Last Week on Massively: WoW-related stories
by Michael Zenke 
Jan 27th 2009 at 9:00AM
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TNT's Leverage is 'For the Horde' I love Leverage. The show is appealing on a number of levels, but the producers obviously know the demographic one of its characters attracts. The man in the snazzy suit above is Aldis Hodge, playing the part of Alec Hardison - resident geek and computer/technology expert. And, apparently, a member of World of Warcraft's Horde. |
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The Lich King's casual decree: No geek left behind? Has Blizzard has adopted a "No Geek Left Behind" policy with WotLK? Has Blizzard made WoW so easy that it has diminished any real sense of risk, reward, or adventure? The casuals are left without any sense of awe inspired by the unattainable and the hardcores will burn through the content so quickly Blizzard may find it difficult to keep up with them. |
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The race to 80 in Wrath of the Lich King analyzed The dust has had time to settle over Azeroth since the launch of World of Warcraft's latest expansion Wrath of the Lich King, and most semi-active players who stick to a main character will probably have hit the new level cap of 80. |
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Behind the Curtain: What keeps you going? This week, I have been mostly killing Baron Rivendare. I'm now sitting with 65 kills under my belt, with no Deathcharger to show for it. We are not amused, and are now convinced that Blizzard hates us. Precious. Sss. |
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SOE unveils more on its free-to-play WoW Killer Join us as we talk about their Diablo-style combat, their deep pet system, the role of innovation in 'kiddie' games, and a bit about their extensive collections system. We'll even get a sense of when Beta for this novel project will begin! Read on through below the cut for the full details. |
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kodoku Jan 27th 2009 9:36AM
Remember Viva Pinata? I laughed when that game was coming out and yet I saw plenty of adults buying it for themselves where I worked.
Bloodchills Jan 27th 2009 9:45AM
> Kodoku said...
Dude I lol'd. You have fail people where you work too?
I guess they exist everywhere don't they...
Soifra Jan 27th 2009 10:23AM
About the article linked to by the No Geek Left Behind blurb... personally, I don't think that a "sense of awe inspired by the unattainable" is worth much.
For raiders who like to be challenged, I can see how it would be disappointing to work through all the content currently available and think, "Now what?" and find themselves sitting and waiting for something more difficult. But that's coming, right? More dungeons in future patches, more challenges and achievements if you don't have enough now to keep you busy.
It puzzles me that a casual player would feel let down that we can see so much of a game. As someone who prefers to solo, and therefore isn't going to see a lot of the current dungeon content until the *next* expansion, when I'm overlevelled and overgeared for it... Well, let's just say I am not disappointed with how far I can reach into Northrend by myself. The Wrathgate was in no way anticlimactic, nor is being able to see so much of the storyline and lore, being able to attain achievements and titles and mounts by myself - or maybe with the help of a couple of friends or a PuG or two.
I'd like to say to Sean Sands: don't worry. I'm sure they'll add more content/dungeons/gear in future patches that will be out of your reach, if you really like that sort of thing.
Holgar Jan 27th 2009 10:37AM
I for one am hoping that I can kill Arthas ten man with a few friends after leveling through next expansion because I don't have time to raid this year.... Having more solo content and more easy acess content is the greatest thing EVER to happpen to WoW.
Honestly only an EPEEN crazed raider would think that having unobtainable content is a draw for casual players. Oh ya we just LIVE off inspecting guys with tier and drooling over it and thinking about how awsome they must be to have it...........
shiplore Jan 27th 2009 10:32AM
I was going to type out what Soifa said but they beat me to it, the whole premise of that article is wrong, "sense of awe inspired by the unattainable", should be "sense of bitterness inspired by things only college kids have time to attain" because let's face it there's very few things that pure skill, maybe arena, and certainly firsts...but c'mon... getting purples has never been about skill, just /time invested.
again, if the hardcores complain they're not looking hard enough and the casuals are 1000 times happier this way.
and before I go :see Hyperbole: "Free Realms is a WoW killer"
really? Give me one proof point that that is true. You can call yourself a super-powered duck but that doesn't make you Howard.
