"World of Warcraft" in virtual reality - but unfortunately with restrictions
Roaming through the forests of Ashenvale or the icy plains of Northrend - at eye level with your opponents: this is now possible in "World of Warcraft" thanks to a Community mod.
Diving completely into "World of Warcraft" and discovering Azeroth through the eyes of the game character: that's probably what many fans of the popular MMORPG want. An official virtual reality version of the almost 20-year-old game that would enable this complete immersion does not yet exist.
Unofficially, things look different now: The modding community Flat2VR has presented its "WoW-VR" modon X, formerly Twitter. This allows the game to be started with an interface designed for virtual reality and corresponding controls. The problem is that "WoW-VR" is not compatible with the current game version from Blizzard. It has to be game version 3.3.5a from the times of the "Wrath of the Lich King" add-on from 2010. This game version no longer officially exists. Although there are numerous "private servers" online that run on the required version, they represent a copyright infringement.
You can get an impression of "WoW-VR" in this video:
Look around with head movements
"WoW-VR" offers head tracking so that you can look around the game using your own head movements. The game sound adapts to your head movements: Whatever is in your field of vision can be heard louder. Necessary information such as your health bar is displayed in your field of vision. You can attach other windows to your virtual arm and call them up there. You can choose whether you want to play in first or third person. In VR, the immersion is naturally higher in first person.
However, there are also a few problems. Riding on mounts, for example, is currently only possible in third person and head tracking is said to not work correctly in lifts and zeppelins. Flat2VR states that no further development is planned. Nevertheless, there have been several patches in the last few days.
Voice commands provide even more immersion: The mod developer Marulu has made almost 400 (English) commands available for the voice recognition software Voice Attack. This should allow you to use all spells, buffs and menu actions by voice command. To use them, however, you will need a paid Voice Attack account. This allows you to control most of the game by voice. Voice Attack costs around 12 euros or francs on Steam.
The mod files are available for free on Github. You can find more information on the English-language Discord server from Flat2VR.
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.