World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor
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[ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYueIdI_2L0"]World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Announcement Trailer - YouTube[/ame]
So is this blizzards answer to all these people wishing the game was back around the TBC era? This time they're remaking Outlands:
[ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMzeih7_7Hc"]Warlords of Draenor: Remaking a World - YouTube[/ame]
I'm sort of excited. I've wanted to play WoW again for a while now but after Blizzard has announced plans for an ingame item shop for xp/armor much like Guildwars I doubt I'll ever return. I started getting iffy when they introduced cosmetic helmets. If they do full sets of armor itll kill the flow of the game. Looking cooler is also a popular goal, not just being more skilled.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYueIdI_2L0"]World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Announcement Trailer - YouTube[/ame]So is this blizzards answer to all these people wishing the game was back around the TBC era? This time they're remaking Outlands:
[ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMzeih7_7Hc"]Warlords of Draenor: Remaking a World - YouTube[/ame]I'm sort of excited. I've wanted to play WoW again for a while now but after Blizzard has announced plans for an ingame item shop for xp/armor much like Guildwars I doubt I'll ever return. I started getting iffy when they introduced cosmetic helmets. If they do full sets of armor itll kill the flow of the game. Looking cooler is also a popular goal, not just being more skilled.
Replies
The new character models and animations look amazing and the new features look extremely well done, especially liking the Garrison feature and the new raid split.
Also your comment on ingame items is wrong. Blizzard has announced no plans to sell actual progression gear in the game or on the site at any point.
The exp potion is only for the Asian market, who also get a different client with higher item levels and no raid lockouts because it's playerbase operates completely differently from the European and American market.
The cosmetic armour pieces you can buy were met with a huge amount of backlash so they'll have to rethink how they do it, there is nothing wrong with selling cosmetic items, they've done it for ages in the form of pets and mounts, cosmetic armour and weapons are not a problem.
Especially considering they have cosmetic items as rewards for some of the harder challenges in the game already, players can easily tell who bought and who earned a set and players who bought a set because they like the look should be allowed to do so.
Buying progression items would murder the game, they won't ever add that.
Have some character models from MMO CHAMP:
Cosmetic armor is still a problem, primarily in MMORPGs. Looking cooler and unlocking better looking stuff is another huge part of character progression, I don't know why so many games decide to scrap it and turn the game into a virtual clothes store. Runescape most notably completely trashed itself with this system, they add numerous stuff every week, the amount of armor on their ingame store surpasses the actual armor in the game (and it also looks WAY overdone to get people to buy it, not to mention it isn't lore friendly at all)
WoW releases buyable mounts very far apart, I still don't like it but I was fine with it because it seemed like it was the only thing they were doing. Now that they're getting their feet wet with armor it could be a slippery slope, first mounts, now armor, soon theyll start selling low level regents in large amounts or xp potions.
Perhaps the developers know WoW is on its way out so they're going to squeeze some extra income out of it while it dies. Its sad. A better alternative would be to make the next expansion (after warlords) be "Return of the Lich King" and bring back everything that made 2008 WoW's peak.
Not to mention that levelling faster gives you no advantage whatsoever. Gear at max level is where the competitive element of WoW starts, so until they start letting you buy Armour with amazing stats it's not going to ruin the game.
As for your comment on too many cosmetic items: They make 1 armour set per class every single raid patch, that's 11 unique item sets with stats obtainable in game. So you get all those items you can use to change your appearance and boost your gear, you can use old armour sets and weapons too.
There is no way in hell they can make more cosmetic armours than functional armours in the game without sacrificing actual content which will kill the playerbase. And I strongly doubt Blizzard is Runescape levels of stupid.
Also how is WoW on it's way out? Where is the MMO that is beating it? that offers anything close to it? 7 million subscribers now, a number that will go up with the expac as it always does. Pretty sure WoW has at least 6 good years left in it. Before they have Titan or whatnot take over.
EDIT and for the record; I've not seen anyone with the new armour cosmetics beyond the first 2 weeks after release.
The challenge mode and high level raid gear from old raids is used consistently though, there is more prestige in earned gear, bought cosmetics will not trump it in a game as competitive as WoW.
Many people on the WoW forums are saying Blizzard should add more cosmetic items for transmoging, but make them cost JP instead of real money. Apparently JP is useless right now.
I don't have a huge issue with xp potions, as long as you just can't buy so many of them you can have a new level 90 every 3 days. But a simple cooldown where every month you can buy a boost for those who have to work all the time seems fair.
And no one is forcing players to buy cosmetic items, if artists want to make something extra to earn extra that's up to them, if the players buy it, that's up to them too, I seriously see nothing wrong with it.
