Krell Wrote:And for all of us that can't wait to jump into Warhammer....what do we think it will be like after 2 years? Will they be adding content patches and expansions that we arent completely satisfied with? If I had to guess, I'd say yes.
~ Krell
Mythic says they plan on releasing two expansions a year. One free, and one retail. They've learned alot in relation to expansions from DAOC. Paul Barnett (sp?), when asked if they had any plans for an expansion, blurted out, "Bretonnians, and Skaven". IE, King Arthur Knights, and Rat people (actually really cool).
Hmm, I might play Warhammer Online if they have Skaven, I miss my rats...
Mizar Wrote:Krell Wrote:And for all of us that can't wait to jump into Warhammer....what do we think it will be like after 2 years? Will they be adding content patches and expansions that we arent completely satisfied with? If I had to guess, I'd say yes.
~ Krell
Mythic says they plan on releasing two expansions a year. One free, and one retail. They've learned alot in relation to expansions from DAOC. Paul Barnett (sp?), when asked if they had any plans for an expansion, blurted out, "Bretonnians, and Skaven". IE, King Arthur Knights, and Rat people (actually really cool).
A game developer is VERY much like a politician trying to get elected. Take whatever they say with a grain of salt until you hear the truth from an actual player (not a reviewer).
I'd be inclined to believe it on both accounts. Mythic has since Dark Age release added 9 new races, at least a dozen classes, and did several free expansions on top of retail expansions. I'm not saying for sure that they will do it (as you said, the game hasn't been released yet, so everything including the moon is implied) but Mythic already proved in the past, that it was in their abilities to do.
You know, Blizzard has a pretty tough game design problem to crack.
They've become, somewhat accidentally, the first MMO with broad crossover appeal. They have millions of occasional players, who play a couple hours a week; hundreds of thousands of frequent players, who play daily, and many thousands of intense (and influential) players who log more than forty hours a week. On top of that, they've decided to support the solo, solo PvP, group, group PvP, and raid playstyles, at all these levels of intensity, simultaneously... and to keep the whole thing "balanced enough". And, as has been noted in this thread, they are creating forward motion through their content with the traditional technique of planned obsolescence.
Looking at it in that light, I think that Blizzard has largely decided to use Hero Classes to address the ongoing play concerns of the 'intense and frequent soloers'. I strongly suspect that there will be a bunch of solo-only content for Death Knight characters, which is balanced for Death Knight characters only, instead of for all twenty-seven character types. You can disagree with the decision, but I suspect it's good business! The soloers represent a lot of revenue.
Games that are trying to compete directly with WoW will, without a doubt, try to carve off one or more of these player niches.
Anyway, enough analysis. As long as a product gives you enjoyment, it's worth buying.
Personally, I'm glad to see Blizzard developing new content and I look forward to playing it, especially with the good company of my tribe.
Summary of the situation:
Mmm...I think some of our feelings here can be summed up in a quote from a debate about MMOs I seen on TV. I'm not sure about the exact quote but the spirit of it remains.
Quote:Is WoW so successful because it's the best thing out there or because there's a real lack of variety out there? Eventually people will want something new.
7 Months ago, we've had something come to us in WoW that radically changed what we've had for about 28 months, people were psyched, not too many people were upset. 7 months later, Blizzard is keeping the promise of letting out new content every year. 7 months in the Burning Crusade, we find we get new content, higher level cap, new areas, hero classes, and everything in between. WoW loyalists are psyched, but on the same token, people feel cheated...something to be longed for; we already have problems and furthering our reach over them will just complicate them, great experiences that was once end-game content being left forgotten, deepening the chasm between the classes, forgotten continents left out of expansion, and a class that will be abused and truly underachieving.
What are we to do? Argue about it? No, I don't think so.
A lot of people are upset about the next expansion, and with legitimate reasons in some respects. Many however, are not legitimate. Mizar brings up another point of view to consider in these complaints, about switching to WAR ASAP: new expansions seems to push away people who are simply tired of WoW (this includes an "elite" few who feel as though anybody who is not tired of WoW is an idiot on the matter, I've seen them trolling the forums). Krell is right about the game not pleasing all of the players, and sure Bliz will lose some players, but will it pull more customers in with than it will lose? Will many people who are upset today become supporters of WotLK tomorrow as details are let out? Will WAR be a greater game than WoW? Nobody knows for sure until the time comes for us to really be able to say.
