Submitted By: Trevor "Distepre" Johnson
The amount of information given at Gen Con in Anaheim was mind blowing. So many little things that make this game so great. I can very easily say that WoW, even in its alpha stage, puts every MMO to shame. Most info was new to me, some not, but this game is absolutely amazing.
My Characters:
For the total amount of time I was able to play WoW, all 30 minutes of it, I made two characters: an Orc Shaman, and a Dwarf Paladin. Both were lots of fun, but I found the Paladin to be more entertaining. Got the Shaman to Level 2, and the Paladin to 3...within 15 minutes for both before I got kicked off.
Info:
Bars: Characters either have Mana (blue), Focus (orange), or Rage (red) bars. Mana of course, is used to cast spells. Focus increases as you stand still, and completely depletes as soon as you move - it is used to increase accuracy, and possibly increase damage by a bit (didn’t get a yes or no on that). Rage was something I only noticed on the Warriors. As you deal or take damage, your Rage increases. Most of the Warrior’s skills are based on how much Rage you have, so the more Rage, the more Skills you can use and the more damage they deal. I can’t specifically remember what the Rogue’s bar was called, but as you used a specific skill, small bubbles appeared by your character’s avatar, which would then allow you to use a skill.
Pets: Pets are not given to any character at the beginning of their journey. Warlock’s first pet is an Imp, which is given to him after he completes a quest, this can be done at Level 1. The Undead Warlock had to collect three skulls from a specific creep in order to obtain the Imp. Hunters, on the other hand, obtain Beast Taming at approximately Level 10. Pets Level up when you do (think early D2). You can teach your pet new skills and such by finding the respective Trainer (I.e. Boar Trainer for Boar pets, Imp trainer for Imp pet, etc.).
Factions: Faction standings are in! As you progress through the game, you can gain Faction points towards the opposite Faction. As a Blizzard Rep said, “You could be the Tauren that loves Humans.” If you obtain enough points, you may be able to group with the opposite faction, although you may still be attacked by guards (no final word yet).
Death Penalty: When you die, you have the choice of either waiting 5 minutes for someone to Resurrect you, or you can “Release Spirit.” Currently the death penalty for the game is “Resurrection Sickness” as one of the Reps put it. You just go back to your current Bind Point and have low health and mana that you must regenerate. They are still discussing what else will be added to that, but nothing too severe (hopefully nothing like FFXI).
Down Time: None. None at all. After a battle, by the time you walk up to the next creep, you have almost fully regenerated. That was for Levels 1 - 3, Regeneration might not be as quickly in the later levels. The Food reminds me very much of the Restoration Potion in Warcraft 3. Bread, for example, Regenerates 98 Health over 21 Seconds - I know they’re random numbers but that’s what it said.
Heroes: Seems that Heroes still have not been touched - one of the reasons why Beta is still not released, I believe. When I asked about them, the only info I could get what is already known. Hero status may be obtainable at approximately Level 40. Your hero will be decided on your Race and Class. Only example I got was the Dwarf + Warrior = Mountain King, of course the most obvious.
Talent Points: Totally different then what I was expecting. At beginning levels, you gain 10 TP each time you level up. Reps said, “I believe at Level 20 you begin to get 20 TP per level.” TP can be spent any time you want, any where, no Trainer needed. You choose what you want improve upon, which can be anywhere from increasing your Strength, to increasing damage done to Beasts. One way I would describe it is, if you’ve played Final Fantasy X - The Sphere Grid. Each slot gave your character a bonus to his stats one way or another. So stats are still very much customizable. At level 1 - 3, it cost me 10 TP to increase my Strength by one, and also 10 TP to increase my total health by 20. In the beginning, every talent that is available to you only costs 10 TP. Some Talents: Undead Slayer, Increase Strength/Agility/Dext/etc., Beast Slayer, Undead Slayer, and many more that I can’t remember specifically.
Skills: Skills will be taught to you by Trainers as you level up for a small money fee. From what I understand, TP has nothing to do with what skills you are able to learn. I overheard a Rep talking to someone about how you can make your current skills better is by having the Trainer improve upon them. So, you can either improve upon old skills, or get completely new ones.
Quests: “Something is wrong if you don’t have a Quest in your log,” one of the Reps had said. Each and every Quest has some story to it. None of them “bored” me at all. Whether I was delivering a letter, or slaying wolves for their meat, it was way too fun. Some quests are small, while others require many many steps to complete. The Abomination Quest as shown in CGW takes approximately 15 steps to complete.
Details: The amount of detail done in this game is amazing. Every wall, every tree, everything has amazing graphics and work done on it. Grass patches stick up in the ground, you can see your characters breath in the cold, if you start casting a spell twice in a row, there is a nice little transition. The graphics in game are so much better than what is shown in the screen shot. The movement is precise and I had yet to see any type of glitch in the surroundings. The whole game is eye candy, absolutely amazing.
Real Time: As everyone knows by now, during your Griffon/Wyvern/Bat rides, everything is real-time so you can watch battles take place while traveling. But also, the beginning cinematic for each race is real-time. If there are battles taking place while the camera is flying around town, you see it. You appreciate it much more when you see it then when being told about it.
Beta: When I asked one of the Programmers if Beta should still be expected this year, unfortunately, he said No, only in nicer terms of course. It seems there are a few important things that still need to be implemented into the game (Heroes, some PvP, etc.).
I can’t even put enough emotion into these words to say how amazing this game was. Everything people have said about “not ever looking at the Experience Bar because of the entertainment” is true. I had been playing and didn’t even realize I had leveled. The amount of work Blizzard has put into this game really shows, and I can’t even imagine what it will be in the end. This game is the turning point for the MMORPG genre. Either that, or the end of all other MMO’s, because if anyone is anyone, they will be giving this one a good hard look.
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