Indeed. I love the idea behind the new talent trees and I hope they get the specifics right. The new race seems alright because they're being implemented in a cool way. I'm more excited for cross-faction panda monks with an Asian theme than I was for holy goats who traveled to Azeroth on a spaceship.
I may sound excessively negative but this new expansion seems filled with superficil changes, gimmicks and not much else: adjusted talent trees, kung fu pandas, pokemon pets etc.
The last 3 expansions have been story and content bonanzas: BC vs Illidan/Kael, Wrath vs Arthas, Cata vs Deathwing. There has always been a nemesis for the peoples of Azeroth to work towards defeating along with all of the awesome lore and buildup that it entails.
Call me cynical but I just don't see that with this expansion announcement and it makes me sad.
If it makes you feel better, Sealskjaer... what could they have really done? What competes with a world-destroying dragon? At some point, you have to worry about power-creep.
Of course, I could see them going Emerald Dream and saying the Emerald Nightmare is "on par" with Deathwing's destruction (nightmares leaking into the world, killing people in their sleep, etc). And then perhaps going full Sargeras after that. Then again... how many times can you make saving the world interesting? There was no Big Bad Evil Guy in vanilla WoW - you just had a brief parade of situational dudes that can easily be replicated in MoP.
In any case, I actually disagree with you that there was a story/content bonanza in TBC. To this day, I couldn't tell you why we were killing Illidan other than to ruin his day. And while Deathwing has torched some things, he feels more like an elemental force than a character.
I agree some of the new stuff is gimmicky, but talent trees will finally add depth. As for there being no Arthas or Deathwing, THANK GOD. How many times must we save the world from some ultimate boss? I started playing this series back in the first two Warcraft games and it was orcs against humans. If you want to add something to your gimmick list, try yet another big baddie hellbent on our destruction. I need an expansion's break from that.
"... One of our primary design goals for Mists of Pandaria is to give players a wider variety of content and different types of gameplay to enjoy once they reach level 90 ..." (Mists of Pandaria FAQ)
and
"... we want more progression paths in the game to better cater to the extremely diverse player population ..." (Zarhym)
Am I reading this right?
It looks like the Cataclysm model of "pro PvE players have raids, all others grind dailies, collect pets or roll an alt" is going down the drain. Let's see if Blizzard can execute on it.
You both make good points and i hadn't thought of it that way. Looking at it your way it does seem a bit excessive that every time we get back from saving the world/universe another big bad pops up that needs killing 'and time is running out'.
I guess my real issue is that I like a reason to go to places and do the things I do in game and being hot on the trail of [insert nemesis' name here] is a good one.
With the information at hand so far it just seems like meh, so wowchina exists and it has kung fu pandas, big deal. If they wanted to focus on Horde vs Alliance more in this x-pac maybe instead of a wonderous new land they could have had both factions making land-grabs and expanding into the opposing faction's territory.
If Garrosh landed a fleet off the coast of Westfall for instance, I would be all over that. Likewise, I would love to invade an opposing faction capital city - it would be a good way for Silvermoon, Darnassus and the Exodar to see some traffic again.
I think we may well go through the war between the horde and alliance on Pandaria - resolve it by the end and then head off to kick the burning legions scaly/fiery/shadowy arse.
love the new talent idea - i'm looking forward to seeing that develop.
love love love the removal of the ranged weapon/relic slot. hunters ONLY using ranged weapons, with no dead zone - get in!!!
so much i love about this expansion - an expansion of exploration, questing and discovery. A welcome change of pace, or the calm before the storm maybe :)
Fascinating decisions over at Blizz HQ. I think the most telling bit of news about how they think WoW is going is that they will now offer 12-month subs at a lower price, and will throw in a free copy of Diablo III with each copy. Putting on my business math hat, I think what this means is "we are so desperate for immediate cash flow that we'll sacrifice upcoming likely revenue and take a lower rate of cash over the next year just to make payroll now."
I'm glad I don't have friends working there now.
"Kung Fu Panda: the MMO" isn't interesting to me, but that's just a taste and style issue. But the business news side looks, well, desperate.
The Horde invading Westfall and the Alliance occupying Silvermoon would be pretty awesome, but after Cataclysm I won't mind a new continent.
I agree the Horde and Alliance will probably fight some ultimate evil again by the end of the expansion, which has gotten a bit tiresome, but what can you do. At least it's not being shoved in our faces like Illidan, Arthas, and Deathwing.
>To this day, I couldn't tell you why we were killing Illidan other than to ruin his day.
W...what? No read quest? No read book? No read website? No RP? I have the feeling BC for you was just an oblivious moment. I, on the other hand, was so into it. Everything just made sense. It felt so FULL to me, so rich and beautiful. I realize I'm in the minority here, but it was definitely my favorite era and made a whole lot of sense.
Also, we killed Illidan because he decided to rape Shattrath for no apparent reason, just to turn kids into orphans, I guess, and I ain't down with that. He was also making fel orcs to dominate the remains of Outland with, and that ain't cool in my book.
The only thing that could have made it better was female broken. But since when was the fairer sex ever given equal treatment?
"If Garrosh landed a fleet off the coast of Westfall for instance, I would be all over that. Likewise, I would love to invade an opposing faction capital city - it would be a good way for Silvermoon, Darnassus and the Exodar to see some traffic again."
Theramore is to be destroyed by Horde in the MoP build up event. Does that whet your appetite? I think we have to trust Blizzard have plans but to reveal everything up front spoils the anticipation and guessing.
Indeed. I love the idea behind the new talent trees and I hope they get the specifics right. The new race seems alright because they're being implemented in a cool way. I'm more excited for cross-faction panda monks with an Asian theme than I was for holy goats who traveled to Azeroth on a spaceship.
