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World of Warcraft News - 4.3 Changes Everything
Posted by Suzie Ford on Dec 04, 2011 | 111 comments in our forums
Love it or hate it, the World of Warcraft v4.3 patch has arrived and brought with it more changes than you can proverbially shake a stick at. In today's WoW Factor, we take a look at the profound changes that v4.3 has brought to the world's most well-known MMO. Check it out and then leave your thoughts in the latest update in the comments.
Patch 4.3 is officially upon us patrons of World of Warcraft and with it vast amounts of new things to do! These are exciting times for WoW players as they take part in myriad activities ranging from resuscitating old gear via transmogrification, playing around at the Darkmoon Faire, working towards new tier pieces, or even battling against the demented Deathwing himself! Despite the fact that the contents of this patch were privy to all with an internet connection and a modicum of internet-based navigational skill there isn't too much left to surprise players even after they get their hands on the much vaunted “last patch before the Pandaria expansion”. Except for the spoilerific Deathwing cut-scenes that is!
Read more of Joe Sanicky's The WoW Factor: 4.3 Changes Everything.
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Glad i don't play this game anymore. SWTOR ftw
As a long term WOW player who is also going to play SWTOR, its still not enough to halt its decline when up against increasing competition. The problem with WOW is that after 7 years people are simply bored of it now.
The patch changed nothing. Adding another gear teir + new dailies doesnt change whats wrong with the game
Wait, wait, wait. Did this article say 4.3 is the last content patch before Mists of Pandaria? So...I have to wait a year or more for more content? Seriously? Then why is there a monthly sub for this game, again? Please tell me this is just conjecture and not actual fact.
I agree
what I dont like about 4.3
with Cata, all under level 60 outdoor heroic quests were changed to solo player
with 4.3, the same was done for BC / LK content -- there are no more heroic outdoor quests
http://www.wowwiki.com/Patch_4.3.0
the only heroic quests under level 80 you will find in dungeons now
WOW was never hard, but removing more challenge reduces the fun
why are you both waiting a year or more for more content in a game that you dont play?
patch 4.4 world event is still due
http://www.wowpedia.org/Patch_4.4.0
A little something called get Diablo 3 and a mount for one year's sub to WoW. That's why.
Talk about cryptic. "which should be released with a "meaningful difference" in the release timeline compared to previous expansions." What does that even mean? Does that mean MoP will actually launch by like Spring this time instead of next December? If so, then whew, ok, I can deal with that, still sucks that Blizzard doesn't patch their game like Trion does, but ok.
Wait ... you are telling me people actually fell for that one?
V_V
To be fair, I didn't choose to accept it lightly. I looked back at how often I sub/resub to WoW and it just makes sense to take a deal like that when I would be hopping in and out of WoW like I have been in the last 7 years. Might as well get something for it.
wait did you just say you got suckered into paying 180 dollars for diablo 3. im pretty sure its gonna be around 60 bucks but you payed 180 for it.
Not all at once and I AM playing casually here and there, depending on my gaming mood each day, so I'm still getting to play WoW. I feel much worse about having spent that much money last year on Earthrise, Xyson and Mortal Online than I ever will or have about the sub fee for WoW.
the game is unplayable. a treadmill. blizz has missed the FUNDEMENTAL essence of modern marketing. Variety. There is not the BEST tomato sauce. there are 7 best tomato sauces....extra chuncky, spicy, mushroom, extra garlicy, etc. But with WoW, you get the same thing from every server. There are two play styles. Raiding, which is only about memorizing a plan and pushing a button. Or pvp which is aboput collecting points in sterile little arenas. THEY DESTROYED the worlds they created.
Imagine if a PvE server had roving bosses that appeared in Outlands or Elwynn or Sithius. And that the best gear available came from these bosses.
Imagine if PvP servers had world pvp events. Capture Gadgetzhan or secure north Stranglethorn. And that the best gear available came from these events.
Imagine if RP servers had constant RP events that only through knowledge of lore, not the ablity to spam a button, gave rewards....the best gear available.
I never raid, let alone do heroic dungeons, but I Qed for heroics last night. Haven't played in months. Everythging is different, have no idea what rotation to use (which is disgusting that gameplay is broken down into a regimented set of actions repeated over and over----sounds like SCHOOL to me). I got booted because my dps was weak. I was booted because I didn't push the buttons they wanted me to push in the order they wanted me to push them. THIS is the failure of WoW.
