Although it’s not as technologically proficient as EverQuest II, World of Warcraft has a more pronounced sense of style. Its cartoony characters and rickety buildings are colorful and lively, and you’ll spend your first few intercity flights gawking at the view. Some zones suffer from a limited palette, but this is minor. Warcraft does have a few flashy effects. When you die, the world turns black-and-white and ethereal, much like the effect in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings when Frodo put on the ring.

Of course, the upside of the relative graphical simplicity is that Warcraft performs significantly better than EverQuest 2 on similar hardware. Having over 512MB of RAM or higher is recommended, however.

Player-versus-player combat, always a divisive issue, is handled particularly well. The races are split into two groups, with humans, dwarves, gnomes, and night elves making up the Alliance and the other four — undead, orcs, tauren, and trolls — forming the Horde. Alliance and Horde characters can’t group together, belong to the same guild, or even communicate under most circumstances.

When creating a character, you can opt for a normal or PvP-enabled server. On normal server, characters are safe from being attacked by other players anywhere in the world, unless they instigate combat by attacking an enemy non-player character or entering an enemy city. In contrast, on PvP servers, players can attack those on the opposing faction without provocation.

Even on a PvP server, players who just want to quest in peace can stick to friendly zones without fear of attack. If you venture into a contested or enemy zone, though, you should be ready to defend yourself — and if you make it to an enemy town, you’d better have some backup. Huge raids on towns were commonplace in the pre-release beta test period, and they’ve already started on the retail servers. More development in these areas is planned, and Blizzard has announced its intention to introduce special, consensual PvP areas on all servers.

Character classes don’t contain many surprises. There’s the familiar triumvirate of damage-soaking warrior, healing priest, and powerful mage, plus a stealthy, high-damage rogue and a number of combination combat and spell-casting classes. Most RPG players will find them familiar, and shouldn’t have trouble finding one that suits their style. Currently, there’s no class that’s clearly weaker than any other. You can also choose to pursue a couple of professions, like blacksmithing or tailoring, which are available to all characters.

In typical Blizzard style, the interface is simple, familiar, and well arranged. Players can perform most basic tasks in a couple of minutes. Customization options for more advanced players are extremely extensive, and third-party plugins are already available to enable all kinds of convenient or informative features.

Casual players will also find World of Warcraft friendly to their needs. If you log off in an inn, you’ll accumulate “rest,” which has the effect of doubling the experience you receive from killing monsters. Log off for long enough (perhaps a week) and you’ll gain this bonus for as long as the next level and a half — so those who can’t spare the time to play every day won’t fall as far behind.

Although the quests fall into the usual stereotypes — collect seven foozles, kill 12 oogaboogers, and various combinations thereof — many of them are linked together, forming larger plots and storylines. If you take the time to explore the backstory and read the dialogue, you’ll find a certain amount of depth to the tales. Some combat-oriented quests take place in “instanced” areas, zones where entry is restricted to one or more groups, so you can quest without fear of interference.

Sure, the repetition characteristic of MMORPGs is here, but Blizzard has done much to minimize its impact. Pointless “grinding,” or repetitive killing for no other purpose than gaining experience, is masked by the large numbers of quests thrust at players of all levels. And incentives for continued play are everywhere — there’s always a tantalizing new spell, instanced encounter, piece of equipment, or quest just around the corner.

While World of Warcraft doesn’t do anything particularly new, it comes with Blizzard’s characteristic shine. It’s clearly a game that’s been loved throughout development, and from past behavior, we’ve no doubt Blizzard will continue to support and extend it in the months to come. If you’re looking for a new MMORPG, then the World of Warcraft is the very first place you should visit.