World of Warcraft has been around for quite a while – seven years to be exact, and in that time it has gotten a bunch of upgrades and updates. In the past, WoW was quite playable on a netbook, but as time has passed, Blizzard has constantly upgraded WoW to the extent [...]]]>

Obviously, not a screenshot from the Starter Edition

World of Warcraft has been around for quite a while – seven years to be exact, and in that time it has gotten a bunch of upgrades and updates. In the past, WoW was quite playable on a netbook, but as time has passed, Blizzard has constantly upgraded WoW to the extent that it pushes a netbook’s hardware to the limits.

Graphical performance varies a lot. If you are in an area with a lof of NPCs and fellow players of WoW, you’ll get really poor FPS. However, once you go out into the wild, your FPS will go up. However, don’t expect anything too good, at best I have got 20fps, but that was only momentarily. Conversely, at the other end of the spectrum, I have been getting 6-fps for about a quarter of the game. Usually FPS averages out at 12.

Now, this isn’t too big of a problem since this game isn’t quite as intense as a first-person shooter, and in fact, WoW is actually quite playable if you can forgo the luxury of smooth frame rates. Once you conquer that, you’ll realise that the game is actually quite playable, just don’t go into areas chock-full of NPCs, enemies and players.

A silver lining in all of this – WoW installs perfectly and doesn’t require you to do anything to get it going. No tweaks, no mods, nothing. Pretty much expected for a game that is constantly updated.

Starter Edition

Blizzard has replaced its 14-day unlimited trial with the World of Warcraft Starter Edition. WoW Starter Edition limits you to a 20-level cap. Most pertinently, it does give you a taste of what WoW can offer, both in the name of playability on a netbook and interaction with characters in the world.

However, critics have argued that the Starter Edition doesn’t allow you to really enjoy what WoW has to offer. Forums echo with the argument that WoW starts at level 40-60, something that would be unachievable in the Starter Edition. Unfortunately, the game has grown in such a way that beginners to WoW have a lot of catching up to do, or suffer from a game that isn’t optimal in experience. Whether or not you agree with my opinion, you can download the game here and try it out for yourself.

To see what restrictions are placed upon a Starter Edition player, visit this page.

Like

The most addictive, widely subscribed MMORPG

Lots of things to do

Lots of people to meet

Dislike

Very mundane at the start

Graphics is quite dated

Seems like you’ll either need to spend money or do hard time to get up to speed with the year-old WoW crowd

Verdict

WoW is an excellent game to while away your life, assuming you really get into the game. Unfortunately, it is best enjoyed on a fast connection and faster computer. You can probably play it on a netbook once in a while, but you’ll not really enjoy it because of the frequent slowdowns and generally slow frame rates.

gameplay.

Gameplay: Varies (are you of high enough level?)

Graphics: Barely (6 – 12fps)

Work needed to get game to play: None

Screenshots: wowscreenshots