I plan to play WoW for the next year anyway, so Diablo is free. my subscription didnt miss a second since 2006.
That's not WoW, that's PEOPLE. I've had that issue in Lotro, EQ2, WAR, AoC, FFXI and so on.
Mists of Pandaria is coming out Q2 2012 you scrub. Have you never seen Blizzard release an expansion?
I would probably resub again if it wasnt so damn easy. They destroyed the journey to cap, absolutley no challenge in lvling = boring.
If Blizzard had any sense they would make expert server's or something. Bring back some resemblance of challenge.
Fell for what exactly? For folks who were planning on remaining subbed to WoW for the entirety of the next year, it's a good deal. Considering the amount of annual pass mounts I've seen in Orgrimmar, it's not a small number of folks. Getting D3 on top of it, or 4 month of WoW gametime if you end up purchasing the collectors edition of D3, is quite the incentive.
If you don't play WoW that much, or at all. Then well yeah, you're a sucker, since you effectively have paid $180 for a "free" copy of D3 that you coulda picked up for $50-60 USD.
Back on topic:
4.3 changed quite a bit from a lore perspective, and it's setting up the storyline of MoP, focusing on the mortals, instead of having a giant singular antagonist (and his cronies) that both the Alliance and Horde need to destroy. It'll be a nice change of pace having your main enemy be the enemy faction.
In terms of gameplay, 4.3 changed practically nothing, with the exception of adding the initial steps of "play how you want". Looking For Raid is a decent alternative for folks who don't have enough friends to raid with, or can't raid due to whatever reasons. The mechanics are easy enough where you aren't having to herd cats, but not so faceroll where you can simply brute force everything.
Adding more streamlined Conquest Point gains for doing random battlegrounds is a decent way of shoring up the resilience gap between those who random battleground for pvp and for those who mostly compete in arena or rated battleground, but like to go be pricks in random battlegrounds when they are bored. Unfortunately, the balance in pvp has been extremely out of whack in Cataclysm, even moreso than in previous expansions.
The new 5 mans are entertaining. While it was nice to revisit ZA/ZG in 4.2, they should have added 1-2 completely new dungeons into that mix. As someone who raided ZG and ZA when they were current, I became bored quickly. At least with these new 5 mans, there is a larger gap between inception and them making me want to gouge my eyes out.
The new Darkmoon Faire is quite fun as well. It's a much needed revamp of content that was mostly half done, it's great to see it fleshed out. Transmogrification is also an excellent addition. My main complaint is that Xmog is still far too restrictive than my tastes. Blizzard needs to seriously get over their control complex when it comes to character appearance.
Bottom line: if you are bored with WoW, 4.3 does nothing to entice you to keep playing. At this stage of the game, not much can be changed, unless they go for a NGE style game changing patch. However, if you're still an active player, 4.3 brought in nice changes (Xmog and Darkmoon Faire), additional content, as well as a storyline setup for the pre-xpack event and MoP.
If, somehow, WoW continues to be the big thing going from 2012 onward with the MoP expansion, I'm not going to blame Blizzard or the people who play WoW. I'm going to blame its competition for being so uninspired and narrowminded that Blizzard BEAT them with Pandas.
"Look at us. We're Blizzard. We can take our companies practical joke from 2003, make an expansion revolved around them - throw in POKEMON for good measure - and STILL beat you."
All I can say... Bioware, Arenanet, Funcom... step up your game. Because, I sure as hell don't want to see what WoW 6.0 has in store. How about, talking multi-colored Dinosaurs, in OUTER SPACE?
Well....from reading his post, he sounds like a troll. He goes on about rotations, which haven't truly existed in Cataclysm, since dps went to a priority system with elements of rotations. Harps on about mechanics (treadmill style play) in WoW that exist in all mmorpgs. Finally, admits that he both doesn't raid or do instances, AND hasn't played in months, but is then surprised when he is removed from groups because of his inability to grasp the mechanics of the game.
Additionally, if he brings his seemingly egotistical, borderline self-righteous attitude into the game, well I doubt he was booted from groups because of his inability to "push buttons in the order they wanted him to".
