BC Growing Stale, WoTLK Soon Please?

#0 - July 10, 2008, 10:13 p.m.

This is not supposed to be a whining thread, I am merely advocating for some of my guild mates (as well as myself) by relaying some of their major complaints and concerns.

The thing is, my guild is a semi-hardcore raiding guild. What this basically means is we have had Illidan on farm for a few months but dont have the hours and resources needed to progress far into Sunwell. Burning Crusade for many of my guild mates is getting EXTREMELY boring for a number of reasons. Some are as follows:

1. Lack of new content and summer weather are leaving raids short handed.
2. Stagnation of new content is causing some members to jump to "more hardcore" guilds in the hopes of seeing more of Sunwell.
3. Lack of new content and lack of community goals is dragging down morale and general interest in the game.
4. PVP is still boring, frenzied, and unimaginative offering no new option for us gamers who have been playing for 3 years +.

Basically what I am saying is that MANY OF US ARE BORED!! With no new content patches in the foreseeable future the idea of drudging through Black Temple and Hyjal for the rest of the summer makes my skin crawl. I am not alone in this thinking either. Many people have been having similar conversations and most of us are sticking with the game just because of dedication to our guild.

I strongly feel that Blizzard NEEDS to address this. If not for business reasons than for repaying the loyalty we long-term players have given you. We have stuck through this game for years and I believe you owe it to us to offer some way of keeping our interest and passion in WoW. I have a few suggestions that might remedy some of these issues:

1. Release WoTLK already! (The obvious answer)
2. Give us a definitive release date. This way we atleast know when we will have more content and can stop blindly hoping that our painful forays through rehashed and washed-out encounters will soon be coming to and end.
3. Release the WoTLK talents. That way we can explore and play with the talents and by that guaranteeing many players continued interest for months. I might remind you that Blizzard did the same thing pre-BC.
4. Release a new content patch. Something! Anything!! If WoTLK is going to take more than 6 months from now to be released, you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO GIVE US SOMETHING MORE TO DO. I am already strongly considering cancelling (temporarily or permanently) my account. If the next expansion is anything more than 3 months away, and there are no more content patches promised, than I will be cancelling immediately.
5. Do something original. Blizzard has always been able to "wow" me with their creative design and unique philosophy on gaming. So... here I am, bored as hell, so do something BLIZZARD-ISH! Do something original and fun to tide the months over. I don't have any suggestions at the moment but I am not paid to think of this stuff, you are! So gather some creative heads together and think of something cool for us to do!

Please take this thread seriously Blizzard. These are serious arguments with serious suggestions. And I am not alone in this. Not by a long shot.

If you are playing the game and agree with me, please add your support or additional suggestions to this thread.

Thanks in advanced Blizzard and thank you for years of fine gaming experiences.
Nate

Nethaera

#35 - July 11, 2008, 6:35 p.m.

Q u o t e:

1. Lack of new content and summer weather are leaving raids short handed.
2. Stagnation of new content is causing some members to jump to "more hardcore" guilds in the hopes of seeing more of Sunwell.
3. Lack of new content and lack of community goals is dragging down morale and general interest in the game.
4. PVP is still boring, frenzied, and unimaginative offering no new option for us gamers who have been playing for 3 years +.

Guilds go through this during holidays, summer, etc. I understand the frustration that goes with wanting your guild to be more active right along side of you, but it always gets better as we get back into the end of summer.

Q u o t e:
1. Release WoTLK already! (The obvious answer)

We're just not ready yet and we're not going to release it until it's ready. It would be just as detrimental to your guild for them to come back in force for an expansion that wasn't ready for them.

Q u o t e:
2. Give us a definitive release date. This way we atleast know when we will have more content and can stop blindly hoping that our painful forays through rehashed and washed-out encounters will soon be coming to and end.

We can't do this either. All I can say is that we are making very good progress and are getting there, but we're not there just yet.

Q u o t e:
3. Release the WoTLK talents. That way we can explore and play with the talents and by that guaranteeing many players continued interest for months. I might remind you that Blizzard did the same thing pre-BC.

