When has Blizzard ever released detailed complete information that solved everyones wishes at the first announcement of a new game or expansion?

…NEVER!! They like to tease and keep their players in the dark and then drop the detail bombs on them as they get closer and closer.

When has Blizzard done what the player crowd expected based on their initial worries?

…NEVER!! Blizzard always changes it up or releases new info that puts to ease most players concerns (keep in mind no one is perfect not everyone will be happy but you get the idea).

You guys need to just chill and let this thing roll out and as it comes learn to enjoy the idea of it and what it could be, if its not that when the time comes then whine and complain and don’t play cause we all hate QQrs.

What new expansions and features they do bring out are all incremental and never innovative to the market. They simply continue building on their base which was good 2 years ago, but now cannot hold with the new MMO’s coming.I was truly hoping they would announce something to really “WoW” the community (pun intended) but again they’ve got yet another missed opportunity.

The game is still a grind, everytime they raise the level cap 10 lvls it becomes even less of a value proposition for those looking for more entertainment.

There’s no doubt for me that my money and limited time investment will be going towards games like Pirates of the Burning Seas, Conan, or Warhammer rather than more regurgitated WoW gameplay.

Perhaps this is just another jaded MMO player that’s been along the ride since UO, the newer generation of MMO gamers that started with WoW may be less quick to tire of the treadmill.

That combined with the mentoring system, helps immensely.

On the Blizzard shine wearing off, I don’t think so. I’m betting the expansion will be as polished as all get out. But what I think is more telling is that you can finally start to see that Blizzard’s got a great art style, but bad content designers. This expansion, for all intents and purposes is the same as the previous one. The only thing remotely interesting is the siege weapons which were talked about and told they’d be coming “soon” back before the game ever launched.

Is it still a great game? Yes. But it has had its share of mistakes made, and you can bet a lot of the upcoming games are going to learn from them. Let’s hope Blizzard does as well for the inevitable WoW2. Because if they do, I’ll be right there to buy it. If they don’t… Waaagh! it is.

Blizzard is likely being forced by higher forces to NOT do another BC. They had a lock on the genre for a good long time, but their retention has got to be decreasing. They can’t afford to continue to think that whoever comes will stay as long as those people who came on launch day. The churn will increase so the need to bring them back and add new players will increase.

As such, expansions can’t take two years to come out. Once a year would be about right.

And while it would be right to ensure all new expansions come out with all old content, they really only have EQ2 to go by. And as mature a game that is, it hasn’t gotten the success to really compel anyone to say to themselves “we gotta do this or else!”.

Finally, Blizzard succeeded in increasing the size of the genre by dragging in millions of new players. Any mistake they make is only recognizable by the veteran set. Unlike in a game like CoX or EQ2, we are not the majority voice.

It’s an interesting thought. Maybe the devs normal human nature to want to move on to the new interesting stuff is the problem. If that’s the case it’s a shame they don’t understand why so many of us want the old areas tweaked and hopefully seeded with new stuff to find and play with.

I saw this kind of thing before with Blizzard and Diablo II (hey, it still exists, right?). There’s this tension between a game needing new content and new incentives to keep old players playing (no endless unchanging endgame), but once you hop out for a while it’s harder to come back in. Your bearings are off. At least mine always are.

Not sure I’ll ever pick up WoW again, especially now that come a few months I’ll be 20 levels and uncountable items behind everyone else.

Also, RE: Death Knight – 100% agreement there. It would be far far cooler to “earn” that class that to pick it in the beginning.

http://www.the9.com/en/news/2007/news_070608.htm