Current state of WoW?

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Volume

2[H]4U
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Jan 17, 2004
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If you've just always hated World of Warcraft and had nothing good to say about it, then move on as your opinion means little to this discussion.

To anyone who currently plays: is it worth getting back into at this stage? I have a couple level 80s and wanted to get back in to have something to do on weeknights. Is Pandaria the last expansion? Do you see that game as dying out soon?
 
When I tried out the expansion, I found it to cater to the lowest common denominator. It did this more than the prior expansion, and the one before that. Definitely a noticable trend. PvP became pretty abysmal, which was the only reason I ever played WoW. If you like to run dungeons and raid, I don't think it would be that much different. It just feels more theme park MMO than ever and has lost most of the "World" part of WoW.
 
I played WoW for the PVE aspect of it. I just feel like it has been way too dumbed down with MOP. I tanked a lot of the time in BC and WoTLK as well as Cata. Its just different now. There is downtime in the rotations. It feels like they were trying to make it easier to cater to new players and people that didn't really understand the game. I didn't like that so I quit playing.
 
I played for years and enjoyed it but after becoming a dad my gaming time is limited and only games that I can drop in and out work for me now.
 
I don't play WoW anymore but I will have to say that the panderia expansion is probably the best expansion WoW has had. It was a hell of a lot of fun. Everything from the new land to the quest lines. Almost felt like playing Vanilla again. I'd try it out if you haven't yet.
 
Volume said:
If you've just always hated World of Warcraft and had nothing good to say about it, then move on as your opinion means little to this discussion.

To anyone who currently plays: is it worth getting back into at this stage? I have a couple level 80s and wanted to get back in to have something to do on weeknights. Is Pandaria the last expansion? Do you see that game as dying out soon?
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Well it depends. If you liked WoW before then you should still like WoW now. Pandaria is NOT the last expansion. I do not see the game dying anytime soon theres still plenty of life in the game. I think its worth going back for an existing player.

Im currently still subscribed and have enjoyed it so far. During cataclysm I cancelled my account for about a year or so. So far I've been subbed since MoP released.

Some things have changed but for the most part the core game is still intact. I don't do raids regularly like I did back in BC and Wotlk. For me LFR(Looking For Raid) is enough for me because I can do it on my schedule.
 
It's alright.

I play, and its pretty enjoyable. At least I haven't stopped playing yet like I have past two expansions.
 
So funny this thread appeared.
I logged onto my WoW account after a very long absence and I felt completely lost.
My server population was very low it seemed, even auctions of items were scarce.

I kept asking myself "what is wrong with WoW, what is wrong with Bliz?"
They are becoming irrelevant and WoW is possibly becoming so as well. I wandered around azeroth for a while and just felt a bit sad. I can safely say even though I loved WoW, GW2 is better in every regard at this point and Bliz is letting themselves be outgamed by F2Ps. Sad.
 
cougarsoccer said:
I played WoW for the PVE aspect of it. I just feel like it has been way too dumbed down with MOP. I tanked a lot of the time in BC and WoTLK as well as Cata. Its just different now. There is downtime in the rotations. It feels like they were trying to make it easier to cater to new players and people that didn't really understand the game. I didn't like that so I quit playing.
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Boshingtang said:
I don't play WoW anymore but I will have to say that the panderia expansion is probably the best expansion WoW has had. It was a hell of a lot of fun. Everything from the new land to the quest lines. Almost felt like playing Vanilla again. I'd try it out if you haven't yet.
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These are probably the two most common answers you will receive.

The game is simpler, the game is more balanced (to the point that many features have been drastically slimmed down to be more easily brought in line between classes), and the game is way more accessible to the more casual/younger/common (whatever you want to call it) gamer. Some view this as a very good thing, some do not.

Consider that UO is still alive and kicking. As time goes on they keep trying to modernize it and add features typical of more modern games. WoW will likely be a similar story. So long as subscription numbers supply a sufficient return, expect the game to keep on kickin'.
 
HardUp4HardWare said:
So funny this thread appeared.
I logged onto my WoW account after a very long absence and I felt completely lost.
My server population was very low it seemed, even auctions of items were scarce.