ReplyDeleteI may sound excessively negative but this new expansion seems filled with superficil changes, gimmicks and not much else: adjusted talent trees, kung fu pandas, pokemon pets etc.
ReplyDeleteThe last 3 expansions have been story and content bonanzas: BC vs Illidan/Kael, Wrath vs Arthas, Cata vs Deathwing. There has always been a nemesis for the peoples of Azeroth to work towards defeating along with all of the awesome lore and buildup that it entails.
Call me cynical but I just don't see that with this expansion announcement and it makes me sad.
If it makes you feel better, Sealskjaer... what could they have really done? What competes with a world-destroying dragon? At some point, you have to worry about power-creep.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I could see them going Emerald Dream and saying the Emerald Nightmare is "on par" with Deathwing's destruction (nightmares leaking into the world, killing people in their sleep, etc). And then perhaps going full Sargeras after that. Then again... how many times can you make saving the world interesting? There was no Big Bad Evil Guy in vanilla WoW - you just had a brief parade of situational dudes that can easily be replicated in MoP.
In any case, I actually disagree with you that there was a story/content bonanza in TBC. To this day, I couldn't tell you why we were killing Illidan other than to ruin his day. And while Deathwing has torched some things, he feels more like an elemental force than a character.
@Sealskjaer
ReplyDeleteI agree some of the new stuff is gimmicky, but talent trees will finally add depth. As for there being no Arthas or Deathwing, THANK GOD. How many times must we save the world from some ultimate boss? I started playing this series back in the first two Warcraft games and it was orcs against humans. If you want to add something to your gimmick list, try yet another big baddie hellbent on our destruction. I need an expansion's break from that.
"... One of our primary design goals for Mists of Pandaria is to give players a wider variety of content and different types of gameplay to enjoy once they reach level 90 ..." (Mists of Pandaria FAQ)
ReplyDeleteand
"... we want more progression paths in the game to better cater to the extremely diverse player population ..." (Zarhym)
Am I reading this right?
It looks like the Cataclysm model of "pro PvE players have raids, all others grind dailies, collect pets or roll an alt" is going down the drain. Let's see if Blizzard can execute on it.
@Azuriel & Hofflerand
ReplyDeleteYou both make good points and i hadn't thought of it that way. Looking at it your way it does seem a bit excessive that every time we get back from saving the world/universe another big bad pops up that needs killing 'and time is running out'.
I guess my real issue is that I like a reason to go to places and do the things I do in game and being hot on the trail of [insert nemesis' name here] is a good one.
With the information at hand so far it just seems like meh, so wowchina exists and it has kung fu pandas, big deal. If they wanted to focus on Horde vs Alliance more in this x-pac maybe instead of a wonderous new land they could have had both factions making land-grabs and expanding into the opposing faction's territory.
If Garrosh landed a fleet off the coast of Westfall for instance, I would be all over that. Likewise, I would love to invade an opposing faction capital city - it would be a good way for Silvermoon, Darnassus and the Exodar to see some traffic again.
@Sealskjaer-- Oh great, and all of that Emerald Nightmare spam will suddenly become relevant.
ReplyDelete@Rohan-- They changed the game from "T" to "E", presumably letting the kids play. With the advent of WoW Pokemon, I think I know why....
I think we may well go through the war between the horde and alliance on Pandaria - resolve it by the end and then head off to kick the burning legions scaly/fiery/shadowy arse.
ReplyDeletelove the new talent idea - i'm looking forward to seeing that develop.
love love love the removal of the ranged weapon/relic slot. hunters ONLY using ranged weapons, with no dead zone - get in!!!
so much i love about this expansion - an expansion of exploration, questing and discovery. A welcome change of pace, or the calm before the storm maybe :)
either way, bring it on.
Fascinating decisions over at Blizz HQ. I think the most telling bit of news about how they think WoW is going is that they will now offer 12-month subs at a lower price, and will throw in a free copy of Diablo III with each copy. Putting on my business math hat, I think what this means is "we are so desperate for immediate cash flow that we'll sacrifice upcoming likely revenue and take a lower rate of cash over the next year just to make payroll now."
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I don't have friends working there now.
"Kung Fu Panda: the MMO" isn't interesting to me, but that's just a taste and style issue. But the business news side looks, well, desperate.
The Horde invading Westfall and the Alliance occupying Silvermoon would be pretty awesome, but after Cataclysm I won't mind a new continent.
ReplyDeleteI agree the Horde and Alliance will probably fight some ultimate evil again by the end of the expansion, which has gotten a bit tiresome, but what can you do. At least it's not being shoved in our faces like Illidan, Arthas, and Deathwing.
@Azuriel
ReplyDelete>To this day, I couldn't tell you why we were killing Illidan other than to ruin his day.
W...what? No read quest? No read book? No read website? No RP? I have the feeling BC for you was just an oblivious moment. I, on the other hand, was so into it. Everything just made sense. It felt so FULL to me, so rich and beautiful. I realize I'm in the minority here, but it was definitely my favorite era and made a whole lot of sense.
Also, we killed Illidan because he decided to rape Shattrath for no apparent reason, just to turn kids into orphans, I guess, and I ain't down with that. He was also making fel orcs to dominate the remains of Outland with, and that ain't cool in my book.
The only thing that could have made it better was female broken. But since when was the fairer sex ever given equal treatment?
@Sealskjaer
ReplyDelete"If Garrosh landed a fleet off the coast of Westfall for instance, I would be all over that. Likewise, I would love to invade an opposing faction capital city - it would be a good way for Silvermoon, Darnassus and the Exodar to see some traffic again."
Theramore is to be destroyed by Horde in the MoP build up event. Does that whet your appetite? I think we have to trust Blizzard have plans but to reveal everything up front spoils the anticipation and guessing.