Blizzcon 2013 Recap

[Ilfayt]

Lets stick to facts shall we and skip the fan talk.

Draenei and Blood elves will NOT get new models. That was said loud and clear by devs. ONLY the old orginal vanilla races are being worked on right now and note this... There is NOTHING saying that the expansion will launch with ANY new models... cause Blizzard has stated already multiple times that they are not ready.

"The team hasn't decided how new character models will be released yet. It could have all of the completed race at launch, or they could be added every patch."

NO WORK HAS YET BEEN DONE ON THE TWO TBC ADDED RACES. That is a fact and was claimed at Blizzcon 2013.

While they claimed no work has been done, they never said they're not doing them...quite the opposite in fact... It was at the damn Q & A that they said it... they've also said they might do some models at launch with others 'staggered' through patches(which honestly, is the better idea, as long as they start getting previews of the others up around that time).

Every post you make makes me think you haven't even read the announcements...

Edit: I see you edited your original post, which now makes this make even less sense. You're practically saying what the guy you were quoting said...:P

[Duster505]

While they claimed no work has been done, they never said they're not doing them...quite the opposite in fact... It was at the damn Q & A that they said it... they've also said they might do some models at launch with others 'staggered' through patches(which honestly, is the better idea, as long as they start getting previews of the others up around that time).

Every post you make makes me think you haven't even read the announcements...

I updated my post... with links to what has already been claimed here at MMO-Champion. Blizzard is now pretty desperate cause ppl are now starting to read between the lines of what they have not been saying at BLizzcon. Alot of extra PR will come out with "we like to..." quotes. Cause right now... thats all that WOW fans can hold on to for a long cold winter of nothingness on live paid for servers.

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Edit: I see you edited your original post, which now makes this make even less sense. You're practically saying what the guy you were quoting said...:P

No. He said that all races would get updated models "for" WOD (acting like it would be at launch)

Fact is that there might be updates for the two TBC races at some point during the next expansion (in some of the patches) witch spans about 2 years.

That is not the same thing.

[Ilfayt]

It's a reveal, that's just about all we've ever had to go on at Blizzcons. I'm fully expecting things will turn out differently. My point is there is more weight to their promises with a massive influx of staff(which is not 'cheapskate bliz' at all). The PR 'matches' the effort and resources they're putting into it.

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I updated my post... with links to what has already been claimed here at MMO-Champion. Blizzard is now pretty desperate cause ppl are now starting to read between the lines of what they have not been saying at BLizzcon. Alot of extra PR will come out with "we like to..." quotes. Cause right now... thats all that WOW fans can hold on to for a long cold winter of nothingness on live paid for servers.

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No. He said that all races would get updated models "for" WOD (acting like it would be at launch)

Fact is that there might be updates for the two TBC races at some point during the next expansion (in some of the patches) witch spans about 2 years.

That is not the same thing.

He didn't say or hint at launch, and they didn't say launch. "WoD" can easily be meant to encompass the whole expansion, patches and all. Plus you also said "Worgen and Goblin will not get updated" even though that's exactly what they said, they'll just be low priority

[Duster505]

It's a reveal, that's just about all we've ever had to go on at Blizzcons. I'm fully expecting things will turn out differently. My point is there is more weight to their promises with a massive influx of staff(which is not 'cheapskate bliz' at all). The PR 'matches' the effort and resources they're putting into it.

The PR is not matching anything atm. They have just announched the most underwelming Expansion for World of Warcraft with zero new race, zero new class, minimal class changes (maybe one extra ability at most), reworked outland (even tho they claim its done from scratch) and least amount of Dungeons of ANY expansion.

And here is another fact. TBC launched with more dungeons and stronger raid tiers including more bosses than this so called "biggest dev team of WOW to date" is doing. That is how weak this expansion is. It is not even matching the original Outland expansion in terms of core features of the game.

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It's a reveal, that's just about all we've ever had to go on at Blizzcons. I'm fully expecting things will turn out differently. My point is there is more weight to their promises with a massive influx of staff(which is not 'cheapskate bliz' at all). The PR 'matches' the effort and resources they're putting into it.

