Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Category: World of Warcraft Page 9 of 12

WoW: Legion First Impressions

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On August 6, 2015

In Gaming, MMORPG, World of Warcraft

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).

WoW: Thoughts On Warlords of Draenor

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On July 31, 2015

In Gaming, World of Warcraft

warlords_of_draenor_the_warlords

It never really occurred to me that prior to the launch of patch 6.2 that it would be the final patch of this expansion. Usually the final patch has more pomp and circumstance so those of us a little behind have a better idea of how much time we have left in the expansion. For example, I am substantially behind! I haven’t been past the first wing of Blackrock Foundry (in LFR) nor have I even completed any of the quests from the instances for the cores needed for the legendary ring.

In fact I may just kick this off by talking about that ring. Why a ring?? Why did they pick something that you can’t see as a legendary?? I realize that acquiring a legendary greatly improves your stats in a fight but let’s be honest, a majority of us want to be able to see the fruits of our labor (and not as a visualization proc). I mean at least you could see your cloaks (if you had them toggled on) and the visualizations were pretty cool when they would proc but perhaps not necessarily required. I’ve been a little curious as to why they suddenly decided to stop creating legendary weapons when that seemed to be the standard choice for legendary gear since Vanilla. I don’t see the harm in doing a weapon legendary every expansion, especially if they are not going to let us transmog legendary weapons (which goes back to why we like to be able to SEE our legendary pieces). By the way, not being able to transmog legendary weapons is a pet peeve of mine — *hint* *hint* Blizzard.

The story this expansion was ok; time-travel is such a fickle concept to play with. When you have 7+ million players, I guarantee many of us are going to question AMG It's Pepe!!!!how the actions of our characters would affect the present day. I imagine Blizzard will design some kind of coy explanation as to why nothing has been altered in the present day. I mean, we all know the real reason this expansion was created was so Blizzard could create encounters with the heroes of Warcraft’s past. I will admit I was even taken in by this concept, but now I’m not as entranced with it and perhaps this is because I have barely set foot in a raid at all this expansion.

The garrison is my absolute favorite part of this expansion. I love how it has a little customization and gives you a calm place to hearth to at the end of your adventures. I love how it incorporates your professions and the followers are really cool, especially when you can recruit familiar faces (i.e. Admiral Taylor, Millhouse Manastorm, Leeroy Jenkins, etc). My garrison will be something I will miss more than any other component of the game for all the expansion once we move on to the next chapter. I really hope that Blizzard either finds a way to “teleport” our garrison or gives us something that will be better (*cough*player housing*cough*).

I would probably grade this expansion about a “B”, primarily because of the garrison. If they hadn’t added something like garrisons I probably would have graded this one much lower. The expansion feels rushed and poorly assembled. Perhaps that would be the benefit of creating a completely new zone, that is barely associated with any of the lore (like Pandaria). Granted Pandaria seemed a little “fluffy” for a game titled WARcraft, but I feel like Blizzard had to use a lot more imagination to create that world.

I’d like to know your thoughts. Please leave them in the comments.

WoW: The Sixth Expansion

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On July 29, 2015

In Gaming, World of Warcraft

anth_mapSo if you have been paying attention to the gaming news lately, or you have read my recent MMO Times post, you know that Blizzard has confirmed that they will be announcing the sixth expansion for World of Warcraft at Gamescom next week. I was really surprised that they decided to announce it at Gamescom, usually they save that kind of thing for Blizzcon, but maybe they have other plans for Blizzcon (perhaps the release date of said expansion) or perhaps Gamescom paid them an obscene amount of money to do it.

Whatever the case may be, the rumor mills will start churning and all of us will have to stew in anticipation for a whole week. So I want to take this opportunity to contribute to said rumors and discussions. I want to share my thoughts on what might be coming in the next expansion and I would really like folks to share their thoughts and theories in the comments. A couple days ago someone from the MMO Champion forums discovered a PDF that claimed Blizzard registered the azsharatrademark “Council of Glades”, although there have been several follow up posts since then suggesting that it’s a fake or some kind of obfuscation.

