WOW Review
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:41 am
World of Warcraft Review
The Basics
After seeing the wheel reinvented many times over, we're finally starting to see games (not just MMOG's) leverage well-known and widely accepted feature sets. What amazes me is that Blizzard has managed to take a large common feature set and improve on just about every aspect. So many annoyances and frustrations that we've come to accept as normal are addressed and eliminated in this game. While they are literally too numerous to mention in this review, throughout this review I'll cover some of the specifics so you have a good understanding of the things to come.
Trade Skills
I haven't enjoyed trade skills since Ultima Online, some people enjoy them, so do not. Out of my beta experience, I spent very little time with tradeskills myself (due to limited time) but do have a decent knowledge of them. Tradeskills are very naturally integrated into the world, based around a resource system; harvesting hides, mining ore, fishing, harvesting herbs, and even killing creatures for resource loot are part of this system. In addition to the forms of resource harvesting tradeskills, you have the higher level tradeskills to make use of those resources (weapon/armor smithing, alchemy, engineering, etc). The outcome is that while just about everyone does some type of trade (depending on play style and what you want it for), the economy is actually very healthy and not over flooded, due to the fact that everything requires resources. Resources also provide for a method to fund guild members that wish to take on the more difficult tradeskills. Currently the only fallback to the system is that *some* tradeskills need further refined so that at higher levels all tradeskills are still very useful. The fact that Tradeskills revolve around *gathered* resources keeps things in check, and makes them a lot more then just a click click click system.
Auction House
While not the first MMOG to make use of an Auction House, Blizzard has really outdone themselves here. Auction houses are not connected, and there are only a couple for each faction (though really only one central one is commonly used that I'm aware of). This in effect keeps major cities a very happening place, and trade in this game is huge! The system works very simple and familiar to most, an item is placed on the auction (for a small fee to keep random junk off) and a timer is set for that item with an optional buy-out if the seller wishes to give bidders a price to purchase the item right away. Side effect of this system is that trade chat spam is reduced considerably (though there are still some people that enjoy spending their time announcing their sales). Quite interesting visiting auction houses, reminds me of a stock trading floor, and people (including myself) actually having fun with them.
Combat
I'm amazed at just how many games even today that have combat systems leave you asking That's it?. Blizzard thankfully has been doing combat-based games for so long, they've apparently learned a lot. Combat is all about giving the individual many, many choices to greatly impact the outcome of a battle. Many choices of which require quick thinking, preparation for what you think the opposition will do, and proper timing. If all that is required to accomplish great things in a game is time, then count me out. Skill must be, and in WoW is, a huge determing factor of the outcome of a battle. This touches equally on both PvE and PvP. Tradeskills even play roles in combat, such as alchemy (tons of various types of potions) and engineering (bombs & traps), just keep in mind resources are needed for those so they are not a requirement to be competitive by any means. Combat has clearly had a great amount of attention in this game, as even I find it difficult to pick apart the system. Combat is fast, fun, and furious.
Balance & Skill
Remarkably well done, in aspects of PvE, PvP, solo, grouped, every race & class combination has it's advantages and disadvantages in all the various situations. Even during the later days of the beta process, flavor to the month classes were negligible and hardly worth merrit. Every class is equipped with a whole host of spells & abilities, and even in the most unfortunate situations skill and experience make a very serious impact on the outcome.
Solo
We're playing massively multi-player online games, why the hell should we care about how well (if at all) solo play is supported? In a perfect world everyone would always be grouped, but obviously that is not realistic. Everyone solo's at times, many by preference. This has been greatly addressed in WoW by making it so that any class and talent specialization can easily solo. I personally detest soloing, but it is necessary for everyone to have the option when they want and need it. How many times have you been left out in the cold or had to wait in a line (ugh) because you could not solo? Thankfully this is addressed very well in WoW, and no matter how much time you have online, you can still play. Solo clearly is not nearly as much fun in most cases, but having the option for when we need it is greatly necessary. You can play when you want, what a concept. Even solo PvP is not uncommon, as numbers in general are pretty small since the entire world is open for pvp (with the exception of instances and the very low level zones).
