Coming soon to a PC near you
When I opened up a email from Blizzard entertainment a few months ago, I was a little shocked. I had signed up at the earliest possible date to join the World Of Warcraft beta and didn't make it into the first run. No matter, as a EQbeta tester, sometimes beta testing can be alittle bit of a hassle. After all, you are playing so that the developers can work the bugs out and make the game better.
Blizzard's entrance in the world of the MMORPG, World of Warcraft, is nothing original. With the market becoming a crowded place, it was only a matter of time before one of the world's most beloved game makers tried their hand.
With WoW, we find that a lot of what made Everquest hard in the beginning is making a appearence here. The only thing I want to revolve this article around is death.
In the world of the MMORPG, there is a spot where you can bind yourself so that when you die, you appear. Once upon a time, Everquest in it's young days, made you corpse run for your body. People could loot it, and if you needed it, bloodporting (as it is called), could come in handy.
Not so says Blizzard.
On their own webpage, under death, they discuss the ways of dying and crpse running, insisting that being able to bloodport is not using the transportation availble to its fullest. When you die, unlike most MMOs, you have a certain amount of time to run and get your corpse. Seems far, unless you get the notion that, after you miss your corpse and are totally lost, you lose everything forever. That isn't fact, that is based souly on what people that have played have said. Remember, it's still in beta.
Ifyou are running for your corpse, there are enemies that can see you, and kill you again. at that point, you will be sent to a graveyard. does any of this sound fair? I can see it now, hundreds of newbies, running around and continuously dying to get back to their corpse. The one thing I believe is that this sort of idea in MMORPGs should be eliminated. What is the point of spending a chunk of time in the game finding bodies and wandering around dead? Blizzard states that there has to be some penlties for dying..fine...give people experience penlties. But for the love of god, no more corpse hunting.
If anyone is in the current beta and has anything they would like to share, please leave a comment. At this point, I am totally on the fence about purchasing it.