I can probably predict about 90% of the items that will be in the next expansion, three expansions down the road (dust, essence, shard, crystal, crafting bop item, new cloth, 3 types of ore etc etc etc... pretty sad really) because it's always the exact same thing wrapped up in different names and with bigger and bigger numbers. That said, it's still a very addicting game that I play a lot - not sure if fun or just addicting but I slave away at it nonetheless.
What's interesting is that the Pandarans now have by far the most accessable point of view for new players trying to understand the world they find themselves in.
What they've done with it is sad. Almost all player choice is gone, at least compared to what it used to be.
Its now something any 9 year old can pick up and play, which truthfully it always was. But its emphasis is almost all focused on that simplicity of play.
Gone are a lot of the deep choices and complexity of play, cause it might be just a little too confusing for their new pre-teen target audience.
Sad.
Sad Panda...pfft.
Agree to some degree ... but still love Wow along with Swtor. This 2 for now covers all my gaming needs for years to come. Have high hopes for FF 14, Wildstar, ... and always looking for something new for love of trying ...
Being someone who has played since second phase closed beta way back, MoP is perhaps my favorite expansion to date. It's a shame there's a lot of pig headed people out there who xenophobically judge content without trying it, but it's just how the world is.
The story in MoP really is pretty great. When I read such things as "all you do is click an exclamation point", I laugh a little inside knowing that said person probably quit several expansions ago. The story is vibrant in a lot of ways, and during quests -- through the use of phasing and other technologies -- story does unfold in a lot of ways. They are like mini epics of sorts, and persisted to be as patches were released. Each zone had it's own grand storyline along with many side quests; a lot of cutscenes and NPC character movement and voice acting.
There has been so much blood shed in this expansion, so much sorrow and agony; the bright place you arrive at started to decline with the destruction of an entire area due to your actions at level 85 or so when trying to figure out what this place was. Then all out war and bloodshed; other areas being destroyed or taken over by the emotions that came from the hatred of people and their prejudices. Many areas also had facelifts due to the actions in game, and each patch adds onto the war and leads the story in new directions.
It's just a shame when human nature and ignorance is cast by so many people as they let their feelings ruin things for them; their natural urge to always think themselves right based on past experiences without judging the here and now. I'm sure there are some who played it all, have ilvls of 550 or whatnot and think this expansion is only "okay" or "could be better". But I'm willing to say that I honestly believe most haters on here don't have a level 90 and haven't finished all of the zone's stories and delved into the new stories with the patches with some of the things spouted here.
The subscriber base hasn't even declined all that much when compared to Cataclysm and it's near 13 million subscribers falling down to near nine million at one point. 7.7 million with MoP seems like a pretty average decline when it comes to expansions, with this one having greater age going against it than the others had to contend with (not to mention xenophobic attitudes that followed MoP's announcement).
I really don't like defending Blizzard nowadays what with feeling betrayed with what some things they have done lately. Though as a whole some corrections need to be made when such things as "what story?" pop up when it should be obvious to anyone who played this expansion in whole. They may not like the story, but they cannot deny it's there and recognize the way it was presented to the players.
Due to frequent travel in my youth, English isn't something I consider my primary language (and thus I obtained quirky ways of writing). German and French were always easier for me despite my family being U.S. citizens for over a century. Spanish I learned as a requirement in school, Japanese and Korean I acquired for my youthful desire of anime and gaming (and also work now). I only debate in English to help me work with it (and limit things). In addition, I'm not smart enough to remain fluent in everything and typically need exposure to get in the groove of things again if I haven't heard it in a while. If you understand Mandarin, I know a little, but it has actually been a challenge and could use some help.
Also, I thoroughly enjoy debates and have accounts on over a dozen sites for this. If you wish to engage in such, please put effort in a post and provide sources -- I will then do the same with what I already wrote (if I didn't) as well as with my responses to your own. Expanding my information on a subject makes my stance either change or strengthen the next time I speak of it or write a thesis. Allow me to thank you sincerely for your time.
Someone still cares about World of Warcraft? That honestly is a surprise. I thought Blizzard had alienated pretty much everyone with WoTLK and Cataclysm.
Amazed at all the hate not related to the topic at all. WoW still has more subs than the next THREE MMO's put together.
