{"id":697,"date":"2006-09-23T23:08:39","date_gmt":"2006-09-24T03:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2006\/09\/23\/world-of-warcraft-begins-part-2\/"},"modified":"2006-09-23T23:10:02","modified_gmt":"2006-09-24T03:10:02","slug":"world-of-warcraft-begins-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2006\/09\/23\/world-of-warcraft-begins-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"World of Warcraft (Begins Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has taken a few hours, but I finally have a few minutes of WoW under my belt. I have a couple of things to note about the initial setup before I get started. First, the copy of WoW was version 1.11.0.5428; this thing too a while to install (5 CDs). My wife\u2019s laptop is not the fastest in the world, but I was surprised that the thing did not install faster. I lost track of time, but each disk had to take 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Once the game was loaded, the first thing I noticed was this little gem of a note<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you do not wish to be billed for additional time, you must cancel your account prior to the end of your free month.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have always had something against monthly fee games; you cannot even start this one without setting up a credit card unless you have some sort of prepaid card. I would still rather do some sort of pay as you go plan.<\/p>\n

I noticed that the Bronzebeard server is going to be offline Tuesday and Wednesday. Joy. Do you get a credit if your server is down?<\/p>\n

Before I could get any further, the game started downloading patch 1.12, which was a good 465MB. Here we go with patching. The bane of PC gaming (for console fans). I noted that my download panel showed a yellow status \u2013 \u201cyour computer appears to be behind a firewall
\nchange firewall and router settings (port forwarding).\u201d While I did not have any problems downloading the patch, I setup my firewall and router to make sure ports were configured correctly for WoW. Still took about 25-30 minutes to complete the download. Then the download had to install. Yawn. Not so fun. Finally I was on version 1.12.0.5595 and ready to partake in some WoW.<\/p>\n

The game suggested a server, but I picked Bronzebeard. Figured Chris may start a new character (or something) and play with me every once in a while. So off I go, but the game tells me that Bronzebeard is full (apparently I there are 24 players in queue). After a couple of minutes it was time to create a player.<\/p>\n

I really wanted to create a druid, but I am not sure I like the looks of the elves in this game. I decided to go with a male Dwarf Hunter named Tuldar.<\/p>\n

At this point I really do not know WTF is going on around me. The help icons (!) are nice; I think I would be really lost with out them. Right away someone asks me to join their party, but I declined. Still trying to figure out WTH to do and all that. I accepted a quest (have to get some wolf mean or the like), and off I go. Of course I saw bunnies, and my first thought was that I am not going to spend my time killing rabbits.<\/p>\n

About 15 minutes later Tuldar was level 2, and had picked up some useful items (some sort of rob, belt, cloak, and boots). My reward for my first quest was a pair of Wolf Gloves (I think). I could have picked two other items, but I am not sure why I would want to pick up rabbit gloves. I think the other pair was something I could not use (part of the name was in read) because the gloves were metal. Of course I could be wrong, but I am thinking back to D&D games; there must be some restrictions.<\/p>\n

Now the fun part. I needed to take the dog out, and lock up for the night, but I had no idea what to do to safely end the game. Is Tuldar going to get robbed? Should I have found an Inn? Instead the dude just sat down and that was that. I am now a veteran (but not so much) of WoW.<\/p>\n

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