The 5.4 zone/Timeless Isle indeed got boring, but it was fun and novel at first. My expectations are not for the game to hold my attention for months anymore but to jump in and out.
Okay so;
Apparently NOT a time-travel plot per-se. Whatever Garrosh does, it brings the past of Draenor into the present day. (Also, Outland will still be accessible)
(Also, calling it here - Grom “solves” his son’s sins. With an axe to his head)
10 levels;
- New talent tier @100
- “At every level from 91 to 100, characters will earn a major permanent boost to one of their their key spells and abilities (e.g. a Fire Mage might earn a +50% damage boost to Pyroblast or +30% boost to Scorch”
…So, 10 meaningful “talent” points in the old sense! Surprised did they didn’t go for AA instead, but…
Stats;
“With that in mind, we’re adding some fun new stats to gear, such as Movement Speed and Cleave, which gives you a chance to do extra damage or healing to additional nearby targets. In addition, we’ll be retiring a few stats that players don’t find very enjoyable to manage, such as Hit and Expertise.”
Jag - I think it’s…too compact. If there were occasional rares and events in all zones…
Had a brief glimmer of hope for garrisons then saw it was all just plopping preplanned buildings zzzzzzzzzz
As far as the mmo scape goes I think only gw2 and rift top wow the rest have some pretty serious design flaws IMO.
Definitely agree, but they did say it was more of a testing ground for how they may do content in the future, which they confirmed today will be in WoD.
It’s certainly possible that they may be able to release it quicker, but anything at this stage is just a somewhat educated guess. That’s why I mentioned the closed beta start date. I believe closed beta has consistently run for 5-6 months from start to release of the expansion, and it usually starts ~4 months after Blizzcon. Now maybe if it’s really that ready, they could start closed beta in January and get it out in the May/June time frame. I doubt they would try to push it out November/December because of the holidays.
As for the rest, I think anyone who gave it even a passing thought could recognize that flex raiding in SoO was merely a testing ground before they implemented it in at least normal difficulty. I am a little surprised to see they’re ditching the flex difficulty level though, because they really pitched it as raiding for smaller guilds/groups of friends who weren’t quite as skilled as normal/heroic raiders. Given that they’re adding mythic difficulty, I can only assume that the current levels got bumped up a notch, so flex = normal, normal = heroic, heroic = mythic. Makes sense so as to avoid confusion with the different flex terminology.
The raid finder scaling is probably a nice change, but unless it scales to allow you to single tank the encounters (and I don’t think it will), I can’t see it really being a help. The problem with LFR is not finding dps, and generally not healers, but getting a measly two tanks to go.
Are the garrisons in instanced areas? They have to be, right? So it’s your own little private instance that you can invite people into or can anyone wander in?
Again, think the farm. It’s likely going to be a personal phased area. They claim it’s in the world, not a separate far off thing like an instance would be. You’re walking out in the world, then you cross the boundary into your garrison and you’re there. The bring a friend thing is dealt with with either a UI or maybe just grouping.
Are there any people here still actively playing? Even casually?
I still play casually (although I’m about to cancel again) because I have played ever since the original closed beta and I still have friends who play/raid. The game has issues for sure, and other games do some things better, but it’s easy to slip into and I can have fun with friends. They also did a lot to improve the end game content and it can be fun to do some casual raiding now and then.
In addition, we’ll be retiring a few stats that players don’t find very enjoyable to manage, such as Hit and Expertise.
This has got to be one of the better changes announced. This means that you might actually be able to equip an item when it drops in the raid. It may not be optimal stats right away until you can reforge, but you’re not going to be worried about being right at the hit/expertise cap.
For those who haven’t played “Casual raiding” can mean a short sit in a queue and then a 30 minute run. Raid Finder raids (which are divided into wings) are now shorter than the old 5 mans. The 5 mans take 10-15 minutes max. Scenarios even shorter, so you can get some sort of run in depending on your time frame.
No MMO out now makes doing group content this incredibly easy.
I like SWToR much better than WoW.
I get bored after a while, because I just am not a single game gamer, but I’m back like clockwork every time an expansion pack comes out (and I’d be back more often if they ditched the subscription fee). I think many of the MMOs you cite do one or more things better than WoW (particularly TSW and GW2) but I don’t think any of them do everything better than WoW. Also, WoW is the single most expansive and content/variety rich MMO I’ve ever played. And I’ve played most of the big ones.
(They also have a habit of cribbing good ideas from addons and/or competing MMOs and implementing their own spin on them. That sure doesn’t hurt.)
Are there people here still actively playing? Don’t you grief McMaster on the podcast for playing it every week? :D
Of all of the MMOs I’ve played, WoW is the only one I will come back to to either roll up an alt or pick up again on my main. I guess that doesn’t qualify me as “core gamer type”, although I had my fill of endgame raiding with the Molten Core.
