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Why do I have to buy WotLK to play Cataclysm?
Blackfire1
Member UncommonPosts: 116
I can honestly say in the history of expansion style MMO's I have never had to buy an older xpack to play content from a newer. I've always just been neglected the content from the older package.
EQ, DAOC, Ultima Online, City of heros/villians. They all did this. I like choices. I have no interest in playing any content from Wrath of the Lich King. So why am I being pigeon holed?
Why break tradition. Was it strictly a monetary reason? Is ~$150 Million a month not enough money? Perhaps a coding reason. This I can understand. The fact I'm one person stuck in this situation means there are others.
So why? I honestly want to know why I wasted my money on a game I can't play.
Comments
I'm trying to figure out how you intend to play the new Cataclysm content without a character that is level 80.
Because the cap gets raised, in each expansion. Which is why you need the last expansion to get the next expansion. It is just how it works in wow.
It's likely due to an agreement between retailers and publishers.
Retailers have to buy the game wholesale to sit on their shelves waiting for people to buy them. If the expansions didn't require you to buy everything before, everytime an expansion came out then retailers would be stuck with a bunch of junk game boxes they can't sell anymore.
I don't agree with the practice personally, but I can definitely understand why they do it.
It's probably a coding reason, but like how EQ did they would eventually put all that code from xpacks out into the main code of the game and you could skip expansions (like I did all after Lost Dungeons of Norrath).
But a lot of Cata's features are just live now anyway right? Probably missing out on cap increase and some later dungeons.
The cap increase doesn't make much sence. People buy xpacks for conent. Not for an extra 4-5 hours of leveling. At least I hope not.
Any more good ideas as to why?
Be back later.
Why, why oh why oh why oh why... WHY!?!?
Why, why, why, why, why...
Got me...
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
I understand OP's point.
In almost all other games you had to buy the main game but the expansions were seperate. Each added something to the overall experiance.
From what I have heard you still get many of the changes associated with the expansion without having to buy this latest one.
Most games with new expansions and especially ones with new characters have new areas added thru the complete leveling curve from 1 to the new max. This is obviously blizzard's way of trying to squeeze out every last bit of development $ it cost for Cata and ROTLK.
I personally frown on this way of doing business. I would much preferr there to be really great reasons to get an older expansion such as EPIC quests from EQ that encompassed gathering things from several bosses and dungeons over all expansions. This is a good motivation to get the expansion to me. And you might even find out halfway thru that you actually enjoy some content in the expansion after all. WOTLK for me was a move forward for Warcraft with more complex and interesting quests sometimes, and a fairly crazy PvP battlefield. I didn't really enjoy the constant fiddling they did with character attributes and other character related stuff. The one thing we as players should know and have clear understanding of, is our characters and for WoW to fiddle all the time really messed up the experiance for me and I logged off due in most part to that.
why? maybe because YOU didnt read the box or disclaimer saying you need WOTLK to play Cata?
Blizzard has been doing this since the first expansion like that m8.
You should read befour you buy.
Blizz has always been a marketing wonder.....too bad for the people who buy blindly.
there was a promotio where you could buy vanilla+bc+Wotlk for 40$, a friend of mine bought so whats the deal buddy? forgot wow is the cash milking cow? =x
now: GW2 (11 80s).
Dark Souls 2.
future: Mount&Blade 2 BannerLord.
"Bro, do your even fractal?"
Recommends: Guild Wars 2, Dark Souls, Mount&Blade: Warband, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
The only thing I'll say to this is that whether the OP realizes it or not, he IS on to something here. What I mean is, Blizzard pretty much blatantly admits, via New Expansion gear reset, that other than the side candy and extra perks in their previous expansions, that they are basically worthless the second a new one comes out. I mean, other than people trying desparately to see the lore of TBC and WOTLK, is anyone planning on going back to those anytime? And unless you are in a loving and caring guild where you actually know the people in it (which are few and far between)..good luck convincing someone to run instances with you in TBC or WOTLK. Most won't see the value in it and merely suggest to quest level on past it.
There is RDF thankfully..but I think they need to give just a little more incentive to go back and do some of the older and at one point 'end game' content. I like to read the quests for instances, and see the bosses and read their dialogue. But I'm smart enough to know I'll never see half of it since I missed the boat on that content when it was the FOTM.
I'm know there are achievements you can gain from going back to the older stuff..but I'm talking about something a little more tangible and useful towards the next dungeon run. Like maybe award back Rest Experience Bonus for going back in them and completing them. Or extra buffs that stick with you to the next phase of oldschool content.
I REALLY wish they would implement a 'mentor' system like in EQ2 where you can bust back down to a lowbie's level and help them run through old content and actually still be able to gain something out of it for doing so.