Grouping
Wasn't sure I'd like the 5-member max on groups, but after playing in several full groups I can see why it was limited. There are so many variables in combat in general, and multiplying the number of players to coordinate with and the number of mobs or players you're up against, can make for some awesome fun. There are also raid groups (can have up to 40 people, 8x5) which are generally used for epic raids (dragons and whatnot) in instances. Raid content is very limited in beta (only one raid dungeon) as they are saving the raid content for release (supposedly a lot). For more information on raids check out the main site for a great article (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/raid-article.shtml), it'll give a good idea just what to expect from high-level content. Overall, grouping has been a great experience; which not having my guild in beta says quite a lot. Groups are not cookie-cutter like you may be use to however, as many classes can fill various roles, and the possible combinations of group make-ups is pretty great.
Guilds
Pretty much the norm here, a chat room to coordinate with members, and a guild tabbard which members can apply to their cloak and shield. One thing worth mentioning here is that smaller more skillful guilds can actually be very successful unlike in many MMOG's that encourage massive numbers to remain competitive. Haven't seen this many PvP guilds since Shadowbane Beta, and this game is far more forgiving of smaller guilds.
Horde vs Alliance
This is the first time I've seen faction-based PvP actually work out well. What seems to make it work so well is that rather then having pvp zones and pve zones, it's all one in the same, so everyone is heavily spread out, which keeps groups considerably smaller. There are most certainly larger battles too, which generally revolve around the opposing faction taking over a small town, or even a major city (though I do not believe this has been accomplished yet). Everything can be killed. If your group or guild takes over a town, they can kill the opposing factions npcs (inn keeper, shop keepers, bankers, smiths, quest givers big one!, and many more). The opposing faction will see Defense messages notifying them that their town is under attack, which is only a matter of time until they mount up a defense. The world is currently divided up into two continents, however factions are spread across both (not one each), so as you level up higher and higher zones become more and more contested. There is one exception to the faction versus faction only rule, and those are Arenas. They serve the purpose of allowing those within the arena the ability to fight one another. Should provide for some good fun, being able to challenge other guilds of your same faction.
Economy
The gist of this is already covered in the Auction House section. What I hadn't mentioned was item durability. Items are damaged through continual usage, and eventually need repaired (small fee). Once an item reaches 0 durability, the item is no longer of use, but cannot be destroyed; once the item is repaired, it is of full use once again. Simple yet effective systems, the combination of resources, tradeskills, item durability, and auction houses serve as an excellent cycle in the economy.
Travel
At 40th level, players may purchase a mount specific to their race (with the exception of Tauren race, which have plains running as an ability) that allow players to move 60% faster. At 60th level, players may purchase a new mount that is a total of 100% faster then normal speed, but for a very large cost (like buying housing). Mounts are used for travel primarily, as you cannot fight while on the mount (and takes about 3 seconds to get back on mount). This system keeps everyone the same speed for their level ranges, and removes class dependency for sake of speed modifiers. Other forms of travel include flight paths (that each person must discover before they learn the path to each location), and sea and air ships, which are needed due to the size of the world for people to get around quickly. A couple exceptions to movement speed changes that are combat oriented, and they are teleporting (mages can skip ahead short distances to gain on some one or to get away) and a temporary sprint that rogues have.
Game Engine
I'll cover graphics, sound, and UI here briefly. Graphic art is done incredibly well (if you've only seen screenshots, you haven't seen anything yet!). Graphic technology is also leveraged even for the newest of cards, while still working very well on older cards. While this game has more of a fantasy graphical style rather then photo-realism, you will find that the world is absolutely gorgeous. Most importantly, your frame rate is extremely reasonable even under heavy load of massive raids; Even with older systems and still looks and runs very good. In addition to frame rate, the entire control system is not locked into your frame rate, so everything is extremely responsive and won't find yourself having to bash keys in hopes of a skill or spell to go through. Lastly the UI, an engine in itself allows people to make anywhere from simple add-ons to massive overlays for the game (fully programmable). To give you an idea just how powerful the UI system is, people have made entire games within the UI itself... Bit of an overkill if you ask me, but hey, flexibility is nice to have. Already there are some amazing UI's done by non-Blizzard employee's, far surpassing anything I've seen before.
