A Gamer Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Tag: World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Page 1 of 5

As the Burning Legion Comes, We Bid Adieu to Draenor

Burning Legion ComesLast week we saw the activation of the 7.0 patch. The patch that paves the way to the launch of Legion. If you haven’t been paying attention, the patch includes the new Appearances interface, changes to all class talents, and the Demon Invasion (to name a few). As of the time of this post, the Demon Invasion hasn’t begun yet. It might be as soon as one week later, or it could still be a few weeks off. When that invasion happens, we will get the Demon Hunter class. Regardless, as the Burning Legion comes we bid adieu to Draenor.

Was Warlords of Draenor a Success?

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Shave and a Hair Cut …

So was this expansion a success? I doubt it. If you look at the subscription numbers over the past year, they haven’t been good. Blizzard has lost millions of subscriptions. Granted they still have more active subscribers than any other title out there, but they have dropped from 12 million down to about 5.5 million. That has got to make them cringe worse than Shave-and-a-haircut affects Roger Rabbit (I’m dating myself here).

Honestly, I think each expansion, since Wrath of the Lich King, has been weaker than the one before it. I don’t think it helps that this expansion uses time travel, which is always a sensitive concept to tackle. Yes, I thought it was cool to see Khadgar and fight Blackhand and Archimonde but this expansion felt more disjointed than Mists of Pandaria. It’s the curse of poor time travel story telling. It was clearly just an opportunity for the developers to create encounters with historic heroes. There was no attention given to the butterfly principal; our mere existence should have caused rippling consequences throughout the entire timeline. Perhaps Nozdormu swoops in at the end and uses a neuralyzer.

Were There Redeeming Qualities?

I don’t think this expansion was a complete wash. While the story lacked connectivity and relevance, the expansion introduced some new mechanics that I think are fun. Garrisons were the closest thing Blizzard has ever come to player housing. Unfortunately I think that is the closest we are going to get. One of the biggest criticisms about garrisons was that it ostracized players. The entire social component that is the foundation of the game was lost because everyone stayed in their garrison. I love the concept of the garrison; perhaps they just gave us a little too much to do and not enough reason to leave (other than daily quests).

The followers were another fun idea and I’m excited that its something they are going to continue in Legion. Collecting followers, for me, almost became like collecting Pokemon. You especially wanted to collect the familiar names (like Admiral Taylor, Harrison Jones, Millhouse Manastorm and Leeroy Jenkins, to name a few). I would like to know where Budd was this expansion; he would have been a great follower! I also liked that some followers had the Bodyguard trait, which is very useful when you are leveling or doing daily quests and you’re squishy.

One other thing I liked about Warlords of Draenor, albeit minor, was getting to see Draenor before it was torched and became Outlands. It was pretty cool to see Auchindoun in all its glory before it was turned to rubble. Karabor before it becomes Black Temple. Tanaan Jungle before it becomes Hellfire Peninsula. Someday, I would like to see Karazhan before it became dilapidated.

There was also that epic, and overdue, showdown between Garrosh and Thrall.

So we bid you adieu Draenor; I wish we could have prevented that which you will become, but the Burning Legion comes and we must be prepared!

minion_keboard_smI could accomplish so much more if I only had minions!

The MMO Times: It’s 2016, Let’s Get Our Game On!!

Find the PandarenIssue 138: Greetings and welcome to 2016! Isn’t it funny to think that a little over 16 years ago we were all freaking out because Y2K was going to destroy the world? Silly humans. Oh, and speaking of silly humans, what is with the “find the panda” bit going around Facebook? I couldn’t resist using the above image from a World of Warcraft tweet.

I hope all of you had a great Christmas and didn’t kill to many brain cells on New Years Eve. 2016 is going to be a pretty big year for gaming, I think, especially if you are a fan of Blizzard titles; we are sure to see a couple of those this year.

I apologize if you are not really a fan of World of Warcraft because with Legion coming out this year you can imagine there will be several headlines pertaining to WoW in the upcoming issues. I will still attempt to keep the title diverse so other readers still have something interesting to read. For instance how about a post about Rise of the Tombraider coming to PC or new content news for SWTOR.

Let My Home Be My Garrison

pax_east_garrison_580Will there be no love lost between players and their garrisons when Legion comes out, or will folks, like me, lament leaving their garrison back on Draenor? Actually, I take that back, I will not be leaving my garrison in the dust, to be forgotten like Sunsong Ranch. The garrison is a gold farm. If all you do is send your out followers just to sell whatever they bring back, and harvest your ore and herbs, only to vendor it, those small amounts will add up quickly.

I kind of wonder if Blizzard expects people to do this since they gave us a separate hearthstone specifically for our garrison. I really don’t think the garrison was a bad idea, I rather enjoyed my private little area carved out of the world. It was the closest thing we had to player housing. Unless BlizzCon proves to me that Class Halls will be a much more interesting experience than my garrison, I can’t see myself spending a lot of time there.

murlocI don’t play on an RPG server nor do I really RPG anymore but I can see how the garrison would even appeal to someone that does take the extra initiative to RPG with their characters. Why go back to a main city or a “class hall” at the end of an adventure when you can return to a garrison with your trophies and monuments on display and an army of followers awaiting their next mission from their General?

I’m curious what the rest of you think. Will you keep returning to your garrison in Legion or do you think Class Halls will give you a new home to hearth to?

The MMO Times: Tom Brady Sucks!!

lord-belichick-3Issue 128: Yes, I know, the title has absolutely  nothing to do with MMOs or gaming (unless you to make the gentle leap to Madden NFL), but I like to take any opportunity to express my unrelenting disdain for Tom Brady (and Bill Belichick). I’m sorry that I may have subjected you to unrelated editorial venting, especially if you are not a football fan (which is a travesty). Be that as it may, we are here to talk about gaming, our love of gaming, and why gaming will, one day, save mankind (i.e. Ender’s Game).

Quick PSA for those playing WoW (so skip if you don’t care): If you haven’t heard, patch 6.2.2 will be released September 1st (next Tuesday). I believe this is the patch that will contain the world event that will link Warlords of Draenor to Legion. So prepare to be invaded (although I’m sure Illidan believes you are not prepared)!squirrel

I really do enjoy writing these posts and I hope there are people that enjoy reading them, even if its only one or two of you. I love finding the really fun and/or obscure headlines to stick in from time to time, hence the Halo headline in this issue. And the one about Duck Hunt. Oh, and the SlightlyImpressive machinima! I know, I’m easily amused and often distra … SQUIRREL!

KCGO.

WoW: Thoughts On Warlords of Draenor

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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.

The MMO Times: ID4 Edition

imperial_center_rotjIssue 120: It’s already Independence Day, where has this year gone. The days are already growing shorter and we are already a third of the way through the summer. Gaming is definitely one way to spend those hot summer days. Granted going outside is good for the ole belly, but there’s nothing good about heat stroke. Plan your day-star activities carefully. 

Now that E3 is in the bag, I am trying to get back to news that is more specific to MMOs, though there are a couple of interesting non-MMO news. I also wanted to mention the fact that Steam’s impending console has already sold out of pre-orders for the October deliveries. It’s surprising that so many people blindly throw their money at a new gaming system without knowing how good it is. Don’t get me wrong I think Steam is great, but just look at the PC version of Arkham Knight which is still making headlines (and not in a good way).

There is news about the much anticipated new content for Heroes of the Storm, TSW’s anniversary event, the Rakghoul plague returns to infect the universe, unexpected news about Patch 6.2 and other things to check out. Make sure you get out there and enjoy our nation’s birthday (assuming you live in the States) and be safe out there.

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