Was WoD Blizzards last chance to adapt WOW to the changing landscape?

[Gray_Matter]

After a brief return to WOW (and what feels like a bit of a waste of $65), I think the game has missed their big chance to adapt with WoD. They had a lot of good vibes going into the release and really needed to make it count. I think that it was "one last try" for a lot of people.

1) Increasing the level cap was silly. Wait and hear me out for a minute. By increasing the level cap they did a few things. They made all of the MoP content immediately obsolete. The made most of the WoD content obsolete by the time people reached the new level cap. The increased level cap meant that people rushed through the new zones. They then ended up giving daily quests such as "Assault on the Everbloom Wilds". I mean, WTF? Go off and kill 50 odd plants? Is that the best they could do? There were a number of fun quests throughout the zones. They could have given people tasks throughout the zones with decent rewards. They would have been able to balance the zones around a single level making it much easier to give meaningful rewards. Something like the old GW2 daily system could have worked well with it.

2) Garrisons. I enjoyed them a bit but there is very little reason to leave them and they quickly become tiresome. This could have been worked in with the point above. Encourage people to go out into the world by rewarding them for doing so. Let them earn apexis crystals by just doing regular questing in the new zones. Let them have a chance of getting epics by completing all of the quests in the zones.

3) The profession buildings. WTF again? Why even bother to level a profession? Why not just kill the professions immediately and get it over with. The new way of making gold in WoD is farming mystic epics and farming savage bloods. You used to be able to make a tidy living with professions but that seems to be a thing of the past.

4) Game difficulty. It's too easy unless you are in an organized group and prepared to raid with a guild. I am a casual player. Not because I want everything to be easy but because I can't say which nights I will be able to log on for and for how long I will be able to stay on line. My heart sank when I first started playing because trade was filled with "Guild X - looking for healer/range/... - raiding Mon-Wed from 9pm-12pm server time". I just knew that I would be stuffed from the get go. I managed to get a nice guild who were prepared to take me raiding but I couldn't guarantee that I would be able to be on during their raid times. I was left with dungeons and LFR. I died once during LFR and I don't even remember if I died during the dungeons. Don't think so. Every boss was one shotted. By the end (2 LFR runs) I was sometimes topping the LFR meters with my 230 odd ilvl PVP/epic gear. About 20k on a single target. Nothing spectacular but I didn't leave the top 5 and those that beat me were normally in much higher level gear. There needs to be some tough content for casuals to do. Something to work for. I think it should be LFF (Looking For Flex) which is a boss at a time but that's just me.

5) BOE epic heaven. I really like BOE's. I used to have tons of gold. Bought the BOE's I could get my paws on but this expansion has taken it way too far. You can literally outfit yourself in 670 odd gear without stepping a foot in a dungeon/raid/etc. With the proposed changes to the in game store this does not bode well.

6) Dated engine - jumping puzzles. Why even bother with jumping puzzles when you can't even change direction while jumping. The game engine needs to be updated if they want to jumping puzzles to be anything worthwhile.

7) Flying - there is a thread on this. No point in going there again.

8) RNG gear - WTF again? Every item is just random. Lets try and force people to redo content over and over just to get favorable stats. It's dumb.

In the end, I ran out of things to do and the joke is that I only completed 4 of the WoD zones. It's the same old game with "old" being the key word.

[Smoshreptar]

1) Increasing the level cap was silly. Wait and hear me out for a minute. By increasing the level cap they did a few things. They made all of the MoP content immediately obsolete.

welcome to WoW

2) Garrisons. I enjoyed them a bit but there is very little reason to leave them...

the rest of the game isn't worth playing anyway, at least i dont have to look at people's ugly transmog and terrible mounts while chilling with my followers

3) The profession buildings. WTF again? Why even bother to level a profession?.

made the worst part of the game bearable

4) Game difficulty. It's too easy unless you are in an organized group and prepared to raid with a guild. I am a casual player.

any coherent point you could have possibly made was discredited by you being a casual

[Gray_Matter]

any coherent point you could have possibly made was discredited by you being a casual

Any any point you make is discredited because you only have 32 posts.

