Computer Game Evaluation: World of Warcraft

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Computer Game EvaluationWorld of Warcraft

• Dustin Kelley
• CIS 487
• Fall 2005

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Basic Information
Game Title
Company Author

• Type of Game MMORPG
• Price 49.99 purchase, 15/month subscription
• Launch Date 11/22/04
• ESRB Rating Teen (13)
• Platforms PC Mac

• Minimum Requirements
• 800 MHz CPU
• 256 MB RAM
• 32 MB 3D Graphics Card
• 5 GB hard drive space
• DirectX 9.0c
• 56k modem w/ internet

• Recommended
• 1.6 GHz CPU
• 512 MB RAM
• 64 MB 3D Graphics Card
• Cable/DSL internet

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Installation

• 4 CDs
• Easy installation, automated and prompts when to
  insert next CD
• Patches and upgrades are automatically downloaded
  and installed when game is started
• May take a few hours total
• Writes nearly 5 GB to your hard drive
• CD not required while playing

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Quick Overview

• Game must be played online only
• Standard RPG elements (leveling, experience,
  etc.)
• Real-time, action-oriented rather than turn-based
• Many different options when creating your
  character, each giving the player a new
  experience
• Two factions Alliance Horde
• Choose male or female
• Eight races to choose from
• Alliance Dwarves, Gnomes, Humans, Night Elves
• Horde Orcs, Undead, Tauren, Trolls
• Nine classes total, with eight in each faction,
• Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin (Alliance only),
  Priest, Rogue, Shaman (Horde only), Warlock,
  Warrior
• Well-balanced each have their own
  advantages/disadvantages
• Each faction has 3 different starting locations

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Storyline

• Alliance vs. Horde ceasefire
• Still warfare through in-game run-ins
• Each race is fighting for their place in the
  world of Azeroth
• Each race has an introduction video describing
  its role in the world
• Storyline is driven at will by the player through
  quests

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Players Role

• Immerse yourself into the fantasy world of
  Azeroth to take on the role and live the life of
  your chosen race class
• When grouping with other players, each class has
  its own role(s), such as tanking (keeping mobs
  from attacking other members), healing group
  members, etc.

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User Interface

• Simple and easy to learn
• Actions, attacks, and other items are accessed
  through buttons on the action bar located at the
  bottom of the screen
• Top row of keys, 1 through , may be assigned to
  actions for quick access
• Smart mouse cursor changes as different object
  types are hovered over, and mouse-click actions
  are changed as well
• By default, character movement controlled by
  mouse, ASDW keys, or arrow keys
• All keys and actions are fully customizable
• Custom UI mods are available for download, or may
  be created by the user

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User Interface
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Game Play

• Player can choose different styles of play at any
  time
• Questing
• Accept and complete a quest for an NPC for
  rewards (money, items, experience)
• Leads player to new areas
• Grinding
• Kill mobs just to gain experience
• Farming
• Gathering materials or items needed for various
  reasons
• Killing certain mobs hoping for a particular
  dropped item
• Instances
• Dungeons usually attempted with a group
• Individually spawned for your own group only (no
  other players encountered inside)
• Rare item drops
• Battlegrounds
• Groups of each faction compete in
  Player-vs-Player (PvP) instances

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Game Play (contd)

• Non-linear progression
• Gain experience by questing or fighting
• Level up your character to learn new skills, get
  better items, become more powerful
• Level 60 is the cap
• Make friends by grouping with others, or joining
  a guild
• Many later battles require groups
• Guild members can be very helpful when learning
  the game
• Learn professions to make useful items for
  yourself, or to sell/trade to other players

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Scoring

• Experience points
• Leveling your character, skills, talents, etc.
• PvP rankings
• Honor points
• Guild rankings
• Territory reputation

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Artwork

• Landscapes
• Beautifully designed
• Wide variety of vast areas to explore
• Characters
• Easily distinguishable races
• Each new piece of armor or weapon equipped
  changes the look of your character accordingly

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Sound Music

• Background music
• Changes accordingly with new locations
• Not always on, but kicks in at just the right
  times
• Realistic nature sounds
• Birds chirping, crickets at night, etc.
• Unique sounds for the many different
  actions/events keep you more aware of whats
  going on
• Different enemy types have distinguishable
  sounds/voices
• Never seem overly repetitive

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Special Features

• Game is always growing as patches and updates are
  released
• New instances battlegrounds
• New items
• Choose server (PvP or not)
• Multiple race/class combinations
• Auction House (in-game eBay)

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Manual

• Over 200 pages
• Well-organized
• Very helpful to new players
• Explains quite a bit about the games many
  different features
• Not completely necessary to read, as there is an
  optional in-game alert system to tell you about
  new situations

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Bugs

• Not currently aware of any
• New patches are occasionally released by Blizzard
  to fix bugs found, add new features, etc.

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Game Review

• The Good
• Countless hours of play
• Always find new milestones to work toward
• Always something to do, even after you reach 60
• Extremely high replayability due to the many
  character options
• Encourages grouping with other players
• Open-ended you decide what you want to do next

• The Bad
• Very addicting
• Game doesnt end
• Some quests get repetitive
• Kill blah, bring me blah
• Could consume your life if youre not careful
• Subscription cost ends up being 180/year

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Game Review (contd)

• Comparison
• First MMORPG Ive played
• Therefore, no other games I can compare it to
• Audience
• The Teen rating seems suitable
• Competence
• Ability to handle complex situations
• Design Mistakes?
• I think not

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Summary

• Overall strengths
• Funativity very high
• Player choices affect how game is played
• Enormous world to discover
• Huge amount of information to learn
• Overall weaknesses
• Subscription costs
• Game has no ending or final boss
• No ultimate goal
• Hinders the feeling of completeness you get from
  beating a game

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Summary (contd)

• Is the game worth purchasing?
• Yes, very much so
• The subscription cost is not too bad
• Always being updated
• Very high fun/cost ratio
• How could it be improved?
• Add a balance system that doesnt cause
  over-crowding of one faction on a server
• Overall game is improved with every patch release