German ratings board leaks second WOW expansion info?

[Orz]

[The] Germans couldn't keep tactics secret after the Enigma machine was defeated, and now they seem to have blurted out another secret of just slightly less historical significance. According to Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6175938.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;2), the German software ratings board Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle Gesundheit is responsible:


Spotted by German community site Gamona, a listing for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King appeared on USK yesterday, accompanied by the tag "GC-demo," implying Blizzard will be showing Wrath of the Lich King at this year's Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany.

Bit surprising for it to be this quick, if true.

[The Continental]

A Northrend expansion was certainly a given, but to play that card so soon? Seems a bit odd. Not only is TBC not even a year old but allowing players to defeat Arthas seems like the sort of thing they'd save for their final expansion pack in the series.

[Yellowman]

I think this is a good move to be honest... I know I decided that I wasn't going to play again until they released another expansion, it's the most fun part to play and I hate endgame...

Also, I guess Arthus is an important character but there are going to be tougher enemies - for instance the Elemental things (of which Ragnaros was a lesser version). They have their own world to use in an expansion.

[JazGalaxy]

As an impartial observer (I don't play any MMOs) I actually feel like W.o.W has released far LESS expansions than other games. It seems like they're due for another one...

[Hemalin]

When is Leipzig anyway?

[Druxk]

Not entirely. Blizzard, if I'm not mistaken, has said before that they plan to release an expansion annually. If it's not too early for presidential campaigns then its definitely not too early for WoW expansion campaigns.

[Housemixer]

When is Leipzig anyway?

23.-28. August 2007

[Heretic Machine]

Do you really need more buzzards and boars to kill? Because that is what you're going to be doing after you spend an hour in Northrend.

They pretty much burned any chance they had at me continuing that game after they half-assed Burning Crusade. Quite bitter.

[NoName]

Yay for easy money...

[Chaos Machine]

regardless of whether or not this is blizzard we are talking about, most mmos ive seen have yearly expansion packs. hell eq2 is going on its 5th? tbc was really a fluke and not representative of the norm so you shouldnt expect future expansion packs for wow to take as long as tbc. They have a massive team dedicated to wow alone probably numbering in the hundreds.

[BlackPete]

As an impartial observer (I don't play any MMOs) I actually feel like W.o.W has released far LESS expansions than other games. It seems like they're due for another one...

Let me put it into perspective for you:

WoW the original shipped I don't know... 3 years ago?

The first expansion shipped this year.

So it's definitely odd to see news about another expansion this soon. This is Blizzard we're talking about here...

[DeadlyDonkey]

They aren't going to announce this at leipzig.

Keep up.

This'll be announced at Blizzcon, this weekend.

[Nura]

They better pull some good stuff out of their arses.. if it's another TBC with nothing but more pve-dungeons, and a new season of pvp count me out.

[TrackZero]

As an impartial observer (I don't play any MMOs) I actually feel like W.o.W has released far LESS expansions than other games. It seems like they're due for another one...

Indeed. I just hope Blizzard doesn't pull the demo out of spite and save it for a later show.

Edit: Then again, whatever, the real showing will be at BlizzCon in just a few days. The German show will just be a repeat.

[Mojopin]

The main reason I quit endgame raiding was TBC, seeing my set of Tier 3 and my "best dagger in the game" turned into garbage at level 64 kinda broke my heart a bit. Especially when I think about the time I spent raiding for that gear. While raiding is fun (and I did for a bit at 70 before (http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Burning+Blade&n=Mojopin) quiting), the BIG payoff is tearing people up in PvP with that gear. Now we have Arena and resilience so it was GG for raiding.

I know they are going to release 1 more xpac (at least) and they have already stated the final level cap will be 80 rendering all of those pretty level 70 purples useless. I'll start raiding again when its "Kill Arthas" time and I know the cap isn't going to change again. ;)

[Tricky Thumb]

A Northrend expansion was certainly a given, but to play that card so soon? Seems a bit odd. Not only is TBC not even a year old but allowing players to defeat Arthas seems like the sort of thing they'd save for their final expansion pack in the series.

Maybe that's exactly what they're doing.

[Shjinta]

regardless of whether or not this is blizzard we are talking about, most mmos ive seen have yearly expansion packs. hell eq2 is going on its 5th? tbc was really a fluke and not representative of the norm so you shouldnt expect future expansion packs for wow to take as long as tbc. They have a massive team dedicated to wow alone probably numbering in the hundreds.

