World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft tosses out what's bad and focuses on what's good about MMORPGs.

Ever since the dawn of time (maybe even before), MMORPGs have been struggling to figure out exactly what they want to be. Society simulators? Meta-models of group dynamics? Excuses for angry denizens of the Internet to beat up on each other in player vs. player combat? Vast, pointless time sinks? World of Warcraft is the first MMO to figure out that it merely wants to be fun.

A Cleaner Burning MMO
First, let it be known that Blizzard hasn't reinvented the MMORPG wheel--aggro, tanking, mobs, grouping, phat loot, and all the other MMO building blocks are still here-it's just that Blizzard figured out what causes people to get tired, bored, and complainy and tried to do as little of that as possible. The game is super fast paced, you're always on the move, and the streamlined quest system means you're never lost, confused, or strapped for something to do. The class choices are a bit smaller than some other MMOs, but each class is versatile and distinctive-druids can change into several animal forms, hunters can tame wild creatures and turn them into pets, and even traditionally "dull" classes like priest are given a wide range of unique skills that make them nearly as viable as mages. Professions (potentially "boring" stuff like mining and making pants) strike the perfect balance between complexity, utility, and fun. This is the first MMO where the thought of playing just to get enough XP to level never even crosses your mind.

The art direction is masterful, reliant on color schemes, animation, and shapes rather than jargony techniques and polygon counts. Each area and central city has a distinct flavor, from Thunder Bluff's soaring mesas to Ironforge's central lavafall. Instanced dungeons-giant private areas created especially for you and your party that house serious ?ber-quests-are the game's mini-masterpieces with fantastic enemies and creative design that makes dungeons in other MMOs feel like amorphous lumps.

Paradise Found?
The game isn't flawless, nor is it technically finished-a good many quests fall into a "kill 20 of enemy X and collect 9 of item Y" pattern, a lot of promised end-game content still isn't in, and there are still bugs being squashed-but it's easily the closest MMORPGs have yet come to perfection. If this one doesn't hook you, nothing will.

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