World of Warcraft

[Totenkindly]

 

[Stigmata]

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I'm praying that they introduce some sort of concept for a hard reboot for retail -- it needs it, badly. The game is just too bloated at this point, and stapling more and more content onto an already bloated world, makes it feel emptier with each subsequent expansion. The current model just doesn't seem sustainable.

Think of it from the perspective of if you were a brand new player: You buy this game, and upon entering you're thrusted into a world where all of which you can see and the conflicts that existed have mostly already been solved without you -- you've had the game for all of an hour and you walk into Stormwind/Orgrimmar and everyone is throwing rose petals at your feet and calling you the emperor God champion of Azeroth. Your leveling path is to choose to go back and level in one of the various 50 expansions, and once you make that choice and begin leveling, you're leveling so quick that you aren't even getting any sort of paying from slogging through the quests in the way of watching the plot materialize into something substantial.

 

[Totenkindly]

I think the other issue is there's so much shit going on at max level (70) that even when you get there quickly enough, you don't know what you are supposed to be doing anymore.

They have been doing all these incremental rollouts nowadays (mainly over the last six months) to "prove they are releasing content" but it's all just the same content that is dressed up as new content -- a new currency, new items to buy, new things to fight -- while just being the SOS we've been doing, and there's still not a release of substantial content. Like, as an old time player, I find myself just annoyed by it.

• They rolled out Forbidden Reach, which was a whole area that had a bunch of rares to farm and gear up -- and it was promptly abandoned by two weeks in, but the rares were too hard to solo. There was also a vault with multiple floors for solo play but it lost all replay value after two weeks.
• They put out Z Cavern, and then they nerfed your ability to get drops to once a week off the twenty rares that appeared in there because the devs "didn't like that people were farming the rares" so everyone basically quit playing the cavern, and if you DID need a drop (like a mount or a quest item), no one was there to group but the rares are designed for raid groups and are very hard to solo. (I can solo most of them as an ilvl 438 Ret Pal, but it isn't fun and takes a few minutes and a bit of care to make sure I don't get accidentally nuked a few minutes in.)
• Then they did the two Fire breach events (in the Plains and in Azure Reach) that again were done for a few weeks until people got bored and quit -- but they are still specced for group content and are hard or impossible to solo some of the elements of them.
• Then they did these Time Rift things that lasted 2-3 weeks in terms of milking all the content and playability -- more free mounts and gear and xmog.
• Now they are doing another rift thing that rotates through all four areas. Again, collect a NEW currency, buy gear, get stuff. But it's just the same stuff in a new outfit. And again, it lasts effectively 2-3 weeks until people milk it for all its worth and quit, yet you can't really solo it. Even with 5-6 people at the end boss, it's hard to clear the gate area and the final boss of each 30 minute event.

NOW.... think about all the developer effort that is going into this shittiness that could have been invested in new raids, dungeons, and substantial content. Like, this stuff stays up in Dragon Isles but it's pretty much abandoned. A TON OF ABANDONED things that took a lot of investment to design, program, validate, and integrate without breaking what already exists -- and you can't solo a lot of it.

So I feel like it's all just pretty lights and noise meant to distract players to the fact there is not a lot of permanent enduring content that will always be around and doable.

Meanwhile, think how confusing all of this is to new players. What should they be working on, or what efforts will persist into the future? They have no idea.

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Also: All the recolors paraded as new things. Like, so often now they just have a mount model and recolor it six times, like I don't even like half the colors. Or a recolor of a weapon as a "new thing to get." There's a ton of that now in the last six months but again too much stuff out there, it's all noise.

Also: As an old-time bitching, I personally don't like how they have ruined some of the activities I enjoyed. For example, mount farming. I *liked* having certain mounts be very difficult to get -- either you had to do them as current content, or you have a very small chance to win them. I found pleasure (even while frustration) in having the perseverance to just try and try to get the "Big Ten" mounts (mainly the Pandaria world boss drops + Invincible + a few others). Maybe I didn't do much to "earn" the mounts in terms of skill, but I did prove I was obstinate, capable of develop efficient strategies to farm multiple times in a lockout period, and kept going when others would get discouraged and quit.

