Mind you, they did fulfil one wish which I had expressed in the comment section of Wilhelm's BlizzCon prediction post back at the start of October:
Unfortunately there were no real Classic news beyond them stating that they'll launch phase two on the 12th of November, which is actually more worrying than exciting to me. After all, they said that they didn't want to launch this phase (which includes world bosses etc.) until all Classic servers were down to a single layer, and based on how many people I'm seeing around, Pyrewood Village is still nowhere near ready for that.
So either they are going back on their word and there'll be some drama around people exploiting layer hopping to kill world bosses more than once, or they are going to execute the final layer merge regardless of population concerns and we'll be back to sitting in hour-long queues. Meh.
Someone did ask about BC/Wrath servers in the Q&A, but the response was just a repeat of their "we're not opposed to it but nothing's planned yet" stance that Brack expressed previously. I guess in hindsight I shouldn't be surprised considering that as far as WoW is concerned, this BlizzCon was all about the new expansion for the live game.
I suppose they'd be more likely to make a big announcement about something Classic-related at one of the conventions between expansions. Maybe next year then. It's not like Classic isn't providing me with lots to do as it is.
The big announcement for retail WoW fans was that the next expansion is going to be called Shadowlands. It didn't include anything that made me want to play retail again, but then I don't expect anything to do that at this point; I just like watching the story cinematics. The Shadowlands cinematic was quite cool, and I liked how it made it look like Sylvanas was going to crown herself Lich Queen for a bit, then suddenly went into a completley different direction.
I did find it funny how they were saying that the Shadowlands are going to be totally different from anything that's ever come before, and then the features trailer made everything look incredibly run-of-the-mill: here's an undead-themed zone, here's a forest zone, here's an air-themed zone etc. I mean, there's nothing wrong with those things; it just struck me as an amusing contradiction.
Players seem pretty hyped from what I've seen so far (also because there seems to be an increasing belief that like with Star Trek movies, WoW's even-numbered expansions tend to be the better ones), but I can't help but wonder whether Blizzard isn't about to fall into either a Mists of Pandaria or Warlords of Draenor trap in terms of the setting again, depending on whether you see the Shadowlands as a totally new land with few connections to Azeroth as we know it (MoP) or almost like an alternate reality that will quickly be forgotten again once people go back to Azeroth proper in the expansion after that one (WoD).
There was also talk about revamping levelling yet again, by squishing levels in half, starting new players in a special starting zone that guides them straight into BfA content, and giving veteran players a bit more freedom in terms of where to level alts so that they could go from say 1-50 in Northrend (that's how I understood it anyway, I'm a bit uncertain about the details).
Again, I've seen people get quite excited about this, but I can't help but get Cataclysm 2.0 vibes from this one. Sure, it's ambitious, but so was Cata. At the end of the day they still aren't going to fix the continuity problems in the old world and are only once again trying to push people towards the level cap even faster. I don't think that will make the levelling game any more appealing to new players than it is right now.
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Cataclysm 2 was what I thought when I read the level revamp plans. I might write something about it at some point but I'd need tohave a clearer understanding of exactly what they are planning - I read a detailed breakdown and I still couldn't really picture how it's supposed to work.
ReplyDeleteThe thing they seem to be missing about the "something exciting with every level" plan is that it's not really about what you get, it's about the anticipation that builds up before you get it. That's what releases the satisfaction when you *do* get it. Since they are also increasing leveling speed yet again (by something like 75% apparently) those exciting level rewards will come so thick and fast there won't be any real appreciation involved.
Also, the whole point of the revamp seems to be dedicated to getting the maximum number of players into current expansion content as fast as possible. That's absolutely a recipe for declining subscription numbers and fewer new players unless they address the fact that the content at end game appeals to a much smaller demographic than the type of gameplay that once got them 12 million paying customers per month.
Indeed. Despite Classic's success they apparently still have no idea what it is that people really like/liked about their game (or MMORPGs in general).
DeleteThe joke around Sentinel Hill tonight was that Blizz is going to use Shadowlands to basically return retail to Vanilla.
ReplyDeleteI guess I can see where people could be getting that idea, what with the level squish to 60 and some of the planned class changes. I heard someone talk about all the abilities Blizz is planning to bring back and my main reaction was always: "They took that OUT?!" Appatently there are priests and paladins in the game right now who don't have holy healing spells for example...