135 to be exact

[Furious Wang]

They better pull some good stuff out of their arses.. if it's another TBC with nothing but more pve-dungeons, and a new season of pvp count me out.

Maybe you were expecting them to completely reinvent the most wildly popular online rpg ever, rather than extend it which is, you know, kinda what expansions are all about?

I got to the endgame point in TBC and promptly quit. Ill go back to it when everyone else has caught and knows wtf they're doing.

As for now, I'm looking forward to the next Guild Wars expansion in August. I've got a code for the tabula rasa beta from comic con that I haven't tried out yet also.

[EvilBob46]

Why was "ze Germans" changed to "the Germans"?

[ObviousSlacker]

Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle Gesundheit

Okay, that made me laugh. Well done sir!

[GreenIce]

Maybe you were expecting them to completely reinvent the most wildly popular online rpg ever, rather than extend it which is, you know, kinda what expansions are all about?

Unless you talk about raiding of course.

[Devilturnip]

So long as they don't adopt the 2 expansion a year model that SOE used until recently, I'm fine with it.

[Zacharai]

Why was "ze Germans" changed to "the Germans"?
I was wondering the same.

[Your Good Twin]

They pretty much burned any chance they had at me continuing that game after they half-assed Burning Crusade. Quite bitter.

Half-assed BC? *blinks then bursts out laughing* I'm inclined to believe nothing short of a sequel would be good enough for you if you think BC was "half-assed". What exactly do you want from an expansion, 10 new races, 3 new continents, 5 new classes, etcetera etcetera???

[Phanto]

I believe that if this indeed true they will announce it on BlizzCon.

[Gnomesbane]

I don't recall where I saw it but yesterday (Digg maybe) there was a story about the sheet music for the symphonic concert at BlizzCon. The final three pieces to be performed are called Northrend 1,2 and 3... and there are no tracks on any previously released WC soundtrack named as such.

[Heretic Machine]

Half-assed BC? *blinks then bursts out laughing* I'm inclined to believe nothing short of a sequel would be good enough for you if you think BC was "half-assed". What exactly do you want from an expansion, 10 new races, 3 new continents, 5 new classes, etcetera etcetera???

...I'd like to go through the dark portal, and not have a dozen quests thrown at me dealing with A) Killing X amount of boars; B) Collecting X amount of parts of boars; C) Killing X amount of buzzards; or D) Collecting X amount of parts of buzzards. You know, because I've been doing that fucking shit since I started the game. Sure, I was killing demons for about an hour, flying planes and bombing stuff; it was super-fun. But after that first hour, it was nothing but slaughtering varmints and collecting their bits and pieces.

Even after I moved on from the first area, I ended up fighting some fucking troggs or something similar. Then fireflies, friggin fireflies; I'm supposed to be an uber-powerful druid and I'm working for the Orkin Man. It was around that time that I just gave up, realizing that to the north was nothing but an assload of giant spiders and wolves, same shit I've seen since the beginning of the game. To the south was a town made for rep grinding, the worst mechanic implemented into any game, ever. There is virtually nothing I liked about The Burning Crusade, except the Draenei, but what am I going to do with a new character? Just level them up to the point that they can go through the portal, and do the same shit they have done for sixty levels? No thanks.

You know, back in the day, MMOs relegated bunny-bashing to the very beginning of the game. In WoW, you never grow out of it.

[Your Good Twin]

...I'd like to go through the dark portal, and not have a dozen quests thrown at me dealing with A) Killing X amount of boars; B) Collecting X amount of parts of boars; C) Killing X amount of buzzards; or D) Collecting X amount of parts of buzzards. You know, because I've been doing that fucking shit since I started the game. Sure, I was killing demons for about an hour, flying planes and bombing stuff; it was super-fun. But after that first hour, it was nothing but slaughtering varmints and collecting their bits and pieces.

Even after I moved on from the first area, I ended up fighting some fucking troggs or something similar. Then fireflies, friggin fireflies; I'm supposed to be an uber-powerful druid and I'm working for the Orkin Man. It was around that time that I just gave up, realizing that to the north was nothing but an assload of giant spiders and wolves, same shit I've seen since the beginning of the game. To the south was a town made for rep grinding, the worst mechanic implemented into any game, ever. There is virtually nothing I liked about The Burning Crusade, except the Draenei, but what am I going to do with a new character? Just level them up to the point that they can go through the portal, and do the same shit they have done for sixty levels? No thanks.

