You know what I find funny is that Blizzard has anaged to put hero classes on hold for so long and no one seems to care. I closed beta tested this game and I am also a big fan of WC3. Blizzard promised long ago that every hero class from WC3 would be in game soon that was in beta over 18 months ago. Also I do believe they has said hero class info would be released at Blizz Con,yet not a single word. Did anyone notice,no not really...oh but horde got a new race. I quit this game 3 months ago yea about the same time as Blizz con I'm tired of waiting for what was promised long ago. Blizz did make a great game,one of the best is not the best game on the market today but they failed to come through on their promises. Ohh well well we shall see how well WoW fairs when put against the multiple MMOs comming out in 06. Will the new races and instances be enough or will Blizz itself for not giving the community what is had originally wanted,to play as a Demonhunter....Mountain King....and the like.
well, what can i say about this expansion, i for one iam totally against it being charged for, after whats not much more than a years play, and even if i thought it was worth it, i wont be buying it on priciple alone.
ok onto my thoughts, on the gameplay side........
......firstly my style of play,is one that doesnt like pvp and tbh doesnt care much for battlegrounds either...woo what else does he do you ask your selfs, well i am one of the few euro beta players who were sold this game by blizzard on the now infamous quote...." wow will be for EVERYBODY, the casual or the diehards", well iam sorry, but this game moved onto pvp, and battlegrounds far far to quickly, basically changing the game overnight.
how can quing for hours on end or instances that take countless hours to complete....not everybody is a 24/7 sad mad gamer.......therefore rendering the "casual gamer" a now extinct breed.
whats done it for me though is quite simply,the lvl 60 cap, has basically killed this game stone dead for me, i have played my lvl 60 preist i think for about 20 mins since it got there around a month a go, this is someone who played for around 6/8 hours a day, what is the fun of questing for absolutly NOTHING at all, nobody can do that for months on end,not even the real diehards, also i find myself now the only one online out of my friends list of around 10 players when i first started (close personal friends i mean).......
... the game has in my opinion ran its course, which i find very very dissapointing, for what was, THE best online game we have yet seen, i am guessing here in the not to far distant future we will have a wow beater, purley because they wil have learnt by blizzards mistakes.....and by mistakes i mean this,
changing tallent trees of characters halfway through the game, simply in my opinon can and should NEVER be done, i can count 3 close friends who cancellled there subs within days of there warriors being as they said nerffed to death,there are still countless little bugs that folks speak of still not being addressed that have been there from the very begining
all in all at the minute with wow, i see them just bothered about expansions, and pvp stuff, STILL, and as with the burning crusade itself, what exactly will that offer that the game doesnt already have.....imo very very little.
from an adults point of view here, i have just found out that i suspect a lot more will...wows sparkle has lost its shine...something i thought i would never say....will burning crusade bring back the shine.....my guess, NO, charging for it in the first place is big big no no.
i have a theory here though and i would like you to just take note here......iam guessing here, and its a big one get ready.........i think it will actually be FREE...why? you ask, simply because i dont think it will be out for another 6 to8 months for one...(reason 80%, of movie was artwork alone, very little actuall gameplay was seen),and in the intervining months, i think blizz acountants will have some startling news for there directors when the number of players imo will have dropped, MASSIVLY......there simply is not enough gameplay in the endgame...and rerolling a differant charcter...even that loses its shine when you re encountering the same quests over and over again...just because its a new charcter dont mean you have to kill less mobs for the completion.
dont get me wrong here i would like nothing more than this game to become THE, game it looked like it was going to be, alass i now see it wont be, i know personally a high number of players who are there no longer.....and looking at the expansion......will it entice them back?.......i very much doubt it....same old kill xxx , collect xxxx for xxxx EXP............same old, same old, same old ... iam afraid.........the game is crying out for more casual player game content....all i see...is the same long drawn out instances,and the countless hours queing.........sad but true
one very sad euro server (shadowsong....DRNO), player...signing off.......heading off to be a hero...........
.... i loved this game for the first 4 months or so.
better than guildwars which i bought and then played for 2 hours and then hated.
but am i alone in thinking that these games just dont offer enough to last more than a couple months anyways? by that time i'd seen every thing... every spell every quest every race... my god it's all so boring now.
makes me wonder why it was fun in the first place... i just cant beleive the people who have been at level 60 for 12 months and ar still paying.
i dont think video games are a waste of time... but paying 220 bucks for a game you beat a year ago...
i mean have i lost my mind? i wish to god new and good mmo's came out all the time so we didnt have to sit and wander through shit for years hoping to really enjoy them.
... people dont even like it any more, are so bored of it they cant stand it, and yet they still pay? dont believe me, just criticize the game, you'll get reported, yelled at, abused, whatever.
thats simply a sign of someone justifying why the fuck they are wasting their time with something boring.
awesome things dont need to be defended.... it's stuff that blows like politics and church that does and stale mmo's
i dont hate the game, i loved it once, but people, pull your heads out of your asses and find something fun to do.
i'd pay a hundred dollars a month to play wow if it was as fun as in the first month again...
lol30 bucks for an expansion..... free month....
it cost 15 bucks a month regulary.
i'm sure to $&$* it costs more to make an expansion and ship it then it does to sit and watch people pay to play the same game with no effort whatsoever.
when people are willing to pay 15 bucks a month for a game that never changes why go to all the time an effort to make an expansion?
blizzard is ripping you off, but the expansion seems like the most generous thing they've ever done for you fools.
am i wrong here? the game is now boring, the expansion fails to change that.
thats the problem. imo
another thing... what server cost could there possibly be. every server is exactly identical. EXACTLY.
no houses, no new vendors nothing unique, does it really cost as much to run a wow server as any other mmo of all time? hell no.
on top of that, shouldnt costs decrease as technology increases and server complications go down?
longwinded, but please god read and comment... help me explain my frustration with wow!
problems with WOW defined
* crappy emotes
*poor char creation
*nothing to do at 60
*repetitive chars
*exploring stuff sucks... it's all the same, new zone with a new name, same textures, same enemies, higher level, same crap.
*repetitive weapons and armor
*fee is too much despite falling tech costs
*still cant transfer servers
*no guild houses
*guilds have nothing cool about them... theres billions of them since there is no limit.
* your level 60 whatever probably has 670 exact duplicates on the server. exact. same face, armor, talents, whatever.
*sure you can make alts, but it's the same gay leveling, same gay end game, same fee, same thing to do for every player class etc...
