shopaholic_man's Full Review: World Of Warcraft Battlechest for Windows, Mac
Many of you know me as a writer here on Epinions. You may also know that I am a lawyer. What you may not know is that I am also a powerful Mage in Runescape or that I am a Tauren Shaman and a Night Elf Hunter in World of Warcraft.
It took me a while to decide to add World of Warcraft to online games that I play and pay for. For the longest time, both my son and I played Runescape, a simple and inexpensive MMORPG. Recently, after trying trial accounts, my son and I both got addicted to the World of Warcraft. We each started with the World of Warcraft Battlechest, a handy set of the original World of Warcraft Game and the first expansion pack, Burning Crusade. Because my son has a Mac and I have a PC, I can even report on how it performs on both.
Geilinor vs. Azeroth
Runescape is set in the fifth age of the world of Geilinor. You play as a human starting in the city of Lumbridge in the Misthalin Kingdom. I always thought that the world of Geilinor was pretty huge. Large cities like Varrock, Falador and Ardougne and even Camelot were built around large castles and full of shops to buy swords, maces and leather or mail armor. Eventually, as you explored, you found mining dwarves, industrious gnomes, the desert cities of Al Kharid, barbarians to the north, and even cities of elves and ogres existed. If it wasn't for teleportation spells, magic trees and ships, the world would take quite a while to walk through.
Image our surprise when we first explored the world of Azeroth! For starters, one character may take months of wandering and not see the incredible far reaches of the lands. Warcraft actually seems real and makes Runescape look like a theme park version of a real empire. Starting out with a Tauren Shaman, it took me time to start off in the small village of Narath to go through rites of training in Bloodhoof Village and much longer still to travel to the capital city of Thunder Bluff. I will soon be venturing out into the Barrens. This is only one small area on the world map. Azeroth spreads out farther than most previous fantasy epics like Champions of Norrath or Baldur's Gate and really does create a virtual world. The Tauren's homeland is set in a huge valley amidst towering mountain peaks.
In other areas, Humans peacefully live in their cities in woodlands, gnomes and dwarves live in several towns around their capital of IronForge in the North, complete with snow covered fur trees and wild animals hunting. Night Elves live in an enchanted forest that is literally beautiful to behold.
Runescape is the same on servers in the USA, England, Ireland, Europe and Australia. You are best playing on a server close to you, but you don't have to, you may move your character from server to server. Warcraft allows you to choose ONE realm for any character you create, and once your character is in that realm, he or she may not switch. Thus you may not be able to play with friends who are on far away servers. I have my main, Marsiferum, a Horde Tauren Shaman on Aggramar. I also have a Night Elf Hunter, Cayleah on Alexstrasza. If one Realm is down, I can try another. However, neither character can move to a different realm in Warcraft. In Runescape, world hopping is common and one can find a world best suited to what you want to do that day.
Both games have tutorial modes in the beginning and are quite easy to learn how to play, although it might take months to learn the secrets of complete p'wnage. Both games have on line forums and plenty have been written on each as well. The World of Warcraft Battle Chest comes with two guidebooks, one for the basic game and one for the Burning Crusade expansion pack. The books were quite helpful for getting started.
Who do you Want to Be Today?
Runescape offers players a character that they create. You are human, and your basic choice is male or female. You can adjust skin color and hair style and decide how to dress. This may be also changed during the game. You can decide to be a mage, a warrior, an archer, a farmer, a merchant or all of the above. It depends on what you put your time into, and if you have enough time, you could level all your skills. My character isn't a great summoner, but he has a 25 million dollar mansion on the beach in Brimhaven thanks to his construction skills, and he is also a pretty powerful mage. On the other hand, my combat skills are mediocre, so unless I am casting spells, I could be cut down in a melee conflict. You only get one character with your Runescape membership.
