BlizzCon Keynote — New WoW Expansion, Diablo 3 Details 316
BlizzCon kicked off this morning with a keynote address that brought some major announcements for some of their games. First, World of Warcraft's third expansion, Cataclysm, was officially revealed. It differs from the previous expansions in that they will not be creating an entirely new continent for players to explore. Instead, the two huge continents from the original game will be going through a literal cataclysm, causing some zones to be destroyed, new ones to become available, and existing ones to be entirely revamped. Big news came for Diablo III as well, with the announcement of the Monk class and a trailer showing how it plays. More details for both games as well as StarCraft II will undoubtedly become available over the next few days, but read on for more about what we already know. If you have any questions, don't forget to post them here.
Cataclysm will also be different due to the fact that the new level cap is 85 — a five-level increase, as opposed to the ten-level increases from previous expansions. That's not to say there is less content, but the idea is that each individual level will be more meaningful. There will be two new playable races for this expansion: Goblins for the Horde and Worgen for the Alliance. The disaster apparently strikes the Goblins hard, forcing from their lands and into conflict with an "unknown enemy," which the Horde helps them with. Meanwhile, the Greymane Wall has broken open, revealing the kingdom of Gilneas, the residents of which were turned into the werewolf-like Worgen, but were able to keep their human minds.The revamped Azeroth will include updated dungeons — heroic versions of Shadowfang Keep and the Deadmines — as well as entirely new dungeons for leveling and endgame. It's not yet clear whether the old version of the damaged zones will still be around in some form, but look for an explanation in the next few days. Players will be able to use their flying mounts in the new Azeroth. The dragon Deathwing is making a return, and will serve as a major villain. In addition to the damaged zones, some will change in other ways — Desolace, which is currently a barren wasteland, will find new life from the water of the tidal waves, turning the land green. The more damaged zones will feature lots of lava and broken terrain. There will be new Battlegrounds, new Race/Class combinations (we saw a Troll Druid, Tauren Paladin, and Gnome Priest), a new profession called Archaeology, a guild leveling system, tons of new monsters and quests, as well as a new "character progression" system called "Path of the Titans."
From the Diablo III Monk trailer, you can see that the class seems to have an area-of-effect swing of his weapon, a way to reflect spells, and an attack that sprints between a bunch of enemies, hitting each of them. The monk also seems to be able to make enemies explode quite easily. And messily.
Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Cataclysm will also be different due to the fact that the new level cap is 85 -- a five-level increase, as opposed to the ten-level increases from previous expansions. That's not to say there is less content, but the idea is that each individual level will be more meaningful. "
What does that even mean?
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
It means that you'll be spending an excruciating amount of time grinding to level cap, with less to show for it than before.
Re:Huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:New 3D engine? (Score:3, Insightful)
after all this is why we like PC games, always delivering top technology.
Speak for yourself. I'd rather have superior content than high-end graphics. PC games have much more memory and disk space to use (in general) than console games, so they could theoretically offer far more depth. However, since so many people think like you do, we are force-fed inane games that are very nice to look at but very little fun to play. WoW doesn't need a graphics overhaul. It needs a content and game-mechanics overhaul. The reason most people quit isn't because it isn't pretty enough, but rather they've run out of "meaningful" things to do. This expansion appears to be an effort to address that, but I think it is probably too little too late for most jaded players.
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, leveling in WoW was never really the problem (well, the 30-40 stretch in the pre-expansion game was kinda a drag). It was once you hit the max level that you learned what grinding really means. Grinding rep, grinding raid instances, grinding for items, blech. Chased me away from TBC.
Re:Huh? (Score:4, Insightful)
Blizzard is brilliant (Score:3, Insightful)
Troll Druids?! (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't play anymore, but seriously, a Troll Druid? Is nothing sacred anymore? I can only imagine what kind of piss-poor retcon that will involve.
What to do... (Score:5, Insightful)
See I quit WoW before WotLK because I knew it would mean that Burning Crusade Endgame would be pointless, much like Onyxia and MC and BWL and AQ and Naxx became pointless with the release of Burning Crusade. See I didn't have a problem with Vanilla Wow for that manner, you had to get attuned for Onyxia to get the gear good enough to go into Molten Core. You needed the Gear from Molten Core to progress to Black Wing Lair. So on and so forth (AQ could be argued though).
Anyways. So I was upset that all this really well generated Content was completely ditched with each new expansion, being that if you told someone about a 45 baron run and how pulling it off was the shiz, nowadays they'd either laugh at its easy sauce or just go "Whats a stratholme?"
And like mentioned in some other comments in other articles, their new leveling system makes it easier to level up, and actually bypass alot of the content along the way. If I can get my lvl 30 - lvl 40 sprint in 1 or 2 zones easily accessible to the alliance, why would I go to Desolace, why would I explore Mauradon or whatever?
