Suramar and epic story telling over lore

[Kokolums]

BLIZZARD WHAT ARE YOU DOING???????????????? RIP SURAMAR OUT OF THE GAME ASAP!!!!!!!

Surmar is EXACTLY the same crap that is driving players away from WoW for years. It is yet ANOTHER layer of antisocial, solo content!

World of Warcraft DESPERATELY needs to increase social activity! Don't drop ANOTHER antisocial mechanic into WoW! They couldn't possible miss the target any harder if they tried. LFR, dungeon finder, lack of global chat, phasing, bodyguards, garrison....on and on...and now we have to add suramar style...massive solo lore content...to the list. They've just made WoW worse! All that development time poured into solo content when social activity is dying from neglect. Sigh.

[ls-]

World of Warcraft DESPERATELY needs to increase social activity! Don't drop ANOTHER antisocial mechanic into WoW! They couldn't possible miss the target any harder if they tried. LFR, dungeon finder, lack of global chat, phasing, bodyguards, garrison....on and on...and now we have to add suramar style...massive solo lore content...to the list. They've just made WoW worse! All that development time poured into solo content when social activity is dying from neglect. Sigh.

Dunno, mate, you may have issues. I'm not even in a guild and I occasionally add people to my friendlist, cuz we chat in /2, do things together, etc. To me game is almost as social as it was. I dun need to be forced to interact w/ other people, I do it myself all the time.

There's a global chat channel, it's called "LookingForGroup", it's available to everyone and everywhere.

[Kokolums]

Dunno, mate, you may have issues. I'm not even in a guild and I occasionally add people to my friendlist, cuz we chat in /2, do things together, etc. To me game is almost as social as it was. I dun need to be forced to interact w/ other people, I do it myself all the time.

There's a global chat channel, it's called "LookingForGroup", it's available to everyone and everywhere.

LFG is not a true global chat channel in its current form. It needs to be turned on by default for all new characters, and the controls to use it should be easy to use. The name probably even needs changing to make it more instinctive. They've buried into under a series of clicks and menus.

[Sharkcrap]

BLIZZARD WHAT ARE YOU DOING???????????????? RIP SURAMAR OUT OF THE GAME ASAP!!!!!!!

Surmar is EXACTLY the same crap that is driving players away from WoW for years. It is yet ANOTHER layer of antisocial, solo content!

World of Warcraft DESPERATELY needs to increase social activity! Don't drop ANOTHER antisocial mechanic into WoW! They couldn't possible miss the target any harder if they tried. LFR, dungeon finder, lack of global chat, phasing, bodyguards, garrison....on and on...and now we have to add suramar style...massive solo lore content...to the list. They've just made WoW worse! All that development time poured into solo content when social activity is dying from neglect. Sigh.

IIRC theres quite a few group quests.

[lightofdawn]

Why is this important? I enjoy the lore in WoW but to section an entire zone with minimal to no reward and to expect people to complete it for the purpose of lore is disgusting. I'm playing world of warcraft, not world of lorecraft.

plays a game for reward instead of engaging story... doesn't sound like you deserve either at the point you're at. let some people enjoy some things in the game and others can enjoy other things

[Sarethion]

I absolutely love the concept. So far, this has gotten me far more excited for Legion than anything else.

I'm not in the alpha, so I base my opinion on Preach's vid, but I'd be really interested in what he suggested - i.e. adding more storylines and events into Suramar as the expansion progresses to continue on with the story of the rebellion. Also, maybe slapping some server-wide progression that would unlock additional storylines that would eventually result in some nice cosmetic rewards could be nice.

I love playing for the lore and fun - I don't need to see my numbers go a bit higher to want to do some content.
In the good, old days, that was exactly what you played a lot of the games for - to simply have fun and see what comes next in terms of story. And if Suramar catches this feeling, I know I will love it for however long it lasts.

Also, what's wrong with having 1 zone like that? If you're one of those people that don't care about the story, you don't have to do it - you have the usual levelling, world quests, dungeons and raids that will throw loot at you. If you want to do something else, you can always do reputations, professions, order hall campaigns, work on transmogs, grind artifact power, hunt for rares or treasures, explore different areas, work on achievements, do some pvp and probably some other things I forgot to mention.

Diversity is good. Having a variety of different things you can do is good. Being able to take a break from loot hunting, grinding something or completing your long-term goals just to chill and enjoy the story for a while is good.

