But I'm hugely tempted to return to WoW. Blizzard have just WTF'ed almost every MMO player in the world, and let's face it, we've all played WoW at some point, and they've shook the foundations of their prized game. Brave move, and one that has turned every head, gamer and developer alike. THIS, is how you make an expansion, you just don't add new areas and classes, you alter the game itself in ways most developers wouldn't dream touching because this would be a waste of resources.

Almost seems like WoW will be reborn, and I can see it becoming something more.

It's nice to see Blizzard making good changes to this game, five years on, and the game seems fresh as it did at release. We know who else does this, CCP with their EVE Online.

I'm keeping my eye on Cataclysm.

Now is the time to get to playing so that you'll have at least one level 80 when Cataclysm hits.    I know I cannot wait.    I have 2 toons that are 80 and am working on my Priestess now.   

 Problem is ,the comparasion for CCP and Blizzard fails,for several reasons:

1. CCP doesnt make as much money as blizzard yet we had tons of free expansions and a full graphic engine overhaul and that isnt easy to do,not to mention that the expansions themselves arent a "must" if they were to be payed for

2. CCP stays original to their plans and keeps gaining more and more subs ... aswell with time people keep maturing and are able to comprehend more

3. CCP may have done some bad things but they overall have being doing a nice job,free expansions,they deal with issues tho they lack priority training ... WTB Tempest buff this year ffs ... also all of the introduced expansion content is new and fresh and adds more and more stuff to do ... we have walking in stations still planned ... what they plan afterwards who knows,walking on planets ... and its all free

4. They have a very good way to both fund the game,please the RTMers wich will RTM anyway and keep farmers down while keeping people who have more play time and less money to spend on a video game

 Now  Blizzard:

1.Makes a ton of money yet expansions are always sold seperatly and are expensive aswell

2.Recycles content and skins and adds a mirror with afew effects

3.Keeps making the game easyer to try to appeal a wider player base

4.No original ideas for a long time,the only originality where they deserve credit is partialy Diablo 3 ,wich wasnt a complete rip-off of the Warhammer 40k/fantasy universe

5.The WoW crowd seems to be able to buy into anything that blizzard gives them (no offense to WoW players who do not fit this),but ive seen many people claim that WoW will be fresh ... let's see ,basicly we arent even getting new zones,it's recycled Azeroth ,no new classes ... tauren warlock,nightelf necromancer etc.

My comparison between CCP and Blizzard was down to one single thing, and perhaps I hadn't worded it correctly, is that both games are 5 years old and they're still hugely popular, and they're still recieving large game changing updates to keep the game interesting, most MMO's development dry up as population dwindles and they spend less resources on the game.

Is this the first Blizzcon (QuakeCon 1997, yet another idea Blizzard have "borrowed" from other game developers) you've paid attention to?

Every 2nd year Blizzcon hypes the new expansion. Maybe I'm just old but I've been hyped once too often and have become cynical. But I envy your excitement.

But just like when your favorite band releases a new album you buy (yes, I am that old I still buy music) even though their last couple of albums were crap I'll be checking out cataclyscm.

As it pains me to say i just dont think i cant get behind any MMO's any more. I have been disapointed to much already. The new expansion dos look cool but idk some how i think ill end up being disapointed. Iam not saying the game has to be a brand new market changeing Xpac or game i just want to see something fresh thats all. I look at MMO's like i do music. You love the genere of music for so long and you love every bit of it but eventaly it gets stale. Lucky for us every 2 to 4 years a new brand of music comes out. But for MMO's it seems they just stay on one focus. Dont get me wrong iam i think the new Xpac will be cool, But i just have a feeling its hype and Punch factor will die out very very fast. But hey ill try it and if i dont like it ill just leave agian. But heres hopein for a great New Xpac!

How many years later and I am still waiting for someone to explain:

If I have to purchase expansion packs seperately, what exactly does my $15/mo go towards? Server maintenance? Give me a break. Vote with your dollar, people. Find another game to play, don't support this bs.

Why will the game reborn?

Because Auberdine will have a fissure with lava?

