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Expansion
Kindelnol
Member Posts: 62
The reason this expansion seems lacking, does not revolve around the content itself, in my opinion. To be honest, the content seemed just fine. I think the problem lies in the time it took them to release it. Taking a look at the content they added, it seems to lack in respect to the more than two years it took them to release TBC.
People that argue this as being a great expansion often bring up the fact of new territories. Unfortunately, almost every MMO expansion seems to bring new territories, so this is really nothing special.
Others argue that they introduced more world PvP. This game lacks in that department already though, thus making their new PvP seem unimpressive. Frankly, it is nothing that impressive.
They did increase the level cap, which was a great move, but again, many games do this for their expansions.
New races were introduced. I think this is probably the best feature they added with only one drawback – once you hit 20 (or a level within that area) you return to the same game.
New cities and instances are a plus, but really not that overwhelming in uniqueness. The instances are fine, but they still meet a similar problem as they did pre-TBC, where raiders get the best benefit, though, at a price some of them don’t even want to pay.
Another addition commonly cited is flying mounts. There are a few problems with this though. First, I recall this being on the shelf since beta. Many people anticipated it sooner. Another problem is that one can only do it in Outlands, not that one would really need to elsewhere, but it would certainly be a plus. Finally, steeds are not that innovative. I am not saying they aren’t necessary for a game like this. What I am saying is their novelty wears off extremely fast. I got my steed and felt pretty good for a couple of days, then it just felt like just another steed. They really don’t remain appealing for very long, despite some thinking they will.
Now, overall, these are not that bad. The problem is, unless you are a raider or into the arena, this content flies by in only a couple months. I finished in about a month, and had nothing left to do. I remember people saying that 60-70 will take just as long as 1-59. This is not true at all though. It took me far longer to get my first character to 60 then it took me to get my first to 70. It is just another 10, easy levels.
It took them two years to release this all. The problem is that more was expected in the amount of time it took. You see, many other games keep you for a while, then release an expansion and seem like an entirely new game. This is not so with TBC. It seems like a small extension at best. The content itself works fine, but not after a two year wait. Due to the wait, the content often takes the blame as being the problem. In respect to the time, it is the problem, but it is not the sole issue here.
It won’t take another couple of years to finish everything, for most (casuals at least), it will take a few more months I would say. Blizzard is not exactly known for their speed of release on products either. The stuff they added seemed more like really good content patches (not that they really give those either), or an expansion that should have been released a year ago.
They needed to truly raise the standard with the expansion, but instead it just created a brand new endgame, even more pointless than the last, and two brand new beginnings. This just doesn’t seem like a two year project to me.
Comments
Some rave about the new content, but it's actually a rather small expansion. By 64 a friend had every part of Outland mapped that could be without a flying mount. TBC would of been good at WoW Year One, but it seems rather lacking for a 2+ year work.
I've said it before but I'll say it again, Horde pallies and Alliance shamans were Blizzard's way of being lazy and making a "new" class without having to actually design one. Next expansion they need to get off their creative butts and add a new class (or two). Hopefully though the 2nd expansion will arrive before 2010.