TBC was my favorite expansion, and it would take a change in philosophy for that to change.
Cataclysm was up there too, UNTIL they took the largest nerf bat I have every laid eyes on to all content in the game. When people were complaining that heroics were hard, and Ghostcrawler even made a blog post stating as such. Only for all of it to get nerfed HARD a few weeks later.
I stopped playing during Cata, so I cannot speak about MoP or WoD.
Kala, I agree that blizz has taken all the challenge out of reg and heroic dungeons. There is still plenty of challenging content in the game via challenge modes and mythic raiding but you have to be willing to put the time in.
The dungeon trash in the WoD heorics is easier than Cata, but the boss fights themselves (the meat and potatos of any instance) are as hard, if not harder, than cata's (the hardest 5 man bosses WoW has ever had). Challenge modes are that much harder.
That's good to hear at least. The game just doesn't suit my tastes anymore. I put 7 years into it, and look back at that time fondly. 7 years into any game is one hell of a game. I just personally prefer to aim my abilities, which is admittedly a niche trait and is something WoW will not do, and should not do.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane. And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes. Hurt - Wars
LOL, my sister-in-law was in heroic 575 gear when she started her trek. She is now level 98 and hasn't equipped one single solitary item of gear. The last item that was rewarded to her was a level 510 item. So lets not jump the gun with how easy it is to do the content just yet.
She must have only done the first couple of zones. The 98-100 zone gives out 590+ gear.
Based upon Shadowmoon Valley, best zone design and fidelity to date. A lot of work went into crafting the zone. The phasing of questlines did cause some weirdness with NPCs disappearing and reappearing but it was a tradeoff for a very interactive experience. A very big plus overall in that category and WoD seems to come with a lot of "spice", it doesn't feel as straightforward and linear though it still is for the most part.
I think Blizzard knows what it has and how to perfect that while adding little bits here and there. Group play is for PvP, dungeons, and raids. Even gathering/crafting could previously soloed with how fast one can level alts. Garrisons made that process more fun IMO while adding a whole side activity.
I still hold out hope that one day Blizzard will open up the rest of the world to scalable group content but for now that is in the three areas listed above. That's where the grouping is and where the challenge lies. The rest of the world is for themepark interactive story-telling and they made that aspect better IMO.
Originally posted by Aelious I still hold out hope that one day Blizzard will open up the rest of the world to scalable group content but for now that is in the three areas listed above. That's where the grouping is and where the challenge lies. The rest of the world is for themepark interactive story-telling and they made that aspect better IMO.
i think interactive storytelling should be for soloing exclusively
(like the solo instances that EQ2 has)
I miss when WOW included group challenges (preCata) speckled among regular leveling questing
Originally posted by Aelious I still hold out hope that one day Blizzard will open up the rest of the world to scalable group content but for now that is in the three areas listed above. That's where the grouping is and where the challenge lies. The rest of the world is for themepark interactive story-telling and they made that aspect better IMO.
i think interactive storytelling should be for soloing exclusively
(like the solo instances that EQ2 has)
I miss when WOW included group challenges (preCata) speckled among regular leveling questing
They still have them, but instead of "wanted" signs outside of buildings, there are wanted posters inside the inns in most zones; Each with at least 3 gorup challenges.
I liked those as well and there are "suggested [x]" but I'm not sure why, they don't really require other people hehe.
They did make a lot of the interactive storytelling "seperate" but in phases (some shared) instead of instances so it blends better as you travel the zone. Plus there is a lot of the specific storytelling going on, intermittent with "regular" quests, so it wouldn't make sense to place them all into instances.
My point is WoW has been, for a very long time now, a solo affair outside of specific group content (PvP, Dungeons, Raids, Scenerios, etc.). I would love to see a group able to scale the content up if in a full group. Maybe even "phase" whole areas and have the chance for loot and rep like dungeons. Until something like that happens however I'll enjoy the zone for the story and hit group content via WoWs available avenues.
Originally posted by Aelious I still hold out hope that one day Blizzard will open up the rest of the world to scalable group content but for now that is in the three areas listed above. That's where the grouping is and where the challenge lies. The rest of the world is for themepark interactive story-telling and they made that aspect better IMO.
i think interactive storytelling should be for soloing exclusively
(like the solo instances that EQ2 has)
I miss when WOW included group challenges (preCata) speckled among regular leveling questing
Blizzard could add a right click on team names to join them in their phase. They would need to block quest progress if they did that but it can be done and IMO should be done. You may think story should be solo but most people play MMOs to team. I do 100% of all content teamed. Thank goodness my wife and I keep on the same quests and dont progress without each other or we would be in different phases all the time. Its the only way I can live with WoWs phases.
