It's been an amazing experience so far. I've clocked in over 14 SOLID DAYS in total hours, which is three times longer than I've ever played any other game. It really feels like an alternate life.

You guys don't know what you're missing, seriously!!!!

So, ray......how much is the fee???

I think I saw it on gogamers; and think I read 14.95
but then again, we know my memory

I'm not sure I could play a game like that..how does it work? Do you hook up with a certain group of folks, or just anyone? How many in a group? Very confusing and scary for me..
Which really is a shame, some of the online games sound wonderful and this was one of them I read about.


Ingie

Ingie ------ You could try Guild Wars when it comes out. That's a free subscription! No fees! I'm sure I'll be trying it when I've read the reviews for the game.

Popcorneater, the play is a combination of solo and group play. There are guilds of like-minded players, and many people join them. I joined a guild of gamers over the age of 25, so I'm playing with adults.

The subscription is completely reasonable when you consider the entertainment value you get out of the game.

The social aspect of the game adds tremendously to the value.

I have NEVER played an MMORPG before, so I was intimidated as well, Popcorn. But this game is EXCEPTIONALLY newbie friendly (if you don't believe me read the reviews!) and players of all levels can enjoy it.

Plus, like anything, you get better and better at it as you go.

The art design is UNBELIEVABLE, and the the entire gameworld (which consists of dozens of different regions) is seamless. You fly on the backs of hippogriphs and gryphons to go long distances!

You all know what a hardcore gamer I am, and I'm just saying that this is a quality experience everyone should try.

What got Game of the Year at GameSpot? Halo 2? NO. Half-Life 2? NO. Doom 3? NO.

"World of Warcraft" !!!

ray I'm not playing it but my son and brother are. They both rave about it and are trying to get my husband to join them.

My son and husband keep telling me I need to start playing on-line - maybe I will.

I've been looking at the World of Warcraft and Everquest sites but I don't know if I'm cut out for the grouping together idea. I enjoy wandering around on my own and if I joined a group I would feel obligated to spend time in the group setting. Can you solo through the game totally, or is it best (as you explained) doing some soloing and some group play?

Mugsy, you cannot do the elite quests alone. They're too hard.

Plus, you cannot get good equipment from vendors. You have to buy it from other players -- who create it through a whole system of professions including tailoring, skinning, leatherworking, mining, engineering, fishing, etc.

The group thing is intimidating, but people are generally very nice and there's always folks around who are at your same level.

The whole game is set up to encourage interaction. For example, as a warlock, I am the only class in the game who can summon a person from far away (which saves huge amounts of time when you are getting a group ready). But in order to cast the spell, I have to have two people HELP me.

So you constantly find yourself interacting with people. Strangers at first, to be sure, but you quickly begin hanging around with your friends (there's a whole social interface that helps you keep track of your friends and guild mates).

In that it's like Boomers -- you find the people you like to interact with the most.

Thank you for your quick response Ray. Maybe I'll give it a try. Like you said, it's intimidating when you first start out but after awhile you get the hang of it.

You should write a review Ray!

I may brave myself up on of these days and try one.
If you think this is the one, I trust your judgement.
I was looking at I think "City of Heroes"? Something like that and it looked so inviting.

Everquest I know has been around a lot, but that didn't pull me like the this one and CoH did..

Mugsy,Mac and Syd let me know how serious you all are..
I am still a tad bit skittish. I don't want someone to be mean to me

Ingie

I would have posted sooner, but I cannot access GB while at work

Anyway, I've also been playing Warcraft and it has become my main game. I have played other massive online RPG's (Everquest 1 & 2, Dark Age of Camelot, Anarchy Online, Star Wars Galaxies) and this is definitely one of the more soloable ones.

Ray, I'm on the Perenolde server, which was added after the original servers became overloaded. I assume you are on one of those older ones since you started before I did. My undead warlock (another one!) is level 28. I'm also in a guild but the game gives you so much to do on your own, I haven't had to group much.

Ingie, and anyone thinking of trying an MMORPG, the main difference from single player, offline games is the fact that you cannot save your game, it is a perpetual world, meaning it goes on even when you are not playing. It does not save game data that you can re-load later, so if your character dies you are subject to the game's death rules.

World of Warcraft has a very forgiving death system: if your character dies in a fight, your "ghost" spawns in a nearby area and you have a choice of either going back to where you died and clicking on your corpse to resurrect, or resurrecting right then and there with a temporary penalty to your stats.

Another difference is the cost. The inital cost is $50 and then $15 a month after the first free month. Some MMORPG companies make expansion packs which add a significant amount of content to the game, but you usually have to shell out more money for that too. My feeling is, if you enjoy the game and want to explore it's vast amount of gameplay, most likely you won't spend money on other games, so it's debateable whether you are spending more on a monthly basis playing one MMORPG vs. playing 2 or 3 single player games in a month.

