Re: Blizzcon

Uhh... okay. Maaaybe I will end up playing Diablo 3. Free if you sign up for a year's subscription to WoW. I feel like I might be very close to the target demographic for that offer: someone who is likely to be playing WoW a year from now, but has some small measure of doubt due to upcoming competition like SWTOR and GW2. I already pay for six months at a time (for a slightly better rate). So the only way I lose out is if I stop playing WoW over the next year (and that would likely take guild disintegration). Otherwise, it's a free top-tier game for me... that adds me to a list of people who may (though the odds are low for me personally) end up paying money in by use of the D3 auction house transfers.

Oh, and doing this also gets you an in-WoW mount that... actually appeals to my paladin tendencies. Sneaky bastards.

Mists of Pandaria is real, huh? Okay, I guess I'm not actually surprised. I am a little surprised that pandarens will, in fact, be playable and both Horde and Alliance. That looks like a final nail in the coffin for the silhouette theory. It also opens the door for races crossing factions, though I doubt they'll do that more widely since it would be revamping content for all the other races. Level cap of 90? That... is a little disappointing to me at a glance. Cataclysm's leveling went by way too fast. "Challenge" dungeons, pet combat (Pokemon?), and other things... huh... we'll see.

Interesting other Mists stuff to read through. Though without my authenticator, I don't get to listen. Another big whack at talents, trying to pare them down and make them more optional rather than mandatory. Genuinely four specs for druids. Paring down spells in general. Removal of the ranged/relic slot, giving hunters ranged weapons as primary (with no minimum range) and making wands main weapons. PVE battlegrounds. Monk class for all but worgen and goblin races. Hmm...

Of course, all this should be taken with a grain of salt. We lost some features between announcement and release of Cataclysm and a number of things changed. Overall, I'm not sure. Nothing is truly dazzling me, but I'm a jaded sort. New content is good. Some of the announced direction, I think is good. Buuut, I dunno.

Comments

  1. tashiroOctober 21, 2011 at 1:03 PM

    Hmm. Or, you could not use the auction house in D3, and just what you find? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. marinredwolfOctober 21, 2011 at 2:10 PM

    Which is what I was implying will probably be the case for me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. kyn_elwynnOctober 21, 2011 at 3:48 PM

    Blizzard and Dreamworks obviously have tie-ins. *sigh* I don't know whether to be excited (Squee! Panda!) or somewhat disappointed that yet again they've folded on something they would have "never done". The free copy of D3 for a Year sub to WoW is a gimme. I know I still will play WoW, especially with new content in the form of the Mists of Pandaria. It's looking grim for SW:tOR to have any lasting value for me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. marinredwolfOctober 21, 2011 at 4:26 PM

    Yeah... New stuff - yay, sure. But pandarens (and multi-faction races) have been so long-denied for WoW that even if they have some minor thread to the world (dating back to the RTS games), they strike me as out of place for WoW. Monks sound a bit like triple-spec rogues. They talk about wanting more ways to "progress" you character and yet they're doing things like moving tier armor off valor points in 4.3. Talents shouldn't be mandatory - but you'd better believe the theorycrafters will determine what option is best for a particular situation. I wonder how much of this is perspective, but I find myself missing the experience of WotLK. A lot of technical and mechanical elements have improved since then and continue to do so, but I think I found that expansion to be the most enjoyable. BC was sorta rough yet. Cata goes by too fast, dropping you at an endgame where you essentially have to raid (or arena) to advance. And if MoP is only going to have five levels, I fear that'll be much the same. But... we'll see. Not that I doubt it will still be a good and play-worthy game.

    ReplyDelete

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