*no character housing
*classes all the same- kill stuff
*every class is mindless murder except paladins which are if you dont know the worst class in the game.... just get a big group and wipe out a smaller one. strategize away!
*same exact ZERGFEST as starcraft... still playing the same thing only on an mmo.
* races are all the exact same, look the exact same. racial traits are not significant diversity in some peoples opinions... emotes arent enough either.
*worthless proffessions
*WORTHLESS!!!! proffessions
*player crafting is stupefyingly simply and boring
* all player crafted armor is worthless
60 SUCKFEST!!!!
at level 60 on other games you could build yourself a refinery empire, or a gigantic weapons hub and sell weapons so cheap it puts everyone else out of business.
you could build your own huge town or start a guild and give out houses to new players...
at 60 on this game, there is nothing to do but kill stuff. there is no diversity in the game. all areas inthe game are the exact same, a bunch of mobs your level with a few elites around ... ugh...
SAME FOR ALL CHARACTERS CLASSES AND PROFFESSIONS
* how do you gather cloth? kill mobs
* how do you gather herbs? pick them up in between killing mobs
* how do you? blah blah etc etc etc... tell me if i'm wrong.
* no diversity- combat diversity lasted some time, after you got bored of that you realized there was nothing to do but grind out the exact same mobs with another class.... uh... gay.
the game forces the entire thing to be a grindfest for items by having the soulbound items routine.... you cant even craft and sell items to make dough to buy cool items... t here is nothing to do but kill mobs.
not just for some classes, or for some levels, but for every single second of the game, and on and on till death. it's all the same stuff, spells are a lil diff, same thing
***PVP***grindfest!!!!
the top ranked players on each server have at least 80,000 kills.
scores dont show kill/death ratios
pvp rank has nothing to do with skill, just time wasted.
the only way to get pvp gear is to pvp all day long. doesnt matter how goo dyou are, just keep going!!!
MORE PROBS....
* no affect on gaming world whatsoever.
* servers are all exaclty the same.
* physics system on mounts is non existant
* guilds are so easily formed that every person is in their own guild. = suck
***** LINEAR everything is the same for each class, for horde and alliance, do the same thing! kill stuff.... kil kill kill kill.
*** all classes can be effective killing machines--- no need to roleplay or strategize, just aim for killing stuff and then have instant slaughter... zzzzz
*game is rated T for TEEN
this allows every 8 year old and his dog to play the game so lame
**** all classes do the exact same thing, they have diff spells and moves but essentailly all they do is kill things.
Blizzard is making so much money off this that they could have already released new classes and land and features like all the ones mentioned above.
unfortunately since all blizz wants is money, everyone gets this marginalized update erm... expansion* that addresses absolutely none of these issues.
wow... great list! no pun intended.
to quote the incredibles "when everyone is special, noone is"
mounts are lame because everyone eventually gets the exact same one
epic armor is lame because everyone eventually gets the same peice
getting to 60 is lame because once your there not only is there little to do, theres the exact same thing to do for every person!!!
at least in other games someone could become something totally different at level 60 than someone else.... at least swg at one point let players do differnt stuff and form a running economy made by players. just something, anything to look forward to other than
THE EXACT SAME POINTLESS THING same killing on every class, alt, server, allaince, horde, wtf everr! same thing..
and the expansion promises THE EXACT SAME THING
if i've left anything out, be sure to post it for me!
i think this pretty much defines every problem i've had
i realize that every mmo has these problems... but wow magnifies them. it is so repetitive. everything about each class, each city, each level, each spell is the same bs over and over. no problems with it?
the game has a fun ass combat core, but it should have made up a couple of classes, and entire classes should have been devoted to something OTHER THAN COMBAT
i'm so bored of killing things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
some classes should have been support, and others offense or defense...
but man, anyone who has played the game knows that since every class can go offensive it's just suicide to try anything else....
LACK OF CLASS DIVERSITY = ZERGFEST!
everyone used to think this game was rock paper scissors, but eventually you realize that a good player needs to just form a group bigger than another group and killl them as quickly as possible...
having a pet s hould be cool, having a mount should be cool, but it's not because not enough time was invested to make them unique, not enoough time was invested giving classes different crap... cool stuff for each class to make them unique, but in the end they are all the same.
nobody can tell the difference between one sixty or another because essentially all they do is kill shit. what is the fun of making an alt then?
why is anyone excited about making a blood elf? for a new racial talent?
lol i'd admire a crack addict, but everyone seems addicted to eating dirt... thats no fun. why are you eating dirt....
is anyone here feelin' me here? sound off if so. please help me live.... for a new and better game!!?!?!?!
spended 114 days playtime on my mage, grinding, getting grandmarshal, clearing all instances etc etc. The fact my gear i earned with that stuff will be like useless is really demotivating :-(, not to mention the hundred of thousands experience i should have earned while playing for grandmarshall^^ ah well only time will tell but i am not that sure i will keep playing if it reallt turns out in a discrimination of the players who are 60 for over a year.
i havent seen a warrior that can even get around their fear and magic shield and do any dmg to one.
if you cant balance a game, why not make it rock paper scissors and thus force strategy....
armor ratings almost did something, until you added so many spells that made chars like warriors and rogues able to be totally owned by any skilled class simply because some have optionless numbers of abilities while others have none except to die.
not only do you all do the same thing, but some of you suck at it and others own at it, and some have no weaknesses to any class while others are threatened by every class.
less diversity, more suffering, less fun, more grind blah lbah i can tstop writing this crap... so pissed off.
Originally posted by quix0te Dang. A lotta people hate WoW. What I find amusing in their little rants are two missing ingredients. First. What exactly is WRONG with WoW? Second. What game do you consider so much better, and why? I, for one, am always looking for new MMORPGs, but having played EQ, DAOC, SWG, AO, AC, SB, CoH, and GW, I can truthfully say WoW is the best I've seen so far. I would also like very much to see new classes, but it doesnt look thats happening. And I also think that it will be a LOOONG time from release to the first expansion. How long til the 2nd expansion? How long til we have new classes? One possiblity is that BC will have the heroic classes. Certainly they will be OVERDUE by then. The question "Hey! Am I getting any kind of xp credit for all these quests I'm doing at lvl 60?!" made me chuckle. I feel like the Devs of WoW have made it pretty clear that BC isnt for the end-game raiders. Its for the replayers (like me) who like having 10 alts on two servers, none of them lvl 60, and who are still seeing quests and adventuring areas for the first time.
I'll answers your questions.
Firstly, what's wrong with WoW? This is a two part question, because you must ask, what's wrong with BC, since the expansion is supposed to address problems with game content.