I generally don't like to group with other people, which is why I left Everquest 2, a game that practically forces you to group with others due to the way that game was designed. Warcraft pulls off the trick of allowing solo or group play depending on what you want. If you want to solo, there are numerous quests to do, or you could just explore the different zones killing enemies. There is also a fair amount of group-oriented content, such as elite quests and dungeons. Six people is the max for a group, I believe.

Regardless of whether you are grouped with others or not, you can communicate with other players in your zone through the chat window. One of the reasons I love playing these big online games is the immersive feeling of being in a huge, perpetual world knowing other people are playing at the same time I am.

HOWEVER, after all that, I should point out that Blizzard, the makers of Warcraft, have suspended shipment on any new copies of the game until they make some technical adjustments to the game servers, so if you are thinking of rushing out to buy it, you probably won't find any copies at the moment, at least according to this article:

FILEFRONT

Hey, I've been looking and looking for World of Warcraft, but no matter where I look, Best Buy, Targte, etc. I can't find it, HELP ME!

Hello AITDFreak, and Just checked, you will have to type "World of Warcraft" in the search box--I can't seem to get a URL to go directly to the correct page.

And you can also check out EB Games ...

Jenny, did you see any actual copies at CDAccess? I did a search just now and they didnt show any.

EBGames has it on back order indefinitely.

I read they've pulled all the games from the market temporarily until they can fix their server issues.

I believe, like Nancy said, that they are holding back on releasing more copies until they have built up enough servers to accommodate new subscribers. There are copies of the game being sold on eBay, but probably more than you would want to pay for the game. Blows my mind that there are buy-it-nows on eBay for the collector's edition for $200-$300.

About 600,000 subscribers in the U.S. so far, and 800,000 subscribers worldwide. Blizzard opened the game up to Korea about three days ago, so those numbers are going to just keep growing and growing.

My son has a level 60 paladin and a level 42 night elf. Amazing game. Sometimes I just sit there watching him, as the vistas really are jaw dropping. This game deserves every accolade it has received.

I am curious, as i have never played MMORPG. I don't play many action games at all (unless have a cheat code or two...phys. probs. -- and i understand you are not allowed to use them in online games---but i think my son might be interested in this!), but i do have a question....do you get the Original game? i ask, because i think i have seen this games expansion games for sale (don't know about lately--have not looked)...or will any of the versions work for the online?

Gamenut, I think you may be confusing World of Warcraft with another game, possibly Warcraft 3.

World of Warcraft, or WoW for short, is an ONLINE ONLY role playing game, it is a huge online game world where thousands of people are playing on the same server, at the same time as you are. There is no offline campaign to play, no "original game".

Warcraft 3, another game by the same developers, is a Real Time Strategy game, from the same company as WoW, and can be played through offline, or online but on a much smaller server. There is an expansion for this game, Frozen Throne I think it's called.

You can use cheat codes for Warcraft 3's single player, offline campaign.

If you cheat in a massively multiplayer game like World of Warcraft, you will most likely be banned from the game.

You are right!!! it was the other game i was thinking of! Thanks so much for telling me! Yes, i had read that you could not use cheat codes for the online gaming -- i 'spose it is only fair...but i sure love godmode sometimes!! I am still going to tell my son about the game you are talking about...he plays alot of RPG's so he might enjoy and be able to play it.

You're welcome, Gamenut.
Unfortunately, your son may not be able to find any copies of World of Warcraft right now, should he decide to buy it. See the last few posts in this thread for the reason why.

Hopefully Blizzard will make the servers stable enough so they feel comfortable shipping more retail copies of the game.

Ill be joining you all on WOW when i get the money as SWG=rubbish now nothing to do except jedi which is a 2 month grind well ill see u all in game

It is on order Sir Knight... lets just hope Amazon get enough supplies!!!

Tig

I've been toying with the idea of trying a multiplayer game online, but I've heard so many horror stories I've stayed away. I get enough guff from other people all day at work. Maybe this one will be worth checking out when it's available again.

If anyone is interested, World of Warcraft is in stock, now at Play.com, priced at

Thanks Sue, I just checked Amazon and EBgames.com and they appear to have it in stock too.

I'm playing a shaman now, I put my warlock away for awhile. Still having a world of fun!

Yup, Amazon UK show it as in stock, BUT yesterday had a disclaimer to the effect that folks who ordered Before 8th Feb may have to wait. Ummm why penalise preorders??? Needless to say I emailed them and complained but haven't got my email saying your game is posted yet

Update... got no joy from Amazon, so when AlAce got in from school we phoned round and sourced the game locally so he pelted out the door and caught the bus and got it!!! Cancelled the amazon order. Having problems creating a character though as the servers are overloaded!!!!