Mists of Pandaria Comes Out Next Week

[CommanderFrank]

We’ve known Mists of Pandaria expansion was coming out for a long time now and has received a good bit of exposure from various sources. PCWorld thinks it’s a good idea that you know a bit more about the game debuting next Tuesday in greater detail before it launches.

 

[c3141hf]

It is never a good sign when they start making expansions based on an April Fools joke.

 

[InorganicMatter]

I'm sure it will be successful, but their formulas is getting long in the tooth. After you play more modern (MMO)RPGs, you realize how truly unenjoyable grind-based games are: "Go collect 15 goblin ears...oh by the way, goblin ears only have a 30% drop rate since apparently not all goblins have ears." It's an inconvenience you put up with to get to the other side; once you realize a game should be enjoyable from beginning all the way to end, and not just the very end, you're spoiled.

All that being said, I'll probably still end up succumbing and getting this to play over Christmas break...

 

[Pitbully]

Nothing new to see here, please move along.

 

[c3141hf]

I'm sure it will be successful, but their formulas is getting long in the tooth. After you play more modern (MMO)RPGs, you realize how truly unenjoyable grind-based games are: "Go collect 15 goblin ears...oh by the way, goblin ears only have a 30% drop rate since apparently not all goblins have ears." It's an inconvenience you put up with to get to the other side; once you realize a game should be enjoyable from beginning all the way to end, and not just the very end, you're spoiled.

All that being said, I'll probably still end up succumbing and getting this to play over Christmas break...

Most modern "MMORPGs" are neither MMOs nor RPGs. Just because you have stats and levels does not make a game a role playing game. And the ability to do basically anything solo as well as the frequent use of instancing takes away the "massively multiplayer" part. The last MMO I really enjoyed was Pre-CU Star Wars Galaxies. Modern MMOs are dumbed down, following a trite repetitive and mindless formula that is about as interesting for me as watching paint dry.

 

[SkribbelKat]

I'm actually really excited to see Blizzard is still giving WoW lots of attention. Adding pandas is important to them because some really good story elements are stagnating. This expansion should bring a whole new audience into the game that didn't previously consider WoW as an MMO option.

 

[achensherd]

I stopped playing WoW after one too many grind quests where the quest giver tells me to get, say, 15 goblin ears from a goblin camp located on the other side of a valley where a bunch of hostile creatures are hanging around. I'd fight my way through the valley, killing the aforementioned hostile creatures by the dozen, get to the goblin camp to get ears from the 30% of the goblins that have ears, fight my way back through the valley of respawned hostile creatures, only for the quest giver to then tell me to go kill 20 of the hostile creatures in the valley. The first time that happened I was like, "I've BEEN killing those things for the last half hour! I spent more time doing that than getting the damn goblin ears! No, fuck this shit and FUCK YOU!" After a few more of those, I just decided paying $15 a month to do mostly busywork was just not worth it.

 

[FearTheCow]

I'm actually really excited to see Blizzard is still giving WoW lots of attention. Adding pandas is important to them because some really good story elements are stagnating. This expansion should bring a whole new audience into the game that didn't previously consider WoW as an MMO option.

How is releasing an April fools joke giving WoW lots of attention? Lots of attention would be them following through with all the possible story lines and zones/areas that are already in the game.

 

[SkribbelKat]

How is releasing an April fools joke giving WoW lots of attention? Lots of attention would be them following through with all the possible story lines and zones/areas that are already in the game.

They developed a whole new expansion which takes a lot of time and effort. Plus, the old zones are already pretty much seen by everyone. They have been needing to polish up rough parts of them, I admit, but it's a lot more interesting to see them adding the pandas than spending time messing with places and areas that are well-established and have generally been bug fixed to the point of working well.

 

[Trimlock]

Can't wait to see it, but im a bit dissapointed at the main villian ...

 

[Kaitian]

How is releasing an April fools joke giving WoW lots of attention? Lots of attention would be them following through with all the possible story lines and zones/areas that are already in the game.

