Posts with tag expansion

Today's Activision-Blizzard financial reports states World of Warcraft took a subscriber hit this quarter, losing 1.3 million players since February.

The loss brings the total number of WoW players down to 8.3 million, its lowest level since the launch of the Burning Crusade expansion in 2007. Subscriber levels have fallen by about a third since WoW's post-Cataclysm peak of 12 million subscribers. The loss is hardly unusual -- you have to remember that WoW is a 9-year-old game, and we're at a pretty uninteresting time in the expansion cycle.

Have we mentioned yet that we're really excited to see if Blizzard is announcing a new MMO at BlizzCon?

For some players, the internal expansion clock for Mists of Pandaria is already ticking. Are you the type of player who likes to "play through" the content of an expansion to some point of personal satisfaction, then revert to alts or even go on hiatus until another sufficiently tempting patch or expansion comes along? Or do you treat Azeroth more as the virtual world or real-world social network you've made your home, someplace you simply always hang out?

WoW supports both these very different approaches to MMOs in equal measure. I've taken each view at various times, myself (although I suspect my periods of hiatus have been born more from the burnout of writing about World of Warcraft as much if not more as I play it at times). But generally speaking, I consider Azeroth a virtual home. I'll do whatever I find interesting at the time, but I'm always there on some level, regardless of what's current and fresh. In fact, I've become quite choosy about what I leap into right off the bat in any given expansion or patch. Some things, I've found, make better leftovers months or even years after their introduction!

If you prefer to play through things from start to "finish" when they're fresh, how long do you expect Mists to take you? How much longer do you anticipate spending leveling up, raiding, and trying out any other features that seem particularly compelling? How long would you like those things to take? What's too long and what's too short, in terms of the lifespan of a major patch or expansion?

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The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

One of the major things that vanilla World of Warcraft struggled with was a compelling story. Yes, we had a particularly epic tale spun with the release of Ahn'Qiraj and an even greater tale with Naxxramas. But while Onyxia, Molten Core and Blackwing Lair had stories that were interesting enough, it was difficult for players to pick up on those stories and follow them in a coherent fashion. Ragnaros in particular had a story that was entrenched in several different leveling zones as well as a few instances.

Meanwhile, the zones that you encountered from level 1 to 60 by and large didn't have a coherent story to tell. Each zone had little tidbits of story here and there, but nothing seemed really dire or important beyond a few epic, sweeping quests. As for faction leaders -- well, they did very little beyond sit in their capital cities and occasionally send players on errands. This is something that has continually changed and improved with every expansion that has been released. The story in WoW has never been as accessible as it is now.

But Mists of Pandaria has the potential to completely blow everything before it away.

Mumper, Blizzard game designer, has confirmed that weather has been implemented in the latest MoP patch.

Mumper

We just added weather to all the zones in the last build. If you are not seeing it yet, just give it some time to show up.

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While weather was implemented in both vanilla WoW and The Burning Crusade, most of the Wrath of the Lich King zones and all of the new Cataclysm zones did not have weather changes. Having rain in the MoP areas will be a nice addition to an already visually gorgeous expansion.

A few forum posters have reported seeing weather in some zones, but as it is up to the RNG, your mileage may vary.

Have you seen any precipitation or other meteorological events in the latest beta patch?

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It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen and Fox Van Allen aim to show you how to make money on the Auction House. Check out Fox and Basil's reboot of Call To Auction, and email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail!

The first few days of an expansion are a little like the wild west. This week, Gold Capped received an email about these first days:

I love your column on WoW Insider. It's been an eye opener for me on just how easy it can be to make some serious gold. That said, I didn't discover it until well after Cataclysm had launched, and so my question to you is; what were the first few days of the Cataclysm launch like economically, and what do you think I can expect from Mists of Pandaria? I had a blacksmith at the time of the Cata launch, and I remember spending exorbitant amounts of gold on ore/bars (he wasn't a miner). Is it a situation where, for the first few days, farming actually is worth doing, or are goods still worth making then? I have a bunch of 85s, all with worthwhile trade skills, and I'm just wondering what the best way will be to capitalize on the newness of the expansion.

The first few days of every new expansion, including Cataclysm, were a little crazy. The first thing you need to prepare for is the hyperinflation. Everyone will have more money, and they will all be spending it. Nothing gets people spending their savings like a new expansion. Pets will be battleable, new glyphs will be available, and everyone will be leveling professions. All this new demand is going to overwhelm the farmers, and for a while at least, the only cheap way to get materials will be to farm them yourself.

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

Blizzard has always been good to the customers who play World of Warcraft. The game is regularly updated through patches, and we can count on an expansion every other year. However, this may not be the case for much longer. In a recent interview with GameInformer, Tom Chilton said, "Traditionally we've only been able to do an expansion every two years. We're really hoping to make a meaningful difference in that."

This comment has already sparked a debate among the WoW community, dividing the playerbase into two sides: those who think this is a great thing and those who don't. For some, getting a new expansion more quickly means more content to explore, more bosses to down, and apparently, more pandas to cuddle. The others, however, view this as a negative -- not because of the content but because we have to pay for every expansion released, on top of the monthly subscription.

