World of Warcraft (WoW)
World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) created by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994.[4] World of Warcraft takes place within the Warcraft world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard's previous Warcraft release,Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.[5] Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2, 2001.[6] The game was released on November 23, 2004, on the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise.
The first expansion set of the game, The Burning Crusade, was released on January 16, 2007.[7] The second expansion set, Wrath of the Lich King, was released on November 13, 2008.[8] The third expansion set, Cataclysm, was released on December 7, 2010. The fourth expansion set,Mists of Pandaria, was released on September 25, 2012.[9]
With over seven million subscribers as of July 2013,[10] World of Warcraft is currently the world's most-subscribed MMORPG,[8][11] and holds theGuinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG by subscribers.
Starting a character or play session
As with other MMORPGs, players control a character avatar within a game world in third- or first-person view, exploring the landscape, fighting various monsters, completing quests, and interacting with non-player characters (NPCs) or other players. Also similar to other MMORPGs, World of Warcraft requires the player to pay for a subscription, either by buying prepaid game cards for a selected amount of playing time, or by using a credit or debit card to pay on a regular basis.[16]
To enter the game, the player must select a server, referred to in-game as a realm. Each realm acts as an individual copy of the game world, and falls into one of four categories. Available realms types are:
Normal – a Player Versus Environment (PvE) realm where the gameplay is more focused on defeating monsters and completing quests, player-versus-player fights must be consensual, and any roleplay is optional.
PvP – an environment where, in addition to defeating monsters and completing quests, open player-versus-player combat is the norm, and a player can be attacked by an opposing faction's player at any time.
RP – a variant of PvE, where players roleplay in-character.
RP-PvP – roleplay-PvP – a variant of PvP, where players are in-character and cross-faction combat is assumed.
Realms are also categorized by language, with in-game support in the language available.[17]
Players can make new characters on all realms within the region, and it is also possible to move already established characters between realms for a fee.[18]
To create a new character, in keeping with the storyline of previous Warcraft games, players must choose between the opposing factions of the Alliance or the Horde. Characters from the opposing factions can perform rudimentary communication (most often just "emotes"), but only members of the same faction can speak, mail, group, and join guilds. The player selects the new character's race, such as orcs or trolls for the Horde, or humans or dwarves for the Alliance.[19] Players must select the class for the character, with choices such as mages, warriors, and priests available.[20] Most classes are limited to particular races.
Ongoing gameplay
As characters become more developed, they gain various talents and skills, requiring the player to further define the abilities of that character.[21] Characters can choose from a variety of professions, such as tailoring, blacksmithing, or mining. Characters can learn four secondary skills: archeology, cooking, fishing, and first-aid.[22][23] Characters may form and join guilds, allowing characters within the guild access to the guild's chat channel, the guild name and optionally allowing other features, including a guild tabard, guild bank, and dues.[24]
Much of World of Warcraft play involves the completion of quests. These quests, also called "tasks" or "missions", are usually available from NPCs.[25] Quests usually reward the player with some combination of experience points, items, and in-game money. Quests allow characters to gain access to new skills and abilities, and explore new areas.[26] It is through quests that much of the game's story is told, both through the quest's text and through scripted NPC actions.[27] Quests are linked by a common theme, with each consecutive quest triggered by the completion of the previous, forming a quest chain. Quests commonly involve killing a number of creatures, gathering a certain number of resources, finding a difficult to locate object, speaking to various NPCs, visiting specific locations, interacting with objects in the world, or delivering an item from one place to another.