See, my "justification" for ignoring your points are just as meaningless.

[Saberstrike]

Not to flame but the second poster demonstrated why not MoP, not WoD and not a dozen expansions after will be blizzard's last chance. There are people who'll defend every blizzard decision to the end. Those people are called fanboys, and they're the reason the game continues to deteriorate because "waa waa I have to GATHER MATERIALS and GO OUT INTO THE WORLD to craft!?" -- to which Blizzard goes "It's okay, player. You don't any more! :3 By the way, this convenience will cost you 10 extra dollars in spite of us giving you less things. :)"

Also, garrison facebook wait-game + twitter integration. Defending either of the two while calling others out on being 'casual' is why facepalm was invented!

[velde046]

Not to flame but the second poster demonstrated why not MoP, not WoD and not a dozen expansions after will be blizzard's last chance. There are people who'll defend every blizzard decision to the end. Those people are called fanboys, and they're the reason the game continues to deteriorate because "waa waa I have to GATHER MATERIALS and GO OUT INTO THE WORLD to craft!?" -- to which Blizzard goes "It's okay, player. You don't any more! :3 By the way, this convenience will cost you 10 extra dollars in spite of us giving you less things. "

Also, garrison facebook wait-game + twitter integration. Defending either of the two while calling others out on being 'casual' is why facepalm was invented!

And there's the 'hateboys' of course.... in whose eyes Blizzard can't do good anyway.

Never ceases to amaze me that there are so many that still play the game, even though they say they hate it. I still like the game, a lot. Had a 6 month break during MoP but still enjoying WoD. Does not mean I would defend Blizzard on everything or agree with everything they do (removal of flying comes to mind). Some people like the fact that professions have become easier and that you don't even need to be max level to pick up a profession in WoD, others will dislike it (replace with love or hate where applicable).
I enjoy the garrisons quite a bit, gives me something to do, while I wait in queues and even helped some of my alts to get some gear. Would love to see it happen (which it probably won't) that people just pose their opinion about the game and respect others' instead of tossing the fanboy/hateboy trump card, which is never a good argument and in the end is same as admitting defeat.

[Count Zero]

They took the leader in subscription-based MMOs and increased their sub count by about a third.

I think they're doing just fine.

[Deleted]

Any form of discussion that puts World of Warcraft in the situation of being at an ultimatum is gunna find it hard pressed to get past the fact that no matter how different or shit it becomes, it is still a behemoth of a game that will not come to a halt.


Roll a 50 ton ball down a hill. It doesn't matter if that ball is made of shit or gold. It's still going to keep on rolling.

[Gray_Matter]

Not to flame but the second poster demonstrated why not MoP, not WoD and not a dozen expansions after will be blizzard's last chance. There are people who'll defend every blizzard decision to the end. Those people are called fanboys, and they're the reason the game continues to deteriorate because "waa waa I have to GATHER MATERIALS and GO OUT INTO THE WORLD to craft!?" -- to which Blizzard goes "It's okay, player. You don't any more! :3 By the way, this convenience will cost you 10 extra dollars in spite of us giving you less things. "

Also, garrison facebook wait-game + twitter integration. Defending either of the two while calling others out on being 'casual' is why facepalm was invented!

The reason why I said it was their last chance is because the diehards are decreasing. At last count it was 6 million (at best). The better part of 4 million returned to the game to try out WoD. I for one won't be coming back. There is no point because it's the same "tired" game.

I look at the so called enhancements that have been made to entice the more casual players to return and see things like cheap BOE epics? Does Blizzard really think that casual players just want to buy their epics?

[MoanaLisa]

No, it wasn't their last chance. Jeez. The game evolves and so does the target audience.

Blizzard could be a little better about getting ahead of the curve instead of following it (as I believe they're doing now). I'm not a fan of making the game into some sort of social gaming platform what with the Twitter integration and all but that's mainly a trivial thing and for all we know may work out well for them. If it doesn't it will be like their voice chat. There but no one thinks about it.

