Another expansion with half voiced over content

[Thimagryn]

For me, VO is over-rated. The times it works it's fantastic, until a quest bugs out or an NPC's lines clips over each other and they start the next sentence before finishing the first. Little things like that totally take me out of the game and I end up turning off the sound and leaving only music and sfx on.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Blizzard doesn't exactly have an excellent track record with customer service.

They have an even worse track record with feedback effecting development.

All corporations speak in currency. Your lack of financial support speaks louder than anything you could ever fill their ears or eyes with.

The Blizzard Defense Squad is out in full force today. I really don't think they hand out badges for all your stalwart vigilance... I mean I don't know maybe there is a hidden FoS somewhere...

Again being overly simplistic, Blizzard has always gathered feedback from their players. They may not always take what is said but they do take feedback. Also there is no Blizzard Defense Squad here.

[jackofwind]

Really? And what, exactly, do you think they could've spent it on?

More content? Perhaps a dungeon or a raid? No. The limiting factor on dungeons and raids isn't money -- it's working hours. Blizzard (and other MMO developers) couldn't just throw that money at their raid team and say, "make something else." That's not how it works. Indeed, those dungeon and raid teams are almost certainly currently busy working on future content. There simply isn't enough time for them to take that extra cash and turn it into a raid or a dungeon.

Okay, how about more employees? No. We all saw what happened when Blizzard hired more designers: Same amount of content, same amount of time, just somewhat higher quality. Those employees had to be trained and learn the details of the processes used at Blizzard. By the time they were done, Blizzard hadn't gained the ability to produce more content -- just to produce higher quality content in the same time frame.

Servers? LOL, not even close. "Hey, Sargeras-US is lagging a bit... why don't you go pick up some new hardware on your way back from lunch?" Yeah, it doesn't work that way.

So, what else would you have them spend it on? Think about it really hard, because if you come up with some thoughtless answer, I'm going to tear it apart.

Voice overs are there for immersion -- to draw us in. They're there because we, the community, expect it. Voice overs are, in this age of gaming, a required part of the whole. They take the time and spend the money because, if they don't, we'll notice. If we notice, we'll complain. They have to spend the money on VO. The fact that you can't understand this does not reflect well upon the point you're trying to make.

You seem to have a false impression of how many people actually read or listen to quest text.

[A dot Ham]

Again being overly simplistic, Blizzard has always gathered feedback from their players. They may not always take what is said but they do take feedback. Also there is no Blizzard Defense Squad here.

This nitpicking overly literal game you are playing is so much fun. But I'm going to bow out before Darsithis comes in here to ban me again for derailing the thread. I would love to continue this discussion in PMs.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

This nitpicking overly literal game you are playing is so much fun. But I'm going to bow out before Darsithis comes in here to ban me again for derailing the thread. I would love to continue this discussion in PMs.

No thanks. You already have your opinion as part of the "Blizzard Defense Squad." Might as well be arguing with a wall.

[A dot Ham]

No thanks. You already have your opinion as part of the "Blizzard Defense Squad." Might as well be arguing with a wall.

Its a strong wall, built by the finest masons in the world.

[Pull My Finger]

I would still argue that "complaints" and "whining" are not the same thing, when approached differently.

Yeah obviously criticism - in an intelligent, educated and objective manner - is something different entirely. The whacky thing is that it's exactly the whiners who notoriously mistake their bullshit for criticism. Which is a very bad thing overall. They're doing a disservice to everyone involved. Whining drowns legitimate and thought-out criticism in noise, and makes devs unreceptive.

[papajohn4]

Yeah and those other MMOs wasted money on voice-overs that they should have spent elsewhere.

The vast majority of players don't even read or listen to the quest text, we just skip over it as fast as possible. That's why the fast quest text option was added in the first place.

VO is a waste.

Thats why MMOs are on decline in general... because the majority of MMO players are no longer RPG players but more like Counter strike/call of duty players.

[jackofwind]

Thats why MMOs are on decline in general... because the majority of MMO players are no longer RPG players but more like Counter strike/call of duty players.

I've played since launch and have never read the quest text.

