WOW's "Jump the Shark" Moment Was...

[ablib]

"Jumping the shark is an idiom created by Jon Hein that was used to describe the moment in the evolution of a television show when it begins a decline in quality, signaled by a particular scene, episode, or aspect of a show in which the writers use some type of "gimmick" in an attempt to keep viewers' interest."

going back in time in an alternative universe to give players access to a world that has long been blown up seems to fit the description perfectly.

so yeah, Warlorcs of Draenorc is WoW's shark and they're about to jump it lol

This. If you truly understand what jumping the shark means, then WoD is the single most applicable event in WoW history.

[Herecius]

I'd say Warcraft jumped the shark when it asked us to believe that the orcs were actually interdimensional space alien invaders!

Oh wait. Warcraft has always been absolutely ridiculous and you're fooling yourself if you think otherwise. 'Jumping the shark' does not mean 'this is the part where I think it wasn't good anymore' it means 'this is the part where everything went insane' but Warcraft has always been fucking insane.

[CosmicGuitars]

WoW jumped the shark the second it went to Outland as it's first expansion rather than dealing with threats at home first, like the Scourge they were directly setting up as the next antagonist in the Plaguelands and Naxxramas.

[Pull My Finger]

The game has tendentially improved since Vanilla.

[Daralii]

I'd say Warcraft jumped the shark when it asked us to believe that the orcs were actually interdimensional space alien invaders!

Oh wait. Warcraft has always been absolutely ridiculous and you're fooling yourself if you think otherwise. 'Jumping the shark' does not mean 'this is the part where I think it wasn't good anymore' it means 'this is the part where everything went insane' but Warcraft has always been fucking insane.

An orc named after Jesus firing a kamehameha at a tentacle dragon and making it explode into fairy dust before a group of dragons don't lament the loss of their once-friend or the now inevitable extinction of their species due to their newfound sterility and mortality but instead congratulate him on knocking up his wife was pretty fucking insane even by this series' standards.

[Sevyvia]

Your poll options are dumb, honestly.

If I was to pick a rough time, I'd say WotLK, somewhere midway through when the effect of valor catch-up really became apparent. Ever since then, it's been downhill. They had only flirted with the concept until WotLK, but really kicked it into overdrive then. It removed the whole chain of things people wanted and needed to do to progress in the game, and just said "Go to 20 heroics, then raid. You're done." LFR is really just the final evolution of that, the crown of shit mountain.

[Deleted]

Is that again a "I want to prove MoP sucks balls" thread?

Putting famous characters (like Zul'Jin) into Big Bad Boss for "strange" reasons, is good too?

[Deleted]

Wow itself was blizzard's jump the shark moment, arguably.

[Lahis]

"Jumping the shark is an idiom created by Jon Hein that was used to describe the moment in the evolution of a television show when it begins a decline in quality, signaled by a particular scene, episode, or aspect of a show in which the writers use some type of "gimmick" in an attempt to keep viewers' interest."

going back in time in an alternative universe to give players access to a world that has long been blown up seems to fit the description perfectly.

so yeah, Warlorcs of Draenorc is WoW's shark and they're about to jump it lol

I have to agree with this. WoD's gameplay can be great (or atleast as good as before) but storywise we're definetly jumping Whale Sharks here.

[Mormolyce]

This is not to say that WOW is dead or not worth playing, just that it is passed its peak or golden age.

Passing your peak =/= jumping the shark.

Generally speaking, jumping the shark is a moment that occurs long after a piece of fiction is past its prime and has resorted to ridiculous gimmicks or there is otherwise a jarring moment that reminds you of how far it has fallen.

WoW is sort of ageing gracefully. If you think WoW has jumped the shark, well, I think you've lived a very sheltered life.

A shark jumping moment for WoW would be like, Arthas comes back from the dead and reprograms the Dark Portal to point to the real world, and the only way we can stop him is to find some humpback whales and get them to sing to him.

[Chain Chungus]

Near the very end of WotLK when the Cataclysm design-philosophy changes were coming about.