Blizzard has in the past taken two years between their expansions, that's why there's an assumption that it will be another year.
Blizzard is not know for getting things done in a timely manner. MoP will probably be delayed past Q2 2012... and if it's not, have fun with all the bugs and/or lack of content.
It doesn't seem like that big of an expansion, though, compared to the others. How hard is it to whip up some pandas?
LOL, it's like saying, Glad i dont eat red apple anymore, green apple ftw.
Can't hear you over the clicking of my DDE Swtor pre-order.
I absolutely love this... The most successfully mmo in gaming history and ths guy is gonna tell them what they did wrong, lol. Why don't you go preach to the 20 or so mmos that have went free to play? They may just need your wisdom. I think Blizzard will somehow survive.....
I don't know what the OP was drinking, but saying this is the last patch before the expansion is ludicrous. Every previous expansion has come out well over a year after the announcement and since this expansion was not announced until early fall you are trying to tell us that it will be before next winter? Not likely! Plus they always have a patch before the expansion.
Secondly, there were no big changes in this patch unless you are an equipment hound and have to have the latest and greatest. Personally I hate raiding and so do most of my friends. I don't see that set being a big deal for most of us.
Thats a WoW player intellect right there for you lol. 180$ to get a 60$ game free. Add in the 25$ mount to to be generous - so you are paying 180$ to recieve 85$ worth of merchandise free and NOT playing the game you paid the 180$ for in the first place.....
Man I am in the wrong bussiness.
End game is raiding or heroic dungeons, how is that tons of content?
Well, be careful not to get involved in any business that requires careful attention to detail because you missed the OP's follow up reply saying that he still plays WOW when the mood suits him. So not a waste for him at all.
Playing it a little bit right now, it honestly hasn't changed. You're still going to grind heroics for gear/item levels and then raid a whooping 8 'new' bosses in 3 different modes depending on your playstyle (easy, normal or hard, basically). LFR (the auto-queue easy mode for raids) is a nice addition for people not intrested in joining a raid guild and make it a four-nights-a-week job to play the damn game, and it is probably the only meaningfull addition to the game in this entire expansion as it opens up content to a wider audience.
PvP is just a points grind as it always was, nothing changed here.
This article title is flat out false on so many levels, the patch changes very little about the game, it simply adds more of the same, a repeating pattern since the game released. It only simplified entry to the content with the LFR feature.
I'm honestly getting a bit tired of the seemingly advertisement-like WoW related articles on this site lately. Report on WoW (and any game for that matter) with facts please, not overhyped words.
While true, Blizzard DID state that they want to move up releases of expansions - no more two years between. MoP is in limited testing right now, but we'll see how long it takes to go from there to F&F.
Frankly, the most disappointing part of the patch for me was the new Darkmoon Faire. On release they tuned down the daily quest rewards from 5 per daily (25 per day) to 1 per, which means that it will take literally years just for the pets/mounts (one mount will now take approximately 5 months) OTOH they made rep so easy now - the whining from the already insane is hilarious :D!
The minute I signed up for that I regretted it. I currently sub but it's not consistent. I'm pretty sure it's not 12 months worth or resubbing so it's a waste of money IMO. The other, 'perks', I could of down without really, so there's a lesson there kids: 'NEVER SIGN A CONTRACT WHEN YOUR DRUNK!!' :P
As for the patch itself, generally underwhelming for me. They can say all they like about having 'limited' resources but we all know most of those resources are going into purchaseable extras like mounts and pets also MOP. I mean most of the 'new' raid/dungeon content is recycled Wrath areas, (the Deathwing model in the well of eternity instance is laughable as well, when I first saw it I thought Deathwing had come back to the past before someone said it's suppose to be Netharion :P)...who do they think there kidding? The Darkmoon Faire update is welcomed but a bit late and without context. I mean why all of a sudden has an entire island sprung up for them?
Blizzard used to pride themselves on quality control it seems these days thats falling by the wayside...
You sure are. If you run your business based on assumptions like that, yikes. I never said was NOT playing the game, didn't even infer it either. I plan to hop in every now and again, especially for content patches, so it's not wasted money. It would only be wasted if they didn't patch the game between now and then as my original comment was aimed at.
the Ops title "4.3 changes everything" primarly pertains to this quote
However with the Dragon Aspects losing their Titan-given powers and becoming mere mortal dragons once more the story-telling landscape of World of Warcraft has been blown wide-open!
beyond lore, I agree, 4.3 changed little -- the ops title is hyped sensationalism with little substance
This is truly distubring if that ends up being true.