Because every MMO that has had expansions you pay for require that you have all previous expansions before you can use the new one.
Oh! I'll take it. Mail it to me, I still need a gift for my cousin.
The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night.
Because vertical expansions tend to work that way.
That's not entirely true...
For Ultima Online, if you bought the latest expansion, it unlocked every previous expansion on your account.
Even EQ and EQ2 will release certain expansion packs that include all previous expansions at no extra cost.
It's mostly just a ploy to force people to buying up old expansions. Which is ridiculous in some respects, as it just creates a barrier to entry for new players.
Most MMO’s include the previous content in their expansions so that’s not really true. WoW is one of the few if not the only one left that doesn’t (EQ2 did for a time but for the last few expansions they have included all previous ones). What It really comes down to as simple as because they can. EQ2 didn’t stop making you buy previous versions because they wanted to they did it because it created to big a barrier of entry to the game for new players and they need every new player they can get. WoW doesn’t need to worry about attracting new players by giving them a carrot of all inclusive expansions so they don’t.
Actually if he was paying attention to Blizzard at all seeing that he was thinking of buying Cataclysm there was a promotion on Black Friday that got you vanilla wow=$5+bc=$5+Wotlk=$10 totaling a whopping whole $20 =P
See, I do not quite get this. I am more in the boat of why do I have to buy Cataclysm to continue playing WoW. Figured it would be bad given the changes with 4.0.1-4.0.3... but wow (no pun intended), the release just blows my mind with how necessary it is.
Maybe I will resurrect my Vanilla account and cancel my LK account. Maybe even take the Vanilla to BC (or just buy another and do that).
Was leveling a sixth 80... but I just do not see the point now, since I had no interest in purchasing Cata - but there is no point in being 80 like there is at 60 or even 70.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Activision-Blizzard made their game that way so they can make gobs of money from the sheepal, hell most publishers have all content from past expansions included in the new boxed game.
This is a silly thread.. getting from 70-80 without wotlk would be hell.. and you dont need to buy either cata or wotlk to experience all of the new 1-60 content.
Remember Old School Ultima Online
To be fair, $60 for WoW + BC + LK + Cata is a good deal given the price of games these days. That is if you are a new player. If you have paid full price for WoW, BC, and LK over the years - you may find limited value in the $40 for Cata in comparison to previous xpacs.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
If you didn't get WOTLK then you would have no levels 70-80 thus no reason to go to areas that are 80-85 unless you want to get raped I guess.. Or even if you could get to 80 but none of the newer zones were in then you'd just have to grind boss's or something to get xp and that sounds like it would be a PITA.
But you're right choice is a good thing. I've never skipped an expansion and bought the newest one. I didn't think it would work like that so I never tried it.
Yeah that was a great deal, to bad its not going on anymore or at least I couldn't find it that cheap anywhere just yesterday.. I should have got WOTLK for 10 while it was on sale but I thought it was going to stay like that from now on since Cat was coming out. But I had a 20 buck certificate from best buy cuz I spend way to much there. lol so I got it for Free since its on sale there now for 19.99. I hope I can stick with the game long enough this time around. I don't think i've ever played more than 2 months in a row since I got the game in 05.
The process is simple, let me break it down.
You play vanilla World of Warcraft, or WoW with no expansions, from level 1-60. That is all the content it gives you, by then, nothing can make you get any higher of a level after completing everything in the vanilla content of World of Warcraft. Then there is Burning Crusade which is 60-70. You cannot find anything 60-70 anywhere BUT the Burning Crusade expansion region the Outlands. Once you hit 70 there, there is nothing more to do there to get you of higher level. Then there is Wrath of the Lich King which is all content for levels 70-80. This will bring you up to level 80 and nothing more, you will find nothing level 70-80 in Burning Crusade, nor vanilla World of Warcraft, just in Northrend, the expansion region for Wrath of the Lich King. Then, there is Cataclysm, Cataclysm will give you all content to go from 80- 85, you will find nothing more past that since it is the newest expansion, you will probably stay at 85 for a year or two.
So why do you need the other expansions to play Cataclysm? Because there is no other way to prepare yourself to face the 80-85 content aside from using the other expansions as stepping stones to level you up! You won't hit 61-70 through playing Vanilla WoW, so you buy Burning Crusade. You can't attain levels 71-80 playing Burning Crusade, so you buy Wrath of the Lich King. And finally, you won't hit levels 81-85 by playing Wrath of the Lich King, so you buy Cataclysm.
I hope that makes the most sense for you, considering I couldn't imagine how other MMO's could use anything BUT this system.
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