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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Missing features
by Zach Yonzon 
Apr 2nd 2009 at 8:00AM
Actually, the Dance Battle System was less funny to me if only because it reminded me of the one promised feature they still haven't delivered on. Remember the dance studios that were supposed to come with Wrath of the Lich King? They pruned that feature away even before Beta, but it doesn't mean we've forgotten all about it. In fact, this latest gag might've been Blizzard's way of poking fun at themselves for failing to deliver on their promise.
A lot of the features they've parodied over the years have actually been pretty cool. I mean, being able to dial for food and have it delivered in-game would've been pretty neat. I wouldn't have minded a Tin Foil Hat to keep those nosy Alliance from inspecting me in Dalaran (or Shattrath back then). So while a full-blown dance competition ala America's Best Dance Crew is definitely too silly for the game, where're the dance studios? Heck, I know Blizzard scoffs at the idea, but how about player housing? So many developer hours devoted to increasingly unpopular Arenas, and no personalized housing in sight? Hey!
Ok, maybe player housing isn't such a hot idea, but these April Fools' pranks made me think about what's not in the game right now. I mean, a few years ago we wouldn't have considered dual-specs as a possibility. Flying mounts? Preposterous! Of course, the game actually moves forward, and a lot has changed since the game launched. What's on your wish list of features? Armor dyes, maybe, or -- gasp -- race change? A day after April Fools', I think we're entitled to think up of crazy features of our own.
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
Candina@WH Apr 2nd 2009 11:20AM
Really? I thought the Bard Class ROCKED (pun intended) as a joke.
Candina@WH Apr 2nd 2009 11:19AM
Player Housing.
I don't get it. Can someone explain to me, in a nice way please, why this is interesting to people?
Aaron A. Apr 2nd 2009 2:39PM
I've been wondering the same thing. For the most part, it sounds like a way for people to avoid interacting with anybody outside their established circle of friends. Beyond that, most of the arguments for housing seem to involve players who want a place to put things that hold personal value, like their Tier 3 armor from old Naxx, without consuming all their bank space.
Apaprently Ultima used to have this, so you'll need to ask an Ultima player how that would actually work; I'm not much of a programmer, but I'd hate to have to write the code that allows players to decorate these houses however they wanted, allowing Sims-like flexibility while maintaining the graphical detail we've come to expect from WoW.
I think guild housing makes more sense, because there would be fewer of them (consider the server load of running hundreds or even thousands of instanced houses at once), and they'd at least promote interaction within guilds.
Magius Apr 2nd 2009 1:54PM
I would love the pimp-my-ride feature, as silly as it sounds. It would be the perfect thing to revive engineering. They could lower the price of the motorcycle parts and make it a slow mount. Engineers then could sell the parts to make it a fast mount or a turbo mount. How about noise effects, ejection seat, flotation device (since mounts will be able to get into the water after 3.1), etc.
I can go on and on it would certainly be a fun thing to have...
rika13 Apr 2nd 2009 1:29PM
the whole in-game ordering thing was real, but in EQ; /pizza would bring up a screen where you could place an online order to a local participating Pizza Hut
armor dyes ftl, they are a crutch for making fewer textures (there are probably more armor textures in vanilla WoW than in all 4 chapters of GW, and in GW, all the 15k/FoW armor is just a retex of 1.5k armor, no additional functionality whatsoever for the massive grind)
as for "player housing" there is no way to really do so in WoW realisitically (they'd have to make an instanced common entrance, rather UNpersonal seeing a bunch of people going in and out of "your" portal)
arenas are only unpopular because class balance sucks: most of us ret pallies are sick and tired of hearing "how OP ret is" when we aren't (its just how suck you are); DK's are actually OP (more burst than ret, and interrupts, snares, death grip, etc.); other classes dont have their BC stupid-modes anymore; etc.
superstone Apr 2nd 2009 1:39PM
Am I the only person who saw "NEW DANCES!" and went "...ok"?
Hardy Apr 2nd 2009 1:51PM
I do find it odd that the most popular MMO in existence is also one of the least feature full MMOs out there.
Pretty much EVERY MMO has player/guild housing and armour dyes, but Blizzard keeps refusing to do those.
A lot of other MMOs have a WAYYY better title and achievement system, as well a a much deeper character customization, with such things as tattoos, last names, RP family history, more hair and even facial features beyond a couple rings.
And THEN, there's a few games like LotRO that have musical instruments you can play.
lol and yes, such a huge amount of resources that went to Arenas when it's really not that played anymore.
I dunno, I'm sure we'll see some of that stuff, but it always baffled me that this game is the most played but one of the shallowest MMOs out there feature wise.
Drahliana Apr 3rd 2009 5:48PM
Why is WOW so popular if it's so "shallow" compared to these other games that you mentioned? Maybe because it's some of the things they DID right that many of these "feature rich" games missed out on.
1. Kept the hardware bench down to a reasonable level. Armor dyes, each individual customisation multiplies the amount of model work, hence the data that would need to be called up in a crowded area. As nice as these options are many folks would not like the performance lag that came with them.
2. Getting characters involved with the main story line. This is the big success story of WOTLK in particular which beats out both Burning Crusade and the original core game in this aspect. It' not just the top 1-5% in the uber raiding guilds that get to see the main characters, Arthas is in your face almost from the time you first step off the boat in Valgarde, and you're seeing his involvement in quests and dungeons all over the place. Go questing around Coldarra and you might even run into Malygos.
These items of substance can make up for a lot of the frills that some feel make a "feature" rich game, but to me, armor dyes, player housing, after experiencing the latter on Lineage, is just wrapping on the package. It's the meat of WOW's content that's kept me in the game, without that none of the frills would have kept me here just as they didn't keep me in Lineage or Lineage 2.
magicalteddies Apr 2nd 2009 2:15PM
Anyone else feel like they have a wow addiction problem? I mean I love playing wow but lately it feels like its gettin out of hand, takin over my RL.
Anyway I found a cool Site on this Issue I wanted to share check it out!
www.wowrelief.com
RetPallyJil Apr 2nd 2009 3:29PM
Uh ..let's see:
Armor dye
Black clothes that are black and not a dirty dark gray (go see some Ebonhold boots for a true black)
And my personal notion:
"Long Johns" and "mail suits", items worn like a shirt that have the turtleneck look and fill in all those gaps in your gear (Redemption, I'm looking at YOU). Long johns tailor made in every color, mail suits from a smith, and come in gray, gold, black, and silvery white.
Britannic Apr 3rd 2009 9:48AM
Since some of you have asked about UO housing here's what I know and remember about it.
Originally, in UO, there wasn't even housing. In the beginning there were tents that players used. I don't remember the particulars anymore of how those worked other than giving you a place to camp.
The housing in UO came a little later on as a means to allow players to have their own area to instantly log on and log off of the game and store items in someplace other than the very limited storage of the bank. And give you some place to express your own personal style with some housing decorations that you can build or buy or obtain through other means.
Over time, player housing became showplaces for rare items you've obtained, player libraries and vendor malls. Houses themselves eventually became customizable, where you could build the walls and roof and such yourself instead of using the prebuilt designs allowing you to not only decorate but design the house yourself.
Anyway, that's the history of housing in UO from my own experience of it. It has its own pluses and minus. One of the big problems I had with it was that houses were practically *everywhere* making it impossible to run in a straight line through a lot of the landscape where housing could be built (or placed, as the proper UO term was called).
I agree that player housing in WoW is a complete waste. Urban sprawl in UO and the real world. It is distracting and disgusting enough. I'd rather not have that in WoW.
Anyway, I hope this helps those of whom were asking about UO housing.
Cheers!