Comments on: WoW: Grump of The Ghoul Regent – Dated

By: Dan Milburn

Dan Milburn — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:57:08 +0000

Raiding was always a means to an end: gear for PvP

This was never meant to be the case in WoW. It happened for a while before the expansion, when raid loot was getting better and better while the PvP gear didn’t, but that was a mistake, which the designers rectified. Last time I checked, which was a few months ago when I stopped playing, the gear which was good for PvP was acquired through PvP, and the gear which was good for raiding was acquired through raiding. Which is the way it should be.

I simply don’t understand why people continue to moan about the designer’s vision of the game differing from their own, when it’s been like this literally since the game launched several years ago. They have the most profitable computer game ever. They’re not going to change their philosophy now unless there’s a massive reduction in subscribers, and even then I can guarantee it won’t be towards more PvP. PvP focused MMOs just don’t have the same mass appeal.

By: malkav11

malkav11 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:02:12 +0000

It’s not even a question for me. Quite aside from the fact that WAR has made a lot of improvements on the WoW PvE formula as I last experienced it (which was years ago, so for all I know it’s done many of those things, and will do more with Wrath), Blizzard lost me as a customer with their poor customer service handling.

I never stopped loving WoW. I just can’t justify going back.

By: Gorgeras

Gorgeras — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:59:42 +0000

Erlam nails it. When Jeff Kaplan spoke about the raiding issues he said “Our statistics show Karazhan is our most popular instance” when of course this doesn’t include PvP instances like Arena or Alterac Valley which people grind all day. He’s comparing PvE raid instances with PvE non-raid instances and definately leaving out open-world activity.

I think most people are cottoning on to the distortion and are angry at the very coercive nature of WoW where it’s ‘raid or grind or die’. Raiding was always a means to an end: gear for PvP. It had limited value in itself except for the likes of Kaplan, who hates any kind of real competitive play.

By: Marcelo

Marcelo — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:42:50 +0000

Lets hear it for the justification of our pre-orders / purchase of a game by razzing the already established successful compeition with pointless and baseless reasons [Opinions for the sensitive]. Hip hip hooray..

By: Erlam

Erlam — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:44:29 +0000

“It’s an interesting model that clearly can’t be used everywhere but it’s slick and makes for a very different experience.”

So it’s like the first few levels of the Lord of the Rings game?

Personally, I’ll wait awhile before I decide on getting the expansion or not. I’m looking more forward to Warhammer. I’m just tired of being told I should be raiding by Blizzard. Fuck off, I don’t raid, stop pretending any sort of majority does.

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:04:52 +0000

@Stuart W

Ah, now I understand what you were getting at better, I do in fact agree entirely. :)

By: Konky Dong 21: Ralph Nader Approves This Message

Konky Dong 21: Ralph Nader Approves This Message — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:18:13 +0000

It’s going to be interesting to see how the public takes in WotLK. Unlike Burning Crusade, WotLK really is just more of the same. I hit 77 in the beta awhile back and haven’t played it since, I don’t even know if I’m going to buy it at this point. I think Blizzard has really reached the limit of what they can accomplish with WoW’s engine and WoW’s raid/dungeon PvE style of play. I’m really looking forward to their next MMO, I think they’ve learned a lot with WoW and will make something truly fantastic.

By: Gorgeras

Gorgeras — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:01:44 +0000

Press release is poopy. WoW release in Europe in jan/feb 2005. Open beta was in december 2004.

Anyways, nothing can tempt be back to that game now. Mythic have at least bothered to deliver on their promises of Order VS Destruction. Blizzard were advertising WoW as an Alliance VS Horde PvP-fest from 2003 to 2005 and never delivered and had no intention of doing. They still don’t.

It’s a game that completely defeats the point of the ‘massively’ component of an MMO.

By: Jayof9s

Jayof9s — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:05:07 +0000

Eh, I just got done with a 2 month return tour of wow (hadn’t been on since right before BC after having spent around 2 years playing + time in beta a small gap before that). I don’t see myself returning for Wrath, BC did nothing new in terms of quests/instances/pvp. I felt like I was doing the same things I had done to death at 60 and leveling. Also, the player base seems to have collapsed, which says a lot; the players were pretty awful 2-3 years ago and they manage to be worse now, even with all the hand outs. Its not a game that even requires any skill to play, yet people continue to prove how hard they can fail at simple tasks. (edit: Not to say there are no good players but they’re even fewer and further in between then in the past.)
Wrath will probably be about the same, but with a new class that will be flooding the servers. Its going to be like a TF2 class update but last more then a few weeks and be on servers with thousands of people. No thanks.
And I’m sure War is great but I’m better off not finding an MMO to play. So while I’m free and clear of WoW once again, I think I’ll avoid trying it in the off chance I do really like it. That and with MMOs it seems there’s not a ton of ‘end game’ content for several months to a year down the road. And I *hate* leveling. So that would leave me very little if I started playing at release.

By: Mark Stephenson

Mark Stephenson — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:02:50 +0000

The Deathknight section is a phased instance.

Basically that means the instance environment changes as you progress along the way.

For example when you first start the valley below you is full of humans and houses are intact. After you finish the fifth or so quest you return to the valley and the houses are destroyed and the humans are “running to the hills” and this keeps happening every 3 or 4 missions until the whole area is devoid of like.

A level 70 who visits the area sees nothing but a wasteland as to them it all happened a long time ago.

Technically however everyone is still runing around like a mad bastard, you just can’t see them.

It’s an interesting model that clearly can’t be used everywhere but it’s slick and makes for a very different experience.

By: Seniath

Seniath — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:36:51 +0000

@The Hammer: Likewise, I’ll be levelling my Warlock first, but since I don’t plan to return to raiding this time (well, at least not 25 mans) I’ll probably start a Death Knight a month or so down the line. Should’ve quietened down a bit by then.

By: Ketch

Ketch — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:32:52 +0000

If your pc was a bit more, as they say, good, maybe you’d get to play death night and miss the lag both at once eh GRANT?

(My apologies Mr. Hammer, I could not resist!)
[insert distatsteful joke about his mother here]