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World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth (Code in Box)

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World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth (Code in Box)

Expansion Pack
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Mature Audience

Mature Audience

Suitable for mature audiences 16 years and over.

NOTE: Fantasy violence, online content variable

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3.9 out of 5 stars Based on 15 Customer Ratings

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"Too expensive for average gamer"
2 stars"

Please be warned, only buy this if you can afford too. It is quite an addictive game and the developers are shady in trying to squeeze every last penny out of you. In conclusion, this game is only for hardcore gamers with money too spare.

On a side note, this is nothing against Mighty Ape, I often use this store and find it excellent. I just want to warn people against shady business practices in gaming.

1 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
"This expansion feels like it was made for long-lost players like"
4 stars"
Purchased on Mighty Ape

TL;DR: if you like easy-in fun, quick 5-mans, exploration for fun and profit, and choices with consequence you should give this a go. Longer update follows.

I bounced off WoW a long time ago. The grind for mats, the focus on raiding, the gearscore-dependent PvP were all designed for folks with a bunch of spare time, which isn't me :) I sank my teeth into Guild Wars and ESO in the meantime, but on a friend's urging (FML) I gave this a go.

Everything is different for someone who's been out of things since Cataclysm, this game feels tailored to ALL WoW's players. There's still a raiding game if that's your thing, but improvements across the board make it more accessible for us dirty casuals.

They’re making it much more like (IMO) Warcraft 3, not just in the vein that Alliance and Horde are fighting a war (that’s back, baby) but they’ve put in mini games that are far more like MOBAs or RTS games if you want a break from the grind. There’s a mission type which allows you to go to an island (contested) and gather resources from random mobs. It’s pure rondo-killing fun, all while jacking up one of the precious resources you need (Azurite).

MOBILE The mobile app’s seen an overhaul, and much like Assassin’s Creed games, you can now collect heroes/followers and send 'em on missions. These are hard-linked to the game, in that playing WoW gives you “War Resources” (found in chests all over the map, in inconvenient locations that promote exploration – so much fun just “walking west” and finding stuff). These WR are used to power missions – level 4 missions might need 20, and so on. You get heroes that are permanent, and followers that burn out after a number of uses – followers are also replenished with WR.

All this can be done in-game, too, BUT.

It means you play WoW, get funky resources, and not care about dealing with turn-ins and whatnot. Then, when you’re on the train in the AM, you can send your minions on missions, deal with loot, and so on (which all gives, you guessed it, Azurite).

LIMITING CHOICE FOR FUN AND PROFIT I’d read about this and thought “They’ve porked it.” Back in the good ol’ days, playing say a Warlock, you’d unlock your affliction, demonology, and destruction spells as you leveled, You would then configure your spec based on the three talent trees, and have a cast bar with 11,002 spells on it.

Now, they limit you: pick ONE. This means choices have consequences – demonology warlocks don’t get high-end nuke spells (that’s destro). Affliction don’t get massive minions. And destruction doesn’t get all the dots ever.

Sounds a bit pants, until you play, because they’ve also made each class have proc mechanics that give fun and variety. You don’t have all the resources anymore like soul stones (or reagents for mages, or… all that painful fun-stopping micro is gone). While out doing your warlock thing, you’ll get procs of various kinds based on soul shards you magically get just by killing, and those will unlock more powerful spells you can introduce in your rotation for amazing pushback.

It means the classes are far less roll-your-face-across-the-keyboard, and more alert, waiting for the procs, maximizing your tank/healer/dps roles. You don’t have low-power spells to worry about, and you also don’t get the thing where fighting a rogue, you’re fighting the rogue with all abilities. Once you work out their spec, counters are more meaningful.

I’m playing a frost mage atm, and for the first time ever it’s fun. The procs are killer, you’ve got slow-and-steady wins the race for the most part, but a fun set of procs and skillful use of ranged snares and ION CANNON DEATH FROM ABOVE will yield massive aoe or single target burst. It’s situational, it’s risky, but it’s rewarding. There’s a huge amount here that changes it from “watching the cast bars” to “playing the game and your opponents.”

FIXING QUEUES One of the things that Destroyed Richard’s Fun™ was queues. You want to do a 5-man- You’re DPS- So sad, Jojo, so sad. You’re in a 45 minute queue just to play the game.

Now, the queues implement two neat mechanics.

  1. Level scaling. The dungeons and players are scaled, so instead of LFG for say 110–112 players, you’re LFG for all eligible players (110–120). The game has a random dungeon finger that encourages you by (wait for it) Azurite etc. Rewards, so if you’ve cleared the dungeons, you can rando it up and get better rewards. The loot is scaled for you (as far as I’ve sen).
  2. Cross-region PUGs. You’re now in queues with the Americas etc. So, it’s not just Oceanic realms, it’s the entire planet, which might mean your latency is up and down a bit, but you’ll get a game. I’ve never had a queue time for more than a minute as DPS.

Now the bit of the game I like (5-man) is immediately, and always, accessible. No waiting, straight in. I don’t need to manage my game time, I can do what I want, when I want. I can open-world it, or MOBA it, or 5-man it, and just enjoy it when I want to, on my terms.

