Great article, you are making me have thoughts of coming to see the changes.
My WoW experience basically was closed beta, then a couple years ago I played level 19 and 29 scenarios with premades, hehe. So to me level 30 to whatever would have all been new anyways, hehe.
actually gear score checking started with the Icecrown citadel dungeon, you have to have the required gearscore to enter them.
In some ways it is ok because a lot of encounters in WoW have a gear check. Most of the hardcores don't rate you by your gearscore though, gearscore was more of the interview. Raid leaders usually relied upon meters and Combat log monitoring addons to track performance, those addons really determined if you got to stay or got kicked.
Bottom line though raiding always felt like work and is the reason why I left it. People were checking your gear in vanilla way before a gearscore, half or more of your guild resume would be devoted to what you were wearing. Gearscore was just a way for a noob to rate gear, since most hardcores could actually rank you by the stats on the gear. Raid leaders are just like a Boss and only demand one thing "Performance" and if you can't give them that then they cut you loose.
So you're saying that after half a decade they actually learned something? Good for them!
Tried the game for 2 weeks, got a light form of eye cancer and finally quit because I didnt find it even remotely funny to deal with NPCs called Harris Pilton and the like. But from the choice of illustrations in this article I see again that humor lies in the eye of the beholder.
To each its own.
Well, your eyesight must really suck then?
@the OP, I completely agree with you. I would play WoW but I am one of those 0.01% who have levelled up all chars and I am bored to death because I know everything about the game. I was never a hardcore player. The reason I have so many alts is that I never was much of a raider and kept rerolling But yeah I can see where the game falls flat but it really is annoying to see so many people bashing WoW where most of them spend 1-5+ years playing the game but now it's the worst thing since the dark times when people didn't have sliced bread ;P
Nothing wrong with his eyesight I actually suffered the same condition but after 2 minutes not 2 weeks. This eye cancer has stopped me ever truly trying wow but Im not sure if thats a abad thing based on how the standard of MMO forums and MMO communities in general have fallen since its inception.
Good article. Agree with you in general as I do enjoy the leveling/exploring (and pvp) more than end-game raiding.
I think Blizzard has done a great job revamping the 1-60 quest lines and flow of quests. There's still alot of kill ten rats, but it's designed not to feel that way and doesn't feel grindy or pointless at all.
Even the zones have changed enough to make it enjoyable unless you're truly jaded and have forgotten how to have fun. The quest coming out of Silverpine Forest into Hillsbrad (Horde) were you play a quest giver - good humor Bliz! I thought that was extremely well done. The same for the Cata quest line in Uldum with Harrison Jones, it was funny.
WoW is a fun game, and after all that's what we're after isn't it - entertainment? If you're not entertained don't play. If you are enjoy. My theory we each decide how to spend our time/dollars gaming so if you want to raid or play FB games or F2P cash shop imports or WoW or Hello Kitty or ? - your life, your choice - just enjoy yourself, or why bother.
I have to laugh at this. Saying your bored and know everything about the game but hardly raid is quite silly. You might as well said I know half the game and bored with it.
Yet another quality article by your only credible writer on staff. It only highlights the difference between hacks wasting readers time with moronic crap about crapping in video games.
Wow , much like "reality" T.V. are perfect for the mindless sheeple. People who don't want too think or work for anything. Just give them mind numbing , non-thought provoking , no skilled needed, instant gratification entertainment and the zombies that call themselves "Gamers" will continue to praise it.
P.S.
Wow has been out this long and you have not seen it's end game? What company do you work for and what is your job exactly? Am i the only one who thinks that some one isn't very good at what they do and might be better served writing articles for the National Enquirer ?
My only beef with wow?why lock wow in 24 bit.i have to go in the wtf set and put it in 32 bit every time,i used ignore the eye candy in there.but with all the cloud the fog,the lava effect etc,it make a huge subtle diff ,like when you re staring in water,you have to see trou and yet also see the reflection,in 32 bit you do ,or when you are under water and stare up to a building you will see the distorted building and yes you will see the water mirror effect.at lest blizzard should put an option for it ,i understand its ressource intensive,but men it make wow look so good its a shame having to turn it on manually everytime to get this awsome eye candy.
