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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: How do you feel about using guns in WoW?
by Amelia Ramstead 
Oct 10th 2011 at 8:00AM
A while back, I wrote a Breakfast Topic on technology that got folks up in arms. It seemed that while most people were fine with the majority of steampunkish Gnomish and Goblin technology (and some absolutely loved it), the one piece of equipment that ground more gears and got the cranky juices flowing was the gun. The people who didn't like it found it intrusive and at odds with the world around them.
I'm personally of the "Are the stats better? I'll take it!" variety, so gun or bow, I don't think about it that much. I don't care for the noise of the gun, but that's my only gripe. At the same time, I don't do much roleplaying, so I don't have to worry about whether a gun would be appropriate for my character's storyline. Plus, my characters that are able to use guns are alts, so I'm not terribly committed to them.
What about you? Are you vehemently anti-gun? Or are you cool with it, as long as the stats are an improvement? If the stats were exactly the same, which would you go with -- a gun or a crossbow? Aha -- see, you do have a preference! Tell us what drives it!
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 6)
tibbelkrunk Oct 10th 2011 9:08AM
Yeah, Survival's Explosive Shot makes much more sense with a gun.
Black Arrow, though...
Wait, why do hunters use shadow magic?
And Arcane Shot... ?
Good thing the minimum range is there to maintain our hunter-y flavor.
Imnick Oct 10th 2011 8:39AM
Seeing as Warcraft II has SUBMARINES and OIL REFINERIES of all things, I'm not sure how people can get upset about firearms
Noyou Oct 10th 2011 9:09AM
I always find the argument that guns or whatever shouldn't be used in a fantasy setting a little silly. Or to say that things should be "more realistic". It's a fantasy setting people, your reality is suspended at log in. I agree with many who would like more detail on the guns and less "super soaker" look to them.
Dimmak Oct 10th 2011 8:41AM
The Dwarven rifle is iconic to me for Warcraft. Have you gone back and watched the original opening scene to Vanilla where the dwarven hunter is scaling the snowy peaks, watch it and remember the fantasy feel of that scene. Those blunderbuss style guns are awesome.
The only complaint I have is when they are fired off like machine guns because of the amount of haste we have these days. But that's game balance vs ascetics.
ravyncat Oct 10th 2011 11:31AM
I can embrace that side of it too. *nods*
I have both Goblin and Gnomish engineers and the gnomish ones do have the best toys. There would be wonderful symmetry in killing him with a Super Soaker. XD
ravyncat Oct 10th 2011 11:34AM
And that my friends, is a comment misfire!
*sigh*
I'm going to go back to work now. -_-
Bonus points if you can read the above seemingly random comment and figure out where it really goes. >.>;;
Bellajtok Oct 10th 2011 8:41AM
As an engineer, I have a serious problem with guns. I'd much rather be using a fire hydrant pumping pure elemental water to extinguish my foes.
Noyou Oct 10th 2011 9:14AM
What, you didn't make enough blasting powder when you were leveling? The first thing we make as engineers is blasting powder. We make it early and often. The engineering part comes more in with the tube used to fire the gun and the trigger. Also technology greatly improved right before Cata, allowing weapons to no longer use ammo :)
ravyncat Oct 10th 2011 9:27AM
I am an engineer because I like blowing stuff up. So much that I have several engineers.
There is always room for more explosions!
Needless to say i have no issues with guns. I love the quirky technology of Azeroth.
Bellajtok Oct 10th 2011 10:54AM
Okay, let me be more explicit: I want to kill the Lord of All Flame with a Super Soaker.
As for other explosions, I'm all for them, but I'm a gnomish engineer for a reason. I prefer to mess with cosmic balances and laws. I regularly reverse gravity for fun.
Ragen Oct 10th 2011 8:46AM
I'm a fan of the idea that the world is evolving. Especially in times of war, technologies that are effective are given a priority to be improved and eventually replace obsolete weapons.