So I quit Wow. It was TOO easy to progress to endgame, and everyone and their mother could epic themselves with little to no effort. Dropping the regular raid size from 40 to 25 made Raiding seem more casual, which it shouldn't have turned into. Make the raids 25 man accessible? Sure, but why drop 40 mans? Apparently they made a comeback in WotLK so I'll quit my bitching.
Anyways, so NOW they're re-introducing Azeroth, bringing it back. This is what I would want to see. Especially with Deathwing being prominent again, he's probably my favourite Warcraft Villain. For whatever Reason Arthas didn't seem all that badass to me because its really Ner'zhul controlling him.
So what do I do? Do I return to WoW, try to pick up all the complex and convoluted new additions, like new talent trees? Do I go back to WoW to see if they'll turn Gnomer into an actual city? (Prays). Do I Spend a good chunk just to get back into a subscription video game?
But what about the old stuff? If zones are changing, wouldn't that mean some of the old content is gone and lost forever? To live only in my memory? Will Black rock Depths be wiped out with a volcanic eruption?
I... I feel so torn...
Re:New 3D engine? (Score:5, Insightful)
I love WoW and always will (even if I don't play it now for 6 months), but the 3D engine is getting old.
Be careful what you wish for.
A lot of games with 'high end' graphics like Crysis or Age of Conan for example, have APPALLING color depth. These games really may as well be using 16 bit color.
Age of Conan, the one I'm (shudder) most familiar with makes my eyes hurt after just a few hours play due to its lack of contrast, everything being colored with the same few shades of brown, green or grey.
At least with WoW they have highly colorful, contrasty graphics that make the world easy to see and separate one thing from another.
Re:New 3D engine? (Score:1, Insightful)
WoW doesn't need a graphics overhaul. It needs a content and game-mechanics overhaul. The reason most people quit isn't because it isn't pretty enough, but rather they've run out of "meaningful" things to do. This expansion appears to be an effort to address that, but I think it is probably too little too late for most jaded players.
You couldn't be more correct. After years of playing WoW, I finally quit recently out of sheer boredom. With the latest patch the prospect of grinding the same boring crap over and over again just to keep my gear up to date was too much tedium to consider. I can keep in contact with the friends I've made there via e-mail and regular social networks without paying the $15 monthly WoW tax.
It's true that Blizzard might've been able to entice me back with the introduction of Goblins as player characters (I always wanted to play one), but most of my friends are Alliance, not Horde, and for the last year or so those friends were the only thing keeping me playing.
Which leads me to another gripe: Considering Goblins have been a neutral faction in the MMORG up to this point, making them Horde-only just because they are getting help from the Horde seems completely silly considering all the help they've received from Alliance players via quests over the years. Not to mention that the closing off of a significant market that going to war with Alliance would represent also seems out of character for the Ferengi-like Capitalists.
Perhaps they do a good job of explaining this, but I've no more interest in investing my time in the game to find out. I've lost faith in Blizzard's ability to entertain me via WoW; especially since I've had the growing impression that all their good game designers have either left WoW for newer/greener pastures or have completely lost interest in what they are doing.
Re:what it all means.. (Score:2, Insightful)
WoW is like a Linear form video game. Except you have to pay $15 a month to keep playing. And there is no ending. And if you take too much time off to play something else, your accomplishments become meaningless or no greater than a "title" that can be obtained by a "normal" player in a matter of an hour or two.
Re:Wha? (Score:3, Insightful)
I love the thousands of people cheering on the ads that they paid hundreds of dollars to get to BlizzCon to see.
It's stuff like that that confirms my faith in the intelligence of humanity.
Re:Blizzard is slipping. (Score:3, Insightful)
cinematics vs supposedly actual engine footage. Although still D3 looks barely better than black and white 2 crossed with WoW.
Re:New 3D engine? (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree, and another problem I have with better graphics is that developers inevitably use them to try to achieve photo-realism. This means we get stuck with bland, uninspired art where, in fantasy games anyway, everything looks like an Oblivion clone. The in-game characters look like second-rate actors from b-movies and monsters are unimpressive to say the least. It looks particularly ridiculous when you've got realistic looking characters performing cartoonishly unrealistic actions.
Some people don't like the cartoony look of WoW, but I can appreciate it for it's style and personality. It's colorful and fun. There are certainly other styles which take a more serious tone, but far too often developers go for "gritty" realism.
Re:New 3D engine? (Score:3, Insightful)
Newsflash: lag is not just network latency. It's a catch-all term, which if I had to summarise, I'd say would be best described as a failure in terms of performance to maintain expectations. You know, like, jet-lag, or a runner lagging behind the pack. In the case of the GP post, it was the failure of the 3D engine to maintain the framerate at an expected level. Hence, lag. As a term it does of course have implications in the speed of a network also, but that's hardly all the term is limited too.
