World of Warcraft - Wrath of the Lich King Officially Announced 314
An anonymous reader writes "Wrath of the Lich King is official! BlizzCon is in full swing, and celebrants there are already enjoying the Northrend-themed imagery. For a look at what's going on, Joystiq has a liveblog of the opening ceremony up. Games For Windows magazine, meanwhile, will feature WLK its next cover. The post on the 1up site has a number of details on the next expansion, including the introduction of the Death Knight, the first new class since WOW's launch 'World of WarCraft's first Hero Class is a plate-wearing tank/DPS hybrid that works a little something like this: When players hit level 80, they'll be able to embark on a quest (similar in difficulty to the Warlock's epic mount quest, back before the level cap was raised to 70) that unlocks the ability to create a Death Knight character. The Death Knight starts at a high level (somewhere around 60 or 70, though Blizzard isn't certain yet), so you won't have to grind your way back up all over again. It's intended as an alternative, advanced class for end-game use only.'."
wow (Score:2, Interesting)
Casual gamers? (Score:5, Interesting)
I feel a great disturbance in the force. As if millions of casual gamers suddenly cried out in terror, and then were suddenly silenced.
Seriously, though. I hear people on WoW complaining about "the grind" which to me is the best part. I like questing from 1 to 70. I like experiencing the story and still being able to play with friends if I want. If they're going to start only catering to the "end-game" users, maybe my WoW time is coming to an end. Full time job, side consultant jobs, a wife, a kid on the way, and everything else just doesn't leave a lot of room for a raid schedule.
Another hybrid.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:So more grind... (Score:4, Interesting)
However at the moment it might seem that Blizzard is releasing new content a bit fast, I've yet to decide if that's a good or bad thing.
Re:So more grind... (Score:4, Interesting)
More than once a year. We are running on 14 expansions in 8 years. But I disagree. Have you ever played EQ? There are basically 3 things that can get added in any given expansion, beyond land mass
1) more gear / items
2) Level cap increase
3) More Alternate Advancement points available to purchase
You always get 1. 2 happens every other or every third expansion. 3 happens about out of cycle from 2, it seems. You are probably complaining because a new expansion invalidates your gear. Well suck it up. You are no less efficient a day after the new expansion grinding the old mobs, than you were the day before. But to enter the new areas, yes, it will be a challenge. Cry me a river.
Raising the level caps? That's just a part of life. Without that, the game stagnates. Again, you can cry me a river and I won't care.
Now, here is the beauty of Everquest, in my opinion. AA's. They give you a reason to live after you hit max level. You can funnel your experiance from grinding into ability points. These give you abilities not unlike talents in WoW, but a hell of a lot more of them. And you aren't restricted in how many you can obtain.
Endless treadmill? Only if you make it such.
Cue excitement in... (Score:2, Interesting)
I used to play wow (lvl 70 warrior, lvl 70 priest) for a couple of years. Guild raided MC & BWL back before TBC dropped so I have seen a good part of the content. I let my subscription lapse a couple months ago because it just wasn't fun and exciting anymore. I was wondering if the new xpack would be interesting enough to get mt to resubscribe. I guess not. Oh well, on to bigger and better things.
So long and thanks for all the epics.
A better idea would have been casual classes (Score:3, Interesting)
Battlefield surgeons - you go into the arenas not for Honor from killing but Honor from saving lives - and the chance for really neat medical equipment.
Philosophers - look, noone knows what they do anyway, even if one of my Ph.D. friends who discovered most of the Tuberculosis infection mechanisms got a degree in that, so WoW could make almost anything up about this and get away with it.
Bard - songs, stories, travelling to distant lands to get new songs and musical instruments, and so on, hanging out in bars, what more can one ask - also raises morale for parties, so people let you tag along.
Things like this that casual gamers could play and feel they are progressing no matter what else goes on.
Re:So more grind... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:So more grind... (Score:5, Interesting)
If I wanted that kind of depressing reality, I wouldn't need to be playing games.