WoW open beta impressions Options

[DarkEpyon]

Now what kind of friend would I be if I had this sucker and didn't tell you anything about it?

Not a very good one. A stingy one at that.

OK, so it's been just under a week since I got my hands on this puppy, and I must say this game's a blast.

Here's a break-down of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good
There's no dearth in quests in this game, plus they also net you EXP.
The graphics are quite impressive.
You can't level down when you die.
If you can't find a group, you can solo like a mofo.
Money-making is actually fun, considering the plethora of quests.
Pretty much every piece of equipment is visible on your character.

The bad
Somewhat limited character customization at start-up, but this is made up for.
Screencaps are saved in a large and shitty format (tsa).
Alliance and horde characters can't party together. Example: if you're a night elf, and your buddy's a troll, you're both SOL.
Wicked lag (however, this is characteristic of all open betas).

The ugly
Pretty much every horde character, but the taurans look so badass.

I have several screenshots, but I have yet to upload them.

Also it should be noted that it costs 10 gold (1 gold=100 silver, 1 silver=100 copper) to obtain a guild crest. To start a guild, you need 10 silver and 9 other people. The tabard design is also pretty cool. You can choose from over 100 emblems, and you can change its color along with the border and the background.

If this game appeals to you, go ahead and pre-order. Then enjoy some (insert lowbie monster here) with your Thanksgiving turkey.

EDIT: Corrected the guild thing.

[Omar]

yea im in open beta as well.. it isnt to bad.. um.. but just from playing it. 10 gold is gonna take hella long to get...

the worst part is the alliance and horde shit.. thats actually a HUGE negative..... but the rest of the game is kinda cool....

[Gabriell]

This game is a ton of fun. But I think it will be so much more worthwhile once you have a ton of friends there with you. i can't wait to play with so many people from around my area... wow.
the biggest plus of this game is that they made it time friendly. you don't have to have a ton of free time to feel like you've gotten somewhere with the game. i can log in for 30 minutes and feel like i've achieved something. heck, the game rewards you for finding new areas and spending a lot of time away from the game (I think you get an exp bubble for every 8 hours you're logged out? Not sure).
I like how they managed to get rid of the grind feel and made it more based around quests. I'm sure it gets a lot harder at higher levels to do stuff... but seriously, I love being able to do things by myself or with friends.
And yeah, Taurens are awesome. I love crushing things 4 levels above me.

The horde/alliance thing isn't THAT big of a deal. Just talk to your friends and ask them what side they all want to do first. Plus you can always make another char on another server that's on the different side.

With that said, I can't wait until this comes out.

[Omar]

yeah but what if all your friends want to be alliance but you wanna be like undead or something.. etc

[Crushinator]

Then you get new friends?

[Mute]

[DarkEpyon]

OK folks, open beta ends tomorrow. :(

[Mute]

Well, the Open Beta has come to a close and I thought I'd post some impressions for the curious. Since FFXI is the only other MMORPG I have ever played (in depth), most of the impressions are direct comparisons between the two titles. In other words, if you are offended by negative FFXI criticisms, I suggest not reading any further.

I honestly thought I'd never play another MMORPG again, but so far this game seems like it is potentially way more enjoyable than FFXI ever was. For one, you can travel between the major cities on an in game transportation system at level one! None of that bullshit just to get an Airship Pass. Plus you can ride Gryphons to different areas that you have visited in the past which really helps out if you are trying to meet someone or get somewhere quick. There are also hearthstones (sp?) that bind you to an Inn and can instantly teleport you there once every 60 minutes. I hear there are also mounts, which is a plus since one of my favorite aspects of FFXI was riding around on Chocobos.


Leveling seems alot more action oriented and constantly on the go (at least for melee, I didn't try a mage out). It felt like you had to sit half the damn time you were leveling a job in FFXI. In WoW, I think I only sat one time (in total, 3 different characters to level 5), and that was because I got in trouble with an added aggro. Which brings me to another point, you can usually survive the adds with food/potions (which are alot more affordable than the ridiculous FFXI potion prices). Oh yea, and you can actually run away. And if that isn't enough, NPC guards that are patrolling will help you out if you are running. ^^

As far as soloing, I'm not sure how far one can go alone, but Blizzard really made each character self-sufficient. This is nice in case some of my buds weren't on and I just wanted to slay some things on my own. :D

With respect to FFXI, these opinions are purely based on only a few hours of gameplay on the Open Beta while I had several hundred hours worth of FFXI to really focus my likes and dislikes. I'm sure WoW will have some shortcomings, but as for now, some of the annoyances that really frustrated me about FFXI are seemingly addressed and made for the better on WoW. The Beta has me nothing less than excited and I'll be picking this up next Tuesday.

[Guest_Zio_*]

[Mute]

[rikku]

This game sounds really interesting, and from what I've read here, it sounds like you can solo it. Which actually kinda decides weather or not I get a mmorpg.
So am I correct too assume that you can solo hunt in this game, or is it like FFXI, where you have to be in a party just to make it possible to level up easily?

If you can play this game solo, I'll probably get it eventually.
If not, well than I'll probably have too think about getting it or not a little more.

[SaitoH]

You can solo the whole game. There will be stuff you cannot do by yourself (raids, instanced dungeons and such), but everything else is no problem and all classes are self sufficient (this includes priests!). Soloing is also made more enjoyable because quests are excellent xp and give useful rewards (often times a selection of stuff to pick from).

I don't know how WoW will be six months down the road. As Mute mentioned I sure WoW will have it's share of problems, but I've played both stress test and open beta and have had a blast playing the following toons:

Rogue level 16
Rogue level 12
Warlock level 12
Mage level 11
Hunter Level 11
Warrior level 12
Paladin level 12
Shaman level 8
and a few other toons to level 7-ish

I'm going to play a human Rogue and Undead Warlock next week, as they were my favorite class/race out of what I played.

^w^