[Belloc]

You seem to have a false impression of how many people actually read or listen to quest text.

Quest text, boss dialogue, other in-game dialogue, clicking on NPCs, etc.

Leave out the quest text and there is still an ample amount of in-game voice overs. And, no, I don't have a false impression of how many people listen to it. The fact that you don't listen to it has absolutely no bearing on anyone else listening to it.

[papajohn4]

I've played since launch and have never read the quest text.

there was always the exception to the rule In general, old game generation was more "RPG" gamers than now. Most of us grown up with pen and paper RPGs..

[jackofwind]

there was always the exception to the rule In general, old game generation was more "RPG" gamers than now. Most of us grown up with pen and paper RPGs..

I played Palladium, Rifts, Nightbane, and AD&D all through elementary and high school lol.

I definitely grew up on p&p's, and I don't ever skip dialogue in SP games, I just don't play at the same kind of pace when I'm playing MMORPGs.

[papajohn4]

I played Palladium, Rifts, Nightbane, and AD&D all through elementary and high school lol.

I definitely grew up on p&p's, and I don't ever skip dialogue in SP games, I just don't play at the same kind of pace when I'm playing MMORPGs.

I really get you I am also a victim of the "rush mentality" and "competition" when I play MMOs Its really hard to convince myself to stop and smell the flowers and enjoy the story, but when I do, I really love it

[Niwes]

i was totally wondering why that MASSIVE important ulduar/kharazan quests wasnt voiced ???

i mean, they tell you, in a side note: azeroth is a titan ! i mean WTF ! when not there using voice, when then ? personally i know that fact since i was in beta, but hell, ppl not knowing this.... man, thats sooo stupid.

you could set all that stuff brutally good in scene (more so when you read the comics), and show "tadaaa magni, tadaaaa femal azeroth titan, tadaaaaa pillars of creation". instead you nearly cant read as fast as needed while trying to shot some stupid 50 hp life demons...

whyyyyyyyyy ?

[Malacrass]

It's true that there is a lot of voice acting going on, I quested through everything on beta.

But, the OP has a point. The few cases where there is no voice acting really stand out (negatively). You expect a voice in your head, but nothing is coming.

[SirBeef]

I dont imply that Blizzard has to voice over all the quests.

But take for example now with the Broken shore and Kadgar quest, its like 50% of the content is voiced over and other is just plain text, it makes for a weird experience to expect voice and then the NPCs are just spewing text, even some important NPCs.

Doesn't it feel like a unfinished product? it seems they plan badly and only voice over half of the content

There was other MMOs that are fully voiced over even f2p ones.

I prefer to have no VO in my games. I find all of it bad. And yes, I have played the Witcher series, which is said to have some of the best. First off The voice rarely matches what I think it would/should sound like. Second, most of it is just cringe worthy IMO. I find it to over the top or too dull. Finally, I can read the text faster.

[Nozari]

More like 9/10. Every single artifact features voice acting. You have nothing to compare to that is legit anyway. No other game has content this good for this long and no other expansion has had more voice acting.

Play star wars the old republic, its literally 99.9% voice over, even their battlegrounds(AND player chars!). The content isn't that "great" but hey its EA lol.


Anyway, theres alot of voice over in Legion, but the quest shoulda been voice over but might be a bug. Can redo it always :P

[Deleted]

So your judging an entire expansion on a pre expansion event, alrighty then!
seriously its a couple of quests to tell us what has happened, it doesnt need voiced

[normiegonnanorm]

development is rushed, blizz is just a daughter company with lots of obligatory stuff.

[Servasus]

Although I agree voice overs could have made it a much better experience...you're basing the entire expansion off a 20 min quest line in the pre patch? o.O

The rest of the launch content is just like the OP describes, though. Half of it is voiced and then all of a sudden the npcs that were just voiced start speaking in text only and it's really weird.

- - - Updated - - -

So your judging an entire expansion on a pre expansion event, alrighty then!
seriously its a couple of quests to tell us what has happened, it doesnt need voiced

Read the above. I'm in the beta. I can tell you it's not just the Broken Shore event where this happens.