Although Warcraft at first seems limited because each character can only do so much, you can create up to 15 different characters on one account. Each character has different pros and cons. In the Battle Chest, several races and classes are available. On the side of the Alliance, you can be a Night Elf, a Human, a Gnome, a Dwarf or a Draenei. Choose the Horde and you can be a Troll, a Blood Elf, a Tauren or an Orc. (Burning Crusade added the Blood Elves and Draenei races to the game. The Battle Chest includes Burning Crusade). Some classes you may choose are Paladin, Warrior, Rogue, Shaman, Priest, Druid and Hunter. Not until you get Wrath of the Lich King (not included in the Battle Chest) can you add Death Knights. You also get to choose male or female. My son has a very powerful Blood Elf. (He also has a Death Knight, but I'll save that for the Wrath of the Lich King Review). When I joined, he gladly also created a Tauren to train with my new Tauren. Taurens look like Minotaurs and mine is a Shaman and studying all the earth magicks that go along with that. His name is Marsiferum and he is in a guild on the Aggramar realm.
Since the game is so fun, I've also created a Night Elf Hunter. She's awesome with a bow and arrow and reminds me of a character I had created when playing Champions of Norrath. Cayleah plays on the realm of Alexstrasza. I also have a gnome warrior and a Human Rogue. No one character race or class has a distinct advantage over another, in fact the different races and classes encourage cooperation.
I want GOLD!
Yes, even virtual worlds have virtual economies, and like in the real world, you have to work for money. My Runescape character makes teleportation tablets in his house and sells them for 800 gold apiece. I can make hundreds in an hour. He also grows herbs and sells them, and of course sometimes just kills monsters. You can do any number of things in Runescape to make money, most of them long until higher levels. However, mining, fishing, hunting and woodcutting can all be used to make money.
Warcraft, like Runescape, has a huge online economy. As in the real world or Runescape, you can hunt, fish, mine or kill monsters for money, but Warcraft only allows you two professional skills to train. They could be Skinning and leather crafting, herbalism and alchemy, enchanting, mining, blacksmithing (or jewelry crafting with the Burning Crusade expansion included with the Battlechest). If you collect raw materials that people want, you can sell them at the auction house and make plenty of gold. If you are skilled at making things, you can make specialized armor, weapons or potions and sell those. You have to decide what works best for you. Both games, as in real life, make more money as you increase your skill at a particular craft. Runescape allows you to make money in any area you choose to raise your skill in and if you want you can raise all your skill. In Warcraft, you are limited to two professions per character. My son's a blacksmith, my Tauren makes leather goods.
Dirty little Secret - Both games used to let you use real world gold (aka money) to buy virtual gold. Jagex, the owners of Runescape eliminated that through several steps, although it isn't legal in Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, it is still done.
Runescapes economy is odd at first for those unfamiliar with it. The raw materials of most items actually sell for MORE than the finished item. This is because most people want the raw materials to level their skills. You really have to work out what to do to make money. Most leveling actually costs money unless you obtain the raw materials (ie wood, ores etc.) yourself. In Warcraft, the items that one can collect, animal skins, ores, herbs etc. will all command money both at shops and in the Worlds online community via auction houses, but the items that you make with those raw materials will sell for more.
The main player exchange on Runescape is The Grand Exchange, where you put items up for sale, or put in bids on items you want. Some things come in immediately, others in a few days. Characters may also trade directly with one another. To discourage real world gold selling, Jagex has trade limits.
The main player exchange on World of Warcraft are the auction houses in every major city. Again, you put up items for sale or you can bid on items you want. Blizzard doesn't impose any limits, it's a free market economy. You may also freely trade with other players.
I'm on a Quest!
Anyone familiar with Fantasy role playing games knows that one key step to leveling is to take up Quests! So it is with both Runescape and Warcraft. In Runescape, anyone can do, and may well eventually do all 270 and counting quests. They range from easy to master and many are fun. Warcraft tends to have character specific quests so if you start off in the plains of Murgold, you will have different quests than you will in the Forests of Elyn. Nevertheless, Questing is a great deal of fun in both games.