I kept asking myself "what is wrong with WoW, what is wrong with Bliz?"
They are becoming irrelevant and WoW is possibly becoming so as well. I wandered around azeroth for a while and just felt a bit sad. I can safely say even though I loved WoW, GW2 is better in every regard at this point and Bliz is letting themselves be outgamed by F2Ps. Sad.
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That server isnt representative of all servers. If you move to a server with a much higher population, you'll see them full of activity. My guild moved from a dying server to an active one, and recruiting, partying and trading was instantly easier and more enjoyable.
 
fdiaz78 said:
I played for years and enjoyed it but after becoming a dad my gaming time is limited and only games that I can drop in and out work for me now.
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Not to sound mean...but what is the point of this comment and what does it have to do with the current state of WoW?

Nothing personal, I just hate how people go "I have kids now blah blah blah" like that effects any of us at all or hinders on WoW in anyway. You have kids now, it sucks, I know.
 
Volume said:
If you've just always hated World of Warcraft and had nothing good to say about it, then move on as your opinion means little to this discussion.

To anyone who currently plays: is it worth getting back into at this stage? I have a couple level 80s and wanted to get back in to have something to do on weeknights. Is Pandaria the last expansion? Do you see that game as dying out soon?
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You don't need to be in a guild to raid. There is a raid finder tool that will PUG a raid now. So you don't have to be in a hardcore guild. Just meet the minimum gear level requirement (it's like gear score), and queue up for raid.

Just letting you know it will get old fast after you got your raid finder gear. I quit a few months back lost interest within two months. But it was fun the first month or so to talk to my old guildmates in WoW.
 
Mr Mean said:
You don't need to be in a guild to raid. There is a raid finder tool that will PUG a raid now. So you don't have to be in a hardcore guild. Just meet the minimum gear level requirement (it's like gear score), and queue up for raid.

Just letting you know it will get old fast after you got your raid finder gear. I quit a few months back lost interest within two months. But it was fun the first month or so to talk to my old guildmates in WoW.
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This is essentially my sentiment.

The raid finder I think was one step too far away from the camaraderie of having a dedicated bunch of friends to do things. I know I sound like an old geezer saying that, but I think it's a common stance on the current state of the game. Some people love it, some hate it.
 
I should add that the new gear looks holy-balls-badass: particularly Paladins IMHO. They've really gotten gear design down in this expansion.
 
RagingSamster said:
Found a vanilla private server, I'm thoroughly enjoying the original again.
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I joined some friends on one and it was amazing! Did all of the old content unlocked AQ progressed into BC. Got my fix! From what I hear the new FF game should be "difficult" enough for elitist to enjoy.
 
I played until they revamped the talents and reduced it to a choice of 1 out of 3 every 5 or so levels. Screw that.
 
JoeUser said:
Not to sound mean...but what is the point of this comment and what does it have to do with the current state of WoW?

Nothing personal, I just hate how people go "I have kids now blah blah blah" like that effects any of us at all or hinders on WoW in anyway. You have kids now, it sucks, I know.
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Well it's an interesting comment because with MoP, WoW is now more accessible than ever to people with limited time; you can work on various things at your own pace without issue. Heck, if you're determined enough, you can even eventually get a Legendary!

ballistic90 said:
I played until they revamped the talents and reduced it to a choice of 1 out of 3 every 5 or so levels. Screw that.
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As a opposing viewpoint, I liked what they did with the talents. While you're right that it feels messed up when you're leveling, to me it feels much more meaningful at the end-game stage. I often change my talents from boss to boss to make things easier. That would've never happened with the old system. With the old system it was purely a set-it-and-forget-it setup.
 
Neb said:
Well it's an interesting comment because with MoP, WoW is now more accessible than ever to people with limited time; you can work on various things at your own pace without issue. Heck, if you're determined enough, you can even eventually get a Legendary!



As a opposing viewpoint, I liked what they did with the talents. While you're right that it feels messed up when you're leveling, to me it feels much more meaningful at the end-game stage. I often change my talents from boss to boss to make things easier. That would've never happened with the old system. With the old system it was purely a set-it-and-forget-it setup.
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Again, I will reiterate, screw that. My level 65 Warlock had the metamorphosis spell to turn into a giant demon, and I felt that the dedication of talent points into getting that spell was meaningful, and it had a lot of good talents up to that point. You take that away and talents become a lot less meaningful and interesting.
 
