Aug
16

WoW: Change is a comin

14 Comments

Rumor mill has it that WoW is going to be doing a wee bit of a revamp for the next expansion:

Cataclysm will be the first expansion not to introduce a new continent, instead making use of previously unreleased zones and revamping existing ones.

Classic Azeroth Revamp
A cataclysmic event caused by Deathwing and Azshara will change the face of Azeroth as we know it. Most of the new content for Cataclysm will take the form of a revamped Azeroth, taking advantage of newer additions to WoW such as phasing and daily quests. Most of the quests and mobs in the classic zones will also be redesigned to make leveling less painful. With the revamp, a greater narritive and sense progression will be offered to players. Some zones and dungeons will change drastically to fit this, e.g.,

- The Barrens will be split into two separate zones of two different level bands.
- Azshara will become a low level (~10-20) zone.
- Some of the zones like the Thousand Needles will be flooded.
- Durotar is wrecked and apparently Orgrimmar could be destroyed. A new Orc city is rebuilt over the course of the expansion.
- Gnomeregan will be part of the expansion as well and gnomes might be able to reclaim their capital. (The last part is still unconfirmed)
- Wailing Caverns will be become a lush tropical area as a result of the druid’s magic.
- The Blackrock Spire will erupt and a new version of Blackrock Mountains will be available, apparently Ragnaros will be back too.

In the aftermath of the cataclysm, and the new conflicts on the horizon relief efforts can be found in many zones and new open PvP areas similar to Lake Wintergrasp.

Oh…this will be interesting to watch, won’t it. Just last month I was concerned that WoW is forgetting about the “old zones”. If this rumor holds to be true, then I think this will be nothing but a good thing for Blizzard and WoW players. The old world is desperate for a new coat of paint. I think it’s one of the big lessons that needs to be brought forward: you need to look back very once and while in order to move forward. Look for new and old players to return in droves for WoW if they go with these changes in WoW…yours truly included.

What is really interesting is that the level cap may only be raised by 5 levels. Everyone seems to love leveling in WoW and if there are only 5 for this expansion, it makes me wonder what character progression will look like or if any other changes are being kept under wraps for now.

D out.

Posted in Editorial
14 Comments Posted by Darren

14 Responses to "WoW: Change is a comin"

  • Bhagpuss says:
    August 16, 2009 at 3:03 pm

    Why. precisely, is the old world “desperate for a new coat of paint”? What, exactly, is wrong with it?

    I don’t have 3, 4 or 5 years of old-school WoW memories, unlike most of the people commonly disparaging the current 1 – 60 game clearly do. On the other hand, I am actually playing through those levels, for the first time, on my first character, who I created less than two months ago.

    Far from a barren wasteland of out-of-date content where the silence is only intermittently broken by the wailing and gnashing of teeth of an occasional, miserable soloist pitifully and slowly grinding towards the glorious light of the end-game, my experience is somewhat cheerier.

    From day one as a dwarf I was astonished by the sheer number of people. Maybe other servers are dead at the lower levels, but my EU PvE server is absolutely rammed. I am the kind of player who doesn’t follow any particular levelling plan. I go wherever the fancy takes me and on a typical day I spend more time riding my ram and flying on griffins than I do fighting. Safe to say that, like the Beach Boys, I get around. And everywhere I go, and I do mean everywhere, there are lots of people.

    The last time I played in an environment as busy as this must have been EQ circa 2000. EQ2 wasn’t as busy in the 20s, 30s and 40s zones three months after launch as my WoW server is after five years at the same level range. I frequently have to change my plans and move to another quest for a while because the mobs I need are in the process of being killed by someone else. Any remotely accessible grinding area or quest hub is guaranteed to be busy at prime time. To get space to yourself you really have to explore.

    Now I am not speaking for instances. I don’t know whether it’s easy to get a 5 man group together at the appropriate level to do one. I’m soloing and duoing with Mrs Bhagpuss mostly. However, my observation, when we do go to do an instance together, is that there are plenty of others doing them too. I’ve certainly had a slew of invites.

