Exactly fifteen years ago, November 23, 2004, the game servers opened, which had long ceased to be “just mmorpg”. For that matter, it is soon “the same mmorpg” that seemed to exist: ** World of Warcraft ** has become a real cultural phenomenon-and will receive one of the Internet epics. Fifteen key episodes that we have chosen from the long and rich history of this game, completely different in both tone and significance. However, they are all important.
However, the same is the same – if not three times more – events remain behind the scenes, and for each of us they will be their own unique. And what moments of the history of Wow do you remember with nostalgia yourself?
The first moment. Everquest
World of Warcraft is often praised for setting the canons and rules of the genre for many years to come, but the praise in this case is not quite deserved. The three -dimensional world, the class system, pumping by quests, the system of aggression, the “holy trinity” from the tank, the doctor and Damager – the creators of the WOW did not come up with these and other aspects, but borrowed from Everquest. Many of the leading members of the then team Blizzard were big fans of the studio project Verant Interactive , Soon poured into Sony Online Entertainment.
Everquest 2 I went out a couple of weeks earlier than World of Warcraft. It is easy to notice that both games are inspired by the same sample
The developers themselves recall that they did not particularly imagine what kind of game they make and what should come of it in the end. So involuntarily focused on what was familiar and loved – that very Everquest. Unless, instead of realism, they headed for the "cartoon" aesthetics in the spirit Warcraft 3.
The “native” WoW interface was far from the concept of “convenience”, and fashion did not particularly help
The second moment. Schoolchildren and housewives
At the time of Wow's release, most online games required a full immersion in the virtual world, algebraic calculations, inhuman patience and the sea of free time. The maximum levels in MMORPG got to the months, or even years.
But Blizzard decided to do the opposite: World of Warcraft did not need a powerful computer and was as friendly as possible to newcomers. A barely created hero immediately met the NPC with clearly noticeable quest icons above his head, and his entire path was lined with a series of plot and side tasks.
Huge bright icons of quests were and remain one of the main signs of Wow
The developers did not try to force Warcraft fans in the game days and nights – and even put up the block: the number of experience gained decreased if you have already heard online. But they turned this restriction and managed to turn it into a reward: for rest, the characters, on the contrary, were given a bonus. And shortly after going to business, enthusiasts joined, who finally made the project a friendly to the user, creating a lot of manuals and modifications. Over time, Blizzard introduced a chat to search for groups, installed a call stones, gave the guilds its own bank, allowed the characters to fly ..
Of course, the champoras advocates quickly nicknamed World of Warcraft with a game for schoolchildren and housewives, and someone calls it so far. But the more years, the less convincingly this argument sounds: in the end, after the WoW, all the rest of Mmorpg moved along the casual path.
This is how the people who created World of Warcraft looked like
The third moment. Warsong – Russian server!
At first, World of Warcraft was inaccessible to the Russian -speaking audience: it was not only not published, but simply not sold in Russia and the CIS. Those who wanted to get to Azerot had to resort to a variety of tricks. It is no wonder that our game owes our popularity primarily for pirate servers.
However, there were enough inquisitive researchers, who, armed with a dozen-a-dozen-dozen-dozen-dozen-dozen-dozen-dozen-dozen. And then they also got down there in Russian -speaking flocks, choosing individual worlds as their permanent bases. It was thanks to this that Warsong began to decipher the Warning Absolutly Russian Server Other Nations Gone: Milk Europeans who were unlucky to look there, an accelerated course of Russian obscene vocabulary was forcibly.
If the case was limited to one Warsong, it might have come to terms with this. However, other worlds began to hit: Stonemaul, Shadowmoon, Drak’Thul, Molten Core … And in August 2008, Blizzard finally created a special “reservation” for their population – Russian -language worlds.
For a moment the fourth. Tangential rotator
Russian Wow was not immediately and not everyone likes. And very deserved: at the start, the translation abounded by mistakes and blunders. The game demanded “to be in the imperceptibility”, the riding wolves became “e -shoes”, the spiders of the prison were called with cave crabs, instead of the Guild Bank, the “shore of the guild” appeared, and the NPC shouted: “Duck! ", Demanding to bend.
But mistakes are temporary, even if there are hundreds of thousands of them, as in the alpha version of Ruvova. The main dissatisfaction of the community was caused by the translation itself: as it turned out, many players who knew English poorly, before the release of localization, perceived the world of Azeroth as a gloomy heroic fantasy. History contributed to this: Illidan and Artas became anti -Heroes of the first two additions, the locations tormented the lash, the army was baking the glowing legion. And then suddenly – Zabambassk, Zaitselopa, a tangential rotator, a lunch and gloves with the spirit of a monkey!