I wanted to say that we will finally see an expansion centered around the Emerald Dream, but I think that ship has sailed, sunk and has been swallowed whole by Moby Dick. Perhaps it might be centered around a person (Azshara, perhaps), like Arthas for Wrath of the Lich King? I do hope they pick a good story line that makes sense because I haven’t enjoyed the story since Wrath of the Lich King. I don’t know where else they could take players. We have traveled to Northrend, destroyed “the Destroyer”, fought for Pandaria and traveled back in time. What new continent or zone haven’t we been to (although Pandaria hadn’t existed in lore prior to that expansion, so maybe they will invent a new zone)? This goes back to my whole “Emerald Dream” theory as that would essentially be a different plane; or perhaps an alternate reality??

What about other forms of new content (beyond new zones)? I don’t expect a new basic class since we just had Monks added to the game in the last expansion, or a new race for the same reason.

  • We haven’t had another hero class since Wrath of the Lich King. Will we see demon hunters or high elves?
  • Will there be another profession (Inscription was the last time we had one of those)?
  • I almost want to say that player housing is a must (and the obvious progression from garrisons).

I want to go back and explore this “alternate reality” concept I mentioned. Honestly, that seems like the most natural progression from the current expansion. We have all earned followers whose future, as it was prior to Warlords of Draenor, looked quite grim (ex: Millhouse Manastorm).  Plus there is the whole “time travel ripple effect” where even stepping on a cockroach would have rippling effects through the space-time-continuum (hah! I’ve always wanted to use that phrase!!)

The problem with this “alternate reality” concept is how would you render that in a game?

What kind of coding effort must that require?

It would almost be like World of Warcraft II!

minion_keboard_smI could get so much more accomplished if I only had minions!

WoW: Fury of Hellfire Patch

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On June 29, 2015

In Gaming, MMORPG, World of Warcraft

guldanSo I finally got around to logging into the game after the 6.2 patch launched this past Tuesday to check out the new content. So far I think the docks and naval missions are pretty well done. The UI elements and quest mechanics are pretty smooth and intuitive (though I do hope Master Plan makes an update to include naval missions – I don’t like to drag and drop). So far my biggest regret is not raiding as much. I have yet to do all of Blackrock Foundry and having spent even just a little time in Tanaan Jungle, I’m starting to feel a little excited to try Hellfire Citadel.

In short, I MISS MY RAID TEAM!!!

Anyway, with that out of my system. The other exciting thing is that I can buy a couple of mounts for a decent gold price (I’m glad I spent all of last patch going all Ebeneezer Scrooge on gold). I was disappointed to find out that I have much further to go than I thought to unlocking flying in Draenor so I guess I better get back out there and explore some more. You know, now might be the time to spend my evenings plowing through content now that most of the shows I watch are all on summer break. Granted there are several projects around the house that I have to do too, one that specifically impacts my entertainment and gaming comfort. Oh yea, and there’s our 14 month old daughter 😉

Perhaps this patch is what I need to try to get back on track with the story, though I do think I miss tanking. I can’t seem to produce very good numbers as a Ret Paladin. I guess I should pay a visit to Icy Veins to see if I can find out what I’m doing wrong because I feel like at my iLevel I should be producing higher numbers.

I know its barely been a week since the patch went live, but I’m curious what things other folks like, or don’t like, about the new content.

FOR THE ALLIANCE!

WoW: Garrisons [Revisited]

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On January 12, 2015

In Gaming, World of Warcraft

pax_east_garrison_580I am way behind the curve as I haven’t been able to start playing the expansion upon its release. In fact I’ve probably only been at it for a few weeks with only brief moments to play in the evenings. I have finally hit 100 (on my main toon) just prior to Christmas and so far, I have to say, I’m Addicted to My Garrison! I have already brought two other alts up just far enough to unlock their garrison just so I can check out the different profession buildings. I have been researching guides on how to acquire additional followers or unlock other special easter eggs to make my garrison more unique.

I can’t help but think that Blizzard took a few notes from the companion system in SWTOR, which doesn’t really irritate me as the companions in SWTOR is one of my favorite mechanics of SWTOR. I’m still discovering new hidden treasures of garrisons but here are a few of my favorites:

Follower Missions

Sometimes I log in just to complete missions and send my followers back out on new missions. I have followers on one alt who are almost level 100 but my toon is only a level 93. I’m excited to be able to send my followers on Highmaul missions which has the chance to reward Highmaul gear. It is a little disconcerting that my followers are starting to have a higher iLevel then my main toon but the trade off will be that I can acquire gear without the repair bill. I really don’t like the fact that you can only have 20-25 active followers because I like all my followers. How can I be expected to play favorites and “deactivate” someone??!

