Do we expect too much?

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

World of Warcraft has clearly been an amazing game. Otherwise it would never have gotten the attention of so many millions of fans. Add up all the hours spent playing by all those fans, and it has apparently meant a lot to many.

Is it sometimes a victim of its own success? Players who invest so much of their time - so much of their lives - become very invested in every new development and take even minor changes to heart. If you take a step back, it's kind of crazy how worked up people can get over a game.

WoW costs an initial investment of $50 plus a subscription fee of $15/month. There are ways around both. What should we expect for that amount of money? What would we spend on other hobbies that entertained us for similar amounts of time?

When I'm not playing WoW these days, I'm either trail running, going out for live music and craft beer, or maybe curled up with a good book. Running is free, but my favorite shoes run me $100/pair. I travel to races all over the world (Patagonia in April, California in May), so that costs $$. A night at my favorite local brewery - burger, couple of beers, tip for the band and server - will run me close to $50. Heck even going to see Captain America is a $10 investment, without any junk food from concessions.

When I go through a phase of immersing myself in WoW for days at a time (I binge sometimes, like most of you), I can get very attached to how I want the game to work and very disappointed if they change my spec in ways that affect me. You mean I won't be able to summon all my spirit pets with Stampede anymore? I can't use Army of the Dead when tanking? What are they doing to me?

When I step back and look at any of these in the context of my overall life, however, it seems silly to worry about it. At the end of the day, WoW is still just a game, still just one of many ways to enjoy my time. I see the game developers on a panel discussion and they don't seem like bad guys. They seem like fellow gamers, trying to be creative and enjoying their creation. They don't seem infallible but certainly not villainous. Just a bunch of guys making a game.

Look at it this way: When's the last time ANYONE posted an idea on MMO that everyone else agreed with? That didn't get attacked as stupid? So of course anything the developers come up with gets treated the same way.

Sometimes I think we all need to lighten up and just have fun with it. Or take a break and have fun doing something else for a while. Eventually we'll either start to miss WoW and come back to play (I did, after 3 years away), or we'll move on and grow in new directions. All good, either way.

[Relapses]

tl,dr

[dope_danny]

Try looking at the update release schedules of other games like FFXIV. WoW players dont expect too much, they learnt to settle for the bare minimum and shut down any criticism as "hating trolls" as part of a brand loyalty exercise.

When you play other mmos you realise they dropped the ball and there is not enough "its my fault, i walked into a door" self convincing double speak to excuse one of the poorest update/content release schedules in the industry. They do it because you keep paying for it and people defend it online because they take criticism of the game as personal attack due to misappropriate feelings for a corporation they anthropomorphise and associate with as a friend.

There is nothing wrong with expecting more from a studio like Blizzard. Because it used to be their bare minimum till people settled.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Try looking at the update release schedules of other games like FFXIV. WoW players dont expect too much, they learnt to settle for the bare minimum and shut down any criticism as "hating trolls" as part of a brand loyalty exercise.

When you play other mmos you realise they dropped the ball and there is not enough "its my fault, i walked into a door" self convincing double speak to excuse one of the poorest update/content release schedules in the industry. They do it because you keep paying for it and people defend it online because they take criticism of the game as personal attack due to misappropriate feelings for a corporation they anthropomorphise and associate with as a friend.

There is nothing wrong with expecting more from a studio like Blizzard. Because it used to be their bare minimum till people settled.

Why not just play FFXIV then? Instead of stressing over the game you find disappointing?

[Teranzil]

Try looking at the update release schedules of other games like FFXIV. WoW players dont expect too much, they learnt to settle for the bare minimum and shut down any criticism as "hating trolls" as part of a brand loyalty exercise.

When you play other mmos you realise they dropped the ball and there is not enough "its my fault, i walked into a door" self convincing double speak to excuse one of the poorest update/content release schedules in the industry. They do it because you keep paying for it and people defend it online because they take criticism of the game as personal attack due to misappropriate feelings for a corporation they anthropomorphise and associate with as a friend.

There is nothing wrong with expecting more from a studio like Blizzard. Because it used to be their bare minimum till people settled.