    So much for the quantity, what about the quality? Well, as an unjaded, haven’t seen any of it before, first-time WoW newbie, I think it’s fantastic. The combat is beautifully paced and endlessly enjoyable, the quests are well-written, interesting and often very funny, the landscapes and set-design is absolutely stellar, and the all-round fun-factor is damn near off the scale. Maybe it was even better 2, 3 , 4 years ago, but we don’t have time machines so it’s just as well that, to a newcomer, it’s top quality by today’s standards.

    I do wonder where the prevailing feeling comes from, expressed on many blogs, that the sub-end-game in WoW is dead and buried. I can’t imagine it’s coming from people playing the game through for the first time, and surely it’s their experience that counts? I’m just very, very glad we finally decided to try WoW in time to experience the original content in something approximating its original stare, before yet another MMO cliche cataclysm turns it all on its head.

  • Shawndra says:
    August 16, 2009 at 3:06 pm

    Same rumor mill also says there will be new races(goblin for horde and worgen for alliance) and new race/class combos. I will wait for the official word, because the idea of a holy cow in anything but a joke just doesn’t seem right to me.

  • Andrew says:
    August 16, 2009 at 3:36 pm

    This would bring you back, Darren? Really? What part of the rumors haul you in?

    If true this does nothing but reinforce my desire to not return to the game after my May departure…. it seems like a big recycling effort that will be great for the play who love to churn out alt after alt, but fairly barren for someone who would rather stick with a single toon.

    Also – Blizz has spruced up Azeroth and tweaked old world content many times over the past few years – they’ve streamlined it, added a few quest hubs, and made many of the camps of elite mobs soloable by players. Far from ignoring Azeroth, Blizzard has spent a great deal of time on it.

    Bhagpuss:
    I’m not sure how far along you are, but starting around level 40ish Azeroth starts to wear a little thin. The leveling path becomes more linear and – at least in my opinion – pretty dull.

  • Darren says:
    August 16, 2009 at 4:47 pm

    @Andrew: Part of the reason to revisit WoW is because I have a belief that you really can’t comment intelligently on anything MMo related without having played WoW. The “revamp”, whatever it is….I think that is the element I need to look at that would bring me back. I’m extremely curious to see how Blizzard handles this. How will it effect old players? How will it effect new players? True Blizz has spruced up the place in the past, but this seems a bit more encompassing than before. Either way, look for comments from me on it later in 2010 I guess ;)

  • Green Armadillo says:
    August 16, 2009 at 6:17 pm

    “If this rumor holds to be true, then I think this will be nothing but a good thing for Blizzard and WoW players.”

    The catch is whether the focus on pre-level cap content means less time for level-capped content. The inclusion of only five additional levels, and plans to revamp old raid content, suggest that this may happen. This plan almost seems to be banking on players’ willingness to re-roll as alts (any alts, new races, new class combos, anything really please please please) in lieu of stuff for their mains. If this really is the direction the game is going, then perhaps the silent non-forum-posting majority of players really are bogged down at level 40 somewhere having never reached level 60 or beyond.

  • We Fly Spitfires says:
    August 17, 2009 at 5:20 am

    I think it’s an excellent idea, one that could really see a huge boost for WoW again. Imagine everyone rerolling new characters to check out the new content – I think it would do wonders for the game. Of course, I am incredibly skeptical about if this will actually happen and, if it does, how long it will be until we see it.

  • heartless_ says:
    August 17, 2009 at 6:49 am

    @Bhagpuss

    “Why. precisely, is the old world “desperate for a new coat of paint”? What, exactly, is wrong with it?”

    It doesn’t fit with TBC or Wrath. TBC and Wrath introduced mechanics that have made the game better. The old world no longer fits and as far as I’m concerned, has been pretty much abandoned.

