This panda nonsense sounds like the dying convulsions of WoW <end of the line>. Siriously - the Cataclysm was the last hope (though largely implementing the good staff from other MMOs like Warhammer, nothing new and brilliant, but it was a fresh blood for Azeroth and enough of it to keep the game running longer). Now there is no hope for it (asian market left behind). All the pikachu/pokemon staff is just not sexy enough for the elder european/USA audience. I am nearly 30 y.o. guy with huge gaming experience, you can't expect me to like the kung fu panda &%$* made for the kids of under pubertal age. At first I thought this is some new joke form Blizz, but man - you can't be serious approaching the largest, most demanding, grown up market with THAT! I played Cataclysm, but now I quit WoW forever. The game which has leveling experience 1/10 as funny as in DCUO, convenience features and PvP largely copy-pasted form Warhammer and soon losing all it's sharm to pandas and all players going monks (since the class in expected to be good for all 3 core roles) is just not worthy any more. You will see me in TOR next time, untill the GW2 comes out.
I personally really like Alterac Valley...But I'm certainly all for having another DOTA type BG to stomp around in.
The new Monk class and talent system were enough to get me hooked from the get-go but the pet-battle system, new explorable zones and dungeons, playable Pandaren, and these new PvE scenarios sound interesting too. Maybe if I manage to save up some money I might just spring for the annual pass since I was planning on getting Diablo 3 anyways and getting early access to the MoP beta would be pretty cool.
This panda nonsense sounds like the dying convulsions of WoW <end of the line>. Siriously - the Cataclysm was the last hope (though largely implementing the good staff from other MMOs like Warhammer, nothing new and brilliant, but it was a fresh blood for Azeroth and enough of it to keep the game running longer). Now there is no hope for it (asian market left behind). All the pikachu/pokemon staff is just not sexy enough for the elder european/USA audience. I am nearly 30 y.o. guy with huge gaming experience, you can't expect me to like the kung fu panda &%$* made for the kids of under pubertal age. At first I thought this is some new joke form Blizz, but man - you can't be serious approaching the largest, most demanding, grown up market with THAT! I played Cataclysm, but now I quit WoW forever. The game which has leveling experience 1/10 as funny as in DCUO, convenience features and PvP largely copy-pasted form Warhammer and soon losing all it's sharm to pandas and all players going monks (since the class in expected to be good for all 3 core roles) is just not worthy any more. You will see me in TOR next time, untill the GW2 comes out.
Although English may not be your first language, this was well stated and exactly the sentiment going around the office where I work.
Thirty years of gaming experience...not sure if I should be proud of that www.mmoexaminer.blogspot.com
In all fairness to Blizzard, they are just doing what Sony Online has been doing with Everquest; releasing frequent expansion packs offering new zones or content. It's been working for EQ2 and it's working for WoW (for the most part). I just think Blizzard should be hesitant about including new playable races in every expansion pack.
In all fairness to Blizzard, they are just doing what Sony Online has been doing with Everquest; releasing frequent expansion packs offering new zones or content. It's been working for EQ2 and it's working for WoW (for the most part). I just think Blizzard should be hesitant about including new playable races in every expansion pack.
The difference is one still has 8 million subs they are panda-ering to, the other has less than half a million. So when Blizzard makes an expansion, people that 'want' to like the game and return see the new pack and go 'really Blizzard... really?' If nothing they are helping the next games coming out and get a foothold. If these 'next-gen' (boy has there ever been a more over-used term) games make money the investors are more likely to gamble on the types of games us old school people want. If SWTOR and GW2 fail however, it could be more WoW-clones in the forseeable future.
SW:TOR has too much WoW in it for my taste but hey at least they're trying to add new ideas or old ones with new twists and GW2 seems to really be a next step game.