Wow has been out this long and you have not seen it's end game? What company do you work for and what is your job exactly? Am i the only one who thinks that some one isn't very good at what they do and might be better served writing articles for the National Enquirer ?
1. WoW has been out this long and I've played it for a total of about 10 months in that time. I have not been continuously subscribed - which really doesn't matter anyway.
2. I don't raid. I've said this before and I'm pretty sure I even said it in this article. It's not that I *can't* do it, it's that I choose not to.
3. I am my own boss. When I'm not gaming, I'm running my own company. How exactly does this impact anything at all? Writing columns here is a freelance gig. Hun, if you think you can do better, pitch a column to the site. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll kick me out, eh?
Good article. It reflects kind of where I am. When Cata came out, I jumped back in and played zealously for about a month. I think WoW did a great job with Cataclysm. Sadly, however, I had played Dragon Age and Mass Effect over the past year and, compared to them, Cataclysm looked pretty shallow and silly.
I could NOT stick with it, though. I guess my chief criticism of the game isn't the mechanics but the general vacuity of the whole world.
Having played Guild Wars and Dragon Age and enjoying both immensely, it was impossible to stay with WoW, which is "lite fun", to be sure, but incredibly shallow story-wise.
I am hopeful that SWTOR, Neverwinter, or GW2 can offer content that's a little more story-rich with more meaningful player involvement. Can an MMO offer the sort of intricate and creative storyline that an RPG (a well-made one, anyway) can offer? I dunno. I hope so. We'll see.
If not, I may end up dispensing with "traditional" MMOs altogether.
Come back to us when you've tried some of the L85 HC dungeons. I'm prepared to bet my house that you, as a casual, fun, social player, will do a 180 degree in your opinions.
WoW has 12 - 13 million subscribers, but this counts the total number of accounts ever created. Active Accounts, Inactive Accounts and doesn't take into account players with multiple accounts.
Blizzard was losing WoW players, specially with after Lich King which many complained that playing any hardcore korean MMO would be better. What happened was that the Asian Population which makes up the majority of WoW players left WoW and went into Aion and other games as paying and supporting a local game there means they can play with more korean players, less americans and europeans and are all subjected to the "korean way of doing things."
Blizzard did the one thing that most "failure" of games actually do out of desperation. Which is take their game to China and hope a few million Chinese will replenish their numbers.
The thing to really take note is that if you were to learn korean or japanese language and walk into a Japanese or korean news site (yes, written in their languages) you will find that when they advertise subscriber base, they do only the active subscriber base. It means when they say "we have 3 million accounts" they mean "3 million accounts which are still paying monthly fees."
In Korea, The game called Aion managed to do the "impossible" and it was completely destroy Lineage II in sales and numbers. They literally have 3 - 4 million active accounts over there in Aion in such a short time in its life.
If you want to play it Blizzard's way, in 2 years after the release of Lineage II, the game had 14 million accounts during the time of Chronicle 4. Of course take away all the players to WoW and L2 that had inactive accounts and active account and then talk about players who are simultaneously logged in and those numbers drop like a rock. ^_^
WoW was great until the invention of the gear score.
When people ask to do a gear check, it is time for me to remind them it is just a game and to get a life.
The entire game does a gear check now. You cannot do certain things until you have the right gear score. You want to tell Blizzard it is just a game?
Yes, I would actually... But i'm not the vocal majority, so Blizzard would disregard anything I suggest.
Gear score is pretty much a blasphemy and I wish I knew where the tool-of-a-person lived that decided it was a good idea to impliment that in the most popular mmo out there. Totally ruined everything good and whole about the online social community. No one cares to build friendships or allies anymore unless the gear score standard is met first, so people don't even pay attention to other player's actual talent/skill.
Gear score is just a number showing how 'good' the items are that a player has and generally rounds it all out to a net value that players use to judge other players on. This means your gear score goes up without effort since just spending the time to go back and forth into dungeons will get you better items. even if you fail at your role, you get items, and your gear score goes up and then other players think you're awesome when you really are just patient enough to wait for more gear to fall in your lap.
NO ONE has to be a good player to get a high gear score, and having a low gear score doesn't automatically mean 'no good' either.
