Fans of the World of Warcraft series of games are probably not reading this as they are getting ready for Marathon sessions of online adventure and character building, as the game has now shipped.
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Warcraft universe. The events in World of Warcraft take place three years after the conclusion of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, as the forces of the Alliance and the Horde brace themselves for a new struggle for dominance. Great challenges face the denizens of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, but great rewards abound. Azeroth is now open to receive its first heroes.
For beginners or those feeling a bit lost in the World of Warcraft below are some tips to help you get started on your adventures.
To register your account, find your World of Warcraft authentication key, which is located either on the slip cover that holds your four game discs (Standard Edition) or on the front cover of your game manual (Collector's Edition), and go to Blizzard's Account Creation page.
To start playing World of Warcraft, you must first create your character. To help you learn more about the various races and classes in the game, try the Races of World of Warcraft and Classes of World of Warcraft, guides.
To find out more about how to play World of Warcraft, visit Blizzard's Getting Started page.
For those of you in Europe still waiting for the game, Blizzard has released details of the European launch. Blizzard also confirmed that the game will release in Europe in early 2005. Pre-orders for World of Warcraft will be available at retail on November 26, 2004.
Leading up to the release, the current closed beta will be followed by a final beta test when thousands of additional players, including those who have pre-ordered the game, will be able to adventure in Blizzard's epic world. Further details regarding the Final Beta Test, currently scheduled for December 2004, will be announced in the weeks ahead.
European Product Packaging and Pricing
World of Warcraft will be available in Europe for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and Macintosh at a suggested retail price of GBP 29.99, and will include a free one-month subscription to the game. The game and packaging will be fully localised in English, French and German; a localised box and manual will be available for Spanish and Italian players. For the initial shipment, the standard edition of World of Warcraft will be available in all of the aforementioned languages in two unique box covers representing the major factions of the world - Alliance and Horde. Both boxes include the full version of the game on four CD-ROM disks.
The special collector's edition of World of Warcraft will also be available at launch, in limited quantities, for a suggested retail price of GBP 44.99. The game, box and manual will be available in English, French and German; the box and manual will also be localised into Spanish and Italian. The special collector's edition will include the World of Warcraft game on both CD-ROM and DVD, a free one-month subscription, a World of Warcraft behind-the-scenes DVD in English, an exclusive in-game pet, a cloth map of the game world, a soundtrack CD, an Art of the World of Warcraft coffee table book, and a commemorative game manual signed by the development team.
After the initial free one-month subscription ends, players of World of Warcraft will be able to continue playing under one of three different subscription plans. The month-to-month subscription plan will cost GBP 8.99 per month, the three-month plan will cost GBP 8.39 per month, and the six-month plan will cost GBP 7.69 per month.
Local Support in Europe
World of Warcraft is supported in Europe by the local Blizzard team. The European Blizzard Entertainment team, made up of more than 10 nationalities, is responsible for all aspects of game and platform operation, including localised offline customer support, community management, and in-game support through French, German and English speaking game masters. In addition, the local web, marketing and communications teams provide support and tools for the community, trade and press. World of Warcraft is the first non-licensed MMORPG in Europe to have the support of a dedicated local team.
Following the huge worldwide demand for World of Warcraft evidenced in recent Beta Tests, Blizzard will establish regional servers specific to each geographical location to increase performance and support for World of Warcraft worldwide. European players will therefore initially play on any of the European servers in English, French or German. Retaining players on their own geographical servers at release will ensure the stability of the technical infrastructure installed in each territory, and will allow for the best possible customer support for players in their local language at the local time.
The regionally specific servers will start with the North American launch. Blizzard is therefore strongly advising European players not to buy the North American version of the game, as access to North American servers will be limited to residents of North America, Australia and New Zealand. Alternatively, players are recommended to pre-order the European version of the game to guarantee a box copy on the day of launch-as well as guaranteed access to the European Final Beta Test.
For those European gamers still wishing to play with their American friends on the North American servers, and vice versa, Blizzard will provide a means to make this possible after the European launch.
