Next Expansion Announcement at Gamescom NOT Blizzcon

[Tal]

This caught me off-guard.

[kandrathe]

Some allegedly leaked details... for the impatient. Or, knowing the source, it could be total garbage. Creative none the less.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1820...and-reddit

[Bolty]

Excited because I want to believe that WoD was pushed out the door by Blizzard, understanding that due to a whole mess of project issues in development, it was a lost cause. The "large team" that's in place has been working on this next xpack and they'll blow things out of the water. Maybe.

Cynical because it's quite possible that Blizzard has truly put WoW on "maintenance mode" and are just trying to milk the cow as long as they can, as reflected by their last shareholder call when they admitted the large drop in subscribers yet stated they were making more revenue than ever. With the Warcraft movie coming out next year, there will inevitably be a huge push to monetize that via the game.

Waiting to see which viewpoint is right...MoP was WoW's best-ever expansion, in my opinion, in no small part because it followed up the weakest one (Cataclysm) and they learned many lessons there.

[kandrathe]

Excited because I want to believe that WoD was pushed out the door by Blizzard, understanding that due to a whole mess of project issues in development, it was a lost cause. The "large team" that's in place has been working on this next xpack and they'll blow things out of the water. Maybe.

I am actually happy too. It bodes well that they are reducing the cycle time. Mostly people dropped off due to boredom in the year between expansions. What would sadden me would be the announcement that there would be no more development. From a production planning point of view, WOW is more like Star Wars where they finished one and then started planning the next. It results in a variable often slipshod and disjointed overall product. They should adopt the LOTR, or serial TV show model. That is to have an overall master plan with continuous development and frequent content releases.

Cynical because it's quite possible that Blizzard has truly put WoW on "maintenance mode" and are just trying to milk the cow as long as they can, as reflected by their last shareholder call when they admitted the large drop in subscribers yet stated they were making more revenue than ever.

I think there has always been the avid farmer/investor milking the cow, as well as the cadre of dedicated passionate artists pouring their souls into new game media content.

Speaking as a former farmer and investor, as long as there is enough milk/profit to be made, the farmers/investors will keep the cow/artists fed. When the milk is gone, the cow gets eaten.

[Tal]

MoP was WoW's best-ever expansion, in my opinion, in no small part because it followed up the weakest one (Cataclysm) and they learned many lessons there.

I'd be interested in hearing why you feel MoP was the best?

I've heard a lot of people saying they think Burning Crusade was the best. I personally loved WotLK - but that may have more to do with playing two of the most broke classes through the entirety of the expansion.

---

Some allegedly leaked details... for the impatient. Or, knowing the source, it could be total garbage. Creative none the less.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1820...and-reddit

Another day another leak.

[Bolty]

I'd be interested in hearing why you feel MoP was the best?

MoP basically had it all. It was by far the most feature-rich and story-rich expansion, with a well-written cohesive storyline. Blizzard used it to innovate on the game and provide just a ridiculous amount of NEW content and game modes never done before. Running down the list quick in my head:

1. New race - with a new feature to pick your faction dynamically.
   
2. New class - Monk.
   
3. New continent with a leveling story only beaten by WoD's - but of course you'd expect that to improve as time goes on. The story was innovative, too - for the first time, Blizzard was really making up NEW lore, as opposed to WoD...
   
4. Innovative feature - Brawlers' Guild. Fun!
   
5. Innovative feature - Proving Grounds. Fun!
   
6. Innovative feature - Scenarios. Didn't pan out, imo, but they took that tech and built it into WoD's in-world scenarios while questing.
   
7. Awesome raids. Throne of Thunder especially stands out for being "Ulduar 2.0".
   
8. Timeless Isle. Some liked it, some didn't, but they really tried something new there.
   
9. New Battleground - Deepwind Gorge.
   
10. New Arena.
    
11. Permanent world changes (Siege of Orgrimmar breaking the Vale of Eternal Blossoms).
    
12. Expansion-wide Legendary. Maybe you didn't like how they handled it, but it was something new.
    
13. Innovative feature - Challenge Modes.
    
14. Innovative feature - Flex raiding sizes.
    
15. Innovative feature - Pet battles! Holy crap that's a rabbit hole that goes down forever if you let it. Some people still play WoW just for that.
    
16. Probably more but can't remember...
    

MoP wasn't perfect, of course. Its extremely daily-driven focus in the beginning was cumbersome due to it not really being optional for both raiders and more casual players alike, but Blizzard corrected that with the Throne of Thunder release and of course Timeless Isle. Then they went dumb in WoD and killed dailies altogether. Scenarios in MoP were also a pretty meh addition and they realized that.

Even just a few weeks in I was saying MoP was the best they've ever done. Many people didn't like the Eastern theme of the expansion, and I get that. But looking at the sheer content and new game features they added and no other expansion even comes close.

Compare it to WoD. There's nothing NEW in WoD. It became readily apparent to me just two weeks into the expansion that Garrisons were the only real new feature to WoD, and everything else was rehash. There was NOTHING NEW! No innovation anywhere! Hey, remember the Brawlers' Guild? Do it again, we changed the boss kill order! Remember the Proving Grounds? Never mind that you got Endless Tank, Healer, and DPS last expansion, do it all over!

Do Challenge Modes again! No new battlegrounds, no new arenas, very few dungeons, but Garrisons, Garrisons, Garrisons! It was a phoned-in expansion; at some point in the dev cycle they realized they were really in trouble and just put out what they had - much like Cataclysm.