Re:New 3D engine? (Score:4, Insightful)
While hard drive is a technical term lag [merriam-webster.com] is not. At least, not yet. And even in hardware, I would would describe it as layer agnostic.
In the old days, I hooked my PS1 up to a TV tuner. There was a ~500 ms lag between the sound/controls and what I saw on the screen due to the hardware/driver layer it went through. The term lag is also used in film to describe when sound/video aren't synced.
I think lag being an agnostic term describing a temporal disconnect between the controls and reaction on the screen. There's also the term "lag spike" for when you temporarily lose control of the game.
Whether the cause is sudden increase in network latency, packet loss, or your graphics card overheating is irrelevant for the usage of the term (but you can't find the cure without describing the symptoms.)
And here come the militant uncaring... (Score:2, Insightful)
Every time someone posts something about Blizzard or WoW, there's always someone (usually a pathological WoW-hater, it seems) who jumps in to tag the article with "whocares" or post something to that effect.
Sorry to break it to you, but one of the biggest companies in computer gaming announcing an expansion to the most successful MMO in history (not to mention the SC2/D3/unnamed-new-franchise stuff)... is news for nerds.
Re:Yes, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Tailors should be able to repair their own cloth gear.
Blacksmiths should be able to repair their own mail/plate gear.
Leatherworkers should be able to repair their own leather gear.
We shouldn't have to plunk down 15g per death in Ulduar to some stranger to fix a crafted item WE CREATED.
Sigh.
Re:what it all means.. (Score:4, Insightful)
You don't think the 180 you are paying them a year should cover the expansions? What if you had played the original game for years? Considering Blizz sells the expansions to stores for much lower than the $40 you end up paying... it just seems quite petty to me. Where's the loyalty to your customers?
Re:New 3D engine? (Score:3, Insightful)
I actually think it would be fun to go back to level 1 in a new game...and a lot of people in WoW feel the same. We all jump to the new MMORPG, see that it just isn't as good, and then come back. So I think the real reason people stay in WoW is that no one can make a game at launch that can beat what WoW offers. It may be able to beat it down the road, but by then it is too late. I really wonder what can ever beat WoW. Each expansion shows more polish than the next. Almost seems like Blizzard is the only company that can beat Blizzard.
Re:New 3D engine? (Score:1, Insightful)
Seems like you might be wrong
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lag
The word lag was around before computers. If my graphics lag or my network lags it is still lag. I know where you are coming from but the word works either way
Re:New 3D engine? (Score:2, Insightful)
The word "lag" existed well before the the concept of network latency and applies to a wide variety of things:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lag
A low / unsteady framerate is actually a very good example lag. It pisses me off that people ignorantly upmod your flawed nerd rage.
Re:Yes, but... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:New 3D engine? (Score:3, Insightful)
Look at the new Star Wars MMO, or check out the trailer for Guild Wars 2 (released the other day). Neither of those is really a photo-realistic look.
When graphics hardware reached a threshold level, people naturally wanted to see if they could recreate worlds as realistically as possible. Now that we've seen that we can, we realize it's not always desirable. I think game designers are realizing that there's more stylistic choices than 'realistic' as well, and we'll be seeing those results in upcoming MMOs.
Re:Huh? (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing was just recently announced, today. How about we let some time pass before we try to definitively state what is and isn't going to be added or removed? It's not entirely unlikely that during the course of development new spells abilities and talents will be fleshed out.
Re:Yes, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Ah good point. You're both right. A tailor should be able to repair her own gear, but has to pay for the thread.
Re:What to do... (Score:1, Insightful)
"Will Black rock Depths be wiped out with a volcanic eruption?"
Fuck, I hope so. I ran that terrible instance so many times for different reasons (from January 2005 to until LAST MONTH for the alts of friends) that I know every single pull and patrol. It's probably the longest and most annoying of all 5-mans in WoW, maybe with the exception of LBRS. A volcano erupting and melting that whole goddamn place down to lava sounds delightful to me.
Re:Huh? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:New 3D engine? (Score:3, Insightful)
Crysis looks like ass because they spent too little on art designers, not because they spent too much on 3D engine devs.
Team Fortress 2 has highly colorful, contrasty graphics yet looks *much* better than WoW: yes, it's an FPS so the engine doesn't have to draw as much stuff as that of a MMO so its not a 1:1 comparison, but it does prove it's possible to maintain the artistic style while improving the engine itself.
Re:what it all means.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Or what, you'll cancel your account? as if.
There's no harm in asking, I know, but unless you provide an incentive for them to do so I don't see why they would just give it away.