I am not much of a fantasy gamer - my interests are geared more towards sci-fi and military games. But after my first play of World of Warcraft, I rushed out and bought the game. I've owned the game for two months, played it six times and recently purchased the Shadow of War expansion. Rather than think out loud, I thought I'd share the reasons why I like this game so much.

WoW plays very much like a video game. I've never played WoW online, and therefore cannot say how it compares. But the basic mechanics are there: you start with a low level character with menial weapons and few minor powers. Your goal is complete a series of quests, travelling throughout the land. As you complete quests, you gain experience, better equipment and gold - the classic "level up" feature. To makes things more intersting, events take place during the game which change the scope of the environment. The end game involves defeating one of three boss creatures. There are 30 "game turns" within which this must be completed. The character cards even feature slots for weapons and powers. If you enjoy games like Diablo or Dungeon Siege, this is familiar territory.

Another convention the game offers which I really like is character customization. Players have a choice of playing either Faction or Horde alliances. The Faction are typical "good guys" such as elvish druids, human paladins and halfling rogues. Horde are the opposite featuring orcish warriors and savage necromancers. However, here is where the game gets interesting. Each character comes with his/her own set of cards with custom spells and abilites. These cards offer various pathing options for your character. For example, the one horde character I played could either become a back stabbing, poison bladed assassin, or a summoner of life sucking demon familiars. The options are one reason why I want to play so often - the experience is always different. And if you purchase the Shadow of War expansion, you get an additional 10 cards per character. The replayability factor ranks high on my list.

WoW can be played as either a co-operative or a competitive game. Two of three player games are played in co-op mode, where everyone is a character in the same alliance. Not only is this necessary to complete the quests, but it also adds a degree of player cohesion. Everybody has to be in on the decisions. In terms of customizing your character, some characters have powers which affect the whole group, such as giving everyone a defense bonus. I find players consult with each other about what they should do (and they not always agree) to add the most benefit to the team. It adds another layer to the gameplay.
If you are playing with four or six players, the players are divided between Horde and Faction. This again changes the game dynamics by introducing player vs player combat, and the game becomes a race to complete the boss quest: who will save the planet - Horde or faction? This leads to some serious trash-talking and taunting. Some very insulting (and often hilarious) barbs have been thrown across the board.

Combat Mechanics are what I like most about WoW. It may seem confusing at first, but the combat is really very logical! Players roll three types of dice: blue for ranged, red for melee and green for defence. Creatures have a threat value, an attack value and health. Let's say your character rolls one of each dice and the creature has a threat of 5, 2 attacks and 2 health. The players needs to roll five or greater to succeed. If all rolls succeed, the player inflicts 1 ranged damage, 1 melee and 1 defense. The creature attacks with 2. One of those attacks is offset by the defense , and the other is offset by the melee, leaving the creature with one wound. If the rating is attack rating was higher than the combined hits and defense, (say, 3) the player takes the difference as wounds (1 wound in this case). Some characters add "attrition damage". I like to think of this as internal bleeding. After the attacks are resolved, attrition kicks in. In the above example, if the player also did 1 attrition damage, the creature would be killed (1 ranged + (1 melee + 1 defense - 2 creature attacks) + 1 attrition = 2 total wounds)= dead creature. Some creatures negate attrition; others regenerate after wound damage is resolved, and some offer nasty side effects that cause you to lose dice, health or energy. Equipment and powers offer additonal dice to your dice pools. It is a very unique combat system. I find the combat system really sparks the imagination. Sometimes, if a creature negates all damage but is killed by attrition, we make up stories as to what happened. Comments like, "Your initial arrow shot must have ruptured his spleen," or "he shrugged off all that melee damage but it obviously got to him - maybe his brain was hemorraged" are not uncommon. Creatures that are immune to attrition require as many hits as possible. You get a sense of satisfaction when you can unload some major whoop-ass in one round, or roll manage to survive a combat by the skin or your teeth.

I really don't have a any gripes with the game. Downtime can be an issue. But in the two alliance game I played, we trusted each other enough to take our turns simultaneously. Game time has been anywhere from 3-4 hours. Only real heroes can save the world in few hours!
The main break/fix in this game are blue creature quests as these offer no reward or experience. These are more an annoyance than enjoyment. The Shadows of War expansion addresses this issue. Or, you can make your own house rule to say Blue creatures allow you to draw an equipment card. There are a TON of components to this game. I personally don't mind, but some people may take issue with this. I did play with another person's copy of the game and they separated and bagged each and every piece in plastic baggies. This led us to conclude that WoW must be in the "bagmaster" series of wargames, and prompted many silly jokes about the sheer dread of getting "bagged" or "splitting one's sack".

World of Warcraft does a great job of combining conventional game features a with unique combat system. The game and gameplay is very dynamic and offers lots of replay value. I've even introduced it to a few non-grognards (my wife included - can you believe it?!)who want to play again. There are so many different ways you can adventure in the World of Warcraft. If you get a chance to visit, don't pass it up.