Judging by many people's reaction to Blizzard's new expansion...

[Trollsbane]

Hmmm...

I loathe all the new stuff I'm hearing, and I'd say with confidence that if I were still playing, I definately wouldn't any longer.

The game is 7 years old and still super strong because of the type of game it is. Now we get the SWGalaxies effect. Change it all to keep up with the other powerhouses coming to the table. Change the formula that keeps them in business. Copy them all.

Well, you can copy the GW2 things if you want to, but you won't even come close to implimenting them as well as they do. Same with TOR. Same with Rift. You'll be left as an empty shell without an identity.

-Classes now have spec and class abilties to make them more focused on their specific role.
-No auto attack! Devs want you to have this street fighter feel where you punch a lot
-Monks use dark and light force
-Story, last patch they added a whole daily quest area to try to explain rag, now they are adding 5-mans and closing up the story of the expansion. Going as far as explaining old bosses after the fact.
-More accessible raid content. They are nerfing current content by 30% already, and the patch won't be out for several months. Also they are adding the new "easy" mode raids into the cross server lfg tool. That is right, cross server raids, they had to implement a third challenge level below normal.
-Class specific content. The new legendary weapon is only for rogues and has a big quest line about being a rogue.
-Customizable "RP" armor. Making a whole new system called transmog-something, to allow you to change current raid gear models into whatever you want (assuming same type).
-Tanks tanking (not till next expansion). They are changing tank pve rotations to make it so they are pushing buttons that make them better at living as opposed to making more threat.
-Classes will not be cookie cutter, but will all pick the same talents for certain playstyles. Solo PvE, Raid PvE, or PvP.
-"Challenge mode dungeons" drop good looking gear with no stats, just like the GW2 PVE model.
-Pokemon pet battles
-PvE scenarios: You don't need the typical tank/heal/dps setup, you will just be able to enter and play your role no matter what it is.
-Murderball

I could go on, but meh.

Monks are cool, but they don't remotely balance the rest for me.

World of Warcraft: Mists from the Rifts of The Old Republic of Guild Wars. (Thanks to Conscript for that one. )

[GarGar]

-No auto attack! Devs want you to have this street fighter feel where you punch a lot

It's only Monks that will have no auto-attack. Other classes will remain unaffected.

-Class specific content. The new legendary weapon is only for rogues and has a big quest line about being a rogue.

Anathema/Benediction from Vanilla. Class quests such as druid poison cleanse, water form, etc from vanilla/BC. Nothing really new to WoW.

-Classes now have spec and class abilties to make them more focused on their specific role.

By removing things from some specs that they never used. Slam on a Prot Warrior for instance.

[Zarasthura]

The no auto attack for Pandaren is the most laughable one. After 7 years they are trying to implement this, when two big name MMOs advertise that they also have no auto attack? That's no coincidence

[anewok]

If I didnt know better, I would think much of MoP was an April Fools joke. Especially the Pokemon thing.

[Black Phillip]

I really saw nothing in the video preview that made me interested in the game again. I might have actually been sad about WoW 'jumping the panda' if I wasn't already excited about TOR.

[Trollsbane]

Anathema/Benediction from Vanilla. Class quests such as druid poison cleanse, water form, etc from vanilla/BC. Nothing really new to WoW.

Except they 100% went away with that for years, UNTIL, the story driven MMO is on the horizon. Then it's time to teach you what it means to be a rogue and try to integrate story once more. The timing is impeccable.

[Shamburger]

I really saw nothing in the video preview that made me interested in the game again. I might have actually been sad about WoW 'jumping the panda' if I wasn't already excited about TOR.

That's exactly what I thought. I thought I was going into that video completely un-bias, but I was like "WoW this is god-awful. This is what their plan is to get me back?"
Then came all the expansion notes and all I could think was, "Mooched, mooched, new, mooched, POKEMON?!, new, mooched."

Like really? It's practically an entire expansion based on the ideas of other games. Blizz should have to pay royalties on the other games "intellectual property!"

[Sunseeker]

I'll def be getting the year package for the free Diablo III. 2 games for the price of one? I don't have ANY issue with that kind of deal.