Suramar is something different hence it adds diversity to the content and thus I think it's good.
If anything, I'd like Blizzard to do more experiments like this and add more types of content that aren't about loot.

- - - Updated - - -

Surmar is EXACTLY the same crap that is driving players away from WoW for years. It is yet ANOTHER layer of antisocial, solo content!

That's an issue with the execution, not the concept itself.
Now, imagine that Suramar has a few quest chains that require people to group up to complete or offers a cosmetic reward if you complete it with a group - boom, suddenly you have a type of content that is more group-oriented. Same concept, different execution.

Hell, you can even do it with people if it isn't required - just go and look for people who'd want to chill and enjoy the story with you. Nothing says you can't grab a few other players with you as you go to do the story. If you're already doing it for the fun and story, you might as well do it with some friends.

Oh, and if you say that people don't want to group up to have fun - well, if people prefer to play alone, that's the problem with people not with the game. Actually, that is the biggest problem here - the issue isn't that the game is anti-social, but that the players themselves are anti-social and prefer to keep to themselves instead of socializing.

Could the game incentivize grouping up and meeting other players, so that they can see that it's fun, a bit more? Yeah, probably. But forcing people to group up just because it is required to beat content is not a good way to achieve that - just because you have to have a few other people on the screen with you, who you don't even talk to once your group is formed (be it via group finder or chat), doesn't mean you have a social experience.

[Ragetacular]

Why would I care what some asshat has to say? Hes just a person.

The ironing

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Sounds like Blizz is getting creative and trying something new? I'd like to support that, even if it doesn't turn out great. Because, hey, at least they're trying.

- - - Updated - - -

Surmar is EXACTLY the same crap that is driving players away from WoW for years. It is yet ANOTHER layer of antisocial, solo content!

World of Warcraft DESPERATELY needs to increase social activity! Don't drop ANOTHER antisocial mechanic into WoW! They couldn't possible miss the target any harder if they tried. LFR, dungeon finder, lack of global chat, phasing, bodyguards, garrison....on and on...and now we have to add suramar style...massive solo lore content...to the list. They've just made WoW worse! All that development time poured into solo content when social activity is dying from neglect. Sigh.

I think there's room for both. I very much enjoy the social aspect of WoW, but sometimes tire of drama that goes with grouping (not every group, of course, but you know...). Sometimes I just want to peace out on my toons, enjoy my morning coffee/late night beer and not have to deal with people's issues. It's good to have attractive options both for groups and solo play.

[Supercool]

Surmar is EXACTLY the same crap that is driving players away from WoW for years. It is yet ANOTHER layer of antisocial, solo content!

This would only be a problem if they added the big rewards that some whiners want added to the zone as a carrot for people who don't want to do it. Group content is important and I'm a big proponent of organized group play, but on the lists of things in the game that are detrimental to socializing an optional story-oriented zone is so far down the list it's not even worth getting upset over. Literally the only way this zone negatively impacts socializing is if it's so good that all your friends just can't stand not being in Suramar and will reject your offers of dungeons, raids, and battlegrounds to go hang out with their crackhead elf NPC friends.

[Deleted]

Surmar is EXACTLY the same crap that is driving players away from WoW for years. It is yet ANOTHER layer of antisocial, solo content!

I'm more social in lore quest zones than in dungeons/raids, talking with my friends about lore and stuff. Sucks to be you?

[Leodok]

Why is this important? I enjoy the lore in WoW but to section an entire zone with minimal to no reward and to expect people to complete it for the purpose of lore is disgusting. I'm playing world of warcraft, not world of lorecraft.

The lore is the reward. If that's not enough, watch Nobbel's video. Or simply ignore the existence of the zone. Your choice.

[clevin]

Why is this important? I enjoy the lore in WoW but to section an entire zone with minimal to no reward and to expect people to complete it for the purpose of lore is disgusting. I'm playing world of warcraft, not world of lorecraft.

Then don't do it. No one here cares whether you do or not.

[DesMephisto]

Then don't do it. No one here cares whether you do or not.

Then do it. No one here cares whether you do or not.

[Deleted]

Oofh, that sweet shitpost smell wafting my way.
Something about not reading and saying nobody else should have to either, and also completely misunderstanding the very concept of lore and world-building in an RPG, I.e half of the fucking experience.

Sounds pretty silly to me at least.