You know, back in the day, MMOs relegated bunny-bashing to the very beginning of the game. In WoW, you never grow out of it.

Okay, I see where you're coming from. Yeah, that's actually a good point, it's a bit demeaning to put characters to work on pest control when previous they have been spending so much time bringing down giant dragons and 200-foot-tall elementals. I guess I just feel like it's a rather small aspect of what all BC added to the game.

[Heretic Machine]

Okay, I see where you're coming from. Yeah, that's actually a good point, it's a bit demeaning to put characters to work on pest control when previous they have been spending so much time bringing down giant dragons and 200-foot-tall elementals. I guess I just feel like it's a rather small aspect of what all BC added to the game.

In all likely hood, it is. The problem is that you're forced to trudge through dozens of hours of it before you can get to anything resembling interesting after that last bombing-run mission. I mean, believe me, I was looking forward to the Caverns of Time; that was my primary motivational tool as I was killing endless amounts of wildlife with my tree-hugging Nightelf. In the end, I just couldn't force myself through it all, with it taking eight or so hours to level and the thing I was wanting being three or four levels off. I'm still tempted to go back to it, but every time I get close to doing it, I remember just how long it took to level, and just how tedious that time was.

[ProfPuppet]

When I was attending the WoW event at Comic-Con, someone asked if 'we would ever be able to fight the Lich King in WoW'. One of the head guys said 'Uhhh... I can neither confirm nor deny that. But I think we'd all like to take a swing at that long-haired bastard.' They also said, for a lot of questions, that they couldn't answer them because they'd be answering them and releasing a lot of info at their Blizzard convention soon. *shrugs*

It makes sense for them to release a new expansion, actually, to fix the Burning Crusade, which killed the endgame for me and a lot of people.

[AversionFX]

In all likely hood, it is. The problem is that you're forced to trudge through dozens of hours of it before you can get to anything resembling interesting after that last bombing-run mission. I mean, believe me, I was looking forward to the Caverns of Time; that was my primary motivational tool as I was killing endless amounts of wildlife with my tree-hugging Nightelf. In the end, I just couldn't force myself through it all, with it taking eight or so hours to level and the thing I was wanting being three or four levels off. I'm still tempted to go back to it, but every time I get close to doing it, I remember just how long it took to level, and just how tedious that time was.

All I can see is

Waa waa waa, I suck. Fuck having to earn any kind of content, I should be spoon-fed purples, waa.

And my answer is: Learn to not suck.

[BigJonno]

New races please and some new classes to go with them this time. Just gimme Pandaren, you bastards. You stiffed us last time with your "doesn't fit the theme of the expansion" BS. I would also like dual-wield pistols alongside my rifles.

WoW is definitely reaching "I'm still playing it because I like the people I'm playing it with and WAR and AoC are just around the corner" status. My wife and I have a small group of friends and we'll be migrating to a new game together, unless Blizzard pull something very, very special out for the next expansion.

[Ancalagon]

And my answer is: Learn to not suck.

I'm glad you enjoy killing an endless supply of wildlife for hours on end. Go to China, there you can get paid to do that, its called gold farming.

The rest of us like playing games with more vareity in them.

[Heretic Machine]

All I can see is



And my answer is: Learn to not suck.

Suck? Yes, I do suck at fighting the most omnipresent enemy in that game: Tedium. Because really, that is all the challenge there is outside of dungeons (which is the 1% of playtime worthwhile, which you have to earn, as you say, by throwing away days of your real life).

[solinari6]

The rest of us like playing games with more vareity in them.
Don't speak for the rest of us. I had lots of fun killing boars and fireflies, and everything else TBC threw at me.

[Roc Ingersol]

tBC took almost 18 months to go from first Blizzcon unveiling to release. By the time WoW's next expansion actually hit shelves, it'll feel late.

[J-Dizzle]

Didn't Blizzard say, after the BC release, that they were going to release an expansion a year ? So, every November ? Therefore, it's about the right time for them to announce it right ?

People might say I'm crazy, but I moved from WoW to Galaxies. I'll get into the LOTRO thing soon.

So... there it is :)

[PacerDawn]

Um, killing bats and rats, doing "kill x number of mobs", "collect x number of items". Newsflash: That is what standard MMORPG gameplay IS (especially in WoW). This is unexpected? And, on the other shoe in the WoW forums, people are complaining that a new expansion is coming out when they havn't had a chance to run Kara for the umpteeth millionth time.

