Tuesday, May 20, 2008

10 Days of World of Warcraft (Day 1)

I have avoided online gaming for a long time, mostly because of the time commitment. Although, I am going to break that tradition, and try a free 10-day trial of World of Warcraft (commonly known as WOW).

Millions of people have been playing online games for years and maybe decades before me. I have personally played many different types of off-line games (like Zork) to some online early text-based MUDs (Multi-User Dungeon, Domain or Dimension).

The following entries will be my online journal of my advantures. You might ask why try to keep an online journal, well this will be a 1st person perspective of a total noob to WOW.

Day 1 - The installation

I was shocked that the installation required 4 CDs just to start the game. Then after I logged in for the first time after creating my account I had to download a 490MB+ update. Then after I logged in for the second time I had to download another 490MB+ update. I am on my third download, this time 900MB+. Oh joy, more patches, this time 5MB, 15MB. At last I can begin playing.

For those of you left who have never played WOW before (like myself), make sure that you set aside about 3 hours for this installation. I would also ask a friend to introduce you to the basics of this new world.

Below are some basic concepts that you will need to understand when starting to play WOW:
  • First you select your Realm, which is a server on which you play. Each realm is the same as the others in terms of geography. Although some focus on player-vs-player (PVP) combat, while others focus on player-vs-environment (PVE), and role playing.
  • Second, you select your character attributes, which includes factions (Horde [montsters] or Alliance [humanoid]), race, gender and class.
Once you start playing you wonder around aimlessly getting killed for other peoples pleasure. I was killed within about 10 minutes of wondering. Hopefully I will find my body soon so I can continue to wonder around aimlessly until I figure out what is happening...

1 comment:

Day One said...

The installation is a pain, I think I fell asleep on the first update it was amazing how long it takes. It took me maybe 3 hours after playing before I knew I was addicted. Good luck and I hope to hear more about how you're doing in the game.