Wrath of the Lich King expansion

[AcidCat]

Some interesting info on wowinsider's current liveblog http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/08/03/liveblogging-the-blizzcon-expansion-demo-panel/

Looks like you definitey won't have to raid to get the DK.

[Morat20]

Looking at the Death Knight Hero class, I feel some sort of joke stirring about Hunters and their current lameness, but I'm too lazy to work it out. Someone else do the work for me, please.

Edited to add: The little bit they've spoken on inscription makes it sound very easy to fuck up and overpower.

[Rasix]

Some interesting info on wowinsider's current liveblog http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/08/03/liveblogging-the-blizzcon-expansion-demo-panel/

Looks like you definitely won't have to raid to get the DK.

Bleh.  Yah, a 5 man dungeon quest at the end of long ass quest chain is fucking splendid.  I took one look at the epic flight form quest for druids and said fuck it. That kind of crap is a holy pain in the to get together and no one ever wants to do those quests if they've already done them. Try completing a 5 man quest in SMV nowadays (note, I quit a couple months ago); it's like you're asking someone to help you move into a new second story apartment.  If it weren't the internet, you'd swear they were avoiding eye contact.
 
Why can't they just make it a long quest (if they're set on that) but forgo the full group cockblock? MMOs are pissing me off lately.   Or yah, what bob said.  Only thing that would get me back here is something actually interesting coming out of this pvp system.  Doubtful.

[Fabricated]

Here's something stupid I never thought about: So, are Death Knights going to be more powerful than regular classes? I mean, does "hero class" simply mean they're a special class you gotta unlock first, or does it mean "hero" as in "way fucking stronger"?

[Merusk]

Here's something stupid I never thought about: So, are Death Knights going to be more powerful than regular classes? I mean, does "hero class" simply mean they're a special class you gotta unlock first, or does it mean "hero" as in "way fucking stronger"?

Looks like more powerful, but over a shorter time period with longer cooldowns. Which, if you're dealing with arena PVP is fucking stupid.

The preview vid shows the DK calling-down undead from nowhere, and it was mentioned in that liveblog as well.  Plate + Healing nullification + Druid Trees.. what else can they toss in there?  Who knows, i'm probably just overreacting but it's still insane.

Oh, and you think 5-man SMV quests are bad, try getting a 60-69 instance group together.  If you don't say "Heroic" people pretend you don't exist.  I'm very ready for WAR to come around.  Despite still liking the overall mechanics of WoW, BC is broken in some pretty big ways.

[Fabricated]

Here's something stupid I never thought about: So, are Death Knights going to be more powerful than regular classes? I mean, does "hero class" simply mean they're a special class you gotta unlock first, or does it mean "hero" as in "way fucking stronger"?

Looks like more powerful, but over a shorter time period with longer cooldowns. Which, if you're dealing with arena PVP is fucking stupid.

The preview vid shows the DK calling-down undead from nowhere, and it was mentioned in that liveblog as well.  Plate + Healing nullification + Druid Trees.. what else can they toss in there?  Who knows, i'm probably just overreacting but it's still insane.

Oh, and you think 5-man SMV quests are bad, try getting a 60-69 instance group together.  If you don't say "Heroic" people pretend you don't exist.  I'm very ready for WAR to come around.  Despite still liking the overall mechanics of WoW, BC is broken in some pretty big ways.

Ehhh, it's not too hard to get groups for the decent non-heroic dungeons...now, getting an Underbog or Crypt run together? Good fuckin' luck.

I've never been at a shortage of people wanting to hit non-heroic Ramparts, BF, Slave Pens (rep, remember)...

[Drubear]

An interesting (and telling to explain their viewpoint on such things) from the video blog Q&A portion:

1:41pm: Q&A Time. More work done towards midlevel content? Yes, we may do more of that before the expansion, but we want players to roll up. Will be changes coming to speed up 1-60 and 1-70.

So they are basically saying what some people suspected: Bliz wants everyone at level max for the "real" game at 70 (soon 80.)

[Merusk]

I've never been at a shortage of people wanting to hit non-heroic Ramparts, BF, Slave Pens (rep, remember)...

I've had plenty of trouble w/ Durnholde, Mana Tombs and Ramps on my alts.  Folks just aren't interested in running them... at least not when I'm looking.  :-(

[Fabricated]

Durnholde and Mana Tombs I usually don't have any problems with since people usually want the easy consortium rep and need attunement for BM.

[Amaron]

Yeah, sounds like time for an expansion. 

Well most people just ignore the raid content because it's such a pain to organize.  I wouldn't be suprised if they realized that Burning Crusade wasn't pulling back in the people who quit the way it was meant too either.  Who knows what they will chose to do when they realize that.  My guess would be that they'll just ignore the people who quit but the way they went after old players with free trials and even sending DVD's through snail mail gives me some hope too.  If they want to get back that chunk of their audience a new expansion focused towards that would be smart.

That whole faq sounds bogus though.  I don't believe they'll raise the level cap unless they think it'll take a long time to finish the expansion.