First part. WoW is a great game, and much of it is right. So what is wrong?
1. It is too easy. At the start of the game you see those ? and ! symbols for quests, to help you find things to do, and learn about your class. But they are STILL in the game at lvl 60. Levelling is ridiculously easy, and NEVER gets hard. Mobs don't get tougher later, relative to you, or smarter, you can breeze through the game using the same tactics and key presses from level 20.
2. PvP. I read that the map was designed to bring players of opposing factions into conflict. What they promised was scirmishes, raids, attacks on towns, counter attacks. But too many whiners complained about getting ganked, whilst PvEing, so they wiped out town raiding through the dishonor system, shoved ALL decent PvP into sterile instanced zones, and turned the art of war into a "counterstrike" game. In training excerises the army might take part in capture the flag, but in REAL war? I didn't see too much of that in Iraq.
3. Honor system. At first glance it looks great. But again, it turned war into an arcade game of amassing points. It rewarded, not the most skilled, but those with the most free time to amass points. Few players really like the honor system, even the hardcores, who benefit the most, because they have to work so hard to keep their rank. In real war you get promoted through acts of courage, bravery, and showing exceptional skill or thought in a battle.
4. BG faction grind. Same as above. Enter Bg, do same thing as you did yesterday, the day before, the day before...
5. End Game. for some reason Blizzard thought everyone would want to stop what they were doing 1-60, and switch to a totally uniform, singular playstyle. Raiding. Quests are MOSTLY useless at 60, no XP, little cash, largely no reward, and when there is, you can't use it, or already have better. At 60 all you have is grinding. Grind for cash for your epic mount. Grind for rep, why? some measly rewards, and proffesion recipes. Or group up and raid. 10 man, 15, 20 then 40. Prior to 60 you had a whole world to explore and hunt in, afterwards you spend your days underground, running the same content.
6. Casual gaming. Blizzard clearly advertised, and pointed out in it's FAQ, how friendly it would be to the casual gamers, with solo, and small group content, the ability to duo with a friend. They were right. WoW is far more solo friendly, BUT, at 60 that changes. Look at the official forums and see the long discussion threads about this problem.
7. BG queues. Spending 1-2 hours in a queue is crap, and affects casual players the most, since they might end up spending the whole playing time queued, I know I did.
So, does the expansion solve all these flaws?
A. New race? Yeah, and? How different will the game be, starting with a new race? It's just eye candy. A new class would add a comletely different dynamic, new skiils, tactics, talents.
B. Level cap raise? This is good. Only the hardcore raiders are complaining. They don't want to grind more XP for levels, and think their gear will become trivial. But how hard will it be to level to 70? How will you do it? When Blizzard initially announce the expansion they focussed on new high end dungeons/instances. Recently, due to the outcry on the forums, they have claimed that the expansion will have casual content. However, notice, they have not stated what it will be? And notice too, that the expansion has no ETA. The fact is they did not plan to add casual content, but now do, and have delayed it's release whilst they develop some. WoW has needed more casual end game content since release, over 6 months ago many casuals had reached level 60 and begun to notice this. But it will be many more months before the content is actually added.
C. Socketing, jewellery. Good, but not great. How much will it add to the game?
D. New lands to explore. Great. Depends how they are laid out, have to wait and see.
E. New high end instances/BGs. Yawn.
F. Flying mounts. Sound interesting, but remains to be seen how you earn one. Better not be another rep grind.
Now, what the expansion does NOT have.
1. Hero classes, of any type. Seems this idea has been shelved, it gets no mention at all now.
2. PvP, town raiding, war zones, large OPEN areas where war rages constantly, and capturing a town matters. Seige engines, castles, waves of NPC enemies, alternate honor advancement, such as medals, titles, special quests.
3. Player/guild housing. An alternate way to play the game.
4. Alternate advancement once you reach the next level cap. It will be back to raiding for better gear again.
5. New classes. A new race is largely cosmetic, but a new class. So many possibilties.
Currently overall WoW may be better than the games that went before, but it should be shoudln't it? It copied from ALL of them, and polished gameplay to a high sheen. But in certain areas those older games are better. EQ has better end game content. There is raiding but also single group. DAOC has better PvP.
WoW has had no real competition, so it has flourished. In 2006 that will change.
Is this just another dig at WoW since so many games do this?
I don't even play WoW any more but so many people like to kick the game at the top, its boring.
Now playing: VG (after a long break from MMORPGS) Played for more than a month: Darkfall online, Vanguard SOH, Everquest, Horizons, WoW, SWG, Everquest II, Eve
Heh hero classes wont make any difference. If you think about it core gameplay will remain the same. hero classes will still just be more of the same. Everyone will be a hero.
Originally posted by metalcore I can't see the problem with 60 t o70th. Had the same issues with EQ1 from 60-65th etc etc Is this just another dig at WoW since so many games do this? I don't even play WoW any more but so many people like to kick the game at the top, its boring.
Innovation almost never comes from the game at the top. Kicking the game at the top leads others to innovate. Thats partially how wow was born.
I say quit the game. The expansion is very disheartening because it doesn't really add anything new. It's all just more of the same and in my opinion that's not good enough.
Originally posted by avatar6572 I say quit the game. The expansion is very disheartening because it doesn't really add anything new. It's all just more of the same and in my opinion that's not good enough.
World of Warcraft is World of Warcraft. It ain't going to change into something else in a expansion. Blizzard has always played safe, and they always will continue to do. Why changes something that works? Mmo's have always had expansions, and the expansions have always built further on what the original game was all about. So why do people blame it all on Wow?
I really enjoy WoW and have since Beta. The expansion is "nice", but I still want the things they promised at release. I want the siege engines, weather effects, hero classes, etc. I personally think they should deliver on what they promised before promising more...
I'm inclined to agree with Trixee they need to deliver what they promised at release. They still haven't added the gladitorial aspect to the arena yet just a chest with some minor pvp competition over it what ever happened to the triggered event that was supposed to be added creating waves of harder and harder mobs to kill. It's a good game but Blizzard has yet to fully deliver what they had origenally presented for ideas to be apart of the game.
theyere making 5 million x 15 bucks every month and this is the best they can do?
thats 75 million dollars a month to pay for server costs and overhead... haha you really think it costs that much?
So true....I'm almost 99.99% sure they'll charge us to buy the expansion rather than giving it away free like other game companies have started doing *cough* guild wars...lineage 2...but the fact is I'm almost 100% postive they will charge for the expansion even if it's a cheap price of say $15's just because with 5 million subscribers that's 75 million dollars extra they can milk off the game.
