Cracks starting to show?

[Dren]

I'm not getting the feeling this expansion will be any different than the others, at least from a perspective of "cracks showing."  It's an old game that they keep dusting off and pushing from time to time.  Really, this is what I have wanted in several games of the past, but those other developers all but stop or go completely insane with changes. 

I'm not sure what else I'd want from the game in terms of new features or more polish.  Realistically, my older computer just plain won't run WoW now after the last patch.  It does for a bit and then reboots.  It was marginal before, but something just put it right over the edge.  I've noticed a good slow down on my new computer too even after turning the water effects way down.  I mean, that's on a pretty decent new computer and this is WoW we are talking about.  It is relatively easy on hardware requirements.

I'm all for something new, but nobody has done enough to pull me away.  The last few attempts that even hinted at a chance had requirements on hardware that scared me away anyway.  Looks like WoW for a good time to come yet.

[Ingmar]

I'd like a polish pass on the original character models to bring them up to par with the goblins and worgens. Maybe housing. Otherwise I'm pretty content with the formula as is, and I actually like the mechanical reboot every few years, it keeps it fresher I think.

[Fordel]

THAT is something that really does stand out now. The Character Models.


Really, it's the Goblins that blow everything else away, even the Worgen don't really stand up to them that well (probably because the Worgen have been remodeled 15 times already so far).


You go play a Goblin and have a full range of facial expressions and body animations, then you go play a troll that can't even blink. It's pretty damn jarring.

[proudft]

The easiest explanation for that is the trolls have evolved nictitating membranes to protect their eyes from smoke.

[Sheepherder]

I've noticed a good slow down on my new computer too even after turning the water effects way down.

Shadows are even more brutal than the water shader as far as I can tell.

[Tarami]

I'd like a polish pass on the original character models to bring them up to par with the goblins and worgens. Maybe housing. Otherwise I'm pretty content with the formula as is, and I actually like the mechanical reboot every few years, it keeps it fresher I think.

Their stance on housing is very likely the same as their stance on cosmetic items - no way, José. They brought it up during a design meeting and confirmed that nobody wants to water petunias when they could be farming cloth for rep turn-ins.

[Ingmar]

They've said multiple times that it is something they want to add but only if they can 'get it right', and I guess they haven't come up with a design they like yet. I doubt they will at this point, but you never know.

[Paelos]

I'd like a polish pass on the original character models to bring them up to par with the goblins and worgens. Maybe housing. Otherwise I'm pretty content with the formula as is, and I actually like the mechanical reboot every few years, it keeps it fresher I think.

They brought it up during a design meeting and confirmed that nobody wants to water petunias when they could be farming cloth for rep turn-ins.

But what about farming mobs for petunias to put in your house!

[Minvaren]

I'd like a polish pass on the original character models to bring them up to par with the goblins and worgens. Maybe housing. Otherwise I'm pretty content with the formula as is, and I actually like the mechanical reboot every few years, it keeps it fresher I think.

They brought it up during a design meeting and confirmed that nobody wants to water petunias when they could be farming cloth for rep turn-ins.

But what about farming mobs for petunias to put in your house!

Let alone the new tradeskill, "Flower Arranging."   

[Sjofn]

I would totally do that. 

[Xanthippe]

One of my favorite things about LOTRO was farming.  I'd love it if WoW patched in a retired-adventurer's Leisure World, where players could have houses and gardens.  A nearby fishing hole. 

[Xanthippe]

[...] Realistically, my older computer just plain won't run WoW now after the last patch.  It does for a bit and then reboots.  It was marginal before, but something just put it right over the edge.  I've noticed a good slow down on my new computer too even after turning the water effects way down.  I mean, that's on a pretty decent new computer and this is WoW we are talking about.  It is relatively easy on hardware requirements.

My computer was acting really wonky with the patch until I updated my video card driver (even though I just updated it last July).  My computer is 2 years old; our other computer is about 6 years old.  Both can run WoW fine (the older one has to be set on the lowest graphical settings, but it runs it), now that the vid drivers are updated.

[WindupAtheist]

Isn't their new MMO in development supposed to have housing and fluff? I've been of the opinion for a while that the reason we don't see any of that in WoW is because they want to avoid competing with themselves as much as possible.

[Lakov_Sanite]

ten to one odds are their next mmo is going to be a lot more virtual world.

[Ingmar]

Isn't their new MMO in development supposed to have housing and fluff? I've been of the opinion for a while that the reason we don't see any of that in WoW is because they want to avoid competing with themselves as much as possible.

I'm not sure they've said anything like that about it. Given Tigole is a major part of the dev team AFAIK it would be sort of surprising for all that stuff to be in there, but you could be right.

[Rasix]

Now entering the Plane of Furniture...

[Paelos]

Now entering the Plane of Furniture...

Interior Decorator Class!

[Lantyssa]

*rearranges your room so you go crazy*

[Lakov_Sanite]

Shadow specced Chef lfg, GS is over 5k with epic cutlery set. Can re-spec into sous-chef if needed, pst.