Some people aren't settling though. There are a lot of people who are actually really satisfied with the game and each expansion. It really depends on what you want from it. For example, I was really disappointed with Cata but I loved MoP. It's completely subjective.
While I agree there is nothing wrong with expecting more, others may find their desires are met fully. It's entirely down to the individual. What one person loves can be someone else's deal breaker.

[Pull My Finger]

WoW players dont expect too much, they learnt to settle for the bare minimum and shut down any criticism as "hating trolls" as part of a brand loyalty exercise.

You're living in your own fantasy world.

[Deleted]

Why not just play FFXIV then? Instead of stressing over the game you find disappointing?

Hahaha... this is exactly the kind of things he talked about in your quote. Gratz that you proved his point.

[Deleted]

Personally I don't expect much at all, and I'm not too disappointed with anything yet

[Indigenously Abled]

Sometimes I think we all need to lighten up and just have fun with it. Or take a break and have fun doing something else for a while.

I'll never take a break again, it takes far too long to crawl back into any decent raiding guild.

[Relapses]

Quality > quantity.

The same people who complain now about the lack of content would be complaining about the quality of the content if Blizzard gave in and started scraping together assets to create filler raids. I mean hell, look at ToGC. Who remembers that raid fondly?

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

I'll never take a break again, it takes far too long to crawl back into any decent raiding guild.

True that. A dilemma that still faces me looking forward to Legion.

When I left, I didn't expect to be back. I'd raided on six different toons in Cataclysm, and just burnt myself out. I spent those three years focused on having my adventures in real life - traveling and running and spending time back country.

Got a new computer in December, working nights now and had some idle time, and got nostalgic over good times with the old raid team. Logged in and got hooked again.

But my old guild isn't raiding now. I managed to round up enough of the old gang to run mythic 5-mans until we all got our Legion trinkets. Then they drifted away again. So what to do now?

I'm sure I'll want to play through Legion. I'll probably level and gear up at least four alts, so that'll keep me busy for several months. And I'd like to raid. But raiding means commitment, at least one night a week, maybe two. Unless I leave my old guildies, I'd probably have to lead the raid team. Do some recruiting. That's an even bigger commitment. All while trying to maintain a balanced life with plenty of healthy outdoor activity.

Decisions, decisions...

But hey, there are bigger problems in the world than having to decide which fun activities to spend the next few months on.

- - - Updated - - -

Quality > quantity.

The same people who complain now about the lack of content would be complaining about the quality of the content if Blizzard gave in and started scraping together assets to create filler raids. I mean hell, look at ToGC. Who remembers that raid fondly?

In my experience, some people are only happy when they're complaining. Not just about WoW, but about anything else in life. Some people are just complainers.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

What could they really add more as meaningful content?

Let's face it. WoD by patch 6.3 gave the playerbase everything it wanted and could do anyhow.
1. Dailies
2. Raidcontent
3. Mythic dungeons

What more could they add?

I can't really think of anything but a few more core lore-related questlines, which you'd play through once, in less than an hour and then that was that. Non-repeatable content that would've been consumed very quickly.

Legion at least adds increasingly difficult challenge mode dungeons on top of it. And a bit more diverse class questlines, and more diverse dailies ... and an extra zone of questlines for the lulz of it.


There really isn't much you can add to the game, unless you want to completely break apart what kind of game it is: an on-rails theme park MMO.

I love what they're doing with dungeons in Legion! The one thing I would change is to let each group select which challenges to engage, so you could do it as individual progression (intead of flavor-of-the-week). But as they've planned it I still think it will keep dungeons interesting for longer than any previous expansion.

- - - Updated - - -

I also love the idea of separate artifact quest lines for every spec in the game! Leveling and gearing up alts should be more fun than ever, as you won't see all the content until you've played every spec!

[Eleccybubb]

No we don't. Not when they have a team way bigger than most other MMO teams and are pumping out content at a snails pace along with 12-14 month droughts.

[Indigenously Abled]

In my experience, some people are only happy when they're complaining. Not just about WoW, but about anything else in life. Some people are just complainers.

I'd like to know what quality of life these people have; permanent discontent has to be a drag.

