Why the expansion isn't revolutionary (and why it shouldn't be)
by David Bowers 
Aug 7th 2007 at 9:09AM
Big announcements (at events like BlizzCon) about expansions (like Wrath of the Lich King) always bring up the question of whether the planned updates to the game are any good or not. If it were just a regular patch people might complain about a particular buff or nerf, or lament that they have no chance or desire to see a particular new dungeon, but no one would expect a mere patch to totally revolutionize the MMO genre.Expansions though, for some people, are supposed to be the thing that doesn't just expand the game, but changes the face of the entire gaming world. "More of the same" is just not good enough for them. But as much as I, too, would love to see more innovation in MMO gaming, and even World of Warcraft in particular, I have to tell you, folks, Blizzard is made of mere mortals and some of you may be setting your expectations a bit too high.
No WoW expansion can ever totally revolutionize the MMO genre, because at this point the genre is mostly WoW. While there are, of course, other games out there, WoW is the current MMO superpower, with a population larger than some countries of the world -- it defines the standard upon which to improve. To "revolutionize" the genre, you'd need a different, better game, because for WoW to change too drastically would mean turning the game into something other than what it is: replacing the current game with entirely different mechanics, ways of playing, even reasons for playing altogether. Expecting WoW to become something other than what it is unfair, even if that were to be an improvement, because then it wouldn't be WoW anymore. It could also be a financial disaster to keep the name but change the game, as the fiasco with Star Wars Galaxies proved (read up here to find out how their "revolutionary" New Game Enhancements turned out).
I could turn this post around and ask you, "okay, so if you want new revolutionary gameplay, what would it be?" but the fact is that none of us (or very few anyway) are professional game designers, and we're likely to submit our cherished opinion without realizing the flaws that may make it unworkable or very unpopular. As a blogger who has now and again posted an idea I thought was innovative, I've seen a number of people shoot it to shreds and show me that it might not work as well as I thought, or help me realize maybe that aspect of the game is just fine the way it is.
At some point, many WoW players make a turnaround in our view of the game. We admit that we may have started out playing because it's innovative or revolutionary, but now we play it because it's fun and rewarding to us -- We may need to stop for a while now and then, but we keep coming back because to us it feels "classic," not "old and done with". So "more of the same" from Blizzard is a good thing in this case. Just like when you keep reading your favorite author, or eating at your favorite restaurant, or even hanging out with your best friend: you hope they will develop and expand what is already good in them, but never ever change the core, because the core is what you really love, and everything else just adds to it.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Expansions, BlizzCon, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Candace Aug 7th 2007 9:20AM
I agree completely!!
FireStar Aug 7th 2007 9:20AM
I'm not sure what was so revolutionary about the game at first. All it did was take all of the great aspects from all other MMORPGs and put them together. That's not a revolution. Please help me in explaining to me how WoW was revolutionary over other MMORPGs.
moghue Aug 7th 2007 9:25AM
they didnt put everything together they made u a hero of warcraft. after arthas died what was left of the world of azeroth, peace, what happened was a continue of attacks, thus we joined the battle from the 4 corners of azeroth t obattle against the things that threatened us most.
Erica Olson Aug 7th 2007 9:31AM
No revolution. Just same old, same old. Kill X and bring me Y. Same as MMORPGs have been from the get-go. Just better graphics.
Even TBC wasn't "new" content. Boars are boars no matter what their skin is. The keep layouts are still the same. Still rep to grind and mats to farm, nothing new there. Sure, new instances, but once again, same old trying to get a PUG to do them. Same old guilds snobby aobut who they'll accept because one isn't specced just right or have the "accepted" class/gear.
Just something to do until the next game comes out.
Todd Aug 7th 2007 9:31AM
I personally think it is too soon for another expansion. People are still learning end-game content. Once the new expansion comes out, everyone will simply drop what they're doing in Outland and rush out to Northrend.