As for story - couldn't care a less about it. I make up my own story as I go along. I've recently re-subbed WoW after beibng away a couple of years and it's still fun. Payed originally in the BETA before vanilla release. left twice and resubbed twice since then (1st time before BC when I had completely finished everything there was to do in the game)
But story. Nah. You know what. I have no idea what the Burning Crusade was...likewise not a clue who the Lich King is or was, what caused Cataclysm or why there are Pandas in the game - and I have absolutely zero interest in ever finding out. I skip quest text as quickly as I can click off it and get back to PLAYING THE GAME to me the story adds nothing what-so-ever.
It's a game I play. I PvE with the same guild I PvE's with almost 10 years ago when it formed. 102 members, of which over 50 have been in and out of the game since before BC. We have our OWN stories.
Playing a game brings it's own STRONG emergent narrative. I don't need to be TOLD no steeeking story!
The game is about what WE do. If I want to hear about what some cartoon faced guy does? I'll watch a cartoon - for proper stories I have a huge book and Blu Ray collection.
Being someone who has played since second phase closed beta way back, MoP is perhaps my favorite expansion to date. It's a shame there's a lot of pig headed people out there who xenophobically judge content without trying it, but it's just how the world is.
The story in MoP really is pretty great. When I read such things as "all you do is click an exclamation point", I laugh a little inside knowing that said person probably quit several expansions ago.
Yaevindusk;
I do not disparage upon your enjoyment of what you like, and if you enjoy how WoW has evolved you don't have to defend it to anyone, its your money, your time, spend it as befits what you want to do. WoW has been a commercial success for a very long time and you like what they're giving you, but as one poster said already, just because its a commercial success does not mean I or anyone else should be part of their consumer base. Loyalty is a virtue to be sure, but when it becomes blind tribalism it becomes a prison and a vice.
So when you "laugh inside" and otherwise prance about calling those who don't like it "pig headed" you're every bit as prejudiced as what you claim yourself to be above. Saying its shameful how others refuse to embrace the virtues of WoW such as you have and let their feelings blind them is stunningly hypocritical. Such polarized tribal thinking is far more "pig headed" because it's based upon the satisfaction of masturbating the ego by "being one of the winners", such thinking can't handle the notion that its "not one of the winners/believers" , seeking to convert to be like you for everyone else is wrong in not seeing what you do. A philosophy and world outlook very similar to how Jihadists think.
Even peace may be purchased at too high a price, and the only time you are completely safe is when you lie in the grave.
Unfortunately for you, you used the word "jihadist," which will likely nullify your eloquent and insightful point, and reduce your post to racially charged babble in the eyes of the majority of people.
LMAO. Great story? They took an april fool's easter egg race, and because one of the designers really liked pandas, they decided to put a race in the game and build the story around it. That is what we call putting the cart before the horse. That is pretty much bad design no matter how you slice it. You should put story first and find your new races and classes as they occur naturally in the story.
This.
Its impressive, I'll grant you that, what the dev team did with such a completely ludicrous premise. Let's see, a race of animated pandas who practice martial arts. Starting from *that*, why NOT have them adopt the cultural memes of ancient China. But none of it has the slightest connection to the existing lore - the much vaunted Easter egg notwithstanding. I think this is why the focus has shifted so much back towards the Horde and the Alliance, is that they at least have some continuity with the story to date - the Warcraft story. The Pandas always were and will remain an irrelevant sideshow, however much the Blizzard polish is applied.
Comments
Agree to some degree ... but still love Wow along with Swtor. This 2 for now covers all my gaming needs for years to come. Have high hopes for FF 14, Wildstar, ... and always looking for something new for love of trying ...
Being someone who has played since second phase closed beta way back, MoP is perhaps my favorite expansion to date. It's a shame there's a lot of pig headed people out there who xenophobically judge content without trying it, but it's just how the world is.
The story in MoP really is pretty great. When I read such things as "all you do is click an exclamation point", I laugh a little inside knowing that said person probably quit several expansions ago. The story is vibrant in a lot of ways, and during quests -- through the use of phasing and other technologies -- story does unfold in a lot of ways. They are like mini epics of sorts, and persisted to be as patches were released. Each zone had it's own grand storyline along with many side quests; a lot of cutscenes and NPC character movement and voice acting.