There is a lot of information that has come out of the Worldwide Invitational and can be found on various fansites. I'm sure there might be a few things there that you might find interesting. In the meantime, more information will be coming, again, once we're ready to give it. We much prefer to avoid theorycrafting that isn't based on real gameplay when we can. We would rather work on giving players the opportunity to play the game and experience the new content and then share feedback than before. It just gives us better feedback to work with and gives players a better understanding of new features etc.

Q u o t e:
4. Release a new content patch. Something! Anything!! If WoTLK is going to take more than 6 months from now to be released, you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO GIVE US SOMETHING MORE TO DO. I am already strongly considering cancelling (temporarily or permanently) my account. If the next expansion is anything more than 3 months away, and there are no more content patches promised, than I will be cancelling immediately.

We do not have any new content planned prior to Wrath of the Lich King. Our efforts are focused on creating new content as a part of the expansion and to change our focus to add content prior to it's release wouldn't be productive. I'm sorry, but I can't give you an ETA on the release and it's your choice if you wish to cancel to do something else. We'll still be here and Northrend is fast becoming reality. If you choose to come back to experience it, we'd love to see you again.

Q u o t e:
5. Do something original. Blizzard has always been able to "wow" me with their creative design and unique philosophy on gaming. So... here I am, bored as hell, so do something BLIZZARD-ISH! Do something original and fun to tide the months over. I don't have any suggestions at the moment but I am not paid to think of this stuff, you are! So gather some creative heads together and think of something cool for us to do!

Hopefully you enjoyed the Fire Festival recently. We try to do "something original" every chance we get provided it works within the scope and focus of the game. Again, our focus is on Wrath of the Lich King (though we still are doing some bug fixes etc as evidenced in the next patch) and changing course to give people something different from what is available to do now, would only infringe on the work we're doing fo rthe expansion.

Q u o t e:
Please take this thread seriously Blizzard. These are serious arguments with serious suggestions. And I am not alone in this. Not by a long shot.

I've answered what I could for you, and yes, I took your post seriously, but you also need to understand that we are progressing and have definite plans on how to best progress. We're not ready just yet to let you in on it all at this time, but the wait shouldn't be too bad.

Q u o t e:
Thanks in advanced Blizzard and thank you for years of fine gaming experiences.
Nate

You're welcome and we're hoping you're going to find what we've been working on to also add to your gaming enjoyment as well.

Nethaera

#71 - July 11, 2008, 7:10 p.m.

Q u o t e:

I has pikturs!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/fluffygremlin/motivator.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/fluffygremlin/5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/fluffygremlin/53162274514_0_BG.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/fluffygremlin/Lillian053.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/fluffygremlin/Lillian055.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/fluffygremlin/Lillian081.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/fluffygremlin/Lillian090.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/fluffygremlin/Lillian108.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/fluffygremlin/Lillian206.jpg

I was wondering too. NOT to derail or anything... but very cute and congratulations. :)

As for the politician statement, if you feel you have feedback on Community Team performance, you can email to wowcmfeedback@blizzard.com .

I've done what I could to address the concerns in the original post and while I can't give specific dates, I felt it was appropriate to at least respond with what I could.

Nethaera

#92 - July 11, 2008, 8:32 p.m.

Q u o t e:

And so I'd be fine if your statement was simple "We do not have any new content planned prior to Wrath of the Lich King." You could state or allow us to infer that the game currently has all the content it needs until the expansion, or something to that effect, and I think that's reasonable. Instead, it has been explicitly stated that we won't be getting a new content patch because current development resources have been allocated to the expansion. This is unacceptable.

The Sunwell is considered the final part of what we wanted to release (content wise) for Burning Crusade. So what you stated above is where we're at. We're happy with the content that is currently in the game and available. We are also now focused on creating new content that will be added in with Wrath of the Lich King. In many interviews we've even stated that we plan out content releases as a part of our expansions. We plan out the pacing of the content (which we have tried to improve upon with each release) and do our best to make sure that it's the highest quality each time.

There are many interviews with our designers and producers that reaffirm this information. We've had content planned out for a long time in advance. All we're doing now is moving to the next portion of our development we've had planned for the game. We're not abandoning content in favor of the next best thing. We've completed our content for the Burning Crusade and are moving on to Wrath of the Lich King as a matter of planning. We haven't been arbitrary in how we are doing things.

Nethaera

#97 - July 11, 2008, 8:55 p.m.

