Underwhelmed

[Deshi]

Only thing Im hoping for is blizzard scrapping honor talents and bring back more utility to classes as baseline abilitys. Legion made som great changes to many classes. But the pruning went to far. I can see that some players want more damage abilitys back but I think it is the utility of classes especially uniqe utility that make the real class feeling. Having some abilitys that used to be baseline as pvp only abilitys is not satifying at all.


This is actually some class changes we might expect to see in a future beta patch! Anyways I enjoyed legion and looking forward to bfa! We could all wait til beta until we start threads like this!

[Ragnarocket]

As someone who has been playing video games with a passion for nearly 3 decades, the nr. #1 rule is: Never believe it when a game developer brags about amazing new AI.

It has been the cheapest hype trick in the book since forever, and it never fails to disappoint.

I used the quotes for a reason haha....yeah I'm very skeptical of the advanced AI. If they pull it off then awesome, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Soon-TM]

To be honest I stopped caring for WoW some days after the BfA announcement. I think I've never been so disappointed by a new expansion announcement (either by the lack of information about BfA OR the abysmal features, not sure yet). Right now it's at the same level as WoD for me but I really hope it gets way better when we get more details.

Quite like this. I don't know if it's the very sparse (announced) content, the general theme (seriously, HvA has long outlived itself), the lack of inspiration for "allied races" (Draenei with yellow eyes and Tauren with antlers /golfclap) or the general stressed/overworked/bored/just cba atm attitude of Ion et al. during Blizzcon, but I really have a bad feeling about B4A.

Of course, I like some of the announcements so far: PvP/E toggle, no leggos, AP revamped into something less punishing, Warfronts (here's hoping they don't screw it up and that there will be more than two or three in the whole xpac), but the general feeling is just... underwhelming.

[Deleted]

Yep, so far not hyped. More glorified invasion points and even less gameplay changes-improvements than In WoD..
Lack of ideas is evident. WoW is in damage control mode and lacks the confidence it once could boast of. Many specs/classes are but wreckage of their former state...
Looks like they feel confident in the formula of Legion continuing from here on out, though. And I will still buy the exp and level one char to 120 so its still a win for them.

[Kiri]

Did you know it's the player's duty to offer thoughts and feedback and not to suggest design alternatives?

Exactly, but 'innovate!' is not actionable feedback. People say the proposed features are lacking, but they have said for every expansion ever. That's not useful. A player should be able to say 'I would like it if there was something that lets me do X', if they want to do X. Not just hope X eventually gets implemented on its own. The longer a product lives, the harder it becomes to innovate for it, that is just common logic. But WoW has a playerbase that is both obsessed with getting new things (innovate more!) and averse to it (Warfronts look stupid, AR look stupid, Islands are just invasion points).

[TyrannicalPuppy]

- 6 fake races - basically a little texturing work, does not make the impact of a true new race

"Impact"? What impact? These are the subraces that we've been waiting for with a twist. Some stupid twists, some cool twists, but twists nonetheless.

- No new class. Probably what many people are most looking forward to.

Sorry, but anyone who was expecting or looking forward to another new class is honestly dense. We JUST got a new class with Legion. If B4A were to add another one, they'd be breaking their new-class-every-other-expansion pattern. You can bitch about this if the expansion AFTER B4A doesn't have a new class.

But please don't. We don't need more new classes to fuck up the balance even more than it already is.

Seems to me the WoW team has a big creative block and has absolutely no idea of how to innovate in the RPG-genre or even where it want to be in 5 years. That's ok. It's hard. They should probably hire new blood and transfer team members to other games/activities in Activision Blizzard, at least for a few years. It's rarely good to work on the same for 15 years, that's why most companies have some kind of rotation system.

Mate. You do realise that the bulk of the WoW team IS new blood, right? The direction that the game is taking is more due to the fact that the devs aren't the same as they used to be. Almost nobody that had a hand in Classic-Wrath is still around.

- - - Updated - - -

Well at least we now know why The Broken Shore's "amazing new content" of kill 10 demons, or kill 10 rares, or kill 10 elites released once per week was so freaking thin.

They were working on another expansion instead of actually making content for the current one.

Sorry, but BfA looks and feels like a reskinned Legion. Unrewarding artifact power grind. I'm sure the 12 hours of leveling will be awesome though.

Oh, are you in the closed alpha? Surely you must be, to know how it feels and how rewarding the Heart of Azeroth grind is. Please, enlighten us with more of your exclusive wisdom.

- - - Updated - - -

+new combat system (many examples from other modern MMOs, tab targetting is outdated and boring)

Ignoring the rest of those ideas.... seriously? Outdated and boring?

Not only can WoW's engine very likely NOT handle a full-action combat system, but what exactly is outdated or boring about tab-targetting? Nevermind the fact that only one MMO so far has managed to do full-action with any degree of finesse (that being BDO), tab-targetting is still the goto for new MMOs for a reason. It's not "outdated". Maybe it's boring to you, for whatever bloody reason that may be, but calling it "outdated" is just disingenuous.