There has been so much blood shed in this expansion, so much sorrow and agony; the bright place you arrive at started to decline with the destruction of an entire area due to your actions at level 85 or so when trying to figure out what this place was. Then all out war and bloodshed; other areas being destroyed or taken over by the emotions that came from the hatred of people and their prejudices. Many areas also had facelifts due to the actions in game, and each patch adds onto the war and leads the story in new directions.
It's just a shame when human nature and ignorance is cast by so many people as they let their feelings ruin things for them; their natural urge to always think themselves right based on past experiences without judging the here and now. I'm sure there are some who played it all, have ilvls of 550 or whatnot and think this expansion is only "okay" or "could be better". But I'm willing to say that I honestly believe most haters on here don't have a level 90 and haven't finished all of the zone's stories and delved into the new stories with the patches with some of the things spouted here.
The subscriber base hasn't even declined all that much when compared to Cataclysm and it's near 13 million subscribers falling down to near nine million at one point. 7.7 million with MoP seems like a pretty average decline when it comes to expansions, with this one having greater age going against it than the others had to contend with (not to mention xenophobic attitudes that followed MoP's announcement).
I really don't like defending Blizzard nowadays what with feeling betrayed with what some things they have done lately. Though as a whole some corrections need to be made when such things as "what story?" pop up when it should be obvious to anyone who played this expansion in whole. They may not like the story, but they cannot deny it's there and recognize the way it was presented to the players.
Amazed at all the hate not related to the topic at all. WoW still has more subs than the next THREE MMO's put together.
As for story - couldn't care a less about it. I make up my own story as I go along. I've recently re-subbed WoW after beibng away a couple of years and it's still fun. Payed originally in the BETA before vanilla release. left twice and resubbed twice since then (1st time before BC when I had completely finished everything there was to do in the game)
But story. Nah. You know what. I have no idea what the Burning Crusade was...likewise not a clue who the Lich King is or was, what caused Cataclysm or why there are Pandas in the game - and I have absolutely zero interest in ever finding out. I skip quest text as quickly as I can click off it and get back to PLAYING THE GAME to me the story adds nothing what-so-ever.
It's a game I play. I PvE with the same guild I PvE's with almost 10 years ago when it formed. 102 members, of which over 50 have been in and out of the game since before BC. We have our OWN stories.
Playing a game brings it's own STRONG emergent narrative. I don't need to be TOLD no steeeking story!
The game is about what WE do. If I want to hear about what some cartoon faced guy does? I'll watch a cartoon - for proper stories I have a huge book and Blu Ray collection.
Yaevindusk;
I do not disparage upon your enjoyment of what you like, and if you enjoy how WoW has evolved you don't have to defend it to anyone, its your money, your time, spend it as befits what you want to do. WoW has been a commercial success for a very long time and you like what they're giving you, but as one poster said already, just because its a commercial success does not mean I or anyone else should be part of their consumer base. Loyalty is a virtue to be sure, but when it becomes blind tribalism it becomes a prison and a vice.
So when you "laugh inside" and otherwise prance about calling those who don't like it "pig headed" you're every bit as prejudiced as what you claim yourself to be above. Saying its shameful how others refuse to embrace the virtues of WoW such as you have and let their feelings blind them is stunningly hypocritical. Such polarized tribal thinking is far more "pig headed" because it's based upon the satisfaction of masturbating the ego by "being one of the winners", such thinking can't handle the notion that its "not one of the winners/believers" , seeking to convert to be like you for everyone else is wrong in not seeing what you do. A philosophy and world outlook very similar to how Jihadists think.
Even peace may be purchased at too high a price, and the only time you are completely safe is when you lie in the grave.
Unfortunately for you, you used the word "jihadist," which will likely nullify your eloquent and insightful point, and reduce your post to racially charged babble in the eyes of the majority of people.
This.
Its impressive, I'll grant you that, what the dev team did with such a completely ludicrous premise. Let's see, a race of animated pandas who practice martial arts. Starting from *that*, why NOT have them adopt the cultural memes of ancient China. But none of it has the slightest connection to the existing lore - the much vaunted Easter egg notwithstanding. I think this is why the focus has shifted so much back towards the Horde and the Alliance, is that they at least have some continuity with the story to date - the Warcraft story. The Pandas always were and will remain an irrelevant sideshow, however much the Blizzard polish is applied.