World Of Warcraft Needs A Game Over Screen
by David Nelson 
Aug 3rd 2006 at 5:00PM
If you haven't checked out Tobold's MMORPG Blog, you probably should. He isn't exactly hardcore, but he surely isn't casual either, making him an awful lot like the average player . His latest entry deals with whether WoW needs a game over screen. Yes, it is a MMORPG, which in theory should be an endless experience, but Tobold argues that even a game like WoW does come to an end.I tend to agree with this. It might take thousands of hours, but at some point, pre-raid, you will have done every single quest, leveled every single class and seen everything there is to see. This, in my mind, is Game Over. We aren't forced to spend $15 a month , and if we don't like the raiding endgame, we should probably just stop playing, wait for the expansion and find something else to do. Or, we could go to the message boards and start endless threads about the bad endgame content for casuals! Either way really. If I ever reach my personal Game Over screen, I will be investigating this wild rumor going around that I have a wife and a dog living somewhere in this house with me. Yes sir. That's my plan.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
B.S. Aug 3rd 2006 10:54PM
Don't worry its almost time for them to recieve there game over screen, because when the expansion comes out they are going to see there screens say CATASTROPHIC FAILURE LOL. What kind of company says that there expansion or game comes out when they feel like it has to come out. Plus mislead people on races and changing and switching classes.
bliSSter Aug 4th 2006 10:10AM
I am a similar player to Tobold and I'm sort of inclined to agree with him. I have 3 level 60 characters, 2 more mid-50s, and around 4 other mid-high level 40s. I've raided through BWL and AQ40 and have decided that regardless of gear, it's simply not worth the time I have to spend with 39 other people (per raid - not counting the overflow); I just don't enjoy their company. I have barely 40 people that I would consider acquaintances in RL, let alone playing the particular video game that I am currently involved with.
I personally don't think that Blizzard ever really considered WoW to be sustainable the way many MMOs are. Look at their previous track record of games. They never make it past a single expansion before moving on to a new VERSION of the game. These new versions do include many feature enhancements, and the storylines continue, but they are certainly not the same game.
A "game over" screen would satisfy a lot of players that are looking for more in the game and will probably never get it. The existing model of rewarding only large groups of players with the best gear in the game is faulty. Craftsmen/women should be able to create the absolute best armor in the game. Weapons and armor upgrades could be dropped, along with gold, trinkets, gems, whatever, from PvE mobs, etc. If someone didn’t want to participate in the raiding end-game, that’s fine. They could still participate in the community and the game by being the finest armor crafter in the lands or whatever.
The exclusionary version of the current end-game in WoW is simply a broken model.
Anthony Aug 4th 2006 10:21AM
As a casual gamer, I saw the game over screen when I hit level 60. Basically at that point there's not much fun you can have under half an hour.
J Aug 4th 2006 1:32PM
Crafters simply cannot create the best gear in the game because then no one would visit the end-game instances that Blizzard has spent so much time and money on. There would be no incentive.
There is information from within the company that there are two more expansion packs in the works, and that they will be released within a fairly short time period after the Burning Crusade (like six months apart) so that players will keep progressing with new content quickly and not get bored. However, they will not be as large as BC in terms of content, but will offer increases in the level cap, etc.
At some point, if Blizzard wants to continue to Warcraft game line, then WoW will naturally "transition" into whatever new Warcraft comes out. The storyline will effectively end, and you'll go out and spend another $49.95 on whatever is next and transition to that, leaving your WoW stuff behind. Just like the storyline continued from Warcraft I, II, and III - and between Diablo I and II - so it will for Warcraft. What type of game the next Warcraft title will be is anyone's guess right now, of course.
bliSSter Aug 4th 2006 4:52PM
I don't buy it J. There are PLENTY of other items, in the game now, or that could be created, that could keep players going through the zones: Weapons, trinkets, recipes, larger amounts of gold, geams, etc. Materials alone that could feed the crafters could be drops from the zones, just tweak percentages. What if the elementals in BRD had a chance to drop Fiery Cores or Lava Cores? They're still elementals so why not? These materials could be used to craft some decent items that would help new guilds get through the Molten Core zone, for instance. As it stands now, the only way to get these materials is to go through the zone itself.
The only reason that people buy into the "it won't work" idea is because that isn't how the game is built right now. It isn't what players are used to. If it were the case that you could travel into Molten Core, or BWL, or wherever with only 10 players, and it had been that way from the beginning, would it seem insane? No, because that is what the model for WoW would have been. There is no reason that any player's measuring stick would use the existing model for judging whether this is feasible because they wouldn't even think this way. The current model wouldn't be the current model. Would be no different if crafters could create the best items in the game.
You don't believe it would work because you're used to running zones that give you better gear. The result of the game shouldn’t be to simply get better gear, there should be more incentive than that. And the game SHOULD cater to a larger variety of playstyles, up-to-and-including if someone wants to spend all of their time making armor or food or whatever. If I follow your line of reasoning, what reason do any of us have to continue doing anything in the game until the expansion is released? It's already been posted by Blizzard CMs that Tier 3 gear will be replaced with level 70 gear. All I have to do is purchase the expansion and follow the logical conclusion of the game by leveling my character to 70 and I’ll have better gear than the best in the game currently.
The game gets so much right from levels 1-60, it’s just a shame that it’s not deeper at the current top levels.