Getting complaints in early
by Mike Schramm 
Aug 6th 2007 at 4:01PM
I love this post on the EU forums: Ahjua complains that as a casual player, it would take him months to grind the items, find the groups, and get the gear necessary to unlock the new Death Knight hero class. With a social life that only lets him play a few hours a night, he'll never get it all done!Whoops, except that the quest itself hasn't even been invented by Blizzard yet. They haven't said that it requires rep, or gear, or running instances, or really anything at all. We know absolutely nothing about it, and yet this guy feels the need to complain that it's already too hard.
Hopefully, he's just joking (if not, maybe he's just misinformed). But just as I've asked for patience on the PTRs, it's important to realize that everything we heard about this weekend is a long, long way off. In fact, I almost wonder why Blizzard released it so early-- if they've got Zul'Aman, voice chat and guild banks, another raid instance (probably the Sunwell), and maybe even another 5 man coming out before the expansion, why are they trying to get us all excited about Wrath of the Lich King? It's OK to be excited about the new expansion (I am), but it's not OK to pass final judgement on something that hasn't even been created yet. Let Blizzard do their thing, and then when we know details about the quest and what it actually entails-- then it'll be completely fine to complain that it's too hard for casuals.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Humor, BlizzCon, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Argent Aug 6th 2007 4:06PM
sheesh. the only comment i saw was that's about on par with the lvl 60 warlock mount quest, which was only moderately more challenging than the lvl 60 paladin mount quest (the latter being WAY more pricey back when the pristine diamonds were super-rare.)
by comparing it to a quest chain that a 5 man group could complete in an afternoon doesn't exactly make me wanna scream 'the sky is falling!'.
Dan Aug 6th 2007 4:19PM
I have a friend who's been playing for at least a year, and he hasn't even gotten to 60, much less 70 or 80. So I could maybe see a valid complaint that, for someone starting fresh, getting to the level cap is getting harder and harder with each expansion. It will now take many hundreds of hours to get to 80. Even the speed gamers won't be able to do it in under 200 hours. And Blizzard isn't doing anything (that they've told us about yet) to improve the mid-game experience.
They keep saying they want to focus on new content, which I can understand to some extend, but at what point are they going to start listening to their customers? There are a lot of people out there who will never reach end game but who will happily keep paying to play a good game. Blizz needs to give the 20-60 areas a little bit of love.
BrandonBa2 Aug 6th 2007 4:18PM
My biggest problem with raiding and a majority of the content is the fact all you do is get new gear. Now before anyone yells "That's what MMOs main thing is", yes I realize that. It's running the same thing over and over hours at a time for a piece of text. Having class unlockable from raiding wouldn't bother me at all. In fact I would start raiding if it was for a class, it gives me more content and something other then some stats for a reward :)
KaonNemesis Aug 6th 2007 4:27PM
This is the problem with Hero Classes... the majority of players want them and when they finally get them they start complaining endlessly about how they're "not powerful enough". You end up seeing too many people playing them, likely too many sucking, way too much complaining. I'm expecting this to be especially true with DK's because they're the only Hero Class being added atm. It probably wouldn't be so bad if they added like 2 or 3...
I came away from this scene in SWG and their completely idioic implementation of Jedi with complete disgust. I'll be watching very closely how well Blizz handles this in WoW...
Levi Aug 6th 2007 4:36PM
A quest that unlocks a new class that can now be rolled starting at a high level... and it will probably be difficult?! That's ridiculous!! Why can't Blizzard just let you hit 80, talk to a guy, and then roll a level 80 death knight with tier 10 armor and everything else being best in slot items so casuals have a chance?!
Michel Aug 6th 2007 4:38PM
I'm not complaining. I'm looking forward to have the finished product before to complain.
and , it's a good thing, to unlock death knight we won't need to do raid. it's fine.
Quixote Aug 6th 2007 4:42PM
@3
While Kaplan himself did say that there were no plans to go back and retrofit or add new 20-60 content, he ALSO said that they were not happy with the mid-game level progression and that they would in fact address that in the "near future". Leveling 1-60, will in fact get some kind of bump.
So while there are no plans to add more content at those levels there are in fact looking into making level progression faster in the earlier parts of the game pre-BC. So don't fret, they are in fact listening and trying to address it. They want to focus on new content but that doesn't mean they want people stuck there in it for long.
Zinkadoo Aug 6th 2007 11:04PM
I'm pretty sure that the guy is just saying that WoW is getting worse and worse for casual or new players. I for one only have two characters both at 25, and it's gotten really, really boring. Not only that, but with the new cap and new content, now it will take a lot longer to get to the fun stuff that everyone else is doing, plus it'll cost a lot more money because I'll probably have to buy both expansion packs.
Eldiablohijo Aug 6th 2007 4:47PM
One of the prominent phrases durin the Starcraft 2 Art Panel was "This Week".
I'd expect the same goes with WoTLK too, anything that is released is as it is "This Week" and has the chance of being different next week.
So nothing's done till it's shipped.
Murdamook Aug 6th 2007 4:54PM
Lol always someone on the forums wants to make a spectacle of things. It will not be so bad even if you have a life you can still get lvls and do contetnt i hardly play WoW and i get things done more then someone who would play all day. It's called being focused and making a schedule.
Rizel Aug 6th 2007 5:22PM
can't these kind of idiots go to some Gold-farmer site and buy their characters or just find some powerleveling guide and play a few nights in a row.