There will be a patch 4.4 with a 'significant world event' that leads into MoP. This was stated at Blizzcon.
4.3 has got me playing more but the Ethereals prices are steep at end game. I try to avoid it but dressing up my dolls is fun. I mean toons, cough.
I do not consider world events major patches because there rarely are balance changes.
So, until 5.0, which is a month before the launch of MoP. Semantics aside utter disappointment from my view.
To those arguing nothing change I beg to differ. WOW for 7 straight years has really only appealed to the extreme hardcore with one raid after another and nothing for their casual base.
LFR is actually a game changer in philosphy because Blizzard when I played said doing the itemization on easier modes of raids would be too much work. Now that has changed thanks to their subs being gut'd...thank you TOR/LoL/Rift for that one.
World of Warcraft Column: 4.3 Changes Everything
Er no it doesn't. It changes nothing. The same old EQ cloned combat, the same old level based questing consisting of kill X of Y and fetch Z for V etc.
Just more of the same, oh but with Panda men who can do martial arts.
No thanks!
To Be Honest....I got tired of WoW after Cata....Now that Mists of Pandaria is coming, Blizz has definitely shown they cater to 12 & under crowd....Bye-Bye WoW, glad I'm not spending money on it anymore. It's turning into a Magic 101 clone.....
I bet that Blizz will pull a BC Sunwell moment again. Black Temple was supposed to be the last raid instance of BC, but with Wrath so far off and people having no more raid content to accomplish, Blizz was pretty much forced to make Sunwell to give their hardcore raiders something to work on. I imagine something like that will happen here.
^^^^^ THIS, definitely this.
honestly. wow was a good game in its day and all but, its just tired.
i am just over the dark ages fantasy and have been for a long time. i am looking forward to swtor .
Amen to that!!! Used to love WoW....now....can't stand it. Went to hell in a handbasket with Catastrophe. But, Blizz has more than gotten their money out of it....that's why they don't really care anymore. All I can say is......Catatonic was my last Blizz purchase....ever.
WoW doesn't seem anywhere close to optimized enough to handle this scale of content. I still remember doing these player-events which gather so many people on a same place that the server starts lagging/crashing.
And considering their solution to excessive population was fully instancing the end game, it doesn't seem they have been working towards solving the problem above.
Strangely enough, this was, imo, the BEST thing about patch 4.3.
Maybe you haven't been in Outland or Northrend lately? There's virtually NO ONE around. Obtaining one group quest after another in these zones -- only to have to abandon them later because there were 0 to 2 other players in your zone -- is a major drag. Outland and Northrend are a whole lot less frustrating now.
I think MMO devs need to learn that, over time, lower-level zones and dungeons become, for all intents and purposes, single-player zones. Blizzard, at least, understands this. And that's OK. It's just how it is. Changing quest requirements to reflect that reality is simply common sense.
Personally, I'd like to see similar adjustments for the low-level dungeons. Even with LFG, the wait to find groups is becoming longer and longer and the odds of landing in a "fail group" when you finally find one are on the rise.
hate to say this but WoW has always catered to the kiddie market. At least since BC's release.
WoWs changing. you cant expect it to remain the same forever. I hate on WoW far to much. It's a game for kids young adults and family's. For what it is pretty amazing after all these years to still be a force like it is. and no i didn't get payed by blizzard to say this.
I have seen so much WoW hate these last few weeks/years it kind of made me smell the roses about my hater like views on a darn video game.
Still a good MMO and it will be for many years possibly.
While i was frowning on the lore-hounds for years, nowadays i think to approach a game via it's lore is the best thing to do for longterm playing. I noticed way too late that i missed a ton of WoW while taking the fast lane like "just tell me how many X i've got to kill ...k ...brb".
But then, there are always alot of people pushing you. "60/70/80 yet? not? get on, we need a healer" and such. Or you log in and that friend who promised you to play together already got 3 more level under the belt and you've got to hurry up again.
