The bare minimum internet connection requirement for playing WoW is 56k but you will experience a smoother, more fulfilling, and more responsive gameplay with a broadband connection.
The information sent between your computer and Blizzard’s WoW servers does not include any audio or video (all that has been installed on your computer), but rather information pertaining to what your character is doing (attacking, running, etc.), what is going on around your character (other players, monsters, enviornment, etc.), and any information your character is setup to automatically send or receive (trade channel, whispers, world effects, etc.).
Think of it like instead of sending video or audio, the WoW servers send the information in the form of text, as if the server is telling your computer what to display next. This “text” does not require a fast connection because of how simple it is. The drawback is how fast that information gets to and from your computer and the WoW servers (which is referred to as latency). Of course a higher latency means that there is more time between the sending and receiving of this information. Whereas a broadband connection will reduce the latency and allow the game to interact more smoothly.
Blizzard made WoW available to 56k users because broadband is still not offered in all areas of the country.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
The bare minimum internet connection requirement for playing WoW is 56k but you will experience a smoother, more fulfilling, and more responsive gameplay with a broadband connection.
The information sent between your computer and Blizzard’s WoW servers does not include any audio or video (all that has been installed on your computer), but rather information pertaining to what your character is doing (attacking, running, etc.), what is going on around your character (other players, monsters, enviornment, etc.), and any information your character is setup to automatically send or receive (trade channel, whispers, world effects, etc.).
Think of it like instead of sending video or audio, the WoW servers send the information in the form of text, as if the server is telling your computer what to display next. This “text” does not require a fast connection because of how simple it is. The drawback is how fast that information gets to and from your computer and the WoW servers (which is referred to as latency). Of course a higher latency means that there is more time between the sending and receiving of this information. Whereas a broadband connection will reduce the latency and allow the game to interact more smoothly.
Blizzard made WoW available to 56k users because broadband is still not offered in all areas of the country.
Hope this answers your question.