It's possible to be 70 in 1 month if you do quests a few hours a day.
My shaman is at lvl 53 now and from 52 to 53 it took me maybe 3 hours or so.... on a decent pace.
Scruffy Aug 6th 2007 5:08PM
10% boost in experience between 20-58 would be good. Doesn't need more quests (though that'd be nice, too) but taking the edge out of old content to bring the exp curve to the Outlands and Northrend would be nice and and friendly to newbies and alts alike.
Lower mat requirements for old craftables or up the droprates on said mats. A lot of the old gear takes way too much to make despite being immensely inferior to basic Outlands stuff.
Increase rep gains for old factions. It'd be nice if old endgame content was recycled a bit to fit in with all the new dungeons in exp/gear progression. Argent Dawn for Naxx, Cenarion Circle for AQ, whateverthatfactionis for MC....
More heroics? Old dungeons get tuned for +20 level characters from minimum, normal run level. Outlands can stay how they are.
Ben Aug 6th 2007 5:20PM
No surprise there. If you post it, they will kvetch.
I think this may be why so much information was squelched (i.e. disabled features in the demo). In reading the coverage, there was a consistent assumption that something that wasn't being shown live wasn't done (at times implied that it wasn't even started). For example, the live demo didn't showcase the new talents, abilities, or any drops. Does this mean the code isn't there AT ALL? I doubt it.
Think about the noteworthy absences. We got no hard facts regarding:
-new damage output levels
-new economy scaling
-new XP curve
-class specific abilities
-the specific way Death Knights will play out
Now, imagine the forums. Imagine the fansites. Imagine what would happen if we had a single screenshot of, say, the new Warrior Fury tree.
We don't have to imagine. Blizz has released piecemeal information before and it was a PR disaster. The forums, the fansites, the journalism sites, guild vent channels... the game community went berserk every time a detail was released out of context.
I think what we saw at this Blizcon was the product of a sage realization: most of the people who feel compelled to comment on the game as a whole are absolutely bonkers, and giving them a single detail that isn't counterbalanced by all the OTHER pertinent information is like shark diving with a steak in your shorts.
Even with the limited information that HAS been made available, the official forums are a mess. The Paladin forums are sharply divided between "DK = no more ret?" and "If U Roll Deathknight Ur a Traitor". I've lost count of how many threads I've seen about how Deathknights will make rogues useless. The warrior forums are just as bad. All this from 4 seconds of footage and the announcement that this class will EXIST, with little information about what it does.
Now, imagine if we had a screenshot of one of the Death Knight talent trees, complete with a 51 point talent. Imagine we don't have other trees to compare it to.
Tremble.
Rich Aug 6th 2007 5:22PM
They said the DK was going to be a quest on par with the Warlock Epic Mount quest... So its being be more a pain in the ass then anything, cost a ton of gold, requires stupid mat requirements and then finally a 5 man into an instance. I can deal with that.
If it requires daily quests, trips into raids or having exalted with like 6 different groups, they can kiss my ass. LOL
As for mid-level content, jacking xp rewards (mobs and quests) by 10%-20%, reducing the mat costs of crafted items(especially in the 250-300 skill range) and up'ing the drop rates of "go kill X and bring me back X Somethings" somethings would all go a long way to making leveling an alt less of a bitch after having leveled in the Outlands and seeing how nice that was.
Ben Aug 6th 2007 5:32PM
On Death Knights, I'm crossing my fingers. I'm hoping that the associated quests are difficult but approachable. More, I'm hoping that the class itself is so debilitatingly difficult to play efficiently that most of the "DethLorrd" kiddies abandon it within a week.
The rune system sounds complicated. Complicated makes me happy in pants.
Pingmeister Aug 6th 2007 5:46PM
I'm sure the only reason they announced the add-on so early is to keep a few subscribers interested.
In other words:
"Oh, that's IT! I quit this stupid game...hey, shiny!"
nirikun Aug 6th 2007 7:22PM
In line with post #11, Blizzard is dang smart not to release a lot of information. WoW fans, like any set of fans, are a fickle, hypocritical, whiny set of kids that likes to complain about every last thing. Maybe because they think complaining is fun. Or their life sucks. Whatever.
Thank you for saying this, WoW Insider. We have practically no concrete information on the expansion, only general concepts and things like that. We won't see the expansion until a good ways into next year, but people love pronouncing doom, even if it doesn't make any sense. Just WAIT for real information before you decide to hate or love it.
If you want cheap entertainment, visit the official forums of any game site. It's great to see all the illogic flying around. You can almost breathe it in and feel it suffocate your lungs.
Of course that *could* just be you laughing so hard...
Benor Aug 6th 2007 10:26PM
As far as the complainers are concerned, getting in their shots now is a win-win situation. If any of their negative predictions are right, then they're prescient, and can claim some geek credit with their fellow WoW-playing friends. If they're wrong, then by getting them in now, they can claim they were part of the reason that Wrath of the Lich King was good, because their predictions made Blizzard realize a potential problem.
That's enough of a reason for some to whine and moan this early.
Dan Aug 6th 2007 8:30PM
Please speak for yourself, #16. Don't let the vocal few sway your opinion.
dka Aug 7th 2007 6:28AM
DK reminds me of DL (dark lord) on mu online.
when reached a certain lvl is attainable.