Increasingly Optimistic: BFA seems to be the start of a much-needed reboot

[Sylvaeres]

Why do you care about visuals when they haven't talked about the actual gameplay at all.
Why does graphics matter if the game is poorly designed?

There are a lot of MMOs out there with much better visuals but thats hardly enough for them to do well.

Poorly designed, yet you either still play it, or sit here talking about it. Makes sense

[Cyanu]

pretty much agree with the OP

BFA shows that blizzard is willing to make some longterm investments in WoW, they devote a lot of resources on content that will remain relevant through time (like the leveling revamp) instead of just going for the maximum hype for the latest expansion

[Velerios]

For sure. The vanilla audience only brought 7 million players to WoW at a time when MMO's weren't popular at all. Only the shut in nerds played them. Definitely don't want a game of that caliber again.

This was because WoW was new. And the graphics of it back then was not too bad; it was never cutting-edge, but for example compared to oblivion i think that the graphics of wow were ok.

But that's then, and now is now. I think we might see a BIG influx i the first month, 1 million might be possible, but long-term i can only see 50.000-100.000 player play this regularly; if vanilla is included in the normal subscription-cost, than it might be more. That's not bad at all, but i think some player have some unrealistic numbers in their head.

[Krixooks]

Increasingly Optimistic: BFA seems to be the start of a much-needed reboot

Maybe I am in the minority, but I really believe that Blizzard need to write more/better story to generate interest in WoW.
We've chewed through all the big villains (except Azshara) and the story has been running on fumes for quite a while.

[MrDragon]

To me the biggest problem with WoW is it's (by now extremely to the point of barely being recognizable) WC3 derived Engine which was never suitable for 3d game-play to begin with. This is still the big issue that makes combat in underwater environments or while manning turrets and shooting flying objects such a massive pain in the ****
That is just the most obvious problem, there are a bunch more but in essence Blizzard is performing miracles making the same (but heavily augmented) engine carry this game and part of me wonders if they would have maybe been more efficient if they had abandoned WoW in favour of WoW2 between WotLK and Cata.

I do genuinely want them to actually at some point conclusively end this chapter of the warcraft franchise though and make a sequel. along with a substantial time-skip to evolve the world and show us the impact of our heroes questing to make the world a better place the last 15 years.

Best though would be a Warcraft 4 to move the plot forward before a new MMO cannibalizes it all again the way WoW has. Though to be fair, they've been getting better at generating lore lately rather than just consuming it.
Still, MMOs are terrible for telling a truly progressive story because even with the laudable phasing tech, the world is still very static.

[Aggrophobic]

Poorly designed, yet you either still play it, or sit here talking about it. Makes sense

I'm not saying it's going to be but why does visuals matter if there is no content?

[clevin]

well, BfA feels like WoD did in the sense that MoP was "OMG the Legion is coming!" then we detoured into WoD which showed us some hints of Legion involvement. BfA feels like that interim patch where we get a lot of "The VOID!!" in Legion but the real Void expansion will be the one after BfA.

The issue that they have a from a story perspective is this - what do they do after we defeat the Void threat? That kind of depends on HOW we do that. We're nowhere near powerful enough to take on primal forces of the universe, but could there be some way we force a reconciliation? A reset? That would set the stage for a 'WoW2' that isn't a new game per se, but that is a major jump from WoW. That is, it would be an expansion but with a refreshed setting, refreshed challenges... but we'd take our current characters etc forward there.

If they don't do something like that I fear they'll start to rehash things again... Lich King 2.0, Elemental Lords invade again, oh hey, look Sargeras is back... Kaelthas 3.0... And all of that is boring and unimaginative. While they could milk it for a decade, it would mean the game is effectively dead. Before you hit reply... yes, I know Everquest is still around. But while it's around is it relevant at all? Isn't it basically a dead game in any meaningful sense of the word, doing nothing but hanging around letting the last 100k players continue? It's certainly not talked about, looked to as a model for how to do interesting things, etc. It's just shambling along.

[Count Zero]

They've clearly been planning for the game's longterm future since nearly the very beginning - including evolving with the times.

[CasualFilth]

You could, arguably, say every expansion is a 'soft' reboot.

[Deleted]

There will be a WoW 2.0. This engine is technologically obsolete. I'm already bored of the next expansion.
The question is will it carry on with the same WoW universe or not. I hope not. We need entirely an entirely new world to make this 'new' again.

This idea that we will be able to port WoW characters - that's not going to happen, nor should it. A new game means a new start. We didn't port WC3 to WoW.

[hulkgor]

People still spewing that Wow 2.0 shit thinking they'll remake the game entirely?

