Personally, I think the "leak" about the WoW expanion has the ring of truth to it in terms of it largely being a re-do on old Azeroth. I'm not so sure about the Goblin and Worgen player class, however.
Blizzard in the past ten years has ALWAYS opted to do a sequel or a 're-imagining' of successful previous work, and I think the designers have grown increasingly worried and frustrated with the quality and design gap between the vintage stuff, some of which goes all the way back to 2001, and the latest material. So, a "cataclysm" which means a similar yet changed Azeroth makes sense.
So, here's my question for the peanut gallery - how will this be structured in terms of new players after this is released? Will there be 1.0 and 2.0 Azeroths, and newbies will just get the old one with the vanilla game? Will it just be an alternative Azeroth much like any other "new" zone which exists side-by-side with the old one?
For new players, the game probably won't change much at all. There likely won't be "old and new" azeroths, just they'll be filling in some of the unused zones on the map to make the new content.
I'd imagine that new players will probably take a similar zone progression that they do now, just with a few new dungeons and daily quests added.
The flying revamp is the real big thing about this. Recall that old azeroth is incompatible with flying, due to cities being paper cut-outs from the outside, and that there are numerous unimplemented zones. I'd think that this is going to take a good bit of work to complete.
I personally would probably play again if they completely changed Azeroth. It would be pretty cool if they did that instead of justing adding a "warp" to the new Azeroth for high levels.
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The rumors also state that they plan to completely streamline the 1-58 levels in vanilla WoW.
What you can translate this into is that it will be much quicker to level, and as such, you won't need to visit as many zones / do as many quests as previously. This gives Blizzard room for revamping a few old zones for 80+ content, plus including the previously unreleased zones for 80+ content. That should be enough to get us to level 85, the supposed new level cap.
Secondly, they plan to rework and design the old zones due to the Cataclysm. This gives a fresh experience to anyone rerolling, or coming back to the game from a long absence.
They could also implement phasing, as they did in WotLK. For those who don't know what phasing is: the zone appears differently to different players, depending upon where you are in the quests / story. Phasing happens in real time - it is not instanced and there are no loading times.
In a previous interview this year, Metzen (creative VP at Blizzard) was asked what their plans were for the next expansion: "Unbelievable boldness" was his reply.
This seems pretty bold to me.
Plus flying mounts in Azeroth, about freakin time.
Couldn't care less about the classes being opened up to different races as I'm pretty happy with my Human DK, but it's still a neat feature. I had always wanted a Blood Elf Warrior, but now it's a little late.
If you look at the expansions so far:
Burning Crusade: Two New Races, No New Classes
Wrath of the Lich King: No New Races, One New Class
Cataclysm: Two New Races, No New Classes
It's for sure, following a pattern. A new class (or two maybe) the next NEXT expansion.
Plus flying mounts in Azeroth, about freakin time.
Simply upgrading Azeroth to the standards of stuff which is 8 years younger and calling it an expansion while seeking a story-based excuse to wreck the weaker stuff from that generation and make new buildings/levels doesn't strike me as particularly "bold". But it does make commercial sense.
I more just wonder how they will monetize it - if everyone gets Azeroth 2.0 with the vanilla box, it kind of kills the whole point of the expansion. Of course, they could also make it such that the box just unlocks those features (aka Flying Mounts). That seems most likely. Whatever costs the least to implement and looks poised to recapture the most subscribers is probably what will happen, I guess. I also see the logic of not going overboard with the new IP in this one, so as not to compete with sc2 in terms of hype.
They're not upgrading Azeroth to current standards. They're completely changing the face of Azeroth of how it looks, and how it's going to play. Imagine it being a completely fresh experience from 1-58.
Also, the current expansions, Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, are 1/2 the size of vanilla WoW in terms of land mass, and much much smaller in terms of content.
If you think redesigning vanilla WoW is a paltry task, you'd be grossly mistaken. It is a pretty large undertaking for a single expansion.
Also the class openings coming to different races is pretty controversial. There's a lot standing in the way, Lore-wise. So far they are just rumors, and people are already flying off the handle about it. I would say, that is also bold.
When Blizzcon hits a few days we will see what is what. I'm sure there will be some surprises that haven't yet been leaked, if the leaked info is to be believed.
If you think redesigning vanilla WoW is a paltry task, you'd be grossly mistaken. It is a pretty large undertaking for a single expansion.
Also the class openings coming to different races is pretty controversial. There's a lot standing in the way, Lore-wise. So far they are just rumors, and people are already flying off the handle about it. I would say, that is also bold..
