A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Category: MMORPG Page 8 of 29

WoW: Legion First Impressions

warcraft-legionWell I think Blizzard definitely made it a very epic Gamescom; it probably hasn’t been this epic in years! I’ll be honest, I was nervous waiting for the announcement because Blizzard has been going so many different directions with new games while trying to continue developing interesting content for their flagship product. I know that WoW has lost its luster for many gamers who have played since Vanilla. In fact the last couple of expansions have even had me waning because I struggled with the story.

I feel like Legion has changed that for me. Initially I am feeling just as excited for the expansion as I was for Lich King (which was my favorite expansion). I have been waiting for the Demon Hunter since the Death Knight and its the first time ever that I am actually thinking about changing my main. ashbringer-8lhH9GArtifact weapons might be the reason that I don’t change my main. Playing a paladin (that is currently Retribution) means that Ashbringer would be my artifact weapon, and for someone that has been playing a paladin for years, that makes me very happy. A demon hunter tank sounds so awesome though and we all know that the demon hunter artifact weapon will probably be warglaives! What to do. What to do.

The Emerald Nightmare as a raid is also really exciting and means that I will be working hard to make sure I am ready to hit raiding again (and hopefully not just LFR *wink wink*).

demon_hunter_by_anni_lee-d3h0u59I am going to miss my garrison but Champions and Class Halls are the next logical step from followers and garrisons – sort of (though I am still a little disappointed that we don’t have player housing yet). I like the concept of champions playing a more integral role in your adventures, instead of just your pawns to do bitch work.

I don’t think the press event had been over for 5 minutes when I already saw people tweeting that Blizzard is “rehashing content” again but I disagree. Yes we will be using Dalaran again (which I think is great because I love that city) and we will see Violet Hold again but beyond that its all new. The Broken Isle is from Warcraft 3 and has never been in any of WoW so I don’t understand how that is “rehashing” when we have never been there (unless you played Warcraft 3).

I think Blizzard has stopped creating MMO content for the MMO gamer (a long time ago) and has been working on creating content for the people that enjoy the lore. They want people to be immersed into the content because of the story and the characters, not because its challenging. I agree that for certain games challenging is fun, but that’s not the point of this game anymore. It’s a community now. It’s a continuous story. Those are the new ingredients for a fun World of Warcraft experience.

doomhammer_by_wolfgan-d5dzgc7One person commented that they were hoping that Blizzard would have come up with a different mechanic for leveling, other than just increasing it another 10 levels. I think they make an interesting point. Will each expansion just continue increasing the level cap ad nauseam? It will eventually feel too daunting to start a new character.

Granted I am still coming off the high of the unveiling and perhaps after I have digested everything and read up a little more, maybe my impressions will change. They may not necessarily become more negative. In fact they could become more positive. I just wanted to get my thoughts out there early, while everyone else is still digesting everything too.

I want to know what your impressions are (if you watched the press event).

The MMO Times: GAMESCOM 2015

star-wars-battlefront-dogfight-gamescomIssue 125:  All eyes were on Gamescom this week (well, they were if you were a gamer). Blizzard is probably the reason there is so much attention given to the conference this year, which many might have ignored in the past since its all the way over in Germany. I tend to start these posts prior to the actual events, unless all there is to talk about are the daily posts by the common places I read gaming news, so I have no titillating sentences to get you excited for the major headlines because, chances are, you already know what I am going to cover in this issue. 

I should warn you this post is going to be longer than normal because everyone is getting in on this years Gamescom, I guess they realized that if Blizzard is going to make a major announcement then there is going to be a much larger audience watching. We have news not only from Blizzard but also Microsoft, Bioware, Square Enix regarding various titles from X-Box games to Star Wars Battlefront, Final Fantasy, Star Wars The Old Republic and much much more! It’s almost hard to keep up with the news that keeps coming in!!! I think there is something here for everyone. KCGO.

The MMO Times: Where Are You, Pepe??

star_wars_battlefront_headerIssue 124: The next big convention is nearly upon us, Gamescom 2015 in Cologne, Germany starts August 5th. Perhaps Pepe is hiding out in Germany and will be found at Gamescom! Or maybe Pepe has been hiding out in Windows 10 and those of us upgrading this week will finally see him! If you have no clue what I’m talking about, then clearly you either don’t play World of Warcraft or you haven’t been following along at home! Either way … PePepe!pe will be mine because he’s the coolest pet since Pengu!!