Communication
For the most part, not much new here, just various channels (though a lot more then some are use to) and functions (disable channels, ignore people, etc) with one exception, voice commands. There are many voice commands (some just for fun) that allow users to quickly inform those around them of something without having to type everything. Things such as I'm out of mana!, I need a heal!, Incoming, and many other voice commands allow you to alert others of what's going on without the need for a bunch of typing and reading. Aside from the fact that it is fast and convenient, it makes for a more enjoyable experience not having to lock your eyes on chat to know what is going on. In addition, there are also custom channels (like irc, join as many as you like), and a page function which is a super-tell function that not only shows the chat in their chat box, but also shows it in huge letters in the middle of their screen to get their attention What's up?!!. You cannot speak with the opposing faction (I know some enjoy the **** talk, but this saves a lot of headaches too), but you can see their names and guild names if so inclined to address them on the forums heh.
Player versus Environment (PvE)
Even for those that are heavily pvp driven, PvE still must be done right. Why have a feature in a game if it not going to be fun? The PvE system revolves around plenty of various mobs with their own unique abilities (very similar abilities that players have), large land-masses to roam and quest through, dungeons and dungeon instances (unique copies of the dungeon built for your group or raid group w/o outside interference). The PvE system is quite huge in this game, even to the extreme EQ'ers expect to see. Another aspect that EQ'ers are all too familiar with is downtime, which is next to nothing in WoW; most small battles do not require any downtime at all. I don't want to go too in depth here as discovery is a lot of the fun, but I will touch on a couple key systems. First of all, dungeon instances are an awesome way for groups and guilds to do small and large dungeon crawls that we can do all by ourselves, which makes for a great deal more fun; also eliminates camping (though even outside there really is no camping, as it's more rewarding to move along). Lastly is mob behaviors, you will find mobs of various classes, so will see more player-like actions/reactions (though certainly not as fun as going against other players), as just about all mobs have abilities and spells, and they heavily use them. I like to think of myself as an avid PvPer, but being able to do dungeon crawls with the guild as much as we want can be a great deal of fun. It's important to always have the option to do some fun and challenging PvE when you want, with new content and challenges being added all the time (monthly content seems on the horizon once released). Levels don't make as big of an impact (especially for support classes since they don't have to worry about to-hit issues versus high lvl mobs). There really isn't much Power-Leveling, the only form of that is that a 60th lvl can literally take a 5th level around and help him complete all his quests to speed up the process (but it still takes time investment on the high lvl since there is always traveling involved). There will always be rushing to the "end-game" for some, but it's at least an enjoyable ride now. There's no real urgency to get high level other then for accomplishment and to be the bigger man in PvP.
Quest System
Intricately woven into the PvE system, this is not just another feature it is a core game component. I'm not much for questing in general, but this game has done an incredible job to get the player involved. I still do not quest nearly as much as most, but have to admit it can be a lot of fun (a lot more so grouped, or at least a duo). You do not have to spend hours looking for quests, or spend more hours figuring out what to do or even worse having to go online to learn how; quests are extremely common and easy to find, with generally very clear directions as to what needs to be done (even if it takes a little looking around). I'd like to see even more group-oriented quests (most of them are dungeon based), and hope they continue to throw in more and more quests to the point where people can pick and choose only the ones they want and still be able to level to 60th without having to do much else. Very good start, you can already do probably 80% questing if that is what you enjoy doing the most. It's important to note that story is not simply plopped into the World of Warcraft, but rather WoW is built based on a story. In fact, they've already published two of three Warcraft novels.
Experience
Leveling is quite fast when compared to existing MMOG's. It allows for more fun time, whatever that entails for you, and considerably less grinding. For the more casual gamers, they will truly appreciate Rested Experience. When logged off in an inn or city, the character will gain 5% of their level in rested experience every 4 hours. The effect of rested xp is that when you're killing, you get twice as much experience per kill until your rested xp is gone. In other words, if you had an entire level of rested xp (which would take 3.3 days of being offline), you'd only to work for half that level to gain the full level. For those interested in leveling rates, I'd guess 3-4 weeks for the seriously hardcore, 6-8 weeks for a heavy gamer (online a lot, but still works/schools full-time), medium (3 months is a safe bet), and casual gamer (4 months easy, due to all the rested xp makes for quick leveling). I've been in the casual gamer category most of my time in beta, and must admit it has it's rewards (not rushing through content). I'd still prefer to be in the medium to heavy gamer category.