Because you can level a goblien exactly the same way as you leveled before but with lava?

Because you have the exact same professions but with blown up soil?

I cant exactly see whats really new here apart from that new talents and the guild leveling system that seems just another Achievement thingy.

Originally posted by isurus

How many years later and I am still waiting for someone to explain:

If I have to purchase expansion packs seperately, what exactly does my $15/mo go towards? Server maintenance? Give me a break. Vote with your dollar, people. Find another game to play, don't support this bs.

Umm...lots of things...Server Maintenance, Server Costs to keep them running, Blizzard Employees {GMs, Artists, Programmers, etc}, the huge content updates that Blizzard creates and doesn't charge a dime for, etc etc etc....

Originally posted by Khrymson

Originally posted by isurus

How many years later and I am still waiting for someone to explain:

If I have to purchase expansion packs seperately, what exactly does my $15/mo go towards? Server maintenance? Give me a break. Vote with your dollar, people. Find another game to play, don't support this bs.

 

Umm...lots of things...Server Maintenance, Server Costs to keep them running, Blizzard Employees {GMs, Artists, Programmers, etc}, the huge content updates that Blizzard creates and doesn't charge a dime for, etc etc etc....

 

 

How is it Turbine can turn out free updates in patches time and again that actually add epic quests, new areas etc.? Their one xpac that required purchase included not only the xpac but the base game as well. SOE also includes all content  with their xpacs. I know Blizz gives free updates as well that include, nerfing and buffing classes but little else. With all the money they are making from however many millions of subs they are claiming this week i would think they could do a little better in the free content department.

The guild system is nice but should have been in about 5 yrs ago honestly. For the longest time it was more or less pointless to be in a wow guild. People get excited with every xpac and then 2 months later are blasting the company for screwing up what could have been great.

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Khrymson

Originally posted by isurus

How many years later and I am still waiting for someone to explain:

If I have to purchase expansion packs seperately, what exactly does my $15/mo go towards? Server maintenance? Give me a break. Vote with your dollar, people. Find another game to play, don't support this bs.

 

Umm...lots of things...Server Maintenance, Server Costs to keep them running, Blizzard Employees {GMs, Artists, Programmers, etc}, the huge content updates that Blizzard creates and doesn't charge a dime for, etc etc etc....

 

 

How is it Turbine can turn out free updates in patches time and again that actually add epic quests, new areas etc.? Their one xpac that required purchase included not only the xpac but the base game as well. SOE also includes all content  with their xpacs. I know Blizz gives free updates as well that include, nerfing and buffing classes but little else. With all the money they are making from however many millions of subs they are claiming this week i would think they could do a little better in the free content department.

  And Blizzard has only had 2 xpacs to Turbines 1 ... and WoW was released first. The initial game only costs 20 bucks .. may as well be free. I don't think any of that is bad at all considering  how popular WoW is. Its not as If they were SOE releasing one every 2 months. :p  Blizzard could put out a half ass xpac every 6 months or year and rake in even more money , but they aren't.

So much hate for wow & blizzard..  like a heard of mindless sheep bletting the same old rubblish over and over. barrrr barrrrr

If you hate WoW so much why are you so concered about it, me thinks you love WoW really, its just not cool for your other friends to know you do.. shhhh I wont tell.

Yeah I mean, you don't need the expansion to see the world change do you? Thus the expansion itself will be rather dissapointing I think... whether or not the world changing is exciting, makes little difference with the expansion.

Originally posted by coffee

So much hate for wow & blizzard..  like a heard of mindless sheep bletting the same old rubblish over and over. barrrr barrrrr

If you hate WoW so much why are you so concered about it, me thinks you love WoW really, its just not cool for your other friends to know you do.. shhhh I wont tell.

pot meet kettle...or sheep meet sheep. Most people at one time liked it in some fashion and then for whatever design decision didnt anymore. Many people used it as a starter MMO and then moved on to deeper and more complex ones. WOW isnt the devil nor is it the savior but just a game made at one time by a good company now not so much

Originally posted by Bama1267

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Khrymson

Originally posted by isurus

How many years later and I am still waiting for someone to explain:

If I have to purchase expansion packs seperately, what exactly does my $15/mo go towards? Server maintenance? Give me a break. Vote with your dollar, people. Find another game to play, don't support this bs.