Now what do I think WoW was a excellent game for the first several months probably but after that point its fun factor dropped pretty quickly for me I quite for like 5 months or so and came back again in september and at this point have begun to get bored with it again. Really the biggest thing I see WoW going for it is the community itself and is only reason I came back.
well, what can i say about this expansion, i for one iam totally against it being charged for, after whats not much more than a years play, and even if i thought it was worth it, i wont be buying it on priciple alone.
ok onto my thoughts, on the gameplay side........
......firstly my style of play,is one that doesnt like pvp and tbh doesnt care much for battlegrounds either...
I for one am a skill-based pvp player, it's the only thing I care about in an MMO, and I'd be happy to never level another character or do another quest again. But it's good to see that a role-player feels the same way I do about WoW and the upcoming expansion.
Why does Blizzard think that a majority of players will pay to get another 10 levels, another 2 races and flying mounts just to get to the same end-game item grind? I won't talk about the end game rp content Blizzard promised, I'll talk about the pvp content. Where is the skill-based pvp that Blizzard was shooting for to appease the pvpers (other than the intense extremely skill-based zergs that occur in BGs - hah)? Where is a separate server that allows a looting system of some sort? I think WoW had a chance to be a spectacular game along with everyone else, and I actually did enjoy leveling up one char to 60. But good God I could never do that again, and for a gamer who only cares about end-game, skill-based pvp, WoW just simply doesn't cut it.
In reality, I keep waiting for the next UO (Dread Lord pvp days for those who know what I'm talking about), and it seems like no mmo can or will ever be that good again. For the previous poster who said that no one could say what was wrong with WoW, I will offer up two problems: item-based pvp and lack of any sort of "casual gamer" end game environment.
How you control your character and the moves you make with your mouse or the spells you cast at the right time should control who wins a battle in a game, not an item that does a one-hit 2000 crit dmg. Where is the skill-based pvp? Currently pvp is simply nothing more than who can get the jump on who, and which group has the biggest numbers. Where is a 5v5 BG meant to solely give players the sense of achievement knowing they're the best 5man group on their server? If they implemented this in the xpac I might come back.
Blizzard has stated numerous times that their game would appeal to both the "casual" gamer and the "hardcore" gamer. The problem is that to compete at level 60 there simply is no way to be a casual player. You MUST play a minimum of 6+ hours/day for months (which is probably an underestimate), to even have a chance to get anywhere above rank 6 on the pvp ladder. Where does that leave room for a casual gamer?
Also from UO I personally miss some sort of recall and I'd love to see that in a patch/expac. As a level 60 player, you should get SOMETHING else that would allow you to transport around. Flying everywhere to do everything becomes so extremely monotonous and boring at 60. The world is beautiful but we've seen it. Give us another hearthstone or allow them to be purchasable at level 60.
So to make a long story short, I will not be getting the xpac unless drastic changes in the pvp area are made, Blizzard is simply making too much of a profit with too little to show for it. I already canceled my account a month ago, but keep looking for the chance that they could make WoW the game it was hoped by so many to be.
Originally posted by Ionyssa While World of Warcraft is undoubtedly a great game for a lot of players there remain those of us that got bored with WoW after the first few months, lack of end game content being the major reason, and after getting 3 characters to level 60 cancelled.The expansion does precisely nothing to address any of our concerns with the game and as such you won't be seeing me buying it.<sarcasm>10 more levels of mindless questing just so that I can get to the new level cap and spend the next two years raiding the new molten core equivalent for pointless magic items, oh yippee, where do I sign up!</sarcasm>In all honesty with the ridiculous amount of money Blizzard are raking in, taking this long (18+ months) to bring out what is going to be a fairly minor update to the game is just laughable.To all those still playing, enjoy!Ionyssa deWinter
I totally agree. The lack of end game content is precisely why I left WoW and went back to DAoC. If Blizzard would just address this issue, I would happily reopen my account for WoW.
Originally posted by Relapse Originally posted by toz66 well, what can i say about this expansion, i for one iam totally against it being charged for, after whats not much more than a years play, and even if i thought it was worth it, i wont be buying it on priciple alone. ok onto my thoughts, on the gameplay side........ ......firstly my style of play,is one that doesnt like pvp and tbh doesnt care much for battlegrounds either...
[[[[[[Originally posted by Relapse]]]]]
[[[I for one am a skill-based pvp player, it's the only thing I care about in an MMO, and I'd be happy to never level another character or do another quest again. But it's good to see that a role-player feels the same way I do about WoW and the upcoming expansion. ]]]
nicely put, m8 i ctually iam just about to as i type cancel my wow subs, iam litrally now throwing £9 down the drain, its days since i went on, and even longer as to when i actually PLAYED the game proprley again..... .......
last night, i got a bit of mmorpg sparkle back...first 2 days on city of heros, yes i have heard theres not much to do, but all i can say at the minute its an absolute blast, and nice and easy learning curve, it offers a dam site more than my lvl 60 casual playtime wow player can.
£8.97 delivered, for city of heros.....from amazon .co.uk....come have some fun,get away from the endless wow grind that shows NO sign of changing, either with crusade, or any updates i have seen penciled in.....very sad, very sad indeed.....
Interesting article, but utlimately pointless. I've been playing WOW from the beginning and have loved every minute of it... but, I have a job, I have friends, I go out to eat, I play other games and see movies, and basically lead a normal life. As a result, the 'what about all my level 60 characters' question isn't a buring one for me because I don't have any. My three characters that I play regularly (and by regularly I mean way way way less than a lot of other people) are between the high twenties and high forties - I've got lots of content to go. For those gamers out there that have been camping for purple items for so long that they are almost resentful of an expansion... I kind of feel like they should get a life. For those people that are like, 'man, all that experience has been wasted, now I've got to start over to get to level 70...' well guess what, that time is only wasted if you weren't having fun. And isn't that the goal? I think WOW is a blast, I love the people I game with, and absolutely none of us have complained or mentioned anything re: the burning crusade but with anticipation. And let's be honest with ourselves a second, if blizzard puts out a bad expansion (which will pretty much be a first for the company) or if they make some decisions regarding experience and equipment that some players don't like (which is pretty much a given) will it really be that big a deal?? Just have fun. If you don't like it, don't play it. If you don't approve of changes, don't buy the expansion. I will say this though... If I were at level 60 and had racked up some extra xp just goofing around, and get the expansion, and whammo, I'm level 70 at boot up with all that xp turned in... I'd be disappointed to missed those other nine level up 'dings'.
