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I started reading The Battle for Azeroth from Bill Fawcett the other day, and i’m not going to beat around the bush. If you’re a MMO player and you happen o play World of Warcraft, then read this book.

In the book the author talk about MMO’s in general, the development, the game process, the relationship between developers and publishers.

He also explains how Blizzard got to its unique position and how it’s affecting their games.

Some quotes from the book:

“It was clear that even though their game (Blizzard’s Warcraft: Orcs and Humans) was already on the shelves, they themselves continued to play it (which, believe it or not, is a rare thing in this industry).”

“No, Blizzard held out for the Q (quality) and were rewarded, but continue, to be the exception rather that the rule. And so now, World of Warcraft.”

“Ask many hardcore gamers how they feel about the game’s design (World of Warcraft), and they will likely tell you that WOW lacks suffiient depth and complexity. I suppose this attitude comes from a general disdain by the hardcore players for anything deisgned for the mass market.”

The author also talks about gold farmers and how Blizzard fights them, with their ‘Warden’ program. Did you know that the code for the Warden-tool is not on your computer, but downloaded every time you login to the game?
He then goes on with interesting detail about hackers and their ways of cheating WOW.
A reference is made to another book called PLAY MONEY: Or, how I quit my dayjob and made millions trading virtual loot.

The book then goes on about how the author got into MMO’s and his first steps in WOW. It ends with describing the various classes and advice for playing this awesome MMO.

All in all, a great read I truly enjoyed.
After reading this book, you do have to wonder why so many MMO developers (and publishers) fail.