WoW: A beginner’s guide to what World of Warcraft is all about
THERE are currently over 12 million people that play World of Warcraft (more commonly known as WoW by its fans). That’s the size of a small country. Wow.
A community of that magnitude is worthy of recognition in my books. I have always been hesitant about entering this online realm – concerned that I would have to sign away a portion of my life if I did.
However, I have always been curious to know what the appeal is and how the game ropes in so many players – many of which spend the majority of their waking hours living in this virtual world. I scoured all the websites, forums and wikis dedicated to the game and thought I’d share what I found regarding this thriving fantasy world.
What is World of Warcraft
WoW is known as a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) in which thousands of players can interact within the same virtual world. Players assume the roles of Warcraft heroes as they explore, adventure, undertake game quests and interact with one another in the Warcraft universe known as Azeroth.
WoW has a massive visual appeal and since its release in 2004, has received rave reviews and won numerous awards all over the world. These include Best PC Game, Best Multiplayer Game, Best RPG and Most Addictive Game. It was also honoured at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the art form of MMORPG games. Critics have described the WoW environment as a careful blend of cartoon, fantasy art, and realism.
Who lives in WoW
What distinguishes WoW from other virtual online worlds such as Second Life, is that it is pure fantasy. It has more of a Lord of the Rings vibe rather than being a replica of real human living.
Players can choose between ten races, such as dwarves, orcs, humans and elves each of which have unique racial traits. There is something of a racial divide among the races as they are separated into two warring factions: the Alliance and the Horde. A description from the WoW website reads:
“Characters can only talk, group, and create guilds with players from their own faction. Certain zones and cities in the world are also friendly to one faction while hostile to the other. Additionally, certain quests can only be completed by members of one faction and not the other” – www.worldofwarcraft.com
It’s almost like a virtual apartheid.
Making a living in WoW
Players can take on primary and secondary professions in WoW when not adventuring and completing quests. These professions fall into three categories, namely gathering, production, and service. Players can contribute to the World’s thriving economy, or just keep themselves occupied with jobs that range from jewel-crafting and tailoring to cooking and alchemy.
Public transport
The WoW universe is vast – literally continental in size. The game features an advanced flying transportation network and players can make use of public transport to get around. NPCs can buy tickets to ride flying mounts such as mythical Gryphons and Dragon hawks. The flight paths are specifically designed to delight passengers with entertaining sights and glimpses of new regions and unexplored territory.
Players can choose between ten races belonging to the Alliance or the Horde
WoW economy
There is even a virtual banking system that exists in WoW. Players are able to deposit items into banks and each character has access to personal bank storage with the option to purchase additional storage space using in-game gold.
Auction houses are available for players to buy and sell items to others in a similar way to online auction websites such as eBay. There is even a postal system whereby mailboxes can be used to collect items won at auctions or used to send messages, items and even in-game money to other players.
Advertising in WoW
As with other MMORPGs, companies have emerged offering to sell virtual gold and associated services. However, due to spam advertising abuse, several companies have since been banned from using any WoW chat or communication to advertise any business or sell any services relating to WoW. The game has also been known to advertise unrelated products, such as Toyota trucks.
Corrupted blood plague incident
As part of a cruel social experiment, a ‘deadly’ disease known as the “corrupted blood plague” was unleashed into WoW in 2005, which quickly spread between interacting players. The plague so closely resembled the outbreak of real-world epidemics that scientists are currently looking at ways that online games such as WoW can model human behavior during outbreaks by allowing researchers to more accurately predict how diseases spread amongst a population.
Gaming Addiction
WoW is known to be frighteningly addictive. In 2009 an article titled “10 Most Bizarre Gaming Incidents” reported the case of a young Chinese girl who died of exhaustion after playing the game for several days straight. An online funeral followed. Relationships have ended and online feuds have broken out as a result of the game, so a non-addictive personality is certainly recommended if you wish to venture forth into the world of Azeroth…
Interesting WoW facts
- Development of WoW took roughly 4-5 years including extensive testing
- Players have the option of selling their user accounts once their character is well equipped and experienced. The highest recorded WoW account trade was for £5000 (roughly R55 000).
- The game reflects real world events such as Halloween, Christmas and Easter. Different locations also have variable weather, such as rain, snow, dust storms and many more.
- When a character dies it becomes a ghost at a nearby graveyard. Characters can be resurrected by other NPCs that have the ability, or can self-resurrect by moving from the graveyard to the place where they died.