Originally posted by Finduilas I'll answers your questions. Firstly, what's wrong with WoW? This is a two part question, because you must ask, what's wrong with BC, since the expansion is supposed to address problems with game content. First part. WoW is a great game, and much of it is right. So what is wrong?....WoW has had no real competition, so it has flourished. In 2006 that will change.
Nicely said Fin, pretty much sums up what i have thought was off about WoW. Blizzard's attitude is a rather odd one really, they play on the 'don't be harsh on us it's our first MMO, we are learning' line and yet ignore their playerbase which have had at times more experience at least playing MMOs. That is not to say that they should listen to every whiner on their forums, good god no, but still.....they have ignored so much.
Couple of points.
In a game designed around grouping and raiding in the end-game, where the fek is the LFG or LFRaid tool. They already had a LFG tool in use in beta, and removed it cause they said no one was using it, of course they didn't actually tell anyone it was there either, and then created meeting stones. /boggle.
Guild tools are woeful, and make it hard to manage a guild properly. For an end-game that forces you to run big raid guilds, they really don't help at all there.
They balance classes to a point where players clearly state that they simply don't enjoy playing the class, and Blizzard claims that it was that they intended. Why the hell would any company want to create a class that no-one wants to play.
They struggle with Content and yet ignore requests asking for player created/driven content. PVP is an example of when good content can last a long time because the players drive it rather than the devs, instead the devs had to make sure that they controlled it down to the n'th degree. Hence pathetic Battlegrounds and Honour Grind.
Player created quests, PVP/Raid Noticeboards, Player/Guild Housing, Guild Aliances, Taverns that are fun with mini-games (dice/checkers/darts/poker) and maybe with chairs that you could actually sit in, with many many more options for content that could be driven by players rather than devs.
The devs seem to think that they can drive this game into the ground and that in my opinion is what they are doing, if they ever woke up and realised that the best resource any MMO company has is its players then maybe we would see something stunning. Until that time comes, i'll be waiting for Vanguard thnxvrymch.
Comments
You know what I find funny is that Blizzard has anaged to put hero classes on hold for so long and no one seems to care. I closed beta tested this game and I am also a big fan of WC3. Blizzard promised long ago that every hero class from WC3 would be in game soon that was in beta over 18 months ago. Also I do believe they has said hero class info would be released at Blizz Con,yet not a single word. Did anyone notice,no not really...oh but horde got a new race. I quit this game 3 months ago yea about the same time as Blizz con I'm tired of waiting for what was promised long ago. Blizz did make a great game,one of the best is not the best game on the market today but they failed to come through on their promises. Ohh well well we shall see how well WoW fairs when put against the multiple MMOs comming out in 06. Will the new races and instances be enough or will Blizz itself for not giving the community what is had originally wanted,to play as a Demonhunter....Mountain King....and the like.
well, what can i say about this expansion, i for one iam totally against it being charged for, after whats not much more than a years play, and even if i thought it was worth it, i wont be buying it on priciple alone.
ok onto my thoughts, on the gameplay side........
......firstly my style of play,is one that doesnt like pvp and tbh doesnt care much for battlegrounds either...woo what else does he do you ask your selfs, well i am one of the few euro beta players who were sold this game by blizzard on the now infamous quote...." wow will be for EVERYBODY, the casual or the diehards", well iam sorry, but this game moved onto pvp, and battlegrounds far far to quickly, basically changing the game overnight.
how can quing for hours on end or instances that take countless hours to complete....not everybody is a 24/7 sad mad gamer.......therefore rendering the "casual gamer" a now extinct breed.
whats done it for me though is quite simply,the lvl 60 cap, has basically killed this game stone dead for me, i have played my lvl 60 preist i think for about 20 mins since it got there around a month a go, this is someone who played for around 6/8 hours a day, what is the fun of questing for absolutly NOTHING at all, nobody can do that for months on end,not even the real diehards,
also i find myself now the only one online out of my friends list of around 10 players when i first started (close personal friends i mean).......
... the game has in my opinion ran its course, which i find very very dissapointing, for what was, THE best online game we have yet seen, i am guessing here in the not to far distant future we will have a wow beater, purley because they wil have learnt by blizzards mistakes.....and by mistakes i mean this,
changing tallent trees of characters halfway through the game, simply in my opinon can and should NEVER be done, i can count 3 close friends who cancellled there subs within days of there warriors being as they said nerffed to death,there are still countless little bugs that folks speak of still not being addressed that have been there from the very begining
all in all at the minute with wow, i see them just bothered about expansions, and pvp stuff, STILL, and as with the burning crusade itself, what exactly will that offer that the game doesnt already have.....imo very very little.
from an adults point of view here, i have just found out that i suspect a lot more will...wows sparkle has lost its shine...something i thought i would never say....will burning crusade bring back the shine.....my guess, NO, charging for it in the first place is big big no no.
i have a theory here though and i would like you to just take note here......iam guessing here, and its a big one get ready.........i think it will actually be FREE...why? you ask, simply because i dont think it will be out for another 6 to8 months for one...(reason 80%, of movie was artwork alone, very little actuall gameplay was seen),and in the intervining months, i think blizz acountants will have some startling news for there directors when the number of players imo will have dropped, MASSIVLY......there simply is not enough gameplay in the endgame...and rerolling a differant charcter...even that loses its shine when you re encountering the same quests over and over again...just because its a new charcter dont mean you have to kill less mobs for the completion.
dont get me wrong here i would like nothing more than this game to become THE, game it looked like it was going to be, alass i now see it wont be, i know personally a high number of players who are there no longer.....and looking at the expansion......will it entice them back?.......i very much doubt it....same old kill xxx , collect xxxx for xxxx EXP............same old, same old, same old ... iam afraid.........the game is crying out for more casual player game content....all i see...is the same long drawn out instances,and the countless hours queing.........sad but true
one very sad euro server (shadowsong....DRNO), player...signing off.......heading off to be a hero...........
.... i loved this game for the first 4 months or so.
better than guildwars which i bought and then played for 2 hours and then hated.
but am i alone in thinking that these games just dont offer enough to last more than a couple months anyways? by that time i'd seen every thing... every spell every quest every race... my god it's all so boring now.
makes me wonder why it was fun in the first place... i just cant beleive the people who have been at level 60 for 12 months and ar still paying.
i dont think video games are a waste of time... but paying 220 bucks for a game you beat a year ago...
i mean have i lost my mind? i wish to god new and good mmo's came out all the time so we didnt have to sit and wander through shit for years hoping to really enjoy them.