Player versus Player (PvP)
This goes hand and hand with the 'Combat' section mentioned above. There is no 'one technique' to win battles, the diversity of actions, traps, counters, and support is mind-blowing at times. I've probably engaged with a couple hundred players since I started playing a couple months ago (at higher levels it becomes a *great* deal more), and almost every time I lost (and even on some wins) I find myself saying things along the lines of damn, if only I had done this first, followed by that, and then countered his X. It's pretty incredible how intense pvp combat can be, and it's not over in a few seconds... There is time to act, react, strategize, counter-strategize, you get the idea. PvP balance is very well done. Being a faction-based game, this means that there is always action (other then in very low lvl area's, and instances) where the opposing faction can find you or you find them. Layered on top of of PvP is the honor system, which acts as a rewards/penalty system; while there are multiple variables in determining what counts as an 'Honorable Kill', the general idea behind it is to discourage griefing of players significantly lower level then you, while providing rewards for those of high honor ranking, and penalties for those with dishonorable ranking.
Items
Yes, this is a loot whores game without question. What do you expect from the makers of games like Diablo? There is a great deal of item variance, and depending on the class of item (Poor Quality, Common Quality, Uncommon Quality, Rare Quality, Epic, Legendary, and Artifact). Phew. In the current state of beta, at the capped levels, classes do look a lot alike for the most part, but this is suppose to go away with the addition of Epic zones which will be in release (and a taste in the next patch) as the new class of items start to be dropped. But are items important? Yes, without a doubt items are very important to your arsenal. Items have been made so diverse, that they act as a replacement of the stat distribution system so many are accustom to, but in WoW you can not directly change your stats, it must be by your selection of items. Most of the choices made in item selection is more oriented to play style then which one is better. Many people even have different sets of items for different encounters. Items are fun and challenging to acquire, and their importance is not a hindrance like some may assume. Items are very important. However, they are easy enough to get and there are so many of them it gives you something to look forward to. Getting a new item more often then not is more of choosing which item you want for your arsenal, not which one is better, if that makes sense.
Races & Classes
Choice of race impacts your looks (visually differences in races is extremely distinct in this game, there is no guessing when you go up against others in pvp), racial traits (various advantages and disadvantages), and to a much smaller degree your stats can vary (so little in fact, it would not really be a factor in your decision process). The real play-style diversity comes in the class you choose, and the talents you specialize in. Your talent specialization has a strong impact on what you are good at, and what you are great at. It's important to note that even a Priest with a fully offensive specialized talent tree (which is what I played in beta) is still very much a good healer in any great, just not the best healer. This system makes for nice customizability, without the need to completely gimp area's of your class, so you can continue to fill various group roles. There is no single defining characteristic of any class, they all have a host of options to keep things interesting and allow skill to play into the wide variety of combat situations.
Wrapping Up
The Bad
I've yet to find a MMOG that had AI that would blow me away, even though some considerable improvements have been made there are still clear distinctions in skill-levels between players and mobs. I'd really like to see more pro-active AI, where armies of mobs raid towns and cities, could really spice things up in the PvE arena.
The Good
There is not one system in the game that isn't well thought out, clearly with fun in mind at every turn in the decision making process, which you might think would be more common in the gaming industry. While the combat system is clearly my favorite aspect of WoW, the amount of attention to all other aspects of the game should not go unnoticed.
Final Thoughts
This game is clearly an extremely high-quality game, in fact one of the most well thought-out and complete games I've ever played (of any game, not just MMOG's). With the massive development engine known as Blizzard, and knowing how mature the game is even at release, I can only begin to imagine what the World of Warcraft has in store for us. Bottom line, this game has serious long-term potential for just about any guild, and is simply good fun all around.