While a character can be played on its own, players can group with others to tackle more challenging content. Most end-game challenges are designed in a way that they can only be overcome while in a group. In this way, character classes are used in specific roles within a group.[25][28] World of Warcraft uses a "rested bonus" system, increasing the rate that a character can gain experience points after the player has spent time away from the game.[21] When a character dies, it becomes a ghost—or wisp for Night Elf characters—at a nearby graveyard.[26] Characters can be resurrected by other characters that have the ability, or can self-resurrect by moving from the graveyard to the place where they died. If a character is past level ten and they resurrect at a graveyard, the items equipped by the character degrade, requiring in-game money and a specialist NPC to repair them. Items that have degraded heavily become unusable until they are repaired. If the location of the character's body is unreachable, they can use a special "spirit healer" NPC to resurrect at the graveyard. When the spirit healer revives a character, items equipped by the character at that time are further degraded, and the character is significantly weakened by what is in-game called "resurrection sickness" for up to ten minutes, depending on the character's level. This "resurrection sickness" does not occur and item degradation is less severe if the character revives by locating its body, or is resurrected by another player through special items or spells.[29][30]
World of Warcraft contains a variety of mechanisms for player versus player (PvP) play. Players on player versus environment (PvE) servers can opt to "flag" themselves, making themselves attackable to players of the opposite faction.[31] Depending on the mode of the realm, PvP combat between members of opposing factions is possible at almost any time or location in the game world—the only exception being the starting zones, where the PvP "flag" must be enabled by the player wishing to fight against players of the opposite faction. PvE (called normal or RP) servers, by contrast, allow a player to choose whether or not to engage in combat against other players. On both server types, there are special areas of the world where free-for-all combat is permitted. Battlegrounds, for example, are similar to dungeons: only a set number of characters can enter a single battleground, but additional copies of the battleground can be made to accommodate additional players.[32] Each battleground has a set objective, such as capturing a flag or defeating an opposing general, that must be completed to win the battleground. Competing in battlegrounds rewards the character with tokens and honor points that can be used to buy armor, weapons, and other general items that can aid a player in many areas of the game. Winners get more honor and tokens than losers. However, players also earn honor when they or nearby teammates kill players in a battleground.[31]
Setting
World of Warcraft is set in the same universe as the Warcraft series of real-time strategy games, and has a similar art direction.[16] World of Warcraft contains elements from fantasy,steampunk, and science fiction: such as gryphons, dragons, and elves; steam-powered automata; zombies, werewolves, and other horror monsters; as well as time travel, spaceships, and alien worlds.
World of Warcraft takes place in a 3D representation of the Warcraft universe that players can interact with through their characters. The game world initially consisted of the two continents in Azeroth: Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Three separate expansions later added to the game's playable area the realm of Outland and the continents of Northrend and Pandaria. As a player explores new locations, different routes and means of transportion become available. Players can access "flight masters" in newly discovered locations to fly to previously discovered locations in other parts of the world.[33] Players can also use boats, zeppelins, or portals to move from one continent to another. Although the game world remains relatively similar from day to day, seasonal events reflecting real world events, such as Halloween,[34] Christmas, Children's Week,[31] Easter, and Midsummer have been represented in the game world. Locations also have variable weather including, among other things, rain, snow, and dust storms.[33]
A number of facilities are available for characters while in towns and cities. In each major city, characters can access a bank to deposit items, such as treasure or crafted items. Each character has access to personal bank storage with the option to purchase additional storage space using in-game gold.[35] Additionally, guild banks are available for use by members of a guild with restrictions being set by the guild leader.[36] Auction houses are available for players to buy and sell items to others in a similar way to online auction sites such as eBay.[37] Players can use mailboxes, which can be found in almost every town. Mailboxes are used to collect items won at auction, and to send messages, items, and in-game money to other characters.[21]
Some of the challenges in World of Warcraft require players to group together to complete them. These usually take place in dungeons—also known as "instances"—that a group of characters can enter together. The term "instance" comes from each group or party having a separate copy, or instance, of the dungeon, complete with their own enemies to defeat and their own treasure or rewards.[38] This allows a group to explore areas and complete quests without others interfering. Dungeons are spread over the game world and are designed for characters of varying progression. A typical dungeon will allow up to five characters to enter as part of a group. Some dungeons require more players to group together and form a "raid" of up to forty players to face some of the most difficult challenges.[39] As well as dungeon-based raid challenges, several creatures exist in the normal game environment that are designed for raids to attack.[34][40]
Subscription