Deathknights in the Alliance make absolutely no sense.

I'm pretty certain they will never add side specific classes again.  Balancing shaman vs paladin clearly gave them way too many problems in the first place.

[Lum]

That whole faq sounds bogus though.  I don't believe they'll raise the level cap unless they think it'll take a long time to finish the expansion.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/faq.xml

[Amaron]

That whole faq sounds bogus though.  I don't believe they'll raise the level cap unless they think it'll take a long time to finish the expansion.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/faq.xml

I fail for replying before finishing the thread clearly.

[jpark]

Ok.  I'll go from 'That'll never happen because it's retarded' straight to 'that's retarded.'

Fuck Sake.

Sorry Iron - had to quote you in light of the recent release info :)

[Venkman]

Damn I was wrong about the Hero Class being fake. As long as there are other Hero Classes that'll come in time, it won't be so bad maybe.

When's this launching? Next spring? Looks like a lot of the world stuff is done, but not enough details on the one or hopefully-future Hero classes.

[Merusk]

Damn I was wrong about the Hero Class being fake. As long as there are other Hero Classes that'll come in time, it won't be so bad maybe.

When's this launching? Next spring? Looks like a lot of the world stuff is done, but not enough details on the one or hopefully-future Hero classes.

I've heard next summer.  Given that they announced BC like a year and a half before it came out.. let's say next winter.  :-D

[Jayce]

One question: why does everyone seem to think WAR is going to be robot jesus?  The next big thing never are.

[Engels]

Anyone getting that same contraction of the scrotum we all felt around the time that Planes of Power was announced? No, Signe, not you.

[Merusk]

Anyone getting that same contraction of the scrotum we all felt around the time that Planes of Power was announced? No, Signe, not you.

Which one? The one that felt like a moneygrab, or the one that felt like 'oh joy another long grind when I'm barely done with the current one.'

One question: why does everyone seem to think WAR is going to be robot jesus?  The next big thing never are.

It looks fun, and I'm hoping it'll have better PvP than WoW.  While I find WoW's pvp entertaining, there's a number of pve things that really fuck it up.  It's also a hope that Mythic learned from their DAoC mistakes, I suppose.  Rumor also has it that DAoC had really good in-depth pvp.  I can't speak to that personally as the grind killed me long before I really got into the game.

Then of course, there's also the "new shiny" factor.  Much like the hopes for AoC, despite it being run by what used to be seen as the largest bunch of inept twits ever to launch an MMO.

[Tale]

I'm sort of underwhelmed by the Wrath of the Lich King announcement, mostly because of the video. It's an average machinima piece made using what looks like the current game, perhaps even the pre-BC game.

It reads like it's on a smaller scale than the expansion standard set with BC - perhaps more like one of EQ's digital download expansions that used to follow the major boxed expansions. The siege engine talk is a bit interesting though - that could be a real WoW PvP strength.

The game engine and animations are also starting to look dated, rather than acceptably cartoonish.

[Morfiend]

Just got back from Blizzcon.

The expansion is really the only thing of note. (SC2 looks good)

Got to play it a little bit but its very early build, kind of like playing BC at the last blizzcon. Anyway, it looks to have the same amount of content as BC did. A bunch of dungeons and raids, almost the identical number as BC. Also siege warfare, and distructible buildings (didnt see these). Death Knight will needs a quest to unlock, about the same as the warlock mount quest, and will start at level 60 or 70, its for end game content only. A bunch of classes got existing talent tweaks (Enh shammy get aggro drop).

Also, they are releasing another 25 man raid dungeon before WotLK. Tigole wouldnt say what it was, but during a QA session he strongly hinted that its the Sunwell to kill Kil'Jaeden.

From what I saw, im predicting November 2008 release.

[Falwell]

I'm personally pretty underwhelmed by the feature list they dropped for this expansion. Come on, new haircuts are on your major feature list? That's pretty telling in and of itself.

Cap jumped to 80
New Death Knight class
New inscription tradeskill
Siege weapons
Northrend zones

Siege weapons strike me as a novelty rather than a major feature. How they plan to implement the Death Knight at this point screams clusterfuck to me. Implementing only 1 hero class at a time is sure to cause some problems.

Overall, unless they're holding back some serious bang-bang, I'm not impressed in the least.

[Azazel]

As a general note, if, and I really mean if, they make hero classes "unlockable" through doing stuff in game, they better make very, very sure that whatever you need to do can be done solo by a player in AH greens each and every step of the way. That's assuming they ever actually make the hero classes.

I'mma go unlock me a Jed-eye!

[Azazel]

I've been off of WoW since January but eager to come back when the next content rolls out. Maybe I'll even finish the last third of a level I need to hit 70.

3rd of a level to 70? Off since Jan?

Did you play 24/7 for the two weeks you had BC active or something?

[jpark]

Well... my stock broker buddy's take is the following:

WoW is in "cash cow" mode - the innovative ideas and polish blizzard had to offer is all present.  All the low lying fruit of novelty that can be made from this franchise has been done - now it's just a question of maintaining the user base with minimum investment until the next project (whichever MMORPG they are working on now) is unveiled.

