Lookee here, the internet detectives were right: World of Warcraft – Wrath of the Lich King. And most of the predictions about the expansion were right also — additional proof that either A. Blizzard cannot keep a secret, or, more likely B. We know them like the proverbial back of our hands.
Sure would be nice if more guilds and players could see most of the content from The Burning Crusade before the Wrath expansion arrives.
If beta rumors start to leak like they did right before BC, and we find out the itemization is similar to BC (ie: green quest items outperforming raid gear early on) then you might as well hang up your raiding shoes. I’m guessing this expansion is still at least a year out but I’m really not looking forward to the disappointment I felt when I realized the gear I’d spent a year raiding to collect was worthless a week into BC. Maybe they learned something from BC though…ya I wont hold my breath.
And thus WoW became just another leveling treadmill like all other MMOs before it. Honestly i’m disapointed in blizard. I would have thought they’d come up with something different for the next expansion instead of just the same crap the last one had. The list of features for the most part read just like the list of features in Burning Crusade when it was announced. Seals the deal for me once my account goes dead Aug 16th im not coming back.
About Blizzard keeping secrets…there’s one thing they’re really holding close to their chest…
Details on the movie 😉
Who is left after we defeat Arthas?
I wonder how this will effect the creation of Warcraft IV, or if they’re going to bother at all.
It does feel like TBC 2.0 — although I’m a little surprised they’re raising the level cap yet again, since they’re STILL flushing out class balance issues from TBC, I wonder how they’d handle another 10 points being available to talent trees – not to mention the new class being available to both factions.
Well they haven’t said anyone are getting new talent points now have they?
A new class, making it 10, screws up the RPS-model, but I don’t think they’ve bothered about 1vs1 for over a year.
And they even said that the greens will be better than Tier 4 atleast, probably equal to Tier 5, but higher than that might last a few levels.
If you raid in order to kill bosses (beat the game) the greens aren’t really that bothersome.
Any theories of the release? They did say before TBC launched that they where going to release an expansion every year, so on those grounds I’d say february. But with new 25-man content coming after Zul’Aman, I’d say half a year after the release of said content (like with Naxx).
I wonder how long it will be until they are churning out expansions every 6 months, milking players for all they are worth. Thanks Furor!
I have mixed feelings about the upcoming xpac. For one, I’ve always liked the lore surrounding the corruption of Arthas, so it will be interesting to see that come into play more. However, as others have mentioned, they’ve made some obvious mistakes with TBC, and I hope (yet sincerely doubt) they’d learn from those mistakes. I think raising the level cap again, while giving veteran players something new to work towards, would begin to intimidate any new players they might attract to the game, or discourage current casual players from persuing the leveling of alts. But, I suspect in the end they’re going to end with a level cap similar to that of Diablo–99 or 100. In which case, I hope they decided to institute something similar to what DAoC did, in allowing players with toons already at the level cap to let their alts skip some of the leveling process.
Perhaps the new zones being in Azeroth will revive the traffic flow through the old world. (And likely turn Outlands into a ghost town…) Time will tell, I suppose.
i disagree. as someone who was somewhat late to the game pre-TBC, i was greatly encouraged as a new player by the level playing field that TBC brought. conversely, i know a few ppl that were in T2 that ended up leaving the game because they were suddenly no longer the big fish anymore.
i think it’s smart of blizz, if they are going to put out an x-pac, to level the playing field so that new players are not left out in the cold.
what would help is if 1. they made the level grind from maybe 20-70 easier and 2. included all versions of wow with each x-pac released so that new players don’t have to spend $100+ to start playing the game.
My main issue is the implementation of a “Hero Class” which well..isn’t a hero class. A Hero Class should compliment the class I already am and should be integrated in to the character i’ve been playing for over two years. Not a whole new class that does nothing at all for my main. Yes I realise Death Knights won’t be the only hero class, that doesn’t matter. I want to make my main the fekkin hero, not a new one.
As for insta leveling an alt like DAoC. I think that’s fine to a degree but leveling it to (or almost to) max level shows that they have no plans on adding anything new or interesting prior to level 60/70.
I believe the “Hero Classes” will be more of a branch off class. Like once a player has reached 70, then perhaps those last 10 levels to 80 would be the development of said Hero Class. With an entirely new talent tree for that player to spend those 10 points accrud for the class. Like say a Mage would have the opportunity of unlocking “Arch-mage” or something at level 70. so then they’re just an Archmage at 71-80 where they were a mage at 70? Just a thought.
oh it seems we are getting more talents.
The WoW devteam must be a stressful place. I also read they have a team reworking the 1-60 part (tutorial) of the game. That, and working on balancing the current contant, and another team working on the 51-point talent trees coming up. Makes for a good example on the hardships of large scale software design really.
@Acid
Read the faq. That’s not how they are planned ot work at all.
According to the Blizzard FAQ, You level your main to 80 you then do a quest that unlocks a Hero Class (the DK being the only option at this point for ALL classes) which you then roll and it will start at either level 60 or 70. You then have to turn around and level it to 80.
The way you describe it is the way it SHOULD work, but thats not the way it is.
bleh gayness =(
As long as they don’t change raid sizes again. I don’t want to go through more guild restructuring other than the amount that occurs due to leveling differences.
@Laura:
Nope, they confirmed that they were sticking with 25-mans. They’re “Very pleased” with how that’s going. It’s all in the FAQ.
A few points that ping in my mind:
– they have yet to announce a release date.
– that was an in-game movie, so while the areas might be sketched out I doubt they are even close to creating ALL the hero classes. There would need to be vaible options for most of the play style roles in the game.
– my hunch is to target a realse close to a huge holiday. End of the year seems too close to me; which stinks like may/june at least.
– new professions, class, and gear, means new graphics, and that takes ages.
– I love leveling as much as raiding, so getting to 80 will be good. BC had plenty of content for everyone to get to 70, which is a step in the right direction.
Is it bad that I’m happy my poor night elf can get a less homosexual dance and finally get rid of that goofy pony tail thing?
I’m still unsure how inscription will make sense. I’m just having difficulty imagining what the gathering profession would be or the mechanics of it. Being able to add extra damage, less threat, shorter cast times, etc. it just seems extremely difficult to balance.
they’re advertising dances?
that’s pathetic… and where on earth will the story go after this? Killing the old gods in the Emerald Dream?
And Blizzard havnt even worked out class balancing in TBC – what happened to free content?
I like it – mostly because I enjoy leveling up, having a new class to play (and a very cool one) sounds fun, and frankly speaking…I never even got to fight Nef, let alone do Naxx. I’m not hugely bothered by missing out on raid content, when faced with the prospect of more gameplay. I enjoy raiding, but I also like the solo game.
At the Blizz Con Raid and Dungeons Panel, Jeff Kaplan hinted at “Naxxramas revisited at Molten Core Level of difficulty for raiders, it would fit in perfectly given Northrend, don’t you think?” in response to a question about everyone getting to see all the content eventually. So, maybe, at least they’re trying. Also – he stressed over and over how everyone would get to interact with Arthas, and they learned from their mistakes given TBC Illidan’s inaccessibility for most.