Thirty years of gaming experience...not sure if I should be proud of that www.mmoexaminer.blogspot.com
Originally posted by Skuldin Originally posted by DaddyDarkThis panda nonsense sounds like the dying convulsions of WoW <end of the line>. Siriously - the Cataclysm was the last hope (though largely implementing the good staff from other MMOs like Warhammer, nothing new and brilliant, but it was a fresh blood for Azeroth and enough of it to keep the game running longer). Now there is no hope for it (asian market left behind). All the pikachu/pokemon staff is just not sexy enough for the elder european/USA audience. I am nearly 30 y.o. guy with huge gaming experience, you can't expect me to like the kung fu panda &%$* made for the kids of under pubertal age. At first I thought this is some new joke form Blizz, but man - you can't be serious approaching the largest, most demanding, grown up market with THAT! I played Cataclysm, but now I quit WoW forever. The game which has leveling experience 1/10 as funny as in DCUO, convenience features and PvP largely copy-pasted form Warhammer and soon losing all it's sharm to pandas and all players going monks (since the class in expected to be good for all 3 core roles) is just not worthy any more. You will see me in TOR next time, untill the GW2 comes out.
Although English may not be your first language, this was well stated and exactly the sentiment going around the office where I work.
I seem to be the only person where I work that is more interested in WoW now than before. Since I'm not playing right now, it would be hard to be less interested though. The other people who aren't playing are looking forward to Diablo III or SW:ToR and the people who are playing are looking forward to SW:ToR, not WoW.
I wonder how well this is going to turn out for them...their mainstay audience of serious raiders (the people I work with that are still playing) do not seem all that happy about it.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
With so many AAA MMOs on the horizon, I see Blizzard doing what George Lucas did with the later ( chronologically earlier), Star Wars movies: trying to apppeal to a younger demographic and get some new blood to prolong the franchise. Pokemon? Really? Meh to that. I think it just reinforces my hypothesis of Blizzard's intentions with this panda expansion.
I'll be blunt, the sentence "With so many AAA MMOs" is an oxymoron. The whole point of AAA was the best of the best. Not everyone can be the best. The whole grading is a relative scale.
AAA would be the 1st quartile of MMOs by quality and funding and it is down hill from there. So take the top 16 of those MMOs and pick the 4 best. Those are now the AAA titles. Feel free to grade the others as you see fit.
If you don't like the game or what they are bringing to it then don't play it. Love it or hate it WoW is a great game. Period. So many players sit on the in game channels all day bitching and whining about how much they hate it. Do the people that enjoy the game a favor and leave the game you hate so much instead of spoiling the game for the ones that love it.
I myself am on a break from wow but am excited to see what the new expansion will bring and will definately return to the game soon. Far too many people take this game too seriously. I applaud Blizzard for creating an expansion that looks as though it will add a great deal more humour into the game.
Don't play it fine we don't however it concerns us as players to see the industry go in this horrid direction as it affects other gaming companies dev departments eventually even in small ways. We don't want the future features of the games to have a standard pokemon fighting mini pets in their serious warmonger pvp game. it's just not right. We take this game seriously as a possible model for other game devs simply because they have people like you holding onto this game by giving them even more money to do more idiotic things to good games and are concerned about people like Ghostcrawler the marine biologist setting the standard for good games WAY too low (which they definitely have this time).
With so many AAA MMOs on the horizon, I see Blizzard doing what George Lucas did with the later ( chronologically earlier), Star Wars movies: trying to apppeal to a younger demographic and get some new blood to prolong the franchise. Pokemon? Really? Meh to that. I think it just reinforces my hypothesis of Blizzard's intentions with this panda expansion.
I'll be blunt, the sentence "With so many AAA MMOs" is an oxymoron. The whole point of AAA was the best of the best. Not everyone can be the best. The whole grading is a relative scale.
AAA would be the 1st quartile of MMOs by quality and funding and it is down hill from there. So take the top 16 of those MMOs and pick the 4 best. Those are now the AAA titles. Feel free to grade the others as you see fit.
What are you jibbering about, AAA is relative to the whole mmorg game scene, thats hundreds of titles, there are at least 3 AAA titles relative to the hundreds that will be out in the next year or so - Thats many in relation to recent years, and AAA in relation to the mmorg market. Easy to work out when you are not focused on being a smart alex and try to actually read and understand what point someone is trying to bring across. Next you will be saying OMG WOW-HATER.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
WoW will catter next to babies with formula and chew toys for dogs. - sarcasm gone
It has always been part of the lore, they only jumped on the kung fu panda craze right now to add it in.
