Web Critique

Please refer to maps and glossary at the end of this critique for help when reading.
PDF Version - PDF

1.0- Introduction to World of Warcraft

This critique is based on World of Warcraft the multi million selling MMORPG focusing mainly on world design and how the world design in World of Warcraft (or WoW for short) increases the playability of the game and its overall enjoyment. In this critique I will refer to many areas and images of these areas please refer to further posts in this blog/PDF

World of Warcraft was released in Feb 11, 2005 and since its release it has become a powerful force in the MMORPG market, it has become very popular now boasting over 6.5 million subscribers. (Source http://www.mmogchart.com/ ) One of the main reasons accredited to WoW becoming so popular is its world design and also it’s easy to master quest system. These factors have attracted the younger gamer and also the casual gamer that has less time to play. It has really made the MMORPG accessible to the casual gamer that up until now hadn’t dared venture into a world of overcomplicated MMORPGs which required hours of repetitive game play with a shallow questing experience. These previous MMORPGs alienated more casual or less experience players making the MMORPG market very small and reserved only for hardcore fans. World of Warcraft also has a factions system in where half the of the games races (Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, Gnomes) make up one side called the Alliance and the other races (Orcs, Tauren, Trolls, Undead) make up the Horde. These factions cannot communicate with each other and don’t share the same towns/cities.

For a general review of the game visit…

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/worldofwarcraft/review.html

1.1- Introduction to Game mechanics and World design in WoW

The above link will show you a very large map of the World of Warcraft. The actually game playing area is so large that to get any level of detail the map must be this size. Looking at the map you can see that most of the map is divided into smaller areas (easily distinguished by colour) these areas or zones are designed to help a player level his or her character. When a player creates a new character it is spawned at one of six locations this location is determined by the race the player chose. These starting areas are focused around one small town (where the character actually spawns) and a small area with monsters of no higher than level 5. These areas are marked on the map with an S. The basic principle of WoW is to level a character from level 1 to level 60 it’s the same with most MMORPGs. So the design of the areas in WoW has to facilitate that. Each starting zone is based inside a larger zone containing monsters 5-10 and also their races capital city. This allows the player to get to around about level 10/11 by completing the quests in the first 2 areas but to also get to a capital city which opens up options for things like trade skills and using the game auction house and bank. The impressive thing with WoW’s world design is the way they have managed to make this easy starting area transition in 6 different areas while still sticking to the pre established lore from the Warcraft series.

Once a player begins to reach level 10/11 they move out from their “home zone” and possibly meeting other races move into a 10-20 area which also normally contains an instance. This is designed obviously to help the player get his/her character to level 20 but also gives them a first chance at entering an instance and learning how their class and how instances work. This continues thought the game most new areas that players move into will contain a new instance for them to explore. In the time to takes to get from level 1 to 60 they will have been to many instances and learnt how to play while inside them and as a team, so they will be ready for the large chunk of endgame content including 40 man raids.

Questing is also a hugely innovative game mechanic used in WoW. Questing has always been present in MMORPG’s where you have to level a character. The problem with most previous games was that there quest system was no only very time consuming but also hugely critique to the player. These were often long drawn out affairs that were not worth a player’s effort. So players were left to grind autonomously for hours. WoW’s questing system is simple, NPC’s that will give you quests are highlighted with a large ! over their heads. Most quests given to you will be accomplished in the area you are currently in, i.e. Kill X number of monsters or collect Y number of some local fauna etc. These quests also come with a quest description which in most cases will basically tell you where to find the said monsters or items.

Questing is the key to getting anywhere in WoW. Not only is questing the prime direction of advancement, but the quests are actually very good. (http://www.ezilon.com/information/article_16450.shtml March 30 2006)

Taking a look back at the large world map, each area has on the map has a name (in white). All these areas generally follow the same level rules 10-20, 20-30 etc. So the natural progression for a character involves just moving from area to area until they reach level 60. These areas also have in common that they nearly all have a town for each faction. These towns not only act as quest hubs but also work as flight points for players to make travel between areas much easier. This all ties in to help the player when they first visit a zone. They will immediately follow a road looking for a friendly settlement or consult an online resource to located one so that they can get the flight point. As they enter the town they will see all the quests available to them and so be encouraged to undertake them.