Still prolly gonna play SWTOR <Snip> NDA Ah there's just too many games and too little time!

[torftw]

I'm not surprised they are taking things from new games, it is what they do best and the main reason wow has stayed on top for so long. Why play another game when wow can do the same thing?

What turns me away from this expansion is what seems to be a large focus on things that have no business to be changed, like the non-combat pets are now able to fight. Changes to talent trees...as if there won't be cookiecutter specs anymore, yet looking at the rogue ones I can say that 99% of raiding rogues will be picking the same options. Transmog, something they have said they didn't want for a very long time.

It just looks to me (as others have said already) as a way to hold onto their super loyal fanbase by giving them extra perks, instead of making solid long term decisions for the average mmo player. One of the blizzard execs even said that pandas were "traditionally" only for secondary type products. Nothing wrong with what they are doing of course, probably their best possible move. Just kinda surprising as a gamer to see the shift in their type of game design. WoW is on it's downhill journey and as practical as it is to say, after 7 years it felt like it would always be on top.

[GarGar]

Except they 100% went away with that for years, UNTIL, the story driven MMO is on the horizon. Then it's time to teach you what it means to be a rogue and try to integrate story once more. The timing is impeccable.

One could just as easily say, WoW had content that was class specific and now that there's a game coming out that heavily features class specific content, that the idea came from WoW. Kinda ridiculous but the point is, there are not many systems in games nowadays that are truly original, and when there is a good original idea and it works, other companies incorporate it as well. Why? Because it's a good idea and it works, not because they're trying to pass it off as their idea.

Times change. Players and their expectations change. If games don't also change and evolve, players will move on. Blizzard would be dumb if they didn't incorporate good ideas into their game.

[Smitzelplix]

I think Trollsbane hit the nail on the head. Come next expansion WoW is losing most of it's identity.

Like I already said I'll be trying out the next expansion just for it's leveling content, this will give me a good enough hands on trial with all this stuff WoW is going to be doing. I'll cast my final verdict then on whether I feel like they did a good job with making all this new stuff or if it's just a bunch of crap.

[Zarasthura]

One could just as easily say, WoW had content that was class specific and now that there's a game coming out that heavily features class specific content, that the idea came from WoW. Kinda ridiculous but the point is, there are not many systems in games nowadays that are truly original, and when there is a good original idea and it works, other companies incorporate it as well. Why? Because it's a good idea and it works, not because they're trying to pass it off as their idea.

Times change. Players and their expectations change. If games don't also change and evolve, players will move on. Blizzard would be dumb if they didn't incorporate good ideas into their game.

Well, like torftw said, cannibalizing good ideas from other games is Blizzard doing what it does best.

[GarGar]

Well, like torftw said, cannibalizing good ideas from other games is Blizzard doing what it does best.

Also what makes them the best in this capitalist world we live in. The ones that do the right things make the money. The ones who don't wither away and their ideas get used by someone else. Natural selection of the gaming world, I guess.

[Shamburger]

The rage from the general forums is awesome.

It's funny how people are saying they hate the Panda idea but love everything else.
Panda's = Blizzard original idea
New features: Stolen from Rift, SWTOR and GW2

One does have to respect the cut-throat attitude of trying to stay on top...

[Thornstar]

One could just as easily say, WoW had content that was class specific and now that there's a game coming out that heavily features class specific content, that the idea came from WoW. Kinda ridiculous but the point is, there are not many systems in games nowadays that are truly original, and when there is a good original idea and it works, other companies incorporate it as well. Why? Because it's a good idea and it works, not because they're trying to pass it off as their idea.

Times change. Players and their expectations change. If games don't also change and evolve, players will move on. Blizzard would be dumb if they didn't incorporate good ideas into their game.

Incorporating good ideas can help a game yes We all I am sure agree. Changing EVERYTHING your game has been based on in one expansion near when two new games will be out is not the smartest idea. They will remove talent trees as they are yet again, change raids and dungeons, come out with pet battles, those dungeon challenges, and a ton more crap that has nothing to do with the game it use to be.

I would have been fine with some nice changes and polish to wow, but this? It is like gutting the game and filling it with candy like WoW was some giant fail pinata.