After years of playing, i was too burned out to give it another try and to actually read what i'm doing there. In my next game, i will shurely do so.
You say everything changes and list not one thing game mechanically that changes.
So with the dragons now mortal, does that mean after MoP we can play as a dragon kin?
I mean, the worgen are basically the exact same (except with a wolf skin) and they're introducing a neutral race already.. why not another one?
We all know that the X-pac after MoP will be the Emerald Dream, and being a dragonkin has been one of the most requested races like ever.
Read again.. he was talking mostly about the lore of the game, and the fact that, there's really no more bad guys anymore.
To people who like lore.. (not one of them myself sadly) that can change everything.
Lore or game mechanics. Does the dev team not always change the world completely with a new patch or expansion?
[Mod Edit]
First off most north american WoW players WILL try SWTOR so WoW is the majority of your player base. In fact the game was basicly designed for bored WoW kids.
Second: Having tried the game briefly SWTOR seems to be WoW on Super Easy Mode. If you find Wow easy SWTOR will be a joke. Thats PvE and PvP complexity
Third: SWTOR also has the most brutal AI and no complexity to the UI whatsoever. It truely the simplest MMO I've ever tried. Even a child of 6 could play this game with ease
Orcs....in...SPACE! [...Space...Spa..ace...ace...]
OK, but try to take in note who there target audience is (the masses). SWTOR isn't catering to the niche crowd who wants a revolution in the mmo genre.
There major aim is to turn a profit, which i think they will do but as for longevity thats another matter of time and patience of MMO players...
What happened to the Burning Legion and their homeworld? They just sitting around watching soaps?
Bad news for you, every MMO company is out to make a profit
LOL, but i get the feeling this Xpac will have a shorter cycle than the others. Reason being 1) There is no major boss to fight (seems all of them are resting), and 2) Seems pvp is the focus with them mentioning the Alliance & Horde are back at it..
I expect this xpac to get 2 major content patch before they announce another xpac.
Nowadays WoW =garbage.
Blizzard is targeting kids with their Pandas and Pokemen content. On top of this, they're making the game so easy to play, all you need is one finger and one key to play it.
A once top game reduced to a pre-school kiddie theme park.
How the mighty have fallen.
One key play is all the rage. Rift has taken this concept to the extreme.
ahhhhh, Warcraft has some of my favorite lore. Though I do have to say this seems rather anti-climatic. Wrath's story telling was amazing though.
Stay on topic guys. Thanks.
"wow is so lame and unimpressive, i am so glad that another company is putting a nearly identical game with a better skin out there, i can feel the immersion already"
the above ^ 100 = the mmo forum space these days
I so agree with you! The new adverts with Chuck Norris are comical only because new players haven't a clue what makes it funny. It was Blizz's cry out to all the older veteran players that quit. I'll never go back. Blizz experienced a true "cataclysm" of the kind they didn't intend! lol
Greatly looking forward to SW:ToR!
4.3 was crap. But it's all expected. A major patch dedicated to the raiders, and not much else. Just like in all the previous expansions. No surprise.
Btw, I'd say the author lost all cred when claiming this is the last patch pre-Panda. Staffwriters with self-made "facts", not the first time we've seen that on this site.
Well, its the last "content" patch (i.e. dungeon/raid patch) the next 4.4 will be the setup for MoP like they do the last major patch before each expansion.
Will the major event be with 5.0, or will the major event patch come before 5.0?
I don't consider major events a major patch, but some do becaue it contains content. From m view a major patch is defined as having balance changes as well.
So the author can be accurate, but at the same time wrong.
We don't know. But we will find out soon enough.
You have no imagination, you want quests to be challenging remove all ur gear, only wear green or grey gear, no enchants.
Even though I dont play WoW anymore I do like to watch there cinematics. That one however was awefull. So Now I dont play it anymore due to lack of fun factor and now the cinematics looks like something I could do. I might have to rethink getting D3 with the quality blizzard stuff has had as of late.
A few thoughts ...
I thought the cataclysm was initial breaking out of deathwing? How is it "over"? That turn of phrase itches.
Given the land is awash in primordial evils squirming to the surface, don't the dragon aspects seem to take the whole end-of-their-role rather easily ... or am I missing a whole book of lore?