DeleteStill though, with everything else retail's got going on, from achievements to world scaling to dungeon finder, it seems a silly comparison to make even so.
They are fixing the continuity problems, but in a way that fits the existing Wow lore. While not making everything one unified storyline, they at least are doing something. From their perspective they don't have to spend precious development time making the story work and the players get official support for the the hand-waving some or most of us did.
ReplyDeleteIf you're a new player you get a new starting zone -> BfA -> Shadowlands. So for those the continuity is there. (All hero classes start at level 1 in the new system.)
For existing players you get the choice of starting in the new zone or the traditional starting areas. Once you hit level 10, you can talk to Chromie of the Bronze Dragonflight will let you explicitly time travel to the past to rerun older expansions. You could do 10 - 50 in BC or MoP if you wanted, for example.
I don't call that a fix though. Stuff like the Warchief shuffle is not going away; they are just making a new starting zone to minimise the number of new players being exposed to it.
DeleteFair enough. I never expected Blizzard to go back and adjust things so that the 1 - 120 leveling process made a continuous story. That's just not their modus operandi, unfortunately. If it isn't in the current patch or coming next they seldom go back and fix anything.
DeleteGiven we had a time-travel expansion to an alternate history (Warlords), I can live with the time travel explanation. I suspect most players don't even stop to think about it and I wonder just how many genuinely new, never played Wow before does Warcraft attract?
I agree that it's not exactly surprising because this stuff has always taken a back seat over moment-to-moment gameplay and power progression for them. Doesn't mean that I don't think it's a shame.
DeleteI look at Classic and I see a huge, enchanting world that manages to draw people in to this day. How did that turn into a game where most content is being swept under the carpet because it's considered FUBAR and all you want is for people to get to endgame and raid anyway?
Naxxramas 40 man, Karazhan, and the Isle of Quel'danas. Naxx40 was only seen by very little of the original Wow population. That's a lot of effort for few to see. Karazhan was insanely popular because it was easy to make groups for. Quel'danas gave them a big patch event and a way to do catch-up gear (and added dailies!).
DeleteI think trying to make raiding accessible to everyone (Wrath's 10/25 man raids) with the ability for anyone to drop back into the game mid-expansion and having the ability to catch-up quickly without having to grind through the older raids of that expansion really changed Wow. Each patch became its own mini-expansion and reset.
And it worked because the player base ate it up. Everyone loved getting more powerful. Instead of being happy to be in all blues and maybe an epic or two as a casual player, everyone got their 'welfare' epics. ^_^ They felt strong, even if they didn't do the hardest content. Thus gear inflation crept into all parts of the game and Blizzard had to feed those dopamine hits even faster with every patch. They put themselves on the Red Queen's Racetrack to satisfy the newly realized gear hunger of their player base.
The max level of the next Retail expansion is the same as Classic. Make of that what you want.
ReplyDeletePersonally, that scared me.
I really hope their plan for Classic is not to turn it into Retail in 2 years. I mean, they had the concept of legacy servers (or how was that idea called? Retail without LFD and such?)
Why would they go through all the trouble of creating Classic just to roll it back into retail 2 years later? That seems like a silly worry to me.
DeleteThey can't milk Classic enough. It's not possible to sell WoW tokens in Classic or sell mounts in the shop because that would immediately make Classic stop being Classic and turn into every other shitty FTP MMO we have today.
DeleteBut subscription, especially at the same price as 15 years ago, is not enough for them. They must find a way to get more money out of it.
That doesn't really make sense. I'm pretty sure Classic is profitable as it is. And while yes, I have no doubt that they would love to make even more money out of it, it's obvious that a lot of people came back specifically because they wanted the Classic experience and nothing else. Getting rid of it would just mean losing those customers again. Nothing to gain there.
DeleteI fully agree. That's why I don't have a high payed management job. :-)
DeleteRetail has soon changed enough for it to feel like a completely different game to me. Maybe that will be reason to try it out, but right now I am just having so much fun with Classic.
ReplyDeleteThe issue from my point of view is that if I just wanted to explore and level in a new MMO, why chose retail WoW over any of the competition? In terms of levelling fun I don't think it really has anything to offer that other games don't do just as well or better these days.
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