Now these mounts mean nothing, mostly. They increased the drop chance a great deal for the Pandaria mounts over the winter. Now they've begun dropping Invincible and Mimiron and other big name mounts in Timewalking Raid boxes for the appropriate raid. I busted my ass farming Invincible for years and finally got him -- and a month or two later, suddenly a bunch of people do the Icecrown TW raid and they get these mounts in their reward box without even doing the full raid once, they're just killing someone's gated end boss. I mean, I'm not trying to be an obstructionist, I just really felt like there were a handful of really special mounts in the game that you had to work really hard to get, but now everyone has them. Frankly, I think some of them suck, appearance wise... but when you had them, either you were really lucky, you were really good (getting them during current content), or you were very stubborn. Now it's like, "Yeah, I just showed up for ten minutes and hey I got this trophy!"

I craved after Tyrnael's Mount for ten years. Eventually just bought it in Jan when they put it out for a week at xmas and then took it away again.... and then they did a 2 week goblin event where it was a drop so everyone farmed the shit out of that event on the half hour mark if they did not have that mount and were really upset if it never dropped (at least it was a fairly rare drop)... and then they stuck it in as a Trading Post purchase so pretty much everyone and their brother has it now. I guess I paid for the privilege of having it six months early.

It's even more amusing when they took TGC mounts that are pretty much obsolete so only the hardcore collectors had them and sometimes paid a lot of real life money for (hundreds? Thousands? of dollars?)... and they gave them away as a free Twitch drop if you watched streamers for 4 hours total over a particular 5 day period. Hilarious stuff, right?

 

[Totenkindly]

I don't really have much input of the narrative plotting because I just don't have the experience of knowing all the early narrative throughlines honestly. it's like comic books -- you just learn the stuff that dominated the time period you played or read, and ignore the rest, and there is not going to be consistency because they never let the story end + they keep pumping out content. You can't have unending stories, all narratives have a natural arc, but this is unnatural.

I think there were a few sympathetic storylines in DF, isolated unto themselves -- mostly about the Blue Flight (where Kalycgos is trying to restore the flight but feeling inadequate, and the copy of Sindragosa is helping him) or the fighting among the Black Flight about whether Wrathion or Sabellion should take over and how both realize they are inadequate and don't want to fall like their sire did. Or the sad story of the one dragon (in dwarf form) talking about his past history with another dragon best friends where they came to blows. I don't know how it fits into a larger narrative but they were storylines on a personal level that felt meaningful.

 

[Totenkindly]

Everyone hates this guy. Wow players all over social media are electronically dancing in the streets.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick to Step Down, Leaving a Legacy of Growth and Controversy - MMORPG.GG

Activision Blizzard is set for a major leadership shakeup with the departure of its long-time CEO, Bobby Kotick, scheduled for December 29, 2023. Kotick's

mmorpg.gg

 

[Stigmata]

Everyone hates this guy. Wow players all over social media are electronically dancing in the streets.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick to Step Down, Leaving a Legacy of Growth and Controversy - MMORPG.GG

Activision Blizzard is set for a major leadership shakeup with the departure of its long-time CEO, Bobby Kotick, scheduled for December 29, 2023. Kotick's

mmorpg.gg

I, for one, welcome our new Microsoft corporate overlords.

 

[The Cat]

Bobby Kotick is not a likable or ethical man.

 

[The Cat]

I, for one, welcome our new Microsoft corporate overlords.

Did you say Overlords, I think you meant protectors.

 

[Totenkindly]

Flying across nighttime Draenor...

 

[Totenkindly]

So I still main my Ret pally (and we got some love in the Season 2 patch -- they redesigned the spec), but I've been veering out to try some other things.