Anyway, in all seriousness we do have some pretty interesting headlines in this issue, mostly centered around Gamescom rumor mills. Blizzard, in their typical way, is teasing us all with a “mystery conference” [which isn’t much of a mystery anymore], Square Enix may have some exciting news for FF fans, and more but we probably have to wait until next week to find out. It looks like Gamescom is going to be quite the popular event in the coming week. In non-Gamescom news Microsoft and Valve are pursuing some interesting technology for gamers and I hope Tom Brady doesn’t play Champions Online.  KCGO

The MMO Times: Togruta’s Are Awesome!

Shaak Ti vs Darth Maul Would Be Epic

Issue 123: Can you believe that the summer months are nearly over and kids will be going back to school soon (which means Trade Chat will simmer down during the daylight hours)?? Where does the time go?? Before you know it Blizzcon will be here and we will all be thinking about candy and turkey. Speaking of Blizzcon, does anyone have any predictions as to what big announcements we will have this year? I am going to throw my guess in; I think the day of open ceremonies will be when they open up the beta testing for Overwatch. I also think there may be a WoW expansion announcement and it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw Blizzard trademark something in the next couple of months which will have us all freaked out just before Blizzcon (which will drive ticket sales).

There are some very interesting stories to show you today (depending on what you have a taste for). Personally the first story you will read about is one of my favorites and one I cannot believe I didn’t read about until SIX days after it was posted! #Fail. On the subject of Star Wars (*hint-hint*), the other piece of surprising news is related to a Star Wars title (and it’s not SWTOR). In fact most of this issues headlines talk about content updates coming to a lot of your favorite games, not to mention the allusive Heathstone announcement Blizzard has been teasing about for a few weeks. KCGO.

The MMO Times: Iwata’s Final 1Up

satoru-iwataIssue 122: Does the name Satoru Iwata mean anything to you? It’s alright if you didn’t know who he was, but if you are a gamer I think you should silently bestow some reverence. He was the CEO of Nintendo and a game developer pioneer who recently passed away. I know Nintendo had very little to do with MMO games but a gamer is always a gamer no matter what platform they prefer. I have a link to a great article about his life that you should check out in this issue.

Sadness aside, the SDCC definitely provided us all with many funny feelings in our special places. We not only got a sneak peak at The Force Awakens but also the Deadpool trailer (which is very NSFW, btw) the leaked X-Men: Apocalypse trailer, and you should seriously check out this Suicide Squad trailer (it actually looks pretty good). Of course there was also more details about the upcoming Warcraft movie. It was an exciting weekend for movie geeks and gamers alike. Arousing trailers aside, we do have some gaming news to talk about. The rumor mill and teasers continue from Blizzard regarding new content, specifically around Hearthstone. There is more information on the group changes for SWTOR as well as several other titles with new content coming in the next few months. KCGO.

The MMO Times: Time for Comic-Con!

kevin-doyle-walk-sdccIssue 121: The biggest Comic-Con of the year, SDCC, was at the Anaheim Convention Center July 9th-12th! I tell you, some day I have to go to this event just to say I was there. If I raise my kid(s) right way they will also want to go so perhaps they will be my way to get out there! Personally I’m not into cosplay, however if they wanted to dress up then I would certainly oblige. Speaking of cosplay, did you see the endearing story about the guy that walked 650 miles to Comic-Con dressed as a Stormtrooper in memory of his wife that had recently passed away from cancer? It is proof, once again, that geeks have some of the biggest hearts! There is more information on Eileen’s Little Angel’s Foundation on Kevin Doyle’s website.

So, were there any goodies to talk about? I’ll say there was! I think everyone might have been pretty excited about the status of the Warcraft movie, including the little teaser Legendary released (which, allegedly, looks better using their app) which might just give you goosebumps. Unlike the past couple of issues, this one is not dominated by World of Warcraft updates. In fact, other than the Warcraft movie, several of the interesting posts are about lesser known, or new, titles. For example, the updates coming for Dragon Age: Inquisition or the launch of new titles like Skyforge and sequel news for Mirror’s Edge. There is even some SWTOR, FFXIV and Baldur’s Gate news (yes, Baldur’s Gate; talk about a blast-from-the-past). I try to provide news as diversely as I can so hopefully you might find something new and interesting to read about in this issue. KCGO.

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