Price:

• World of Warcraft Game – $19.99 USD
• World of Warcraft Legion Expansion – $49.99 USD 

(Latest expansions are only available to buy. As new expansions are released, older expansions become free and updated to the game routinely).

 Subscriptions

• 1 Month – 14.99 USD/monthly
• 3 Months – 13.99 USD/monthly or 41.97 USD/every 3 months (save 12.00 USD/yearly)
• 6 Months – 12.99 USD/monthly or 77.94 USD/every 6 months (save 24.00 USD/yearly)
• WoW 60-Day Subscription Card – 29.99 USD/one time

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Series: Warcraft

ESRB Rating: T (13+)

Genre(s): Massively multiplayer online role-playing

Mode: Multiplayer

Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Macintosh

Release Date: Australia / North American – Nov. 23rd, 2004, Europe – Feb. 11th, 2005

The continuing world of Azeroth lives on to be the most popular MMORPG by subscribers of the past six years. World of Warcraft (WoW), the massive multiplayer online role-playing game was the fourth game set to be released back in 2004 within the Warcraft franchise, where it soon progressed from the first game set known as Warcraft: Orcs & Humans released back in 1994.

Following from the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise, the game has received a total of six expansions. One being the newest expansion, ‘Legion’ released during the late summer of 2016.

Even though the whole meaning and every little detail of the game meant absolutely nothing to me as a child, the years went by as I grew older and I started to truly understand what the game had to offer.

The game initiates the player by selecting the type of realm (server). The current, available server types are:

• Normal – Player versus Environment (PvE), focused on defeating monsters and completing quests. Option of consensual combat with players and roleplaying.
• PvP – Player versus Player, including the defeat of monsters and completion of quests, opposing factions are able to attack at any time.
• RP – Role Play, similar to PvE however players are in-character.
• RP-PVP – Players assume character and includes opposing faction combat at any time.

Moving on, the player has to create an avatar available from one of two sides that inhabits on the world of Azeroth. As of the ‘Mists of Pandaria’ expansion, they added a neutral-side character, but as the character reaches level 10, they ultimately come down to aligning with one side. This adds a competitive field to the game and provides a personal experience for the character despite the side chosen.

First, the rivalry between two sides is a classic. There is the Alliance consisting of what-we-know-today races as Humans, Dwarfs, Night Elves, Gnomes, Draenei, Worgens and the at first neutral-sided Pandaren. The other side is known as the Horde involving the Orcs, Undead, Tauren, Trolls, Blood Elves, Goblins, and the Pandaren. Each race has its own unique story of how they came to be on Azeroth along with the ability to choose classes that had special skills. With a wide variety of different races to make your own, it is the bridge to the other side of a whole new world.

Each class has one or multiple roles that can be chosen from. Roles include the ability to heal, to attack (damage) and the role to defend (tank). Some classes are exclusive to certain races due to background story and ‘culture’. Classes include the Warrior, Death Knight and Demon Hunter with the role of tank and damage, Paladin, Monk and Druid assuming the role of all aspects, Hunter, Rogue, Mage, Warlock soloing the role of damage and lastly Priests and Shamans with the ability to heal or inflict damage.

As the level of a character develops, they are expected to surpass and define their skills. Characters are eligible to choose two different primary professions from: alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting, engineering, inscription, jewelcrafting, leatherworking, tailoring and gathering resources for herbalism, mining and skinning. Adding on, characters are allowed (although not required) to learn all four of secondary skills that include: cooking, fishing, first aid and archaeology.

A good chunk of the storyline comes from starting and completing quests which allows the player to gain experience and unlock new abilities to learn. In addition, quests can be completed alone, however a group can be formed with other players in order to take on more challenging obstacles. Concluding, groups are important aspects of guilds, raiding, and battlegrounds revolving around collecting resources, capture the flag, and warfare.

Complementary to the game, there are special characters or heroes that only make the lore more lively. Love or hate, dead or alive, each play a role that could mean the fate of Azeroth, and the only way to fathom this fate is to bring one’s own fate into the game for a personal, memorable experience.

There is a whole lot more to the game than what could be written down. A whole new experience is waiting, whether that be fighting alongside some friends or facing against one of the toughest bosses. Your fate awaits.

Are you the Alliance or the Horde?