Mike's final BlizzCon impressions
by Mike Schramm 
Aug 6th 2007 at 2:00PM
Well, these aren't really final, of course, as we're going to be discussing and responding to what we saw at BlizzCon all the way up until Wrath of the Lich King releases. But BlizzCon was definitely a crazy experience, so each of us WoW Insider staffers there are going to write up our own personal impressions for you, both about what we saw and what we didn't see there. And please share yours in the comments below.Most Enjoyable: I really enjoyed the L70ETC concert, actually-- I wasn't quite sure what they would be, but in terms of the live entertainment, Samwise and his band were the best thing going. Yelling "for the Horde" and booing Rogues (who "do it from behind," of course) was great fun. In terms of the events, all the Blizzard guys were entertaining, but Jeff Kaplan was my favorite-- every event he showed up at, he really proved he'd been reading the forums and knew what players were interested in. The Molten Core (as designed by you and 8,999,999 others) was terrific, and while Metzen definitely has a clue, too ("im the lich king lol" is an instant classic), Kaplan was on top of his game all weekend. Oh, and of course the WoW Insider meetup was a big highlight as well-- every single reader I met was awesome.
Least Enjoyable: Waiting in line for passes on Thursday evening was really the only waiting I did all weekend. It was horribly designed-- there were about 30 lines split up by last name, but those lines all got mixed up, and you couldn't see where one started, so you had to cut across lines if you were in the wrong one. They were also mind-numbingly slow, so that definitely could have been done better. Also, we said Jay Mohr was a strange choice, and we were right-- while he did as good a job as he could (he was funnier than I expected), his time on stage alone was mostly just awkward, as the forum trolls ripped him apart. Next time, let's get a comedian who's at least played Warcraft, rather than just seen the South Park episode.
What I was most excited about and most disappointed about at BlizzCon after the jump...
Most Excited About: Well, a new expansion is pretty exciting! Very excited to see more Warcraft III faces and places, including Arthas (duh), Northrend, Azjol-Nerub, siege weapons, and Tuskarr (which are just one step away from Pandaren). Looking forward to seeing what the non-instanced PvP in Lake Wintergrasp and elsewhere is going to be like. Love the news that new 5mans are coming, and especially happy to hear that Shaman CC is closer than ever. And while I wasn't excited about Starcraft II before I went to Anaheim, I'm actually planning to buy it after messing around with the single player campaign. May still wait to see what the Zerg look like, though.
Most Disappointed About: We got every indication that Blizzard doesn't think midlevel content is a priority, and that saddens me a lot. There are a ton of players, I think, who want that, and yet Blizz is content to say things like the old instances and the old world have "had it's time, it's fun, and now we're moving on to new stuff." Boo to that. New stuff is fine, and I'll keep playing, but to let 1-60 rot away is a mistake, and simply "making it faster" is not what I mean. Also, while I was excited to see a hero class, I was disappointed to hear that the Death Knight is the only Hero class in this expansion-- of all the hero classes in Warcraft III, I think the Death Knight was the one I'd least want to play (well, except for the Paladin, but we already know how much I hate those). Let me know when I can play as a Mountain King or a Blademaster, and then we'll be talking.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Insider Business, Odds and ends, Blizzard, BlizzCon, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kbanas Aug 6th 2007 2:15PM
Great that the only line you had to stand in was for your badge... However, back down on Earth with the little people there were lines. Long lines. For everything.
james Aug 6th 2007 2:42PM
Shaman CC? And paladins are still left in the dark on this one. When are they going to fix retri, when is retri going to get some form of CC or something to make it more valuable in 5-mans and raids.
james Aug 6th 2007 2:44PM
Shaman CC? When's paladins going to get some form of CC? When is retri going to be fixed? I'm not even a ret paladin i'm holy but still... it's seriously broken.
Sarah Aug 6th 2007 3:06PM
I'm upset about the 1-60 content not being upgraded. I just started playing WoW in January and have yet to get a character above 50. I bought burning crusade to have the Draenei and Blood elf options, and actually prefer their starting area over anyone elses. But I have no excitement at all over this next expansion, hell I haven't even got to Outlands yet. The mid-level content kills it for me, sooo boring and you have to travel all over heck and back to level at all. I'm not sure I'm going to be playing WoW long enough to buy this next expansion, I feel as a new player I can't possibly play enough catch up.
Lori Aug 6th 2007 3:28PM
"I was disappointed to hear that the Death Knight is the only Hero class in this expansion"
I expect Blizz will try very hard to release other hero classes before many players get to lvl 80 in WotLK.