Another item on my “follower wish list” is to see visible changes in my follower as I upgrade their gear. A follower with a gear score of 600 should not look exactly the same when their gear score has been boosted up to 645.

The Mine and Herb Garden

This particular mechanic is kind of a double edged sword for me. Every garrison will get a Mine and an Herb Garden, regardless of whether your toon has mining and herbalism. So that means all your toons will have access to their own person stash of herbs and ore; no need to worry about those annoying ninja’s that pilfer your node or herb while you are fighting the nearby mob. You do not need the mining or herbalism skill to harvest herbs from the herb garden and ore from the mine, however you will still need those skills to harvest them outside your garrison. Obviously this marginalizes the mining and herbalism skills; especially if you have sufficient cash to be able to purchase the needed materials to level a crafting skill that would require mining or herbalism.

Stables

This building allows you to “tame mounts” and as an avid mount collector you can imagine my excitement. Granted I have not yet constructed this building as my need for raid gear supersedes my desire for more mounts, however I am currently leveling an alt that will have this building (since mounts are account bound). Based on some of my research it looks like you are limited to specific species and a specific number of mounts but I think it might be a good start to getting some cool mounts.

I’ve been sitting on this post for a while because I keep thinking there is more I want to say about garrisons. I really do enjoy this feature of the game. I almost wish they had more to customize, like the homesteads in SWTOR. I also wonder if this swell of excitement will ebb as the expansion moves on and I level more and more alts to unlock their level 3 garrisons. In the meantime I will continue to bask in the glory of my garrison.

minion_keboard_smI could get so much more accomplished if I only had minions!

WoW: Fare-thee-well Pandaria

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On October 13, 2014

In Gaming, World of Warcraft

gate-of-the-setting-sunThis week the 6.0.2 patch is released, which contains pretty much all the expansion changes except the new zones. We will essentially be bidding farewell to Pandaria as everyone prepares for Warlords of Draenor by grinding the three new instances (and acclimating to the item squish and class changes). So as we bid adieu to Pandaria I want to reflect on my likes and dislikes of this expansion.

First, Mists of Pandaria was not my favorite expansion. Wrath of the Lich King is still the forerunner but a huge margin and I’d probably say that I liked Cataclysm more than Mists of Pandaria so it probably falls in about third place among the expansions. MoP had some highs and lows.

The Highs

– I loved the Asian theme. I think Blizzard’s art department did an amazing job integrating the storyline and new Pandarian race with a Chinese motif. Speaking of the Pandarian race, I really did enjoy them more than I thought I would in fact if Pandaren could be Paladin’s, I probably would have race changed my main.

– I did like the introduction of Flex raiding. We would struggle a lot to gather enough people for a full raid team, Flex helped us kill some raid content without having to constantly put enough butts-in-seats.

– I seriously loved Sunsong Ranch. I completely unlocked all 16 plots on all my max level toons. I was fairly diligent in planting things daily on all my toons as well. I think my enjoyment of the farm will transfer to my garrison.

The Lows

– I was never a fan of the name of the expansion (for starters) and I’m still not the biggest fan of it. It never seem to fit in with the inauspicious titles of all the previous expansions. It was definitely too … fluffy!

– This expansion was way too long. Blizzard released content too quickly and left all of us twiddling our thumbs for about 8 months.

– I couldn’t really get into the story. Blizzard definitely succeeded by making all of us despise Garrosh but his ultimate plan seemed anti-climatic.

– In the end, I did not like how everything became a grind-fest. 20 of these bobbins for the legendary,  then 10 more of these others, etc. The Timeless Isle became the epitome of the old school rep-grind.

Despite the fact that I have more bullets that describe things I didn’t like, the points that I did like count as double. It was enough to keep me coming back most days to keep playing some of the content. I imagine its difficult for Blizzard to find that happy medium between releasing content too quickly and avoiding long content gaps.

During WotLK it was difficult keeping 25 people happy in a raid, I cannot even begin to imagine what its like to keep 7 million happy. Everyone plays at their own pace, how do you appease those that finish content much faster than the others. One thing is for sure, I’m glad that’s a conundrum that I don’t have to figure out.

/cheers

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