Thursday 4 February, 2010

(I'm doing this as part of my course, though I didn't select that option when joining as we have different course names here in England)

Design.
The user interface is extremely simple compares to most MMO's. You have your map in the corner, action bars at the bottom and player frames on the left hand side. what makes this game unique is the ability to customize your UI - mine looks completely different from the default.
The world is a fantastic design masterpiece in my opinion. The amount of zones that have their own style is staggering. The graphics are quite cartoonish, yet believable. Most online games make the mistake of trying to make the look too realistic, such as AoC. Blizzard has mastered the art of creating a world out of pure imagination - a near impossible task given the sheer size of the map.

Gameplay.
I have been playing World of Warcraft since the start of BC & I'd say I have mastered the game now. I have only ever made one character - a Holy Priest. When I first joined Warcraft - I was referred by a friend who already had been playing for quite some time, therefore I had a helping hand when I needed it. I remember entering Ragefire Chasm and thinking how intimidated I was because I understood very little of the game. I didn't even know what an instance was!
I thought the help given by the tutorials was minimal - though this has been changed since & now is much more helpful. It did not take me very long to get a general understanding of the game - for the first week I was just exploring and doing quests. After over a month of playing I was still learning - though I pretty much got a grip of the mechanics.

Now it seems a long time since I first joined, I wouldn't do anything different as making mistakes is the best way to learn. Now I am raiding end-game, roll leader to healers in the Guild, directing raids on Ventrillo, ect.

GAMELOG // 1

Tonight myself & the guild are doing an ICC10 run, trying out the new wings. Hopefully we won't wipe as much on Saurfang as we usually do! He is a Pain for me as it's a real mana drainer for priests - So I have to conserve as much as possible. The raiding system is a real winner as far as I'm concerned, it makes me wonder why I ever saw anything in Runescape (a game I used to play).

To be continued..

// Jess

It sounds like a really good game, my biggest fear is that I would actually become addicted to playing it. Everyone that i speak to about it always explains how involved the game is and that you are continuously competing against everyone else thats on there. I guess to a certain degree that kind of puts me off, that its real time I mean and I can't just level up at my own pace.
What's the BC you were talking about and the ICC10 run, just out of curiosity?
Looking forward to your next installment....

BC stand for Burning Crusade, the first expansion pack. ICC means Icecrown Citadel which is a raid dungeon, that 10 or 25 players can join.