Similar to other MMORPGs, the game allows players to create a character avatar and explore an open game world in third- or first-person view, exploring the landscape, fighting various monsters, completing quests, and interacting with non-player characters (NPCs) or other players. The game encourages players to work together to complete quests, enter dungeons and engage in player versus player (PvP) combat, however, the game can also be played solo without interacting with others. The game primarily focuses on character progression, in which players earn experience points to level up their character to make them more powerful and buy and sell items using in-game currency to acquire better equipment, among other game systems.
As with other MMORPGs, players control a character avatar within a game world in third- or first-person view, exploring the landscape, fighting various monsters, completing quests, and interacting with non-player characters (NPCs) or other players. Also similar to other MMORPGs, World of Warcraft requires the player to pay for a subscription by using a credit or debit card, using prepaid Blizzard game cards or using a WoW Token purchased in-game. Players without a subscription may use a trial account that lets the player character reach up to level 20 but has many features locked.[15]
To enter the game, the player must select a server, referred to in-game as a 'realm'. Each realm acts as an individual copy of the game world and falls into one of two categories. Available realms types are:
Much of World of Warcraft play involves the completion of quests. These quests are usually available from NPCs.[24] Quests usually reward the player with some combination of experience points, items, and in-game money. Quests allow characters to gain access to new skills and abilities, as well as the ability to explore new areas.[25] It is through quests that much of the game's story is told, both through the quest's text and through scripted NPC actions.[26] Quests are linked by a common theme, with each consecutive quest triggered by the completion of the previous, forming a quest chain. Quests commonly involve killing a number of creatures, gathering a certain number of resources, finding a difficult to locate object, speaking to various NPCs, visiting specific locations, interacting with objects in the world, or delivering an item from one place to another to acquire experience and treasures.
World of Warcraft is set in the same universe as the Warcraft series of real-time strategy games and has a similar art direction.[15] World of Warcraft contains elements from fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction, including gryphons, dragons, elves, steam-powered automata, zombies, werewolves, other horror monsters, time travel, spaceships, and alien worlds.
World of Warcraft takes place in a 3D representation of the Warcraft universe that players can interact with through their characters. The game world initially consisted of the two continents in Azeroth: Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Four separate expansions later added to the game's playable area the realms of Outland and Draenor and the continents of Northrend and Pandaria. As a player explores new locations, different routes and means of transportation become available. Players can access "flight masters" in newly discovered locations to fly to previously discovered locations in other parts of the world.[32] Players can also use boats, zeppelins, or portals to move from one continent to another. Although the game world remains relatively similar from day to day, seasonal events reflecting real world events, such as Halloween (Hallow's End),[33] Christmas (Winter Veil), Children's Week,[30] Easter (Noblegarden), and Midsummer have been represented in the game world. Locations also have variable weather including, among other things, rain, snow, and dust storms.[32]
The World of Warcraft launcher (referred to in press releases and the menu bar as the "Blizzard Launcher") is a program designed to act as a starting point for World of Warcraft players. It provides a way to launch World of Warcraft and starts the Blizzard updater. It was first included with the version 1.8.3 patch. The 2.1.0 patch allowed for an option to bypass the use of the launcher. Features of the launcher include news and updates for World of Warcraft players, access to World of Warcraft's support website, access to the test version of World of Warcraft when it is available to test upcoming patches, updates to Warden,[65] and updates to the updater itself. The 3.0.8 patch redesigned the launcher and added the ability to change the game settings from the launcher itself. The launcher update from patch 4.0.1 also allows people to play the game while non-crucial pieces of the game are downloaded. This requires a high-speed broadband internet connection.
Questing was described as an integral part of the game, often being used to continue a storyline or lead the player through the game.[26] The high number of quests in each location was popular, as well as the rewards for completing them.[15] It was felt that the range of quests removed the need for a player to "grind", or carry out repetitive tasks, to advance their character.[25] Quests also require players to explore every section of the game world, potentially causing problems for social gamers or roleplayers seeking somewhere quiet.[26] Quests that required the player to collect items from the corpses of creatures they had killed were also unpopular; the low "drop rate", or chance of finding the items, makes them feel repetitive as a high number of creatures need to be killed to complete the quest.[25] A large number of new players in a particular area meant that there were often no creatures to kill,[26] or that players would have to wait and take turns to kill a particular creature to complete a quest.[15] Some critics mentioned that the lack of quests that required players to group up made the game feel as if it were designed for solo play.[92] Others complained that some dungeon or instanced group quests were not friendly to new players, and could take several hours to complete.[25] Upon release, a small number of quests had software bugs that made them impossible to complete.[15]
The appearance of the game world was praised by critics. Most popular was the fact that a player could run from one end of the continent to the other without having to pause at a "loading screen" while part of the game is retrieved from storage.[95] The environment was described as "breathtaking". Players found it difficult to become lost, and each area in the game world had a distinct look that blended from one to the next.[26] Critics described the environment as "a careful blend of cartoon, fantasy art, and realism".[90] The game was found to run smoothly on a range of computer systems,[15] although some described it as basic,[26] and mentioned that the bloom light rendering effect can blur things.[25] One reviewer described the ability to fly over long stretches of scenery as "very atmospheric".[92] The user interface was liked, being described as "simple", with tooltips helping to get the player started.[15]
The game's audio was well received, particularly the background music. By assigning music to different areas of the game world, reviewers felt that the fantasy style added to the player's immersion,[90] and that the replay value was increased.[25] The sounds and voices used by characters and NPCs, as well as the overall sound effects, were felt to add a "personality" to the game.[90]
World of Warcraft was the best-selling PC game of 2005 and 2006.[107] In the United States, it sold 1.4 million copies ($68.1 million) by August 2006. It was the country's third best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006.[108] On January 22, 2008, World of Warcraft had more than 10 million subscribers worldwide, with more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and about 5.5 million in Asia.[109] At its peak in October 2010 the game had 12 million subscribers.[110] As of November 2014 the game has over 10 million active subscribers.[111] On January 28, 2014, Blizzard announced that 100 million accounts have been created for the game.[112] On May 7, 2015, it was announced that there were 7.1 million active subscriptions.[113][114][115][116] At the end of June 2015, subscriptions dropped down to 5.6 million, lowest since 2005.[117] By the end of September, subscribers were at 5.5 million.[118]
 38c6e68cf9