It's not exactly an April Fools joke. They have been part of the Warcraft Lore a lot longer than that joke.

 

[Trimlock]

It's not exactly an April Fools joke. They have been part of the Warcraft Lore a lot longer than that joke.

This has been posted so many times on this site, I think people chose to not read it or rather just ignore and post the typical "LOLZ KUNG FU PANDA"

 

[mrtheshaggy]

Vanilla WoW ... 29 dungeons, 7 raids
Burning Crusade ... 16 dungeons, 9 raids
WOTLK ... 16 dungeons, 8 raids, 1 rehashed raid
Cataclysm ... 7 dungeons, 7 rehashed dungeons, 6 raids

Notice the downward trend in end-game content?

 

[Greggy_D]

Kung Fu Panda 3 now at a PC Theater near you.

 

[Johnny_Utah]

Vanilla WoW ... 29 dungeons, 7 raids
Burning Crusade ... 16 dungeons, 9 raids
WOTLK ... 16 dungeons, 8 raids, 1 rehashed raid
Cataclysm ... 7 dungeons, 7 rehashed dungeons, 6 raids

Notice the downward trend in end-game content?

Wonder if each expansion, more and more of the team began work on "Titan" whatever the hell that is. THAT is what I am waiting for. After playing GW2 for a month, I doubt I will be able to go back to grinding goblin ears.

Also, just because Pandandarian have been a part of lore doesn't mean it's a good idea to have them as a playable race. Something else would have brought more players back.

 

[wdtiger]

Also, just because Pandandarian have been a part of lore doesn't mean it's a good idea to have them as a playable race. Something else would have brought more players back.

Or bring new players in. Having never played WoW myself, seeing the ads for what looks to be a kung fu panda add-on does not give me the urge to jump in. Considering how many players they've been losing lately, they need a new hook to draw new players in and i don't think this is it.

 

[Erebus]

It will be funny to see all the pandandarian monks running around for the next 6 months

 

[macro6]

So i'll just add these before haters come in:

-its $15/month... Who pays a subscription to play a game!!??
-GW2 is f2p and already killed wow
-space race called draenai is ok.. but pandas? that ruined wow.
-i hate cartoony graphics... torchlight ftw
-wow was great back in vanilla wow when things are HARD
-Wow was great back in Burning crusade
-wow's last great expansion was in WOTLK
- did i mention you have to play $15/month?
-PVP was great in vanilla wow.. then they ruined with arena/resilience/etc
-i hated the grind.. kill this kill that... it was stupid.. now guild wars 2 ITS DIFFERENT.. instead of killing/gathering.. you do it in GROUPS. yea!
-wow ripped off kung fu pandas
-wow is too easy... i just log in and collect epics and NO i will not link my armory.

just some on top of my head reading anything related to wow.

 

[Pitbully]

So i'll just add these before haters come in:

-its $15/month... Who pays a subscription to play a game!!??
-GW2 is f2p and already killed wow
-space race called draenai is ok.. but pandas? that ruined wow.
-i hate cartoony graphics... torchlight ftw
-wow was great back in vanilla wow when things are HARD
-Wow was great back in Burning crusade
-wow's last great expansion was in WOTLK
- did i mention you have to play $15/month?
-PVP was great in vanilla wow.. then they ruined with arena/resilience/etc
-i hated the grind.. kill this kill that... it was stupid.. now guild wars 2 ITS DIFFERENT.. instead of killing/gathering.. you do it in GROUPS. yea!
-wow ripped off kung fu pandas
-wow is too easy... i just log in and collect epics and NO i will not link my armory.

just some on top of my head reading anything related to wow.

I just couldn't resist responding....

-GW2 is f2p and already killed wow

That is almost laughable. GW2 has sold less then 1m copies. Even shedding players left and right over the past 2 years, WOW still sits at over 10.2M subscribers. If and when a game ever officially "kills" WOW, it will be from Blizzard. The funny thing is everyone has said that about EVERY single MMO to come about over the last 3 years, "this is the next WOW killer!". A month later, everyone is back to playing WOW.