Q u o t e:
Two questions Neth:

1. Are you guys planning to release the talents for WOTLK before WOTLK like you did with BC? Or is this something that isn't decided yet? Pre-TBC with the 41 point talents was a lot of fun.

2. Any chance we could see a decrease in the experience required to level from 60-70? Even if it were just for the few months before WOTLK, this would probably encourage people to level more alts. The 1-60 changes were most welcome! I finally leveled another character, and it was much less painful than the first time around.

3. Will arena points carry over from 70 to 80?

That was three questions. ;)

I can't answer 1 and 3 for you just yet. When we can, we'll do our best to give you as much information on it as possible.

On #2, there is a chance, but I'm not aware of any particular plans for this at this point in time. Much like we changed leveling from 20-60, it's possible we could look at other things we can do to ease leveling in other spots where we think it needs it.

Nethaera

#111 - July 11, 2008, 9:49 p.m.

Q u o t e:
Neth, do you have any info that you can share about Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor areas that are receiving upgrades in WotLK?
I loved what you did in BC when you added Karazhan to Deadwind Pass, the new starting zones, Zul'Aman, Mudsprocket etc.
Can we expect news from Uldum, Gilneas or modern day Hyjal in the expsansion?

As a part of Wrath of the Lich King? Hrm... I can't say of anything in particular in the old world that is getting upgrades as a part of the expansion. Although, some players have noticed a bit of construction that is happening in Stormwind (as evidenced in the PTR.)

Much like what we did with Dustwallow Marsh, any updates would be done when we felt we could get in the time and make it worthwhile for the players. That said, it doesn't preclude this from happening at some point in time. We'd like to improve some of the old world areas where we can, but we don't have specific plans at this time.

Nethaera

#114 - July 11, 2008, 9:58 p.m.

Q u o t e:
I have to say neth you should be a politician with the vagueness of those answers, honestly no extra content goes in for what could be 9 months, i thought part of out server fee's went to expanding the game experience.Oh wait awesome so since you've added no new content and focused all your resource's on wrath instead of providing new content this must me wrath is FREE WOO!.

New content was released March 25th which contained the following additions:

Q u o t e:
Highlights of Fury of the Sunwell:

Sunwell Isle:
The glorious fount of arcane energy known as the Sunwell empowered the high elves for millennia, until the death knight Arthas laid siege to the elven kingdom and corrupted its sacred energies. Seeing no other alternative, a band of survivors led by Prince Kael'thas destroyed the ancient fount, and over time the surviving elves fell prey to a crippling magical withdrawal. Now, promising salvation for his people, Kael'thas has returned. Soon the Sunwell will shine once again, but whether the sacred fount will usher in deliverance or destruction remains to be seen.
This area includes:

* A new quest hub
* Magisters' Terrace - a 5-player instance
* Sunwell Plateau - a 25-player instance
* New badge rewards

New Daily Quests:
The combined forces of Shattrath have launched an attack on the Isle of Quel'Danas to confront Kael'thas and the Legion at the Sunwell and surrounding areas. Players will now be able to gain reputation with the Shattered Sun Offensive and participate in a new set of daily quests.

UI Improvements:
The combat log has undergone improvements that allow more robust combat-text filtering, including the ability to define custom colors for enemies and friends, as well as combat text filtering for self and others.

Arena Tournament Introduced:
Players will be able to create level-70 characters with epic equipment and compete on special tournament realms in a new global arena tournament. For more information, details, and entry requirements, please visit the official tournament pages.

The Kil'jaeden encounter itself was only more recently made available to players as recently as May. If you are a part of a guild that has accomplished completing the Sunwell, then congratulations! :)

Nethaera

#119 - July 11, 2008, 10:31 p.m.

Q u o t e:

I wasn't apart of a guild that killed KJ, and probably will never be as you see i pretty much only PvP. Im saying that it will porbably be around 9 months until new content is released, since I'm going to pick that wrath is around end of January/early February. Which in my case my 9 month prediction would be somewhat accurate.

Oh and i wasn't taking a dig at you for your vagueness its very professional ;) have a great day neth i have work.

I always wonder where people get their timetables. lol I misread and thought you were saying that it had been 9 months since new content. I'd like to think that perhaps we'll surprise you, but you know how it is, I can't give you a date until we have it solid to give. Sorry!

Have fun at work. :)