... people dont even like it any more, are so bored of it they cant stand it, and yet they still pay? dont believe me, just criticize the game, you'll get reported, yelled at, abused, whatever.
thats simply a sign of someone justifying why the fuck they are wasting their time with something boring.
awesome things dont need to be defended.... it's stuff that blows like politics and church that does
and stale mmo's
i dont hate the game, i loved it once, but people, pull your heads out of your asses and find something fun to do.
another q...
seriously.
why do new character bodies with new racial traits give merit to make new characters... lol!
... i cant believe there isnt a new class. that might actually add something new.
how the hell is adding new races difficult? lol same thing. same exact thing, just a new body
theyere making 5 million x 15 bucks every month and this is the best they can do?
thats 75 million dollars a month to pay for server costs and overhead... haha you really think it costs that much?
look at steam... god it's all for free there.
anyone favor a guess at how many jewel crafters there will be when the expansion comes out?
4,999,999.... is mine
that is if they dont get any more new subscribers until then.
... as soon as you get to level 70... how is the game going to get more fun then it was at 60...?
i really don tget this. someone explain.
anyone else really love some things about swg?
i thought that the
*player housing -- was totally awesome....
i had my own littl ehut in the middle of nowhere... it was crap, but i had something!
the refineries peeps had built, giant guildhouses and player towns... lol
you really ownded the place..
players making weapons was cool.
dunno, it just seems like stuff like that long with great char creation ( unique ) made the game really cool.
why did blizz leave out these obvious immersive necessities?
how is an expansion not worth it?
i'd pay a hundred dollars a month to play wow if it was as fun as in the first month again...
lol30 bucks for an expansion..... free month....
it cost 15 bucks a month regulary.
i'm sure to $&$* it costs more to make an expansion and ship it then it does to sit and watch people pay to play the same game with no effort whatsoever.
when people are willing to pay 15 bucks a month for a game that never changes why go to all the time an effort to make an expansion?
blizzard is ripping you off, but the expansion seems like the most generous thing they've ever done for you fools.
am i wrong here? the game is now boring, the expansion fails to change that.
thats the problem. imo
another thing... what server cost could there possibly be. every server is exactly identical. EXACTLY.
no houses, no new vendors nothing unique, does it really cost as much to run a wow server as any other mmo of all time? hell no.
on top of that, shouldnt costs decrease as technology increases and server complications go down?
guess not
why does anyone care about what xp they'll get.....
dont you want to pay the game your playing?
ok... buy expansion, now wher eis my free xp to help me finish it faster....
um... must win game, or must play game?
haha can yo honestly say you like it if you want to avoid playing it so bad... i mean comon, you havent leved for more than a year at least....
hahah
longwinded, but please god read and comment... help me explain my frustration with wow!
problems with WOW defined
* crappy emotes
*poor char creation
*nothing to do at 60
*repetitive chars
*exploring stuff sucks... it's all the same, new zone with a new name, same textures, same enemies, higher level, same crap.
*repetitive weapons and armor
*fee is too much despite falling tech costs
*still cant transfer servers
*no guild houses
*guilds have nothing cool about them... theres billions of them since there is no limit.
* your level 60 whatever probably has 670 exact duplicates on the server. exact. same face, armor, talents, whatever.
*sure you can make alts, but it's the same gay leveling, same gay end game, same fee, same thing to do for every player class etc...
*no character housing
*classes all the same- kill stuff
*every class is mindless murder except paladins which are if you dont know the worst class in the game.... just get a big group and wipe out a smaller one. strategize away!
*same exact ZERGFEST as starcraft... still playing the same thing only on an mmo.
* races are all the exact same, look the exact same. racial traits are not significant diversity in some peoples opinions... emotes arent enough either.
*worthless proffessions
*WORTHLESS!!!! proffessions
*player crafting is stupefyingly simply and boring
* all player crafted armor is worthless
60 SUCKFEST!!!!
at level 60 on other games you could build yourself a refinery empire, or a gigantic weapons hub and sell weapons so cheap it puts everyone else out of business.
you could build your own huge town or start a guild and give out houses to new players...
at 60 on this game, there is nothing to do but kill stuff. there is no diversity in the game. all areas inthe game are the exact same, a bunch of mobs your level with a few elites around ... ugh...
SAME FOR ALL CHARACTERS CLASSES AND PROFFESSIONS
* how do you gather cloth? kill mobs
* how do you gather herbs? pick them up in between killing mobs
* how do you? blah blah etc etc etc... tell me if i'm wrong.
* no diversity- combat diversity lasted some time, after you got bored of that you realized there was nothing to do but grind out the exact same mobs with another class.... uh... gay.
the game forces the entire thing to be a grindfest for items by having the soulbound items routine.... you cant even craft and sell items to make dough to buy cool items... t here is nothing to do but kill mobs.
not just for some classes, or for some levels, but for every single second of the game, and on and on till death. it's all the same stuff, spells are a lil diff, same thing
***PVP***grindfest!!!!
the top ranked players on each server have at least 80,000 kills.
scores dont show kill/death ratios
pvp rank has nothing to do with skill, just time wasted.
the only way to get pvp gear is to pvp all day long. doesnt matter how goo dyou are, just keep going!!!
MORE PROBS....
* no affect on gaming world whatsoever.
* servers are all exaclty the same.
* physics system on mounts is non existant
* guilds are so easily formed that every person is in their own guild. = suck
***** LINEAR everything is the same for each class, for horde and alliance, do the same thing! kill stuff.... kil kill kill kill.
*** all classes can be effective killing machines--- no need to roleplay or strategize, just aim for killing stuff and then have instant slaughter... zzzzz
*game is rated T for TEEN
this allows every 8 year old and his dog to play the game so lame
**** all classes do the exact same thing, they have diff spells and moves but essentailly all they do is kill things.
Blizzard is making so much money off this that they could have already released new classes and land and features like all the ones mentioned above.
unfortunately since all blizz wants is money, everyone gets this marginalized update erm... expansion* that addresses absolutely none of these issues.
wow... great list! no pun intended.
to quote the incredibles "when everyone is special, noone is"
mounts are lame because everyone eventually gets the exact same one
epic armor is lame because everyone eventually gets the same peice
getting to 60 is lame because once your there not only is there little to do, theres the exact same thing to do for every person!!!
at least in other games someone could become something totally different at level 60 than someone else.... at least swg at one point let players do differnt stuff and form a running economy made by players. just something, anything to look forward to other than
THE EXACT SAME POINTLESS THING same killing on every class, alt, server, allaince, horde, wtf everr! same thing..
and the expansion promises THE EXACT SAME THING
if i've left anything out, be sure to post it for me!
i think this pretty much defines every problem i've had
i realize that every mmo has these problems... but wow magnifies them. it is so repetitive. everything about each class, each city, each level, each spell is the same bs over and over. no problems with it?
the game has a fun ass combat core, but it should have made up a couple of classes, and entire classes should have been devoted to something OTHER THAN COMBAT
i'm so bored of killing things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
some classes should have been support, and others offense or defense...
but man, anyone who has played the game knows that since every class can go offensive it's just suicide to try anything else....