I want to go to the Dungeons!
In any fantasy role playing game, you know that the best items are in the most dangerous places. That is true of both Runescape and WoW. In Runescape their are several dungeons that one can explore, with some really dangerous ones in the Wilderness. You can also clean up financially with drops from the various monsters. Many items you can get in dungeons are not available in shops. You can keep the weopons or armor you find for yourself or sell it at the Grand Exchange for a tidy profit.
It is the same in World of Warcraft. Instances, WoWs name for dungeons are full of nasty characters who will aggro you and try to leave your corpse on the dungeon floor. In WoW players are encouraged to go into Instances together. Although I have been only to low level instances so far, I do pretty well. It helps a lot to have a son who is a level 70 plus Death Knight. You get to share experience and loot when you go in with a party, even if you only pick up the loot after a stronger character runs you through the Instance. However the rewards in Instances are worth risking death, as many items of armor and weapons are NOT available in any of the shops. You can either keep them yourself or sell them at the Auction House for a tidy profit.
Leveling
In Runescape leveling up is a fairly straightfoward affair. Use magic a lot, your mage levels, fight a lot, your combat stats will level up. As you level up you get access to different armor and weapons as well as becoming a stronger character. Other stats like increasing farming will allow you to grow more plants and trees or even hops for brewing your own beer. The upper levels take forever to level and feel like grinding quite often.
Warcraft, leveling is similar in that your overall level is increased by quests and battles. You level up your professions by working in them and you level your secondary skills by working with them. I.E. to level up fishing, fish! As you level your Warcraft Character, your health and overall strength increases and you can also choose to assign points to your talent trees as you pass level 10. You can decide how to specialize your character as they move up to level 80. Leveling your character is much more fun in Warcraft, and doesn't feel like grinding.
I want to Battle other Players!
Runescape used to have an area called the Wilderness where players could just kill at will and either go in as a team or every man for himself. Jagex eliminated that to stop real world gold sales. Now they have games like Bounty Hunter and a couple PvP realms, but it's not like the old days. You can communicate in Runescape by chat or clan chat. Regular chat can only be seen by those near you, while clan chat can be seen by everyone in your group. Runescape also allows friends chat, which allows you to chat with any of your friends regardless of what server they logged in on. In fact you can see what world they are playing in on your friends list. There are a few mini games in Runescape that allow for teams to play one another like Castle Wars, Stealing Creation and Armies of Geilinor.
World of Warcraft seems to be MADE for Player vs. Player. Not only can you form guilds, you can communicate with them via type or via voice with headsets and mikes! The later makes a raid much easier since you don't have to worry about typing, you can concentrate on your spell casting and attacks. Many worlds are PvP, but you can even engage in combat in Normal worlds. My son and I are in normal worlds, and as such, we can have both Alliance or Horde characters created on the same realm (although they can't send mail or communicate with each other). The focus is on the quests and game play aspect, however, many battlegrounds exist in which you can battle, or you can simply turn PvP mode on, and battle other characters. In the PvP worlds, the focus is on WAR. Areas are either Horde or Alliance or hotly contested! There are a few sanctuary areas as well. The infamous South Park episode Make Love, not Warcraft was set in a PvP world. Fights are a lot more epic in Warcraft and they encourage team play.
I want to Play with Others
Although Runescape allows for a lot of social interaction, for the most part, Quests are done alone. Only a couple are done with the needed cooperation of a friend. Warcraft allows you to do quests by yourself or with others. I found this very helpful as I started. Instead of going it alone, I had a group of friends with me, so we could all kill the enemies and keep ourselves healed. Loot is shared, so everyone gets what they need, and everyone also gets whatever unique quest item they need. Warcraft really is set up in a way that encourages group gameplay.
Warcraft also has some Role Playing Realms where you can completely immerse yourself in the fantasy aspect of the game. Noone in your guild will be allowed to ask if you saw House or 30 Rock the other day, or comment on the status of Brad and Angelina. The real world doesn't exist on the role playing realms. Although I get into the game and enjoy it, this is a little too involved for me.
