Garrison Location, WoD Alpha Notes Update, RBG MMR Hotfix, Apr 23 Hotfixes, DLC #437

[Ryme]

Frostfire Ridge looks to be the dullest zone of expansion.

Oh, also UK customers who already overpay for the services getting their prices increased by around 15%. Great work.

[Deleted]

Ok so not only we are not getting even single new quest line for at least 13 months but they even dare to increase their prices of services? Are they really serious? Charning more money for nothing at all done in the game for over a year when even free to play games have more frequent updates is just riddiculous.
On top of that they just gut out all the classes and take out more features.
Now they gut out the Garrisons. I really pity Horde for being stuck in that horrible looking zone. FFR must be one of the ugliest zones I ever saw. But tbh the human city with blue roofs and wooden houses looks terribly in draenei purple and crystal themed zone too.
I dont really know what to think about it. Every expansion so far was making me hyped up, yes even pandas to some degree but more I read about WoD the more angry I am becoming. Thank god I didnt go for their lure and didnt pre-orders. That was clever from Blizz, squeez 50bucks out of people and then make the game worse than ever before.

/rant off.

[Aesahaettr]

Well it was kind of the only and biggest feature in the next expansion. But yeah, I've never assumed the garrisons to be more than Sunsong Ranch 2.0 anyway. Even the follower npc interaction was always going to be just a Farmville-esque side project.

I was however hoping that it would be completely optional and something to do in my free time. But apparently it's going to be shoved down my throat on apparently every character I ever try to level in the expansion. So that's fun.

Pretty much this. I font get this farmville thing, and its hard to see garrissons as anything than an extension to the ranch. If you like that sort of thing it's great, but it's not why I play wow. Making it so central is a little annoying, I planned on doing the bare minimum and ignoring it, sound like it might be forced down our throats.

Frankly the location doesn't bother me, the concept as a whole is the problem I have.

[Tedstery]

While i hope it is an optional part of the leveling process, Garrisons did loose alot of appeal and potential for me and im sure alot of other folks around here. Atleast we can choose where we want it in SMV/Frostfire, but with such a restrictive choice, there's no longer any difference between Yoon's Farm and Garrisons besides the fact there's more stuff for Garrisons. All for integrating it into the leveling system? That explanation isn't justified in the slightest and makes no sense to me. What does hand-picking a spot in the world for your Garrison to make it truly feel like your own home have to do with getting people to use it? It definitely looked alot more appealing when you HAD freedom. Not to mention, that sacrifice isn't worth it if it's turning optional content into mandatory content. Plus, I REALLY wanted a Garrison in Nagrand.

Wow, never really been butthurt about something in WoW since there's always been a bit of logic behind it, but i think I "feel the burn" this time around. I really hope they explain themselves or just leave Garrisons alone in that respect. But otherwise - thanks, Blizz, you just removed the sandbox element from a sandbox feature and halved the appeal for one of this expansion's only real "new" features.

TL;DR - Taking the individuality out of player housing and making the feature part of leveling is like taking the sand out of a sandbox and telling people to play in it anyways. I really hope Blizz takes a step back to consider what they're doing.

*Rant off*

They have said since blizz-con that Garrisons are not player housing, not even close to it. It doesn't even resemble player housing at all as all you can do is place buildings, not decorate them.

The whole garrison system seems like a huge waste, one I am not personally interested in and I am not happy that its now part of the leveling process.

[snegro]

I can't believe there is so much fuss over Garrisons. It's just a glorified farm. Player housing is one of those things that are just destined to be boring and irrelevant after the initial buzz in any game personally. Couldn't give two hoots about what you get to see outside the instanced walls surrounding your daily hub cage.

[Mellrod]

I can see them add it as a paid feature, Blizzard tend to like to rip you off.

They wouldnt do it to that extreme. But i think they might consider moving garrisons as a feature for a patch when you're capped or something.

- - - Updated - - -

They have said since blizz-con that Garrisons are not player housing, not even close to it. It doesn't even resemble player housing at all as all you can do is place buildings, not decorate them.

The whole garrison system seems like a huge waste, one I am not personally interested in and I am not happy that its now part of the leveling process.

They have definitely called it player housing already, and while it's not housing in the traditional sense, that's essentially what it is anyways. Each expac will have a feature that's supposedly better than the last, and with each of those features we will be a step closer to true PH.

That's what they said at blizzcon atleast.

[DechCJC]

Damnit. I was already pretty annoyed that I couldn't pick a flat out theme for my garrison, but now that I can't even choose the zone I have to say I'm just not even interested anymore. I can't even make the base look how I want it to, i've got to use pre-designated spots and just plant pre-designed buildings there that eventually level up and will ALWAYS look the same.