Firazz Jan 27th 2009 11:01AM
Yeah, um, pardon?
Raiding and heroics may be easier, but that doesn't mean they are all that easy. You are still talking about, what, 30-40 hours minimum of play-time to get to the level-cap. And the level-cap is just the starting point for an extended process of meta-gaming for the gear and the specs for your class.
My causal social/leveling guild is getting its feet wet into raiding some of the older content, and it's really frustrating watching groups that are overpowered for the content struggle due to sloppy practice, teamwork and leadership. It's my sense that a fair chunk of the player population doesn't have all the high-level group skills to handle complex instances.
Bloodchills Jan 27th 2009 11:01AM
> You can call yourself a super-powered duck but that doesn't make you Howard.
I lol'd.
darian Jan 27th 2009 11:09AM
Regarding the race to 80, there are two important facts to note.
1) GamerDNA is a data source inherently skewed toward more hardcore players.
2) The 60+ category is artificially low.
For point 1 it's fairly obvious that people who bother to even register at GamerDNA are generally more dedicated to gaming, and thus more likely to level faster (or even pick up the game at launch).
For point 2 realize that this study was released 10 weeks (70 days) after WoW's launch, and includes players who bought the game within 10 days of such. The obvious issue being the 60+ window was the smallest of any, averaging 5 days depending on when the player bought the expansion. It won't be until next monday that the 60+ category will have achieved its full potential (and some other category, 75+ perhaps, will be made).
In short, take the data with a fair grain of salt.
deltaecho Jan 27th 2009 11:48AM
Re: "No geek left behind"
I just got back in after a 3 year absence through the much maligned "Recruit-A-Friend" program. We're having a great time duoing the game, exploring everything we possibly can. Originally we had planned on getting to 60 as quick as possible on our mains and then maybe trying out alts. Instead we've developed a terrific case of altitis, and as a result we're seeing as much of 1-30 across all races/classes as possible. It's a reminder that: 1) end game is not the only game and 2) WoW is what you make of it.
Also, we're getting more than enough challenge and so-called awe in duoing instances. As a duo, we're clearing pulls with multiple equal level elite mobs through a lot of crazy juggling and DPS. It's hilarious, FUN, and after clearing an entire instance you have an honest sense of accomplishment. In the meantime, we are developing Skillz.
Maybe we aren't focused enough on loot/gear to appreciate that author's point, I don't know. One thing that does suck, if true, is the ability to run safely through areas way over a toon's head. There should be some risk in doing that (i.e. becoming more familiar with graveyards throughout Azeroth). I have heard that low instances were also nerfed (I know Aragal in SFK seemed a lot easier than he was 3 years ago), but we've yet to put ourselves in a situation that seemed completion was simply a matter of right-clicking.
Perhaps the author feels that players shouldn't have to challenge themselves, but there's challenge to be had throughout the game. There's simply too much there not for the challenge to exist.
ChanceC Jan 27th 2009 2:50PM
First of all, the readers of Massively.com are the most anti-WoW gamers I've encountered on the internet. And another thing, people are whining and complaining, "Oh, Wrath is too easy... I'm going to cry about Blizzard giving the players something they've been begging for for years." Does no one realize that there are still numerous raid instances yet to be released? We still have an Ulduar 10 and 25 man raid, an unannounced raid (that will most likely have 10 and 25 man versions) that I saw mentioned in an older WI article, and THEN there's Icecrown Citadel (which will most likely have 10 and 25 man raids as well). And why wouldn't there be attunement quests, or something at least of a similar nature, to slow down guild progression once the new Ulduar raids are introduced? Who's stopping Blizz from rebalancing some of the current raid encounters right now anyway? No one. This expansion pack was clearly not designed to work like The Burning Crusade, where the majority of the raid content is in the game right off the bat and they added The Black Temple in a month or so later. Not until there is a "Sunwell" of Wrath (that is, a closure to the story line) would I expect things to get any less exapansive or really, easier.
Wrath of the Lich King is far from over. By all means, it's barely begun.