12-02-2004, 01:09 AM
Quote:However, the fullest potential of the game's PvP elements has yet to be realized. The idea is that those who engage in PvP competition will earn honor points, which can be redeemed for certain benefits and bonuses, while those who just go around bullying low-level players may earn dishonor, resulting in penalties that ought to discourage such behavior. Furthermore, special battleground zones expressly suited for large-scale PvP competition will give further incentive for you to square off against the opposing faction. This all sounds great, but it's not prevalent in the game immediately postlaunch. It's apparent that World of Warcraft is a player-versus-environment game first and foremost, but the building blocks are there to make it a very interesting competitive game as well. In addition to taking on some epic encounters (suitable for massive raiding parties comprising dozens of players) and the ability to purchase and ride a variety of fast-moving mounts, the PvP combat is presumably what will keep many players coming back after they've already invested the hundreds of hours necessary to max out their character's experience.
Not to threadcrap, but I found it interesting that they'd be giving a grade to a game with things like this - evaluations of gameplay that is not in the game yet. That would be like including Guild Halls in your judgement of Diablo II, no?
You have to evaluate a game based on what it has, not what it could have some point in the future. And it's clear that the reviewer did not play far on a PvP server, because they refer to contested zones as "higher level fringe zones," when in fact the vast majority of zones are contested or hostile.
Right now, I'd imagine the PvP server is pretty tame - there aren't hordes of level 60 gankers running around ruining low levels' fun. Critical mass for that should be attained in January, and it'll be fun reading the Blizzard WoW forums at that time unless they have an honor system in...
Okay, I'm beating a dead horse, but this IS one of the primary reasons I have not purchased WoW, and I find it funny that reviewers gloss over it. Again, you may not notice the lack of honor system now, but wait a few weeks and see.
-Bolty
Quote:Considering the mods here are generally liberals who seem to have a soft spot for fascism and white supremacy (despite them saying otherwise), me being perma-banned at some point is probably not out of the question.