Cataclysm will not be just an expansion with a few new zones with new races to explore with, but a complete reworking of World of Warcraft. Not just a revamp of characters stats , new class/race combinations or even the ability to use your flying mounts in the Old kingdoms. World of Warcraft will be a completely different game with different rules, different graphics and different game mechanics.
The question is, are players really ready for it?
Defense, weapon skill and MP5 go away. Attack power will be gone on most items. Spirit will only be found on healing gear and spell power to be limited to weapons only. Intellect will now provide spell power, which should have been the case since vanilla. This is just the tip of the changes with added value stats like armor penetration to still be decided at a later date. Gear obviously will be altered to fall in line with these stat changes or eliminations, certain gems will get color changes to suit a more appropriate scheme. And these aren't even the more drastic changes. There will be new class/race combinations, certain talent trees will get redefined and changed all the while moving Blizzard's game in a different direction.
In short, Blizzard isn't just changing WoW, they are recreating WoW. Making it more simplified for the stat crunchers? Maybe? Finally realizing that concepts at launch no longer work with their player base? Also possible. Or are they trying to continue the trend of recruiting the lowest common denominator of player to play their game? A fact that hasn't been lost on those using the recently developed Looking for Dungeon tool. Or is it just some evil plot to get people to keep playing overly simplified MMO, hoping that in the near future their boredom will force players to seek out something a bit more difficult and complicated. Something that has that Blizzard trademark and feel. Maybe Blizzard's yet to be named future MMO?
Whatever the case, Cataclysm will change WoW. Maybe into the MMO Blizzard had hoped for when they first sat down at the drawing table so many years and subscribers ago. Maybe into something no original player will ever recognize as their favorite first MMO. But change is what will come with Cataclysm, but down deep, I doubt it will be for the best.
Some parts of the Old World had gotten pretty darned creaky and were in need of an update.
ReplyDeleteFor example, there's a questline for the Horde that leads to Azshara and centers around Blood Elves as the bad guys. However, this was written before BC came out, and it shows. The Dragonkin all being hostile in sections of the Old World doesn't mesh well once you hit the Dragonblight and the Wyrmrest Accord. There are other places about that could stand some cleaning as well.
I think that by injecting the Cataclysm into the world, Blizz has the opportunity to fix all of these inconsistencies. As for the gameplay, I'm not sure how it'll go down until I really get my hands on it.
A very valid argument But since they are adding new content patches all the time and constantly altering different quests and story lines, why couldn't they have fixed this when BC came out? How hard would it have been to add that change to the old world story line to fix those discrepancies? I'm sure it was them being lazy that led to this failure to fix a simple quest line.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying Cataclysm won't be great, I'm saying that the changs they plan are going to turn WoW into a different game.
Another example is the decision to make 10 man and 25 man raids have the same difficulty and the same loot. The only difference, more loot will drop in a 25 man due to the extended number of players. That's it.
Why not just do away with 25 man raiding? They did it with 40man. Course people had issues with it, but if your going to make 10 man and 25 man the same, why even do a 25 man? What is the point? Especially since both will be on the same lock out timer. You'll be limited to one raid per instance and if you have to decide between a 25 man or a 10 man, then the logical decision would be the small raid. You'll be able to get the crew you need without having to pug.
Implementing a PvE point system to buy badges with and then being able to trade those points for PvP points so you can get PvP gear, is another simplifying of the game. You no longer have to choose. You can quest, do instances and raids all you want and still get the coveted PvP gear without killing one single horde. Granted it will take a bit longer, but those that can't be bothered to learn the survival skills necessary for Battlegrounds or Arenas need not worry anymore.
It will be a very different game once that expansion drops. Those that like simple, easy and uncomplicated will be more in love, those that want difficulty and a challenge will probably bail once they get a small taste of the new zones and races.
I just see this as the stepping stone for Blizzard's strategical long term plan to move players over to their future MMO. Solidify your currently player base by giving them more of the same and driving away those that want more hoping they will come back once your new MMO hits. And trust me, their next MMO will not be simple or easy like WoW the difficulty curve will be ramped up so they don't steal from their current player base.
That is my opinion of course.
A very valid argument But since they are adding new content patches all the time and constantly altering different quests and story lines, why couldn't they have fixed this when BC came out? How hard would it have been to add that change to the old world story line to fix those discrepancies? I'm sure it was them being lazy that led to this failure to fix a simple quest line.
ReplyDeleteI agree it's laziness, just like entering the Ghostlands from Eastern Plaguelands initially brings up the old Quel'Thalas moniker instead. However, I also suspect that Blizz is afflicted with corporate disease; trying to do too much with too few people. When that happens, stuff like that falls through the cracks.
Another example is the decision to make 10 man and 25 man raids have the same difficulty and the same loot. The only difference, more loot will drop in a 25 man due to the extended number of players. That's it.
Yes, but what that also means is that you can't get 25 man gear to OP yourself for 10 man. The tiers are reduced somewhat to raiding and non-raiding gear, with certain special items like Quel'Delar falling somewhere in between.
What I think Blizz isn't saying is that if they keep the Tier system the way it's going -where we're now subdividing into half increments for gear- it will become too unwieldy if it continues into a new expansion.
Simplifying the gear Tiers also meant simplifying the raid system. The side effect is that the people who raid 25s primarily for gear won't be happy, but those who raid 10s exclusively will no longer feel like they're second class.
The guild progression system will also have an impact on things, but I haven't read much about that so far.
Implementing a PvE point system to buy badges with and then being able to trade those points for PvP points so you can get PvP gear, is another simplifying of the game. You no longer have to choose. You can quest, do instances and raids all you want and still get the coveted PvP gear without killing one single horde.
Well, we already have something like that with Wintergrasp. On A52, the Horde outnumbers Alliance so much that they're pretty much in control of Wintergrasp all the time, and I've been racking up those shards like crazy doing 5-mans, but I've never set foot inside Wintergrasp itself.
It will be a very different game once that expansion drops. Those that like simple, easy and uncomplicated will be more in love, those that want difficulty and a challenge will probably bail once they get a small taste of the new zones and races.
Honestly, I don't know what we'll see until we get our hands on it. This sounds remarkably like the arguments I read about D&D 3e vs. 4e; some players did break off and go with the Pathfinder RPG -claiming that 4e turned D&D into an MMO- but others upgraded to 4e. It's too early to tell what will happen.