It took time to understand: outside the plot videos of World of Warcraft – a game abounding humor, parodies, Easter lines and irony.
Of the early prototypes of the game, little has survived before the release
The fifth moment. Chuck Norris
Games (including video games) have been considered frivolous for centuries for centuries – well, really, what is the benefit of them? And when it came to the advent of the online worlds, the folk sentence was especially harsh: only irresponsible slopes and declassified elements are capable of spending on them!
World of Warcraft overcame it and this obstacle. And she proved that you can not only be a successful person, but also a real world -class star – and at the same time love wow.
In 2008, advertising with the participation of a cult figure began to appear on television – Chuck Norris himself. And not one of him: Jean-Claude Van Damm, Aubrey Plaza, Stephen Van Zandt starred in similar rollers (" Soprano clan "), Thomas di from the group Fantastischen , Vern Troier, William Sertner (aka Captain Kirk), Alexander Asti, Ozzi Osbourne and former wrestler Mr. Tik. The latter even came up with an exclusive class: Night Elf-Indian!
Of course, you can act in advertising without playing in wow. But dozens of stars were admitted – and are still admitted – in love for World of Warcraft. Robin Williams played in it, and in a sense he continues to do this: for him they built a whole island near the aperture, and a NPC jinn named Robin was settled on it.
The sixth moment. “You are not ready!"
At first, the creators of World of Warcraft did not really try to give our travels on Azerot the highest meaning. Here is the horde, here is an alliance, here is a bunch of enemies. Bad should be killed, good to save, what's incomprehensible here?
The new era began with a hoarse cry: “You are not ready! " Addition Burning Crusade made the world wider on one outcome, and there, in the depths of devastated lands, Illidan apostate sat on the upper platform of the Black Temple-the first “gray” hero hero of World of Warcraft.
The plot of the “Burning Crusade” was superficial and a little confused. But he still existed and more or less linked together the fragmented branches of the stories of Illidan, Kil’jeden, Vaisha, Kel’tas and other inhabitants and guests. Since then, the developers began to pay the scenario of new additions as much attention as gameplay innovations.
Some villains of Burning Crusade came out so successful that Blizzard decided to return them over time. A significant part of the plot lines "Legion" The rage of storm and his posthumous rehabilitation were dedicated to Illidan. But even better in the addon turned out a new race, Drenesy. Rather, Drenes! And still an unprepared beginner who decided to look in the search engine, what the “space goats” look like, the risk of getting a serious shock.
Drenes on fan arts. And these are still the most harmless!
The seventh moment. On take -off!
During the creation of the game, a lot of harsh trials stood up in front of the developers. Recall at least the opening of the gate of the Angirazh: so many people gathered to look at this event that the servers nearly collapsed – the team then had to manually be expelled from Silitus, where the opening took place, all the onlookers.
One of the most serious problems in the history of WoW updates was flights. The Burning Crusade first gave the players the opportunity to rise above Azerot and look at it from above – but the first tests of the new opportunity showed the designers that Azerot himself was not at all ready for this.
The old locations did not create with the calculation that they would be examined from heights. Even the weakest griffins overcame small cards in seconds, which means that they had to be expanded. In addition, I had to re -think over the transition between the locations, because now the players could easily get to where no one was waiting for them.
The work of the surrounding designers went around the mashmark: they tried, loomed every twig, prepared amazing views and transitions between different biomes to impress the players … and they are torn to heaven, from where nothing to make out to see. Flights are not pleased with quests and the meaning of a long and difficult journey disappears if the hero can get to the target in a second. Flying Mounts – the main weapon of “content Eaters”: with them, pumping accelerates by an order of magnitude.
As a result, access to flights was first hidden behind the “cash wall”: buying skills has gone well. Over time, this lost its meaning, because anyone could accumulate on flights, but the developers found a new solution – already in Warlords of Draenor.
For a moment the eighth. Chinese girl
The list, of course, is comic. However, any joke is based on real events
Video games exist for more than one decade, their number is calculated … Yes, it is not calculated, the games of several pieces per day come out! Nevertheless, there are still people who are ready to blame them in all mortal sins. What can we say about the very beginning of the 21st century, when electronic entertainment has not yet been so familiar to the wide audience?
It would be strange if the cup of public condemnation has passed World of Warcraft, the most massive and popular from Mmorpg. Of course, she was blamed for many troubles, and not always groundless. Drawn into the fantasy world saturated with stories and events, it is easy to lose the feeling of reality. The consequences of such a game "binge" can reach the loss of work and deductions from the institute.
