World of Warcraft Previews

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Written by BuckGB on April 10th, 2004

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Rogues are the black sheep of World of Warcraft's adventurers. Their fighting skills depend on (combo points) that are similar to the Warrior's rage points, but can't be accumulated simply by attacking an enemy. They can only be generated by specific fighting moves that, as the name (combo) suggests, power other moves that produce still more energy. Once enough is stored up, you can unleash it in the form of deadly street-fighting maneuvers with names like (Eviscerate) and (Gouge.) Other Rogue abilities include stealth, pocket picking and the crafting and use of poisons.

One main difference between WoW and other MMORPGs is the death system. Most games have a fairly harsh penalty for death, and many games are basically the same in this approach. WoW uses a system which involves ghosts. When a player dies, he respawns at a bind point (typically the town or primary location you last visited) and has to run to his/her corpse as a ghost or accept a small experience loss and resurrect at the bind point. Additionally the developers saw fit to bestow upon ghosts a special '˜aura' which allows you faster movement so getting back '˜beside yourself' can be done in swift fashion. This is a huge change for most veterans of the genre, who are aggravated and feel the risk vs. reward is not balanced.

So far I'm really impressed with the gameworld. It's not just that it's gorgeous and immersive. It's also coherent. Things fit together naturally. People navigate not by shouting coordinates at each other, but by making reference to landmarks. (Head west along from Goldshire,) they might say; or, (check the buildings near the pumpkin patch.) Nor is there a lot of empty space. The countryside is packed full of landmarks, micro dungeons, mob camps, houses, farms, and interesting terrain. You don't see the vast expanses of featureless land you see in some other online RPGs.

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