Feels like MoP to me, with better storytelling and feel. Still same old WoW though; leveling, dungeons (which are.. ok, but very easy), plus garrisons. I will rate it 8/10 so far. I like the quality of life improvements a lot which is why it isn't more of an average score of 7.5/10
I will have to get to max level though for my final decision.
Now Playing: Bless / Summoners War Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
I got to level 94 this weekend but no real drive to return. As far as leveling goes it's nothing special yet. WOTLK was definitely more fun to level in for me at roughly the same point.
The raids are finished, and gated...stop trying to imply that the raids are "unfinished content that they are promising, but you wont hold your breath". Its been the same every xpac, and they have always hit the dates on when the raids or wings open up. To somehow try to equate the normal action of gating the initial raid instances to being the same thing as, lets say Carbine "promising content updates", is highly deperate...
You also mentioned "no flying"...having no flying was a design choice to help bring back exploration and a sense of wonder to the worlds etc etc, something that is a huge improvement...by not allowing flying in dreanor, they in turn added tons of hidden treasures, areas, elites and rares etc etc. They experimentd with the timeless isle, and loved the results (as did the playerbase). They essentially added more content in the game due to their purposly being no flying...
As for "areas you cant get to", those are also gated areas for future content patches...the game in its current state has more than enough content.......remember in Cata when firelands was there, but you couldnt enter it? Then 5 months laters, it was released as the next raid tier? Would you rather that they just keep adding little detached islands to the contenent for every content patch?
Is there anything else you would like to shoehorn into pretending that WoD is "unfinished?" lol
Urg I say it's the best expansion in years and it still isn't good enough for the fanboi's. Everything has to be amazing or you just see red don't you?
Not flying for 1 month was a design decision? You realize it's being added later right? You automatically get flight points to every single inch of the draenor map so your exploration argument is out.
As for raids classic, BC and WoTLK all launched with raids and giant ones at that. Not the 3 boss instance we get to wait a month for so they can finish the next one. Cata and Pandaria were both terrible so that's not a model for future expansions and yet both those expansions were far more finished then Draenor.
And comparing Firelands to Taanan Jungle really? Firelands was an extra area added ON TOP of the already established maps and zones. Taanan jungle is a giant area right in the middle of the WoD map and you simply cannot get to it. Why? unfinished expansion that's why.
I noticed you skipped the most powerful argument which is the terrible class decisions that dwarf every expansion release to date. i mean Death knights were bad in WoTLK but at least every other class wasn't half broken. The revamps are a joke, the rotations are less fun and/or nonsensical, many classes completely negate the existence of others. Just huge design fails that should have never made it out of beta. These are problems every expansion has but not to this extent, it really seems like they ignored all class related feedback through the entirety of beta.
OKay, I know Blizzard is having major issues with their game right now in terms of DDOS and population caps on the servers *glares at 4,890 person queue) but I have to say... in my opinion this has to be the best expansion in World of Warcraft period. Some of you say that title belongs to Burning Crusade but lets just toss that game in the trash. This one takes the cake my opinion.
On Bronze Dragonflight my server since start for Alliance alts no queues, only 1 day had to wait 15 mins. All other problems are nothing really disturbing. Ok, garrisons from time to time etc ... but NOTHING that would ruin my enjoyment. But if I would be on server with few hours queue ... would not be happy.
About DDOS ... is not Blizzard to blame I guess. Any DDOS attack to any net provide should be considered cyber terrorism and all resources used to track this international criminals and close them up for decades in prison! Then, only then, i guess we would see drop on this kind of attacks. But as long as nobody of this bastards pay ... this will continue to happen.
About WOD ... every expansion was great, introduced something new, like now garrisons, great idea.
Still overall my slight favorite remain as it looks for now WOTLK.
Comments
That's good to hear at least. The game just doesn't suit my tastes anymore. I put 7 years into it, and look back at that time fondly. 7 years into any game is one hell of a game. I just personally prefer to aim my abilities, which is admittedly a niche trait and is something WoW will not do, and should not do.