Warcraft even has mailboxes so that you can send letters and items to your friends (as long as they are on the same side). My son sent me gold and one of his friends sent me enchanted leather boots.
Careful with that Axe, Eugene
Runescape has a series of weapons and armor that progress from bronze, steel, mithril, and adamant to rune and dragon. There are also special rare armors like Barrows Brothers sets, Bandos and the insanely priced 3rd Age. However, the reality is that there isn't a lot of different unique weapons and armor that you can get. Many players tend to look the same, because many outfits look the same except for the color. A few special weapons exist, like Bandos Godswords and Elven Crystal Bows, but most everyone carries Dragon Long Swords and wears Obsidian capes with Beserker helmets. You can change outfits from battle outfits to fun outfits including halloween costumes and fancy clothes. Specialized armors are made for mages, archers and warriors. Your character may own all of them if he or she chooses. I have full dragon armor for melee and a set of Infinity robes for magic.
In Warcraft, the sheer assortment of daggers, staffs, maces, swords, axes, and bows are staggering. Thanks to improved graphics of the game, many of these weapons look completely bad a$$. Same with the armor. Each race and class of character has their own unique look and as you level up, your character will look quite epic. My Tauren Shaman wears leather armor he made himself with special enchantments that my son put on them. He carries a huge two handed mace for pummeling any enemies into submission. Later in the game I will be able to duel wield single handed maces. My Alliance character Cayleigh, a night elf hunter, looks awesome in her leather outfit and she is deadly with her ornate bow and dagger.
Houses and Cars
In Runescape, you can own a pretty cool house. As you earn money and raise your construction skill you can have anything to a one or two room shack to a large castle. I have a huge mansion on the beach, complete with a formal dining room, two bedrooms, a living room, a large walk in closet, a work room and a huge garden with marble fountains, a demon butler to wait on me, a throne room and even a dungeon. I even have my own chapel, study, and combat arena. Being a mage, I can quickly teleport to my house, which reminds me, I also have two teleport rooms which take me to a wide variety of locations in Runescape.
In World of Warcraft you cannot own a house. You have a hearthstone which will take you to whatever Inn you've decided to call your temporary home. So if you meet a couple hot blood elves and a troll girl, you have no place to bring them. Gnomes have no place to call their homes.
In Warcraft though, you do get transportation, something lacking in Runescape. Both Warcraft and Runescape have public transportation. RS has teleport spells, spirit trees, hot air balloons and fairy rings for higher levels to go most anywhere. WoW has flight paths, goblins zeppelins, and boats take you most places.
However, WoW allows everyone after level 30 to own their own mount, allowing you to travel much faster throughout the territories that make up Azeroth. Each race starts with their own, but higher levels with exalted reps with others may choose the mount of the people they are exalted with.
The Tauren of Mulgore may ride a mighty Kodo beast, Blood Elves can ride hawkstriders, the Undead ride skeletal horses, orcs ride wolves and trolls ride colorful raptors. On the Alliance side, Gnomes ride rams, Humans ride horses, and Night elves ride big cats. In RS you can run fast until you run out of energy. You may own more than one mount, in fact you can own many.
Pets!and Summoned creatures
Runescape characters used to let you just have cats, but with the new summoning skill you may summon almost 100 different creatures as you level up and you may have almost 100 different pets. Some are strange looking beasts others are animals like penguins, spiders, wolves and even dragons. They may help you in your quests. Each summoned creature helps you with different things. Even the simplest pet, the cat, can help you with some quests. In fact a pet cat is required for a whole chain of quests in Runescape.
