Post by Berg: God of Raiding on Nov 8, 2013 19:20:22 GMT -5
So here's a quick summary of the (wibbly wobbly timey wimey) premise of Warlords of Draenor:
At some point after 5.4, with the help of [Mysterious Unnamed Character], Garrosh escapes Pandarian prison. Still desperate to fulfill his vision of the perfect Horde, the [Mysterious Unnamed Character] sends Garrosh back in time.
Garrosh's plan is to prevent his ancestors from drinking the Blood of Mannoroth. He succeeds in doing so and therefore takes Kil'jaeden's place as leader of the Horde--or, as he comes to call them, his Iron Horde.
Garrosh's intervention creates and therefore occurs in an alternate timeline, but with the help of [Mysterious Unnamed Character], the alternate timeline begins to affect modern day WoW: Garrosh's Iron Horde prepares to march out of the alternate past and into the present via the Dark Portal. Thus begins Warlords of Draenor.
My opinion? Never before has a WoW expansion premise been so vague. The majority of the questions asked at Blizzcon's WoW panel were an attempt to clarify the premise. Confusion regarding the expansion's setting, premise, and story seems unanimous--and after the optional sidequest feel of Mists of Pandaria, I believe Warlords of Draenor should have been a clear continuation of the main Warcraft story. So far, it appears to be the exact opposite; the panelists often appeared more lost about the contents of the expansion than the audience did.
With Ion at the helm of raid encounter design, I have no doubt that we will continue to be treated to top-tier dungeons and bosses, but the state of the game's story is beginning to concern me.
As for 20-man raid sizes: it's a shame. World of Warcraft is supposed to be a Massively Multiplayer game, and it's a shame that our raid sizes continue to dwindle. I also feel extremely sorry for high-end raiders who enjoy the intimacy of 10-man content. It's unfair that their ability to engage in challenging 10-man content--a style of gameplay that many 10-man guilds have refined over the course of almost five years--is now over. I never thought the day would come when Final Fantasy XIV would boast the largest raid size (24-man) for high-end content.
It's difficult to believe that an entire expansion can be built upon the back of Rise of the Horde, and I find it unusual that we are about to explore such a small sliver of Warcraft history when an expansion of this type could have also covered a multitude of much more interesting pieces of Warcraft history. Whatever the case may be, I don't think the premise "The orcs are invading Azeroth again!" will draw players back to the game.
WoW fans are looking forward while Blizzard seems content to look backwards, reuse old assets, and live off of old successes. If Blizzard wants Warlords of Draenor to succeed not just in part, the expansion will need a clearer focus than this, and it will have to move the Warcraft story forward instead of latching onto the familiar and comfortable.
At some point after 5.4, with the help of [Mysterious Unnamed Character], Garrosh escapes Pandarian prison. Still desperate to fulfill his vision of the perfect Horde, the [Mysterious Unnamed Character] sends Garrosh back in time.
Garrosh's plan is to prevent his ancestors from drinking the Blood of Mannoroth. He succeeds in doing so and therefore takes Kil'jaeden's place as leader of the Horde--or, as he comes to call them, his Iron Horde.
Garrosh's intervention creates and therefore occurs in an alternate timeline, but with the help of [Mysterious Unnamed Character], the alternate timeline begins to affect modern day WoW: Garrosh's Iron Horde prepares to march out of the alternate past and into the present via the Dark Portal. Thus begins Warlords of Draenor.
My opinion? Never before has a WoW expansion premise been so vague. The majority of the questions asked at Blizzcon's WoW panel were an attempt to clarify the premise. Confusion regarding the expansion's setting, premise, and story seems unanimous--and after the optional sidequest feel of Mists of Pandaria, I believe Warlords of Draenor should have been a clear continuation of the main Warcraft story. So far, it appears to be the exact opposite; the panelists often appeared more lost about the contents of the expansion than the audience did.
With Ion at the helm of raid encounter design, I have no doubt that we will continue to be treated to top-tier dungeons and bosses, but the state of the game's story is beginning to concern me.
As for 20-man raid sizes: it's a shame. World of Warcraft is supposed to be a Massively Multiplayer game, and it's a shame that our raid sizes continue to dwindle. I also feel extremely sorry for high-end raiders who enjoy the intimacy of 10-man content. It's unfair that their ability to engage in challenging 10-man content--a style of gameplay that many 10-man guilds have refined over the course of almost five years--is now over. I never thought the day would come when Final Fantasy XIV would boast the largest raid size (24-man) for high-end content.
It's difficult to believe that an entire expansion can be built upon the back of Rise of the Horde, and I find it unusual that we are about to explore such a small sliver of Warcraft history when an expansion of this type could have also covered a multitude of much more interesting pieces of Warcraft history. Whatever the case may be, I don't think the premise "The orcs are invading Azeroth again!" will draw players back to the game.
WoW fans are looking forward while Blizzard seems content to look backwards, reuse old assets, and live off of old successes. If Blizzard wants Warlords of Draenor to succeed not just in part, the expansion will need a clearer focus than this, and it will have to move the Warcraft story forward instead of latching onto the familiar and comfortable.