The irony in the post that started this is that quite a bit of it is a call to return to a landscape that's long gone.

Edit: I think it's quite clear and has been for some time that a fair number of players want to buy and sell their epics. That's why there are so many of them on the Auction House.

[Acelius]

Blizzard are stuck. If they change the game drastically all the fanboys will whine. If they release games like WoD a lot of the casuals will whine. There is no winning here. Although I agree with OP on most of his points.

[Bathory]

Last chance? Before what? I don't think Blizzard is closing their doors after WOD.

[Zantos]

What is this "changing landscape" you're referring to? What are they supposed to be adapting too? They are a 10 year old game that just hit 10 Million subscribers. They are the ones creating any "landscape" if there is one.

[Toobad]

Wtf are you blithering about, we're getting selfies and twitter, is that not enough?

[Deleted]

Roll a 50 ton ball down a hill. It doesn't matter if that ball is made of shit or gold. It's still going to keep on rolling.

That is 1 of the best analogies I've heard for WoW in a LONG time

[Super Kami Dende]

I made over 100k with my professions in the first month of WoD.

I very much think they are still money makers. Only lazy people complain about not being able to make money from professions.

Also the irony of having a GW2 avatar while talking about WoW having a last chance. yeeesh.

[Drslump]

I look at the so called enhancements that have been made to entice the more casual players to return and see things like cheap BOE epics? Does Blizzard really think that casual players just want to buy their epics?

Yes, they do and it works. There's even a casual player who posted about this. Check it out:

5) BOE epic heaven. I really like BOE's. I used to have tons of gold. Bought the BOE's I could get my paws on but this expansion has taken it way too far. You can literally outfit yourself in 670 odd gear without stepping a foot in a dungeon/raid/etc. With the proposed changes to the in game store this does not bode well.

[Super Kami Dende]

I honestly don't see WoW recovering from the disaster that is WoD.

I do believe WoD was their last chance to change the image of WoW from, "Dying MMO of the past," to something different, and they couldn't have missed their target any further.

You don't see them recovering from the largest population influx they've had in 5 years? Well shit. they better close down since they only have 5-10x the subs of other subscription MMO's.


oh wait. I don't even like WoD much but even I can see how fucking moronic it is to assume WoD would kill WoW.

[Viradiance]

You don't see them recovering from the largest population influx they've had in 5 years? Well shit. they better close down since they only have 5-10x the subs of other subscription MMO's.


oh wait. I don't even like WoD much but even I can see how fucking moronic it is to assume WoD would kill WoW.

To be fair, Cata started out with one of the peaks of sub numbers too. We know how that story ended...

[Drslump]

I'm not saying WoD is going to kill WoW, but to even think that WoW will ever get near 10m again after this point is nothing more than delusional.

Is there something wrong with the game if it doesn't hit 10M subscribers? Is the game a lesser game if it has 9M? 8M? Does it really matter?

[mrpoundsign]

There are people who'll defend every blizzard decision to the end. Those people are called fanboys, and they're the reason the game continues to deteriorate

I have yet to meet anyone who thinks every-last-feature in wow is great, FOR THEM. Just because someone doesn't agree with every problem you have with the game doesn't mean they're a "fanboy" as you call it, they just disagree with the points you have provided.

Everyone wants everyone to agree with them. Be it the features they like or dislike. It's really not that simple. Sorry WoW isn't everything you want it to be. It isn't for me, either, but I can find plenty to keep me entertained; At the same time I can appreciate that a lot of other people will enjoy parts I don't. I don't see why this is a big deal to everyone, like the game must cater to their every desire, or the people who enjoy it are WRONG. Sorry you don't like something, and some people don't agree with you 100%. Why must you belittle and insult those who feel differently?

Maybe I am wrong. Perhaps you can show me someone who agrees 100% with everything in WoW and thinks it's flawless.