01-19-2005, 02:18 PM
Well, I personally like WOW because it comes my vision of the "perfect" multiplayer RPG closer than any game I've played before. WOW is basically the next evolutionary step of Diablo II (even though that was a fast-paced, addictive action RPG and actually a different beast). If you've enjoyed Diablo II, you'll absolutely love WOW with its cheerful, bright-color fantasy 3D graphics in FPS-quality and the excellent voice acting, sound effects and beautifully composed symphonic music. It addresses many of the popular issues RPG and MMORPG players have previously highlighted, in every regard. What I also like is the constant presence of an online team that watches what is done and what is said on the servers. I have not yet seen any insults or any other annoying BS you know from the (free) Diablo II Battle.net realms. Once in a while there's someone that steals your kill, but that's it basically.
"Multiplayer" is definitely more important in WOW than it was in Diablo II. While you can do "grinding" and quite a bunch of the quests (slowly) solo, many (non-elite) quests and the occasional elite monster simply cannot be done without a party. Monsters are so much tougher in WOW that careful traveling, clever spell/minion micro-management and good team-play are a must. That is where the challenge lies in WOW, in PvE. The highlight of WOW are certainly the high-level elite monster raids with parties of 40 people, and more. WOW (being mainly a multiplayer game) also requires time because many quests are much more elaborate than, for example, in Diablo II. If you don't have at least 5 hours per week to play it, then this game is hardly worth the fee.
I cannot speak from the perspective of a RTS gamer (WarCraft, StarCraft) because I haven't played games from that genre as intensively as RPG's. I can imagine however, that many RTS (or FPS) gamers who are focused on PvP battling, competition and ladder ranking will not like WOW as much as RPG gamers. RPG's require that you simply like taking on a ROLE and enjoy it. There isn't much beyond that. The rest is about solving quests, killing monsters, leveling, better items, party-play etc. If you find this entertaining, it will make you feel good in your real life - and that's a point that all games share :)
"Multiplayer" is definitely more important in WOW than it was in Diablo II. While you can do "grinding" and quite a bunch of the quests (slowly) solo, many (non-elite) quests and the occasional elite monster simply cannot be done without a party. Monsters are so much tougher in WOW that careful traveling, clever spell/minion micro-management and good team-play are a must. That is where the challenge lies in WOW, in PvE. The highlight of WOW are certainly the high-level elite monster raids with parties of 40 people, and more. WOW (being mainly a multiplayer game) also requires time because many quests are much more elaborate than, for example, in Diablo II. If you don't have at least 5 hours per week to play it, then this game is hardly worth the fee.
I cannot speak from the perspective of a RTS gamer (WarCraft, StarCraft) because I haven't played games from that genre as intensively as RPG's. I can imagine however, that many RTS (or FPS) gamers who are focused on PvP battling, competition and ladder ranking will not like WOW as much as RPG gamers. RPG's require that you simply like taking on a ROLE and enjoy it. There isn't much beyond that. The rest is about solving quests, killing monsters, leveling, better items, party-play etc. If you find this entertaining, it will make you feel good in your real life - and that's a point that all games share :)
"Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays." -- Friedrich von Schiller