Blizzard discovers MMORPG

Every time in the PC gaming history there is or are genre(s) that typically dominate the gaming scene. Graphic adventures ruled a long time when the Lucasarts and Sierra label were absolute proof of quality. With Red Alert the RTS became a fresh new genre. Half-Life and Unreal elevated the First-Person Shoot-Em-Up scene above the brain-dead Quake and Doom. And Baldurs' Gate and Diablo defined the RPG in the late 90ies. Especially RPG's became revamped these years. Many of us realized that pc gaming is about depth and questing. Okay, Soldier of Fortune is fun, but you can't deny the wonderful broad gameplay RPG's offer.

With the boom of the internet, a new kind of game appeared. While artificial intelligence improved gradually and substantially (remember the Skaarj in Unreal, the Marines in HL and the AI of StarCraft), it still is a kick to play against human players. Doom taught us that (hey, I can see you...blam!). Well, combine the fun of playing human players with the intrinsic complexity of RPG and you get...Massively Multiplayer Online RPG's or MMORPGs.

It was Ultima Online that pioneered as the first MMORPG in 1998. It was a real online community where you can be a hero, but also have a more quaint and calm job of shopkeeper. While players had to pay a monthly fee, even now, UO still is alive and kicking (the Third Dawn) and will always remain a milestone. Other, technically more modern, MMORPGs followed. Everquest, Asheron's Call and Lineage are examples. Especially Everquest and Asheron's Call offered, for online standards, beautiful scenery and an interesting world.

And now, Blizzard joins the frey of the MMORPGs. When main rival Westwood also embraces the online gaming community (Earth and Beyond), the ones that delivered eternal gameplay pearls Diablo and StarCraft, can't lag behind. World of WarCraft. That's the next fruit from Blizzard lush and juicy tree of gameplay bliss.

In World of WarCraft you return to Azeroth during the aftermath of the events of WarCraft 3. The scenery of WoW typically boasts the colourful and pleasant WarCraft surroundings. Althuogh cute and pretty, the technology behind WoW is dead serious. Take a look at the screenshots and you know that Blizzard will release a graphical wonder. Clouds will be depicted gradually and will give a new meaning to the word "skybox". WoW will btw boast a continuing night-day cycle.

Also important of course in RPGs is the detail in the characters. When you start WoW, you can define your character. The playable races are human, orc and the new towering tauren race, introduced in WC3. Other races are still being considered. Then you can alter details like hair, wardrobe, etc. WoW will btw be class-based, although not so narrow as in Diablo 2 or Baldurs' Gate. A class more or less sets your destiny and abilities, but will not be very restrictive. A fighter for example can learn spells in the order of the Paladin skills in Diablo 2. Graphically, fighter characters will of course be more imposing than mages, although this is also relative. All characters are perceived as being WC3 warheroes and will be more or less a veteran. Character modelling in WoW will also incorporate animated facials that can depict a wide range of emotions. Of course, perfect lipsyncing will be impossible for human players, but at least you won't face a dead texture but a live, organic face. Also, the heads of characters will face in the direction relevant to their message (if someone yells "An orc!", he'll look in the direction of the orc).

Important in MMORPGs is of course the battle part. While solving quests and talking is fun, adrenaline must flow now and then. And this is where Blizzard's rich Diablo experience shows. WoW will focus on user-friendlyness. While some MMORPGs had clumsy, slow and unbalanced battle gameplay, WoW promises to please hack & slashers and rpg lover alike. WoW will boast the straight-forward hack & slash of Diablo with fun, fun, addictiviness and fun. In WoW novice battles for example won't be less interesting. Forget the spiders and crawling creeps often seen in the beginning stages of and rpg. Even from the beginning, WoW will boast epic battles and heroic brawls. WoW's battle interface will be easy and simple, even hovering above the world view in higher resolutions. Magic and spells will be a one-click deal.

Some things are not certain though. How will PvP (Player vs. Player) work? How will AI will be integrated in WoW? How will WoW deal with quests that are performed by players simultaneously? How will party combat precisely work?
Another major issue is of course how WoW will be commercialised. Free? No. like in Ultima Online, you'll probably have to pay a fee. Major bummer or a small price to pay? Only the end product will let us know. What's certain though that WoW will be real gameplay milestone and has the potential to be a premier game in gaming history.


World of WarCraft is scheduled for 4th Qtr 2002.

(c) 2001 Erwin's Pages
Erwin "Reaper" Husin


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