World of Warcraft requires a subscription fee to be paid to allow continued play, with options to pay in one month, three month, or six month blocks, although timecards of varying length are available both online and from traditional retailers.[41] Expansion packs are available online, and are also available from traditional retailers. As the game client is the same regardless of the version of World of Warcraft the user owns, the option to purchase expansions online was added as it allowed for a quick upgrade. World of Warcraft is available as a free Starter Edition, which is free to play for an unlimited amount of time. Starter Edition characters are unable to gain experience after reaching level 20, and there are other restrictions in effect for Starter Edition accounts, including the inability to trade, use public chat channels, join guilds, or amass more than ten gold.[42]
Parental controls
The company offers parental controls[43] that allow various limits to be set on playing time. It is possible to set a daily limit, a weekly limit, or to specify an allowed playing schedule. In order to control these settings, it is necessary to log in with different credentials than are used just to enter the game. It is also possible to receive statistics on the time spent playing. Apart from controlling children, adults sometimes use parental controls on themselves.[44] The company supports this kind of protection as otherwise the potential players or their supervisors may choose to uninstall or block the game permanently.[45]
Development
World of Warcraft was first announced by Blizzard at the ECTS trade show in September 2001.[46] Development of the game started in 1999 and took roughly 4–5 years, including extensive testing. The 3D graphics in World of Warcraft use elements of the proprietary graphics engine originally used inWarcraft III.[46] The game was designed to be an open environment where players are allowed to do what they please.[47] Quests are optional and were designed to help guide players, allow character development, and to spread characters across different zones to try to avoid what developers calledplayer collision.[48] The game interface allows players to customize appearance and controls, and to install add-ons and other modifications.[49]
World of Warcraft runs natively on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. Boxed copies of the game use a hybrid CD to install the game, eliminating the need for separate Mac and Windows retail products. The game allows all users to play together, regardless of their operating system. Although there is no official version for any other platform, support for World of Warcraft is present in Windows API implementations Wine and CrossOver allowing the game to be played under Linux and FreeBSD.[50] While a native Linux client is neither released nor announced by Blizzard, in January 2011 ITjournalist Michael Larabel indicated in a Phoronix article that a internal linux client might exist but is not released due to the non-standardization of the linux distro ecosystem.[51]
Regional variations
In the United States, Canada, and Europe, Blizzard distributes World of Warcraft via retail software packages.[52] The software package includes 30 days of gameplay for no additional cost. To continue playing after the initial 30 days, additional play time must be purchased using a credit card or prepaid game card. The minimum gameplay duration that a player can purchase is 30 days using a credit card, or 60 using a prepaid game card. A player also has the option of purchasing three or six months of gameplay at once for a 6–15% discount.[53] In Australia, the United States, and many European countries, video game stores commonly stock the trial version of World of Warcraft in DVD form, which includes the game and 20 levels[54] of gameplay, after which the player would have to upgrade to a retail account by supplying a valid credit card, or purchasing a game card as well as a retail copy of the game.
In Brazil, World of Warcraft was released on December 6, 2011 via BattleNet. The first three expansions are currently available, fully translated, including voice acting, into Brazilian Portuguese.[3]
In South Korea, there is no software package or CD key requirement to activate the account. However, to play the game, players must purchase time credits online. There are two kinds of time credits available: one where the player is billed based on the actual number of minutes that will be available, and one where the player can play the game for a number of days. In the former, time can be purchased in multiples of 5 hours or 30 hours, and in the latter, time can be purchased in multiples of 7 days, 1 month, or 3 months.[55] As software packages are not required, expansion pack contents are available to all players on launch day.
In China, because a large number of the players do not own the computer they use to play games (e.g. Internet cafes), the CD keys required to create an account can be purchased independently of the software package. To play the game, players must also purchase prepaid game cards that can be played for 66 hours and 40 minutes.[56] A monthly fee model is not available to players of this region. The Chinese government and NetEase, the licensee for World of Warcraft in China, have imposed a modification on Chinese versions of the game which places flesh on bare-boned skeletons and transforms dead character corpses into tidy graves. These changes were imposed by the Chinese government in an attempt to "promote a healthy and harmonious online game environment" in World of Warcraft.[57][58] The Chinese government has delayed release of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, due to what it feels is objectionable content.[59] NetEase took over licensing of World of Warcraft from The9 in June 2009 following the expiration of The9's contract,[60] and were able to secure a launch for Wrath of the Lich King on August 31, 2010, nearly two years after its Western release.[61]
Post-launch development
The World of Warcraft launcher (referred to in press releases and the menu bar as the "Blizzard Launcher") is a program designed to act as a starting point for World of Warcraft players. It provides a way to launch World of Warcraft and starts the Blizzard updater. It was first included with the version 1.8.3 patch. The 2.1.0 patch allowed for an option to bypass the use of the launcher. Features of the launcher include news and updates for World of Warcraft players, access to World of Warcraft's support website, access to the test version of World of Warcraft when it is available to test upcoming patches, updates to Warden,[62] and updates to the updater itself. The 3.0.8 patch redesigned the launcher and added the ability to change the game settings from the launcher itself. The launcher update from patch 4.0.1 also allows people to play the game while non-crucial pieces of the game are downloaded. This requires a high speed broadband internet connection.