That said, I won't be touching Blizzard mmorpg ever, including Titan since that apprently will be cattered to space aliens and stuffed animals.
I struggle not with life, money, emotions, and world, but against old mindsets and selves to be proven obsolete in a age and time of rapid changes. Go create fun, so you can have fun.
What I've seen of the upcoming expansion thus far looks interesting and refreshing, to me. I realize everyone doesn't share that point-of-view, and for their own very good reasons. I like that there's not a central bad guy. We need a break from that. I also like the whimsy and humor that Blizzard puts in the game. I'm just not going to pay $15 per month for something that's overly serious. Real life has plenty of seriousness. I play WoW to have fun and get away from the "seriousness."
I'm not sure how I feel about the Pandarens. I'll figure that out later. I'm quite certain I don't like the companion/pet battles. But that follows. I don't like dueling either. But, even if it turns-out that I don't like the Panda race, I don't have to play them. It won't detract from my enjoyment of the game. I have never liked gnomes and I will never play one. But I still enjoy the game, despite that.
As evidenced by the numerous responses, there are a diversity of opinions regarding the MoP expansion. The community is split on it. I think that because WoW has such a large subscriber base, combined with a diversity of player likes/dislikes and styles, that Blizzard has a tremendous challenge. The old adage is that you can't please everyone all the time. At this point in WoW's evolution, Blizzard can't win, no matter what expansion they release. If they simplify the game mechanics, they lose the players who like difficulty and challenge. If they beef up the difficulty, they alienate the casual players.
There's no right or wrong way here, just personal preferences. I'm happy with most of the upcoming changes. Others, not so much. It will be interesting to see how it all pans-out in the end.
Comments
This panda nonsense sounds like the dying convulsions of WoW <end of the line>. Siriously - the Cataclysm was the last hope (though largely implementing the good staff from other MMOs like Warhammer, nothing new and brilliant, but it was a fresh blood for Azeroth and enough of it to keep the game running longer). Now there is no hope for it (asian market left behind). All the pikachu/pokemon staff is just not sexy enough for the elder european/USA audience. I am nearly 30 y.o. guy with huge gaming experience, you can't expect me to like the kung fu panda &%$* made for the kids of under pubertal age. At first I thought this is some new joke form Blizz, but man - you can't be serious approaching the largest, most demanding, grown up market with THAT! I played Cataclysm, but now I quit WoW forever. The game which has leveling experience 1/10 as funny as in DCUO, convenience features and PvP largely copy-pasted form Warhammer and soon losing all it's sharm to pandas and all players going monks (since the class in expected to be good for all 3 core roles) is just not worthy any more. You will see me in TOR next time, untill the GW2 comes out.
I personally really like Alterac Valley...But I'm certainly all for having another DOTA type BG to stomp around in.
The new Monk class and talent system were enough to get me hooked from the get-go but the pet-battle system, new explorable zones and dungeons, playable Pandaren, and these new PvE scenarios sound interesting too. Maybe if I manage to save up some money I might just spring for the annual pass since I was planning on getting Diablo 3 anyways and getting early access to the MoP beta would be pretty cool.
Yes, I was wondering the same thing.
Although English may not be your first language, this was well stated and exactly the sentiment going around the office where I work.
Thirty years of gaming experience...not sure if I should be proud of that
www.mmoexaminer.blogspot.com
In all fairness to Blizzard, they are just doing what Sony Online has been doing with Everquest; releasing frequent expansion packs offering new zones or content. It's been working for EQ2 and it's working for WoW (for the most part). I just think Blizzard should be hesitant about including new playable races in every expansion pack.