Well adding my 2 cents to this.

I stopped playing WOW early Cata and returned about a month ago.

MoP is a cool expansion if you like the mix of WOW lore with a bit of asian culture. It has some of the best looking areas in the game and in some aspects it really feels epic. The lore and quest lines are amazing and i can say that this time they really put some effort into the phasing mechanics.

That said, i can also state that it has alot of problems. The game seems more like a giant single player RPG than an MMO. The phasing stuff adds immersion to the game but it also creates a bit of seperation since it is now common to be in the same areas but in diferent phases and you exp differs alot from this.
It is also ( and remind you that this is my exp with it) a more lonely game. The guild rewards( put in Cata) mean that most of the times ppl only join guilds for their LVLs and perks.

LFG and the new Looking for Raid are good if you don't have time for a normal raiding schedule but they also bring out the best that you can find in PUGS( is there any good thing in it?).

I don't play PVP so i cannot speak about it but as a overhaul i can say that even tho from a visual and feel standpoint, MoP is the best WoW expansion so far, it is also the worst in terms of mechanics.

That said i think i will probably wait for patch 5.4 to come out just to check the siege of Org and then i will probably leave WOW again.


As i said in the star this is just my 2 cents and i dont expect any one to agree with it. :D
 
It just feels more theme park MMO than ever and has lost most of the "World" part of WoW.
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This is my impression of the current game as well. I don't play anymore, but have had lengthy time with every expansion. There are a ton of fun things to do in MoP, but they are all segmented experiences. Its difficult to still call this game an MMO when there is zero-server community and every zone being instanced in some fashion. You are *rarely* interacting with more than 24 people at a time, aside from crowds in town and the woefully lacking world pvp.

My advice to a "high playtime" gamer would be to subscribe now (that is, its been several majors patches in to the expansion) play for 1-3 months and plow through all the content, then quit. If you sub at the start of an expansion you'll finish everything then have to wait on patches for content, if you sub too late everything is nerfed and unfun/unchallenging.

If you don't have a high playtime, I would suggest another title that is F2P, as $15/mo for the theme park is a tad high.

This game simply isn't the same genre as WoW Vanilla/BC.
 
lilbabycat said:
This is my impression of the current game as well. I don't play anymore, but have had lengthy time with every expansion. There are a ton of fun things to do in MoP, but they are all segmented experiences. Its difficult to still call this game an MMO when there is zero-server community and every zone being instanced in some fashion. You are *rarely* interacting with more than 24 people at a time, aside from crowds in town and the woefully lacking world pvp.

My advice to a "high playtime" gamer would be to subscribe now (that is, its been several majors patches in to the expansion) play for 1-3 months and plow through all the content, then quit. If you sub at the start of an expansion you'll finish everything then have to wait on patches for content, if you sub too late everything is nerfed and unfun/unchallenging.

If you don't have a high playtime, I would suggest another title that is F2P, as $15/mo for the theme park is a tad high.

This game simply isn't the same genre as WoW Vanilla/BC.
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Well. WoW is F2P until level 20, so that would seem to be the way to go to see if they like it.
 
ballistic90 said:
Again, I will reiterate, screw that. My level 65 Warlock had the metamorphosis spell to turn into a giant demon, and I felt that the dedication of talent points into getting that spell was meaningful, and it had a lot of good talents up to that point. You take that away and talents become a lot less meaningful and interesting.
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I'm not disagreeing with you that while leveling it feels more meaningful, I'm just pointing out at max level the new system feels better to me, especially when you're talking about raiding. To me at least, the old style talent points don't feel meaningful when it's required to maximize performance. You end up going with a specific set of talent points that end up being the "best" for raiding. That's not very meaningful to me.