I agree absolutely. I've played WoW on and off for a few years now, and in recent returns was really put off by those players obsessed by gear scores which is a real shame. Things like good manners, helpfulness, friendliness, willingness to listen and learn, humour, knowledge of one's own class and how it works with others, strategy etc etc seem to count for nothing if the gear score isn't right.
Nice post Isa, makes a change to read something about WoW which is balanced and informative. Like you, I've enjoyed playing it at times and I may well return at some point to see what's different after Cataclysm, but I'm not expecting a whole new game.
WoW was great until the invention of the gear score.
When people ask to do a gear check, it is time for me to remind them it is just a game and to get a life.
The entire game does a gear check now. You cannot do certain things until you have the right gear score. You want to tell Blizzard it is just a game?
Yes, I would actually... But i'm not the vocal majority, so Blizzard would disregard anything I suggest.
Gear score is pretty much a blasphemy and I wish I knew where the tool-of-a-person lived that decided it was a good idea to impliment that in the most popular mmo out there. Totally ruined everything good and whole about the online social community. No one cares to build friendships or allies anymore unless the gear score standard is met first, so people don't even pay attention to other player's actual talent/skill.
Gear score is just a number showing how 'good' the items are that a player has and generally rounds it all out to a net value that players use to judge other players on. This means your gear score goes up without effort since just spending the time to go back and forth into dungeons will get you better items. even if you fail at your role, you get items, and your gear score goes up and then other players think you're awesome when you really are just patient enough to wait for more gear to fall in your lap.
NO ONE has to be a good player to get a high gear score, and having a low gear score doesn't automatically mean 'no good' either.
Actually, you misunderstand me. I loathe WoW, and I pretty much agree with everything you just said.
Edit: My point was that Blizzard is no longer a gaming company first, as it once was. It is all about the profit, and the easy game that everyone can do if they put in the time for the gear has proven to be the most profitable. I think that is why so many games are doing the same thing now. It makes me very sad.
I think that is one of the most silliest things I have seen on this forum.
First off, you can have an opinion on whether or not you think gear score as a challenge helps or hurts the game, but to suggest they are no longer a gaming company based on that is pure insanity.
What you need to understand is that games are comprised of challenges. Challenges are what result from rulesets and limitations. One of the primary challenges that make up the RPG genre (Genres are defined by primary challenge types) is resource management and numerical management. What is a gear score? Its part of that challenge mechanic. It is a form of resource management.
Remember one of the main complaints in vanilla WoW was that people thought it was too hard. You would have lazy gamers wanting the best loot from the hardest dungeon without being equipped to handle it. Gear represents a value of stats and abilities linked to your character. You as the player manage those values to meet the level of challenge presented by the developer. Character progression cannot stop. This is all GAME DESIGN RELATED.
They constantly use playercentric design techniques to create a game that keeps the player feeling like there is room for progression. Fun = subscription = profit. They are not exclusive of one another. If you make a good game that keeps players engaged, you get profit too.
Blizzard still is and always has been a GAMING company. Gamers make the games. To suggest they are on the same level as Bobby Kotick is just pure rediculousness.
It never ceases to amaze me how vocal and passionate WoW players are. I have never played it. I wish I had a game I cared so deeply about!
I would play Wow except I'm from the camp that you play an MMO when it first starts or you are severly limited in game, and armor, and making money in game.
Til I find a better timesink, I'm stuck with friends in WoW. I really wish someone, anyone would come up with a more engrossing, fun MMO.
I agreed with this until the "engrossing, fun mmo". I'll go with a "more accessible, guarantee at some fun". Unfortunately its a pain to move a virtual 'crew' from mmo to mmo...but we can hope this year brings about something worthwhile
It never ceases to amaze me how vocal and passionate WoW players are. I have never played it. I wish I had a game I cared so deeply about!
I would play Wow except I'm from the camp that you play an MMO when it first starts or you are severly limited in game, and armor, and making money in game.
Just wait till WoW steals EQ's idea of "Progression servers"
I sure hope they don't though, because even I'd be tempted to open up AQ again...
WoW has 12 - 13 million subscribers, but this counts the total number of accounts ever created. Active Accounts, Inactive Accounts and doesn't take into account players with multiple accounts.