Patch 1.9.3 added native support for Intel-powered Macs, making World of Warcraft a universal application. As a result of this, the minimum supported Mac OS X version has been changed to 10.3.9; World of Warcraft version 1.9.3 and later will not launch on older versions of Mac OS X.[63] PowerPC architecture Macs are no longer supported since version 4.0.1.[64]
When new content is added to the game, official system requirements may change. In version 1.12.0 the requirements for Windows were increased from requiring 256 MB to 512 MB of RAM. Official Windows 98 technical support was dropped, but the game continued to run there until version 2.2.3.[65] Before Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft will officially drop support for Windows 2000.[66]
Starting with 4.3,[67] players could try out an experimental 64-bit version of the client, which required manual downloading and copying files into the installation folder. Since 5.0, the 64-bit client is automatically installed, and used by default.
Since the World IPv6 Day, the client and most of the servers are supporting IPv6.[68]
Expansions
Main articles: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
Four optional expansions are currently available: The Burning Crusade, released in January 2007, Wrath of the Lich King, released in November 2008, Cataclysm, released in December 2010, andMists of Pandaria, released in September 2012. Players are not required to purchase the expansions to continue play. However, the expansion packs allow further leveling of characters beyond level 60 and access to newer content and areas. Characters cannot enter the additional regions without their respective expansion packs.
On June 28, 2011, The Burning Crusade expansion was automatically applied to all previous Warcraft accounts at no cost, and on September 19, 2012, the same thing was done with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. All The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King content is now effectively part of the original game, with all new Warcraft accounts automatically including these expansions upon creation.[69]
Beta Testing for Mists of Pandaria was opened on March 21, 2012,[70] and the expansion was formally released on September 25, 2012.
Audio
The soundtrack for World of Warcraft was composed and arranged by Jason Hayes, Tracy W. Bush, Derek Duke, and Glenn Stafford. It was released on November 23, 2004, together with the collector's edition of the game. It is sold separately on one CD in the MP3 format.
World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) created by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994.[4] World of Warcraft takes place within the Warcraft world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard's previous Warcraft release,Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.[5] Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2, 2001.[6] The game was released on November 23, 2004, on the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise.
The first expansion set of the game, The Burning Crusade, was released on January 16, 2007.[7] The second expansion set, Wrath of the Lich King, was released on November 13, 2008.[8] The third expansion set, Cataclysm, was released on December 7, 2010. The fourth expansion set,Mists of Pandaria, was released on September 25, 2012.[9]
With over seven million subscribers as of July 2013,[10] World of Warcraft is currently the world's most-subscribed MMORPG,[8][11] and holds theGuinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG by subscribers.
As with other MMORPGs, players control a character avatar within a game world in third- or first-person view, exploring the landscape, fighting various monsters, completing quests, and interacting with non-player characters (NPCs) or other players. Also similar to other MMORPGs, World of Warcraft requires the player to pay for a subscription, either by buying prepaid game cards for a selected amount of playing time, or by using a credit or debit card to pay on a regular basis.[16]
To enter the game, the player must select a server, referred to in-game as a realm. Each realm acts as an individual copy of the game world, and falls into one of four categories. Available realms types are:
Normal – a Player Versus Environment (PvE) realm where the gameplay is more focused on defeating monsters and completing quests, player-versus-player fights must be consensual, and any roleplay is optional.
PvP – an environment where, in addition to defeating monsters and completing quests, open player-versus-player combat is the norm, and a player can be attacked by an opposing faction's player at any time.
RP – a variant of PvE, where players roleplay in-character.
RP-PvP – roleplay-PvP – a variant of PvP, where players are in-character and cross-faction combat is assumed.
Realms are also categorized by language, with in-game support in the language available.[17]
Players can make new characters on all realms within the region, and it is also possible to move already established characters between realms for a fee.[18]
To create a new character, in keeping with the storyline of previous Warcraft games, players must choose between the opposing factions of the Alliance or the Horde. Characters from the opposing factions can perform rudimentary communication (most often just "emotes"), but only members of the same faction can speak, mail, group, and join guilds. The player selects the new character's race, such as orcs or trolls for the Horde, or humans or dwarves for the Alliance.[19] Players must select the class for the character, with choices such as mages, warriors, and priests available.[20] Most classes are limited to particular races.