Concerning new mid-level, perhaps Blizz believes they are reaching their max on new players and the only ones that would notice new mid-level are altoholics. Wouldn't faster progression from 1 to 60 satisfy them just as well?
Orin Aug 6th 2007 3:32PM
I'm in the process of starting a new character, but I think he may be stuck at 20 once I get out of the new Draenai zones. I don't really want to visit Azeroth again for the 20-60 content that I've done 3 times over now already...
twh Aug 6th 2007 3:37PM
Way to be a jerk about the only class that got laughed at during the class panel. We got boo'ed, but so did the locks, and justifiably so.
VegasHorde Aug 6th 2007 3:40PM
I thought that they would be selling a shirt that said, "I survived the queues at BlizzCon 2007!"...
...but I was unable to find one.
Evolsi Aug 6th 2007 4:28PM
About Jay Mohr,
"Also, we said Jay Mohr was a strange choice, and we were right-- while he did as good a job as he could (he was funnier than I expected), his time on stage alone was mostly just awkward, as the forum trolls ripped him apart. Next time, let's get a comedian who's at least played Warcraft, rather than just seen the South Park episode."
Well to the author of this post, its called BLIZZCON, not WARCRAFTCON.
KaonNemesis Aug 6th 2007 4:40PM
I was disappointed that they're not going to make flying mounts work in Azeroth any time soon. They've been saying for a while now that the grpahic models just don't support it, but they've also been saying for a long time that they're going to need to upgrade the game's overall graphics at some point. I was hoping this was going to happen sooner rather than later. In all honesty, as much as I like the WoW style, the graphics are starting to look rather dated. Oh well, maybe in WoW II...
I am really excited about it but I've got lots of complaints about the expansion too, but it's really too early to get into those. I'll wait to see how things pan out over the coming months. I'm really upset about Inscriptions though (and the additional layer of upgrading that it brings)... really, what the game needs is Woodworking (arrows, poles, bows/crossbows, etc). It's so obvious that it hurts. It would really fit in with Northrend too, lots of forests it looks like from what we've seen so far and the strong Viking/Norse mythology overtones.
rick gregory Aug 6th 2007 6:22PM
Ok... I'll bite... the 1-60 content attracted millions of players. What's so bad about it? Yes, if you're levelling your 5th alt it sucks... but the introduction of hero classes gives you a way out of that... hit 80, do the quest, get a new toon at a high level.
I'm NOT saying that Azeroth is perfect but if you want truly new content (not just a handful of quests and some XP adjustments), then you're saying to everyone who *isn't* an altoholic has to wait for new content because of the people who are.
Look, I continually hear two totally contradictory things about Azeroth:
1) There are a ton of people who want new content in the mid levels.
2) You can't ever find groups for the mid level instances since Azeroth is deserted.
You can't have it both ways - if there are so many people in the midlevels, you should be able to find groups easily. If you can't it's an indication that there aren't that many people at those levels. In which case, why devote resources there?
Niekon Aug 6th 2007 7:05PM
Dislikes:
the disorganized lines for badges on Thursday afternoon/evening. I ended up leaving after waiting for an hour and not moving... and came back a few hours later on our way to the WoWInsider meet to have absolutely no lines at all.
The lack of anyone really knowing what the hell was going on. Friday morning and the doors to the hall opened... and there was a huge line already for Blizzard merch. But where were the order forms? Ended up finding a lot of them over in Hall B where that line was long, but not as long.
The closing concert... when in the hell did it become limited seating? I know I was shocked when I heard "limited seating" during the opening. And even pissed as my wife and I refused to have to wait in a line that snaked all around Hall A in order to see a concert that was part of the $100 package.
Sorry Blizzard... you make great games but you suck at the logistics of a con. AX managed to pack 20k people into an area in the same convention center... and you had how many people in attendance?
Sorry, but next time I'll think before plopping down the money for the next one...
Likes:
this was the first time in a long time that I didn't feel that I had to be rushing around constantly. Only certain panels appealed to me... and thankfully I was lucky enough to have my brother saving us seats for certain panels.
the time I got to spend with my wife... again, we are both working late hours... her having odd hours being employed by the Mouse. This was the first time was could sit down for a meal and not feel rushed. Ate at both the Hilton and Marriott and got to experience some of the chefs takes on certain dishes that I might not have thought of doing.
I got to chat up a few people and discuss my boomkin ways... respec? Never!!!!
