Blizzard Entertainment
On November 23, 2004, Blizzard released "World of Warcraft", a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. "World of Warcraft" is the fourth released game set in the fantasy "Warcraft" universe, which was first introduced by "" in 1994. Blizzard announced "World of Warcraft" on September 2, 2001. The game was released on November 23, 2004, on the 10th anniversary of the "Warcraft" franchise.
World of Warcraft
"World of Warcraft" received very positive reviews upon release, following a period of high anticipation before launch. Although the game follows a similar model to—and was noted for using many familiar concepts from—the role-playing genre, the new approaches to reducing pauses between game encounters were well liked. A common example was the approach to character death. In some previous MMORPGs, a player would suffer a high penalty for character death; in "World of Warcraft", a player is able to recover and start playing quickly. Combat was another area where "downtime", or pauses between play, was reduced. By allowing all character types to recover from damage taken, players can return to combat quickly. Reviewers felt that these changes in pacing would make the genre more accessible to casual players—those who play for short periods of time— while still having "deep" gameplay that would attract players of all levels of interest. The concept of a "rested bonus", or increasing the rate at which a player's character gains experience, was also welcomed as a way for players to quickly catch up with their friends in progression.