I can say that no other game had really grabbed me with the setting and the story. I like GW2 well enough but I still don’t have any idea of what’s going on in that world. I love the DC Universe and LOTRO story and setting but the mechanics don’t really do it for me. I also am not presented with the occasionally-brazen moneygrab of in-game transactions b/c of the sub.
DDO possibly has more, and it’s certainly got more variety, but the balance on a lot of it is…off. Plus it’s got fairly silly mechanics in many respects.
What brings me back to WoW is the fact that it allows UI modding, and is highly responsive. (Part of that is a ping typically under 30, but honestly…I expect that from a major MMO!). And the new xpacks tend to be fun. (I haven’t raided much since the "promise"of Focus drove me off my Hunter during LK, so…)
edit: Talent calculator!
(LMAO@ the priest talent Spiritual Guidance…using something near-identical in something I designed)
I’d be really surprised if DDO had the variety of gameplay WoW does. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised. When I say this I’m counting things like pet battling, the farming, fishing, archaeology, multiple forms of PvP, raids, scenarios, dungeons, questing, crafting, some little minigames like the Plants vs Zombies and Joust clones, the Timeless Isle stuff, etc etc etc. And of course now the garrison system they’re promising. It’s absolutely stuffed. Will most people like all of the above? Certainly not. I hate the PvP, for one. Once or twice with any given raid encounter is usually enough for me. Fishing is sooo dull. Etc. But WoW caters to so many different tastes that most people will find it delivers at least a few things they enjoy.
As far as I am aware, DDO has, mostly, dungeons. A variety of dungeons to be approached all sorts of different ways, with experience granted for completion rather than method of completion, which is great, don’t get me wrong. But what if dungeons aren’t what you want? What else is on offer?
I’m talking about the core gameplay…DDO has just over 300 different dungeons and 30 odd wilderness areas, most quite complex. Some are puzzle-based (at least to some degree, some entirely so!), different theme groups, some…“interesting” boss 12-man ones…PvP brawls…timed challenges…also it’s a lot more skill-based, unlike WoW where just understanding the basic priority system for your class and moving out the fire is fine until you hit heroic. It also has several forms of crafting these days, (two major and a whole bunch of area-specific ones) and some minigames.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that interesting these days for me, but there’s a LOT of content there!
Well, whereas I was addressing the variety. I don’t doubt that it has a ton of content, but it sounds like largely the same broad category or couple of categories of content, whereas WoW covers a -lot- of bases, albeit not necessarily as well as a more focused game.
Well, whereas I was addressing the variety. I don’t doubt that it has a ton of content, but it sounds like largely the same broad category or couple of categories of content, whereas WoW covers a -lot- of bases, albeit not necessarily as well as a more focused game.
And now you can skip all that and be max level, so you are right to the unsullied bad game experience without interruptions!
Since they said there’s no loading screen it will be done through “phasing”. Basically your stuff “pops-in” when you enter a certain area of the map. Each player will enter and see his own area, and who’s in a group I guess will enter the leader’s area, or something like that.
What this guy said. The WoW lore, its heroes and villains, all the diverse locations to explore, the rich history; no other MMO has really come close to capturing those elements together with solid mechanics, modding, etc… I swore up and down that GW2 would be the holy grail of MMOs and despite putting almost 1000 hours into the game, the story just didn’t do anything for me. And I can run through all the other MMOs that failed in various ways, but suffice it to say they all had me returning to WoW for one reason or another.
Anyway, I am stoked about the expansion! It is kind of lame that we have to do the whole time twisty/time travel thing, but I think it’s totally worth it if it’s the only way we would be able to see Draenor in its heyday. Everything else is just icing on the cake.
The only question that remains is: when is this badboy going to ship? Summer 2014? Please Blizzard?
Not quite. You get a one-time free pass to the start of the WoD expansion. Still have to crank out the last 10 levels.
I really would like to see them implement the ability to skip to 90 on as many characters as you like. It’s optional (even the one they currently plan to give you is optional), so those who enjoy leveling could do so, and those who don’t could get right to the new content.
And now that I’ve said that, I won’t be surprised at all if you can auto-level as many characters as you like to 90…for a fee. Given that it sounds like it works similar to the other character services (like hair/name/race/faction changes), it should be relatively easy for them to introduce it as a pay service. If so, it will be hugely successful.
This really describes it perfectly. Other games have a few elements that are cool and new, but no other MMO, and certainly none of the ones you list, is anywhere near WoW in terms of top-to-bottom excellence. The amount of effort and thought they put into class and instance design is just phenomenal. A friend is playing GW2 now and it is just embarrassing how uneven the classes are.
That said, I’m not playing WoW right now, nor any other MMO. At this point in my life, I can’t really see myself playing one for more than a few months at a time. New MMOs and expansions come out, and have some improvements here and there, but they are still the same basic formula. I also just don’t want to devote that much time to a single game any more. I’ve been there and done that, and now I’d like to do other things with my life. Maybe if I develop some illness that makes me bedridden.
Am I the only one who notices a faint echo of “pre-empting Wildstar” with this expansion?