 

[Maxx]

That is almost laughable. GW2 has sold less then 1m copies. Even shedding players left and right over the past 2 years, WOW still sits at over 10.2M subscribers. If and when a game ever officially "kills" WOW, it will be from Blizzard. The funny thing is everyone has said that about EVERY single MMO to come about over the last 3 years, "this is the next WOW killer!". A month later, everyone is back to playing WOW.

lolwut? GW2 has sold over 2 million, and that was stunted by their own holding back of sales until they could add more servers. Their numbers far exceed what WoW sold in the same initial time frame. It's true that SWTOR also hit that mark, but it had too few servers (at first), then too many (after subs died down). Yes, WoW had subs, but I'd argue that subs are a dying trend, which is verified by any realistic metric used by the industry. Those within Blizzard are well aware of this fact and are patterning Titan based on these facts.

 

[Trimlock]

I just couldn't resist responding....

-GW2 is f2p and already killed wow

That is almost laughable. GW2 has sold less then 1m copies. Even shedding players left and right over the past 2 years, WOW still sits at over 10.2M subscribers. If and when a game ever officially "kills" WOW, it will be from Blizzard. The funny thing is everyone has said that about EVERY single MMO to come about over the last 3 years, "this is the next WOW killer!". A month later, everyone is back to playing WOW.

sarcasm dude

 

[SmithyJones]

Not exactly anything surprising, but the whole "they're killing the game" bit has been heard over and over with this one, but they still have a massive player base. Even amid their losses lately, they're still a behemoth. I think the only other game that's played more is League of Legends. Give credit where its due, they're obviously doing something right to keep such a large player base for the better part of a decade now.

 

[demingo]

lolwut? GW2 has sold over 2 million, and that was stunted by their own holding back of sales until they could add more servers. Their numbers far exceed what WoW sold in the same initial time frame. It's true that SWTOR also hit that mark, but it had too few servers (at first), then too many (after subs died down). Yes, WoW had subs, but I'd argue that subs are a dying trend, which is verified by any realistic metric used by the industry. Those within Blizzard are well aware of this fact and are patterning Titan based on these facts.

Just some food for thought....

GW2 has sold 2 million or so. $60 a copy. So they've made $120 Million. Thats nice...

However

Wow has bit over 9 million active subs, $15 a month. $135 Million. So Wow makes more money in a month than GW2 has ever made. Wow has been making this type of money for years now. This isn't even counting the income from paid services and cost of base game/expansions.

GW2 isn't even in the same league as Wow when it comes to financial success.

 

[demingo]

but I'd argue that subs are a dying trend, which is verified by any realistic metric used by the industry. Those within Blizzard are well aware of this fact and are patterning Titan based on these facts.

Wish there was an edit button...

If you actually look at the info out there, mainly from Mmodata, subs are rising not falling. While specific games may go up or down this is largely due to shifting player bases. Total paid MMO subscriptions have been going up on a yearly basis.

 

[Maxx]

Just some food for thought....

GW2 has sold 2 million or so. $60 a copy. So they've made $120 Million. Thats nice...

However

Wow has bit over 9 million active subs, $15 a month. $135 Million. So Wow makes more money in a month than GW2 has ever made. Wow has been making this type of money for years now. This isn't even counting the income from paid services and cost of base game/expansions.

GW2 isn't even in the same league as Wow when it comes to financial success.

Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 don't have monthly fees. Yet it seems Blizzard pays equal or greater attention to those brands than its milking cow, WoW. Ever consider the fact that it's more about targeting different audiences than accruing profit? It's called product diversity and regulatory maintenance. In other words, WoW gets less attention because its competition is virtually non-existent for the audience it targets. That is not a good thing for the gaming industry, no matter how you slice it. Then again, you're arguing the bottom line, which is why if you re-read my initial reply you will notice I point out that the model WoW clings to is facing rapid disintegration. It doesn't matter how well it did, it matters how well it will do, and if you disagree than you know absolutely nothing about the business world.

