Poll: WoW - New User Friendly?

[suitepee7]

i have recently got cata, but i see what you mean. at the start, knowing how much it is going to cost you, that would have put me off. i got it back at the start of LK, so i wasn't so bad, battlechest and LK when i needed it, then only a couple of patches. but now with cata aswell, i gotta say it would sure as hell put me off.

i'm just glad i got it when i did so the payments were split up.

off topic though: the best content is at the end, always. sure questing is better now, but it still is nowhere near as fun as endgame raiding or PvP.

 

[Timmibal]

Ever heard of the leagal "fake" wow? takes more space but is free, also private servers.... won't cost you shit but I dunno if private servers are leagal.... I think so.

Then you think wrong. Private servers are technically breaching the EULA, but Blizzard doesn't waste much time on them unless they're making money off it.

Box sets of the old 3 are probably too expensive to warrant purchase, but from what I've been told the digital purchase bundles all three for cheap.

 

[New Troll]

I've thought about getting into Cata but re-buying all the old games plus the days worth of install times really does make me reconsider. It's not the only reason, but it is a biggie!

 

[Aphex Demon]

I recently started again, Its so much easier knowing what to do on quests etc, before it was like "Go to this place by going west through that place and down past that place" ^_-.

Now its got built in sat nav, lifes good on WoW.

 

[Neuromaster]

While all previous expansions are indeed required for Cata, Blizz did offer classic, BC, and WotLK for something like $5 ($10?) each around the time of Cata launch (offer's expired now I think. You snooze you lose).

It's all available via digital download as one seamless experience, so no mucking around with discs or patches. As Hisshiss mentioned, you can probably go from the order checkout page to killing boars in less time than it takes to pick up groceries.

I'd call that extremely new user friendly.

 

[Virgil]

Leaving aside all gameplay issues, riddle me this: if you were a completely new user, never played WoW before in your life, would the process - buying the original then three expansions, loading them all on, then loading on all their patches (how long would that take, I wonder?) - put you off playing the game?

As far as I know, you don't actually need to do this. You could just buy the original game and start playing, and other than not being able to access a few professions and races, you could play just fine up to level 60. If you get to the point where you need the extra content, you can just buy the expansions one-at-a-time from the Blizzard store and it will patch up the game with whatever you need automatically, and by that time you'll be more than familiar with the upgrade process.

The major changes from Cataclysm - the rebuilt world, newbie experience, etc - are available to any subscribers, whether or not you actually own Cataclysm. As far as I know, the only things you can't do without the expansion is get to the level 80+ content or play the two new races.

Edit: In fact, I actually would highly suggest to new users that they don't buy any of the expansions. There's really no good reason to until you get to level 50-ish.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

It occurs to me that my first angry post didn't answer the question of the thread.

No, the process isn't all that scary. You can get your first ten days of WoW for free off the website. If you're like me (and only played a night or two a week for a few hours), the initial content will last months (it took me five real life days to go from level 1 to 55 as a rogue). Once you hit 58 - 60, you can (probably) get a trial for Burning Crusade and get that. The BC content (i.e. going from level 58 - 68) took me another two real life days. When that is done, you can get WotLK (as far as I ever made it) which took me about 3 days to get to my current point (79). Your timings will vary I suspect. Had I been supported by a wealthy peer I'm sure the process would have been quite a bit quicker. As it was, I have played the game almost entirely alone and have rarely had the pleasure of getting an item better than the green garbage you get as drops and quest rewards.

By the time you get to end, I suspect you'll have had time to snag the latest release at bargain bin prices. Though if you start now and give up all other activities beyond those necessary to stay alive, you could be at the end game before winter break is up.

 

[BabyRaptor]

Though if you start now and give up all other activities beyond those necessary to stay alive, you could be at the end game before winter break is up.

This is a bit of an exaggeration...I play about 4.5 hours a day (I can play at work) and the character I created last Wednesday is already 74. That's hardly the kind of obsession you're implying.

OK, kinda off topic rant, but...Why are people so damn lazy that they can't type out the name of the expansion? It's one word! I could understand it with the last expansion, but come on...You just look stupid.

 

[instantbenz]

Yeah that is just too much for me.

Guild Wars is smaller. It's cheaper, the new one will be out in a year (maybe) and it's easy to get into. You won't be playing GW for 5 years but just to put it into $ perspective...

MMO 5yr BREAK DOWN: 50[prophecies @ release]+ 30[factions @ release]+ 30[nightfall @ release]+ 20[eye of the north on sale]+ (10x5 [unnecessary skill packs]) = {GW}$180 < {WoW}$900 = 60 x $15

If WoW content appeals to you, I can't sway that, but if the cost is what is holding you back, Guild Wars has been a great alternative to such a big-name mmo for all these years.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Though if you start now and give up all other activities beyond those necessary to stay alive, you could be at the end game before winter break is up.

This is a bit of an exaggeration...I play about 4.5 hours a day (I can play at work) and the character I created last Wednesday is already 74. That's hardly the kind of obsession you're implying.

OK, kinda off topic rant, but...Why are people so damn lazy that they can't type out the name of the expansion? It's one word! I could understand it with the last expansion, but come on...You just look stupid.