KainPT said:
That said i think i will probably wait for patch 5.4 to come out just to check the siege of Org and then i will probably leave WOW again.
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There's nothing wrong with coming back for a short period and/or leaving, there are plenty of folks that do that :D
 
Neb said:
I'm not disagreeing with you that while leveling it feels more meaningful, I'm just pointing out at max level the new system feels better to me, especially when you're talking about raiding. To me at least, the old style talent points don't feel meaningful when it's required to maximize performance. You end up going with a specific set of talent points that end up being the "best" for raiding. That's not very meaningful to
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Yep, talent points before was a facade of "customization". 97% of talent points went to a cookie cutter build for a spec, and the last 3% couldn't go to anything useful to improve the spec. I'm sure if you didn't care about heroic raiding you could fuck around with Frankenstein talent allocations, but then you were dead weight in raids.
 
Seems fine to me, got back into playing it with a close group of friends and we'll be hitting hard mode 10's soon enough. You get that feeling that there's something missing while playing, but it's nothing that can't be fixed by thinking about just the sheer amount of crap to do.

I like that there's tons of dailies to do (and a ton to do in general, especially for a returning player, but much more so for someone just starting out). Keeps you busy, and keeps it fun.
 
I just jumped back in a week ago. I don't have anything like the playtime I used to (new daddy :) ) but since I never played the MoP content, I've found leveling a couple of characters up through the content to be fun.

My druid has leveled solely in the dungeons, and my shaman has finished the first zone and maybe half the second. Druid is 88 and shaman is 89, so there will still be plenty to do once I hit 90.
 
tried playing MoP.... hated it.


didnt play Cat.


played wrath to lich king 10 man and quit


nothing will live up to pre expansion and burning crusade.
 
RagingSamster said:
Found a vanilla private server, I'm thoroughly enjoying the original again.
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This really is the way to do it. You get enjoy vanilla where shit was not dumbed down.

However the bugs, communities, etc can be pretty shitty at times.

Breath_of_the_Dying said:
Yep, talent points before was a facade of "customization". 97% of talent points went to a cookie cutter build for a spec, and the last 3% couldn't go to anything useful to improve the spec. I'm sure if you didn't care about heroic raiding you could fuck around with Frankenstein talent allocations, but then you were dead weight in raids.
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Yea they didn't really get the balance right on the vanilla talents. I liked how many talents there were, but man they had too many shitty ones, the choices were usually pretty obvious. It gets fun where you're actually choosing between two good things that you want.

The problem with the new talents (from what it sounds like, anyway) is that you aren't given the choice of picking two tier ones, 0 tier two's, etc. which you could with the old talent system.
 
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I'd like to hear opinions from those actually clearing/progressing through heroic content now, preferably healers and tanks. People crying dumbed down version of WoW while using LFR as a benchmark is like using every cheat code known in a game and then calling it easy.
 
I actually just started playing WoW again about a week ago. The last time I played was probably a couple years ago, and I've never made it to max level. I would always get bored with questing and quit. I started again because some of my friends are playing and I got "resurrected" (free level 80 if you haven't played for a long time). I'm 86 right now and questing hasn't been bothersome yet at all, and I'm looking forward to seeing what raiding at 90 (and I won't have the nostalgia of vanilla holding me back).

I don't know what lilbabycat was on about with not interacting with 24 people at a time. In what MMO are you actually interacting with that many people outside of raids/pvp/cities? Let alone that that isn't even true, I'm around other people all the time as I'm leveling, more then I wish because I get ganked all the time. I'm on a med pop server too.
 
Breath_of_the_Dying said:
I'd like to hear opinions from those actually clearing/progressing through heroic content now, preferably healers and tanks. People crying dumbed down version of WoW while using LFR as a benchmark is like using every cheat code known in a game and then calling it easy.
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The problem I saw, in LK at least, which was the last expansion I "cleared"; was that having a normal (easy) mode made the hard (normal) mode easier. You'd practice in normal mode, and in >75% of encounters the hard mode was the same strat, just harder/faster. In "the good old days" learning how to do just the initial pull was something guilds would spend hours on perfecting.

As far as tanking goes, I don't think anything can compare to the encounters in BC. Un-nerfed Kael'Thas is still in my opinion the best and most rewarding boss fight in the game's history. Can't speak on healing but i've heard its still much easier than it was in Vanilla/BC.
 
JoeUser said:
Not to sound mean...but what is the point of this comment and what does it have to do with the current state of WoW?