Bobby Hansen Aug 6th 2007 10:18PM
rick gregory: I have two main characters - one is 62, one is 21. I have no desire to go back, and stare at Stalvan, Stitches, Stockades and Van Cleef again just to get to Interesting content.
Now let me say - at that level of play, just leveling, and basic instances (VC, SM, Stocks) I don't find lots of problems, either in finding groups or high-level runners on my server.
But the things people spent months working on - AQ, Naxx, Oynxia, ect these are vacant.
I prefer to think there's a good reason - the content wasn't that good. People just ran it because it was the highest level stuff they could run and had the best stuff - not because they actually liked it. I know people who love Deadmines, who are high enough to solo it just go back because it's fun and relativity profitable to run people
A refresh to Mid-range content would be appreciated by all. Personally, I'd be happy with a few new quests and increased XP/Gold.
khaosworks Aug 6th 2007 11:11PM
@11: I think it's a "If you build it, they will come," kind of situation. Blizz needs to put in the midlevel content to attract people, not the other way around.
rick gregory Aug 7th 2007 12:20AM
13 and 14 - sorry, but I still don't see it.
@Bobby... why would you go back to those thing? You're 62 is obviously past those things... your 21 is an alt - should Blizz make a wordl complex enough that you can create several alts and see only new content each time? That would be a massive investment. As far as AQ, ZG, Naxx and the rest... 1) they're not midlevel, they're high, and 2) so don't run them - what's the big deal? AQ, Naxx and the rest are vacant because there's no longer a good reason to run them from a progression POV... So? I'm not sure of your point here.
@14 - Blizz built it and millions already came. They're attracting north of 150,000 per month STILL. I just don't see how anything is broken. remember you and I know the content well... but to new players it's NEW. They don't need it refreshed since they have never seen it before.
Varus Aug 7th 2007 4:01AM
I've been wishing for new 20-60 content for quite a while, but let me clarify:
- 1-60 Rocked the first time I did it and I can't see why it shouldn't equally rock now for anyone new just starting with the game.
- I'd like to see questlines cleaned up a bit. The travelling around the world to pick up quests is tiresome the 6th time around (ok I was tiresome the 5th time as well).
- Some new quests added. Nothing major, just some new things here and there would make a big difference. Mostly cosmetics, but adding some more story wouldn't hurt.
- Review of some of the quest rewards. Compared to Outland (where quest rewards mostly make sense and you have rewards for class/spec) it would be nice to have more choices when it comes to rewards.
- Perhaps slight XP boost during 20-60 for those who have one +60 character on their account.
That's about it. Nothing major really, no new huge instances or areas, Azeroth is quite fine as it is and a small team of devs could just go through it and "re-tune" things a bit.
Lividias Aug 7th 2007 7:59AM
Some players seem to be obsessed with advancement so don't understand why anyone would want to go back to Azeroth when there is no 'material' gain. However, I am sure most are after fun and enjoy the atmosphere and community of the game.
I'd love to go back more - I missed a lot of it on my main character. As has been mentioned, its now difficult to find anyone to do ZG, NX or AQ which I pretty much missed out on.
I think Blizz could massively extend the life of Azeroth by having 5/10 man and heroic versions of old dungeons. Updates to allow flying mounts would also encourage level 70's back just for fun.
They should add high level content across the map, not just to new zones (e.g. Karazhan). I personally would rather be encouraged to revisit old zones than staying in Outland all the time until it becomes stale.
Kaylek Aug 7th 2007 9:01AM
@13
Have you played Ony/MC/BWL/AQ/Naxx at any point before? I'm gonna call raid ignorance on this one. The content was hard, but extremely fun and rewarding. So long as you knew the players next to you were putting in their best effort, a better feeling in-game doesn't exist than when you down a boss and see that purple you've been waiting for.
Raid dungeons are really, really fun.
Mid-level content was fun the first time. Then it just got annoying. It's simple and mindless, which is fine when you're learning your class or the game for the first time. Then it's onto the real content at max level.
Level up and get into a guild that does more than farm Kara and 5-mans all week. There's a whole new game out there you've never tasted.
Kingfox Aug 7th 2007 11:54AM
Agreed on Molten Core 2.0 being the best part, and the line on Thursday being the worst. Other guildies of mine were able to get their badges and swag just about immediately, while those of us with S last names had to sit on line for an hour.
Juliah Aug 20th 2007 5:08PM
I agree with you that they shouldn't leave the 1-60 content to rot. Update it, Blizzard! There are those of us who spend tons of money on your game because we have to have one of each class. You want us to keep spending money, right?