[Mormolyce]

I have to agree with this. WoD's gameplay can be great (or atleast as good as before) but storywise we're definetly jumping Whale Sharks here.

Well whether or not WoD's story is good is of course subjective, but I will say that it's silly to call a failing of the plot a shark jumping moment for a game that isn't heavily plot focused.

I mean, ME3 had a massive sudden shark jump right at the end, but that game was very story/character driven so that's a fair statement. WoW on the other hand always puts gameplay first and the story is just along for the ride. I mean that was even true to a large extent in the RTS era.

[iceberg265]

I can't vote in this, I don't really have a problem with Pandaren specifically, but I see the whole mope expac as the 'jump the shark' moment.

[Baphomette]

Storywise, Vanilla didn't have an overarching theme but since then it's been alternating between not well done (TBC/Cata) and well done (Wrath/Panda), with WoD appearing to continue the trend with a pretty lame time travel device to give us more Orc villainy because we haven't had enough of it.

Gamewise, the game has largely improved with every incarnation. Jury still out on whether WoD will continue this or not.

So while there hasn't been a single shark-jumping moment yet, WoD might be it. So I didn't vote.

[Mormolyce]

Near the very end of WotLK when the Cataclysm design philosophy changes were coming about.

Honestly if Cataclysm did anything wrong, it was that it stuck very close to the Wrath formula. Cataclysm didn't really innovate at all until the release of LFR in the final tier. Other expansions have all been a revolution in one way or another, Cata not so much.

[pastar]

If you have to explain your reference in the first sentence of your post that means you should not use the reference. As far as the post who the hell cares. This topic has been talked about in every way, shape, and form. It has been talked about as far back as TBC. No one gives a shit. If you do not like the game leave. But these posts are not needed. Just pointless clutter in the forums.

[Lord Pebbleton]

/laugh at the lone guy who voted for "Raising the level cap beyond 60". Really?

Also, I don't think it's jumped the shark yet. It does have some annoying things (like cash shop).

[Deleted]

Eh, if we didn't kill Arthas, it would have seemed silly both from a gameplay and storyline standpoint.

Hell, the entire, "Bolvar is the Lich King now, lets all leave Icecrown alone now and not tell anyone. *cough*" seemed silly enough, as if everyone on Azeroth would just say, "Sure, seems reasonable, lets just leave and not tear down ICC or burn everything out of Icecrown."

Doing everything in Wrath and then NOT killing Arthas would have just seemed super-extra-double silly. What would happen? We'd beat him so silly he'd turn Good suddenly? He'd kick us out of ICC and then....we go back later? Just wouldn't make a lot of sense.

Two schools of thought;

(a) Assuming we keep with the "There must always be a Lich King" motif, it was answered in one of the AskCDevs that Arthas was holding the Scourge back (as was Ner'Zhul). Whether or not that is a sign that Arthas/Ner'Zhul were acting benevolently or waiting for the Legion to arrive is conjecture at this point, but assuming the former could lead to an Arthas redemption storyline.

(b) If we ignore what Arthas did/what happened to him in WoW, it could be possible to set up a similar scenario wherein LK attacks, we take the fight to him and before we can finish it, LK informs us of a the incoming Legion invasion. The choice would then be do we allow him to stay in power in order to keep the Legion occupied on one front while we focus on another or do we follow the principles of justice and morality by deposing him, forcing us to deal with the Legion/Scourge together. Would be somewhat ironic given the situation the West is in with Syria, at the moment.

[shadowmouse]

When we could no longer skin sheep for wool.

Am I doing it right? It seems we should complain about everything, but I'm still playing and I didn't play WoW on a graphing calculator in Mike Morhaime's basement when we were kids. I'm pretty sure all the edgy complainers started not later than internal alpha testing, and of course they don't play now but they hang around to tell us what's wrong.

[Notdev]

Kinda huge thing people overlook is that BC/WoTLK pretty much directly continued the stories of the WC3 RTS game and its expansion.

I disliked Cata. I don't think MoP's actual gameplay was that bad but I hated how little I cared about the story.

I vote for Cata.