LACK OF CLASS DIVERSITY = ZERGFEST!
everyone used to think this game was rock paper scissors, but eventually you realize that a good player needs to just form a group bigger than another group and killl them as quickly as possible...
having a pet s hould be cool, having a mount should be cool, but it's not because not enough time was invested to make them unique, not enoough time was invested giving classes different crap... cool stuff for each class to make them unique, but in the end they are all the same.
nobody can tell the difference between one sixty or another because essentially all they do is kill shit. what is the fun of making an alt then?
why is anyone excited about making a blood elf? for a new racial talent?
lol i'd admire a crack addict, but everyone seems addicted to eating dirt... thats no fun. why are you eating dirt....
is anyone here feelin' me here? sound off if so. please help me live.... for a new and better game!!?!?!?!
well i really dont look forward to it
spended 114 days playtime on my mage, grinding, getting grandmarshal, clearing all instances etc etc. The fact my gear i earned with that stuff will be like useless is really demotivating :-(, not to mention the hundred of thousands experience i should have earned while playing for grandmarshall^^ ah well only time will tell but i am not that sure i will keep playing if it reallt turns out in a discrimination of the players who are 60 for over a year.
sixpackje, grandmarshal mage , balnazzar EU
shadow preists can kill any class.
i havent seen a warrior that can even get around their fear and magic shield and do any dmg to one.
if you cant balance a game, why not make it rock paper scissors and thus force strategy....
armor ratings almost did something, until you added so many spells that made chars like warriors and rogues able to be totally owned by any skilled class simply because some have optionless numbers of abilities while others have none except to die.
not only do you all do the same thing, but some of you suck at it and others own at it, and some have no weaknesses to any class while others are threatened by every class.
less diversity, more suffering, less fun, more grind blah lbah i can tstop writing this crap... so pissed off.
how does being 60 give you any status at all? not only are you the ame as other 60s' but you still have no game presence except for your cahracter....
no houses or towns, or anything... how can that be rewarding at all...?
I'll answers your questions.
Firstly, what's wrong with WoW? This is a two part question, because you must ask, what's wrong with BC, since the expansion is supposed to address problems with game content.
First part. WoW is a great game, and much of it is right. So what is wrong?
1. It is too easy. At the start of the game you see those ? and ! symbols for quests, to help you find things to do, and learn about your class. But they are STILL in the game at lvl 60. Levelling is ridiculously easy, and NEVER gets hard. Mobs don't get tougher later, relative to you, or smarter, you can breeze through the game using the same tactics and key presses from level 20.
2. PvP. I read that the map was designed to bring players of opposing factions into conflict. What they promised was scirmishes, raids, attacks on towns, counter attacks. But too many whiners complained about getting ganked, whilst PvEing, so they wiped out town raiding through the dishonor system, shoved ALL decent PvP into sterile instanced zones, and turned the art of war into a "counterstrike" game. In training excerises the army might take part in capture the flag, but in REAL war? I didn't see too much of that in Iraq.
3. Honor system. At first glance it looks great. But again, it turned war into an arcade game of amassing points. It rewarded, not the most skilled, but those with the most free time to amass points. Few players really like the honor system, even the hardcores, who benefit the most, because they have to work so hard to keep their rank. In real war you get promoted through acts of courage, bravery, and showing exceptional skill or thought in a battle.
4. BG faction grind. Same as above. Enter Bg, do same thing as you did yesterday, the day before, the day before...
5. End Game. for some reason Blizzard thought everyone would want to stop what they were doing 1-60, and switch to a totally uniform, singular playstyle. Raiding. Quests are MOSTLY useless at 60, no XP, little cash, largely no reward, and when there is, you can't use it, or already have better. At 60 all you have is grinding. Grind for cash for your epic mount. Grind for rep, why? some measly rewards, and proffesion recipes. Or group up and raid. 10 man, 15, 20 then 40. Prior to 60 you had a whole world to explore and hunt in, afterwards you spend your days underground, running the same content.
6. Casual gaming. Blizzard clearly advertised, and pointed out in it's FAQ, how friendly it would be to the casual gamers, with solo, and small group content, the ability to duo with a friend. They were right. WoW is far more solo friendly, BUT, at 60 that changes. Look at the official forums and see the long discussion threads about this problem.
7. BG queues. Spending 1-2 hours in a queue is crap, and affects casual players the most, since they might end up spending the whole playing time queued, I know I did.
So, does the expansion solve all these flaws?
A. New race? Yeah, and? How different will the game be, starting with a new race? It's just eye candy. A new class would add a comletely different dynamic, new skiils, tactics, talents.
B. Level cap raise? This is good. Only the hardcore raiders are complaining. They don't want to grind more XP for levels, and think their gear will become trivial. But how hard will it be to level to 70? How will you do it? When Blizzard initially announce the expansion they focussed on new high end dungeons/instances. Recently, due to the outcry on the forums, they have claimed that the expansion will have casual content. However, notice, they have not stated what it will be? And notice too, that the expansion has no ETA. The fact is they did not plan to add casual content, but now do, and have delayed it's release whilst they develop some. WoW has needed more casual end game content since release, over 6 months ago many casuals had reached level 60 and begun to notice this. But it will be many more months before the content is actually added.
C. Socketing, jewellery. Good, but not great. How much will it add to the game?
D. New lands to explore. Great. Depends how they are laid out, have to wait and see.
E. New high end instances/BGs. Yawn.
F. Flying mounts. Sound interesting, but remains to be seen how you earn one. Better not be another rep grind.
Now, what the expansion does NOT have.
1. Hero classes, of any type. Seems this idea has been shelved, it gets no mention at all now.
2. PvP, town raiding, war zones, large OPEN areas where war rages constantly, and capturing a town matters. Seige engines, castles, waves of NPC enemies, alternate honor advancement, such as medals, titles, special quests.