In WoW, only certain professions have access to pets. Hunters can own pets, and you can own up to five pets, although only one can be with you at a time. When I first wrote my review, my night elf hunter Cayleagh had a night stalker, now she also has a polar bear. I've decided to go with the Horde since I started, and now have a Blood Elf Hunter. She has a tiger and a grizzly bear for pets. The Warlock class is able to have summoned creatures depending on their level. My orc warlock just started, and at a lowly level 5, he already had a little scamp demon he could summon. At level 20 you can summon a succubus. Every Warlock wants one. She looks like Betty Page with demon wings and a whip. Pets and minions really help in battles, both player v. Enironment (PvE) and Player v. Player (PvP).
I also found that as a Hunter it was a lot of fun to decide what type of pet you wanted, and to travel to where they lived and train one. You can have pet birds of prey, polar bears, grizzly bears, tigers, panthers, leopards, lynxs, lions, crocodiles, bats, turtles, raptors, wolves and even some T-Rex like dinosaurs.
Graphics
Runescape is a Java based program and for what it is, it's actually kind of cool looking. However, we are talking definite Playstation One style graphics here. World of Warcraft, since it is on your harddrive after you purchase the game discs, looks more akin to Playstation Two or X- Box graphics. Neither game rivals the latest PS3 or X Box 360 graphics.
To Die an Honorable Death!
In Runescape if you die, you start over in Lumbridge with only your three most valuable items. Hopefully you've kept most in the bank. You lose everything in some minigames. Dying in Runescape is a pain.
If you die in Warcraft, your spirit runs from the closest graveyard back to your body and resurrects with some health and mana. You don't lose anything.
Pay to Play
Runescape has a free to play world that is a small area of the world map without many of the special skills available to members. Once you are a a member though, you just pay 5.99 a month. It used to be $4.99 a month which is what I still pay. For the World of Warcraft you first need YOUR OWN set of Discs, you can't create two or more accounts with one game. For my son and I to each have our own accounts, we needed to purchase two Battle Chests. Fortunately, often they are on sale for $29.99 although I understand that they are back up to $39.99. The latest installation Wrath of the Lich King is sold separately, and REQUIRES the first two games to load. Since the Battle Chest comes with both of the first games in one easy to install disc, it is a good deal. However it doesn't end there. Warcraft is not free to play, after a ten day free trial, you can pay $12.99 to $14.99 per month for an account. You may ask, if you can create 15 characters on one account, why not share? Well only one character per account can be online at any one time. If you can share computer time, you can do that, but if you plan on training together or going on raids or just playing at the same time, you need two accounts.
Horde v. Alliance err, I mean Mac v. PC
Both Runescape and World of Warcraft are easily played by anyone with a high speed internet connection and a Mac or a PC. Runescape can even be played in low detail on slower internet connections, although I wouldn't want to play on dial-up. Warcraft does require a couple gigs of space, but plays on PCs and Macs with equal ease. The graphics look a little brighter on my son's MacBook, but that is because of the glass screen. I use a Widescreen 27" on my HP quad core computer with Windows Vista. After I realized that I could adjust the video settings, my Night Elf went from looking a little chunky to tall and thin.
Addictiveness
If Runescape was marijuana, World of Warcraft would be crack cocaine. In fact, it's frequently referred to as World of Warcrack. The addictiveness of the game was even satired on the popular TV show, South Park in the episode Make Love, not Warcraft. Kenny, Stan, Kyle and Cartman had to defeat a level 80 who was killing all the noobs and did so by playing non stop. Unlike regular video games which have an end, neither Runescape nor World of Warcraft ever actually end. One may finish the quests, but the conflicts go on and on. You will be chasing the dragon forever, but you can never actually catch it! Since Warcraft has up to 15 characters you can create, each one can ride their white horse around Azeroth forever.
Summary
Although I still enjoy Runescape, I have to say that World of Warcraft is the best fantasy role playing game I've ever played. My son and I had an awesome time playing Champions of Norrath and Baldur's Gate on the Playstation, and also very much enjoyed Morrowwind and Oblivion. However, I have to say that World of Warcraft is just more epic in every way possible. The world itself is just HUGE. The customization of characters is much greater, the availability of things to do is greater. The game is fun to play!
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