Boorrrrinnggggg...

- - - Updated - - -

Also, an increase of prices? It was already ridiculously overpriced -.-. "Priced according to the entertainment value" - At least be honest with us and say that you want more money, there's nothing wrong with that - But it is overpriced.

[Deleted]

Wow. Increasing transfer costs? That automated system that I have to use far more often than I would like? Announced day after being offline for most of the day?

Way to take advantage of your customers invested after preordering warlords.

Well done. If my guild dies or decides to transfer, I'll be quitting rather than paying any more for a service I already begrudge. Thank god wildstar has turned out so good.

[camalleri]

omggggg you kille dk tank or ????

[Ballack]

Wtf? They INCREASE the prices of changing factions/transferring servers etc? I cannot fathom how they can make such a decision. I mean the servers are horribly balanced when it comes to factions, and they just want to cash in even more on that fact? This is actually a disgraceful action by Blizzard. This is a fucking subscription-based game, how the fuck can they defend putting all these extra costs for quality of life features?

[Faldric]

And the cycle continues.
Promise much, hold little.

Oh man, I remember this forums during Blizzcon:
No new class/race: Doesn't matter we get new character models.
No noteworthy new mechanics: We got garrisons!!!! They are the most creative thing Blizz has ever done!!!!

So with the character models not finished for release and Blizz taking the easy way to implement garrisons and take away lots of its appeal:
Are we finally allowed to call this the cheap, puke-over-lore, quick cash-in, time travel expansion it is?

"We regularly review our pricing and services around the world to make sure we’re offering what we feel is the best entertainment value for the cost, and the upcoming adjustments are being made with that goal still in mind."

WTF. The entertainment value (whatever that is) remains the same because they do not change anything on the services. So the entertainment per cost actually went down by this change. Just write you are increasing cost because you want to make more money in the UK. The reasoning given is just laughable.

[Deleted]

I'm not into conspiracy theories but what the fuck Blizzard?
The price hikes are obviously just another way to grab more money from the players suffering their shitty server balance.
Blizzard stand to lose a lot more money than they gain from rip-off server transfers, because people like me just quit!

Get the realms connected already.

As for the garrisons, what if I don't want to piss about with them while leveling? What if I want to level many characters and I have to waste my time each time messing around with a garrison I don't want to focus on? What if I don't want to have my garrison in depressing frostfire ridge.

[Stormykitten]

Regarding the pricing change, british pound prices has been cheaper for the entire game's lifespan than both dollar and euro so I am not that surprised

That said, I think both values are absolutely asinine in 90% of the services. Optional yes, but still so removed from decency.

[Deleted]

Good decision. In a game where you can't conquer/destroy other player's garrison, they should be set as static in a corner some where, so you can't abuse them in world pvp.

Having all the professions in a single garrison also cuts the need to have multiple alts just for professions and thus cuts the need to support alt gameplay and allows Blizzard to focus on making content for one single main character, in a true rpg spirit.

Questing is also heavily integrated to leveling, but you don't need to do a single quest to level to max level, so I dont think garrison will be mandatory at all. You will not be denied a raid spot if you have not maxed specific garrison stuff, unlike professions today.

[Donald Hellscream]

I am not sure i like the blood dks changes.. I am gonna miss my filthy little healing maggots. Of course alpha is alpha and nothing is final.

[jeremynative]

Wow. Increasing transfer costs? That automated system that I have to use far more often than I would like? Announced day after being offline for most of the day?

Way to take advantage of your customers invested after preordering warlords.

Well done. If my guild dies or decides to transfer, I'll be quitting rather than paying any more for a service I already begrudge. Thank god wildstar has turned out so good.

You can get a refund for WOD - at least that's what I did

[Deleted]

Will be interesting to see their next quarter results.

Activision Blizzard to Release First Quarter 2014 Financial Results on May 6, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014. 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time)

[Farabee]

All I'm gonna say is that FFR/SMV better actually BE the locations of the main city hubs in the xpac, or I'm going to be hard-pressed to want to go to my garrison provided they don't give me a teleport to it. Hell, I'm barely motivated to go to the farms on all my 90 alts as it is and that's 1 zone away.

[Teebone]

If anyone was expecting garrisons to be anything more than a slightly more complex farm, they were only fooling themselves. I remain unphased because this was exactly how I expected them to function and so no indication otherwise.

[Feerles]

Not sure if you people complaining about Garrisons being part of leveling just can't read or just want to complain but....

will we need to do at least the main quest line in each zone in order to advance the garrisons properly?
We hope you will, but everything will unlock based on level as a fallback. (Source)
Whatever happened to them being optional content? This seems unnecessary, and takes away the fun of choosing a location..
Sill an option, still many choices. (Source)