“Stop,” you say, “but what about the Chinese girl who died from exhaustion, playing in wow for days? Her friends even arranged virtual funerals in the game! "
Well, the case of the girl Snowly, who, with the further investigation, turned out to be a boy, and even in addition, not one, we already analyzed in a separate special material about the “victims” of the gaming industry. And by the way, about virtual funerals: you noticed that the tradition of arranging them itself has come to naught? Players have to choose what to do every day – and not because the set of options is poor. On the contrary: everything is simply impossible to do everything. There is no time for a memorial service for deceased cockroaches.
“Sleep calmly, buddy ed, the guild will not forget you! You were a good hamster "
Where is the funeral, there are weddings. Hundreds of steam met in World of Warcraft – and checked their feelings there. Right in raids
A moment of the ninth. Cataclysm
Conditionally mummer style of World of Warcraft is not as exposed as realistic worlds. But she is aging. In addition, the game process Wow year after year improved and improved: new approaches to the construction of quests appeared, to the presentation of history … And at some point, the developers realized that the “vanilla” world was outdated. Small cosmetic tricks no longer helped. In order for the game to correspond to time, Azerot should be destroyed to the ground and the new world is erected in its place. This mission was entrusted to deadly.
Veterans from the Blizzard team recall how they hung a huge Azeroth map on the wall and began to mark locations: red – we redo it from scratch, the yellow is a bit correct, green – and so good. And how green on the map was gradually replaced by yellow, and he, in turn, was red: the first transformed territories were so good that they were too stood out against the general background. It was more logical to redo everything right away.
Comparison of locations before and after "Cataclysm"
However, the process of overhaul was not able to bring to complete completion – some distant locations of the world noticeably lose to the "neighbors". And all because it was deadly tapped the tail and Blizzard itself. It was in the era of Cataclysm that the number of World of Warcraft subscribers reached a record maximum of 12 million. And then the fall began: back to this level of the game since then it was not possible to get out.
Tenth moment. My garrison
It is difficult to call the best addition of World of Warcraft. Someone advocates for the “King of the Lich”, someone likes the “classic”, someone cannot forget Burning Crusade. But the title of worst addon for all the years of Wow's existence is definitely getting Warlords of Draenor : old -timers will easily remember technical problems, imbalance, and meager content that he brought with him. At some point, everything got out of control so much that the developers simply stopped trying to fix Drenor, letting the game on his own and throwing all their strength to the next DLC- "Legion".
Only years later it became clear that Wow gave her most unsuccessful addition. The main innovation of the “drainora” became the garrisons: they transformed a typical possibility of arranging their own abode. To allocate a personal instance, each World of Warcraft player had to make complex technical decisions – and they have not coped with this problem until the end.
In the garrisons, you can equip everything that is required for life: a bank, auction, a store, workshops, a mine, a garden, even a arena for the battles of pets. It is no wonder that many almost did not get out of there
The garrisons still exist, but rather decorative – in practice they are almost useless. But the Warlords of Draenor case lives and will live: the adjusted Addon and the mechanics tested there were embodied in the class basins of the Legion and in the capitals of Kul-Tiras and Zandalar. Future carpets Shadowlands Surely we are preparing tactical cards and tasks for associates and mercenaries. Like world quests – temporary tasks that can be completed and obtained by simply running into the right area. A kind of simplified version of events from the deceased Warhammer Online.
One of the finds of Warlords of Draenor firmly settled in the game – now the flights could no longer be just buying for money. The ability to climb into the air was unlocked only after receiving a complex "Achivka".
So at first gaming races looked
The eleventh moment. "Warcraft" and "Guild"
The entire Universe of Warcraft in general and the World of Warcraft in particular is a storehouse of bright ambiguous characters and stories. It would seem that just take any – and here he is, the Hollywood blockbuster!
Chinese Horde make the Cashcase "Warcraft"
This opinion was actively heated by amateur "machine guns", and even more, luxurious symamis Blizzard. No wonder they can be literally connected in one video and immediately watch how the finished movie. So no one expected that the first real movie "About Vovka" would fail. At the home rental, the story of Lottery, Kadgar and Chernoruk failed with a bang, and if it weren’t for the Chinese “leaders”, “Warcraft” would not have paid off. Of course, no continuation of the film after such a failure does not threaten us: even a unique props from the set was already sold out for relative pennies.
Oddly enough, the "filmmakers" have achieved much more success, which paid much less attention to the world of World of Warcraft. For many, acquaintance with " Southern Park "Began with an episode about the sword of thousands of truths, where Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny kill all their time in Wow. Special respect is Blizzard itself, which was not afraid to perform in this series almost “Evil Corporation”. The phrase “I don't play World of Warcraft, I have life” for a long time became a meme.
