World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is a class-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the 4th Blizzard game, not including expansion packs, set in the Warcraft Universe, a fantasy setting introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994. World of Warcraft picks up the Warcraft storyline four years after the conclusion reached in Blizzard's previous release, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

World of Warcraft
Developer:	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher:	Vivendi
Number of Players:	Unlimited
Release date:	November 23, 2004 (US, AU, NZ) [1] (http://www.blizzard.com/press/040411-street-date.shtml)
Genre:	MMORPG
Game modes:	multiplayer
ESRB/ELSPA ratings:	Teen (T)
Platforms:	Macintosh & Windows
Media:	4 CDs, 1 DVD

Large group preparing for a raid

Resting World of Warcraft party

World of Warcraft map with cities

General information

The game was simultaneously released on November 23, 2004 in North America, Australia, and New Zealand on both PC and Macintosh systems. Korea, Europe, and other Asian countries release are expected to follow shortly. At the E3 in 2003 the game won high praise, including Gamer's Pulse's Best of Show award.

When creating a character in World of Warcraft, the player can choose from eight different races and nine different character classes. The races are split into two equal-sized factions: the Alliance and the Horde:

• The Alliance consists of Humans, Night Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes.
• The Horde consists of Orcs, Tauren, Undead, Trolls.
• Additionally, there are many NPC races.

The nine classes are the warrior, the mage, the warlock, the shaman, the rogue, the hunter, the priest, the paladin, and the druid. Two of the classes are faction-specific: paladins for the Alliance and shamans for the Horde. Further, with the exception of the warriors, classes are race-specific.

Blizzard promised that World of Warcraft to be a revolutionary product in the MMORPG market, stating that they have made a number of design decisions intended to reduce or eliminate problems with gameplay experience that are prevalent in other MMORPGs, and that players will be able to enjoy the game without having to invest a significant amount of playing time.

Virtual world

The current world is built around two main continents: The Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. The new World Tree of Teldrassil is off the northwestern coast of Kalimdor. While not all of the history between the end of The Frozen Throne and the two years between the start of World of Warcraft has been revealed, it assumed the conflict between the Hordes forces and the marines of the Theramore Isles at the end of the Orc mini-campaign were at least the kindling for the blaze of the current conflict.

Some of the noteable landmarks and locations in the game that were featured in the previous Warcraft games are:

• the Ruins of Lordaeron, now titled the Undercity. This is the main city of the Undead, ruled by Sylvannas Windrunner and Varimathras. Here they are engineering a new plague to wipe out the Alliance;
• the Eastern and Western Plaguelands, including places such as Andorhal, the place of origin of the Scourge and the Plague of Undeath, and Stratholme the site of Arthas' initial fall into insanity;
• the Blasted Lands, home of the orginal Dark Portal from which the Orcs first came into Azeroth; and
• Kalimdor, new home of the Horde. Areas to the north include Ashenvale Forest, Felwood, Winterspring, Azshara and the Moonglade. These regions surround Mt. Hyjal where the final battle against Archimonde was held and the fall of the Burning Legion's second invasion.

External links

• The Official World of Warcraft page (http://www.blizzard.com/wow/)
• The Official World of Warcraft Community Site (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/)
• The Official World of Warcraft Community Forums (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/)

Wikis

• World of Warcraft Dungeons (http://wow.dungeons.ws) - A World of Warcraft Wiki Site
• wow.zoctagon.com - running on Mediawiki
• WikiWoW (http://www.alarash.net/wikiwow/) - running on Mediawiki

zh-cn:魔兽世界