[Trollsbane]

One could just as easily say, WoW had content that was class specific and now that there's a game coming out that heavily features class specific content, that the idea came from WoW. Kinda ridiculous but the point is, there are not many systems in games nowadays that are truly original, and when there is a good original idea and it works, other companies incorporate it as well. Why? Because it's a good idea and it works, not because they're trying to pass it off as their idea.

Times change. Players and their expectations change. If games don't also change and evolve, players will move on. Blizzard would be dumb if they didn't incorporate good ideas into their game.

I'm not saying you are wrong. I'm saying, they are starting to show desperation.
These things they are changing the game into are not WoW. They are other games that will soon be out. WoW will no longer be WoW. WoW 2, or Titan could get away with these things, but an established game that is the top dog? Why the need to change your game? Is the competition just that good, that the fear of falling hard is now present? If it's such a great game, why need to change to their methods? Why not just polish and improve WoW how it is now? I just think Blizz, who had a hand in knocking SWG off the ledge, would know better.

Add things to your game. Don't make it into theirs when there isn't anything wrong with it already (sub numbers say so anyway).

[Felghast]

Feels weird that another expansion is already coming out. Honestly, feels like nothing happened in cataclysm, aside from the rearranging of the world in the early expansion. Seemed the expansion came out with the sole reason of rehashing old content, with really nothing more than that.

Also Death Knight ability, "Asphyxiate: Lifts an enemy target off the ground, crushing their throat with dark energy, stunning them until cancelled" Lol. Force choke much?

On top of that, doesn't a large percentage of China(who only pay to play by the hour) make up WoW's sub base? With China's thing towards pandas getting hurt, I seriously doubt they'll be liking this expansion very much. Seems they're screwing up all over.

[GarGar]

Why the need to change your game?

Cuz a Pokemon MMO is gonna be friggin' AWESOME, duh!

[Relick]

You guys do know that all these games steal from each other, right? Also, how do you know that blizzard did not just decide to do this? Can they not make no auto attack for a class without it being stealing from another game? I am sorry but, no auto attack is not very creative. It's like okay, we will add nuts to a brownie, not a big deal. I do think the talent thing is BAD!!!!!! Also I think DKs already had the choke ability, strangualte or something. No main villian and focusing on the war between Alliance and Horde was a good idea, Cata was WAY too much. Deathwing, the war, naga, and a bunch of other random crap the stories of all of them felt undeveloped. With no main villian, and a lot of focus on the war, I think this expanison will add the "war" back into World of Warcraft. Also who is the main vilian of SWTOR? That's right there isn't one. So if you're leaveing WoW, to go to SWTOR then going on to say "No main villian what a joke!" well then you will not be happy with SWTOR. I am disapointed by a few things that blizzard did with this:

1: No South Seas, Kul Tiras, etc.
2: Really bad name, I mean.... really.
3: Pet battles. Just no.
4: Screwing talents up even more.
5: Looks like no further development of Worgen or Space Goats.
6: Pandas are playable.
7: Pandas go to both sides! That is just... no! I don't need to see x2 the number of drunk fat pandas walking around!
8: Still Pandas!
9: Seemed like little lore was said here, seems like MOP is kind of out of place.
10: It seems like Blizzard is trying to change too many things again. They should have learned from Cata, people want quality over quantity. They are doing too much, and I think it's all going to be underdeveloped.
11: Pandas.
So I am not sure how this expansion is going to turn out. I think that adding pandas is way to much of a risk, some people really like them while other really hate them. I think by adding them they will hurt themselves, if no pandas people who want them won't quit, but people who stringly hate them might. Changeing talents again is just... well bad. Adding in a race, and a place with no lore might not go over well. People will not be as interested. If they added Kul Tiras and other places people know about, then people will like it more then trying to figure out what the blank is going on.

I myself am going to go to SWTOr but also play wow, I am going to see how this expansion is and how SWTOR is. I am not going to just stick with one, I will try both and am excited for it to come out.

[Nellise]

Why not just polish and improve WoW how it is now?

This is how they believe they are improving WoW. You might not like it, but they're not changing the basic gameplay, they're mostly adding new features in addition to everything that's there. The questing, dungeons, and raids, or the basic WoW, is still all there.