Blizzard was losing WoW players, specially with after Lich King which many complained that playing any hardcore korean MMO would be better. What happened was that the Asian Population which makes up the majority of WoW players left WoW and went into Aion and other games as paying and supporting a local game there means they can play with more korean players, less americans and europeans and are all subjected to the "korean way of doing things."
Blizzard did the one thing that most "failure" of games actually do out of desperation. Which is take their game to China and hope a few million Chinese will replenish their numbers.
The thing to really take note is that if you were to learn korean or japanese language and walk into a Japanese or korean news site (yes, written in their languages) you will find that when they advertise subscriber base, they do only the active subscriber base. It means when they say "we have 3 million accounts" they mean "3 million accounts which are still paying monthly fees."
In Korea, The game called Aion managed to do the "impossible" and it was completely destroy Lineage II in sales and numbers. They literally have 3 - 4 million active accounts over there in Aion in such a short time in its life.
If you want to play it Blizzard's way, in 2 years after the release of Lineage II, the game had 14 million accounts during the time of Chronicle 4. Of course take away all the players to WoW and L2 that had inactive accounts and active account and then talk about players who are simultaneously logged in and those numbers drop like a rock. ^_^
Wow, you oughta open an MMO statisitical analysis site. You can make up numbers out of your .... ummmm, the air, and maybe someone will pay for it. Let me be the first to say, I believe your stats are grossly inaccurate and have no basis in the real world. Just my opinion tho.
It never ceases to amaze me how vocal and passionate WoW players are. I have never played it. I wish I had a game I cared so deeply about!
I would play Wow except I'm from the camp that you play an MMO when it first starts or you are severly limited in game, and armor, and making money in game.
I suppose this may be possible in some games (EvE comes to mind, but even there you can progress .... tho you may be 150 million skill points behind) ... but WoW is a whole nother kettle of fish ... you can catch up with the "old timers". A lot of playing to do so, but playing is fun. For me in particular, It is the journey more than the endgame that supplies most of the fun.
Just another opinion..
And Props to the OP. Finally a writer for this site who is not afraid to be "honest" (You know we can tell even wihout an article declairing how honest you are).
It never ceases to amaze me how vocal and passionate WoW players are. I have never played it. I wish I had a game I cared so deeply about!
I would play Wow except I'm from the camp that you play an MMO when it first starts or you are severly limited in game, and armor, and making money in game.
Who not try the free trial? I don't necessarily think the above would apply in WoW, but I might be wrong, of course. I do think, though, that WoW, maybe more than any other mmo I've played, is easier to play and feel part of despite the number of years since its launch, mainly because of the sheer size of the player base and the number of new and returning players who are coming and going all the time.
I usually don't like the blogs on this site but this one was actually well put together.
Good job!
"We have barred the gates, but can not hold them for long... They have taken the Bridge and the Second Hall... We can not get out. The end comes. Drums, drums in the deep. They are coming..."
Comments
Great article, you are making me have thoughts of coming to see the changes.
My WoW experience basically was closed beta, then a couple years ago I played level 19 and 29 scenarios with premades, hehe. So to me level 30 to whatever would have all been new anyways, hehe.
Seriously BLIZZARD its just a game get a life...
actually gear score checking started with the Icecrown citadel dungeon, you have to have the required gearscore to enter them.
In some ways it is ok because a lot of encounters in WoW have a gear check. Most of the hardcores don't rate you by your gearscore though, gearscore was more of the interview. Raid leaders usually relied upon meters and Combat log monitoring addons to track performance, those addons really determined if you got to stay or got kicked.
Bottom line though raiding always felt like work and is the reason why I left it. People were checking your gear in vanilla way before a gearscore, half or more of your guild resume would be devoted to what you were wearing. Gearscore was just a way for a noob to rate gear, since most hardcores could actually rank you by the stats on the gear. Raid leaders are just like a Boss and only demand one thing "Performance" and if you can't give them that then they cut you loose.
Nothing wrong with his eyesight I actually suffered the same condition but after 2 minutes not 2 weeks. This eye cancer has stopped me ever truly trying wow but Im not sure if thats a abad thing based on how the standard of MMO forums and MMO communities in general have fallen since its inception.
Good article. Agree with you in general as I do enjoy the leveling/exploring (and pvp) more than end-game raiding.