Nothing personal, I just hate how people go "I have kids now blah blah blah" like that effects any of us at all or hinders on WoW in anyway. You have kids now, it sucks, I know.
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I hope I didn't ruin your day with my post. The reason I posted that because I was the target demographic that played WOW and as we got older, our time and interests change hence why the population has gone down. Casual gaming is the norm now and drop in and out games seem to be where the money's at. I don't think you will see another MMO with the peak population that WOW had.

Even if I didn't have kids I couldn't play wow due to the time commitment. I'm actually ashamed I pissed so much time away raiding just to get some gloves of +5 arcane power.
 
Put my .02 in as well. I currently play and have played vanilla, tbc, & wotlk. Didn't play cata and playing mop.

In general there's something for everyone. Pve and pvp are easier to get into. The annoying professions are easier to level you can level cooking almost entirely by one vendor and fishing is also easier. The story is more based on you the hero then the past when you were part of it. The story is different, won't say better or worse.

I currently raid 2 nights a week for 3 hrs a night, my guild is 11/12 Tot 10 man normal. Raid bosses in general are harder then they used to be. More movement, etc. But I won't say I've seen a boss thats been as hard as HM yogg or LK. Or Vashj and Kaelthas. But in general the bosses leading to the final boss in a raid tier are harder. There's more challenges heroic scenarios are semi-difficult. LFR is for casuals and it's enjoyable but it's more like free loot raids then actual raids.

Servers are dying, but virtual realms are coming. Even still if you want to play I'd recommend hitting up a larger server. I'd say servers 3-10 maybe. I know area 52 and sargeras have wait times but I haven't had a wait queue on proudmoore. Overall I like it and enjoy playing.

If you get back into it hit me up bnet tag: superfly3176#1288
 
Also pandaria is not the last expansion. We know they're at least working on one more. Most people suspect it's burning legion, but others speculate emerald dream.
 
Love it. Other people saying that it's gotten too easy need to stfu. Been playing for 5 years now.
 
lilbabycat said:
This is my impression of the current game as well. I don't play anymore, but have had lengthy time with every expansion. There are a ton of fun things to do in MoP, but they are all segmented experiences. Its difficult to still call this game an MMO when there is zero-server community and every zone being instanced in some fashion. You are *rarely* interacting with more than 24 people at a time, aside from crowds in town and the woefully lacking world pvp.

My advice to a "high playtime" gamer would be to subscribe now (that is, its been several majors patches in to the expansion) play for 1-3 months and plow through all the content, then quit. If you sub at the start of an expansion you'll finish everything then have to wait on patches for content, if you sub too late everything is nerfed and unfun/unchallenging.

If you don't have a high playtime, I would suggest another title that is F2P, as $15/mo for the theme park is a tad high.

This game simply isn't the same genre as WoW Vanilla/BC.
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Idk if I agree with everything here, but I see plenty of world pvp going on, much more than I'd like to be honest when I'm trying to get stuff done. MoP is trying to bring back some of that feel, though it is difficult nonetheless.
 
Been playing for over 6 years now. Was in a great guild pre-MoP but people started to quit and the guild fell apart. I still log in once in a while and do a quick LFR but the joy is gone for me. I used to play very regularly and found myself always looking forward to raid nights but once my guild fell apart, I lost interest. I logged in yesterday after a month and did one LFR and just logged out. Just isn't fun anymore for me but I have a hard time cancelling my account. I spent many years with my toons and they are like my children. :)

Don't care about the $15 sub price. It's the same price as one lunch with my co-workers. Maybe the fire will be re-kindled with the next xpac which should be out next year.
 
I think MoP is fun enough to try. But like most people said, it has been made to cater new players as opposed to keeping the older ones. Played since vanilla, but always seem to leave the newer expansions early.
 
Played WOW from when it came out in November 2004 (man time flies) until about early 2012. I enjoyed Vanilla and burning crusade since it catered towards more of the Warcraft lore that I enjoyed.
 
Mr. Stryker said:
Love it. Other people saying that it's gotten too easy need to stfu. Been playing for 5 years now.
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Yes, it's gotten easy, since it's aimed at the casuals now. If you've been playing for only five years, you came in after BC. So, basically you have very little point of reference when it comes to difficulty.
 
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