by David Piner on Apr 03, 2007
It's a little over two months since the launch of "The Burning Crusade" and what a launch it was. This topic of the week will look at just how successful TBC has been or not been.
Blizzard managed to pull off, what many would consider, to be a perfect launch to the first expansion of WoW. Yes there were issues but considering the massive amount of people hitting the servers it was an admirable job. The respawn rates were accelerated so, even though you it seemed like you were almost fighting shoulder to shoulder with others, there never seemed to be a real shortage of mobs to fight. Others found their way into the instances to avoid the masses.
The roar of oohs and ahs could be heard throughout Hellfire Peninsula as the Uber gear started to drop and the quest rewards were handed out. Guild chats were full of loot links and exclamations of "OMG look what just dropped" as the poor "have-nots" squirmed in their chairs wishing they had pre-ordered TBC. Our log books were soon filled to the max with new quests including hopping on armored griffins to go on repeatable bombing runs. We saw new mobs and died under the foot of the Fel Reaver as the ground shook around us. Those in the instances marveled at how quickly they could be done.
Elsewhere, Draenei' and Night Elves were exploring their new areas and drawing other classes to come and view the gorgeous cities. Many people rolled a character of the opposite faction just to be able to see them. Again there were quests everywhere and you could level to your low twenties without leaving the starting area.
As we progressed towards the vaunted level 70 we'd see more new mobs, some with new abilities like burrowing worms right out of Dune II or those that could "blink" behind you, shapeshift into a crow and ride a Netherdrake. The quests would keep coming fast and furious with many (most?) reaching 70 with hardly seeing any of Netherstorm and/or Shadowmoon Valley.
We've reached 70, have our flying mounts and as we look back at the last couple of months just how successful was TBC? Yes, sales records dropped like flies and the game played as it should with a great launch and minimal issues. However, does that equate success? We were told of new "smart" mobs to make fighting harder and more interesting. Hmmmm, did anyone die trying to decide whether to turn left or right to face the mob that just blinked behind you? Aggravating yes but hardly complicated. We saw innovative quests with having you fly around going "cooool" but for the most part they were just more of the same, cookie cutter ones from Azeroth. You're still killing a few hundred mobs to get a dozen items to drop, doing escorts, etc. Only the names and locations have changed. While getting reputation with the various factions may be easier than what it was in Azeroth it's still the same old treadmill. The use of winged instances is one of the few new features that stand out and, of course, they're not new as Azeroth has the Scarlet Monestary. The twenty-five man raids are supposed to allow more people to enjoy raiding but that has yet to be seen as, so far, it seems to still be the old established raiding guilds that are doing them with others still not able to get the people together. Granted, it is still relatively early and things may improve as more people reach seventy. As for PvP, the arena was a new addition along with the new BG "Eye of the Storm".
My feelings are that Blizzard could have been more creative in a lot of things. Overall, I just have a feeling of "shrug" with the expansion. After the initial euphoria wore off after the first couple of days it was just the same old, same old. I realize there are limits in how to present the game, quests in particular. It is pretty difficult, if not impossible, to get away from the harvesting, killing for drops, et al but a different approach could be used for some of the content. How many people playing WoW are unfamiliar with the lore behind it, or have forgotten a lot? Why couldn't an epic chain quest be made that takes people through the lore and is worth a couple of levels and some nice gear? It could take people throughout Azeroth, Outland and even extend into the next expansion teaching you the lore as you go. How about epic class quests? Rewards offer four choices of gear, one for each tree and a balanced set. Upon completion you've gained two or three levels and have a full set of gear that is suited to your style of play. Why couldn't reputation be earned to exalted by following a series of quests with a storyline behind it? Leave the option of grinding mobs for those that prefer that route but offer some interesting content as an alternative. As a side benefit, it would have eased the player load in Outland. This wouldn't be meant as a replacement for the content that we've seen but an addition to offer more choices in how you play the game. The future doesn't appear to be looking that much better either with indications already that Blizzard's focus will be on the 10 to 15% of the player base that raid largely ignoring, again, the majority who do the smaller instances or play primarily solo. The new twenty-five man instances are still relatively new yet "The Black Temple", a new twenty-five man instance, is already in the works but nothing about content more geared to the non-raider.
Blizzard, in my view, played it safe using the tried and true but offering no real innovation or creativity. I'd describe it as "Looks Great, Less Fulfilling"
Those are my thoughts, tell us yours in our forums and vote in the poll.