I think Blizzard has done a great job revamping the 1-60 quest lines and flow of quests. There's still alot of kill ten rats, but it's designed not to feel that way and doesn't feel grindy or pointless at all.
Even the zones have changed enough to make it enjoyable unless you're truly jaded and have forgotten how to have fun. The quest coming out of Silverpine Forest into Hillsbrad (Horde) were you play a quest giver - good humor Bliz! I thought that was extremely well done. The same for the Cata quest line in Uldum with Harrison Jones, it was funny.
WoW is a fun game, and after all that's what we're after isn't it - entertainment? If you're not entertained don't play. If you are enjoy. My theory we each decide how to spend our time/dollars gaming so if you want to raid or play FB games or F2P cash shop imports or WoW or Hello Kitty or ? - your life, your choice - just enjoy yourself, or why bother.
Proud member of Hammerfist Clan Gaming Community.
Currently playing: RIFT, EQ2, WoW, LoTRO
Retired: Warhammer, AoC, EQ
Waiting: SWToR & GW2
I have to laugh at this. Saying your bored and know everything about the game but hardly raid is quite silly. You might as well said I know half the game and bored with it.
Rift has what you are looking for, check it out.
Yet another quality article by your only credible writer on staff. It only highlights the difference between hacks wasting readers time with moronic crap about crapping in video games.
Wow , much like "reality" T.V. are perfect for the mindless sheeple. People who don't want too think or work for anything. Just give them mind numbing , non-thought provoking , no skilled needed, instant gratification entertainment and the zombies that call themselves "Gamers" will continue to praise it.
P.S.
Wow has been out this long and you have not seen it's end game? What company do you work for and what is your job exactly? Am i the only one who thinks that some one isn't very good at what they do and might be better served writing articles for the National Enquirer ?
I am always at a loss at the hostility this game evokes.
1. WoW has been out this long and I've played it for a total of about 10 months in that time. I have not been continuously subscribed - which really doesn't matter anyway.
2. I don't raid. I've said this before and I'm pretty sure I even said it in this article. It's not that I *can't* do it, it's that I choose not to.
3. I am my own boss. When I'm not gaming, I'm running my own company. How exactly does this impact anything at all? Writing columns here is a freelance gig. Hun, if you think you can do better, pitch a column to the site. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll kick me out, eh?
Good article. It reflects kind of where I am. When Cata came out, I jumped back in and played zealously for about a month. I think WoW did a great job with Cataclysm. Sadly, however, I had played Dragon Age and Mass Effect over the past year and, compared to them, Cataclysm looked pretty shallow and silly.
I could NOT stick with it, though. I guess my chief criticism of the game isn't the mechanics but the general vacuity of the whole world.
Having played Guild Wars and Dragon Age and enjoying both immensely, it was impossible to stay with WoW, which is "lite fun", to be sure, but incredibly shallow story-wise.
I am hopeful that SWTOR, Neverwinter, or GW2 can offer content that's a little more story-rich with more meaningful player involvement. Can an MMO offer the sort of intricate and creative storyline that an RPG (a well-made one, anyway) can offer? I dunno. I hope so. We'll see.
If not, I may end up dispensing with "traditional" MMOs altogether.
Aaaah, I get it.
You;re not l85 yet.
Come back to us when you've tried some of the L85 HC dungeons. I'm prepared to bet my house that you, as a casual, fun, social player, will do a 180 degree in your opinions.
WoW is massive brainwashing. Many many players play it. Does it mean it is good? No, not every massive thing is good. Like the Hitler
WoW has 12 - 13 million subscribers, but this counts the total number of accounts ever created. Active Accounts, Inactive Accounts and doesn't take into account players with multiple accounts.
Blizzard was losing WoW players, specially with after Lich King which many complained that playing any hardcore korean MMO would be better. What happened was that the Asian Population which makes up the majority of WoW players left WoW and went into Aion and other games as paying and supporting a local game there means they can play with more korean players, less americans and europeans and are all subjected to the "korean way of doing things."
Blizzard did the one thing that most "failure" of games actually do out of desperation. Which is take their game to China and hope a few million Chinese will replenish their numbers.
The thing to really take note is that if you were to learn korean or japanese language and walk into a Japanese or korean news site (yes, written in their languages) you will find that when they advertise subscriber base, they do only the active subscriber base. It means when they say "we have 3 million accounts" they mean "3 million accounts which are still paying monthly fees."
