World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Review

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Lucian Metelski, Staff Writer

Warlords of Draenor is the fifth and most recent expansion for World of Warcraft, the seminal MMORPG developed by Blizzard Entertainment. While the expansion has been out for little over a month, it’s just recently that Blizzard released the game’s full content, including new multiplayer instances. The expansion itself has generated much controversy as to what direction the game is headed in the future. The hardcore gaming community complains of the lack of challenge and difficulty, while the casuals praise the expansion for not requiring significant amounts of time to experience all the game’s content. Nevertheless, the numbers don’t lie—and WoW subscriptions have surged by over four million players since the release of the expansion. Whether or not Warlords of Draenor is a good game is another question. In this article, I’ll be discussing several of the core facets of the game, and whether they improve the overall gaming experience.

With a 100 levels to get to, leveling one’s characters can become mundane pretty quickly. In the past, Blizzard has experimented with missions, or quests, by making them more arcade-like, as opposed to the generic “kill X amount of monsters, collect Y amount of stuff”. However, the Warcraft community vehemently opposed the new style of missions; so as a result, Blizzard has decided to go back to its roots and the leveling experience remains largely unchanged. In Warlords, Blizzard attempted to add some spice to an old mechanic. Blizzard did this by adding hidden treasures scattered around the map as well as adding unique side missions that grant hefty rewards. All in all, however, the questing experience still falls a bit short as it can quickly become boring by redundantly killing the same monsters and collecting the same items.

Another revamped aspect of Warlords is the new Player vs. Player combat. Blizzard attempted to allow a more balanced and competitive environment. Blizzard did this by adding a larger health pool for players in a competitive multiplayer environment. While good in theory, battles between players now can last a grudgingly long time. Another issue with PvP is that some classes are severely unbalanced. Some are grossly overpowered, while others can’t even make a dent in armor. Blizzard has a long way to go in improving the competitive PvP scene.

Over recent years, and ever evident in Warlords of Draenor, is Blizzard’s attempt to appeal to the casual gaming community. This is especially apparent in dungeons and raids (levels where large groups of players team up together to fight a common enemy) where Blizzard has lowered the requirements of entering these instances and even decreasing the difficulty. This has caused a schism in the game’s community, as some argue that WoW has become too easy and mundane, no longer providing a challenge for those who are willing to devote large chunks of time. The dungeons and raids themselves are enjoyable, regardless of the difficulty chosen. They require focus and attention to detail, unlike previous expansions where you could stand in one spot and mash your keyboard.

While World of Warcraft has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 2004, Warlords of Draenor is a step in the right direction. By focusing on the casual community, Blizzard is attracting a larger player base and securing its future in MMO genre for the years to come