FireStar Aug 7th 2007 9:35AM
@5 raising the level cap is definitely going to do that. What i learned in BC is how much more gold you get from questing. What im going to do to get ready for the expansion is to just get as many characters as i can to 70 before then. When the expansion comes out, i'll have 4 or 5 guys to quest through and i'll be rich ^^.
james Aug 7th 2007 4:03PM
I agree with #5 totally, it's entirely too early for another expansion. Most "raiding" guilds haven't even seen all the end game content BC has to offer.
slayerboy Aug 7th 2007 9:50AM
For myself, I avoided playing WoW for over a year and a half, despite friends nagging me to join. $15/month for a stupid game? At the time I thought it was stupid. I'm now a little less than 6 months from my join date (minus the time I missed because I had to upgrade my video card), and I must say WoW still has yet to not amaze me on almost a daily basis.
I'm not what you would call a gamer, and I think this game appeals to gamers and non-gamers alike because it's so easy to learn the basics, but hard to master. I also knew about Warcraft from seeing the games in stores and hearing people talk about how great they are. I'd say probably the last game I really liked before WoW was Doom and Heretic, and those were shareware and I never could justify the cost of buying a game.
The thing that keeps me in the game is exploring the world, and learning about the lore. I also like the idea that if I wanted to know more about the lore, I can read a lot of books about it! It also helps that it got to the point where I got sick of hearing people exclaim how awesome the game is, so I had to try it.
LotR, SWG, they have their own lore, but there is something about Warcraft that just fascinates me. Maybe it's because I saw the hype of Warcraft III when it came out (I used to work at a computer retail store). I remember the "Work, Work" said by the Peons from watching friends play the old warcraft games.
I look at new MMO's like Fury and Warhammer and I don't see what the big deal is. I can't conceive of any other franchise doing anythign better, mainly because I KNOW how respectable Blizz is and how good their games are.
Blizz isn't a company that mass-produces games. They have three franchise games in Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. All of which have cult-like followings. Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem, Civilization....yeah, they all have cult followings, but IMHO nothing like Blizz games. Mainly because it used to seem like Blizz died under a rock before they released a new version of a game and that created even more (true) hype about their games. I can't say that I like Quake, Doom, or Duke Nukem after their first release because it seemed boring. Civ, well they messed up on Civ III IMHO, besides that game doesn't cater to everyone like Warcraft does.
I honestly don't think you'll see anything better than WoW for years to come, and I only hope that Blizz stays true to what they've always been and not release things until they're ready and will do nothing less than amaze anyone who plays the game/xpac while staying true to the lore of their games. No matter how much their customer service department might suck to some people.
I trust Blizz to do the right thing with the next Xpac, and future ones, because for the most part I haven't seen them fail yet. Mistakes and bugs will happen, but they are easily fixed. EQII and SWG, greed got in the way.
Dave Aug 7th 2007 9:50AM
I absolutely disagree.
Once you've got the established part of the game in place, something that everyone has to spend time doing regardless of when they start the game, the expansion gives the game a chance to correct anything that isn't great about it (and there's plenty of that) as well as add on interesting new developments in the world of MMO's that have happened since the original development cycle.
Balancing changes and new concepts on another tier of game and gameplay isn't impossible, unprecedented or really even unexpected. Staying the course and just pumping out more of the exact same thing is... boring. Is the only thing left for the next expansion after this one 10 more levels of characters (won't your new pals LOVE to have to spent 4-5 months playing through NINETY levels just to go raid Sargaeras Nursery?) some new profession recipes and a battleground or two?
It doesn't have to be stupid absurd changes like SWG, which did those changes because people were leaving rather than because it was the most popular game around. At some point WoW HAS to nudge people in a different direction. I was hoping it was going to happen with the Hero classes, but I think they're going to be a lot more unimpressive than people thing, because they're too afraid of changing things significantly enough because of things like this post and the fact that a large amount of people fear change.
Rahul Aug 7th 2007 9:54AM
Good post!
Douglas Aug 7th 2007 9:57AM
A lot of people are saying "too early for expansion" but we don't even have a release date for Wrath yet. Weren't people at Blizzcon predicting 2009?