The Basics
After seeing the wheel reinvented many times over, we're finally starting to see games (not just MMOG's) leverage well-known and widely accepted feature sets. What amazes me is that Blizzard has managed to take a large common feature set and improve on just about every aspect. So many annoyances and frustrations that we've come to accept as normal are addressed and eliminated in this game. While they are literally too numerous to mention in this review, throughout this review I'll cover some of the specifics so you have a good understanding of the things to come.
Trade Skills
I haven't enjoyed trade skills since Ultima Online, some people enjoy them, so do not. Out of my beta experience, I spent very little time with tradeskills myself (due to limited time) but do have a decent knowledge of them. Tradeskills are very naturally integrated into the world, based around a resource system; harvesting hides, mining ore, fishing, harvesting herbs, and even killing creatures for resource loot are part of this system. In addition to the forms of resource harvesting tradeskills, you have the higher level tradeskills to make use of those resources (weapon/armor smithing, alchemy, engineering, etc). The outcome is that while just about everyone does some type of trade (depending on play style and what you want it for), the economy is actually very healthy and not over flooded, due to the fact that everything requires resources. Resources also provide for a method to fund guild members that wish to take on the more difficult tradeskills. Currently the only fallback to the system is that *some* tradeskills need further refined so that at higher levels all tradeskills are still very useful. The fact that Tradeskills revolve around *gathered* resources keeps things in check, and makes them a lot more then just a click click click system.
Auction House
While not the first MMOG to make use of an Auction House, Blizzard has really outdone themselves here. Auction houses are not connected, and there are only a couple for each faction (though really only one central one is commonly used that I'm aware of). This in effect keeps major cities a very happening place, and trade in this game is huge! The system works very simple and familiar to most, an item is placed on the auction (for a small fee to keep random junk off) and a timer is set for that item with an optional buy-out if the seller wishes to give bidders a price to purchase the item right away. Side effect of this system is that trade chat spam is reduced considerably (though there are still some people that enjoy spending their time announcing their sales). Quite interesting visiting auction houses, reminds me of a stock trading floor, and people (including myself) actually having fun with them.
Combat
I'm amazed at just how many games even today that have combat systems leave you asking That's it?. Blizzard thankfully has been doing combat-based games for so long, they've apparently learned a lot. Combat is all about giving the individual many, many choices to greatly impact the outcome of a battle. Many choices of which require quick thinking, preparation for what you think the opposition will do, and proper timing. If all that is required to accomplish great things in a game is time, then count me out. Skill must be, and in WoW is, a huge determing factor of the outcome of a battle. This touches equally on both PvE and PvP. Tradeskills even play roles in combat, such as alchemy (tons of various types of potions) and engineering (bombs & traps), just keep in mind resources are needed for those so they are not a requirement to be competitive by any means. Combat has clearly had a great amount of attention in this game, as even I find it difficult to pick apart the system. Combat is fast, fun, and furious.
Balance & Skill
Remarkably well done, in aspects of PvE, PvP, solo, grouped, every race & class combination has it's advantages and disadvantages in all the various situations. Even during the later days of the beta process, flavor to the month classes were negligible and hardly worth merrit. Every class is equipped with a whole host of spells & abilities, and even in the most unfortunate situations skill and experience make a very serious impact on the outcome.
Solo
We're playing massively multi-player online games, why the hell should we care about how well (if at all) solo play is supported? In a perfect world everyone would always be grouped, but obviously that is not realistic. Everyone solo's at times, many by preference. This has been greatly addressed in WoW by making it so that any class and talent specialization can easily solo. I personally detest soloing, but it is necessary for everyone to have the option when they want and need it. How many times have you been left out in the cold or had to wait in a line (ugh) because you could not solo? Thankfully this is addressed very well in WoW, and no matter how much time you have online, you can still play. Solo clearly is not nearly as much fun in most cases, but having the option for when we need it is greatly necessary. You can play when you want, what a concept. Even solo PvP is not uncommon, as numbers in general are pretty small since the entire world is open for pvp (with the exception of instances and the very low level zones).