[justinhalfout]

Given their resources I really don't think it's too much to ask for something,anything,however small instead of getting 1 year+ periods of no content at all.

[Indigenously Abled]

No we don't. Not when they have a team way bigger than most other MMO teams and are pumping out content at a snails pace along with 12-14 month droughts.

They can't allocate more resources to development. It takes far too many man-hours to rake all that cash into piles.

- - - Updated - - -

Given their resources I really don't think it's too much to ask for something,anything,however small instead of getting 1 year+ periods of no content at all.

Imagine the day that there are threads here titled 'There's Too Much Content'

[dkey89]

Yes, we do.

WoW's biggest problem right now is time management. Both on the developer side and on the player side.


Raiding is the hardest activity in the game because of the time restraints and human resources management.

Blizzard has tried to offer as many crutches as possible to the players and yet we still aren't happy.


Cheaping raiding or the opposite turning it into some sado-masochist activity won't help

The only solution I see, and personally want is for WoW to start offering alternatives to raiding, like making the world relevant again and adding or improving other activities like dungeons.

The mythic dungeon system in Legion sounds like a good idea and I hope it pans out. Finding 4 other players is way easier than 10-20-30.

[Cannibalus]

World of Warcraft has clearly been an amazing game. Otherwise it would never have gotten the attention of so many millions of fans. Add up all the hours spent playing by all those fans, and it has apparently meant a lot to many.

Is it sometimes a victim of its own success? Players who invest so much of their time - so much of their lives - become very invested in every new development and take even minor changes to heart. If you take a step back, it's kind of crazy how worked up people can get over a game.

WoW costs an initial investment of $50 plus a subscription fee of $15/month. There are ways around both. What should we expect for that amount of money? What would we spend on other hobbies that entertained us for similar amounts of time?

When I'm not playing WoW these days, I'm either trail running, going out for live music and craft beer, or maybe curled up with a good book. Running is free, but my favorite shoes run me $100/pair. I travel to races all over the world (Patagonia in April, California in May), so that costs $$. A night at my favorite local brewery - burger, couple of beers, tip for the band and server - will run me close to $50. Heck even going to see Captain America is a $10 investment, without any junk food from concessions.

When I go through a phase of immersing myself in WoW for days at a time (I binge sometimes, like most of you), I can get very attached to how I want the game to work and very disappointed if they change my spec in ways that affect me. You mean I won't be able to summon all my spirit pets with Stampede anymore? I can't use Army of the Dead when tanking? What are they doing to me?

When I step back and look at any of these in the context of my overall life, however, it seems silly to worry about it. At the end of the day, WoW is still just a game, still just one of many ways to enjoy my time. I see the game developers on a panel discussion and they don't seem like bad guys. They seem like fellow gamers, trying to be creative and enjoying their creation. They don't seem infallible but certainly not villainous. Just a bunch of guys making a game.

Look at it this way: When's the last time ANYONE posted an idea on MMO that everyone else agreed with? That didn't get attacked as stupid? So of course anything the developers come up with gets treated the same way.

Sometimes I think we all need to lighten up and just have fun with it. Or take a break and have fun doing something else for a while. Eventually we'll either start to miss WoW and come back to play (I did, after 3 years away), or we'll move on and grow in new directions. All good, either way.

Probably because gamers seek greatness, and they feel that WoW has failed them, when the truth is that they failed themselves. Also nostalgia and selective memory... it's not the game they thought they enjoyed anymore.

[Mythbredor]

Wrath proved the whole Quality over Quantity thing people loved wrath even after not having another xpac for quite awhile. But yeah I expected too much of Dreanor. But regardless Dreanor was one of the biggest xpac flops they've ever had. Legion feels like it's going to be another WolTK, I hope they pace it correctly so it doesn't burn people out within the first month and doesn't get old after a year.

[Deleted]

Quality > quantity.

Because we all know - WoD was Quality Content after waiting forever for it to come out. /s

Come on, man. Is this still a point people want to make? The "it's done when it's done" hasn't been something that interests the WoW team for a while now.

Will Legion be different? We'll see. But for now call me skeptical.