I seem to not enjoy ranged much (except maybe Marksman Hunter) and do not play ranged well. Pretty much all the DPS classes I like are melee, and I enjoy dodging stuff and being up close. (I am going to start practicing Disc priest using the new Follower dungeons feature, to learn the current spec; basically you can solo Heroic dungeons now using an AI bot party. The tank is as dumb AF, but whatever man. )

The really weird thing is Havoc DH was meta for pretty much the entire expac, but despite having one leveled and mostly geared, I barely play her. This expac I learned Survival Hunter and really enjoy that spec. (Two others of interest to me are Enhancement Shammy, which I am still learning; and Windwalker Monk, which I didn't play for most of Dragonflight because the spec was in such bad shape and is finally now improving.)

A Look Back at Retribution Paladin in Dragonflight & War Within Wishlist - Editorial

Our Retribution Paladin Writer, Bolas, offers a retrospective highlighting Retribution's journey in Dragonflight and shares their hopes for the spec's next evolution with a War Within Wishlist.

www.wowhead.com

I typically agree with Bolas' comments and he's better than me. I am a solid ret pally but I still need work on fine-tuning / holy power. I figured out last weekend that my DPS was lower than the top ret pals because I was burning holy power on Word of Glory self-heals to keep myself topped off, when I should actually be able to trust my healers in Raid. So I am trying when Raiding to leave the healing to the healer specs more often so my holy power goes towards DPS. (It was very noticeable when I compared my holy DPS and self-heal DPS to other pallies.) I think this comes from me not being able to trust healers in the past and also wanting to free them up to help others; however, it kills my DPS peaks.

A Look Back at Survival Hunter in Dragonflight & War Within Wishlist - Editorial

Our Survival Hunter Writer, DoolB, offers a retrospective highlighting Survival's journey in Dragonflight and shares their hopes for the spec's next evolution with a War Within Wishlist.

www.wowhead.com

Last week was TW, so you could kill Ragnaros (and yeah, you have to do the mechanics since everyone is scaled back to iLvl 90) for a weekly loot box, and after ten alt runs I got two of the three Dragon Soul mounts which then triggered the Awake the Drakes achieve, so I also got the Emerald Drake as a freebie. I still need the Life-Binder Handmaiden, though, so I either have to try again next time Cataclysm TW shows up OR (sigh) farm Dragon Soul and run the stupid Spine boss event.

 

[oxter5]

We don't actually have a thread for this but maybe instead of posting in my blog, I'll post here and then anyone else who plays can chip in to comment or bitch or whatever they'd like.

WoW is still actually in business, which is remarkable considering it was a major revision of the early days of MMOs (it took everything learned through EQ and other MMOs at the time, and then reworked it / built from the ground up to get a "cleaner" game -- so I'd call it a second generation MMO, as opposed to EQ and similar). Pretty much it was the model that encouraged so many other MMOs to roll out... and then most of them to crash and burn over the years. It's obviously one of the most successful, and then actually getting "WoW Classic" on its feet last summer drew back some of the old-timers who no longer identified with the newer releases and wanted a throwback to the early days.

Anyway, there have been quite a number of expansions over the years (typically every two years or so): Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor, Legion, and now Battle for Azeroth.

Currently it's wrapping up BfA (with more open-world PvP) expansion, in preparation for Ghostlands this fall which people seem more excited about. There are things I have enjoyed about BfA, including actually getting some skill at open world PvP when I'm in War Mode; at the same time, there's some of the same-old corporate crap involving sitting on quality of life features until they need them to drive participation at later stages of the expansion. This video captures some of what I am talking about.

They apparently broke BfA into "three" pieces as far as the story rollout went, and I was kind of irked when they rolled segment #3 out about 5-6 months back. I was happy just waiting for Ghostlands and meanwhile playing old content for achievements and transmog and also trying to level some alts... and suddenly it's like there's another whole piece to the game that you have to play to some degree in order to keep your item level and gear current. And it wasn't just higher gear -- now we have "corrupted" gear to go along with the essences you needed for your Azerite necklace. The only reason that whole thing exists was just to drive up numbers, but I think the player base was happy to have been done. And it is a LOT of content to do. Meanwhile, they had a lot of the stuff (like the cloak upgrades) on timed rollouts -- you were restricted either by the amount of currency you could get to run the scenario to earn a cloak upgrade OR there was a literal lock on how much upgrade you could get. [Apparently blizzard must have seen people not finishing the cloak leveling, because last week they dropped the last levels of the cloak to stuff that can be accomplished in a single run of the scenario per level instead of having to run the damn 30-minute scenario 3-4x to complete.)