Personally, I see both sides. While Blizzard has recently promised us quicker content patches, I really enjoy the excitement of a new expansion.

So which way would you prefer? Quicker, large expansions, with massive updates to the game? Or perhaps a faster delivery of patches, with a steady stream of new content?

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World of Warcraft's expansion cycle is not the norm in the MMO genre. The Blizzard expansion cycle is a new boxed expansion every two years, on average. According to Gameinformer, which got to talk to Tom Chilton at the Gamescom show in Germany last week, Blizzard is on track for a more timely release schedule with World of Warcraft expansions.

Chilton told Gameinformer:

We've been able to do it in one sense, but not as much as I would like to in another sense. I would like for all patches to reliably have raid bosses. Our first Cataclysm patch didn't have raid bosses. From a raider's persepctive, it probably doesn't feel any faster than it did before. For us, where the biggest improvement is going to be in this cycle is in the actual expansion release. Traditionally we've only been able to do an expansion about every two years. We're really hoping to make a meaningful difference in that.

If you've started a new account recently or have been waiting to purchase Cataclysm, now's your shot to get the newest expansion on Amazon for only $20. Cataclysm is Amazon's Gold Box deal of the day, with a reduced price for only 24 hours. The deal is currently on the U.S. Amazon store, but the boxed copy of Cataclysm can be added or applied to any region's account.

With the recent sales in the EU for WoW and The Burning Crusade, as well as the free copies of WoW that were distributed to game veterans to give away, Blizzard is making a hard push at getting WoW into more peoples' hands and lowering the admittedly high barrier to entry of an MMO that's now 6+ years old. Hopefully, we will see this barrier come down even more over time as Blizzard figures out the answer to one of the more difficult questions in the MMO genre -- how will Blizzard deal with expansions once there are too many to reasonably expect new players to buy them all to get the full game experience?

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A new round of hotfixes to patch 4.0.6 were just released over at the official WoW blog. The changes are primarily fixes or nerfs to the heroic Valiona and Theralion encounter in the Bastion of Twilight. A few of the nerfs appear to balance the fight for the heroic 10-man version, while others are all-around nerfs to the damage in the fight.

Another change fixes the ressurrection of players in the Twin Peaks and Battle for Gilneas battlegrounds.

Patch 4.0.6 Hotfixes - February 25

Dungeons & Raids

Bastion of Twilight

• Blackout will no longer hit players sent down to the Twilight Zone by either Valiona or Theralion.
• Collapsing Twilight Portal should no longer close faster when a person uses it while on Heroic difficulty. It now has a set duration.
• Devouring flame maximum damage has been reduced.
• Theralion's damage should now be more consistent with Valiona's on 10-player Heroic difficulty.
• Twilight Blast damage has been reduced on 10-player Heroic difficulty.
• Twilight Protection now lasts 6 seconds, up from 3.
• Players should now always receive the Twilight Protection buff when entering the Twilight Realm.
• Twilight Sentries have slightly lower health on 10-player Heroic difficulty. Twilight Zone damage has been lowered slightly.
• Unstable Twilight's search effect has been lowered to a 1-yard radius, down from 2.

PvP

• Players in Battle for Gilneas and Twin Peaks who are Neutral with the associated factions should no longer experience issues resurrecting at the appropriate graveyards.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.

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Zarhym

• Classes
  • Hunters
    • Aimed Shot damage has been decreased to approximately 160% weapon damage (at level 80+), down from 200%.
    • Aspect of the Hawk now provides 2000 attack power at level 85.
• Dungeons & Raids
  • Throne of the Four Winds
    • The Catch Fall aura is now removed whenever a player leaves the dungeon.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.

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Zarhym

Classes

• Hunters
  • The changes to Aimed Shot and Aspect of the Hawk announced yesterday have not yet been applied to live realms and should not go into effect until after the holiday weekend.

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The changes referred to are the two hunter hotfixes from yesterday's list. Aimed Shot damage for hunters will be decreased to approximately 160% weapon damage at level 80+, down from 200%, and Aspect of the Hawk will provide an additional 2,000 attack power for hunters at level 85. These changes will presumably go live after Tuesday's maintenance.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.

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Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.

Yesterday I gave you some advice on how not to get a rematch in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Today, I say to you that I have found the method so effective, so potent, that some players opt to physically turn their system off or unplug their ethernet cable in order to avoid the shame of loss to a dog that barks ice cubes.

Saekeion asked:

Does the reputation discount with a faction also apply to when you sell items? Do you get more money if you have a higher reputation with that faction? If so, does Goblin's Best Deals Anywhere apply to the amount of money you get for selling an item?
Good question, but no, sell prices for items aren't affected by any outside modifiers, including rep. They will always sell for the same amount.

• For hunters, Aspect of the Hawk now provides around an additional 2,000 attack power at level 85.
• For paladins, Light of Dawn no longer heals targets outside the paladin's party or raid. It correctly heals up to five targets in the paladin's raid.
• For warlocks, instant-cast Shadowbolts from Shadow Trance (both the talent and Glyph of Corruption versions) should no longer consume charges of Backdraft if both procs are available.

Follow us after the break for the full list of hotfixes.