 

[Maxx]

Wish there was an edit button...

If you actually look at the info out there, mainly from Mmodata, subs are rising not falling. While specific games may go up or down this is largely due to shifting player bases. Total paid MMO subscriptions have been going up on a yearly basis.

That's like saying the population of the world is going up on a yearly basis. It doesn't matter if your business has growth, it has to have growth that exceeds the average rate of inflation, and that's not even accounting for the fact that subscription prices have remained the same despite actual monetary inflation. The trend away from large subscription-based MMO's is quite evident to anyone with sense.

 

[demingo]

That's like saying the population of the world is going up on a yearly basis. It doesn't matter if your business has growth, it has to have growth that exceeds the average rate of inflation, and that's not even accounting for the fact that subscription prices have remained the same despite actual monetary inflation. The trend away from large subscription-based MMO's is quite evident to anyone with sense.

Where is this evidence? There is a trend F2P gaming but there is no proof that it is actually more profitable than wow's current model. Also, you need to remember Wow is a 7 year old game. There is no title that I can think of that 7 years after release is still able to pull in the type of cash Wow does. But then again, I've heard people like you declaring Wow/Subscription MMOs dead for the past 5 years. You speak of business knowledge but you quite clearly ignore the facts which point in the opposite direction. Wow will never switch to F2P nor does Blizzard have incentive to push F2P on Titan as long as the sub model works. No F2P game comes NEAR wow in profitably.

 

[SkribbelKat]

I'd like to see more free to play MMOs, but I'm not sure I like it when someone dumps all of their recreational spending into the game's cash shop and basically buys themselves into awesomeness. It would work in skill based games like EVE that don't really require much thinking since you just get better as long as real world time passes or something, but in fantasy level-class games like WoW it would really stink because there's so much more thought that has to go into how you play it.

Anyhow...YAAY PANDAS! <3

 

[Yawnald]

Just some food for thought....

GW2 has sold 2 million or so. $60 a copy. So they've made $120 Million. Thats nice...

However

Wow has bit over 9 million active subs, $15 a month. $135 Million. So Wow makes more money in a month than GW2 has ever made. Wow has been making this type of money for years now. This isn't even counting the income from paid services and cost of base game/expansions.

GW2 isn't even in the same league as Wow when it comes to financial success.

Wow, so, shouldn't the game be better then? You sheep just keep paying for the same old thing. It's laughable!

 

[WasntMe]

Wow, so, shouldn't the game be better then? You sheep just keep paying for the same old thing. It's laughable!

I love all the WoW haterade! Just that it gets people all riled up makes me a satisfied "sheep".

I still play WoW (since Vanilla off and on, right now on). I don't think it's the same thing over and over again, unlike Battlefield 1,2,3, CoD, 1,2 8, 54, etc. Most games are a continued re-hash of this or that, just like movies now-a-days. Want an "new" iPhone? Another rehash of any up to date Android phone. TV shows? lol yeah, same thing. People LOVE the same thing over and over and over.

Why I play? I raid, mainly because I really enjoy the 9 other people I play with. Great people and we have an awesome time socially when we raid. I guess that's why I still play honestly. It's not just about the game, though I still really enjoy it, it's about the people. The most involved WoW players are ones that do so for the social enjoyment, at least that';s my opinion.

I welcome the new expansion. They are spending a lot of time on marketing, the developers are very, very involved in the community (Reddit AMAs, Magazine interviews, Best Buy forum, etc) and the content looks promising, though I'm not super interested in a few of the new features. World PvP has become big again, and I'm loving it. It's nice to see all the activity!

