What can we say. Nearly all of the monkeys are in World of Warcraft, and we can see already its going to be sucking away many many hours.

This game is Fun.. with a capital F. I can hosestly say that it is, hands down, the best MMO I’ve ever played, and I suspect others will agree. After spending nearly every waking hour (and a few I should have been sleeping) of my Thanksgiving vacation in game, I think I have a reasonable platform form which to judge the game. My lvl 20 Undead Warlock has seen many an interesting sight, and the world is just beginning to unfold. Trying to sum up all this in a coherent review is nigh impossible, so I will just free associate on the pros and cons (if there are any) that come to me.

Flying
This feature is a mode of transport in game. There are quests guiding you to it at the correct time in your adventures, and when you first experience it, its nothing short of amazing. You careen through zones with the action raging on below you. Banking, swooping, you pass many an interesting point and think, “wow.. cant wait till I go there”. In order to fly to a location, you first have to visit it, which means usually a long walk, but once the route is open, the trip can be had for a modest fee.

I should also mention the boats/zepplins These are the human/horde modes of inter-continental travel. They are free, and all you do is climb a tower and wait for the boat/zepplin to arrive. Hop in, and you’re on your way to new lands!

Combat
Comabat as a whole is nothing revolutionary for MMOs. Every class gets abilities/spells, and clicking them in the hotbar activates them. It makes for a fun combat, where turning on the “attack” key and sitting back is something you do to simply finish off a beast, or save up some mana/stamina. What makes it different, is how fun it is. It doesnt take too long to fight somthing unless it is SUPPOSED to be long. The combat involves some tactics with resistances, immunities, and interesting mob abilities at higher levels. The monsters have been varied and even cooler, they MAKE SENSE! In the haunted forests of the undead area, your fighting scary bats, and dog beasts, and undead. In the plains area of the Tauren, you fight plains cats, and giant birds, and the infamous Kodo (think Rhino.. only bigger). In the arid Orc lands you battle scorpions, dinosaurs, and wild desert boar. The monsters even feed on each other sometimes. I have seen wolves chase down and kill the occasional rabbit, which adds a nice touch to the game.

Later battles get very interesting. The Humanoid mages that spawn guard creatures, werewolves, and life sucking zombies were the norm in Silverpine Forest (an undead haunt). I can only surmise that similar interesting advancements will await other races in their respective lands.

Quests
Questing in WoW is quite simply: perfect. They are easy to get, fun to do, and the rewards are well worth it. If you see an exclamation point over someone’s head, you simply talk to them to get a quest. Then, the DETAILED instructions are present, and in general are more than enough to get you on your way. The quest log maintains everything in the quest that you have seen (including potential rewards), and you can look at it anytime.

Quests are also more than just fexEd, or collections of body parts. While the mechanics may end up being that, they never FEEL that way. There is always a deep story interwoven into the quest, and the variety of interactions make it feel different all the time. I have fought into a Dalaran Wizard camp to steal items from crates. I have raided deep into the not-quite-human town of Pyrewood and into the study of Apothecary Berard in order to obtain from him his book of recipes. I have even had to travel the lands of my contient to kill and acquire the hearts of two humans who had honest souls.

The best thing about quests is how they are designed to guide you into the next step of your life. In the Undead world, the storyline of the Scarlet Crusaders, an allied religious sect bent on destruction of all undead (me included), guided me through levels 6-15. It was a blast learning how to use my class, and at the same time uncovering more and more of the Scarlet Crusade’s deeds.

The Map
The map is awesome. Basically there are two maps. The minimap (think radar) and the big map. The minimap serves as a great way to identify landmarks (its basically a top down view of the world, and landmarks are identified), direct you, and identify targets. When you are grouped, there are arrows that constantly show you where your pals are if offradar, and a dot in place when in range. When you die, an arrow guides you to your body. Best of all, some classes and professions get tracking abilities (hunters get tracking, herbalists get herb finding..etc) which make items of the specific type (herbs, animals..etc) show up on the radar.

The minimap can alos have waypoints. If your in a big city, you can ask a guard for directions, which will also place a beacon on your minimap. When in a group, anyone can place a beacon, and the rest of the group can see it on their maps. This can help itendify danger areas, or indicate where they want to go.

Last but not least, when you have a person to talk to as a step in a quest, they show up on the radar as a dot… ahh.. finding Zethor the Apothecary has never been so easy.

The big map is another thing of beauty. It always begins shrouded in mystery. Each zone is broken down into sections. As you explore a section the name of the section shows up in game for a moment, letting you konw you’ve entered it. Walk a little deeper in, and if you have not explored this area before, you get a small exp bonus, and the portion of the map that the area covers is unshrouded. You dont have to look in every little section, you just uncover the area as a whole.. very nice. The details on the map are enough to make navigation work easily, and things like caves, dungeons, ruins, famrs, etc.. all show up easily on it.

Chat
Nothing too different here. Its chat. The one thing that makes it stand out however is so simple its wonderful. Hyperlinks. When chatting, shift-left clicking on an item, or a recipe, shows the item/recipie in the chat window with brackets around it. This means anyone seeing the chat can see the item/recipe and see its stats. It makes trading items, and just basic communication so mych simpler. Even when someone loots an item, it shows up linked so everyone can see what it is. No more wondering if you should bother asking for that Cloak of the Owl. Now you can see it.

Instanced Dungeons
THey are hard, they are fun, and they are ALL YOURS! Having a dungeon instanced to you and your party is nothing short of phenominal. Blizzards decision to limit the instancing to dungeons was a great choice. THey can control the experience better, yet still give the rest of the world that busy life like feeling. The dungeons are well thought out, have very interesting content, and really make for a great experience. I have experienced 3, and each was unique, challenging, and fun. I cant wait for more

I could probably go on with much much more, but I’ll leave the other monkeys to point out their favorite features. I’ll just sum up to say that when you wonder where the next post is, you’ll just have to wait, cuz we’re in World of Warcraft living another life.. and its filled with adventure and amazement.

Wow.