 

Umm...lots of things...Server Maintenance, Server Costs to keep them running, Blizzard Employees {GMs, Artists, Programmers, etc}, the huge content updates that Blizzard creates and doesn't charge a dime for, etc etc etc....

 

 

How is it Turbine can turn out free updates in patches time and again that actually add epic quests, new areas etc.? Their one xpac that required purchase included not only the xpac but the base game as well. SOE also includes all content  with their xpacs. I know Blizz gives free updates as well that include, nerfing and buffing classes but little else. With all the money they are making from however many millions of subs they are claiming this week i would think they could do a little better in the free content department.

  And Blizzard has only had 2 xpacs to Turbines 1 ... and WoW was released first. The initial game only costs 20 bucks .. may as well be free. I don't think any of that is bad at all considering  how popular WoW is. Its not as If they were SOE releasing one every 2 months. :p  Blizzard could put out a half ass xpac every 6 months or year and rake in even more money , but they aren't.

I really hope you dont think this explains why you get more content in Turbine patches than you do in WOW's and why Turbine and SOE include all content for the price tag and all you get from the "King" is the update. You can justify in your own mind all you want to but Blizzard has you and others by the short hairs and is milking you for all they can get.

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Bama1267

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Khrymson

Originally posted by isurus

How many years later and I am still waiting for someone to explain:

If I have to purchase expansion packs seperately, what exactly does my $15/mo go towards? Server maintenance? Give me a break. Vote with your dollar, people. Find another game to play, don't support this bs.

 

Umm...lots of things...Server Maintenance, Server Costs to keep them running, Blizzard Employees {GMs, Artists, Programmers, etc}, the huge content updates that Blizzard creates and doesn't charge a dime for, etc etc etc....

 

 

How is it Turbine can turn out free updates in patches time and again that actually add epic quests, new areas etc.? Their one xpac that required purchase included not only the xpac but the base game as well. SOE also includes all content  with their xpacs. I know Blizz gives free updates as well that include, nerfing and buffing classes but little else. With all the money they are making from however many millions of subs they are claiming this week i would think they could do a little better in the free content department.

  And Blizzard has only had 2 xpacs to Turbines 1 ... and WoW was released first. The initial game only costs 20 bucks .. may as well be free. I don't think any of that is bad at all considering  how popular WoW is. Its not as If they were SOE releasing one every 2 months. :p  Blizzard could put out a half ass xpac every 6 months or year and rake in even more money , but they aren't.

I really hope you dont think this explains why you get more content in Turbine patches than you do in WOW's and why Turbine and SOE include all content for the price tag and all you get from the "King" is the update. You can justify in your own mind all you want to but Blizzard has you and others by the short hairs and is milking you for all they can get.

Milking??? NO way, all their services are extra cheap, even their t-shirts, trading card games, magazines, comic books, and paid services are cheap, only simbolic values O.O

I'm not Originally posted by chunky_slice

Is this the first Blizzcon (QuakeCon 1997, yet another idea Blizzard have "borrowed" from other game developers) you've paid attention to?

Every 2nd year Blizzcon hypes the new expansion. Maybe I'm just old but I've been hyped once too often and have become cynical. But I envy your excitement.

But just like when your favorite band releases a new album you buy (yes, I am that old I still buy music) even though their last couple of albums were crap I'll be checking out cataclyscm.

    I'm not saying Blizzard doesn't borrow liberally (steal) other game ideas and put their spin on them. but C'mon...They stole the QuakeCon idea and now have BlizzCon?...lol...I know you realize that there have been product and genre convention for decades right?....Insurance companies have had conventions for ages..usually with their name included...Comicon ...which now covers everything it seems has been around since the 70's.....DragonCOn...WizardCon.. Gencon...PlumbersCon. O.k. ...I made up the last one but I would not be surprised if the name exists.   Blizzard did not steal the idea of a convention to promote their products. ...

