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not really impressed so far
itgrowls
Member Posts: 2,951
so i've been watching videos of this beta for some time. I was shocked to see they actually had a beta so quickly as Blizzard's track record speaks for itself on how slow they have been for years.
From what i've seen nothing has changed a bit. They added some abilities most of which are completely useless on classes i used to enjoy (like the other two ability choices other then murder of crows for hunter, which basically increases hunter damage or has an extremely short second pet duration) useless.....
300k beta testers are playing this right now, i do hope this isn't an indication of the number of people (expanded of course) that will be playing it into the future because companies really need to learn that the same old crap won't do. But, i can't force people to not play or boycott when it's crap, just look at other more recent titles from other companies people are still paying them.
Is anyone else severely disappointed by Blizzards lack of concern for their game or is it just those of us for whom this game was our gateway into the mmo genre?
Comments
I didn't really expect much to be changing with this expansion. Though WoW was not my gateway MMO, it was for many people, and it has become a staple for the type of MMO that they expect (this does not apply to everyone). Blizzard is known for a very 'If it isn't broke, don't fix it" style, at least at it's core. The continued success (granted, it's much less now, and in a state of decline) of WoW was due to the fact that, the majority of the playerbase, wanted WoW. There are plenty of people who did not like changes made, yet stilled played the game since it wasn't a total redo.
I think you have to evaluate your expectations. I mean I want to play MoP as well but I do not expect the game world to be turned over. Even Cata, despite the major terrain changes, didn't change much in the way that the game actually played. I would go into MoP expecting everything that was there before and a little Monk extra. A few character animation additions and various new Max Lvl features - Pokemon Battles and your little farm. Some new skills and a couple of samey heroics/raids.
I wouldn't expect much out of in terms of end game content but I expect a lot from the "things to do outside of raiding, farming and dailies" part of the team and look foward to those types of announcements.
If you'd gone in thinking WoW is going to be a new game you might be in for a shock. XD
Play for fun. Play to win. Play for perfection. Play with friends. Play in another world. Why do you play?
im looking forward to MoP although i agree with you that companies need to learn the same old crap wont do. The problem lies with players. We complain that the companies have to learn that the same crap wont do, but then we keep paying for the same crap that wont do. Then why do we complain about it?
When we complain about a company doing it wrong and then we grab the credit card to pay them we are showing the developers that we are weak idiotic beings that they can controll our wallets.
1 action is worth more than 1000s of words.
Just like EA, the entire gaming world complain that they nickle and dime their customers, but they keep wanting to be nickled and dimed. Shame on us
Not at all, but improvements to gameplay would very much be appreciated, it doesn't take much to make people happy who play WoW. Just look at when they lost 1.9 million subs and they suddenly decided to put in cosmetics for the RP players. My observation is simply, wouldn't it be better if they did do things like that, using the $15 a month to be a little more constructive instead of waiting till they lose subs like that as motivation?
completely agree, i mean, how many people were paying for the final beta (called Launch by EA/BW) of SWTOR even tho they were complaining they said things like "i've paid for three months, won't be back until month 3 to see what they changed" doesn't do a darn thing.
To put it simply:
MoP = LAME
The lameness can be excused (we're kind of used to it these days with Blizzard dumbing down and ruining what was once a great game), more worrying is the way gold sellers and hackers are ignored by Blizzard - while honest players continually see their accounts hacked while Blizzard does nothing.
MoP would have been funny if it was a joke. But the fact it's reality just makes me wonder wtf are blizzard thinking....
They suddenly decided to change their target audience to 8-12 year olds.
So far the only content in this expansion seems to be kung-fu pandas, very dumbed down talent trees and some kind of pokemon like system. When you take subscription money and then pump out crap content like that, totaly alienating old players, it's no wonder they are loosing 100,000s of subscriptions per quarter. To top it off, they seem unable to comprehend just how crap it is, as they are blaming the loss on people just getting bored of the game.