It seems a lot more people are upset than happy about this, but that's because a lot more people who are unhappy are more vocal than people who will praise Bliz for it. As for now, I'm not sure how good WAR or WotLK will be. I'll adjust my opinion as details come out about both, but as for now, in all honesty, it's quite too early too complain about WotLK or praise WAR, or vice versa.
I definitely agree on the aspects of the Death Knight class being targetted at the more casual gamer. It is a good idea in that respect, although needing to have a character at 80th first is a bit odd.
Mizar Wrote:I'd be inclined to believe it on both accounts. Mythic has since Dark Age release added 9 new races, at least a dozen classes, and did several free expansions on top of retail expansions. I'm not saying for sure that they will do it (as you said, the game hasn't been released yet, so everything including the moon is implied) but Mythic already proved in the past, that it was in their abilities to do.
The thing with Mythic is, an "expansion" to them can be one dungeon. It was the same with EQ2. In WoW terms, the opening of Blackwing Lair would have been labeled as a free expansion for Mythic. Comparatively, DAoC has been around for close to 6 years and done the things Mizar listed, while WoW has been around 2 years. If you go by the Mythic definition of expansion, WoW has added 2 new races, 1 paid expansion, and 5 "free expansions", assuming you count the instances added since TBC as part of it (otherwise it's 2 or 3 more). And classes? Well, that's a matter of personal taste, but I'd take 9 classes that all have a necessary role over the constantly fluctuating flavor-of-the-month class dominance that DAoC had.
Kosath Wrote:The thing with Mythic is, an "expansion" to them can be one dungeon.
I'm not going to argue, suffice it me to say, thats not what I was refering to.
Yeah sorry mizar, not intending to argue with you, I just want people to understand that with an unreleased game, the grass is always greener. It may crush WoW for all I know, it's just best to approach it with skepticism.
I tried Vangard too, and Everquest II, and the open beta for Sword of the New World and they're all damn similar to WoW with a few tweeks of their own. Vangard, sadly, was basically Everquest II.5 from what little I saw of each. I've also had an interest in Warhammer Age of Reckoning with a few other WoW players, with high hopes and fondness for a few of the concepts floating around the game, but after I saw a gameplay video, I'm not so sure. The squig herder video sticks out in my mind as 'Wait, I'm already doing that.' I'm still gonna give the game a try, but unless they do something amazing with the classes, I'll probably just head back to WoW with the Russet I know and love trotting around with her trusty tabard and friends.
WoW has gotten a whole lot better from the days of blundering around the first half of Molten Core (which is an area I despise), Dungeons and Raids seem rather less tedious overall, faction grinds are kinder but more varied to balance it out. My only complaint at the moment is the simplicity of the combat system (which all MMORPGs I know of are stuck on) and how sucky and useless the first 58 levels are.
I quit WoW twice and had another leave of absence, but I keep coming back for friends and that I haven't found anything that appeals to me more.
Now Wrath of the Lich King has me at mixed feelings. At first glance, I didn't really care for the Death Knight, but after seeing the the liveblog thing, it's got aspects I've been looking for in a melee class. Nevermind it's probably another of their answers to WAR given the theme crossover. I really want the extra talent points for Russet too.
If I had to make predictions, I'm gonna say that the expansion will be a step up from Burning Crusade as far as enjoyable content goes, and classes will be slightly more interesting overall plus the new one to mix everything up. The first 58 levels will still be teh suck and useless, 59-68 will just be useless. I personally wish they'd give us more methods to playing our classes. It's hard to explain other than 'I'm a little tired of cycling through my shots as a hunter in the vast majority of situations.' I want there to be an option 'B' for my combat plans, or at least some mechanic that's a little more engaging. More flexibility in our classes and real interaction between classes, yeah, that's it. Misdirection is the first such move I've seen them make, maybe they'll get lucky and work more in...
I am in the WAR closed beta. I can't discuss much about the game, but I will say that it is definitely not just a copy of WoW. They are trying to do something different. They've said publicly that they're trying to immerse the player in a sense of racial conflict from the beginning.
Psion Wrote:They've said publicly that they're trying to immerse the player in a sense of racial conflict from the beginning.
Blargh. I just want to heal, dang it. >.<
You want to boomies, admit it!
Do both! Healboomies! think of it like holy nova-ing alllll the time.