Grouping
Wasn't sure I'd like the 5-member max on groups, but after playing in several full groups I can see why it was limited. There are so many variables in combat in general, and multiplying the number of players to coordinate with and the number of mobs or players you're up against, can make for some awesome fun. There are also raid groups (can have up to 40 people, 8x5) which are generally used for epic raids (dragons and whatnot) in instances. Raid content is very limited in beta (only one raid dungeon) as they are saving the raid content for release (supposedly a lot). For more information on raids check out the main site for a great article (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/raid-article.shtml), it'll give a good idea just what to expect from high-level content. Overall, grouping has been a great experience; which not having my guild in beta says quite a lot. Groups are not cookie-cutter like you may be use to however, as many classes can fill various roles, and the possible combinations of group make-ups is pretty great.
Guilds
Pretty much the norm here, a chat room to coordinate with members, and a guild tabbard which members can apply to their cloak and shield. One thing worth mentioning here is that smaller more skillful guilds can actually be very successful unlike in many MMOG's that encourage massive numbers to remain competitive. Haven't seen this many PvP guilds since Shadowbane Beta, and this game is far more forgiving of smaller guilds.
Horde vs Alliance
This is the first time I've seen faction-based PvP actually work out well. What seems to make it work so well is that rather then having pvp zones and pve zones, it's all one in the same, so everyone is heavily spread out, which keeps groups considerably smaller. There are most certainly larger battles too, which generally revolve around the opposing faction taking over a small town, or even a major city (though I do not believe this has been accomplished yet). Everything can be killed. If your group or guild takes over a town, they can kill the opposing factions npcs (inn keeper, shop keepers, bankers, smiths, quest givers big one!, and many more). The opposing faction will see Defense messages notifying them that their town is under attack, which is only a matter of time until they mount up a defense. The world is currently divided up into two continents, however factions are spread across both (not one each), so as you level up higher and higher zones become more and more contested. There is one exception to the faction versus faction only rule, and those are Arenas. They serve the purpose of allowing those within the arena the ability to fight one another. Should provide for some good fun, being able to challenge other guilds of your same faction.
Economy
The gist of this is already covered in the Auction House section. What I hadn't mentioned was item durability. Items are damaged through continual usage, and eventually need repaired (small fee). Once an item reaches 0 durability, the item is no longer of use, but cannot be destroyed; once the item is repaired, it is of full use once again. Simple yet effective systems, the combination of resources, tradeskills, item durability, and auction houses serve as an excellent cycle in the economy.
Travel
At 40th level, players may purchase a mount specific to their race (with the exception of Tauren race, which have plains running as an ability) that allow players to move 60% faster. At 60th level, players may purchase a new mount that is a total of 100% faster then normal speed, but for a very large cost (like buying housing). Mounts are used for travel primarily, as you cannot fight while on the mount (and takes about 3 seconds to get back on mount). This system keeps everyone the same speed for their level ranges, and removes class dependency for sake of speed modifiers. Other forms of travel include flight paths (that each person must discover before they learn the path to each location), and sea and air ships, which are needed due to the size of the world for people to get around quickly. A couple exceptions to movement speed changes that are combat oriented, and they are teleporting (mages can skip ahead short distances to gain on some one or to get away) and a temporary sprint that rogues have.
Game Engine
I'll cover graphics, sound, and UI here briefly. Graphic art is done incredibly well (if you've only seen screenshots, you haven't seen anything yet!). Graphic technology is also leveraged even for the newest of cards, while still working very well on older cards. While this game has more of a fantasy graphical style rather then photo-realism, you will find that the world is absolutely gorgeous. Most importantly, your frame rate is extremely reasonable even under heavy load of massive raids; Even with older systems and still looks and runs very good. In addition to frame rate, the entire control system is not locked into your frame rate, so everything is extremely responsive and won't find yourself having to bash keys in hopes of a skill or spell to go through. Lastly the UI, an engine in itself allows people to make anywhere from simple add-ons to massive overlays for the game (fully programmable). To give you an idea just how powerful the UI system is, people have made entire games within the UI itself... Bit of an overkill if you ask me, but hey, flexibility is nice to have. Already there are some amazing UI's done by non-Blizzard employee's, far surpassing anything I've seen before.