[Maudib]

"Impact"? What impact? These are the subraces that we've been waiting for with a twist. Some stupid twists, some cool twists, but twists nonetheless.


Oh, are you in the closed alpha? Surely you must be, to know how it feels and how rewarding the Heart of Azeroth grind is. Please, enlighten us with more of your exclusive wisdom.

Personally I could not care less about "sub-races"... basically the same as weapon skins. Whoop-dee-doo. But if it's your cup of tea... go for it.

I don't have to be in alpha to recognize crap when I see it. BfA is truly Legion 2.0 as far as I am concerned... only worse because they did away with set gear... not much left to have for deterministic loot. It's going totally RNG.

Yuck... you can have it.

[Kathranis]

Did you know it's the player's duty to offer thoughts and feedback and not to suggest design alternatives?

And did you know that a player offering incredibly vague complaints with no suggestion for improvement doesn't mean a goddamn thing to anyone?

"Hi, I didn't like my hamburger."

"What was wrong with it?"

"It was underwhelming. I guess McDonalds just doesn't know how to make a burger anymore."

"But what was wrong with it."

"It's your job to figure that out. Bye."

[therealstegblob]

And did you know that a player offering incredibly vague complaints with no suggestion for improvement doesn't mean a goddamn thing to anyone?

You've never worked in feedback if you think even pointless complaining isn't helpful.

[Deleted]

Ignoring the rest of those ideas.... seriously? Outdated and boring?

Not only can WoW's engine very likely NOT handle a full-action combat system, but what exactly is outdated or boring about tab-targetting? Nevermind the fact that only one MMO so far has managed to do full-action with any degree of finesse (that being BDO), tab-targetting is still the goto for new MMOs for a reason. It's not "outdated". Maybe it's boring to you, for whatever bloody reason that may be, but calling it "outdated" is just disingenuous.

BDO has Great combat system, miles ahead of WoW, ESO managed to go one step further (and thats 2014 release date, which means they were working on that system atleast 2-3 years before that), so yes, there have been better combat systems for atleast 4-7 years.

Sorry but it seems to me you have no idea what complications in game design tab targetting creates, you cant dodge, parry or block anything, it can only be passive or you need to have like two dozens of active abilities to press. Passive is boring, its like these days and everybody complains that there is a lack of direct control over your character. Too many active buttons feel clunky and complicated for new players. This also limits raid encounter design, every spec must have some speed increase and damage reduction cooldown, you cant make cooldowns too short but not too long because thats the only way you can kill bosses (soaking or running away, ever wondered why bosses do something only every dozens of seconds?), also limits PvP and so on. Now you can still claim its modern and awesome, but at this point it would be ignorant.

[Neviriah]

I'm looking forward to it and as usual people that aren't won't change my mind about it.

Same here!
No one forces others to like it. But people who only complain just don't get to me at all. I am looking forward to the new content and lets face it other than the leveling hours you will still stay and try /do much more - most of the time the real content starts when reaching max level. Which means that even if you buy the game and then later on decide it's not for you to stay,- well you still got some fun and nice time out of it. So why complain?! No one forces 'you' to stay! :3

[Nyel]

Yeah Heart of Azeroth looks insanely boring. It looks like a way watered down Artifact talent tree.

So far they've talked about NO class changes. What exactly are we getting over the course of 10 levels?

Island expeditions from what they've currently shown are going to be randomized scenarios. Which means they'll be worse than the MoP scenarios because they'll likely feature no story or environmental things. They're legitimately shaping up to be Invasion Points.


Warfronts COULD be good. But it will be basic as fuck is my guess. There won't be any depth and there's only ONE of them. The replay ability will be very lacking.

Well, I mean our talents are stuck at level 100. And in BfA we're 120. I really don't get it why they don't add new talent rows at 110 and 120. Or at least at 115 or something like that. I really can't understand it.

If class changes aren't massive and Heart of Azeroth just offers crap like +20% damage or -5% overall damage it's going to be a very long run with the same old boring and uninspired specs we had in Legion. That's not going to work.

Warfronts look just boring. I mean how could it be exciting? They haven't shown much but what we saw was just *yawn*. Island expeditions, even if their concept sounds interesting, will be boring as well. Do I really care if Hozen or Mogu are my enemies on the same island?

I am really negatively surprised by the feature-less approach of BfA. Artifacts may not have been the greatest thing but they added a completely new layer to character development. And now we get something like Heart of Azeroth...

- - - Updated - - -

Quite like this. I don't know if it's the very sparse (announced) content, the general theme (seriously, HvA has long outlived itself), the lack of inspiration for "allied races" (Draenei with yellow eyes and Tauren with antlers /golfclap) or the general stressed/overworked/bored/just cba atm attitude of Ion et al. during Blizzcon, but I really have a bad feeling about B4A.