I wouldn't call it a "paltry task" - but it is far from "bold", it is the path of least resistance. As far as new classes in different races - sounds like a ton of new play experience with almost no new content aside from tons of balancing (which the PTR almost does for you). Again, not so bold. Blizzard hasn't done "bold" for quite some time. The last design risk they have taken was heroes in War3. Their last new IP was released 11 years ago. Their last non-WoW release was over 6 years ago. That's why I think the rumors are largely true - they are all about maximum money in with minimum risk and development cost.
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Blizzard in the past ten years has ALWAYS opted to do a sequel or a 're-imagining' of successful previous work, and I think the designers have grown increasingly worried and frustrated with the quality and design gap between the vintage stuff, some of which goes all the way back to 2001, and the latest material. So, a "cataclysm" which means a similar yet changed Azeroth makes sense.
So, here's my question for the peanut gallery - how will this be structured in terms of new players after this is released? Will there be 1.0 and 2.0 Azeroths, and newbies will just get the old one with the vanilla game? Will it just be an alternative Azeroth much like any other "new" zone which exists side-by-side with the old one?
I'd imagine that new players will probably take a similar zone progression that they do now, just with a few new dungeons and daily quests added.
The flying revamp is the real big thing about this. Recall that old azeroth is incompatible with flying, due to cities being paper cut-outs from the outside, and that there are numerous unimplemented zones. I'd think that this is going to take a good bit of work to complete.
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
What you can translate this into is that it will be much quicker to level, and as such, you won't need to visit as many zones / do as many quests as previously. This gives Blizzard room for revamping a few old zones for 80+ content, plus including the previously unreleased zones for 80+ content. That should be enough to get us to level 85, the supposed new level cap.
Secondly, they plan to rework and design the old zones due to the Cataclysm. This gives a fresh experience to anyone rerolling, or coming back to the game from a long absence.
They could also implement phasing, as they did in WotLK. For those who don't know what phasing is: the zone appears differently to different players, depending upon where you are in the quests / story. Phasing happens in real time - it is not instanced and there are no loading times.
In a previous interview this year, Metzen (creative VP at Blizzard) was asked what their plans were for the next expansion: "Unbelievable boldness" was his reply.
This seems pretty bold to me.
Plus flying mounts in Azeroth, about freakin time.
Couldn't care less about the classes being opened up to different races as I'm pretty happy with my Human DK, but it's still a neat feature. I had always wanted a Blood Elf Warrior, but now it's a little late.
If you look at the expansions so far:
Burning Crusade: Two New Races, No New Classes
Wrath of the Lich King: No New Races, One New Class
Cataclysm: Two New Races, No New Classes
It's for sure, following a pattern. A new class (or two maybe) the next NEXT expansion.
Simply upgrading Azeroth to the standards of stuff which is 8 years younger and calling it an expansion while seeking a story-based excuse to wreck the weaker stuff from that generation and make new buildings/levels doesn't strike me as particularly "bold". But it does make commercial sense.
I more just wonder how they will monetize it - if everyone gets Azeroth 2.0 with the vanilla box, it kind of kills the whole point of the expansion. Of course, they could also make it such that the box just unlocks those features (aka Flying Mounts). That seems most likely. Whatever costs the least to implement and looks poised to recapture the most subscribers is probably what will happen, I guess. I also see the logic of not going overboard with the new IP in this one, so as not to compete with sc2 in terms of hype.
Also, the current expansions, Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, are 1/2 the size of vanilla WoW in terms of land mass, and much much smaller in terms of content.
If you think redesigning vanilla WoW is a paltry task, you'd be grossly mistaken. It is a pretty large undertaking for a single expansion.
Also the class openings coming to different races is pretty controversial. There's a lot standing in the way, Lore-wise. So far they are just rumors, and people are already flying off the handle about it. I would say, that is also bold.
When Blizzcon hits a few days we will see what is what. I'm sure there will be some surprises that haven't yet been leaked, if the leaked info is to be believed.
I wouldn't call it a "paltry task" - but it is far from "bold", it is the path of least resistance. As far as new classes in different races - sounds like a ton of new play experience with almost no new content aside from tons of balancing (which the PTR almost does for you). Again, not so bold. Blizzard hasn't done "bold" for quite some time. The last design risk they have taken was heroes in War3. Their last new IP was released 11 years ago. Their last non-WoW release was over 6 years ago. That's why I think the rumors are largely true - they are all about maximum money in with minimum risk and development cost.