Blizzard's WoTLK Classic Gold games always run the risk of being overexposed. It almost seems as if the company is too excited about its own work to be able to hold anything back, and fans are usually so eager to learn every detail about the company's upcoming games that, once they're finally released, it's almost as if they've been here all along. This is certainly true of World of Warcraft, which was announced in 1999 and is finally nearing completion. During these years in production, the game has transformed from what Blizzard originally dubbed a "role-playing strategy" game into a decidedly more-conventional take on the real-time strategy genre. All throughout the game's development, we've had opportunities to sit down and try the game, such as the E3 trade show in May 2001 or the European Computer Trade Show later that year. But the launch of last week's Battle.net beta program has given us ample time to really get a sense of what World of Warcraft is all about.

Over the course of the next few days, we'll go into detail about a number of important new gameplay elements you probably weren't aware of, and we'll also attempt to answer that one big question: Is World of Warcraft really all that different from other real-time strategy games before it? This preview will give you an overview of how World of Warcraft actually plays over Battle.net. Throughout this week, we'll also have in-depth accounts of the game's four playable factions. Note that, due to the nature of this beta test, any specific details discussed in our coverage of the beta are subject to change.

All four playable factions will be put under the microscope in the weeks to come.

The World of Warcraft beta test is playable only through Blizzard's proprietary Battle.net player-matching service, and it is intended to both test some new Battle.net features and fine-tune the gameplay balance between World of Warcraft's four factions. The test has just begun, and Blizzard anticipates that it will continue for a minimum of 10 weeks, possibly up until the release of the finished product. The fact that the beta test is focused largely on game balance issues suggests that World of Warcraft buy WOW WoTLK Classic Gold is already stable and running smoothly on systems that meet its minimum requirements, and in our experience, that is the case.