I will say though that the Challenge mode gear which is purely cosmetic is really hard to obtain but has unique animations and appearances and is much MUCH better than anything they're offering in the store, and they're continuing that trend with the next expac according to their panels and even extending it to weapons. They're also removing JP I heard, so that might also change things a bit.
TBC was my favourite expansion so any and all similarities are welcome imo.
The player housing/Garrisons looks pretty cool.
WoW is on the decline, sure, but its still got life in it for the foreseeable future (and more than any other mmo or most games for that matter). People are associating the decline with the quality of the game, and hell, I used to as well when I was playing, but I honestly feel like its just because players are outgrowing the game, which is perfectly fine.
In all aspects, be it Art, technology, gameplay, features, systems, fluency etc the game is getting better every year, people just leave because its only natural to play a game for THAT long and want to move on, not because its bad.
Of course it's not gaining enough new players because at its core it is still that game from way back when, which is fine. Do you see CS 1.6 gaining waves of new players every day? No. WoW is an old name now with a lot of preconceptions, of course its not going to grow.
Unlike shipping a new game every couple years to gain new players, iteration of the MMO genre comes at a snails pace, and everything they are adding and building on with WoW acts as lessons for Titan, what works, why and how well. I honestly dont understand the people expecting expansions to literally be a game changer.
As for them dabbling in other forms of monetization, They've yet to sell anything morally wrong or gameplay changing in the competitive sense. XP or leveling boosts at this point in the game's life, aren't exactly a big deal. They seem to restrict most of these boosts to content before the current expansion, which is reasonable to want to bypass.
Never had a job in the industry and I'm a pretty awful artist, I've just grown to dislike the spiteful gaming community and their endless entitlement complex :P so I'm kind of okay with capitalism in gaming :P
I'm not really the entitled type, I just don't like where games are going. MMO's where the monthly fee was the ONLY thing you had to worry about are gone and its a shame.
Games just feel more and more like a business gimmick in the end, rather than a steady source of entertainment. You wouldn't go to the movies and pay for a movie that shows "just enough" to get the story across and have to pay extra to see more scenes.
I have no issue with cosmetics I just hate that they would charge real money for them. Bums me out. I'd hate to be a kid with strict parents in this day of gaming, everyone would have cool stuff because their parents would give them money to have it. Where your parents don't see why you should have to pay more than the monthly (convincing them to do that was hard to begin with)
Your financial standing shouldn't influence anything past the monthly fee. Sure you aren't being "forced" to buy them, but you are being pressured because you feel left out. And then to counter this people say "it doesn't make you better at the game" which is true, but for those who aren't that competitive finding/unlocking armor in the game by doing ingame content is a big part of progression.
I've been playing off and on for years, so I've seen when they added the store bought mounts, pets, and capes. I'll say that on my server at least, there aren't many people that buy into these. I don't know what pressure anyone would really have to buy them unless they just wanted them for the hell of it. It's not as if there is some clique of people that own all the store bought items and they go around harassing the people that have not. If someone wants to buy something for use in game that is vanity, I really don't mind it. As long as they keep stat based weapons or armor out of the store, I am fine with it.
That said, holy hell those character models. I have family in town so I haven't been able to watch much of my Blizzcon feed, but I'll be sinking some time into watching all the behind the scenes stuff soon.
After playing Tera for a bit, and League for a while, I could care less if shit is offered and sold. I've played WoW since launch, used to be super against that stuff, but honestly - who cares. What harm does it do anyone individually? Players don't have to buy it, and if someone feels like they have to, there is a different problem that has nothing to do with the game (located somewhere between the keyboard, and the chair). If it does hurt someone financially, the problem is not within the game - but with the player's choice to purchase items. If someone spends their life savings on Magic cards, its not Wizards of the Coast's fault. That said, I think Blizzard learned their lesson with Diablo 3, and trust they won't go the RMAH route in their games again.
I'm stoked about this expansion, seems like they're making a lot of smart choices. There are some strange ones that will probably end up making the game more fun, but removing some of the individual min/maxing.
The slide isn't on mmo champ, but love that the gnome is going from a 950 poly model to a 5500 poly model
Was mentioned in the art panel that they're using Goblins and Worgen as their baseline, and redoing everyone else. Was said that they may revisit Goblins and Worgen if they don't meet the new quality bar.
I heard you can auto-level any character to 90, that's kinda neat I guess.
I still want it to be F2P. I don't play enough to justify $16/mo
In my opinion, the reason why WOTLK was so loved was because it was the end of the Warcraft III story. WoW was released after WC3:FT and everyone wanted to know what was going on in Northrend w/Arthas.
After that expansion, everyones' story needs were fulfilled.