Originally posted by tachgb

But I'm hugely tempted to return to WoW. Blizzard have just WTF'ed almost every MMO player in the world, and let's face it, we've all played WoW at some point, and they've shook the foundations of their prized game. Brave move, and one that has turned every head, gamer and developer alike. THIS, is how you make an expansion, you just don't add new areas and classes, you alter the game itself in ways most developers wouldn't dream touching because this would be a waste of resources.

 

Almost seems like WoW will be reborn, and I can see it becoming something more.

 

It's nice to see Blizzard making good changes to this game, five years on, and the game seems fresh as it did at release. We know who else does this, CCP with their EVE Online.

 

I'm keeping my eye on Cataclysm.

I am in agreement with you. Blizzard has peaked my interest. I am coming back as well when it is released. It puts the shame the lame attempt SOE has done with expansions all these years. The time World of Warcraft is putting into making the WHOLE game feel uniform is appreciated by me and I am sure by others. I have always been vocal about MMOs looking patched together over the years with so many redundant stats added expansion after expansion, features plopped on top of old features making make some parts of the game trivial, graphics mixmatched all the way through. Most games like the frankenstein EQ is today feels like many different games smashed into one. 

This leaves redundant, out of place, stale mechanics/features/stats all over the place that do not make sense and clunkly. Walking through EQ is like walking through different games, graphics do not match through out. Expansion packs always push out new features but Blizzard is brilliant enough to go back to the original game and fix flying mounts into the world (one of the reasons I left, didn't make sense). Instead of leaving all these redundant stats over time piling on top of each other they are streamlining the stats and making the game feel smooth. Hats off to Blizzard. I will be purchasing the expansion next year and renewing my sub.

EVE has 'expansions' easy, it has no damn content to expand - not content of any artistic value whatsoever.  Being set in space allows it to cheat, especially as you can't visit the surface of planets.   The game is one big artistic void.

You can't possibly compare EVEs expansions which aren't really expansions, they're just big updates, and it's easy to see why they are free.

To be fair on EVE, it's one big fun social sandbox and it doesn't need content anyway.

I really hope you dont think this explains why you get more content in Turbine patches than you do in WOW's and why Turbine and SOE include all content for the price tag and all you get from the "King" is the update. You can justify in your own mind all you want to but Blizzard has you and others by the short hairs and is milking you for all they can get.

 

SOE is horrible when it comes to milking their customers. I do not see how you can justify saying WoW does this. What is worse you use SOE for an example of not milking their cusomers. That is just a joke. SOE has put in a item shop in their paid subscription games to milk their players. SOE has a card game as well but it is pushed right in your face while you play, you have to constantly see messages about it. SOE wins the reward for giving NO content away for free, in fact the expansion pack LOY was nothing but a small zone, and unlike Blizzard people that do not purchase the expansion do not get game fundamentals like extra bank slots, in game map etc. SOE also use to milk their customer x2 yearly with shotty small expansion packs about the size of Blizzard's constant free patches. It is completely horrible. SOE is a joke.

Originally posted by Recant

EVE has 'expansions' easy, it has no damn content to expand - not content of any artistic value whatsoever.  Being set in space allows it to cheat, especially as you can't visit the surface of planets.   The game is one big artistic void.

You can't possibly compare EVEs expansions which aren't really expansions, they're just big updates, and it's easy to see why they are free.

To be fair on EVE, it's one big fun social sandbox and it doesn't need content anyway.

Have you even bothered playing EVE, my guess is no as you are talking out your ass. If you look at the expansions minus the one before apoc they all added something significant to alter or improve gameplay. There is a ton of content and thankfully the players have enough of an IQ to also create their own interesting content.

Originally posted by isurus

How many years later and I am still waiting for someone to explain:

If I have to purchase expansion packs seperately, what exactly does my $15/mo go towards? Server maintenance? Give me a break. Vote with your dollar, people. Find another game to play, don't support this bs.

Shitloads of profit. That's how this stuff works. There's a lot of executives all the way up the totem pole, taking a slice of that money for their ridiculously huge salaries. Only a non-profit company has to reinvest all the money back into the company.

gamersyndrome.com/video-games/how-much-money-does-activision-blizzard-ceo-bobby-kotick-make/

That's where your money goes.