It's a bit silly to think that lorewise the Alliance and Horde are sitting on their hands. I would bet a cookie that both have R&D groups up and running and they probably are working up some pretty neat stuff (that we will never hear or see). We as players would abandon WoW if they tried to enforce that real world arms race, but I still think technology needs to keep moving forward.
As for guns themselves they fit in perfectly. Gunpowder does exists, and as I said above there is a war going on. I also like the sound guns make, but can't seem to play a hunter all that much =P.
Mortenebra Oct 10th 2011 8:46AM
There are days when firing my hunter's gun just feels... nice. Usually, on those sorts of days, however, I'd go play an FPS where I do get the satisfaction of seeing, "Headshot!"
Overall, I'm very much a bow person. If I could dual-wield pistols and the sort, I'd be up for that as well, but there's a sort of elegance to using the bow and, to an extent, a crossbow. Maybe it's the fluid motion of drawing an arrow, nocking it to the string, and then letting it fly... Or the song a bow sings when you loose an arrow. There have been some awesome designs for bows in the game, too... Designs that say, "There's clearly a 'wrong end' to be on with this weapon and it means business."
jimbobfredsamuel Oct 10th 2011 8:54AM
People who are against guns in WoW because they think guns and swords should mix or whatever are clearly unaware that guns were around at the same time as knights here in reality.
In fact, the term 'bullet-proof' comes from when blacksmiths would shoot their own armour with a gun to prove that it could withstand bullets, and then knights would check for the dent to validate its safety.
A lot of WoW technology is a different matter, but when it comes to the classic guns, they do actually make sense.
Noyou Oct 10th 2011 9:16AM
I agree but I would also like to keep 'your reality' out of my fantasy game. I have no problem suspending reality in a fantasy setting. I believe that is working "as intended" :)
Patgamer Oct 10th 2011 8:49AM
I like the sounds of all three, even the guns.
Crossbows are my favourite of the three though, it just sucks that half of them look so basic.
viciouspen Oct 10th 2011 8:57AM
My one big gun complain is that they dont' involve enough consistent visual effects for the shots.
You see a couple guns that have very nice interesting shot blasts, then others with nada.
RP wise I'm good with it, I like the mix of some mecha and techa in wow, and it makes sense with the background of the major titan involvement, history of the gnomes, ect.
EaterOfBirds Oct 10th 2011 9:04AM
i can see my mogging them when the noise gets too grating (though i often have the sound off and music on), but i really like my guns.
Still i was gutted when i got an upgrade in Ramps recently levelling my hunter and i had to replace the epic level 60 PVP bow which looks both awesome and hilariously large :(
tibbelkrunk Oct 10th 2011 9:10AM
I really like my crossbow that sounds like a gun.
underground_slacker Oct 10th 2011 9:11AM
to be honest it doesnt bother me, but the dichotemy of having actual planes yet still even wagons are a rare sight bugs me.
Surely wow needs some technological advancement?
Personally i would love if one expansion- or even a wow 2 took things to an early industrial revolution level, kind of in the vein of fable. Mines could be more than a tunnel in the rock but full cavernous deeps with underground quest hubs. Wagons would be more commonplace- bringing with it musket wielding bandits and highwaymen and naturally by such a jump in time the discovery of the train in ulduar would have given the gnomes the idea for a new variant of the deeprun tram "the grand gnommish overland steamrail express" or something.
Seems odd at first but fable 2 and 3 proved thematically you can introduce an industrial revolution to a once medievalish setting and still remain firmly rooted into fantasy.
wow Oct 10th 2011 9:16AM
Personally, I'd love to see them have Engineers make Silencers for people to apply to their guns to give slightly extra stats and muffle the sound of the gun, which seems to me, be the biggest complaint people have about guns.
For me, It doesn't matter if its a gun or bow, I really look at stats mostly anyway. :)
Shinanji