KaonNemesis Aug 7th 2007 9:59AM
I agree with you to some extent, but I still think expansions should offer something "new" to the game, not just bucket loads of "more-of-the-same". The increase from 60-70, flying mounts, and more thought to the reputation and dungeon systems was a great addition for the first expansion in BC. However, throwing out another expansion with the same basic premise is a little bit cheap, imo. The Hero Class is a very cool thing, but not enough with only one of them being added for the expansion.
I also heavily disagree with Blizzard's current goal of a new expansion per year. To me that just sounds like shovel-ware: the quest for more money, especially if they're going to make them so formulaic as this. Given Blizz's past commitment to quality and fun I would think that each expansion should be at least two years apart AND offer us something new to the game, not just "more of the same".
BTW, it's funny that you mentioned SWG. Their first expansion, "Jump to Lightspeed", was one of the best examples of how to do an expansion right imho (besides the massive amounts of bugs). It added so much to the game without severly impacting players' current accomplishments, while giving them new goals to go for. In fact, if there's one thing I miss from that game it was the awesome JtL portion of the game (flying with your wing-mates, massive space battles, the upgrade/droid system, and just chilling onboard your yacht/falcon).
MeepZero Aug 9th 2007 12:48PM
In my opinion, I think blizzard is getting ready for big changes. Sure hero classes don't seem like they are going to be amazing and overpowered, but its a fresh change that makes you unique in Azeroth, which for many folks is more than enough to drive them along. On top of this you have the added difficulty of using the new system or whatever with these new heroic classes. Also look at the world BG that they are developing, the idea of siege weapons and destructible buildings is a huge step to try something new.
Its all about baby steps. Tiny steps to see what new things could potentially work, or what gets ignored or flamed.
braydn Aug 7th 2007 12:06PM
i don't know what everyone is worrying about, the expansion won't be out for at least another year or year&ahalf, so by then most guilds will be in the tier 5 content, a large amount of people won't et to tier 6, but it won't matter by then anyway. i think the new expansion is awesome from what has been released about it so far, and more info on it will come over the next 6 months as well. i can hardly wait...
braydn Aug 7th 2007 10:07AM
i don't know what everyone is worrying about, the expansion won't be out for at least another year or year&ahalf, so by then most guilds will be in the tier 5 content, a large amount of people won't et to tier 6, but it won't matter by then anyway. i think the new expansion is awesome from what has been released about it so far, and more info on it will come over the next 6 months as well. i can hardly wait...
daniel Aug 7th 2007 10:09AM
it's too early right now, but wasn't TBC announced about a year before its release? i have to admit that the biggest problem i have with wow expansions is that in an instant, all the epic gear you've worked really really hard for are suddenly worth shit. so they better make it worth while to continue to farm epics at 80.
Luis D. Aug 7th 2007 10:09AM
Why do people keep saying it's too soon for an expansion? A release date hasn't even been announced! Wasn't TBC shown at Blizzcon 2005? And that was held over year before TBC launched. Lighten up guys.
Ghen Aug 7th 2007 10:14AM
Alot of comments at blizzcon noted that WotLK will be very similar in terms of content to the current expansion. The area to explore will be similar, the race to 80 will be similar, the dungeons released will be on a similar pacing... etc etc. So instead of Jewelcrafting we get Inscriptions, and instead of paladins/shamans we get a death knight. Whoopee.
Thats why I've started calling this expansion The Frozen Crusade.
Paw Aug 7th 2007 10:14AM
I think that one new class, regardless of heroic intent, is a patch update. Expansions should expand the game beyond a few mb of download. 5 new hero classes and a handful of professions. Double the map. Double the material. Update the graphics across the board. These are expansion-level items. One class, one instance, one island...not expansion quantity additions.
I guess since we only have the rudimentary basic info...ie: There is an expansion coming...here's the name...here's some tease... we really have no idea what is truly going to be on the disk until we install it.
Incendo Aug 7th 2007 10:18AM
Here's a thought, fix the glaring problems BC created with the core before taking those things further and introducing things onto what's becoming a weakened foundation.