We worried about this way back before patch 2.3, but now that almost everyone has gotten a chance to experience all the changes to the UI, we'll check in on what you think: did putting a glow around interactive items -- and in some cases, actual exclamation points above inanimate objects -- dumb the game down?

Makabriel thinks so -- a quest in Dustwallow that used to revolve around the player finding hidden clues now has all the clues glowing with exclamation points above them. And I've seen some pretty nutty examples ingame, too -- while, yes, before it was annoying to have to re-search an instance for a little thing to click on, nowadays it seems almost so obvious that there's no game in it at all. Of course, I still do use the various resources online to find out-of-the-way mobs (those still don't glow), but item-finding isn't even a challenge any more.

Of course, this isn't World of Findcraft -- the real game is in fighting creatures and increasing your character's stats and abilities. No one raved about finding little clickable objects in the first reviews, so why shouldn't Blizzard take that part out of the challenge? What do you think: is the game dumbed down too much, or do the glowing clickable items let you focus on finding the real fun in Azeroth?

Tags: dumbing-down, dustwallow, exclamation-points, glow, items, mankirks-wife, world-of-findcraft

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Walkthroughs, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics, Quests, NPCs