So on one hand you have people complaining that they have to do the same types of things in the expansion that they have always done, and then you have them complaining that new content is coming before they have had the chance to repeat content endless times that they have always done.

"We don't want to repeat the same content but, wait, new expansion before we have had the chance to repeat content???"

Amazing.

You cannot please everyone, this is a fact. However, WoW seems to have done the best of the bunch so far.

Also, they can't bleed this current storyline forever. It's going to get old. Get the lich king and the whole burning legion out of the way and introduce a new storyline in the next expansion. Maybe one that (hopefully) changes the old world maps and upgrades the old 20+ man content to actually drop stuff that 20 people would want to group up and go after.

[xcalibur]

TBC shipped early this year. I would guess the Northrend expansion won't be out for atleast a year after is is announced, which would put it late summer/fall '08, which would be 1.5 years between expansions. By that time, most guilds that are going to do Illidan will have done it, and be awaiting the next challenge.

-X

[Roc Ingersol]

Um, killing bats and rats, doing "kill x number of mobs", "collect x number of items". Newsflash: That is what standard MMORPG gameplay IS (especially in WoW). This is unexpected?
It's unexpected that they'd have you progress from doing really big, heroic and important quests, back to collecting bear asses.

It's not that the mechanics were still collect X/kill X/deliver X; It's that the bulk of stories and quest chains literally went from involved and interesting to the same type of throwaway busy-work everyone thought they'd passed.

If I'm collecting fel bear asses in outland, they better be necessary components of the evil fel teddy golem that -when completed- must be carried into the raging furnaces under the shattered halls, and cast into the demon fires so that the orcs can't use it against the Horde. Ideally, there'll be a bitchin bonus boss fight, as the fel teddy climbs out of the fire and tries to destroy the party.

See the difference there? mechanically, we're still collecting bear asses. But my version at least leads to something interesting, rather than existing solely as a way to give you x thousand experience points for wasting y minutes of time on something no-one in the story really cares about.

Also, the dungeon design could've done without more of the same pull/fight/rest. Every encounter in outland dungeons should've been stand-alone 'events' that revolve more around achieving rational objectives than bringing the right CC and kill the same types of mobs ad nauseum. They should've all been things like the fire archer hallway in shattered halls, the golem room in strath, or the jail cell event leading up to the beholder boss in the furnace.

In short, Blizzard didn't improve WoW by extending the best things about it. They just added to WoW as it was, including more of the same old shit that was never really fun and had since been proven weaksauce.

Going back to weaksauce after Blizzard itself had hit on better solutions was a major disappointment.

[Kefkataran]

Blizzard has been saying since BC's release that they want to do expansions yearly. I can't see how anyone's shocked by this news. And even with that in mind, it probably won't be out for at least a year.

[Furious Wang]

You point on wildlife exterminations is well made, however, the game doesn't force you to kill boars. There's never a requirement to kill vultures nonstop. Those quests are merely presented as an option. Many of the quests are actually very well made and are quite exciting, especially the ones towards the higher levels. Alternatively you could certainly level up entirely with the dungeons/instances which are, again, very well done and a definate improvement over the vanilla counterparts.

Regardless, its pretty evident that mmorpgs are all doing practically the same things. That's the reason there's no room for anything other than warcraft. WoW has done it the best so far and nothing else has really had a chance to compete. But I think we're fast approaching the time where people will get tired of the "sold old" regardless of how well its done and future mmorpgs better focus on either just pvp aspects or have some damn truly interactive, innovative pve shit.

[ProfPuppet]

They said at Comic-Con that one of the big problems with Burning Crusade was that it was meant to feel like the next chapter in the Warcraft saga. As it stands, you don't feel like you make any difference whatsoever in the storyline. They hope to change that with future expansions- have more of the world and characters change to reflect the passage of time and events in the game. He pointed out, saying it was a very poor and very low-impact example, of having Rexar and Misha in the Outlands in BC, though they are still roaming around in their original place in Desolace, requiring a bit of suspension of disbelief.

[Mojopin]

Suck? Yes, I do suck at fighting the most omnipresent enemy in that game: Tedium. Because really, that is all the challenge there is outside of dungeons (which is the 1% of playtime worthwhile, which you have to earn, as you say, by throwing away days of your real life).
Were you on a PvP server? Random PvP does break things up very well, unless you can't handle someone ganking out of nowhere, which many cannot so they created PvE servers for them. I never minded it much though, because being a rogue, I usually made them regret it... at least 3 or 4 times. ;)