Just sad

On Fri, 11 May 2007 23:15:08 GMT, Don Woods <don-ns RemoveThis @iCynic.com> wrote:

>Just because lots of people bought it doesn't mean they were happy
>with what they got. I've heard complaints about BC being much more
>of a grind than original WoW. And the size limit on the newer raids,
>together with requirements for certain classes on those raids, have
>caused some guilds to go into political upheaval.
>
>I don't claim to know one way or the other whether WoW is losing
>players, but I wouldn't be surprised if they are.

There is indeed a sector who don't seem to like BC, but I suspect a
not insignificant proportion are from the kind of people who want to
press the "I Win" button and get instant gratification in a game. The
whining section of society always seem to outnumber the happy section,
even in RL You only have to look at the "nerf this!" posts on the
(shudder) O-Boards to see this in action.



Palindrome
 >> Stay informed about: Just sad 

On May 11, 6:15 pm, Don Woods <don....TakeThisOut@iCynic.com> wrote:
> murdocj <t....TakeThisOut@mirque.delete.this.com> writes:
> > With the Burning Crusade released, I'd be surprised if WoW is losing
> > people right at this moment in time. Not to say that it's always
> > going to be growing or always going to be the biggest game, but BC has
> > gotten rave reviews, and everyone I've talked to is enjoying it. If
> > someone was going to leave, I think they would have left in December,
> > not in May. According to a Blizzard press release:
>
> > "Blizzard previously announced that this first expansion set for World
> > of Warcraft sold through nearly 2.4 million copies worldwide in its
> > first 24 hours -- more than any other PC game in history had sold
> > within an entire first month of availability."
>
> > Doesn't sound like a game that's losing players to me...
>
> Just because lots of people bought it doesn't mean they were happy
> with what they got. I've heard complaints about BC being much more
> of a grind than original WoW. And the size limit on the newer raids,
> together with requirements for certain classes on those raids, have
> caused some guilds to go into political upheaval.
>
> I don't claim to know one way or the other whether WoW is losing
> players, but I wouldn't be surprised if they are.
>
> -- Don.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> -- See the a.g.e/EQ1 FAQ athttp://www.iCynic.com/~don/EQ/age.faq.htm
> --
> -- Sukrasisx, Monk 66 on E. Marr Note: If you reply by mail,
> -- Terrwini, Druid 58 on E. Marr I'll get to it sooner if you
> -- Teviron, Knight 57 on E. Marr remove the "hyphen n s"
> -- Wizbeau, Wizard 36 on E. Marr

The majority of players went bonkers over TBC. The 60-70 leveling
experience was incredibly rich. I'm not sure who's complaining about
grinding that wasn't already. It's much less of a grind, and the
grinds that do exist are better disguised. A ton of content was put
in, and it was pretty damn fun from what I could tell. And everyone
was gushing over it for the first 2 months.

The only part of the playerbase that I've seen really want to choke
Blizzard is the high-end raiding scene, which is likely about 8% of
the playerbase. It's a pretty good idea not to judge WoW by the
official forums. That place is a cesspool of complainers and has been
for a long time. If one only read the official boards, he'd very soon
decide that WoW was horrible, people were cancelling in droves, and
the game was on the verge of collapse.
 >> Stay informed about: Just sad 

"Eric D. Braden" <bradenericd DeleteThis @hotmail.com> writes:
> The majority of players went bonkers over TBC. The 60-70 leveling
> experience was incredibly rich. I'm not sure who's complaining about
> grinding that wasn't already. It's much less of a grind, and the
> grinds that do exist are better disguised. A ton of content was put
> in, and it was pretty damn fun from what I could tell. And everyone
> was gushing over it for the first 2 months.
>
> The only part of the playerbase that I've seen really want to choke
> Blizzard is the high-end raiding scene, which is likely about 8% of
> the playerbase. It's a pretty good idea not to judge WoW by the
> official forums. That place is a cesspool of complainers and has been
> for a long time. If one only read the official boards, he'd very soon
> decide that WoW was horrible, people were cancelling in droves, and
> the game was on the verge of collapse.

Well, my information is second-hand (I'm a WoW widower), and I admit
my wife -- er, information source -- does do high-end raiding, but
she also enjoys story-line quests and such, and what she's saying is
that the TBC content is good, but it involves enough tedious steps
that she's not at all sure she wants to level up more than one
character through it. (And she has bunches and bunches.)

Of course, EQ is evidence that some players are willing to grind
faction and such, so it's not a deathknell by any means, but from
her descriptions it sounds like the content in TBC didn't have
nearly the "replay" value of the original. If so (and my sample
size is small , it suggests that WoW may be starting down the
same path EQ did, where players mow through each expansion and end
up looking for more, forcing a progression of ever-flimsier add-ons
because there's not really enough new content in any of them to keep
the existing players happy for long.