 

[Pitbully]

While the F2P games are nice, a F2P game will never dethrone WOW from the top. It simply isn't possible to keep up with the content patches and infrastructure that's needed to keep a huge player base like WOW has and still make money. Most game companies are happy to make their $60 out the door, then do a few minor patches, possibly even a content patch or 2 and be done with it. Then release the next "expansion pack" a year or 2 later. The reason WOW has kept so many subscribers over the last 7 years at $15 per month, is in between the major expansions, they always have released content patches, to keep players going, keep them playing. The other thing WOW has always done is nearly completely redesign every class when ever they release an expansion. New talents and talent trees, keep players coming back. I logged on my lvl 85 Warrior yesterday for the first time in months and its almost like I've never played the game, and I bought the game a month after release and have been playing ever since. That's one thing that drives me crazy is having them completely change every class, every time they release an expansion. But I'd much rather pay $15 a month for WOW then pay $60, then have them completely forget about the game a couple months later, like they did with SWTOR.

 

[sonsonate]

I love all the WoW haterade! Just that it gets people all riled up makes me a satisfied "sheep".

I still play WoW (since Vanilla off and on, right now on). I don't think it's the same thing over and over again, unlike Battlefield 1,2,3, CoD, 1,2 8, 54, etc. Most games are a continued re-hash of this or that, just like movies now-a-days. Want an "new" iPhone? Another rehash of any up to date Android phone. TV shows? lol yeah, same thing. People LOVE the same thing over and over and over.

Why I play? I raid, mainly because I really enjoy the 9 other people I play with. Great people and we have an awesome time socially when we raid. I guess that's why I still play honestly. It's not just about the game, though I still really enjoy it, it's about the people. The most involved WoW players are ones that do so for the social enjoyment, at least that';s my opinion.

I welcome the new expansion. They are spending a lot of time on marketing, the developers are very, very involved in the community (Reddit AMAs, Magazine interviews, Best Buy forum, etc) and the content looks promising, though I'm not super interested in a few of the new features. World PvP has become big again, and I'm loving it. It's nice to see all the activity!

You enjoy WoW. That's great. What are we getting riled up about? I don't really like it at all. Been there with the P2P thing in iRO. I'm thinking of getting GW2 since it's a one-time fee and it looks like it has some interesting gameplay and is less grind-y, but hey, to each his/her own.

 

[Soggy]

when I first saw the commercial on TV I thought it was going to be Kung Fu Panda 2

 

[illli]

played wow when it first came out. Was like 2004? Rolled a hunter. Got addicted hardcore to the mindless grind for some reason. Joined a guild, raided back when they were 40mans. Got a full set of dragonstalker armor and my hunter quest bow loc-d-whatever it was called. Not sure how I got so addicted lol. Then came burning crusade. Basically more of the same. Killed my subscription. Came back a few times but it never held my interest as much as when I first started. Came back for 3rd xpac. Really liked the theme and atmosphere but could not justify the monthly expense. Someone sent me a scroll of resurrection not too long ago. I could hardly manage to get my worgan to level 10 before I got bored. It just didn't do anything for me anymore.

 

[Bamboo]

This looks really cool. I think it's about time I try World of Warcraft. The panda's and other content look fantastic. I'm buying my copy as soon as I get back from taking a crap on mars. Save some chopsticks for me.

 

[Ocean]

im really enjoying gw2. huge amount of gameplay for only 60$.

 

[GotNoRice]

Vanilla WoW ... 29 dungeons, 7 raids
Burning Crusade ... 16 dungeons, 9 raids
WOTLK ... 16 dungeons, 8 raids, 1 rehashed raid
Cataclysm ... 7 dungeons, 7 rehashed dungeons, 6 raids

Notice the downward trend in end-game content?

Vanilla had the most dungeons obviously because that includes all of the low level dungeons for people who are leveling up. Expansions after that focused on adding additional top-level content, as you would expect.

One thing you are not taking into account is that Cataclysm simply dwarfed all the other expansions in terms of development time. While the amount of end-game content that was released might not have been amazing, what they did was go and re-do almost the entire lower-level game. Leveling a fresh character now is a completely different and better experience compared to before cataclysm, and really modernizes the game as prior to that anyone leveling would be basically playing the low-level content same as it was in 2004.

Let’s also gloss over the fact that many of the “rehashed” dungeons in Cataclysm also turned out to be player favorites, such as Deadmines, Shadowfang Keep, etc.