Quests can also help the player move from zone to zone. When a player reaches a level where they are too high for there current zone or when they compete a large chain of quests they may get a delivery quest which will ask them to seek out a NPC in a new zone more suited to their level. The quest will generally also tell them which way to go to reach that NPC/area.

1.3- In-depth Analysis of Area design

To further illustrate the potential of the world design in WoW I have constructed an in-depth analysis of 3 zones that interlink, these zones make up the Human starting area in the southern Eastern Kingdoms. Humans start at a small chapel in a small area known as Northshire.

Northshire is the same as every other race starting zone a small town and a variety of easy to accomplish quests it is located in Elewynn Forest. The character is then lead out of the area by a quest to the larger town of Goldshire located in the centre of the forest. Goldshire then acts as the quest hub for the character giving quests to move around the forest collecting and killing until the character reaches level 10. A quest in Goldshire also leads the character to Stormwind the Human capital city located at the top of the forest. This sets the character up with not only a few good items from the starting quests but also some trade skills from the visit to Stormwind. Also it gives them a decent experience of what it is like to quest and how to complete quests from careful reading of the quest description.

When the character has made it to at least level 10 or 11 they will get another delivery quest which will tell them to run to Westfall a level 10-20 zone. On entering the zone the player will collect 3 quests from stranded farmhands on the roadside. These quests will help the player explore the top of the area. Eventually however the player will follow the short road down to Sentinel Hill where they will locate their first Flight Point and a quest will help explain them to the user by making them fly from Westfall back to Stormwind (all human characters have the Flight point to Stormwind without discovering it themselves). Sentinel Hill also now acts as a quest hub for the players as they move towards level 20. At around 17-18 they will pick up quests that will ask them to move into an area called The Deadmines. The Deadmines is a level 18-22 instance located in the abandoned town of Moonbrook (not to be confused with an active town). There are quests to lead the player here so they experience what is like to do instances with other online players and learn the role of their class in a group.

The players move from Elewynn forest then to Westfall and then finally on to Redridge Mountains witch is located on the other side of Elewynn to Westfall. It requires a long walk but as always the player is quest driven to find it. On entering this zone again the player will receive a quest from a walking NPC before following the road to the town and quest hub Lakeshire. As a side note this is the first Contested area that human players will encounter and this means on PVP servers (refer to the glossary for more details) they can attack and be attacked by the other faction although there are very few Horde likely to be around the area. Redridge Mountains is an 18-28 area which is slightly out of the usual level brackets but helps players to level if they are struggling with finding a party for The Deadmines. This means that players don’t need to be dependant on other players to gain levels as there are always quests that can be competed outside of instances.

This is the basic level progression for Human’s of course if they wanted to they could take there character from level 1 to a different starting area such as the dwarven one if they didn’t want to level up in the normal human area. This quest fuelled world due also to the design and arrangement of the world areas makes the time to learn how to play very short.

1.4- Conclusion

In conclusion World of Warcraft is a massive success especially since it is an online game. This is entirely due to its innovative world design and easy questing system. This has caused even the giant Sony, creator of the EverQuest series to rethink how they design their games making the less in the old dungeons and dragons style of stiff rules and complex players and actions.

Would WoW be the same without its level design? I don’t think so, I can imagine and I have seen in other MMORPG’s a much disjointed world comprising of the same degree of zones that WoW has just not in the same organisation that WoW has leading to lost players, slow experience gains and so a lower player enjoyment. I can personally testify to this with the MMORPG Saga or Ryzom which I while conducting my research of WoW downloaded a free trail of. I started the game with my chosen character but was immediately lost and couldn’t find any kind of structure to the game or where I should go or what to do.

When it comes to my critique and research of WoW and how it will help my development of Blob I think it has really helped me to realise how players should interact with their world. The tendency with platform games is that you move to the right to compete the level, Blob is much different to that needing the player to move around the level more like a 2D space that a continuous platform. World of Warcraft has shown me that using world design to lead a player to when he/she should be going to complete that level is a very necessary part of the game. By using this technique in Blob I think we can make the game much for fluid and even paced helping the player to discover the puzzles and complete them, with what are almost invisible pointers made solely by the layout and design of the level.