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I suggest reading this before buying anything from Blizzard.

Do you really want your full name out there on the public internet?
 
I suggest reading this before buying anything from Blizzard.

Do you really want your full name out there on the public internet?

As it says in your link, RealID will be optional for players. It's an attempt to add voluntary social networking to WOW. If you don't like it you won't have to participate. It should be a big benefit for people who play multiple characters and want to make WOW a more social experience. Personally, I will opt out.
 
I'm more hyped about Cataclysm than I ever was about Wrath. I've done the 1-60 grind more times than I care to admit, and I look forward to seeing how a mature quest design philosophy changes that. Old world flying sounds awesome. And last but certainly not least: Goblins.

The only compelling reason to start playing it right now would be to see the old Azeroth before everything changes, or to get quest rewards and rare items which may not be available post-Cataclysm.

Possibly the best reason to wait: you're going to be very lonely leveling to 80 as things currently sit, but I've no doubt there will be many, many people rolling alts for Cataclysm just to see the new content.
 
Possibly the best reason to wait: you're going to be very lonely leveling to 80 as things currently sit, but I've no doubt there will be many, many people rolling alts for Cataclysm just to see the new content.

I've thought this, too, when I was deciding to make an alt for Cata (should I choose to play it), and surprisingly, when I did make my priest, there were actually tons of people still leveling (some of them their first toons, most of them alts with BoA gear). Now that's primarily given that as choosing to level as a healer, I've chosen to level through LFDs, exclusively. I've stepped out into some of the areas to quest a bit and it's a lot quieter out there than it was when I first started back in 2006. No much ganking going on, not many on to do group quests with, etc, but I think that's because everyone's leveling through BGs or LFDs.
 
I guess I'm more of a quest junkie as far as leveling goes, and have spent untold hours wandering around zones – even newer ones – without ever seeing another player.

Wrath had only been out for five months when I finally took the plunge, and the Northrend starting zones were already deserted for the most part. I had trouble finding help for group quests even then (just once, it would be nice to do "Last Rites" while I can still use the quest reward), and my realm is really starting to thin out now as everyone waits for the expansion.

I look forward to starting on day one in Cataclysm, leveling alongside lots of people who need the same groups I do, and I'm hoping the whole process will be faster and more fun. Oh, and did I mention Goblins? Because Goblins pretty much own. GoblOwnz.
 
WoW is fun, but WoW's community sucks. It has attracted a very young immature crowd. The community reminds me of a lot of ppl on MR, they feel like they deserve free things because they pay to play. It took me forever to find an adult guild that wasn't emo about every little aspect of raiding/pvping. I finally got a guild with a bunch of mid-west farmer/blue collar workers. It has been great and pretty much the ONLY reason I have stayed. Its funny to see how different a 16 year old is to a 20 year old is to a 30 year old.

Part of it is blizzards fault.... they make it so you don't have to socialize at all. The large raiding content is much easier.. so much so that you don't need much communication at all to complete it, and then for the smaller group stuff they make all the groups for you. They focus on arena in pvp, which is super boring (no objectives, lot of pillar humping, and the requirement that your group NEEDS to have a MS debuff).

Part of it is the players.... Blizzard has learned that people want some form of instant gratification. They looked at games like FFXI that took forever to achieve anything and learned that people will quit if something is too hard.

To answer the OP orginal question, I think if you are interested, give it a shot. I believe they have recruit a friend and special deals (i believe the first month is free???) and see how you like it. It is easy to get into, and easy to get out of. If you find yourself not liking the game, you can sell a lvl 60 toon for the price of what you put into it (minus the monthly subscription).
 
Wrath had only been out for five months when I finally took the plunge, and the Northrend starting zones were already deserted for the most part. I had trouble finding help for group quests even then (just once, it would be nice to do "Last Rites" while I can still use the quest reward), and my realm is really starting to thin out now as everyone waits for the expansion.

Yep, lack of "help" questing for the most part for your 1st toon. Most don't take too much pity on the I have no gold crowd.

Need to crank at least 1 up before the new one hits so you can have some way of earning some gold to keep up with the crowd.

Who will for the most part be exploring the new sections and limiting themselves to the new classes and/or races.

---

Really, if you create a couple trial accounts and explore at least each class through level 10-20 you should get an idea of which one you want to keep and if you try out different races you'll get an idea of the starting areas.

Also crank up and pay for a profession plus first aid, cooking, fishing to earn gold as quick as possible -- herb/potions as your professions in the initial stages generally pays better than some if you fish (since around lvl 40 in stv you can likely generate about 15-20g fishing for about that long).

With the trial accounts, you should be able to push at least 1 toon to 10g and outfit it rather well via blue dungeon drops to get you a boost when you upgrade the account.