The cartoon went through all stereotypes about MMO games. And for all prejudices about what they are harmful
A moment is twelfth. Name to us – Legion
The return of the flaming legion was a blow to Azerota, accustomed to the Drenore Stag. And for many players, a serious shock was that the game remembered its “teenage” rating and changed most of the heroines. Armored and anodized thongs were replaced by ordinary closed armor. No, you can dress up your heroine in the "SkiMog" now, but getting the source is no longer so easy. And the next wave of demand for them rises with each emergence of new union races-in particular, illuminated Drandies and La Kul-Tiras.
Once the night elven walked dinked, but those times have long passed
The whole addition of the "Legion" as a whole came out so thoughtful, rich and diverse that it will not be easy to overshadow its success. However, Blizzard is not particularly trying: " Battle for Azerot "It turned out to be a light version of Legion, and from the afterlife of Shadowlands pulls Argus with a greenish breeze.
A moment of the thirteenth. Classic
During the opening ceremony BlizzCon 2019 The company's leaders emphasized that ice cream is sold in the exhibition complex – vanilla ice cream. Such a small manifestation of great joy: “vanilla” version of Wow, called World of Warcraft Classic , Not so long ago, solemnly launched again – and scored a record number of new subscribers in one quarter.
For "classics", most models and textures redrawn. But the part remained in its original form
You can not tell about which the “classic” came out: the game is available to everyone, and we wrote about it not so long ago. It is much more interesting that it will continue to go with her and where she will move.
The developers themselves are not particularly spreading to this topic. You can see only minor progress: if at first they were determined to leave the “vanilla” world by the eternal and inviolable museum, now Blizzard does not seem to mind returning the original versions of Illidan and Artas. It is likely that over time, the classic worlds of the 2005 sample are “echoed” from the United World of Classic, and then they will go all the way to the “cataclysm” and return to a new circle.
The fourteenth moment. Welcome to death
During the BlizzCon 2019, the WOW Director presented the future large addition to Shadowlands. A special surprise did not work: the name and details about the DLC content flowed into the network long before the announcement, although not all gossip turned out to be true.
Another “rethinking” of the World of Warcraft mythology was not a surprise. About the postulate “should always be a king of Lich” safely forgot, which means that ahead of us is probably waiting for many more plot discoveries. The heroes have to get into the next world and see a galaxy of previously assumed heroes and villains – and since Illidan was resurrected, there is a chance that the turn will reach Artas with Dead Wing.
However, along with trivial additives, extensions and resurrection, Blizzard is preparing the largest shock to the world of Azerot from the time of the deadline and global cliff. And it is called "flattening": in the summer of 2020, the maximum level of adventurers will be the 60th. The entire pumping system will change (they promise to do it faster), but along the way, the entire long epic plot will finally turn into a lesson for lovers. All the other will be told briefly in the starting area.
The next summer, Bolvar Fortragon will again appear before us without the crown of King Lich. How his next reincarnation will affect him and on us?
The fifteenth moment. Not a cake?
World of Warcraft is rich in memes, fan fictions, internal jokes and other compulsory heritage of any big fandom. And “wow is not a cake” is far from the most biased of them. There are not so many “old people” who insert this phrase under each material about the game. However, the belief that Wow is about to die, by age is comparable to Wow itself. “It's time to close the game and make World of Warcraft on a modern engine and with a whole plot,” say some.“World of Warcraft will still survive us,” others say. The remaining millions just play silently.
But what is interesting: for each of the members of the funeral procession, the moment from which the game stopped “to be a cake” and “rolled up” – his own. “Battle for Azerot”, “Pandaria”, “Drenor” and even “Legion” or “King Lich”-yes, the advocates of local mythology assure that it was on that addition that everything rolled downhill.
And from this it follows that each of them has its own best, exemplary, addon. And, therefore, for any player in a huge World of Warcraft, something interesting is found.
"Warcraft" orc on the wolf became the main symbol of Blizzard
One and a half decades – a considerable period even for the online game, which is constantly updated and expanding. And the fact that World of Warcraft is still not competing with dinosaurs like Ultima Online and Everquest, and with quite modern entertainment, is a serious achievement.
So we will raise the flasks with the Dalaran red, Gordonsky mash, beer Jin Teply Bochonka, a special newman or even prison moonshine!
In this festive video, the dubbing actors Deal Bet Casino, popular streamers, Blizzard employees and active members of community, not very well -known for us, starred in us. Including Ben Schulz, known as Leroy Jenkins