World of Warcraft with the worst Internet? Can it do it?

Post by halahazam

Heya,

I quit WoW (again) last November because of my computer, it was just so bad.
Months went by, and now I live alone in a dorm apartment. It is really dull here, but atleast I got a new computer now for Christmas from my mom that would decently enough run the game. But then there comes another problem by: I have no income, so I can't have a solid internet, so I had to buy one of these Prepaid Mobile-Internet thingys. Now these are really bad for gaming (I heard, but earlier I have been playing pretty well with a Low signal WLAN in the apartment of my parents). The question is: With an Internet that has a 3gig cap per month, am I able to play the game ~6 hours per day for a month? Not doing much raiding and stuff, but maybe a little, I also live in a semi-dead server so there is not too much data flying around. But then, can I even download the game if I have a 3gig cap, if the game takes about 25gigs storage? Or am I missing here something out, because I would be using my Cataclysm CD that I bought?

Thanks, I really hope that someone knows more than I do D:
Me

Post by 173035

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Pwntiff

I'm pretty sure the DVD just contains a link to the downloader. At least that's what my one friend who bought the physical copy said.

Post by hagelini

Its probably not a good idea. Beyond the fact that the initial download to get you updated will quickly pass your 3GB limit, there will be more patches down the road. They won't be GB in size most likely, but they could be 100-500mb, which would greatly reduce your limit. Plus if you use the internet for anything outside WoW, then you are using up more bandwidth. If you have a virus scanner or you use Windows, automatic updates will run and use bandwidth unless you turn it off--but then you run the risk of getting a virus.

Honestly if you will have the money for a pre-paid moble internet plan, look at other options. A low end cable or DSL connection of 768k-1MB is probably around $20 a month, maybe cheaper if you have a local company unlike Verizon, Comcast, or Time Warner. Usually companies will offer free installation if you agree to stay with them for a year or two. It would be as fast as your mobile connection, more reliable, no bandwidth limits, and you could play WoW and surf the web without having to conserve bandwidth. Also, you said you are in dorm apartments. Does that mean you are in college? If so, does the college provide internet services in the building?

Post by ChairmanKaga

I'm pretty sure the DVD just contains a link to the downloader. At least that's what my one friend who bought the physical copy said.

No, the DVD has a mostly-complete install on it. It says it's 4.0.0 but it really seems to be some weird middle state between 4.0.1 and 4.0.3a; they probably just threw in whatever was finished when they decided to rush it off to the duplicators for Christmas. I've used the DVD to successfully jump start trials for a few friends.

The downloader syncs up the rest after the install, which works out to about 9GB assuming you're installing fresh -- if you're installing over Wrath it seems to be less; I'm thinking they omitted some of the prior expansion data from the Cata disc.

If the DVD was nothing but the downloader, the download would have been much larger. My WoW folder (not counting addons and SV) is about 25GB.

And that seems to be the real problem -- there's no way to even fit this game on a single DVD anymore. Maybe if you used a dual-layer and some insane compression you could get close. Blizzard probably believes (rightly) that bandwidth is cheaper than discs and packaging.

Post by Pwntiff

Ah, this was almost two months ago, so I could have been misremembering. :P

World of Warcraft with the worst Internet? Can it do it?

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