If the announcement comes next week and it's basically "hey, new dungeons and raids! Level cap to 110! New class! That's about it!" it will essentially signal that they're done innovating the game and are just monetizing it now. I have no idea what happened between MoP's dev cycle and WoD's, but I can only hope it was a one-off.

Maybe WoW expansions will be like Star Trek movies? Every other one is "meh?"

[Tal]

There are things I absolutely love about WoD. The leveling system was fantastic. I loved that I could do archaeology when my wife was gathering herbs for alchemy and still get experience.

Speaking of herbing - I did like that I could collect a lot of the materials I needed for levelling professions in my Garrison and not have to compete against the asshats of Stormrage.

And speaking of asshats of Stormrage - I hate hate HATE Tanaan jungle and how it was implemented. Nothing like sending half the server to one of two locations and then rewarding asinine behavior. Go to pull mob near a interactive object only to have someone go through and click on it while you're fighting the mob. You get 1% to completion, they get 5%. THANKS BLIZZ. Also before anyone says "group up" - I've been turned down from group finder groups with a ilvl of 698. It gets frustrating.

I also like how they handled multiple avenues for gearing up for dungeons & raids.

I also love the flex raid sizes (yay everyone who signs up can go) but as the odd-tank out now I hate that there isn't a tipping point in the design that would allow for more than two tanks.

[Tal]

And in other news - WoW is down to 5.6 million subscriptions. It should be noted that this is right after 6.2 was released - the numbers are likely lower today.

[Mavfin]

And in other news - WoW is down to 5.6 million subscriptions. It should be noted that this is right after 6.2 was released - the numbers are likely lower today.

While to a lot of people the numbers look really bad...the game's coming up on 11 years, and is STILL bigger than anything else out there. Admittedly, I don't still play it, but I did pay for the expansion, and raising a couple 100s was worth the price, to me. I'm playing other games out there and enjoying them, but, then, I'm a leveler, not a raider.

[kandrathe]

And in other news - WoW is down to 5.6 million subscriptions. It should be noted that this is right after 6.2 was released - the numbers are likely lower today.

While to a lot of people the numbers look really bad...the game's coming up on 11 years, and is STILL bigger than anything else out there. Admittedly, I don't still play it, but I did pay for the expansion, and raising a couple 100s was worth the price, to me. I'm playing other games out there and enjoying them, but, then, I'm a leveler, not a raider.

I like stats...

Subscribers graph

Best selling PC games of all time worldwide

Most played PC games 2015

And speaking of asshats of Stormrage - I hate hate HATE Tanaan jungle and how it was implemented. Nothing like sending half the server to one of two locations and then rewarding asinine behavior. Go to pull mob near a interactive object only to have someone go through and click on it while you're fighting the mob. You get 1% to completion, they get 5%. THANKS BLIZZ. Also before anyone says "group up" - I've been turned down from group finder groups with a ilvl of 698. It gets frustrating.

There are secrets to avoid the asshats of Stormrage (I'll abbreviate as "AHOS" pronounced A hoes ) which I will add later when I have some more time.

I think MOP also made big strides technically with variable serving and phases to load balance the worlds. And, then there was the graphics, which when compared to vanilla is just mind blowing.

WOD was all about garrisons, which are cool, but could have been much cooler considering the development time. Adding a new class or race in WOD would have added to the story content and helped to ameliorate the load of 10 million subscribers trying to talk to Khadger and storm the portal simultaneously. ( AKA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sZ2a0VaOQM )

P.S. More time...

• Asshat on the Fel Forge -- Tough one since the dohickies don't work during the quest, so I mostly kill many mobs, and hope the mini-bosses (Commander Org'mok, Grand Warlock Nethekurse, Executor Riloth, Felsmith Damorka) spawn so I get more %. Not enough bombs spawn to make demo-ing the tanks worthwhile. I try to stay central to the bosses so I can avoid not getting a hit in on them.
  
• Asshat on Ironhold Harbor -- Better. Kill the big guys, use the inferno shot to kill flying things, burn flags, close proximity to 3 mini-bosses
  
• Asshat on the Ruins of Kra’nak -- this is better with a small group of 3 to fight the elites locked up. Many times people don't burn their scrolls, so I get some percentage burning the scrolls.
  
• Asshat on the Temple of Sha’naar -- This one is more painful, I go fight the elite demons (they reward only slightly more), since I can. Avoid the lower levels, except the cave can be ok on the days when there is not a quest to collect the unrefined crystals.
  
• Asshat on the Throne of Kil’jaeden (Group) -- I usually solo this. I stay on the ( right side) path on the way to Kazaak, and pull small groups. Avoid the demons falling from the sky and the packs of demon dogs. Run to the left only to get in on the mini-boss fight. And, as a true AHOS, try to drag about two dozen mobs with you into the AOE. What are clothies doing up here anyway?
  
• Battle at The Iron Front -- easiest, with 6 mini-bosses, bandages, flags to burn, and the Gronns to fight. I tend to camp at range away from the flag that summons the The Iron Houndmaster. The asshat thing to do here is to attempt to kill him while the poor schmuck who clicked on the flag is still fighting off mobs. Never click the flag. That's for the losers.
  
• Bleeding the Bleeding Hollow -- Imho, the worst one for the asshats. So, if it is swamped I just ignore the mobs that despawn and break the orbs. I kill the big guys, and try to get in on the mini-bosses. They are pretty spread out. I try to move to an area with fewer people in it. The good part is the respawn timer is super fast. There are times when I loot the body and the mob respawns and attacks me while I'm still bent over. Awkward moment.