The Age of Mortals tagline does quite seem to fit the atmosphere of the game itself. The perception of a player actually going through the questlines is that the world are actually leaving behind any semblence of being mere mortals. It is the nature of any game that uses level for plot control.
Doesn't it say everything that you have this big elaborate cutscene where the "heroes" are actually cut out completely? The greatest weakness of imposed stories is that in the end, they sideline the players rather than involving them.
I played up to the first major patch in WOTLK and would say I would resub if they brought back servers based up to Burning crusade.. 2 would work. 1 PVP and other PVE. Let the ol timers play WOW the way we enjoyed it.
Just try any other MMO so you will realise you can't play WoW and pandas anymore :-) For me it was DC Universe online - was better than Cataclysm for me, man if you see how beautiful the models in DCU are you won't go back to WoW even though DC can't offer the full MMO experience (there is no crafting, very limited PvE ect., lack of end-game content) - but DC story is amazing, I've leveled 3 chars ot the end just to go through all the 3 possible story-lines for villians. And yes - I've palyed TOR beta - it looks pretty much like WoW in terms of game system ect. but it is fresh, good looking and easy. I mean it - easy to play. Stupid pointless grinding is still there but in a reasonable ammount and you enjoy it when taken with the SW story. You don't have to search for quest solutions ect. - you do them naturally. It's fun. To compare WoW always left me with the feeling of doing some routine (not to say anonismic) dirty job rather than having fun leveling.
I have been playing wow on and off, since the beginning, and have had several characters in the end game of each expansion. The bottom line is, i play to have fun. When it is no longer fun, i let my sub expire.. then 3 months.. 6 months etc, or a month or so before a new expansion drops, i hop back on, cause experiencing the new stuff is fun to me.
This time i have been away for quite some time.. prob close to a year... but i came back, checked out the new ZA/ZG, and have been gearing up in the new heroics, and LFR (got a few nice items so far) Recently joined a new guild.. and hopefully can start hitting the raid content.. but i don't see it being very challenging.. i mean with LFR so accessable, learning the base mechanics of the fights will be pretty easy. Sure normal and heroic modes will be harder and have a few extra mechanics to learn.. but the moment i step into normal 10/25 for the first time.. i will have a lot more knowledge then i did on the old style of raiding.
Heck i remember when i went into Naxx for the first time, way back when.. i had no idea what to expect... but now getting familiar with what is in store will be a lot easier. Resulting in hopefully a smaller learning curve and quicker results. but will esentially end up with me getting more even sooner.. but oh well.
bottom line is, play while you have fun, then find something else when your bored.. and come back when new stuff is added, so you can have fun again.
I was in well of eternity last night, (farming for the dam trinket i want off the final boss) hasn't dropped for me yet.. but heck my mage was blasting out 25k dps and i was loving it.
4.3 changed things.. and added new stuff, and it's fun to experience it.. but after you've see it for a while it does get old...and boring. so perhaps the new expansion will be here sooner than later and give us all something else fun to extertain us for a while.
changes nothing of the FACT that Blizzard removed challenge w 4.3
any mmo you can make your own fun .. big surprise
*Looks for what changes in 4.3* *Notices nothing really changes, just things get even easier* I thought something new would happen for a 'change' to be emphasized?
"World of Warcraft Column: 4.3 Changes Everything" First congratulations on a great advertisement title, way to try to get that blizz gold there. Second, let me just say as a player that sure they finally added cosmetics, updated the faire, and made improvements to the priest class. Here's all the things they didn't do that they should have: fixed pet combat, fixed trap launcher time to cast, added non-rep grindy items to engineering, added a strong solo epic storyline, improved looting, updated hunter pets so there are more then just two with AOE's both of which aren't even Ferocity pets, guild halls, added costume sets to crafting, still no random world events that matter pve or pvp, updated the alternate items one can obtain from fishing... my list goes on. Might wanna change that title to, 4.3 only changed a tiny iota of things.
Unfortunately not, Ghostcrawler will most likely strike again with this one and put it out in a years time thus negating the fun factor. It's amazing to me that after all this time that they can still have such a large audience playing their game but still maintain the long drawn out and disappointing content despite having 5 million subs in america and 10 world wide. Why they haven't learned from the examples of Trion and Arenanet when it comes to quality and content release times is beyond me. Trion released 6? new content patches since launch included their upgrades and inprovements to classes in those patches and didn't charge and thing. And then there's Anet, the list of improvements to gameplay alone should be a manual for every mmo designer and dev required reading in college before they are sent out into the field for just how a game should be before launch.