- The Chinese government imposed a modification on Chinese versions of the game which transforms dead character corpses into tidy graves and places flesh on bare-boned skeletons.
- Quests reward the player with experience points, items, and/or in-game money. It is also through quests that much of the game’s story is told.
- WoW players are invited to participate in the virtual community in creative ways. Activities include creating fan artwork and comic strip style storytelling.
World of Warcraft requires the player to pay for a subscription, either by buying game cards for a pre-selected amount of playing time, or by using a credit or debit card to pay on a regular basis.
Related post: DotA – A nOOb’s guide
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Hi thank you very much for your post! This is very useful for a beginner who wants to play wow
Been playing for almost 4 years now. If only the gold I make on WOW was real gold. If only…
lol. Would you call yourself a WoW addict? The fact that I have an addictive personality is the reason why I’m kak scared of playing the game.
What speed line does one need to play the game smoothly though..?
Galen,
Even people with addictive personalities can attempt this game, assuming you’ve quite a while learning how to control and manage that part of yourself. It took myself quite a while to get the hang of it and since I do not find myself getting overly attached to games.
I will say this though, if you have not then you will find WoW overly addictive and consuming of your life. But seeing as you’re aware of your addictive personality, I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to handle it 🙂
WoW is a lot of fun, as long as you do it in moderation
There is also another store you can buy WoW Game Cards online with instant email delivery, the store is called http://www.pcgamesupply.com, you can buy WoW Game Cards from here as well.
I must admit that I’m really keen to give it a bash! As you say, everything in moderation though 🙂
I’m just concerned that the game might be laggy and frustrating to play with my connection speed. What speed line is required to have to have a smooth playing experience?
Well I’ve played on a 384kbps line and it was ok, just not good for pvp. I’ve got a 4mbit line at the moment and its quite nice. It hugely depends on what country you’re in. Here in South Africa they really limit our upload speeds and shape our broadband connections. If your upload speeds aren’t limited and your line isn’t shaped then you shouldn’t have to worry at all. But there are many options that you can explore to greatly improve your ping.
However, if PVP isn’t your main focus in the game (which it definitely doesn’t have to be) then you really don’t have to worry all that much because PVE play is fine, even with a 600-800ms ping.
@Nexorsist: Thank you for your input. I currently have an uncapped 384kbps line, but on most days it is painfully slow. Even checking email can make me want to pull my hair out on some days…
I have quite high standards when it comes to gaming performance – if there is any lag involved in online games it’s not worth playing them in my books
Okay, I’m soon to give into temptation! Is this the right version of WoW to get?
http://www.take2.co.za/games-world-of-warcraft-european-server-version-pc-mac-16202.html
Check out: http://free-wow-guides.weebly.com/ for lots of completely free World of Warcraft Guides, including the famous Zygor’s Guide!
I am a long-time player of WoW (since May, 2005) and have 20 toons, both Horde and Alliance on two accounts. I am always looking for a good guide on the internet, whether it is for leveling, gold accumulation, or trading. So, when I saw this guide listed on Amazon, I jumped at the chance to check it out. Disappointing is the best way to sum up my impression of this guide. At least it’s better in format than the comparable Horde leveling guide World of Warcraft Horde Leveling Guide.
By following this guide, an Alliance toon can be efficiently leveled from 12-60. It is assumed that your toon will be level 12 after completing the starting zone and the accompanying quests. This guide accomplishes its goal, and with dedication, a player can level to 60 within a short period of time. The format and layout of this guide is excellent. It is identical to that of the older version of the well-known downloadable internet guide by Jame ([…]). This link is for the newest version, and he is about halfway through the Northrend portion of his guide. I am not sure if the author of this guide is Jame. If it is Jame, I understand the delays in production and printing schedules, so that can explain the outdated nature of this guide. However, this guide would serve the needs of a player who doesn’t want to print hundreds of pages on their printer at home. I have used Jame’s guides to level my toons and I like them very much. I have not found any leveling guides for either Horde or Alliance that I like better.
Why am I so disappointed in this guide? It’s outdated. At the time of this writing, version 3.0.9 of the game has been released, with two add-ons (Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King), yet this guide covers only the original game. Clearly, this guide was written prior to the release of the Burning Crusade and the game patch which lowered the XP leveling requirements for 1-60; it only covers the quests up to the Eastern Plaguelands. Quests that will take you into Outlands for levels 58-70 and Northrend for levels 68-80 are not addressed.
I hope you find this review helpful.
i just used your picture !!