Laughable at this point.

WoW 2.0 is The Burning Crusade introduction, for all intents and purposes, stop with the lunacy please.

[Goldielocks]

Maybe I am in the minority, but I really believe that Blizzard need to write more/better story to generate interest in WoW.
We've chewed through all the big villains (except Azshara) and the story has been running on fumes for quite a while.

There's still N'Zoth. He'll be 8.3 while Azshara is 8.2

Warcraft has always excelled in introducing characters, letting them sit for a long time to build nostalgia, and letting them be big spectacle bosses for expansions. After this expansion is over, they won't have that anymore. So yeah I do kinda agree that they need to do heavy set up during the course of BoA.

[Lollis]

It's a lot simpler than that. Any MMO coming out right now competes with WoW's 10+ years of content. No matter how great the game is, it won't ever be large enough.

If they launched WoW 2 now, it'd have a fraction of what WoW has, it'd be suicidal. Nobody would stop playing the game they have thousands of hours spent in to start all over again in a brand new game that won't have nearly as much to offer for many, many years.

The promise of it someday being comparable to what we have now is not enough.

In order for WoW 2 to happen, WoW 1 must have been completely closed for a few years, and even then it'd have to compete against other new MMOs, all trying to become the next big thing.

I disagree that WoW 1 would have to be shutdown for any real sequel to be released, in fact I would expect that WoW 1 would be kept alive for quite a while solely for the reason of pushing people towards the sequel.

I think WoW's end going into a sequel would encompass some sort of major storyline ending, or beginning perhaps. If massive-ultra-evil event happens, possibly even an apocalyptic one, it could lead into a WoW 2 rather than an expansion. If the Fourth War well and truly kicks off into a total war situation with full on Kingdoms falling (which BFA isn't going to be), this could lead into a WoW 2. Of course we don't know exactly how the end will come when it does, it could even end up becoming something nobody could have expected.

What if the various rifts of Sanctuary somehow join through universes with the Twisting Nether and Diablo stomps into Stormwind one day?

If a WoW 2 does happen, I'd expect that they would do some sort of heritage transfer as is done with Guild Wars 1/2 giving people some small perks/achievements/cosmetics from having played WoW 1.

[Camthur]

I think it's kinda weird to point out supposed graphical improvements in BFA when WoW's new content has been gorgeous since WoD. (I'd even include MoP but it still had those butt ugly player models)

As for how strong we'll be in BFA, how can anybody tell right now? We've seen next to no data on questing. Heck, we may be the biggest badass in our faction, just shy of Anduin and Sylvanas in importance. I hope so too because I don't ever again wanna be some chump who gets ordered around picking up literal crap for gold.

[Yassy]

Why do you care about visuals when they haven't talked about the actual gameplay at all.
Why does graphics matter if the game is poorly designed?

There are a lot of MMOs out there with much better visuals but thats hardly enough for them to do well.

I know plenty of people who outright refuse to touch WoW exclusively due to its graphics. Plenty of players are happy collecting transmog as their main activity in WoW so obviously aesthetics matter.

In addition, i think one of the elements that made Antorus so much easier than Tomb can be attributed to how well telegraphed the mechanics were. So again, graphics matter.

[NoRest4Wicked]

There were no casual alternatives at that time and many quit for reasons other than the direction of the game. Such as real life problems.

That's not true. WoW WAS the casual alternative. I take it you never played EverQuest before WoW launched.

[Deleted]

I like that they are essentially rebooting the Alliance-Horde war.

It seems weird losing capital cities and having areas permanently altered by the war, but we haven't seen such drastic changes to the map for a very long time. Even in MoP, where the faction war reached its peak storywise, the map remained mostly static and unchanged.
This time around, the war isn't only described in quests or books or played at a BG but it directly impacts the game; we see power shifting among the factions, areas being won and lost, cities destroyed, etc. It feels like an actual continuation of the Warcraft story in a very RTS manner.

[MrExcelion]

IMO, I think this was what the developers were going for with WoD, a back to roots sort of thing, using some WC3 elements and even no flying for a lot of it, but that didn't work out

This time around I think it'll be successful as long we get continued story. I think it'll deviate towards Old God at the end so "battle for azeroth" takes a new meaning

[Aeula]

That's not true. WoW WAS the casual alternative. I take it you never played EverQuest before WoW launched.

Exactly what I’m saying. WoW was as casual as it got back then.

[Sylvaeres]

I'm not saying it's going to be but why does visuals matter if there is no content?

"No content" fastest patch cycle in the history of the gamr, but sure, no content. Stop making a fool out of yourself