3. Player/guild housing. An alternate way to play the game.
4. Alternate advancement once you reach the next level cap. It will be back to raiding for better gear again.
5. New classes. A new race is largely cosmetic, but a new class. So many possibilties.
Currently overall WoW may be better than the games that went before, but it should be shoudln't it? It copied from ALL of them, and polished gameplay to a high sheen. But in certain areas those older games are better. EQ has better end game content. There is raiding but also single group. DAOC has better PvP.
WoW has had no real competition, so it has flourished. In 2006 that will change.
I can't see the problem with 60 t o70th.
Had the same issues with EQ1 from 60-65th etc etc
Is this just another dig at WoW since so many games do this?
I don't even play WoW any more but so many people like to kick the game at the top, its boring.
Now playing: VG (after a long break from MMORPGS)
Played for more than a month: Darkfall online, Vanguard SOH, Everquest, Horizons, WoW, SWG, Everquest II, Eve
I say quit the game. The expansion is very disheartening because it doesn't really add anything new. It's all just more of the same and in my opinion that's not good enough.
World of Warcraft is World of Warcraft. It ain't going to change into something else in a expansion. Blizzard has always played safe, and they always will continue to do. Why changes something that works? Mmo's have always had expansions, and the expansions have always built further on what the original game was all about. So why do people blame it all on Wow?
I really enjoy WoW and have since Beta. The expansion is "nice", but I still want the things they promised at release. I want the siege engines, weather effects, hero classes, etc. I personally think they should deliver on what they promised before promising more...
I found this funny...
theyere making 5 million x 15 bucks every month and this is the best they can do?
thats 75 million dollars a month to pay for server costs and overhead... haha you really think it costs that much?
So true....I'm almost 99.99% sure they'll charge us to buy the expansion rather than giving it away free like other game companies have started doing *cough* guild wars...lineage 2...but the fact is I'm almost 100% postive they will charge for the expansion even if it's a cheap price of say $15's just because with 5 million subscribers that's 75 million dollars extra they can milk off the game.
Now what do I think WoW was a excellent game for the first several months probably but after that point its fun factor dropped pretty quickly for me I quite for like 5 months or so and came back again in september and at this point have begun to get bored with it again. Really the biggest thing I see WoW going for it is the community itself and is only reason I came back.
I totally agree. The lack of end game content is precisely why I left WoW and went back to DAoC. If Blizzard would just address this issue, I would happily reopen my account for WoW.
[[[[[[Originally posted by Relapse]]]]]
[[[I for one am a skill-based pvp player, it's the only thing I care about in an MMO, and I'd be happy to never level another character or do another quest again. But it's good to see that a role-player feels the same way I do about WoW and the upcoming expansion. ]]]
nicely put, m8
i ctually iam just about to as i type cancel my wow subs, iam litrally now throwing £9 down the drain, its days since i went on, and even longer as to when i actually PLAYED the game proprley again.....
.......
last night, i got a bit of mmorpg sparkle back...first 2 days on city of heros, yes i have heard theres not much to do, but all i can say at the minute its an absolute blast, and nice and easy learning curve, it offers a dam site more than my lvl 60 casual playtime wow player can.
£8.97 delivered, for city of heros.....from amazon .co.uk....come have some fun,get away from the endless wow grind that shows NO sign of changing, either with crusade, or any updates i have seen penciled in.....very sad, very sad indeed.....
Interesting article, but utlimately pointless. I've been playing WOW from the beginning and have loved every minute of it... but, I have a job, I have friends, I go out to eat, I play other games and see movies, and basically lead a normal life. As a result, the 'what about all my level 60 characters' question isn't a buring one for me because I don't have any. My three characters that I play regularly (and by regularly I mean way way way less than a lot of other people) are between the high twenties and high forties - I've got lots of content to go. For those gamers out there that have been camping for purple items for so long that they are almost resentful of an expansion... I kind of feel like they should get a life. For those people that are like, 'man, all that experience has been wasted, now I've got to start over to get to level 70...' well guess what, that time is only wasted if you weren't having fun. And isn't that the goal? I think WOW is a blast, I love the people I game with, and absolutely none of us have complained or mentioned anything re: the burning crusade but with anticipation. And let's be honest with ourselves a second, if blizzard puts out a bad expansion (which will pretty much be a first for the company) or if they make some decisions regarding experience and equipment that some players don't like (which is pretty much a given) will it really be that big a deal?? Just have fun. If you don't like it, don't play it. If you don't approve of changes, don't buy the expansion. I will say this though... If I were at level 60 and had racked up some extra xp just goofing around, and get the expansion, and whammo, I'm level 70 at boot up with all that xp turned in... I'd be disappointed to missed those other nine level up 'dings'.
Great job guys @MMORPG & Blizzard
Nicely said Fin, pretty much sums up what i have thought was off about WoW. Blizzard's attitude is a rather odd one really, they play on the 'don't be harsh on us it's our first MMO, we are learning' line and yet ignore their playerbase which have had at times more experience at least playing MMOs. That is not to say that they should listen to every whiner on their forums, good god no, but still.....they have ignored so much.
Couple of points.
In a game designed around grouping and raiding in the end-game, where the fek is the LFG or LFRaid tool. They already had a LFG tool in use in beta, and removed it cause they said no one was using it, of course they didn't actually tell anyone it was there either, and then created meeting stones. /boggle.
Guild tools are woeful, and make it hard to manage a guild properly. For an end-game that forces you to run big raid guilds, they really don't help at all there.
They balance classes to a point where players clearly state that they simply don't enjoy playing the class, and Blizzard claims that it was that they intended. Why the hell would any company want to create a class that no-one wants to play.
They struggle with Content and yet ignore requests asking for player created/driven content. PVP is an example of when good content can last a long time because the players drive it rather than the devs, instead the devs had to make sure that they controlled it down to the n'th degree. Hence pathetic Battlegrounds and Honour Grind.
Player created quests, PVP/Raid Noticeboards, Player/Guild Housing, Guild Aliances, Taverns that are fun with mini-games (dice/checkers/darts/poker) and maybe with chairs that you could actually sit in, with many many more options for content that could be driven by players rather than devs.
The devs seem to think that they can drive this game into the ground and that in my opinion is what they are doing, if they ever woke up and realised that the best resource any MMO company has is its players then maybe we would see something stunning. Until that time comes, i'll be waiting for Vanguard thnxvrymch.