Ongoing gameplay
As characters become more developed, they gain various talents and skills, requiring the player to further define the abilities of that character.[21] Characters can choose from a variety of professions, such as tailoring, blacksmithing, or mining. Characters can learn four secondary skills: archeology, cooking, fishing, and first-aid.[22][23] Characters may form and join guilds, allowing characters within the guild access to the guild's chat channel, the guild name and optionally allowing other features, including a guild tabard, guild bank, and dues.[24]
Much of World of Warcraft play involves the completion of quests. These quests, also called "tasks" or "missions", are usually available from NPCs.[25] Quests usually reward the player with some combination of experience points, items, and in-game money. Quests allow characters to gain access to new skills and abilities, and explore new areas.[26] It is through quests that much of the game's story is told, both through the quest's text and through scripted NPC actions.[27] Quests are linked by a common theme, with each consecutive quest triggered by the completion of the previous, forming a quest chain. Quests commonly involve killing a number of creatures, gathering a certain number of resources, finding a difficult to locate object, speaking to various NPCs, visiting specific locations, interacting with objects in the world, or delivering an item from one place to another.
While a character can be played on its own, players can group with others to tackle more challenging content. Most end-game challenges are designed in a way that they can only be overcome while in a group. In this way, character classes are used in specific roles within a group.[25][28] World of Warcraft uses a "rested bonus" system, increasing the rate that a character can gain experience points after the player has spent time away from the game.[21] When a character dies, it becomes a ghost—or wisp for Night Elf characters—at a nearby graveyard.[26] Characters can be resurrected by other characters that have the ability, or can self-resurrect by moving from the graveyard to the place where they died. If a character is past level ten and they resurrect at a graveyard, the items equipped by the character degrade, requiring in-game money and a specialist NPC to repair them. Items that have degraded heavily become unusable until they are repaired. If the location of the character's body is unreachable, they can use a special "spirit healer" NPC to resurrect at the graveyard. When the spirit healer revives a character, items equipped by the character at that time are further degraded, and the character is significantly weakened by what is in-game called "resurrection sickness" for up to ten minutes, depending on the character's level. This "resurrection sickness" does not occur and item degradation is less severe if the character revives by locating its body, or is resurrected by another player through special items or spells.[29][30]
World of Warcraft contains a variety of mechanisms for player versus player (PvP) play. Players on player versus environment (PvE) servers can opt to "flag" themselves, making themselves attackable to players of the opposite faction.[31] Depending on the mode of the realm, PvP combat between members of opposing factions is possible at almost any time or location in the game world—the only exception being the starting zones, where the PvP "flag" must be enabled by the player wishing to fight against players of the opposite faction. PvE (called normal or RP) servers, by contrast, allow a player to choose whether or not to engage in combat against other players. On both server types, there are special areas of the world where free-for-all combat is permitted. Battlegrounds, for example, are similar to dungeons: only a set number of characters can enter a single battleground, but additional copies of the battleground can be made to accommodate additional players.[32] Each battleground has a set objective, such as capturing a flag or defeating an opposing general, that must be completed to win the battleground. Competing in battlegrounds rewards the character with tokens and honor points that can be used to buy armor, weapons, and other general items that can aid a player in many areas of the game. Winners get more honor and tokens than losers. However, players also earn honor when they or nearby teammates kill players in a battleground.[31]
Setting
World of Warcraft is set in the same universe as the Warcraft series of real-time strategy games, and has a similar art direction.[16] World of Warcraft contains elements from fantasy,steampunk, and science fiction: such as gryphons, dragons, and elves; steam-powered automata; zombies, werewolves, and other horror monsters; as well as time travel, spaceships, and alien worlds.