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He didn't say or hint at launch, and they didn't say launch. "WoD" can easily be meant to encompass the whole expansion, patches and all. Plus you also said "Worgen and Goblin will not get updated" even though that's exactly what they said, they'll just be low priority

He is talking the same PR as BLizzard atm... hinting at things that we all know are not going to happen. So lets stick to the real quotes.. not some that are made up to sound as promising as possible.

Do you know how many Dungeons TBC had at launch for players to enjoy while leveling ?

16

Do you know how many we will get during 90- 100 levels now?

4

[Ilfayt]

The PR is not matching anything atm. They have just announched them most underwelming Expansion for World of Warcraft with zero new race, zero new class, minimal class changes (maybe one extra ability at most), reworked outland (even tho they claim its done from scratch) and least amount of Dungeons of ANY expansion.

And here is another fact. TBC launched with more dungeons and stronger raid tiers including more bosses than this so called "biggest dev team of WOW to date". That is how weak this expansion is.

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He is talking the same PR as BLizzard atm... hinting at things that we all know are not going to happen. So lets stick to the real quotes.. not some that are made up to sound as promising as possible.

For the last fucking time, they are not 'reworked zones'. Even from the little we have, we know that won't be true...take one look at Shadowmoon Valley and tell me that's the 'same zone' from TBC. Hellfire is going to be a polar opposite, if they somehow manage to 'rework' that, they deserve even more credit.... Frostfire Ridge didn't even exist(literally, the landmass is gone in 'Outland'). Gorgrond and Nagrand(2/7) are the only zones that are looking to be anything like their counterparts. I've already linked to screenshots, the faction zone vids and more enough... Go to the WoD page and see for yourself.

As far as class changes, did you miss the 'level bonuses' they showed? 10 new passives, perks, and changes far outweighs the '1 new ability, 1-2 passives' that every class had, especially since every class already has some 'dead moves' that I'd rather see have new life than make new moves(example, Mind Spike for S-Priests). MoP leveling got really old, really quick(85-90 in most specs didn't add anything 'special', for example, my warlock, I got the new teleport spell, which doesn't really see much use til you hit max level, and Pandemic at max level, so mostly what I was seeing when I dinged was 'congratulations, you get a new dungeon').

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The PR is not matching anything atm. They have just announched the most underwelming Expansion for World of Warcraft with zero new race, zero new class, minimal class changes (maybe one extra ability at most), reworked outland (even tho they claim its done from scratch) and least amount of Dungeons of ANY expansion.

And here is another fact. TBC launched with more dungeons and stronger raid tiers including more bosses than this so called "biggest dev team of WOW to date" is doing. That is how weak this expansion is. It is not even matching the original Outland expansion in terms of core features of the game.

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He is talking the same PR as BLizzard atm... hinting at things that we all know are not going to happen. So lets stick to the real quotes.. not some that are made up to sound as promising as possible.

Do you know how many Dungeons TBC had at launch for players to enjoy while leveling ?

16

Do you know how many we will get during 90- 100 levels now?

4

Um, you're numbers are off... at launch in TBC, We had the 2 hellfire dungeons as leveling(Shattered Halls was 'max level'), Underbog and Slave Pens(Steamvaults was tuned for max levels, despite letting you in early), 3 of the 4 auchenai dungeons(Shadow Labs again, not tuned for pre-70's), and the CoT dungeons. The Whole of TK's 5 mans were only accessible with flying, unless you had a warlock summon you...not exactly 'open for business'. So, that leaves us with 9, almost half the number you stated. Still more than WoD, I'll give you that(hell, I'd say TBC had 7 cause I'd almost debate with you that Sethekk Halls/Black morass were intended to be max level, but I bet you'd deny it :P)... but definitely not '4x as much'.

Edit:Anyways, I'm done here. My point is, all we have is PR, yes, but that's all we've EVER HAD till Beta of a particular expansion, yes, even TBC. Maybe if come Beta they've failed to hit some of those promises(and I'm certain a few of them will fall through, as always), I'll start agreeing on some points, but right now, there's no reason to, except sheer 'denial' of every point they make.

[chaud]

Ok, the tauren looks a lot more "happy" and child friendly now... im not sure i like this (probably not)

FWIW they said that the tauren is still pretty early in development.