In Korea, The game called Aion managed to do the "impossible" and it was completely destroy Lineage II in sales and numbers. They literally have 3 - 4 million active accounts over there in Aion in such a short time in its life.
If you want to play it Blizzard's way, in 2 years after the release of Lineage II, the game had 14 million accounts during the time of Chronicle 4. Of course take away all the players to WoW and L2 that had inactive accounts and active account and then talk about players who are simultaneously logged in and those numbers drop like a rock. ^_^
I agree absolutely. I've played WoW on and off for a few years now, and in recent returns was really put off by those players obsessed by gear scores which is a real shame. Things like good manners, helpfulness, friendliness, willingness to listen and learn, humour, knowledge of one's own class and how it works with others, strategy etc etc seem to count for nothing if the gear score isn't right.
Nice post Isa, makes a change to read something about WoW which is balanced and informative. Like you, I've enjoyed playing it at times and I may well return at some point to see what's different after Cataclysm, but I'm not expecting a whole new game.
I think that is one of the most silliest things I have seen on this forum.
First off, you can have an opinion on whether or not you think gear score as a challenge helps or hurts the game, but to suggest they are no longer a gaming company based on that is pure insanity.
What you need to understand is that games are comprised of challenges. Challenges are what result from rulesets and limitations. One of the primary challenges that make up the RPG genre (Genres are defined by primary challenge types) is resource management and numerical management. What is a gear score? Its part of that challenge mechanic. It is a form of resource management.
Remember one of the main complaints in vanilla WoW was that people thought it was too hard. You would have lazy gamers wanting the best loot from the hardest dungeon without being equipped to handle it. Gear represents a value of stats and abilities linked to your character. You as the player manage those values to meet the level of challenge presented by the developer. Character progression cannot stop. This is all GAME DESIGN RELATED.
They constantly use playercentric design techniques to create a game that keeps the player feeling like there is room for progression. Fun = subscription = profit. They are not exclusive of one another. If you make a good game that keeps players engaged, you get profit too.
Blizzard still is and always has been a GAMING company. Gamers make the games. To suggest they are on the same level as Bobby Kotick is just pure rediculousness.
It never ceases to amaze me how vocal and passionate WoW players are. I have never played it. I wish I had a game I cared so deeply about!
I would play Wow except I'm from the camp that you play an MMO when it first starts or you are severly limited in game, and armor, and making money in game.
I agreed with this until the "engrossing, fun mmo". I'll go with a "more accessible, guarantee at some fun". Unfortunately its a pain to move a virtual 'crew' from mmo to mmo...but we can hope this year brings about something worthwhile
Just wait till WoW steals EQ's idea of "Progression servers"
I sure hope they don't though, because even I'd be tempted to open up AQ again...
Wow, you oughta open an MMO statisitical analysis site. You can make up numbers out of your .... ummmm, the air, and maybe someone will pay for it. Let me be the first to say, I believe your stats are grossly inaccurate and have no basis in the real world. Just my opinion tho.
Cheers
If Ya Ain't Dyin, Ya Ain't Tryin
I suppose this may be possible in some games (EvE comes to mind, but even there you can progress .... tho you may be 150 million skill points behind) ... but WoW is a whole nother kettle of fish ... you can catch up with the "old timers". A lot of playing to do so, but playing is fun. For me in particular, It is the journey more than the endgame that supplies most of the fun.
Just another opinion..
And Props to the OP. Finally a writer for this site who is not afraid to be "honest" (You know we can tell even wihout an article declairing how honest you are).
Edit for spelling and fat fingering.
If Ya Ain't Dyin, Ya Ain't Tryin
Who not try the free trial? I don't necessarily think the above would apply in WoW, but I might be wrong, of course. I do think, though, that WoW, maybe more than any other mmo I've played, is easier to play and feel part of despite the number of years since its launch, mainly because of the sheer size of the player base and the number of new and returning players who are coming and going all the time.
I usually don't like the blogs on this site but this one was actually well put together.
Good job!
"We have barred the gates, but can not hold them for long...
They have taken the Bridge and the Second Hall...
We can not get out. The end comes.
Drums, drums in the deep. They are coming..."