World of Warcraft takes place in a 3D representation of the Warcraft universe that players can interact with through their characters. The game world initially consisted of the two continents in Azeroth: Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Three separate expansions later added to the game's playable area the realm of Outland and the continents of Northrend and Pandaria. As a player explores new locations, different routes and means of transportion become available. Players can access "flight masters" in newly discovered locations to fly to previously discovered locations in other parts of the world.[33] Players can also use boats, zeppelins, or portals to move from one continent to another. Although the game world remains relatively similar from day to day, seasonal events reflecting real world events, such as Halloween,[34] Christmas, Children's Week,[31] Easter, and Midsummer have been represented in the game world. Locations also have variable weather including, among other things, rain, snow, and dust storms.[33]
A number of facilities are available for characters while in towns and cities. In each major city, characters can access a bank to deposit items, such as treasure or crafted items. Each character has access to personal bank storage with the option to purchase additional storage space using in-game gold.[35] Additionally, guild banks are available for use by members of a guild with restrictions being set by the guild leader.[36] Auction houses are available for players to buy and sell items to others in a similar way to online auction sites such as eBay.[37] Players can use mailboxes, which can be found in almost every town. Mailboxes are used to collect items won at auction, and to send messages, items, and in-game money to other characters.[21]
Some of the challenges in World of Warcraft require players to group together to complete them. These usually take place in dungeons—also known as "instances"—that a group of characters can enter together. The term "instance" comes from each group or party having a separate copy, or instance, of the dungeon, complete with their own enemies to defeat and their own treasure or rewards.[38] This allows a group to explore areas and complete quests without others interfering. Dungeons are spread over the game world and are designed for characters of varying progression. A typical dungeon will allow up to five characters to enter as part of a group. Some dungeons require more players to group together and form a "raid" of up to forty players to face some of the most difficult challenges.[39] As well as dungeon-based raid challenges, several creatures exist in the normal game environment that are designed for raids to attack.[34][40]
Subscription
World of Warcraft requires a subscription fee to be paid to allow continued play, with options to pay in one month, three month, or six month blocks, although timecards of varying length are available both online and from traditional retailers.[41] Expansion packs are available online, and are also available from traditional retailers. As the game client is the same regardless of the version of World of Warcraft the user owns, the option to purchase expansions online was added as it allowed for a quick upgrade. World of Warcraft is available as a free Starter Edition, which is free to play for an unlimited amount of time. Starter Edition characters are unable to gain experience after reaching level 20, and there are other restrictions in effect for Starter Edition accounts, including the inability to trade, use public chat channels, join guilds, or amass more than ten gold.[42]
Parental controls
The company offers parental controls[43] that allow various limits to be set on playing time. It is possible to set a daily limit, a weekly limit, or to specify an allowed playing schedule. In order to control these settings, it is necessary to log in with different credentials than are used just to enter the game. It is also possible to receive statistics on the time spent playing. Apart from controlling children, adults sometimes use parental controls on themselves.[44] The company supports this kind of protection as otherwise the potential players or their supervisors may choose to uninstall or block the game permanently.[45]
World of Warcraft was first announced by Blizzard at the ECTS trade show in September 2001.[46] Development of the game started in 1999 and took roughly 4–5 years, including extensive testing. The 3D graphics in World of Warcraft use elements of the proprietary graphics engine originally used inWarcraft III.[46] The game was designed to be an open environment where players are allowed to do what they please.[47] Quests are optional and were designed to help guide players, allow character development, and to spread characters across different zones to try to avoid what developers calledplayer collision.[48] The game interface allows players to customize appearance and controls, and to install add-ons and other modifications.[49]
World of Warcraft runs natively on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. Boxed copies of the game use a hybrid CD to install the game, eliminating the need for separate Mac and Windows retail products. The game allows all users to play together, regardless of their operating system. Although there is no official version for any other platform, support for World of Warcraft is present in Windows API implementations Wine and CrossOver allowing the game to be played under Linux and FreeBSD.[50] While a native Linux client is neither released nor announced by Blizzard, in January 2011 ITjournalist Michael Larabel indicated in a Phoronix article that a internal linux client might exist but is not released due to the non-standardization of the linux distro ecosystem.[51]
Regional variations
In the United States, Canada, and Europe, Blizzard distributes World of Warcraft via retail software packages.[52] The software package includes 30 days of gameplay for no additional cost. To continue playing after the initial 30 days, additional play time must be purchased using a credit card or prepaid game card. The minimum gameplay duration that a player can purchase is 30 days using a credit card, or 60 using a prepaid game card. A player also has the option of purchasing three or six months of gameplay at once for a 6–15% discount.[53] In Australia, the United States, and many European countries, video game stores commonly stock the trial version of World of Warcraft in DVD form, which includes the game and 20 levels[54] of gameplay, after which the player would have to upgrade to a retail account by supplying a valid credit card, or purchasing a game card as well as a retail copy of the game.