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Bama1267

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Khrymson

Originally posted by isurus

How many years later and I am still waiting for someone to explain:

If I have to purchase expansion packs seperately, what exactly does my $15/mo go towards? Server maintenance? Give me a break. Vote with your dollar, people. Find another game to play, don't support this bs.

 

Umm...lots of things...Server Maintenance, Server Costs to keep them running, Blizzard Employees {GMs, Artists, Programmers, etc}, the huge content updates that Blizzard creates and doesn't charge a dime for, etc etc etc....

 

 

How is it Turbine can turn out free updates in patches time and again that actually add epic quests, new areas etc.? Their one xpac that required purchase included not only the xpac but the base game as well. SOE also includes all content  with their xpacs. I know Blizz gives free updates as well that include, nerfing and buffing classes but little else. With all the money they are making from however many millions of subs they are claiming this week i would think they could do a little better in the free content department.

  And Blizzard has only had 2 xpacs to Turbines 1 ... and WoW was released first. The initial game only costs 20 bucks .. may as well be free. I don't think any of that is bad at all considering  how popular WoW is. Its not as If they were SOE releasing one every 2 months. :p  Blizzard could put out a half ass xpac every 6 months or year and rake in even more money , but they aren't.

I really hope you dont think this explains why you get more content in Turbine patches than you do in WOW's and why Turbine and SOE include all content for the price tag and all you get from the "King" is the update. You can justify in your own mind all you want to but Blizzard has you and others by the short hairs and is milking you for all they can get.

 Justify what? Im perfectly fine with the content I have recieved and I've only purchased 2 xpacs. Over how many years? Turbine on the other hand could give me as much free content as they wanted ... still wouldnt play again.  I think the point I was trying to make though was the amount charged isn't much different than Turbine. An extra xpac ... big deal. When you are the top dog do you give stuff away for free? When demand is high , do you give it away? NO you don't , any company in the same position would do the same. And If Blizz was in Turbines shoes they would probably follow the same set up. Far from milking... but you can be one of those who HATE Blizzard for anything it does.

Originally posted by tryklon

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Bama1267

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Khrymson

Originally posted by isurus

How many years later and I am still waiting for someone to explain:

If I have to purchase expansion packs seperately, what exactly does my $15/mo go towards? Server maintenance? Give me a break. Vote with your dollar, people. Find another game to play, don't support this bs.

 

Umm...lots of things...Server Maintenance, Server Costs to keep them running, Blizzard Employees {GMs, Artists, Programmers, etc}, the huge content updates that Blizzard creates and doesn't charge a dime for, etc etc etc....

 

 

How is it Turbine can turn out free updates in patches time and again that actually add epic quests, new areas etc.? Their one xpac that required purchase included not only the xpac but the base game as well. SOE also includes all content  with their xpacs. I know Blizz gives free updates as well that include, nerfing and buffing classes but little else. With all the money they are making from however many millions of subs they are claiming this week i would think they could do a little better in the free content department.

  And Blizzard has only had 2 xpacs to Turbines 1 ... and WoW was released first. The initial game only costs 20 bucks .. may as well be free. I don't think any of that is bad at all considering  how popular WoW is. Its not as If they were SOE releasing one every 2 months. :p  Blizzard could put out a half ass xpac every 6 months or year and rake in even more money , but they aren't.

I really hope you dont think this explains why you get more content in Turbine patches than you do in WOW's and why Turbine and SOE include all content for the price tag and all you get from the "King" is the update. You can justify in your own mind all you want to but Blizzard has you and others by the short hairs and is milking you for all they can get.

 

Milking??? NO way, all their services are extra cheap, even their t-shirts, trading card games, magazines, comic books, and paid services are cheap, only simbolic values O.O

 And how does that have anything to do with milking? No one is required or has to buy any of that to play the game. They make money off things people want to purchase ... big deal. That's what companies do. I leave the rest of this to the wow-haters ... ignorance kills me.