World of Warcraft still going strong on 11th year

By: Cody Hood

The group of various adventurers steps into the room, only to find the gate close behind them all. The large orc in plate armor stands before them, raising his weapon and charging toward the adventurer with his sword and shield raised. The blow against his shield rattles throughout his entire body. Various allies cast magical spells in an attempt to keep the shield-wielding warrior alive while others with bows and daggers provide constant damage to the orc. Minute after grueling minute passes by, the orc finally falling to the group’s weapons and magic.

World of Warcraft is a MMORPG created by Blizzard Entertainment. It was made on Nov. 23, 2004, and has had five expansion packs to the game since, with a sixth coming in September 2016. The game has an initial cost of $50 and then a subscription cost each month for $15.

Each expansion of the game has its own story and plotline, but they all cohesively come together in a way to create a full timeline. Explaining it now would make this review too long, so the summary of the current expansion, Warlords of Draenor, is as follows: Garrosh Hellscream, defeated within the Siege of Orgrimmar, is offered a second chance by going back in time to rewrite the world’s entire history. He accepts and goes back in time to Draenor, a world yet untamed while the Iron Horde, a band of orcs, prepares their assault on Azeroth in an attempt to take over and rewrite history.

The gameplay has improved over each expansion, with Blizzard continuing to try and keep each class balanced so that each class can have fun using their specialization that they have chosen. Each class has at the minimum three specializations, each bringing their own niche to the table in order to assist in raiding or player vs. player combat.

A positive is the amount of things that can be done at the max level, which is level 100. There is player vs. player combat, as well doing raids. Raiding clusters 10 players in the same group together to tackle a single instance. These raiding teams have their teamwork and knowledge put to the test in each boss fight by learning mechanics and reacting to them accordingly.

A system was added to the game in the fourth expansion by the name of Transmogrification. The process uses an old piece of gear and applies its look to a current piece of gear, retaining the current gear’s stats. It’s really nice for customization as well as making characters look unique, using various pieces of gear to make their own masterpiece.

One negative of the game is finding what to do. The game is very large, and once level cap is hit, joining a large guild might be necessary to see the later content to its full extent. The content also scales with levels of difficulty that require a large amount of time and concentration in order to do.

Another negative is the negativity of the playerbase at times. Many say that World of Warcraft is dying due to a loss of subscription numbers, but it’s still the most subscribed MMORPG in the industry. There’s no doubt that it will not go anytime soon and will still stay strong for at least a few more years.

The game is still fun, even on its 11th year. The fact it’s going so strong with such a long lifespan truly shows how strong the game actually is. It’s the veteran of the RPG industry that has yet to be taken down and won’t be for years to come. I’d give the game an 89/100.