The difference is one still has 8 million subs they are panda-ering to, the other has less than half a million. So when Blizzard makes an expansion, people that 'want' to like the game and return see the new pack and go 'really Blizzard... really?' If nothing they are helping the next games coming out and get a foothold. If these 'next-gen' (boy has there ever been a more over-used term) games make money the investors are more likely to gamble on the types of games us old school people want. If SWTOR and GW2 fail however, it could be more WoW-clones in the forseeable future.
SW:TOR has too much WoW in it for my taste but hey at least they're trying to add new ideas or old ones with new twists and GW2 seems to really be a next step game.
Thirty years of gaming experience...not sure if I should be proud of that
www.mmoexaminer.blogspot.com
This article sucks, if the author refers to himself as a journalist, he's kidding himself.
I seem to be the only person where I work that is more interested in WoW now than before. Since I'm not playing right now, it would be hard to be less interested though. The other people who aren't playing are looking forward to Diablo III or SW:ToR and the people who are playing are looking forward to SW:ToR, not WoW.
I wonder how well this is going to turn out for them...their mainstay audience of serious raiders (the people I work with that are still playing) do not seem all that happy about it.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
I'll be blunt, the sentence "With so many AAA MMOs" is an oxymoron. The whole point of AAA was the best of the best. Not everyone can be the best. The whole grading is a relative scale.
AAA would be the 1st quartile of MMOs by quality and funding and it is down hill from there. So take the top 16 of those MMOs and pick the 4 best. Those are now the AAA titles. Feel free to grade the others as you see fit.
Don't play it fine we don't however it concerns us as players to see the industry go in this horrid direction as it affects other gaming companies dev departments eventually even in small ways. We don't want the future features of the games to have a standard pokemon fighting mini pets in their serious warmonger pvp game. it's just not right. We take this game seriously as a possible model for other game devs simply because they have people like you holding onto this game by giving them even more money to do more idiotic things to good games and are concerned about people like Ghostcrawler the marine biologist setting the standard for good games WAY too low (which they definitely have this time).
What are you jibbering about, AAA is relative to the whole mmorg game scene, thats hundreds of titles, there are at least 3 AAA titles relative to the hundreds that will be out in the next year or so - Thats many in relation to recent years, and AAA in relation to the mmorg market. Easy to work out when you are not focused on being a smart alex and try to actually read and understand what point someone is trying to bring across. Next you will be saying OMG WOW-HATER.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
WoW will catter next to babies with formula and chew toys for dogs. - sarcasm gone
It has always been part of the lore, they only jumped on the kung fu panda craze right now to add it in.
That said, I won't be touching Blizzard mmorpg ever, including Titan since that apprently will be cattered to space aliens and stuffed animals.
I struggle not with life, money, emotions, and world, but against old mindsets and selves to be proven obsolete in a age and time of rapid changes. Go create fun, so you can have fun.
What I've seen of the upcoming expansion thus far looks interesting and refreshing, to me. I realize everyone doesn't share that point-of-view, and for their own very good reasons. I like that there's not a central bad guy. We need a break from that. I also like the whimsy and humor that Blizzard puts in the game. I'm just not going to pay $15 per month for something that's overly serious. Real life has plenty of seriousness. I play WoW to have fun and get away from the "seriousness."
I'm not sure how I feel about the Pandarens. I'll figure that out later. I'm quite certain I don't like the companion/pet battles. But that follows. I don't like dueling either. But, even if it turns-out that I don't like the Panda race, I don't have to play them. It won't detract from my enjoyment of the game. I have never liked gnomes and I will never play one. But I still enjoy the game, despite that.
As evidenced by the numerous responses, there are a diversity of opinions regarding the MoP expansion. The community is split on it. I think that because WoW has such a large subscriber base, combined with a diversity of player likes/dislikes and styles, that Blizzard has a tremendous challenge. The old adage is that you can't please everyone all the time. At this point in WoW's evolution, Blizzard can't win, no matter what expansion they release. If they simplify the game mechanics, they lose the players who like difficulty and challenge. If they beef up the difficulty, they alienate the casual players.
There's no right or wrong way here, just personal preferences. I'm happy with most of the upcoming changes. Others, not so much. It will be interesting to see how it all pans-out in the end.