World of Warcraft
Resting World of Warcraft party
World of Warcraft screenshot
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game under development that will take place in the fantasy setting introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. The game, like all Warcraft games, is being developed by Blizzard Entertainment, a company that has cultivated a large fan-base from numerous successful computer games.
When World of Warcraft will be released has not yet been determined. The game entered beta in March 2004, and a retail version will probably follow some time later this year. It was shown at E3 in 2003 and won high praise, including Gamer's Pulse's Best of Show award.
There will be eight different human-playable racess and nine different character classes in World of Warcraft. The races will be split into two equal-sized factions: the Alliance and the Horde:
- The Alliance will consist of Humans, Night Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes.
- The Horde will consist of Orcs, Tauren, Undead, Trolls. On April 1 Blizzard made a spoof announcement suggesting that two-headed ogres would be a playable race.
- Additionally, there are many NPC races.
World of Warcraft promises to be a revolutionary product in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game market. Blizzard Entertainment has made a number of design decisions to reduce or eliminate problems with gameplay experience that are prevalent in other massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Players will be able to enjoy the game without having to invest significant amount of playing time.