The trailers have always been ingame footage, cinematics are labeled "cinematics"
Unless you're like me and my friends and couldn't give two shits about the story and just enjoy the game as a whole :P
Wotlk set a different tone in the world, it was nice. Main city was dalaran it was great
In WoW's case, even old players like myself would have to do some significant grinding just to catch up. But hey, if I can boost my old main to 90, that might just persuade me to come back and poke around a bit.
They do some great stuff in Pandaria for Cooking and Fishing making leveling those secondary professions fun. Cooking can all be done at 90 from 1-600 at the Farm. Lots of tradeskill items are +5 points or +3 points instead of the normal +1. Fishing can be done anywhere in the world as well, zones no longer have fishing requirements. Those small changes made making a new character much more enjoyable for myself, and I actually fish more! You still have to grind to max, but it is at least not as bad as Enchanting.
I hope they do the same for Enchanting and the other professions (maybe through Garrisons?), or at least something other than what they have right now. Its horrible to level to lvl90 enchanting materials. Once you're there though, its incredibly easy (maybe too easy) to get to max.
Probably not as bad as it used to be. I remember guilds had to have designated blacksmiths in Molten Core to get all the minerals for the guild to level.
I also had to hunt Devilsaur to level my leatherworking... back before even rare items were the norm. I remember wearing all level 40-50 greens hunting those mofos w/my hunter. Epic.
It's so weird that so much work is still going in to such an old game. Is this the 10-year anniversary?
Looks like they adjusted the posture too, it always kinda bugged me how far back the shoulders were pulled for the orc female.
Now dat trapezius got triiiiiis! ooooo lawd.
I think trolls will be the most interesting with the tusks and the face paints and the wiffle waffles and the what nots.
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and Draenei!
IMHO, I can grind a level max character in 2-3 months playing only a few hours a night on weekdays.
It was a bit of a chore to re-roll imho. Alterac Valley runs aren't as fun after the 2000th time.
And at 10 years since vanilla launch, I think it's safe to say not EVERYONE is exactly thrilled with the prospect of completely doing that grind over again before getting to enjoy the high level gameplay with their friends/guilds.
I think buying level 90 characters is great now, given the age of the game, and lack of importance on the actual level. Pretty much everyone playing has multiple characters at level max anyways.
I understand that its a chore, but I don't think skipping it with one button is the right thing to do. The influx of new players isn't high enough for leveling zones to feel filled on their own.
Can't wait to see the human/night elf/blood elf
I disagree. When I was playing a lot the past few months I was amazed at how filled zones felt with all their new dynamic cross-server tech.
My thoughts on buying a level 90 character are mixed. I think it's fantastic for people that have played the game a lot (like myself) and don't want to level a 20th charcter.
My only minor concern is LFR and BGs being filled with even more noobier people :P
But, it's a casual game, so it doesn't bother me much. I think it is largely a positive addition.
I'm so glad they added the lvl 90 char purchase, although I would have preferred a 7-day purchasable 300% xp buff for a low cost. But, I can finally have all healers at max level without struggling through leveling fatigue! horray
I personally don't mind LFR, wish i had time to raid on a set schedule in "real" content, but I don't. I paid my dues in Vanilla, BC, and Wrath, doing all BC content including being on the bleeding edge in Sunwell, getting server firsts in Wrath, doing 3 drake Sarth 10/25 and hardmodes in Uld before quitting. I just don't have the time to devote 5 days of my week from 8pm until 1am to play anymore.
I love being able to raid whenever I want, not have to wait for people, and just go do shit. It's less of a challenge, but it is all relative. The biggest problem with LFR are those that don't recognize that it is relative and berate or antagonize those who don't have the opportunity or time to do higher-scaled content by hollering at lesser skilled/knowledgable players, quitting, or just straight trolling. Skill gap is the 2nd biggest problem, of people who legitimately do not understand game mechanics and hurt the others in the group. I feel like that is a problem that can be solved through creative and patient quests that allow for personal growth (similar to the legendary cloak quests). Player behavior is toxic and horrible in LFR's, and most of the time it comes from people who know what they are doing over those that don't.
Very excited to see the paradigm shift in WoD, by having more available tiers of raiding available to a "free schedule" system, as well as the flexible raid scaling through LFR, Normal, Heroic. Mystic will probably be something I never do and am ok with that, but I hope the raid community grows with the growth of open-raiding.
Actually when you upgrade to 90 (at least when the expansion goes live, I don't know if it does it now) it runs you through a kind of tutorial zone where you get your abilities little by little. It's still fast paced from what I hear, but it eases you into it just a little.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/14096397/artcraft-huntress-of-teldrassil-5-13-2014
It all looks really good, but I am super impressed with the hair. It'll be cool to see these in motion.
Can't wait to see female blood elf :P