Dragons! Why Did It Have To Be Dragons?

It's more than a little unfortunate for ArenaNet that another mmo gaming company chose to release a cinematic on the same day they chose to plug the first episode of the revamped, replayable Living World Season One. Especially when you consider that gaming company happens to be Blizzard and the cinematic in question is the official announcement of the details of the next World of Warcraft expansion.

I mean, come on! Even I was watching the Blizzard stream, which started very conveniently for me at five in the evening, and I don't even play the blasted game.

The question is, having watched it, would I want to start? For the moment, let's just focus on the content of the expansion itself, putting all the other baggage to one side. No moral choices here, just aesthetic and entertainment ones.

On first impressions, based on what I saw and heard in the Livestream and read in the press release and media coverage afterwards, yes I probably would. I'm not saying I'd make a long-term home in WoW just off the back of what I just watched but I can easily see me buying the expansion and playing for a month or two.

It has a couple of things that appeal to me: a new race/class and a new starting area. The race itself isn't all that exciting. It's yet another dragon/human hybrid. I'm sure that's not the official description but a Drakkin by any other name is just as clichéd. At least it looks halfway decent. I never liked the look of the Drakkin and EverQuest II's Aerykin aren't much better.

Granted, it's a "Hero Class" so it starts at Level 58, but that's still better than going straight into the new at-cap content. With the new cap moving to 70, that's a dozen levels of new content if you roll a new Dracthyr character rather than just ten, although what that means, given the level squish that preceded the last expansion, is a lot harder to say. 

It seems unlikely there'd be a whole starter zone for a mere two levels but what do levels even mean in WoW now anyway? Maybe that's how it was for Death Knights back in Wrath. I played one but I can't remember. 

I could remind myself soon enough if I wanted to find out, though. Wrath of the Lich King Classic is coming. Not quite sure when but it's definitely on the way.. 

That doesn't even qualify as news, more like confirmation and I wouldn't begin to suggest any connection with the Norrathian drogon kin, even if  Holly Longdale is working for WoW these days but it felt very strange to see her fronting such a big announcement in her capacity as Lead Producer for the retro Classic faction.

What was even odder was the way her reminiscences about WoW sounded more heartfelt and convincing than anything the two WoW lifers sitting next to her could contribute. She has the ardency of a convert.

More of a surprise were her comments on the absence of the Group Finder from the servers at launch (Assuming I heard that right. It seemed a little muddled.). Of course, it wasn't added until late WotLK, so I'm guessing it will turn up eventually. Or maybe, if Wrath Classic really does signal the end of the line for the WoW Classic Experience, it won't.

Going back to the expansion, which I haven't mentioned is called Dragonflight, I was amused to see what looked suspiciously like both the Guild Wars 2 UI and GW2's Griffon mount make appearances as exciting new innovations. It wouldn't be WoW if it didn't add features other games perfected years ago. I'm pretty sure I've seen the crafting commission system in at least three mmorpgs I've played before, too.

The cinematic was quite nice. A little subdued, I thought. Almost thoughtful. As for the discussion that followed, it was a litany of saying the right things but with some surprisingly convincing self-deprecatory banter between the principals. 

And it's certainly better to have figureheads spouting things we want to hear than the opposite, even if they do sometimes seem to be doing it through gritted teeth. I'm not sure Kaylriene will have heard everything he was hoping for (I'm sure he'll let us know.) but at least it's a gesture in that direction.

The new zones look very pretty. More importantly, they don't look weird or spacey or unearthly or doomy or other-dimensiony or any of the other things I'm sure most WoW players have had about enough of by now. A return to Azeroth and landscapes that look suitably fantasy-real has to be a relief for everyone, not least the artists.

The last big ticket item in the expansion pack I won't comment on, other than to say I have no opinions on Talent trees in WoW and precious few thoughts on them in any game. A necessary inconvenience is about as emotional as I ever get about the mechanic. I'm sure it'll be a big deal to someone, just not to me.

I'll also pass on any comments on the lore or the story. None of it meant anything to me at all. I barely recognized any of the names. It's not as if I haven't played the game, either. I probably have a few thousand hours in WoW. That stuff just washes over me.

What was conspicuously missing from both the livestream and the press release was any detailed timescale. I think we did get a definite nod to "this year" but that was about all. We shouldn't have to wait too long to find out whether Dragonflight is going to be enough to rekindle the light in the eyes of the faithful. 

I suspect, at best, it'll be a holding excercise. WoW's glory days are most likely behind it now. It would be kind of appropriate if an expansion based around dragons turned out to be the beginning of a long tail for the game.