---

The dungeon finder these days is a saving grace, since you can basically keep hitting "find group" during your questing in the sucky questing areas to help lvl you past them as fast as possible. Then immediately run to the next area as soon as you near the lvl requirements.
 
Trying the demo is an excellent suggestion, and is a totally risk-free* way to see if you like the game. Me, I had no intention of ever playing WoW, but one evening I got bored, signed up for a trial account, rolled a mage and was completely blown away.

The community aspect can indeed be heinous. Of course you've got your usual plague of preadolescent boys, aka "scum of the earth," ruining trade chat and just generally being dicks to everyone, Then you've got a vast contingent of socially crippled basement-dwellers, who play the game because it helps them forget that they're socially crippled basement-dwellers (it won't help you forget, though!). I suppose I should also mention the sizable number of players who seem to have serious problems with Getting Mad at Videogames, though I suspect they're a subset of the aforementioned SCBDs.

I've met some cool people too, but the relationships never seem to grow and stick. I find it very hard to socialize within the context of a videogame, myself.


*apart from the very real risk of getting addicted, that is.
 
Thanks for those replies on general opinions of WoW and the tone of play/rp content, very useful, thanks. Sounds like alas it's not for me, I need something rp-heavy.

Thanks again, very informative!
 
Thanks for those replies on general opinions of WoW and the tone of play/rp content, very useful, thanks. Sounds like alas it's not for me, I need something rp-heavy.

Thanks again, very informative!

Well if you want to do role playing, you definitely would likely need to go a bit beyond a trial account.

Especially since the trial can allow you to see how the classes/races work, but don't allow you to interact with the world -- since mail and chat is turned off, until someone speaks directly to you.
 
I'll be honest, as a never-played-it this stuff you are saying about levels and stuff - right over my head. :p

But that aside I have a question (the SC2 Beta, as they no doubt intended, got me minorly intrigued by the notion of WoW). Is there any actually like roleplaying going on in WoW? Or is it an action game?

WoW is a roleplaying game by definition in that your character increases skills as it levels up. While there is lots of action, I would not call it an action game. Once a mob is targeted, you mash buttons to launch spells and attacks in a your favorite sequence and your toon automatically caries out those actions. It is not a twitch game, but you need to be well versed in your bag of spells and attacks. And there are roleplaying servers where everyone is supposed to stay in character. But I have no idea how dedicated on those servers are.
 
That's just incredible. And WOW phenomenon or just commonplace amongst the more popular MMORPGs? ...Wow.
Its pretty common i think and I'm happy for it.. I dont play on RP servers but I know a few people who do and wouldn't play MMOs at all without them.. It can be pretty jarring going around a fantasy/mediaval setting and having everyone speak in textspeak. :D I like that WoW gives that choice, I have a 50/50 split between friends who like PvP servers and who *hate* them too.
 
mixel said:
I have a 50/50 split between friends who like PvP servers and who *hate* them too.

I played PVP during beta, then switched to PVE in retail. My focus is on questing mostly and fighting real peeps only when I want to flag myself.
 
I disagree with en earlier post about player ages. I would have to pin down the age range from 8 to 60 years. I recommend finding a fairly busy server, at least medium but even those can be a little too lightly populated. The biggest thing, imo, is to join a guild with people you get along with and doesn't have drama. There are all kinds out there such as leveling guilds, social guilds, raiding guilds and pvp too. Usually there is a mix but guilds seem to gravitate towards something. I was in a leveling guild that was going great but at some point most everyone decided to start raiding and then the guild totally fell apart. The funny thing is about 90% of the old guild ended up joining the same new raiding guild and things are going great. My guild is almost all adults, with a few < 18, and with a number of husband/wife players too. All in all I am having a lot of fun.

There is a lot to learn but don't be afraid to ask questions in and out of the game and you'll have a great time too.
:)
 
^ yeah I've noticed that there are a lot of maybe 25+ people and even a lot of parents that play wow. It surprised me but I seen it's the norm. The guild I'm in everyone is around my age or older (I'm 24) and have day jobs/careers and the raiding etc is done in the evening hours. No one is hardly ever on during the work day.
 
The guild I'm in is an adult guild with the average age around 30. Most people I know are reducing their WoW time or taking a break from the game until the expansion comes out.

If you do not have any higher level WoW characters, now is a great time to play and level them but if you have all ready leveled some characters, I can see no reason in returning now unless you want to play.
 
Hi Ya


WOW is a grind at best ( do not mind the grind but there is a limit even for me) and a bore at best.

I like these type of games to be addictive and WOW just is not me.

I found that it has no substance in its Quests at all.

At low level go kill 20 pigs at high level go kill 150 pigs and that's how it goes right through the game.

Oh well each to his own : )
 
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