Blizz did say that all future games would be MMORPGS and so we are likely seeing the last table scraps of pre-MMORPG thinking at this company with SC2.  So the real question is, how much longer they are going to pump the user base for cash with WoW before announcing, formally, their next MMORPG franchize.

[Engels]

This expansion just promises me one thing; my guildmates still grinding WoW after years are going to continue to grind WoW in persuit of even more catass. I was vainly hoping that with the advent of AoC, or heck, even Warhammer, that perhaps I'd wean a few of them off the game and we could at last change venues. But no, now its gonna be yet another stupid race to the top for even more ridiculous shoulderpads.

[Azazel]

I demand something that's not any harder than picking "Death Knight" on a character creation screen, finding a name that hasn't been taken on a release server, and clicking "create Character".

They don't care about your "demands". Neither does anyone else. Maybe you can pay p3ons4hir3 to unlock it for you, as long as they don't use any addons to do it, it won't be "cheating".

Jesus, WAR can't go open beta fast enough. This piece of stupid shit announcement effectively ends WoW for me forever when it's made official.

There you go. Should be official sometime this weekend, by the sound of it. See ya.

[Tale]

even more ridiculous shoulderpads.

Which anyone who skipped raiding can surpass in the first questing zone of the next expansion, while the shoulderpad dungeon becomes instantly irrelevant. And no, that's not how other dikus work.

[Engels]

even more ridiculous shoulderpads.

Which anyone who skipped raiding can surpass in the first questing zone of the next expansion, while the shoulderpad dungeon becomes instantly irrelevant. And no, that's not how other dikus work.

Tale, you took my mention of shoulderpads just a wee bit too literally. Wether its the paedophilic gnomes, or bare midriff female humans, or pert-butt dranae females, the whole damned game's a celebration of diku grind, JLo style. Jesus Christ, people, this is meant to be high fantasy, not the freakin Dungeons of Ft. Lauderdale.

[Tale]

Didn't take it literally. I fully appreciated the shoulderpad humour. Just had a point of my own to make - compared with entering Kunark or Velious as a geared-up EQ raider and remaining relatively well equipped with even better stuff to aim for, my geared-up WoW raider was not significantly different from someone entering BC as a naked 60. They might as well have done an equipment wipe. I got to 70 in BC and saw no reason to play until levels 71-80 are available, if I can catch up to the raiders that easily.

But high fantasy it ain't - the Warcraft series has always been derivative lowbrow fantasy-comedy. Now that WoW's genius is past tense I can finally get back to my hatred for Warcraft 1!

[sinij]

I don't understand how not taking inscription is even an option for casting class? Lower cooldown? Where do I sign up?

[angry.bob]

They don't care about your "demands". Neither does anyone else. Maybe you can pay p3ons4hir3 to unlock it for you, as long as they don't use any addons to do it, it won't be "cheating".

Hahaha, it pleases me to no end that some random shit I crapped into a WoW thread threatened your surrogate life enough that it still pisses you off this much. That was what, a year ago?

lol, a sad, obsessing dickbitch is you. I don't even know, or care, who you are but you remember such trivial shit that I wrote on a whim months and months ago. If you want I can jerk off into a kleenex and mail it to you so you can sniff it while you read my posts or whatever.

By the way, I don't think for a minute they give a fuck about my "demands", at all. The consequence of them not producing a product that has a conforms to what I "demand" is that they lose my business. There you go. If you want stupid, pointless cockblocks and grinds good for you. I don't, at all. By all reports, WAR doesn't have them and it Mythic did a good job with DAoC for the most part and it appears they learned from the fuckups like ToA. With the shit they announced in this expansion Blizzard has entered the "introducing crazy, game breaking shit to keep people playing that will turn the game to unenjoyable shit and make players mad" part of the MMO lifecycle. I see no need to stick around for it. But hey, since it seems to be tied to your very sense of self, enjoy.

[WindupAtheist]

Fight, fight, fight!

[Reg]

Mister Crankypants Has Spoken!

[Azazel]

No mate, it's just that your combination of "angry" whining and entitlement-whoring is such an easy target that I couldn't resist poking some easy shit at you.

I barely play WoW anymore myself because the endless rep grinding and daily grinding and mote grinding is a little like having a second job, only unpaid.. We'll see how Warhammer turns out. I have high hopes but low expectations.

No hard feelings.. mmm?  

[Ironwood]

Ok.  I'll go from 'That'll never happen because it's retarded' straight to 'that's retarded.'

Fuck Sake.

Sorry Iron - had to quote you in light of the recent release info :)

Then you picked a fucking stupid quote to do it with.  If you read the one you've picked, it's me admitting I was wrong, but still of the opinion that the reason I was wrong was because I didn't think they'd do something this moronic.  You should have grabbed an earlier one.

Also, if you read the whole thread you'll notice the main poster taking the piss out of me is some guy called Ironwood.  Boy, when I get my hands on him !!

This expansion sounds just dumb.