World of Warcraft: Progression of the Game

Admin

One of our new writers David Souza has completed his write-up on the current state of World of Warcraft and the path it has taken to this point.  A preview is below:

Many gamers have been floored by the myriad elements that make up WoW, whether it's the stunning graphics, visceral sounds or fast-paced combat. Another thing that excited many gamers at launch was the promise of monthly content updates. Those who have played other MMOs know well the anticipation that can slowly turn into annoyance as long awaited updates and patches drag on for months at a time. The ambiguity of "It's coming soon," seems to have worn a permanent numbness into the gamer psyche. So you may ask, "How well has Blizzard delivered on their monthly content updates?" The simple answer is: they haven't. In fact, a couple months post launch some players challenged Blizzard as to their promise on scheduled updates. Official Blizzard posters denied making such claims but were quickly pointed to their own website where, in plain text, monthly content updates were promised. After some backtracking Blizzard announced that they would not be able to keep to a definitive content update schedule.

To read the full article, click here.

Amathe

This is a good article.  It is fair and balanced - a real step up from some others I have seen.

There is one point it overlooks that is important to many WoW players (and with increasing frequency former WoW players such as myself). To its credit, WoW offers an abundance of content for its level 1-59 players. Also to its credit, much of that content can be enjoyed as a solo character, in duos, or in small intimate groups. This is one of the ways in which WoW is a casual friendly game, and much of the game's success owes to it being casual player friendly.

However, when a character reaches level 60, the game basically says to you "regardless of how you got here, from now on you have three choices: (1) roll an alt and replay the game; (2) join a raid guild and become a dedicated raider; or (3) learn to like PvP. That's it. If you don't prefer one of those three things, buh bye.

Lack of 60+ content that is similar to level 1-59 content is the absolute #1 reason people quit this game. And yet, there is nothing contemplated for the future to remedy that. The WoW website is bereft of promised content for the enormous number of 60+ PvE soloers, duos, and small groups. Many posters, myself included, have repeatedly asked "what about those of us who don't prefer the three options listed above?" The community managers have been utterly reticient on that topic.

This issue is an important one, in my opinion, and worthy of mention.

Other than that, I enjoyed the article and throught it fairly covered the major issues in World of Warcraft.

 

Hunnenkoenig

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JestorRodo

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Originally posted by Hunnenkoenig

"Be prepared fellow gamers, the future of World of WarCraft is a bright one."
 
*yawn*
I think not....

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              perhaps its a matter of no thinking at all on your part , friend . Your post invites a flame back but if you would like to elaborate why you think not  maybe we may agree with your agruement.

Harafnir

Looking back at past releases, and how the consumer base has fluctuated depending on the evolution of the game, I must say I agree with your viewpoint. When.. somewhere far into the future... they manage to solve the server problems, the lack of costumer support, and have at least semistable patching of the game... and they release a massive expansion on the shelves.... We will see a billion and five both old and new players invading the servers and this time, they might even be able to keep them. But yes, this really is just the beginning of the game, even if quite a long one.

It was a good read, looking at the problems with open eyes and without trying to sound allknowing (like others in this thread), and I can only say that I agree. Good work.

Hunnenkoenig

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JestorRodo

Yes , and some MMPOG never learn from their mistakes  -