Legion Of The Bland: WoW

World of Warcraft is having another baby and its name is Legion. That brings the little family to six; seven if you count Vanilla. While some responses were almost gushing and a few outright hostile, a lot more seemed to cleave more to the  "meh" end of the spectrum. Wilhelm, who himself seems to be in the ho-hum camp this time around, has a big list of the torrent of discussion, speculation, reaction and analysis brought about by last week's reveal.

Most of it went right over my head. I know about as much about Warcraft lore as I do about Zoroastrianism. Possibly less since I once listened to an In Our Time on the latter and as far as I know Melvyn has yet to get around to orcs. During my first brief stint in WoW (which, now I have access to my old account again and can see my payment history, turns out not to have been quite as brief as I thought - I paid and played for six months, not the three I've always remembered) I got heavily bogged down in The Burning Crusade.

I didn't like Outland much. That first zone really set a bad impression; ugly, harsh, awkward to travel through but, most unforgivably of all, dull. I tried to spend as little time there as possible. The zones beyond that I can't even remember except I know one had spiders. Even the basic information that demons were involved passed me by.

Oh, let's be honest, it all passed me by. It usually does. I only ever have the vaguest idea what's going on in the deep lore of any MMO I play and most of what I do know I learn after the fact from websites and blogs and forums, not while I'm playing the game. As Eric Heimburg of Project: Gorgon observed in a recent interview "... what will the player be doing each 30 seconds of the game? [Killing a monster, usually.] ... what is the player doing each 15 minutes? [Completing a quest, perhaps]."

Get quest, kill monster, hand in quest, repeat. That's WoW to me. That's most MMOs, coupled with a lot of "I wonder what's over that hill?" And I like that. While I was in Azeroth I did listen to the gnome or dwarf or (hack, spit) elf who gave me each quest. I did take on board his or her or its little problem for the brief time it mattered. The best of those stories I can still recall, especially with a little memory jog, as I've found going back to some of the old, albeit cataclysmically remodelled, zones of late.

How any of it fitted in with some overarching story or deep, mythic timeline, though, of that I had no idea. And if I didn't care then I certainly don't care now. So, I am very much not, in so many ways, the target audience for any of Blizzard's lore-driven publicity drives.

Demons are coming back? What, wait, so those were demons I was fighting back then? Oh. Didn't notice, sorry. (Hey, I played through the whole of Guild Wars: Prophecies without realizing the Charr were cats. I actually did think they were demons. I'm really not up to speed on this whole "he's a demon" thing).

There are different clans of orcs and they have some kind of feud? Well I guess they would, wouldn't they? I mean, they are orcs. Should I care?

Pandas were always around? Really? I never saw any. I saw a lot of Space Goats though - did a Space Zoo crash on Azeroth?

And so on.

Syl doesn't like expansions but I do. I love them. My favorite period in terms of MMORPG pacing was the time when SOE sold us an Everquest expansion every six months on the nail, whether we needed one or not. I bought all of them - even when I was barely playing EQ. Six months seems to me to be exactly right for the time I should be asked to wait before buying another MMO to bolt onto the MMO I'm already playing. Preferably in a box, with a booklet. And a map.

It doesn't matter all that much what the theme of the expansion is. Obviously I have my preferences. I'd prefer plains to jungles for example and tundra to desert. Content is more important than setting because there's going to be a lot I probably won't get much use out of - raids, most of the dungeons, anything that requires me to grind something I wouldn't normally grind just for the pleasure of grinding - but so long as I get my handful of new overland zones and another ten levels I'm going to feel I got my money's worth.

On that basis, with a whole new archipelago and ten more levels, if WoW was my game I'd be signed up for Legion right now, even despite the odious addition of the single upgradeable weapon, a mechanic I loathe with a passion. If, that is, I didn't already have three and a half WoW expansions to go through first.

I dropped out somewhere in the 70s last time around. I didn't even see all of the outdoor areas from Wrath of the Lich King. I am just now dipping my toes into the waters of Cataclysm (not literally - I haven't made it as far as the flooded parts yet. Looking forward to that) and I've been toying with the idea of re-subscribing. My Warrior is now xp-locked at 20 so I have to either pay up or move on to another character (although somewhat surprisingly I notice I can still quest for rewards and reputation so there's some leeway).

With Wildstar prepping for F2P conversion in "The Fall" (could we get a date?) and both of the MMORPGs I'm playing every day (GW2 and EQ2) set to release expansions later this year (could we get some dates?) it seems like an inopportune time to resub to anything else. Maybe I should put WoW on hold until Legion releases (could we get a date?). Then I could do the whole leveling trip from the 70s to 110 on my hunter, whom I really used to enjoy playing.

If only I was that rational. Instead I'll probably find myself playing LotRO again when the servers merge or re-installing Anarchy Online on a whim or, heaven forfend, downloading SW:ToR "just to take a look".

Too. Many. MMOs. And I still want an expansion every six months. Anyone fancy staging an intervention?