I can fly higher than an aeroplane.
And I have the voice of a thousand hurricanes.
Hurt - Wars
I got Stormsteppe Helm and Pauldrons, both 590 + from regular quests in Nagrand.
I think Blizzard knows what it has and how to perfect that while adding little bits here and there. Group play is for PvP, dungeons, and raids. Even gathering/crafting could previously soloed with how fast one can level alts. Garrisons made that process more fun IMO while adding a whole side activity.
I still hold out hope that one day Blizzard will open up the rest of the world to scalable group content but for now that is in the three areas listed above. That's where the grouping is and where the challenge lies. The rest of the world is for themepark interactive story-telling and they made that aspect better IMO.
i think interactive storytelling should be for soloing exclusively
(like the solo instances that EQ2 has)
I miss when WOW included group challenges (preCata) speckled among regular leveling questing
EQ2 fan sites
They still have them, but instead of "wanted" signs outside of buildings, there are wanted posters inside the inns in most zones; Each with at least 3 gorup challenges.
I liked those as well and there are "suggested [x]" but I'm not sure why, they don't really require other people hehe.
They did make a lot of the interactive storytelling "seperate" but in phases (some shared) instead of instances so it blends better as you travel the zone. Plus there is a lot of the specific storytelling going on, intermittent with "regular" quests, so it wouldn't make sense to place them all into instances.
My point is WoW has been, for a very long time now, a solo affair outside of specific group content (PvP, Dungeons, Raids, Scenerios, etc.). I would love to see a group able to scale the content up if in a full group. Maybe even "phase" whole areas and have the chance for loot and rep like dungeons. Until something like that happens however I'll enjoy the zone for the story and hit group content via WoWs available avenues.
Blizzard could add a right click on team names to join them in their phase. They would need to block quest progress if they did that but it can be done and IMO should be done. You may think story should be solo but most people play MMOs to team. I do 100% of all content teamed. Thank goodness my wife and I keep on the same quests and dont progress without each other or we would be in different phases all the time. Its the only way I can live with WoWs phases.
agreed
EQ2 fan sites
Feels like MoP to me, with better storytelling and feel. Still same old WoW though; leveling, dungeons (which are.. ok, but very easy), plus garrisons. I will rate it 8/10 so far. I like the quality of life improvements a lot which is why it isn't more of an average score of 7.5/10
I will have to get to max level though for my final decision.
Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
Urg I say it's the best expansion in years and it still isn't good enough for the fanboi's. Everything has to be amazing or you just see red don't you?
Not flying for 1 month was a design decision? You realize it's being added later right? You automatically get flight points to every single inch of the draenor map so your exploration argument is out.
As for raids classic, BC and WoTLK all launched with raids and giant ones at that. Not the 3 boss instance we get to wait a month for so they can finish the next one. Cata and Pandaria were both terrible so that's not a model for future expansions and yet both those expansions were far more finished then Draenor.
And comparing Firelands to Taanan Jungle really? Firelands was an extra area added ON TOP of the already established maps and zones. Taanan jungle is a giant area right in the middle of the WoD map and you simply cannot get to it. Why? unfinished expansion that's why.
I noticed you skipped the most powerful argument which is the terrible class decisions that dwarf every expansion release to date. i mean Death knights were bad in WoTLK but at least every other class wasn't half broken. The revamps are a joke, the rotations are less fun and/or nonsensical, many classes completely negate the existence of others. Just huge design fails that should have never made it out of beta. These are problems every expansion has but not to this extent, it really seems like they ignored all class related feedback through the entirety of beta.
Let's just say that Cata & MoP never existed.
On Bronze Dragonflight my server since start for Alliance alts no queues, only 1 day had to wait 15 mins. All other problems are nothing really disturbing. Ok, garrisons from time to time etc ... but NOTHING that would ruin my enjoyment. But if I would be on server with few hours queue ... would not be happy.
About DDOS ... is not Blizzard to blame I guess. Any DDOS attack to any net provide should be considered cyber terrorism and all resources used to track this international criminals and close them up for decades in prison! Then, only then, i guess we would see drop on this kind of attacks. But as long as nobody of this bastards pay ... this will continue to happen.
About WOD ... every expansion was great, introduced something new, like now garrisons, great idea.
Still overall my slight favorite remain as it looks for now WOTLK.