Of course, I like some of the announcements so far: PvP/E toggle, no leggos, AP revamped into something less punishing, Warfronts (here's hoping they don't screw it up and that there will be more than two or three in the whole xpac), but the general feeling is just... underwhelming.

I really hope we'll get a lot more details in the next months and it turns me from a pessimist into an optimist. But I really doubt it. The BfA announcement was so boring and lackluster, I'm not sture anything Blizzard announces could convince me in the end.

[Kynario]

Why exactly isn’t there a Wintergrasp or a Tol’Barad since it’s an expansion that is supposed to focus on PvP and war? I’m not insanely fond of PvP, but Questing in those zones and running the raids after a win was pretty awesome...

[Deleted]

Why exactly isn’t there a Wintergrasp or a Tol’Barad since it’s an expansion that is supposed to focus on PvP and war? I’m not insanely fond of PvP, but Questing in those zones and running the raids after a win was pretty awesome...

Nowhere was it ever stated that bfa is pvp focused. A faction conflict that probably won't last until the first content patch doesn't mean a pvp expansion.

[Blamblam41]

Quite like this. I don't know if it's the very sparse (announced) content, the general theme (seriously, HvA has long outlived itself), the lack of inspiration for "allied races" (Draenei with yellow eyes and Tauren with antlers /golfclap) or the general stressed/overworked/bored/just cba atm attitude of Ion et al. during Blizzcon, but I really have a bad feeling about B4A.

Of course, I like some of the announcements so far: PvP/E toggle, no leggos, AP revamped into something less punishing, Warfronts (here's hoping they don't screw it up and that there will be more than two or three in the whole xpac), but the general feeling is just... underwhelming.

I pretty much agree. Much of the 'amazeballs' things they touted at Blizzcon felt more like patch additions more than an actual expansion.

Will this mean consistent content updates between now and BfA at the sacrifice of BfA's quality? Who knows. At this point, I'm willing to bet post BfA patch content suffers because of this nonsense.

[Nyel]

Nowhere was it ever stated that bfa is pvp focused. A faction conflict that probably won't last until the first content patch doesn't mean a pvp expansion.

But wouldn't make it sense? MoP was faction-based as well and had some great patches when it comes to that. BfA has... Warfronts? That seem to be PvE but with faction-based enemies? It would make much more sense if Warfronts would be somehow like PvP but with that big PvE aspect. Alterac Valley with more PvE elements. THAT would be awesome.

- - - Updated - - -

I pretty much agree. Much of the 'amazeballs' things they touted at Blizzcon felt more like patch additions more than an actual expansion.

Will this mean consistent content updates between now and BfA at the sacrifice of BfA's quality? Who knows. At this point, I'm willing to bet post BfA patch content suffers because of this nonsense.

Agreed.

I just wish they would stop with their ridiculous 77-day schedules or whatever, they've done more bad than good and haven't stopped the usual drought in the end. Even if we're getting BfA in Q3 (which I highly doubt) we would have had 12 months of 7.3 or at least ~ 10 months of Antorus. At best. In the worst case we're stuck with 7.3 for 14 months and 11-12 months of Antorus although they had their laughable 77-day patch cycle. I just want them to go back to their usual expansion -> content patches -> drought -> expansion schedule without Ion experimenting. And I really don't want expansion stuff in an "expansion" patch before the expansion is even released like they're doing with 7.3.5.

[Notshauna]

Not only can WoW's engine very likely NOT handle a full-action combat system, but what exactly is outdated or boring about tab-targetting? Nevermind the fact that only one MMO so far has managed to do full-action with any degree of finesse (that being BDO), tab-targetting is still the goto for new MMOs for a reason. It's not "outdated". Maybe it's boring to you, for whatever bloody reason that may be, but calling it "outdated" is just disingenuous.

The VAST majority of games since SWTOR haven't been WoW's purely hotkey and stat based combat, with the only exceptions I can think of are FF XIV's relaunch and Archeage, and the latter employs a far less static system than WoW's. Since then we've seen Tera, DC Universe Online, The Secret World, Guild Wars 2, Neverwinter, Wildstar, Elder Scrolls Online, Skyforge, Black Desert Online, Blade and Soul and Revelation Online.

Archeage is actually the latest tab targeting MMO with it's 2014 western release date, and you can see simply by watching it how much more movement oriented it is than WoW. I don't know much about Final Fantasy XIV, mostly because they're website is easily the worst I've ever seen.

[Heladys]

Good, we were running short of blog posts.

[Demithio]

Given the course they have taken with WoW for the past several years, what were you expecting?

[Deleted]

Well at least we now know why The Broken Shore's "amazing new content" of kill 10 demons, or kill 10 rares, or kill 10 elites released once per week was so freaking thin.

They were working on another expansion instead of actually making content for the current one.

Sorry, but BfA looks and feels like a reskinned Legion. Unrewarding artifact power grind. I'm sure the 12 hours of leveling will be awesome though.

Agrees with regards to not enough new stuff.. wants to play Vanilla, therefore not surprised. Also, the graph is upside down.