But at the same time, they also had over 1M people sign up for a 1 year subscription. (and that is only from the USA and EU).
I think Blizzard figured out their mistakes from Cata ( too much dev time went into the revamp of 1-60 and the big thing was the drastic increase in difficulty of heroics). They lost less than 2m of 12M subscribers and are still sitting at around 10M.
And that is the problem.... 10M subscribers (1M who signed up for a year subscription).. is a lot of happy players. Despite what people on a fansite think.. it would be an absolutely STUPID thing to do to drastically change anything about the game. Gameplay should be similar, but just add new features and systems.
I think Pandas are sily.. not something I would have preferred. The pokemon thing looks interesting just as a side feature.. But really for me.. they are adding 7 new quest zones packed full of content, they are adding a crapload of new dungeons, heroics and raids. They are adding single-player dungeons for the first time. They are adding pve scenerios for the first time. (the last two look really awesome). They are adding a new class, the Monk that I like
And you see, that is enough for the 10M players.. new zones to quest through, new dungeons and raids.. a few new systems that I like ( 1 man dungeons, scenerios, Monks), 1 that I am neutral about ( pokemon) and one feature I don´t really like ( Pandas). They are adding a lot on top of a game that I already like (along with 10M others).
Why in the world would they drastically change things and risk alienating those 10M players. Ask UO how well it worked out when they changed on a dime from skill based to item based system in AOS: Ask SWG how well NGE worked out when they radically changed the game. You end up not getting new players and pissing off your current players at the same time.
You just don´t make stupid gambles like that when you have 10M people paying a subscription every month. Maybe when your game is falling apart like AOC or Warhammer you can be radical, because you have nothing to lose. Name a game that drastically changed years after being live, and I´ll show you a game that was so low in subscribers it had nothing left to lose.
My reaction to pandas in WoW..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3A8bb9qHhHw
Apparently kids dont like Pandas nearly as much as we all thought.
WoW is a great game...many long hours of enjoyment. Can't wait to be a Panda gal.
For me, it's hard to get hyped up about it since I already know how the story goes: level, then hop on the same old hamster wheel. They may surprise me and put something fun in the game or even a new type of hamster wheel, so I'll keep tabs on it, but chances are I won't be buying it at release.
This quest (and much more like this one) just made me sick of leveling...
http://youtu.be/xo9jBnk-Ieo
Next time I get quest similar to this, I'll delete beta.
Did you guys actually try out the beta?
I am giving it a try but having a problem getting into the pandaren starter zone. I am trying out an orc monk, but I am having lots of bugs with the client in general (some sounds are not playing, and the NPC names keep toggling off for some reason).
Other than that, I hope they add some more details to the ability tooltips of the monk. Seems like a decent class though.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
Haha after Cata Expansions, I just realised that all Blizz quest are the same old shit with different skins.
They make billions and they still doing the same old shit.
Its mind blowing that 10 million people still can do the same thing over and over again.
I hope GW2 will steal a lot of WOW players.
Than maybe Blizz will throw 2 month profits =100 million to WOW and fking innovate.
Pardon my English as it is not my 1st language
I hope not. I hope GW2 not steal Wow players. If you played Wow, u know what I'm taking. I rather prefer game with normal people and healthy community, more than rage kids and virgins a.k.a. pro players from Wow.
It looks my tooltips on my monk quip might have been due to the streaming client not loading them in fully when I played the first time. I got some better tooltips later yesterday. It is a good thing because I didn't have any information like energy costs or chi costs when I played the first time.
I am still having a heck of a lot of bugs that are not in the normal game. Is anyone else having this issue?