-its $15/month... Who pays a subscription to play a game!!??

WoW is actually F2P now until level 20.

-GW2 is f2p and already killed wow

In what way? Certainly not subscription numbers.

-space race called draenai is ok.. but pandas? that ruined wow.

I'm not sure how you can make that determination before the expansion is even released unless that determination is based on nothing but rumor, misinformation, and hearsay.

-i hate cartoony graphics... torchlight ftw

Warcraft is a cartoony game, that's just the way it is.

-wow was great back in vanilla wow when things are HARD
-Wow was great back in Burning crusade
-wow's last great expansion was in WOTLK

"WoW was great back when I played but it sucks now". How would you know if you don't play anymore?

- did i mention you have to play $15/month?

This apparently represents a financial burden for you?

I've been playing this game for 8 years and during that time it has seen constant development, expansions, game upgrades, etc. Games that don't have subscription fees tend to die off after a while once the developer realizes that supporting a game indefinitely for free isn't the greatest way to make a profit.

-PVP was great in vanilla wow.. then they ruined with arena/resilience/etc

Arena's were one of the most popular features of BC, so I don't think you're in the majority with this opinion.

-i hated the grind.. kill this kill that... it was stupid..

I leveled in Vanilla, BC, Wrath, and Cata as full resto (druid) and did almost nothing but healing dungeons. You don't have to grind quests unless you want to, and quite frankly there have been some pretty amazing improvements in that area. AoE looting now means that you only have to loot once even if you just killed 20 mobs. Mobs drop an item for EACH player when questing in a group, so you don't have to kill twice as many mobs for collection quests, etc.

-wow ripped off kung fu pandas

Pandaren have been a part of WoW lore going back to the original Warcraft series. The jack black movie obviously left an impression on you, but get your facts right. WoW didn't copy anything.

-wow is too easy... i just log in and collect epics and NO i will not link my armory.

Epics have item level and not all epics are the same. It sounds like you're content with gearing yourself with welfare gear simply because it's colored purple. Go do some heroic content, which certainly is *not* easy, and you can get gear that makes your welfare epics look like a joke. I doubt you've done even a single heroic boss, and I'm not surprised in any way that you are afraid to link your armory.

Yeah, I'm sure the game is easy when you skip all of the hard content

Wow, so, shouldn't the game be better then? You sheep just keep paying for the same old thing. It's laughable!

It is better. GW2 is just another game in a long list of mediocre games that failed to even make a significant dent in WoW, such as Warhammer, SWTOR, etc.

And what "Same old thing" are you referring to? Because as a WoW player we get new content almost every patch. How much new content do you think you are going to get on a regular basis in a game that you don't pay monthly for? Do you think GW2 devs work for free? lol

 

[collegeboy69us]

I'm going to start saving my money now for the "Isles of My Little Pony" expansion that's rumored to be coming to WoW in late 2014. There's talk that I will be allowed to pay an extra 20 dollars over the retail price and I get an uber rare my little pony sparkling hair brush of doom.

 

[Aluisious]

I'm sure it will be successful, but their formulas is getting long in the tooth. After you play more modern (MMO)RPGs, you realize how truly unenjoyable grind-based games are: "Go collect 15 goblin ears...oh by the way, goblin ears only have a 30% drop rate since apparently not all goblins have ears." It's an inconvenience you put up with to get to the other side; once you realize a game should be enjoyable from beginning all the way to end, and not just the very end, you're spoiled.

All that being said, I'll probably still end up succumbing and getting this to play over Christmas break...

WOW is barely enjoyable at the end because it's an eternal race for the latest meaningless piece of bling. It's like playing chess, if chess involved spending hundreds of hours to get a full set, only to find out that by then there's a new set with a knight that can move diagonally.

 

[Skizzy]

I do miss WoW a bit, but I miss the old WoW; Vanilla & TBC. I came back for WoTLK and didn't have much fun, and gave it one more chance for Cataclysm. Don't see myself coming back this time though.