World of Warcraft

File:WoWlogo.png

World of Warcraft
File:Wowbox.jpg WoW box art
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Vivendi Universal
Date published	NA - 23 November 2004 EU - 11 February 2005
Version	Template:LiveVersion
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, (Linux via Wine or Cedega)
Genre(s)	MMORPG

World of Warcraft, often referred to as WoW, is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) set in the Warcraft universe. It is developed by Blizzard Entertainment and contains 2 (and soon 3) expansion packs, including World of Warcraft: The Burning CrusadeTemplate:Bc-inline, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich KingTemplate:Wotlk-inline, and soon World of Warcraft: CataclysmTemplate:Cata-inline.

In 2008, World of Warcraft received more than 11.5 million monthly subscribers, and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG and world's largest MMORPG online game. It also continues its further story development throughout its franchising, other than online mediums, such as Warcraft novels, manga, RPG books, TCG, and board games.

Features

Note the following are the pre-expansion details:

• Uses and expands the storyline from the Warcraft series of games.
• Customizable characters:
  • 2 factions: Horde and Alliance.
  • 8 races: Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Night Elf, Orc, Troll, Undead, Tauren (expansions: Template:Bc-inline Blood Elf and Draenei, Template:Cat-inline Goblin and Worgen).
  • 9 classes: Mage, Warlock, Priest, Rogue, Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Warrior, and Paladin (expansions: Template:Wotlk-inline Death Knight).
  • 9 professions, enabling resource gathering and item crafting (expansions: Template:Bc-inline Jewelcrafting, Template:Wotlk-inline Inscription)
    • 3 secondary professions: Cooking, First Aid, and Fishing (expansions: Template:Cat-inline Archaeology)
    • 2 class-based professions: Lockpicking (expansion: Template:Wotlk-inline Runeforging)
  • The Talents and Glyphs system allows further customization of the character's skills and stats.

Gameplay System

General System

• A casual-friendly character progression system.
  • Quests occur frequently, and being offline (resting) increases your experience points gain.
• In-game trading, mail service and auction system.
• Four server types: Normal (PvE), RP, PvP, and RPPvP.

Quest and Honor Systems

• A PvP Honor system, 3 Battlegrounds
  • Alterac Valley, Arathi Basin, Warsong Gulch (expansions: Template:Bc-inline Eye of the Storm, Template:Wotlk-inline Strand of the Ancients, Isle of Conquest)

Events

• A variety of World Events including:
  • (Darkmoon Faire, Children's Week, Scourge Invasion, and Midsummer Fire Festival)
• 67 Instanced Dungeons, ranging from The Deadmines to Zul'Gurub to Ulduar.

User Interface and Customer Support

• Customize AddOn and Interface with some game commands support.
• Client seamlessly supports both Mac and Windows operating systems. Linux users can play via Wine, however this is not supported and can be buggy at times.

Availability

• Oceania (English - Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand)
• North America (English - US & Canada)
• Europe (English-UK, French, German, Spanish, Russian)
• South Korea
• China (Simplified and Traditional Chinese; including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau)
• Latin America (Spanish, English?)

Video

Official trailer

See also

• Loading screen
• A listing of World of Warcraft-related sites.
• World of Warcraft Mac OS X Icons

Trivia

The original WoW is sometimes referred to as "vanilla World of Warcraft" or "classic World of Warcraft".

External links

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