[Shudder]

I'm EAGER to see how you will force them to comply, oh mighty internet tough guy

Pitchforks are already being lit. Lots of threads here, on the official forums on both US and EU, on various other fan sites I go to. Once beta starts there will be more, once casual people log in after PAYING for an expansion and PAYING their subscription and seeing they're ALLOWED to pay for a customization cause they don't like the new face and skin blizz decided for them they're going to freak. When they learn other mmo's updated their models and gave free re-customizations to their customers people are going to freak.

I remember I wanted to try Rift a few months ago. Was talking to my buddy about how I made a character and I'm already level 20. He says he has one that's level 40 and will come over to my server. I ask him how much that costs and he says, "costs?" and he's on my server. FOR FREE. Other games don't nickle and dime and gouge their customers as much as this greedy company does, considering how much more a month they make it's sickening.

[Gruffertus]

Yes, this will certainly be the expansion with "minimal class changes"

[Duster505]

For the last fucking time, they are not 'reworked zones'. Even from the little we have, we know that won't be true...take one look at Shadowmoon Valley and tell me that's the 'same zone' from TBC. Hellfire is going to be a polar opposite, if they somehow manage to 'rework' that, they deserve even more credit.... Frostfire Ridge didn't even exist(literally, the landmass is gone in 'Outland'). Gorgrond and Nagrand(2/7) are the only zones that are looking to be anything like their counterparts. I've already linked to screenshots, the faction zone vids and more enough... Go to the WoD page and see for yourself.

As far as class changes, did you miss the 'level bonuses' they showed? 10 new passives, perks, and changes far outweighs the '1 new ability, 1-2 passives' that every class had, especially since every class already has some 'dead moves' that I'd rather see have new life than make new moves(example, Mind Spike for S-Priests). MoP leveling got really old, really quick(85-90 in most specs didn't add anything 'special', for example, my warlock, I got the new teleport spell, which doesn't really see much use til you hit max level, and Pandemic at max level, so mostly what I was seeing when I dinged was 'congratulations, you get a new dungeon').


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Um, you're numbers are off... at launch in TBC, We had the 2 hellfire dungeons as leveling(Shattered Halls was 'max level'), Underbog and Slave Pens(Steamvaults was tuned for max levels, despite letting you in early), 3 of the 4 auchenai dungeons(Shadow Labs again, not tuned for pre-70's), and the CoT dungeons. The Whole of TK's 5 mans were only accessible with flying, unless you had a warlock summon you...not exactly 'open for business'. So, that leaves us with 9, almost half the number you stated. Still more than WoD, I'll give you that(hell, I'd say TBC had 7 cause I'd almost debate with you that Sethekk Halls/Black morass were intended to be max level, but I bet you'd deny it :P)... but definitely not '4x as much'.

Yes I saw the class "perks" that Im 100% certain of will not make it through. Adding permanent perks on certain abilities will not make it through any more than did "path of the titans".

And in terms of MOP.. that was 5 levels... and yes ... its true... MOP leveling was underwhelming... and that was only 5 lvls.

http://wowpedia.org/The_Burning_Crus...ances_by_level Current list of TBC instances.

I ran most of those instances like 50 times each. I know how many they were. Some were added later... something that was NOT done during MOP and ppl should NOT count on as "we like to" PR talk at this point. Facts are all we have now...

And the fact when it comes to core feature of the game as in 5 man dungeons.. is that everything is telling us that the encounter team in terms of dungeons and raids is SMALLER now... than it was ... even 6 years ago. And 4 dungeons while leveling from 90-100 tells us that BLizzard is not making that team any bigger for WOD. They are just doing the same as they did in MOP... cut the numbers of bosses for 5 mans and turn them into raid bosses.

[Shennanigans]

That mount, my precious. Whats the release date?