Communication
For the most part, not much new here, just various channels (though a lot more then some are use to) and functions (disable channels, ignore people, etc) with one exception, voice commands. There are many voice commands (some just for fun) that allow users to quickly inform those around them of something without having to type everything. Things such as I'm out of mana!, I need a heal!, Incoming, and many other voice commands allow you to alert others of what's going on without the need for a bunch of typing and reading. Aside from the fact that it is fast and convenient, it makes for a more enjoyable experience not having to lock your eyes on chat to know what is going on. In addition, there are also custom channels (like irc, join as many as you like), and a page function which is a super-tell function that not only shows the chat in their chat box, but also shows it in huge letters in the middle of their screen to get their attention What's up?!!. You cannot speak with the opposing faction (I know some enjoy the **** talk, but this saves a lot of headaches too), but you can see their names and guild names if so inclined to address them on the forums heh.
Player versus Environment (PvE)
Even for those that are heavily pvp driven, PvE still must be done right. Why have a feature in a game if it not going to be fun? The PvE system revolves around plenty of various mobs with their own unique abilities (very similar abilities that players have), large land-masses to roam and quest through, dungeons and dungeon instances (unique copies of the dungeon built for your group or raid group w/o outside interference). The PvE system is quite huge in this game, even to the extreme EQ'ers expect to see. Another aspect that EQ'ers are all too familiar with is downtime, which is next to nothing in WoW; most small battles do not require any downtime at all. I don't want to go too in depth here as discovery is a lot of the fun, but I will touch on a couple key systems. First of all, dungeon instances are an awesome way for groups and guilds to do small and large dungeon crawls that we can do all by ourselves, which makes for a great deal more fun; also eliminates camping (though even outside there really is no camping, as it's more rewarding to move along). Lastly is mob behaviors, you will find mobs of various classes, so will see more player-like actions/reactions (though certainly not as fun as going against other players), as just about all mobs have abilities and spells, and they heavily use them. I like to think of myself as an avid PvPer, but being able to do dungeon crawls with the guild as much as we want can be a great deal of fun. It's important to always have the option to do some fun and challenging PvE when you want, with new content and challenges being added all the time (monthly content seems on the horizon once released). Levels don't make as big of an impact (especially for support classes since they don't have to worry about to-hit issues versus high lvl mobs). There really isn't much Power-Leveling, the only form of that is that a 60th lvl can literally take a 5th level around and help him complete all his quests to speed up the process (but it still takes time investment on the high lvl since there is always traveling involved). There will always be rushing to the "end-game" for some, but it's at least an enjoyable ride now. There's no real urgency to get high level other then for accomplishment and to be the bigger man in PvP.
Quest System
Intricately woven into the PvE system, this is not just another feature it is a core game component. I'm not much for questing in general, but this game has done an incredible job to get the player involved. I still do not quest nearly as much as most, but have to admit it can be a lot of fun (a lot more so grouped, or at least a duo). You do not have to spend hours looking for quests, or spend more hours figuring out what to do or even worse having to go online to learn how; quests are extremely common and easy to find, with generally very clear directions as to what needs to be done (even if it takes a little looking around). I'd like to see even more group-oriented quests (most of them are dungeon based), and hope they continue to throw in more and more quests to the point where people can pick and choose only the ones they want and still be able to level to 60th without having to do much else. Very good start, you can already do probably 80% questing if that is what you enjoy doing the most. It's important to note that story is not simply plopped into the World of Warcraft, but rather WoW is built based on a story. In fact, they've already published two of three Warcraft novels.
Experience
Leveling is quite fast when compared to existing MMOG's. It allows for more fun time, whatever that entails for you, and considerably less grinding. For the more casual gamers, they will truly appreciate Rested Experience. When logged off in an inn or city, the character will gain 5% of their level in rested experience every 4 hours. The effect of rested xp is that when you're killing, you get twice as much experience per kill until your rested xp is gone. In other words, if you had an entire level of rested xp (which would take 3.3 days of being offline), you'd only to work for half that level to gain the full level. For those interested in leveling rates, I'd guess 3-4 weeks for the seriously hardcore, 6-8 weeks for a heavy gamer (online a lot, but still works/schools full-time), medium (3 months is a safe bet), and casual gamer (4 months easy, due to all the rested xp makes for quick leveling). I've been in the casual gamer category most of my time in beta, and must admit it has it's rewards (not rushing through content). I'd still prefer to be in the medium to heavy gamer category.