SOCIAL INTEGRATION The Blizzard app is now one of the best IM applications :) It’s cross-game, which it’s always been, but it’s now also supporting groups. I can set up a group of WoW people wanting to murder on Aman’Thul, and we can check in and see who’s up for murder at any time. The mobile app is exceptional, better than Skype IMO :) Push notifications work, etc. It is a nice quality of life feature that keeps you connected with your friends whether you’re in WOW or on the train. You can plan, if that’s your thing, without being in the game.

STORY AND QUESTS Oh, man. They’ve really doubled-down on this.

The Horde are definitely the bad guys (I play Horde and love it). They’re bad for all the right reasons. Sylvanas is now Warchief, and rules with an iron fist. The Forsaken are her homies. The Tauren and Orc are grudging allies, because all other roads have been cut off. And the blood elves are like “Whatevs, she’s all powerful and that’s our music.”

The first mission you get after popping your 110 level boost cherry is the siege of lordaron. You go in there, it’s a faux 20man raid that teaches you about your class mechanics (there are tank/healer/dps NPCs for the scenarios). But aside from that, it’s rich with story, where Sylvanas sacrifices most of her army to bring Lordaeron down on the heads of the Alliance. It sets the tone, you know-

The game is filled with these little cinematic-heavy side quests, interspersed with the questing. It leaves me feeling hungry for the next one, and provides a guiding purpose for the main open world game other than killing ten rats.

MINI GAMES These are great. I mentioned the island one, right- So basically it’s a short mission where you can just go hog wild, but there are others.

For e.g., there are lots of scenarios with mechanics. Night before last I had to raise a baby triceratops, which would normally make me claw out my eyes. The mini games in the set involved feeding her steroids, growing her, racing her, and fighting a massive t-rex, all with changeable cast bars at the bottom.

Now, in Guild Wars, when they take away your primary weapon set and give you a magical mystery one, it’s almost always painful. Your spec is tuned for your cast bars, and you don’t WANT to play a different way. This feels different, these are all fun, there’s no jank or troublesome mechanics that make you pound the keyboard in frustration.

GFX AND SOUND Bliz have always had great sound, but their music and sound stage feels better, more optimized for spacial sound (caves have echo, if you’ve got surround cans or speakers audio is very positional, etc.).

The GFX is the unsung hero tho. The 2004 game was fugly. This one isn’t, it’s much more like Heroes of the Storm or Diablo 3 in graphical fidelity. I’ve played it on my gaming PC and Mac laptop, and even though the Mac is quite a bit lower in visual spec it still looks great. When you play on the PC, it looks greater than great, but in subtle and non-specific ways, mostly about lighting and particle effects.

It doesn’t feel crusty or grungy.

THE DOWNSIDE Coming back in from what, seven years away, I had a lot to relearn. Macros to edit, castbars to change, rotations to learn. The best thing is to use your 110 level boost, get the training from the dude, and then just wing it. It’s a good time but you’ll need to unlearn a few old memories.

Also, the monthly fee. I'm enjoying it, but I will probably grind my way through content and opt-out. I don't mind being a content tourist, but a monthly sub ensures I'll be an on-again, off-again player. It limits diving back in like ESO or Guild Wars with their forever-free mechanics.

Well done, worth your time.

Description

DECLARE YOUR ALLEGIANCE

Enter a World Divided
Experience the relentless conflict at the heart of the Warcraft saga. Quest to level 120, play through six new zones filled with new World Quests, new World Bosses, new raids and more. You determine whether the Horde or Alliance will shape Azeroth's future.

Recruit Allied Races
Explore Azeroth as one of six new playable Allied Races, including four you've encountered in your campaign against the Legion. Embark on a quest to earn their favor and unlock each race, adding their strength to your faction. Create a new character and complete the full leveling experience to earn a distinctive Heritage Armor set.

Plunder Uncharted Islands
Set sail for the previously unmapped isles of Azeroth. Battle in groups of three as you race against cunning rival intruders-or enemy players-to collect the island's resources. Constantly evolving challenges await as you traverse frozen landscapes near Northrend, open the mysterious gates of an abandoned Gilnean castle, navigate a war between elementals and more.

Storm the Warfronts
Head to the frontlines and take part in a large-scale 20-player cooperative Warfront to claim a key strategic location. Build up your faction's forces, lead the charge as your troops lay siege to the objective, and battle fight the against enemy commanders as they make their last stand in this new PvE mode inspired by classic Warcraft RTS battles.

Infuse Armor with Titanic Might
Take control of the Heart of Azeroth-a legendary neck piece entrusted to you by Magni Bronzebeard. Imbue it with Azerite, an invaluable resource that's emerged in the Legion's wake, to customize your armor with new powers and traits.

Includes Level 110 Character Boost
Enter the raging conflict between the Horde and the Alliance prepared to survive the on the front lines of a vicious new war.

Azeroth paid a terrible price to end the apocalyptic march of the Legion's crusade-but even as the world's wounds are tended, it is the shattered trust between the Alliance and Horde that may prove hardest to mend. As this age-old conflict reignites, gather your allies and champion your faction's cause-for Azeroth's future will be forged in the fires of war.

System Requirements:

CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-3330, AMD™ FX-6300, or better CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows® 7 / Windows® 8 / Windows® 10 VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 750 Ti or AMD™ Radeon™ R7 260X or better FREE DISK SPACE: 45 GB
Release date NZ
August 14th, 2018
Brand
Game Platform
  • PC Games
Box Dimensions (mm)
135x190x30
UPC
0047875730502
Product ID
27586741

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