World of Warcraft

Between my latest contract work and trying out World of Warcraft there leaves little time for blogging.

Anyway. First impressions of WoW is that, the graphics look a bit substandard, but sacrifices in terms of eye candy had to be made in order to produce an amazingly lifelike gameworld.

The world is for the most part, completely seamless. There are no loading times between zones, you smoothly walk from zone to zone. I played a Tauren, and their race and lands are distinctly American Indian styled, with lots rolling plains, tranquil lakes and many tepee huts in their village. Their biggest city is a marvel : Thunderbluff, a sprawling city in the sky, built atop 4 linked mesas.

Little effects make a big difference : like the time of day mirroring the timezone of the server. Dawn is heralded by a slight lightening of the sky, then a pinkish dawn before a golden orange sunrise.

Sitting in Thunderbluff at night, seeing the moonshine on the pebble walk, turning around and around watching the vast expanse of sky and stars scattered across the heavens... the game has moods, like nothing else every seen before. Late night the town is quiet, when most people are sleeping, and there is a tranquil peacefulness that gives way to the hustle bustle of daytime. (screenshot cropped to 1024x768 since that's as large as Picasa allows, will look into this a bit more)