    Also, put this in perspective of another expansion being released. Add another “theme park” thats disconnected from the main world and you’ll start to see how the game will become a coagulated mess like Everquest, DAoC, or any Diku MMORPG of the last decade.

    Blizzard has the chance to take the lessons learned since vanilla WoW was launched and use them to improve the original world. They can add flying, phasing, PvP objectives, and if the Goblin rumor is to be true, they NEED to restructure the old world to make it fit!

  • Xelous says:
    August 17, 2009 at 7:59 am

    Erm… zones connected with 1K needles will be flooded…

    Well, considering that that is going to be, the southern barrens, Tanaris & Ferelas lets think about that…

    Tanaris is a Desert.. can’t flood that can they?…

    The height differences of the barrens might make for a great water fall…

    Ferelas, is higher than the needles topographically and already pretty wet…

    So what they going to do? Dam the end of the needles Hoover Style?

    OMG, there’s a rumour for you to pass on, they’re going to dam the gap from the end of the needles to the pan handle of the race track bit….. flood it, and then evolve blood elves into mermen within….. How’s that grab ya?

  • SmakenDahed says:
    August 17, 2009 at 8:02 am

    I was thinking about the 5 level thing. So far, at 80, I’ve had quite the gear churn and it’s not just from raiding – in fact, most of the recent stuff came from heroics and spending emblems. Even then, there are still more levels of gear to acquire, each one taking you a step away from being 80. It’s an entirely different progression.

    I suspect they understand this and aim to continue that.

    On the other hand, the low number of levels to advance through for the new expansion might encourage people to try new characters out to experience the newer, lower level, content once they hit the level cap. This is made even easier by heirloom items…

  • Oakstout says:
    August 17, 2009 at 10:17 am

    I think “IF” this actually happens one the more interesting features would be the use of flying mounts in the old world. Ever since they introduced Flying mounts in TBC players have wanted to fly in the Old World, but have been unable to because when Vanilla WoW was crafted, they didn’t add textures to the tops of a lot of the world allowing for people to fly where they wanted. Now, this will be very possible, which makes the rumor even more likely and more exciting.

  • Thallian says:
    August 17, 2009 at 10:57 am

    Flying mounts would be good. Throw in a lifetime sub option and I might be back … dangerous ;)

  • heartless_ says:
    August 17, 2009 at 1:01 pm

    @Xelous

    The Barrens are ABOVE 1k Needles. You have to take an elevator from S Barrens to go down into 1k Needles (its a canyon). So, the S Barrens would not be terrible flooded.

    There is a mountain between 1k Needles and Tanaris, so no flooding out that side.

  • Xelous says:
    August 18, 2009 at 6:18 am

    @heartless – I know, hence why I said it’d make a nice waterfall… savvie?

  • Xelous says:
    August 18, 2009 at 6:26 am

    Oh no, I can’t just leave it there, you’ve just riled me, I know there’s a mountain, but the race track salt pan there and the needles are the same zone, they appear on the same map segment in the game. So, you could flood the pan handle and the bottom of the needles, there is one ickle pool of water with elementals in the needles, but the pool old horsey peolpe will get wet… and no more race track… where will the hidden chicken man go? So I said a Dam… not a damn a dam you know bit concrete things, hold back water… just like that big old vintage job they have in America on the Colorado River… you know that one named after a house hold appliance….

    That real world dam was built but it also helped provide jobs during the depression… and if they’re going to destroy oggy in some huge event, they might need to give all those displaced horde a new project to work on… building a dam might be the thing to get ‘em all doing…. savvie.

    And, waterfall, ABOVE and water goes DOWN… FALLING GAVITY… I so love when people try to MAKE a point in a post, and they’ve not read the original.

    And I can not believe you want to pull me up on HEIGHT when there is a) no issue there, and b) I MENTIONED MERMEN…

    FFS people, Xel is pissed off now, proper pissed… Grovel before me ludicrous one of the schizzle dizzle pizzle.

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