When lotro first came out they updated quite often with new "books" which added new main story quest lines/instances/etc..
Anyways I don't mind the long wait. My play time is limited to this gives me lots of time for achieves and gearing up =)
Perhaps it wasn't as obvious as I thought it was, but the part about WoW that 4.3 "changes everything" about is its story-telling potential.
I figured the article being focused pretty much soley on that fact would give that away.
Your math is a little off there. Blizzard last reported just over 10 million active subscription. 5 million in America, and 10 world wide would mean 15 million total, which WoW was never even close to as the peak was 12 million.
By the way 7-8 million of those 10 million are from asia, the rest are from NA and EU.
The rest of your post I pretty much agree with.
I'd also like to add that Blizzard's highest revenue markets, NA and EU, are shrinking fast. The WoW asian market actually reported growth in the past year, which means the 800,000 net lost subs over the year were all in NA and EU, and very like exceeded that amount by a good bit. Though oddly these markets reported increased revenue despite the massive loss in subscribers -- the explaination being that of the people that are sticking with the game, there are enough of them that are stupid enough to buy multiple $10-25 virtual items in a subscription game.
WoW will likely still be around for a while longer... but the quality of the game is in a nose dive.
WOW will be around for decades
EQ1 is still pumping out expansions, 10 years later (18th expansion was last month)
wait, so WoW removed heroic raids in 4.3?
WoW didnt remove any challenge in 4.3, unless heroic DW is considerably easier than H Ragnaros (which was far, far from easy)
How is the quality of the game in a 'nosedive'? It took a bump with the TiC patch. Then another bump with Cataclysm. Its the exact same game today as it was when cataclysm launched. In fact, its probably a little better than when Cataclysm launched. Quality certainly hasnt gone down within the last year so its not in a 'nosedive'
The business suits who run Blizzard can still take it to free to play model, and make their money by a full cash shop model.
...
all outdoor nondungeon heroic quest content under 80 in BC / LK -- was nerfed to be solo player w 4.3
ALL quest elites in nagrand and other zones? are no longer elite thanks to 4.3
Ok, so the 'challenge' of finding a partner in lower level zones to do these quests is gone...Granted some people liked to push themselves to solo Durn (pallies could pretty easily) but this stuff was never difficult. If you did a group (x) quest with x number of people it was always easy.
if you liked to solo group elites on your own (like the Corki elite Ogre)
- it wasnt hard but least gave some challenge/fun
I like variety in my mmos and commented on my dislike of 4.3 removing all outdoor heroic quests in BC/LK
from what i have been hearing on the forums ppl r VERY dissapointed in the final fight against deathwing....u dont actually fight him....u fight tenticles....what is this a japanees porno?
I just don't know if I can stick to the daily grind anymore.
Dailies, Honor, JP, Valor.
Dailies, Honor, JP, Valor.
Dailies, Honor, JP, Valor.
I lol'd hard over this post and just had to log on for a comment.
You're kinda contradicting yourself here a bit don't you think? Saying there's no variety but at the same time everything has changed.
You never raid, let alone do heroic dungeons, yet you cry burning tears of hatred when you get kicked for being a bad. Without ever having raided or done any heroics how can you sit there saying there's no variety? This game, for quite some time now has been mostly about endgame content. Without raids or dungeons, what would you expect to be doing? Have you ever tried programming, 3d modelling or story writing? I don't think you have the slightest understanding in the massive amount of work that is required to generate new content in these games.
Oh and one more contradiction in your post : "Raiding, which is only about memorizing a plan and pushing a button" and "have no idea what rotation to use ".
Thanks for the chuckles baddie.
That's what WoW amounted to for me last summer except replace honor points with raiding. I've never played a game where my time felt so regimented and compartmentalized. It was the same tired song and dance each and every day I logged in. The magic of returning to WoW only actually lasted about a week, and the only times I managed to break the monotony were the times where I ran an old raid for achievement points or something.
If I were to return for 4.3, I would imagine I would feel about the same. I'd be in love with the game for about a week as I run dailies, learn the new dungeons, and try out that new raid finder, but after experiencing the content, the game will become just as much of a job as it always was.
