Originally posted by Irengard

When something is first released in real life, especially in the gaming industry, it usually cost a lot to purchase it (ex: When they first release the PS2, it cost around 399 bucks or more).  Years passes and the gaming industry decides to lower their prices to make the game or console available to a larger puplic (a year or so passed and the PS2 was lowered to 299 bucks).  Finally, when a new game or console is released, the price of the old item dramatically drops (when the PS3 came out, the PS2 was soon after sold at 129 bucks or so).  Those are the laws of marketting.  Are you going to whine about how you paid WoW 49 bucks back in 2005 and nowadays, you can purchase both the original game plus TBC for 39 bucks?  No..  because you got to play the game when it was fresh and new!

WoW uses the same thinking ingame.  Back in 2005, it cost a lot to pruchase a mount but nowadays, everyone has a mount and it's not really an achievement to get a mount.  Instead, they've added new things for you guys to work on to feel as if you achieved something that most common players haven't already done yet (310 mounts for instance).  Wait a few years, and Blizzard will make the 310 mounts more accessible, but they will release something new for hardcore players to work on. That's life and to me, it's all logical.  Cry all you want about how you paid 800 gold for your 60 mount if you want, but I would be darn glad to say that I was one of the first to get my mount before 9 million other players.  

I really like that fresh way of thinking.  Too many players discuss WoW as if it's on its own planet and can't use other, non-WoW things as examples.  It's good to know that I'm not the only guy using a slew of gaming material to discuss a single product.

Originally posted by jerlot65

I try not to bash articles on this site but this one just doesn't make sense.

 

Why is somone who has only been playing 4 months doing this article.  It sounds like you have absolutely no idea what a "big" change is.  I mean anyone who remembers battlegrounds pre arenas would know that this new exp and arena point system is jsut like the old system.  Of course now your going to have XP ninjas and point ninjas.  I just left WoW and the only big changes I saw didn't fix anything I disliked about the game when I left.

Don't get me wrong. I liked WoW for many years.  however after countless dissapointments and the constent nerfing of content after I just spents months trying to complete it hard mode I was done.

I try to let everyone have their jabs if they wish, but you sound like you're using strawmen to vent anger and make me look like a meandering idiot.  You sound very jaded, and I'm disappointed that I'm your target in this.

Anyone who has recently read my material here knows that I try to focus exclusively on new player stuff or stuff that would gain the ire of a console gamer.  This is why I left out a large chunk of the big change - because it was - and focus on certain aspects.  The yanking of several spells, the blatant Twink hate, the continued reduction of mount costs and levels, and the AV power leveling are other things happening.  Unfortunately, the audience that I'm aiming at cares about only a select few of these things.  I can't please everyone, and I'm not going to even begin trying.

As I mentioned, I wasn't too keen on the idea of lowering the bar on mounts again because I felt the same sting as the players before me.  I worked hard to get these things, then the cost was suddenly lowered tremendously, leaving me feeling like I had wasted some time.  But it was fun to hang out with friends from back home, so my complaints were minimal and passing.  Other guys who are interested in trying WoW would actually like this news.

I know that the gear thing is brought up often when it comes to Twinks, but I'm still not sold on them.  They're obviously not meant to be played if Blizzard put so much effort into separating them from the rest of the game.  Also, I don't mention gear very often because that is a sure fire way to convince my audience not to try WoW.  Even the most hardcore Final Fantasy players are turned off at the idea of grinding that long to get good gear sets, and that says a lot.

 This was sent in over two weeks ago.  I'm not sure I understand how posting this late instantly makes me a bad writer.  I'd much rather you read the entire thing and make an opinion.

I also wrote an opinion editorial on the patch changes and sent that in a good five days ago.  It's posted when it's posted; I have no control over that.

I'm the actual author of the article.  Sorry for the confusion.

Although I'm not an experienced year plus veteran like I'm sure many other players are, I fully believe that a good guild can make the difference between a good and bad player and even experience in WoW.  I had my moments with some bad guilds, and then I found one that was solid and stayed to watch my gear and levels soar to new heights.  I learned respectful ways to group with others, I learned tactics to complete Instances, and I believe it overall made me a far better player.

Though I admit that I do group mostly with my real life friends now, I still run with some good folks I've met in order to ensure that I have the best experience and gear for my levels so I'm prepared to be the best I can be at level 80.

Consider this my humble attempt to help other new players in finding the same experience I was lucky enough to have.

You bring up some great points, and I'm hoping to assist my console brothers and sisters in joining the MMORPG community with minimal pain.  I too suffered from the symptoms that you listed, but a friend helped cure me of those.  I chose World of Warcraft as my medium not only because it's my game of choice when it comes to MMOs but also because that's the game they're going to hear about.  They're going to hear about WoW, they're going to see WoW when they go to other websites such as ScrewAttack.com(shameless plug - I'm a mod there), and they're viewing commercials of the revamp of Game Fuel.  At this point it's safe to say that if any console game were to play a MMO, they'd choose WoW because of advertisements alone.  Personally, my first MMORPG was Dark Age of Camelot.

A big thing I plan to preach when I talk about console gamers to WoW is comraddery because I know from experience that's the first thing they'll reject.  So, as someone previously suggested, talking about the guilds would be the next best move.

Thank you for the feedback.  With the help of readers like you, I hope to be able to create a mini-guide to stop the console conversion nonsense before it begins. 

It makes my eyes bleed as well.  I thought it best to get some default screens for the first article so any newer players that actually want to try aren't wondering what's up with everything being different on their end.  I'm always looking for the best add-ons, so feel free to make any suggestions.

Originally posted by Simsu

 Article starts out good with showing the differences between standard console games and WoW/MMOs but I think it trailed off in the end. I'd suggest that one of your followup articles take a more in-depth look at the Player interaction aspect since thats the defining factor of these types of games (The MMO part of the game). Guilds are the biggest thing that come to mind.

 

Oh.. And the Horde is not the Villains... Strictly speaking neither side is any more good or evil than the other, they just happen to not get along very well. 

Thanks for  reading and big thanks for the suggestion.  I think we're on the same wave of thought because guilds were definitely my next target of discussion.

Sorry if I threw everyone for a loop with that villain part.  They're seen as the villains due to the Burning Legion's control over the Orcs in War2.