Player versus Player (PvP)
This goes hand and hand with the 'Combat' section mentioned above. There is no 'one technique' to win battles, the diversity of actions, traps, counters, and support is mind-blowing at times. I've probably engaged with a couple hundred players since I started playing a couple months ago (at higher levels it becomes a *great* deal more), and almost every time I lost (and even on some wins) I find myself saying things along the lines of damn, if only I had done this first, followed by that, and then countered his X. It's pretty incredible how intense pvp combat can be, and it's not over in a few seconds... There is time to act, react, strategize, counter-strategize, you get the idea. PvP balance is very well done. Being a faction-based game, this means that there is always action (other then in very low lvl area's, and instances) where the opposing faction can find you or you find them. Layered on top of of PvP is the honor system, which acts as a rewards/penalty system; while there are multiple variables in determining what counts as an 'Honorable Kill', the general idea behind it is to discourage griefing of players significantly lower level then you, while providing rewards for those of high honor ranking, and penalties for those with dishonorable ranking.
Items
Yes, this is a loot whores game without question. What do you expect from the makers of games like Diablo? There is a great deal of item variance, and depending on the class of item (Poor Quality, Common Quality, Uncommon Quality, Rare Quality, Epic, Legendary, and Artifact). Phew. In the current state of beta, at the capped levels, classes do look a lot alike for the most part, but this is suppose to go away with the addition of Epic zones which will be in release (and a taste in the next patch) as the new class of items start to be dropped. But are items important? Yes, without a doubt items are very important to your arsenal. Items have been made so diverse, that they act as a replacement of the stat distribution system so many are accustom to, but in WoW you can not directly change your stats, it must be by your selection of items. Most of the choices made in item selection is more oriented to play style then which one is better. Many people even have different sets of items for different encounters. Items are fun and challenging to acquire, and their importance is not a hindrance like some may assume. Items are very important. However, they are easy enough to get and there are so many of them it gives you something to look forward to. Getting a new item more often then not is more of choosing which item you want for your arsenal, not which one is better, if that makes sense.
Races & Classes
Choice of race impacts your looks (visually differences in races is extremely distinct in this game, there is no guessing when you go up against others in pvp), racial traits (various advantages and disadvantages), and to a much smaller degree your stats can vary (so little in fact, it would not really be a factor in your decision process). The real play-style diversity comes in the class you choose, and the talents you specialize in. Your talent specialization has a strong impact on what you are good at, and what you are great at. It's important to note that even a Priest with a fully offensive specialized talent tree (which is what I played in beta) is still very much a good healer in any great, just not the best healer. This system makes for nice customizability, without the need to completely gimp area's of your class, so you can continue to fill various group roles. There is no single defining characteristic of any class, they all have a host of options to keep things interesting and allow skill to play into the wide variety of combat situations.
Wrapping Up
The Bad
I've yet to find a MMOG that had AI that would blow me away, even though some considerable improvements have been made there are still clear distinctions in skill-levels between players and mobs. I'd really like to see more pro-active AI, where armies of mobs raid towns and cities, could really spice things up in the PvE arena.
The Good
There is not one system in the game that isn't well thought out, clearly with fun in mind at every turn in the decision making process, which you might think would be more common in the gaming industry. While the combat system is clearly my favorite aspect of WoW, the amount of attention to all other aspects of the game should not go unnoticed.
Final Thoughts
This game is clearly an extremely high-quality game, in fact one of the most well thought-out and complete games I've ever played (of any game, not just MMOG's). With the massive development engine known as Blizzard, and knowing how mature the game is even at release, I can only begin to imagine what the World of Warcraft has in store for us. Bottom line, this game has serious long-term potential for just about any guild, and is simply good fun all around.
All I want is for WoW to just release already so all the hype and doomsayers will disappear.