WoW

So a friend was playing World of Warcraft (WoW) and I wanted to play online with friends, so I downloaded the free install and played for 10 days. We decided to continue playing so I payed the fee and registered the game.

I'm having fun. I have created a Druid who is by far my favorite character, but I also have a Warrior and a Paladin to play around with as well (all on The Scryers, a Roleplaying server). I am thinking of creating a Mage and a Hunter here shortly, just to see how much I like them.

The cartoony nature of the graphics is visually appealing but a bit over the top. What stands out to me is that the game almost never needs to load. I play City of Heroes (CoH) pretty often, and I love that game, but you have to load for every zone change and instance. I am very curious how they programmed the game to so rarely need to load.

It is funny because, when people think of City of Heroes and put a mental image in their heads, I'm willing to bet that it is predominantly what the graphics in WoW look like. Whereas the CoH graphics are very realistic and natural.

I also did the 10 day trial on Dungeons & Dragons Online (ddo.com) at around the same time as the trial for this game. I truly loved the graphics on that one; very realistic and richly detailed. I enjoyed seeing some of my favorite DnD things personified in the game. However, in the end, the fact that it was the Eberron campaign setting turned me off. I like the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk campaign settings, I enjoy the classes and prestige classes in the core systems, and I like to have the standard races available. So not having some of my favorite classes and races turned me off a bit.

Anyway, my time in WoW has been fun. My Druid is up to about 27 and is going strong. I have focused on the Feral qualities and abilities, minimally on casting (really only on the buff and healing spells). I really enjoy shape changing into the Bear, Sea Lion, and Cat forms. My only complaint is that I cannot use potions while changed, which leads to my death a little more often than I should be defeated.

For as much fun as I am having in WoW, CoH is having a double XP weekend June 15 through June 17 and I need to level up my Kheldian a few levels (hopefully to 20 and the next new form). So this coming weekend is all set for super heroes!