-- Don.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
-- See the a.g.e/EQ1 FAQ at http://www.iCynic.com/~don/EQ/age.faq.htm
--
-- Sukrasisx, Monk 66 on E. Marr Note: If you reply by mail,
-- Terrwini, Druid 58 on E. Marr I'll get to it sooner if you
-- Teviron, Knight 57 on E. Marr remove the "hyphen n s"
-- Wizbeau, Wizard 36 on E. Marr
 >> Stay informed about: Just sad 

On Tue, 15 May 2007 01:31:23 GMT, Don Woods <don-ns.RemoveThis@iCynic.com> wrote:

>........suggests that WoW may be starting down the
>same path EQ did, where players mow through each expansion and end
>up looking for more, forcing a progression of ever-flimsier add-ons
>because there's not really enough new content in any of them to keep
>the existing players happy for long.

It's a nasty trend, isn't it. I just wish these companies would
realise that MMORPGSs need new content (quests, mobs, loot, etc.) in
the original zones - for all levels - and not just put it in the shiny
new zones. Otherwise it ends up as a mad dash to grab the new
goodies, at which point people get bored and await the next expansion.



Palindrome
 >> Stay informed about: Just sad 

On Tue, 15 May 2007 09:47:46 +0100, Palindrome
<damon-AAA-nomad.TakeThisOut@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
]It's a nasty trend, isn't it. I just wish these companies would
]realise that MMORPGSs need new content (quests, mobs, loot, etc.) in
]the original zones - for all levels - and not just put it in the shiny
]new zones. Otherwise it ends up as a mad dash to grab the new
]goodies, at which point people get bored and await the next expansion.

The need for new content at low levels has been mentioned by players
on the official EQ forums as a way to attract new players. The
Drakkin/Crescent Reach/TSS was the one expansion to do that. The
rest have all been for toons over 60th level.

Oh yeah, they changed the UI to 'attract new players'. Thats just
sad. But it did get me to start using an interface from
eqinterface.com

JimP.
--
http://www.linuxgazette.net/ Linux Gazette
http://crestar.drivein-jim.net/testy/ May 12, 2007 1E AD&D blog
http://www.drivein-jim.net/ March 2, 2007: Drive-In movie theatres
http://poetry.drivein-jim.net/ poetry blog Mar 27, 2007
 >> Stay informed about: Just sad 

Richard Carpenter wrote:
> 11 of the 16 posts from April 4 through April 30 were pure spam (much
> of it WoW spam, no less). It's just sad to see this in a community
> that I enjoyed so much for so long.

I still lurk from time to time. I've felt pretty emberassed about my
last post or three, and as such haven't felt much desire to continue
digging my hole.

I still play, and have fun doing so.
--
Xiphos
 >> Stay informed about: Just sad 

On May 6, 7:54 pm, Schadenfreude <schaden_fre... DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 6 May 2007 07:40:24 +0930, "Vladesch" <vlade... DeleteThis @yah00.c0m.au>
> wrote:
>
> >"feeble" and "obsession" would seem to be more applicable to the minority
> >who still play eq.
>
> Sorry it was too hard for you however I understand SoE have developed
> a new game just to cater to the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHMBULANCE demographic.
>
> http://toontown.station.sony.com/
>
> --
> Schadenfreude of Bristlebane
> schaden_fre... DeleteThis @hotmail.com

I quite enjoyed the "storytelling" or "fluff" posts here (what ever
happened to Lance Berg?). I guess receiving zero feedback is enough
to squash any writer

----
20 days of something different
http://20days.org/index.html
 >> Stay informed about: Just sad 

On May 18, 4:01 pm, Xiphos <xip... DeleteThis @rahul.net> wrote:
> Richard Carpenter wrote:
> > 11 of the 16 posts from April 4 through April 30 were pure spam (much
> > of it WoW spam, no less). It's just sad to see this in a community
> > that I enjoyed so much for so long.
>
> I still lurk from time to time. I've felt pretty emberassed about my
> last post or three, and as such haven't felt much desire to continue
> digging my hole.
>
> I still play, and have fun doing so.
> --
> Xiphos

I quite enjoyed the "storytelling" or "fluff" posts here (what ever
happened to Lance Berg?). I guess receiving zero feedback is enough
to squash any writer

(I think this may have posted twice...sorry )

----
20 days of something different
http://20days.org/index.html
 >> Stay informed about: Just sad 

Eric D. Braden wrote:

> I quite enjoyed the "storytelling" or "fluff" posts here (what ever
> happened to Lance Berg?). I guess receiving zero feedback is enough
> to squash any writer
>
> ----
> 20 days of something different
> http://20days.org/index.html
>
I've been on the road for the past 4 months, I could only get online via
the free wi-fi connections at Whataburgers and so on. Oddly, these
connections were good enough to let me use the web and get my email, and
even in some instances to play EQ (never had enough time to do much, but
I could log in and chat with guildmates about how much not having a
connection at the shop was annoying me) but I couldn't get newsgroups.

I guess I could have gone thru google groups or the like, but I'm
partial to my mozila style interface and didn't take the time to figure
out a web based alternative.

Besides which, when you're not playing, the newsgroup is even less
thrilling than usual!

Lance
 >> Stay informed about: Just sad