Are you being supported by another character? Do you have all that fancy gear that lets you level faster or some other trick? I'm wiling to accept that I'm bad at the game but you're telling me you leveled to that point five times faster than I did. Me sucking can't possibly explain that big of a difference.

 

[Joseph Abdallah]

Or you could play a far better game. Like EverQuest 2 (For free or subscription!) EQ2's world's Norrath moon blew up over 5 years ago causing a great "cataclysm".

- 24 player classes!
Figters - Monk, Bruiser, Berserker, Guardian, Paladin, Shadowknight
Priests - Inquisitor, Templar, Fury, Warden, Defiler, Mystic
Mages - Coercer, Illusionist, Conjuror, Necromancer, Wizard, Warlock
Scouts - Dirge, Troubadour, Assassin, Ranger, Brigand, Swashbuckler

- Epic and Mythical weapons for each class!
- 11 artisan trade skill classes!
- 19 Races! Have you ever wanted to be a Froglok Shadowknight, Fairy Fighter or even a Vampire (coming soon) Healer? You can do that! Evil, good and Neutral races can share any class!
- 9 Expansions!
- 1000's of quests!
- 100's of Collectible items!
- Cross server PVP Battle Grounds! (Watch PVErs knock the snot out of PVPers.)
- PVE and PVP servers!
- Do you like contested raid mobs? 100's! Fight other raids for the kill!
- Like slugging it out in a dungeon, there are 1000's!
- Game lore! Over 11 years worth of lore that the EQ franchise is based off!
- A live patcher that updates while you are playing with no interference with your game play
- A Built in "MtG:O like" game for you Magic nerds.
- Player owned houses and guildhalls which are customizable to your taste.
- EQ2 is good looking game! Using shaders 3.0! Unless you like WoW's, I'm a goofy cartoon, feel.
- 90 levels and 250 alternate advancement levels!
- Xbox 360 style" achievements.

I could go on and on...

So now that I have trolled, taken the discussion off subject and probably irritated a few WoW die hards, give it a try!

- Signed a former "Why did I waste my money on Cataclysm?" WoW die hard.

 

[Communist partisan]

Ever heard of the leagal "fake" wow? takes more space but is free, also private servers.... won't cost you shit but I dunno if private servers are leagal.... I think so.

Then you think wrong. Private servers are technically breaching the EULA, but Blizzard doesn't waste much time on them unless they're making money off it.

Box sets of the old 3 are probably too expensive to warrant purchase, but from what I've been told the digital purchase bundles all three for cheap.

Cool, I only know than I played wow (even if it was a year ago) you were able to download vanilla and BC for free but it took more space on the computer pretty nice beacose you didin't need to bring the disks everywhere.

so... one hell of a boosh!

 

[Communist partisan]

Or you could play a far better game. Like EverQuest 2 (For free or subscription!) EQ2's world's Norrath moon blew up over 5 years ago causing a great "cataclysm".

- 24 player classes!
Figters - Monk, Bruiser, Berserker, Guardian, Paladin, Shadowknight
Priests - Inquisitor, Templar, Fury, Warden, Defiler, Mystic
Mages - Coercer, Illusionist, Conjuror, Necromancer, Wizard, Warlock
Scouts - Dirge, Troubadour, Assassin, Ranger, Brigand, Swashbuckler

- Epic and Mythical weapons for each class!
- 11 artisan trade skill classes!
- 19 Races! Have you ever wanted to be a Froglok Shadowknight, Fairy Fighter or even a Vampire (coming soon) Healer? You can do that! Evil, good and Neutral races can share any class!
- 9 Expansions!
- 1000's of quests!
- 100's of Collectible items!
- Cross server PVP Battle Grounds! (Watch PVErs knock the snot out of PVPers.)
- PVE and PVP servers!
- Do you like contested raid mobs? 100's! Fight other raids for the kill!
- Like slugging it out in a dungeon, there are 1000's!
- Game lore! Over 11 years worth of lore that the EQ franchise is based off!
- A live patcher that updates while you are playing with no interference with your game play
- A Built in "MtG:O like" game for you Magic nerds.
- Player owned houses and guildhalls which are customizable to your taste.
- EQ2 is good looking game! Using shaders 3.0! Unless you like WoW's, I'm a goofy cartoon, feel.
- 90 levels and 250 alternate advancement levels!
- Xbox 360 style" achievements.

I could go on and on...

So now that I have trolled, taken the discussion off subject and probably irritated a few WoW die hards, give it a try!

- Signed a former "Why did I waste my money on Cataclysm?" WoW die hard.

Sounds good, where can I get it? I'm not wasting my money on wow anymore and I've been pretty bored for one year after I stopped whith wow.

 

[viranimus]

- but Lord spare us, at what point did we come to accept that 'a little less than a day' on broadband was acceptable d/l time?/quote]

Well, your right it is a lot of time, but the game is what? 15-20 gb in size now? thats a sizable chunk of data to download from any source. I say downloads because invariably every patch makes a disc irrelevant so what ends up happening is when you do install via disc you end up having to download each corresponding patch in sequence until you get fully up to date, which is still likely going to take hours upon hours to do. Usually less overall time involved and less babysitting the download/install process with the most up to date install patcher than it is to go via discs in my exp.