[Simond]

The revamped houses in Neriak with the balcony-patio are p. nice.



Wait, this isn't the eq2 thread.

[Azazel]

This thread is coming dangerously close to Circling The Drain...

[Nebu]

This thread is coming dangerously close to Circling The Drain...

Are you suggesting that the cracks are starting to show in this thread?

[Dren]

If Blizzard feels that housing wouldn't be popular in their game, they are truly losing it.  There are plenty of examples on the market past and present that would show them that this would be digital crack.

I'm thinking they just don't feel it is necessary to hold their position and haven't put the resources to it.

Digital Crack people.  I have my own island in the sky in Wizard's 101.  I don't play it anymore, but that is the only thing that I'd go back for....putting more rugs down and a bench by my pond.

Digital Crack.

[Paelos]

I'm thinking they just don't feel it is necessary to hold their position and haven't put the resources to it.

That's exactly it. As it stands now, they will only add things to the game that are the easiest to implement for the most value added. I fully believe that Blizzard is still in the expansion stage rather than the retention stage. The fact that they are redoing all the original content and marketing at new/returning customers seems to indicate that philosophy. Creating housing would be a ton of work that I think they would only put in once they see themselves in retention mode instead of expansion mode.

[Reg]

I stayed subscribed to UO for almost two years after I'd stopped playing it just because I couldn't bear the thought of giving up my house.  Housing in WoW would be a huge success.

[Dren]

I stayed subscribed to UO for almost two years after I'd stopped playing it just because I couldn't bear the thought of giving up my house.  Housing in WoW would be a huge success.

This too.  I was subbed for 7 years.  Last two was mostly about playing house builder and interior decorator after all my friends left.  Digital Crack.

[Soulflame]

I also kept up a UO subscription for years simply so I would not lose my semi-decorated tower.  Trying UO a while back for free, the game had absolutely no sticky, because my tower is gone.

[Reg]

UO's housing system was particularly good though. Having your house out there visible in the world where people walking by could see it and be impressed is way better than the way more modern games do it.  Sadly, there probably just isn't any way to have that kind of housing in any modern game.

[Rasix]

I would hazard an uninformed guess that they don't really want to beef up their infrastructure that's devoted to WoW very much and housing (instanced) would likely call for beefier servers.

[Fabricated]

Weird, I have almost an opposite opinion. I'm not overly enthusiastic about Cataclysm just because I don't give a flying fuck about the bigbad of the expansion (woo, a dragon. I haven't killed enough of THOSE in the last 5 years). Arthas I remembered from WC3 and killing him was one of the main reasons I subscribed. Welp, I killed him, so now my interest overall is diminished.

The gameplay changes in Cataclysm actually make the game feel reasonably "complete" for a lack of better words. All of the weird vestigial organs left over from the 1.0 beta are finally gone (fuck you and die, weapon skills), talent trees aren't crammed to the brim with boring-ass passive talents and talents literally no one ever takes, the UI is actually 100% usable by itself for even hardcore players if need be, and mastery gives blizzard a nerf/buff knob to turn instead of having re-write how a dozen different skills work every patch.

[DraconianOne]

UO's housing system was particularly good though. Having your house out there visible in the world where people walking by could see it and be impressed is way better than the way more modern games do it.  Sadly, there probably just isn't any way to have that kind of housing in any modern game.

I had a love/hate relationship with housing in SWG. I loved the fact that you could put your house out and that you could decorate it and set it up - it was all kinds of awesome. I was also lucky enough to be part of a well known guild who had a plan with regards their town and had a layout that they stuck to rigidly.  It was splendid. Other towns, not so much. But more than that, there ended up being so many houses kicking around Tatooine that it seemed less like a remote desert planet and more like fucking Coruscant. Also, harvesters: bearing in mind that I spent six months making an absolute mint from harvesting resources and power from about 40 harvesters I had inherited, I couldn't help feeling like basically every planet was being strip mined.  It lost all sense of wilderness and exploration every time you stumbled on a collection of houses or a Corellian house in the middle of Endor or something.

I think the way LOTRO has done it is less interesting in terms of creativity but it preserves the game world. The neighbourhoods themselves feel like they are a populated area (but owing to the fact that the outside of the house can be decorated, every guild house has a Balrog trophy which kind of breaks the atmosphere.)

So I half reckon that WoW won't let houses be implemented because they don't want you wondering through Silithus and finding a Dwarven hovel with a sign outside saying "Dildo Bugger's house of Five-Fingered Fun!" or Elwynn Forest razed to the ground in favour of some uber guild's condo because they know that's what will happen. Because people are dicks.

[Paelos]

You'd instance housing, goober. Not put it out there in the normal quest zones.  

DAOC had success with this because it was also the AH area.

[Modern Angel]

Why does anyone think a six year old game is remotely their main development priority?

[Paelos]

Why does anyone think a six year old game is remotely their main development priority?

Because it's their main source of recurring income.

[Reg]

And so far nobody has been as successful with their second MMO as their first.  I suppose the WoW devs might just be arrogant enough to believe that doesn't apply to them.