This is really the curse of all themepark MMORPGs though. After a certain point, you've seen all there is to see and all that's left is just repeating content on a daily basis. I don't suspect SW:TOR, GW2, or TSW will be much different. The meta-game that is raiding is fun for awhile, but it's too time consuming and life stealing to be something I can get into for long periods of time. Of course, EVE (the only sandbox worth playing IMO) is just as time consuming and life stealing in a different way.
Always wish I would have been able to play UO or SWG in their prime.
yup, this why WoW is where its at now
It may be the "exact same game" as when Catatonic launched, but it is in a sad state compared to when it was originally launched. In vanilla days, you had to actually work for your xp's, not pick a plant for them. Not getting mounts until level 40 (and, don't get me wrong....I do think 20 is much better) made you do more "work" because you had to run your little animated tail off. Regular instances now, are a walk in the park. In vanilla, they were a challenge....and yes, I have been around since vanilla...pre-vanilla in a way as I participted in some of the beta. There have been improvements in some areas, but overall imho it went from a fun and at times challenging game to the sad state it is today.
My memories of farming ubrs for a piece of drak and clearing strat with 5 warlocks disagrees with your assement that the instances were difficult.
The instances were longer, the fights in them tended to be less complex as well.
The option is there for you to do it!
So what do you do instead? Wear all on the nice Hierlooms, Blue, Purple gear that WoW can easily offer you then come to the boards crying how it's not challenging.
Lesser quality gear is available for you if you feel the need for a challenge.
Just out of curiosity, which part of WoW do you loathe that much but you're sure you wouldn't find in TOR?
Thats funny^
You probably don't even see the irony in your own statement.
A better joke than pandas anyway )) Everybody knows that SWTOR won't be WoW successor (as it offers pretty much the same game mechanics with few improvements) but TOR is the best thing on the market untill something really big happens. And yeah - people love Star Wars and hate cartoonish stuff and pandas, so TOR is at least worth the content, while WoW story was always a weak spot - all I remember from completing WoW is running-running-running-greending-greending-flying-runnung-greending-class quest- greend-grrend-greend-greend-lvl-up :-) WTF.
You better tell 'everybody' then lol. Cause the WoW fanbois turned SWTOR zealots sure think it will be.
Best thing on the market? EH ... I can agree with that. At least until GW2 releases :P And don't tell me they don't compete. There are only so many hours in a day.
why wait for pandaria to release in order to blame other devs for WoWs success over the others, again?... because MoP has pandas and pokemon style battle pets?.... Since WoW became the mammoth, all other games that came out are lame because their devs try to dethrone it with its own features (and other older games features re-skinned)...
its funny how ppl blame the poke battle pets system like if WoW will become a pokemon battle game.... you dont have to use that system at all....i dont plan to use it, but yeah when i dont want to do other stuff at some point i may try it for fun or just to kill some time in game. I dont see the problem with it as it wont affect my gameplay or my story driven experience of WoW at all. It is optional
Also im from America and i like asian lore behind pandaria. That doesnt mean the game will become a chinese marketplace.... it means the lore of the game keeps evolving and more virtual cultures and lifestyles are joining Azeroth. (just like the US is full of cultures and it keeps growing)..
I just wish Blizzard revert the difficulties of the lower lever content and dungeons as they release more high lvl content.... low level content are very easy now and that affects the progression of alt characters and i do like alts. Also they need to reduce the experience gained. I really dont care whats going on in end game WoW, i like to roll alts and enjoy their story throughout azeroth with diff toons so i take my time to level up....
kill a epic dragon before azeroth become pandaland is a good thing i suppouse...way to go blizzard way to go
the way cata went, MOP will be here sooner than a year from now. Hopefully spring time.
Changes everything?? So there's no more grinding badges and doing dailies? Worth coming back for???
Is it just me, or are there no real changes in the actual game...? This guy raves about the story and not much else. Even TOR and GW2 don't change EVERYTHING, but WoW's new patch looks like the same old thing. As for superficial points, WoW's cutscenes used to at least evoke some kind of emotion from me... Tirion Fordring storming ICC, the Wrathgate,etc...... that one was just dull and kind of embarrassing.