In Brazil, World of Warcraft was released on December 6, 2011 via BattleNet. The first three expansions are currently available, fully translated, including voice acting, into Brazilian Portuguese.[3]
In South Korea, there is no software package or CD key requirement to activate the account. However, to play the game, players must purchase time credits online. There are two kinds of time credits available: one where the player is billed based on the actual number of minutes that will be available, and one where the player can play the game for a number of days. In the former, time can be purchased in multiples of 5 hours or 30 hours, and in the latter, time can be purchased in multiples of 7 days, 1 month, or 3 months.[55] As software packages are not required, expansion pack contents are available to all players on launch day.
In China, because a large number of the players do not own the computer they use to play games (e.g. Internet cafes), the CD keys required to create an account can be purchased independently of the software package. To play the game, players must also purchase prepaid game cards that can be played for 66 hours and 40 minutes.[56] A monthly fee model is not available to players of this region. The Chinese government and NetEase, the licensee for World of Warcraft in China, have imposed a modification on Chinese versions of the game which places flesh on bare-boned skeletons and transforms dead character corpses into tidy graves. These changes were imposed by the Chinese government in an attempt to "promote a healthy and harmonious online game environment" in World of Warcraft.[57][58] The Chinese government has delayed release of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, due to what it feels is objectionable content.[59] NetEase took over licensing of World of Warcraft from The9 in June 2009 following the expiration of The9's contract,[60] and were able to secure a launch for Wrath of the Lich King on August 31, 2010, nearly two years after its Western release.[61]
Post-launch development
The World of Warcraft launcher (referred to in press releases and the menu bar as the "Blizzard Launcher") is a program designed to act as a starting point for World of Warcraft players. It provides a way to launch World of Warcraft and starts the Blizzard updater. It was first included with the version 1.8.3 patch. The 2.1.0 patch allowed for an option to bypass the use of the launcher. Features of the launcher include news and updates for World of Warcraft players, access to World of Warcraft's support website, access to the test version of World of Warcraft when it is available to test upcoming patches, updates to Warden,[62] and updates to the updater itself. The 3.0.8 patch redesigned the launcher and added the ability to change the game settings from the launcher itself. The launcher update from patch 4.0.1 also allows people to play the game while non-crucial pieces of the game are downloaded. This requires a high speed broadband internet connection.
Patch 1.9.3 added native support for Intel-powered Macs, making World of Warcraft a universal application. As a result of this, the minimum supported Mac OS X version has been changed to 10.3.9; World of Warcraft version 1.9.3 and later will not launch on older versions of Mac OS X.[63] PowerPC architecture Macs are no longer supported since version 4.0.1.[64]
When new content is added to the game, official system requirements may change. In version 1.12.0 the requirements for Windows were increased from requiring 256 MB to 512 MB of RAM. Official Windows 98 technical support was dropped, but the game continued to run there until version 2.2.3.[65] Before Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft will officially drop support for Windows 2000.[66]
Starting with 4.3,[67] players could try out an experimental 64-bit version of the client, which required manual downloading and copying files into the installation folder. Since 5.0, the 64-bit client is automatically installed, and used by default.
Since the World IPv6 Day, the client and most of the servers are supporting IPv6.[68]
Expansions
Main articles: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
Four optional expansions are currently available: The Burning Crusade, released in January 2007, Wrath of the Lich King, released in November 2008, Cataclysm, released in December 2010, andMists of Pandaria, released in September 2012. Players are not required to purchase the expansions to continue play. However, the expansion packs allow further leveling of characters beyond level 60 and access to newer content and areas. Characters cannot enter the additional regions without their respective expansion packs.
On June 28, 2011, The Burning Crusade expansion was automatically applied to all previous Warcraft accounts at no cost, and on September 19, 2012, the same thing was done with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. All The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King content is now effectively part of the original game, with all new Warcraft accounts automatically including these expansions upon creation.[69]
Beta Testing for Mists of Pandaria was opened on March 21, 2012,[70] and the expansion was formally released on September 25, 2012.
Audio
The soundtrack for World of Warcraft was composed and arranged by Jason Hayes, Tracy W. Bush, Derek Duke, and Glenn Stafford. It was released on November 23, 2004, together with the collector's edition of the game. It is sold separately on one CD in the MP3 format.
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