Potential New Player - Questions first

[uRabbit]

I have a few questions before I make the commitment of purchasing this game...

1) How much is the subscription and how long does it last?
2) Does the Mac/PC communities flow together pretty well, or are they drastically separate? What are the differences between the two? Content issues? Etc.
3) Are all the expansions out for Mac?
4) Will I become a WoW-addict and will I have to attend addiction conferences once I flunk out of college for getting too immersed within the WoW universe?
edit: 5) Will a 1.5 mb/s wireless internet access be enough to handle the environments?

Thanks a lot, guys!

 

[imported_Edward The Less]

1. From the official FAQ: After the end of the free month included with the game, you will need a subscription in order to continue playing the game. You have three options, as you will see when you create your account: a month-to-month package at $14.99 per month, a three-month plan at $13.99 per month, or a six-month plan at $12.99 per month. Please be aware that the subscription fees for three-month plan and the six-month plan must be paid in full.

2. There is a person in my guild who plays on a Mac and there seems to be no difference between the two clients.

3. There is only one expansion and yes it works on the Mac.

4. I am not a clinically trained psychologist so I can not tell if you have a personality that lends itself to addiction but good news is that the end game content has been made so that you do not need to spend as much time playing the game to do the high end stuff.

5. Yes. The original game can be played on a 56k modem and the burning crusade needs a 512Kb download and 128Kb upload or faster broadband connection.

More importantly is your ping time to the server. You want to keep it 300ms or less for the game to remain playable.

Because you use a wireless connection you will want to make sure you have encryption turned on so someone cannot freely share your internet access and steal your WoW account name and password.

Check out the Engineering forum and my troubleshooting guide for a lot of useful information.

 

[Guest]

Here is my take on the answers.

1. Assume $15/month tops. I decided within the first week to go ahead and pay. Even so, they didn't charge me until the free month ran out.

2. I didn't know there were different Mac/PC communities.

3. Beats me.

4. Maybe. It didn't happen to me. I only play on weekends. Even then, real life takes priority. You can have up to 50 characters, so you can have some you pop onto for a short time when you only have a short time to spare. My daughter decided not to start playing until she graduated from college, even though her "housies" played and tried to get her on.

If you're basically a solo player, you can set your own schedule. If you play with others, and do dungeon runs, expect it to take a long time.

5. Dunno. The biggest limiting factor for me was processor speed on the computer. I didn't know it at the time, but when I upgraded after a year of playing, the difference was astounding.