Meanwhile, it was all very alt-unfriendly, to have to do the same content (extensive as it was) to max out any alts you might have wanted to play. And the high levels of the cloak leveling was just ridiculous in terms of time you needed to spend, with it increasing in number of drops needed per level. So I never ended up leveling my cloak to 15 until this past week for my main, and I accumulated 250K of the currency needed to run the scenario (the original cap on it was 25K, until Blizzard removed it because I guess people just weren't running it, and so the currency would cap out, and then people would just be like "screw this").

So as of late, and tying in with this video, they have now instituted an ADDITIONAL currency where you could buy either essence upgrades for your alts and now last week corruption power upgrades. I was really excited at first because you'd typically get 50 currency for completing a world something, and 500 currency could get an alt a new essence. When they rolled out the corruption items, they increased the 50 currency drop to 250 instead so technically you could get an essence just by completing two sets of dailies... and then (something you missed if you didn't bother to read the patch notes) upped the amount needed to 2500 for essences (so they just multiplied everything by five) so then they could just 2500-8000 currency for corruption upgrades.

For a game that is in the last 5-6 months of its lifecycle, and the content is mainly played out... why the hell would I want to WORK that hard on a main or alt for content that is going to vanish in six months and serve no purpose? There is no long-term purpose to doing it.

Meanwhile, when you scrap or disenchant an azerite item, you get a certain amount of residue. And you can use this either to buy a random piece of azerite gear or spend a lot more to get a specific piece of gear. (Random, you take your chances.) Anyway, it's a hell of a lot of residue you need unless I guess you are doing mythic or high-end raids (which will also give you some). So it's like, "Hey, here's a vendor, aren't we cool?" but "Hey, we'll make everything so expensive that unless you do particular content ALL THE TIME you might as well not bother because you'll never collect enough to purchase an item in enough time before the new expansion for it to be worth it."

That is my current gripe about the game.

----

But I guess I shouldn't generally just gripe. There were some things I did like about BfA -- and the storylines were actually pretty good overall (aside from the major gaff of screwing up the Banshee Queen IMO. I guess she was never meant to be a painful tormented figure but simply off her rocker ever since the Lich King screwed her up). I ran both the Alliance and Horde storylines, and I actually got more sympathy for Jaina, who I routinely hated before then.

And I have been spending a lot more time just running old dungeons, doing holiday events, leveling characters representing all four types of gear (to transmog the most I could), and acquiring mounts and reputation. There are some expansions I just loved. I know some people hate the pandas, but flying around in Pandaria leaves me feeling at peace. It's one of those things where I don't even need to be playing / doing something game-wise, I just enjoy flying around through the zones ... it makes my heart happy. Hey there! I've dabbled in both physical casinos and online platforms in New Zealand https://www.innovatechange.co.nz/ and I've got a few tips to share. Firstly, when it comes to online casinos, I always prioritize security and legitimacy. It's crucial to stick to reputable sites with proper licenses. In terms of games, I've found that slots and blackjack are quite popular, but I also enjoy trying out lesser-known games for a change of pace. As for recommendations, I've had positive experiences with a few trusted online casinos, but I always do my research before signing up. Can't wait to hear everyone else's thoughts and experiences!

World of Warcraft continues to be an epic adventure for me. The vast world, rich lore, and dynamic community make every login a new experience. Whether it’s completing challenging raids with guildmates or exploring Azeroth solo, there’s always something to do. The game’s frequent updates and expansions keep the content fresh and engaging. However, the subscription model can be a drawback for some. Despite this, WoW’s immersive environment and the thrill of leveling up and looting make it a game I return to time and again. It’s more than a game; it’s a world to live in.