To those who say it is just the same game different skin, uhhh... why do you expect that to be any different? It is an EXPANSION pack after all. It is not a brand new game. Already a lot of players thought it was controversial that the old world got so changed in Cataclysm, how do you think the majority of players would react to major changes to how the game plays? They probably wouldn't be too happy.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
Agreed. I already cancelled my wow sub and have pre purchased gw2 (already played in the bwe1 and in the stresstest). Though its annoying that wow devs continue to change wow with every expansion, the difference from inovation and change is that the changes done to wow I believe have not inovated the game (i.e. made it better), but quite the opposite. With all their millinos in revenue (though 10m subs, over half are in China with dif sub model than NA) and all they come up with is MoP? It's highly dissapointing. Again, I'm not asking for change for the sake of change, I'm asking for inovation, improvement in the gameplay. wow should take a lesson from Rift, I've never seen devs churn out so much new/dif content in so little time.
wow has at the most, around 3m subs in NA, another 2/3m in EU and approx 5/6m in China/Asia. I say in 1 to 2 years wow will be either B2P and/or F2P
^this
i don't play wow anymore, makes my stomach turn just to think of it. however, its a solid, polished game with a great track record.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
this^
WoW is a solid game, it does what it does, its not going to change so much as to inspire us all a second time.
MoP will be intersting enough for me for 1 month I'm sure - then its back to full time GW2. ( assuming its out... )
I believe that MoP will be the worst selling wow expansion. No doubt Blizzard will come up with a shananigan to sell MoP; an annual pass, another of their games for free or something to the effect. Sad when you pretty much have to bribe your playerbase to keep buying your game; of course, I wonder if its even more sad that we're all falling for it.
If Blizzard does not get its act together, wow will very soon be left behind, as in graphics, inovation, and gameplay.
While I am not amped about MoP, I think a lack of quality MMO's means MoP will do better than it prob should.
I think blizz marketing strategies are clever - BUT they're not forcing anyone to buy anything - I think ppl will continue to level their mains with MoP because one thing they are sure of with WoW is quality, a solid game, and a chance to catch up with old friends.
I pretty much agree with you there. Though by making old content essentially useless, in a way, if you play wow, you have to get the newest expansion or you have no hope of truly enjoying the game. Unlike with GW2, old content will always remain releveant and "new" (ever changing DEs).
While I have no clue how good the expansion are, MMO players will always buy the latest expansion to the game they play.
We are wired that way, and since getting to the endgame is fast you would otherwise be stuck alone doing dated content. If the expansion is bad enough the game might loose players, but everyone will buy the expansion.
However, WoW has done a decent job of updating the "dated content" by having the events of Cataclysm occur. At least prior to D3's launch, I came across quite a few alts being rolled. With MoP, there were be even more alts rolled as people try out the new pandaren areas and the monk class. Unlike in EQ2, WoW has had constant low level material added or changed.
They should add some more material to the TBC level ranges. To me the stalest part of WoW is TBC, and WotLK gets a bit drab too. The level 1-60 is one of the best parts still because there are so many areas to choose from.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
I think they really should revamp the entire level system. Cut down it to 40 levels or so and increase the leveling time with say 20%. That would give you a lot more choices what to do at each level and you would have more fun when leveling up, and it would be easier to get real groups for lower level content. The more level you have the harder it is to find a good group for whatever you want to play under max level.
I never gotten why MMOs should have 80-100 levels, it just split up the game more and makes it harder to find people to ply with.
Of course a revamp like that would be plenty of work but I think it would be worth it, it would particularly make the game a lot more fun for new players and Wow are not as good attracting them now as it once were. Add a graphical update and some DEs and I think subs could start to rise again.
As for EQ2 it still adds plenty of lower level content, and this update would really work well for EQ2 as well.
The issue with MMOs that EQ showed us is that when you increase the levelcap more and more leveling becomes empty and less fun. Lowering the XP for each level does not really help and he game starts to get fewer and fewer new players. This happened to EQ around 2002-2003 and it have happened to Wow and EQ2 as well now.
Revamping lower zones like Blizz did with Cata is not a bad idea but they should have changed the leveling while they were at it.