[Arithin]

Not very impressed.
No grouping tools for normal/heroic outside of 3rd party mods/websites. NOTHING to help small guilds keep going or get off the ground. STILL having the mystic (heroic 2.0) realm limited!(why god why). They went with stat squish... Say goodbye to year to year growth and hello to wrath numbers. Love the game but they offered nothing for the fresh new player and the struggling small guild and/or realm people while kicking current 10man heroic (mythic) players square in the nuts.
And pvp? Why they do this. Still no solo q option for rbgs and arena (gotta use a 3rd party mod or jump through hoops to get keep a team going). Tons of new world pvp crap, that no one will do much of unless it has rbg/arena level rewards. Cause its boring as hell when you outnumber the enemy, nearly impossible to have fun when the enemy outnumbers you, laggy/unstable with large numbers and NEVER balanced in numbers.

[Karit]

Reading through these comments I have to think that there are several paid Blizzard employees posting here to garner support for this pathetic excuse for an expansion. I see no reason what-so-ever that this should even cost additional money.

[Orisai]

Woot! No more clubbed thumbs on females!

[Shudder]

Reading through these comments I have to think that there are several paid Blizzard employees posting here to garner support for this pathetic excuse for an expansion. I see no reason what-so-ever that this should even cost additional money.

It is basically just a patch that we have to pay for. No new races, no new classes, the only thing expansion like is we get to grind out 10 levels. But then they only gave us 3 new dungeons for those 10 levels. If it doesn't come out very soon, within 5 months then they'll be kissing a lot of subscriptions good bye. Nobody is going to wait 9+ months for this little content.

[Deleted]

still annoyed at no new class or races

Why? We don't need any. It's so bloated now and most classes have something another class has anyway.

This means they can spend more time on content etc

[Vesci]

Haven't played WoW in nearly a year and I'm not seeing anything from Blizzcon that makes me want to come back. Staggered release for character models and without a reset so I can make my new face look how I want. If you hate your new look, tough shit, deal with it. Seriously? A 5th raid difficulty....because 4 wasn't enough. Derp. Also the whole following Garrosh to Outland, even if it is a new map, it's still dumb. Was really expecting the return of Sargeras and the Burning Legion, not more Garrosh. Bleh. Garrosh is done, he lost. What I see here isn't near enough to talk me into $150+ a year to play this game.

[johnnysd]

Seems to me that Blizzard has forgotten what made their games so compelling to begin with. Blizzard made very deep, extremely complex games that were accessible because of unbelievably good UIs and continuously and incrementally rewarding gameplay. It did NOT MATTER that some raid content was inaccessible to many people because there was so much to do and rewarding gameplay for every type of player. Now they have discarded that for only having end game content, and a blitz through a mindlessly streamline leveling process. They have clearly lost their way and will probably never get it back.

Seems to me that this expansion is only a large content patch designed to be a movie tie in in a very flawed attempt to attract new users.

[Cordae]

Pitchforks are already being lit.

Pitchforks, eh? Do you often light farm equipment on fire?


Well, anyway. Thumbs up to the new models, they are looking superb. I look forward to future updates on this expansion. [insert extreme optimism here!]

[Arithin]

Anyone else get the feeling that they've given up on growth and are buckling in for a slow decline while they use wow money to build other IP? Seems like f2p is their next big money maker, with an extremely modest bet on esport viability with both.

[Maxsul]

A couple of you really hit the nail on the head with a few things, especially the movie tie-in angle. It feels cheap somehow. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, and it should be fun. MoP so far was my least favorite expansion, but questing and story were well done, I just didn't care for the eastern theme. Just a personal preference. I enjoyed the Wrathion quest chain immensely. Timeless Isle was meh. Felt like filler content. Thunder isle was much better.

The expansion should look nice graphically, but there's really no excuse on the player models not being ready 100% at launch. If they dangle the player model carrot for 5 patches to try to keep people hanging on, it will be sickening.

I cancelled until they get the realm population issues fixed. I REFUSE to pay to have to transfer my characters when the only server I got to choose was in 2005. It's not my fault people left the faction I was playing on the servers I've been on. I've taken free transfers every chance I get, but it just gets worse. Cross realm zoning in a party was a good step in the right direction, but the game thrives on economy. I think the the profession changes are indicative that they know things may get sparse in the future, and they possibly don't want the economy to play such a huge role in gearing up. A lot of people on these fringe servers can't get the gems/enchants they need without maxing out 2 or 3 characters. I'm willing to be most will quit before paying to transfer, or putting in loads of time so they can have gems/enchants available.