the most popular MMORPG.

Players logging in to WoW for the first time are given a choice of server. Choosing the right server or "world" is important, because there are worlds which pit the player against the environment and NPC (non-playing character) opponents, and then there are player versus player worlds in which you'll do battle against fellow gamers. There are also roleplaying worlds, where players can roleplay their characters. Once the player has chosen world type combat, there's the choice of factions and races to consider. The player base of WoW is divided into Alliance versus Horde. Players from one faction cannot speak, mail or group with players from the other faction.

Once the faction has been decided, the player must choose between a few "races" of characters when starting World of Warcraft. Examples include Orcs, Undead and Tauren on the Horde or Humans, Dwarves and Night Elves on the Alliance. Each faction starts in a different part of the world, providing different gameplay to the two sides.

Players can be warriors, healers, or fighters, or combinations of a few of these types. Warriors can play as tanks, specialized to withstand damage for groups of players in open world questing environments or inside the dungeons and raids within the game. Healers restore health to other characters, and damage-per-second or "DPS" characters dish out high levels of damage to opponents. World of Warcraft uses a standard grouping of one tank, one healer and three DPS characters for dungeons. Together, this group fights to take down mobs of NPCs and unique bosses, who are typically tougher and require a group to defeat.

Once a player has chosen a side, picked a race and selected the role he or she would like to play in combat, the newly created character is given a unique story based on its chosen race. This character will begin at level one, with limited weapons, armor and bag space. The character earns experience points and levels up by performing tasks or quests for non-playing characters, and by exploring the world. There are also player versus player battlegrounds that players can participate in after they reach a certain level. These battlegrounds provide a player with experience points. There is more to the game than just warfare however, as characters can perform tasks such as cooking, fishing and mining. These tasks enable a character to create things that can be used or sold for the game's currency. Characters can join groups called guilds to quest and play alongside fellow gamers.

With each new expansion of the game, the leveling cap has been raised. As of the fourth expansion, a character can reach level 90. The benefits of leveling include flying mounts, higher level weapons and better armor.

Pros

-Beautiful graphics

-Unlimited gameplay through different factions

-Varied play through diverse roles within the game

-Increased challenge through dungeons and end-game raiding

-Highly social

Cons

-Monthly subscription fees

-Can't be played offline

-Can be addictive to some