Preview von EDBIS RPG
Blizzard Entertainments Warcraft series is a staple of the real-time strategy genre in computer gaming. Blizzard is working on new game set in the Warcraft universe, World of Warcraft, a different type of game altogether: a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG. World of Warcraft will take the lands, races and history of the Warcraft series as its own. The game starts four years after Warcraft 3, and the world, Azeroth, is a promising one. Azeroth is sort of like Europe was in 1949; its wars have wreaked horrible damage on its peoples, and they are now in the midst of rebuilding. Of course, sort of is the operative term, since Azeroth is a world filled with monsters, magic, swordfighting, and fantastic places. Anyone whos ever played RPGs will feel right at home with the world and its denizens.
As in other MMORPGs, the first thing the player does is choose a race and class. You may customize your characters appearance, but you dont need to customize too many of their stats and skills until youre further into the game and have developed some goals. The eight playable races are separated into two separate camps; The Alliance includes humans, dwarves, night elves and gnomes, and The Horde consists of Orcs, Tauren, Trolls and Undead. Each race can choose different professions, starts at a different location, and has a different home city. The races have interacted with each other before, often violently; therefore they do not all get along.
First, a look at the members of the Alliance. Humans have the widest range of available professions. They start in a small town in the forest of Elwynn, which has regrown since enemies destroyed it in the first Warcraft. The forest also protects the last large city of humans, Stormwind. Stormwind and Elwynn, though well guarded, are still plagued with trouble. Dwarves are the stocky mining folk familiar in fantasy lore. A recent discovery has led them to believe they have a great ancestry; they have started excavating dwarven ruins to discover the truth of their history. A dwarven player character will start under the Dun Morogh Mountains in the town of Anvil Marr; the dwarves great city is Ironforge. Gnomes will also start in Dun Morogh, since their homeland has been destroyed by an ancient evil. They are technically minded craftspeople dedicated to rebuilding their civilization. Night elves are a proud, arrogant race with glowing eyes; they are allying themselves with other races for the first time to try to help rebuild the world. Their careless magic use led the destructive Burning Legion into the world; they managed to defeat this evil, but their homeland sunk into the sea in the conflict. The night elves point of origin is their island of Teldrassil, and their capital is the tree city of Darnassus.
The Horde may be a barbaric sounding name, but its leading races are not evil. Orcs are not native to Azeroth; they had a proud shamanistic culture on their homeworld which they are reclaiming. They start in the unforgiving landscape of Durotar; their home city is the mighty Ogrimmir, where shamans teach and warriors compete. Trolls also start in Durotar, but there isnt much information available on them as of yet. The Tauren are another noble tribal people belonging to The Horde. Males and females both look like large bipedal bulls. Theyre strong and silent types. Under their leader, Cairne Bloodhoof, the Tauren protect their city of Thunder Bluff; their homeland, Malgore, is a fertile grassland. Neither the Tauren nor the Orcs completely trust the Undead group that has joined them, The Forsaken. However their queen has convinced the Horde that her people merely seek a cure for their condition. The Undead rule Tirisfal Glades and The Undercity is their home; it is a creepy underground maze fitting for those who are no longer alive.
Once the player chooses a race, the choice of class comes next. The jobs available are mostly familiar fare, and each job has certain skills. Warriors are the strongest fighters, with skills that concentrate on melee fighting such as shield bash and defensive stance. Mages can cast spells; to make mages viable as lone characters, they possess some group-control spells, as well as damage spells like fireball. Priests follow a higher power, and can heal wounds and send enemies to sleep. Paladins defend the Alliance with strength, leadership ability, and some holy spells. Rogues can backstab and hide to further their ends. The druid may turn into a variety of animals, as well as casting healing and attack spells. Warlocks are mages who have gone over to the dark side; among their other spells, they can also summon demons. Hunters use their skills to track and soother beasts, and may even tame beasts to become animal companions. Finally, the shaman is a spiritual leader who can call lightning and heal wounds. Each class has many more skills than these examples, of course. Other skills can be gained through quests, and some are race-specific. Player characters with the proper recipes and high enough skill will also be able to craft items.
Players will find plenty to occupy their time in Azeroth. The game will implement a quest system geared toward both casual and hard-core gamers; some quests take very little time to complete, and others may take weeks with a full party of five. NPCs with quests to give have exclamation points over their heads; when the player has finished an NPCs quest, this changes to a question mark so the player will be able to find the NPC easily. Besides experience, the player can also net money, items, spells, and more from quests, and many of the quests offer a choice of rewards. A quest log will keep track of what you need to do to finish your jobs. One of these jobs has the player retrieving a talking undead head and reuniting it with its body.
The developers want World of Warcraft to offer greater flexibility than most MMORPGs, and the quest system is one facet of that plan. Blizzard wants to make it easier for people to play at their own pace; they are also implementing a relatively quick combat system. Multiple forms of transportation will be available within the game so that players can go quickly from one area to the next. Characters can rent a berth on a boat or zeppelin, and even hitch a ride on a griffin for a fee. They may also learn to ride race-specific mounts; for example, humans can ride horses and orcs use worgs as steeds. When not soaring through the air, death is always possible in the dangerous world of Azeroth. However, there are many points at which a character can be bound, or saved; if no one comes to rescue you, you can respawn at a bind point with only a loss of some experience.
Azeroth is dangerous, but it is also beautiful. Locations have been designed with a fantasy aesthetic that is artistically close to illustrations or cartoons; everything is slightly skewed or exaggerated. This design works very well, and will hopefully lend itself well to some humorous quests and strange interactions along with the traditional swords and sorcery stuff. The music, by Jason Hayes, is heroic, atmospheric, and even wistful, and evokes a definite sense of place while not sounding obtrusive.
Player interactions in World of Warcraft will range from cooperation, such as guilds, to occasional player versus player. PvP areas will be clearly defined and consensual. Blizzard is working hard to prevent cheating, and will even include some random areas that spawn for one group of players and those they choose to let it, but are inaccessible to everyone else. Further, quest and rare items will exist on multiple monsters to combat the problem of kill stealing. Blizzard is planning to devote lots of resources to World of Warcraft, with constant support for players and newly added content at regular intervals. Also, the developers are trying to make the game as accessible as possible to people with computers that arent terribly powerful.
World of Warcraft doesnt look like it will be the most original game ever made. However, its high level of polish, design, and gameplay could easily more than make up for that. This game has been in development for a very long time, and beta testing will start this winter. Blizzard hasnt announced a release date, but sometime in the middle of next year seems probable. Check out the status of the game over at the official site.
Pros: Wonderful graphic design, strong gameplay, plenty of ongoing support from the developer, transportation options, proven setting in the Warcraft world.
Cons: Priests and warriors, druids and paladins where have we seen this before?
Conclusion: Blizzard has learned from the problems other MMORPGs have had and it looks like theyll be able to avoid many of them. Theyre concentrating on making this game as fun as possible to play, and it looks like theyre succeeding.
Preview Rating: Very good
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Ich glaub ich hab mich für ein MMORPG entschieden :love3: