Since the Shattering, the Lollipop Guild has been busy. They have apparently meandered all over Azeroth building a Yellow Brick Road, a Golden Path Theme Park for Idiots, turning World of Warcraft into a game only brain dead vegetables can love.
Or, so some might have me believe.
OK, OK, that’s a bit of hyperbole. There are reasonable concerns about pacing in the game, especially dungeon XP gain rate as Klepsacovic noted, which Blizzard fixed. Pete of Dragonchasers also notes that a player control for turning XP gain off might be nice. I agree, though I’d also like the ability to remove XP, so I could iteratively reduce my level and keep pushing myself as I solo dungeons. Well, that, or have nice, tight difficulty control sliders, or even difficulty settings like DDO has for dungeons. (I can sort of fudge this by removing gear and taking skills of my action bar, though, so it’s not a thought I expect to be taken seriously.)
I broke down and bought TBC and Wrath while Blizzard had them on sale for $5 and $10, respectively (having purchased the original game for $5 last year). I used a gift card I got a while ago and fired up another month in the game to look around. I played the possibly overscripted Troll starting areas and found them to be a nice slice of mechanics that show up later in the game as well as a nice bit of Troll species storytelling. The Gnome staring zone is pretty good, and I love that they are fighting for their home instead of waiting for players to run the Gnomeregan instance. The Tauren starting zone is great, imparting a sense of impending twilight for the species. Even the Dwarf starting experience is fun and fresh, though I’ve played the old version many times.
One commonality is the NPCs milling about, caught in perpetual warfare. Yeah, they never get very far in actually defeating their foes, but at least something is going on in that vast plain by the Tauren starting village. I wrote about the Death Knight starting areas a while back, and it seems to me that Blizzard has learned that having NPCs doing things in the world helps give it a sense of life. In the DK areas, battles are going on in the background as you do your quests. All new areas I’ve played to date have either battles or NPCs training for battle. Questgivers and trainers move around a bit sometimes and interact with other NPCs. The game feels more alive and bustling than ever before, and it does that without a player in sight. That’s a Good Thing.
When there are players, yes, a game will feel more populated, but at the same time, players rarely feel like part of the world. They run and jump around like caffeinated squirrels (do players ever walk?), loiter around like heroes without a cause, dress like fashion accidents, and run through each other. And those are the tolerable ones; some are flat out annoying, spamming chat channels, dueling, monkeying around with train sets, dancing naked on mailboxes or any of a number of other random nutty non-Azerothian behavior. In a lot of ways, player characters kill the much-vaunted “immersion” that can be produced by a cohesive presentation that we see in strongly themed and behaviorally consistent NPCs.
The starting questlines are indeed streamlined and polished to a fine golden sheen. You’re almost never left wondering what to do, as NPCs go out of their way to advertise their inability to do simple things on their own, requiring errand boys and assassins at alarming rates. (Though, since death is almost always only temporary in Azeroth, maybe assassination isn’t so much a nasty profession as a hobby.) The rails in the game are indeed more finely crafted and more prominent than ever before.
And yet… there is nothing keeping players on the rails but their own habit and Pavlovian training. I can take a new Troll and wander over to the starting Orc area to begin my journey. I can just go grind away and kill crabs and boars, totally ignoring any quests. I can try to swim around to Tanaris and see the new Thousand Needles water park. As a Dwarf or Gnome, I can hike to Ironforge and catch the tram to Stormwind and hop on a ship to Northrend to look around, all at level 1 (though I might level up thanks to exploration XP… might have to try that this weekend, just for fun, and see how many levels I can accrue just by walking around to places I’m not supposed to see). I can’t tackle enemies far beyond my abilities, so going some places will be very difficult if not impossible, but I’m otherwise free to go in nearly any direction I feel like.
A few nights ago, I took my level 16 Dwarf Hunter to Bloodmyst Isle to train a blue moth. My daughter wanted to see one in-game, so off I went. Not having been there before, I had to do a bit of exploring and Petopia/Wowpedia diving, but I eventually acquired a blue moth and took some screenshots of the area. It wasn’t really a difficult journey, but it was pretty far from the Ironforged rails I was on previously.
A few levels later, the now-19 Hunter went from Ironforge to Wailing Caverns via Stormwind, Teldrassil, Darkshore, Ashenvale and the Northern Barrens (yes, the Westfall>Stranglethorn Vale>Booty Bay>Ratchet>Northern Barrens route might have been faster, but it was an experiment, and I feared STV more than Ashenvale). Darkshore has been significantly mauled in the Shattering, and it’s a blast to just wander around in. Ashenvale is tricky, with Horde and Alliance butting heads and dangerous wildlife to a sub-20 character. Though as always, Hunters can take down foes a few levels higher, it’s still not safe territory. A level 24 wolf wasn’t much trouble… but a pack of them would be death. I had to pick fights, dodge aggro bubbles and avoid Horde patrols.
I still couldn’t make it through the Horde gates at the Barrens border, though, even with Alliance footsoldiers running interference. The Spirit Healer in the Barrens took pity on me and pulled me through, but after accepting the resurrection penalty, the Barrens were still dangerous, especially with Horde players roaming about. Three Hordies killed me once 40 meters or so off the road on the way to the Caverns, so I carefully skulked in the shadows and along mountain edges after that. They probably thought I was going to assault the Crossroads, but since Alliance and Horde can only communicate in cutscenes, I couldn’t tell them my intentions were peaceful.
Getting to the instance portal was also an exercise in careful pulling. I could handle two foes at once in the cave, but three would have been death. Getting past the nasty pond dinosaur trap midcave was tricky, too. Luckily, my bear was OK with playing bait, and we both got through. We even managed to kill one of the raptors in the instance itself, a level 19 Elite, but I chickened out of trying two at a time, since it was a close fight. (Maybe I just stink, and two would have been easy for a real player, but 1 elite dinosaur was my limit. Well, 1.5, probably, but I figured 2 was too much, and since dinos don’t come in halves, I stopped at 1.)
Tangentially, I find it interesting that often, those who complain about wanting challenge can’t be bothered to go find it, but want it brought to them on a golden platter and forced on everyone else. They then complain about lazy players and “easy mode” as if those nefarious casuals (spit) were the only ones with a sense of entitlement. It’s especially funny to see the complainers using heirloom gear and whining about going too fast.
Most definitely, WoW’s public face is more “gamey” than ever before, but there’s still a world out there to explore, and it’s better than ever, especially for newbies. It’s beautiful, with the Blizzard artists taking the Old World and stepping up the visuals to great new heights. It’s still not as worldlike as I’d prefer, not by a long shot, but Azeroth isn’t all about hand-holding and going through the motions unless you let it be.
Boredom is a sign of low curiosity, a personal failure to engage mentally. It’s not the world failing to entertain you, it’s you failing to investigate some of the many wonders that exist and initiate experimentation with what tools you have. The same applies to challenge and exploration.
We’re not in Kansas any more, so take that road less traveled, or even go make your own. There’s plenty of challenging and interesting content off the beaten track if you go looking for it.
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EDITED TO ADD:
MMO Gamer Chick has an interesting article up with some real noob experiences. Insightful stuff.
Playing through the new player experience is too easy, in my opinion. I stand by that.
Yes, WoW is a big game and you can do any number of things besides playing through the new player experience. That doesn’t change the fact that if you want to enjoy all the new lore that Blizzard has injected into the game (or if you’re a new player who doesn’t know there are options), the quest lines in levels 1-20 level you up too quickly to keep the content challenging. Without challenge there’s no good way to learn to use the skills your character is given (the mobs literally die too quickly to get to some skills when you need to build up some factor). At around 20 the content at least catching up to the character a little bit and things start to get better (IMO).
I find it interesting that you equate “wanting to see the new lore and content that Blizzard added to the game” to “low curiosity.” I think it is exactly the opposite. It’s curiosity that had me sticking to this long series of linked quests: I wanted to see what Blizzard’s lore wizards had baked up for this new world.
Pavlovian is the right term, but we are *NOT* free to do what we want in WoW if we chose to do so. It is no longer quest scripted hand holding, this is like hand cuffs.
Freedom is not being able to decide whether it makes more sense to go north, south, east or west to one- or two-shot the rather helpless mobs – for what? The sense of wonder for a new player will quickly fade this way and he will be back on rails, as intended. Travelling to another starter zone where you have the same quest experience, now more scripted than ever is your choice, but does not change the bus tour setup.
This is for sure not interesting for ME who explored all over Azeroth already Pre-WOTLK. But I already read that I am not the intended audience anyways.
But are the designers doing their new players a favor? They are training them to be good doggies.
[generic counterargument about the incentive structure for rails]
My nelf mage somehow got sick of AShenvale before even starting it, so after a few quests to hit 25, she just ran off to Stonetalon. Of course she had to stop to help rescue the gnomes.
Things are trickier now: hitting harder, more resists, more health, and that god damn awful mine of never-resetting peons. I hate to say it, but I almost preferred the lower level mobs, if only because for casters a missed spell is so much more obnoxious.
“Playing through the new player experience is too easy, in my opinion. I stand by that.”
It’s not so much that I disagree with that, because I don’t, it’s just that difficulty and challenge is such a variable beast that I think players really need control over it to make the game harder or easier according to taste. If you’re trying to play through the quests at level-appropriate pacing, it really does seem a bit too fast and too easy at present (and Blizzard nerfed instance quest XP addressing part of this). But that’s just for me; I’m a relatively old hand with WoW and definitely an experienced gamer. I think the baseline really does have to be low to keep the barrier to entry low, but at the same time, we do need ways to tailor the experience to our own tastes, including increased challenge. Your mention of toggling off the XP gain over at Dragonchasers would be a good one, I think. (I’d even take it further and ask for a way to roll back XP without rerolling the character. I’d love to see how far I could lowball Deadmines when soloing it. If I can steamroll it at 30, I’d like to turn back the clock a little and see how far I could push the envelope.) Similarly, DDO’s difficulty settings for dungeons is good, letting players self-select challenge in a way that isn’t as silly as taking off your gear or ignoring abilities.
It seems to me that there are three issues afoot: Pacing, Challenge and Exploration
Pacing at present does seem a bit off (too fast). I think that Blizzard’s nerfing of the instance quest XP is an indicator that they are working on it. That’s just a pure measure of XP/quest and how many kills/quests it takes to move the story along, so it’s an independent variable from challenge. Tangentially, I’d have padded out the lore with more quests per area, though maybe only award coin, gear, rep or titles rather than XP; let the lore junkies like me see more of the story without impacting the pacing.
Challenge is perhaps at an all-time low, but I do maintain that it needs to be, with the caveat that we should be able to change that as a personal setting if we want it harder. (Maybe have quests that offer a choice? A better reward, but same XP, if you do something above and beyond the call of duty? Include mobs that hit harder than even the existing minibosses?)
Exploration is what I’m really hitting here, though. Sure, the Golden Path is lit with neon signs these days, but there’s still a world out there to explore. If we’re not exploring it, it’s largely our own fault.
What I think so far, if we consider WoW newbies, is that the content as it is now may be too simple for people new to the game but are familiar with other MMOs. But from my experiences with my friend, what I gathered is that difficulty level is just right or still even a tad too high for folks who are brand new to the genre as a whole. Though she does seem to be getting the hang of it, we’ll give it a few more days to see how it goes.
I don’t doubt there will be many more tweaks to come, but from a marketing point of view, if Blizzard wanted to cater to a wider audience including newcomers, they are doing the right thing. Being too easy is better than being too hard. Like you mentioned, veterans can still find other ways to have fun or challenge themselves, while newbies on the other hand are pretty much stuck until they get more of a feel for the game for themselves…that is, if they don’t give up in frustration before that.
Thanks for the link love btw!
For what it’s worth, Im having a good time. I played since the Vanilla days, off and on after the BC expansion. Yeah, it’s easier now than it was before. Some of that is the mob difficulty for sure, but a lot of it is also from cutting out the pointless running around and poorly designed quest flow. Not to mention the new quests are actually fun to do.
…there is nothing keeping players on the rails but their own habit and Pavlovian training.
Not entirely accurate. Some of us play MMOs with other people. I know! Heresy!
Anyway, your options are limited if your goal is to gain levels quickly to join up or keep up with your friends. WoW very intentionally makes it so that there is a highly optimal path to follow if you want to level up quickly. Other options, such as grinding out monsters, are very intentionally designed to be sub-optimal. This is what people complain about, not that they’re not smart enough to figure out anything else to do besides follow quests.
Brian, the implication isn’t “not smart”, it’s “lazy”. Just to be accurate. And last I checked, you can still play with other people off the rails. In fact, in some ways, it’s easier to do so, considering the trouble of syncing quests. Maybe not optimal if the goal is leveling efficiently, but if you’re leveling efficiently so you can go play with other players, but you ignore them to get there… yeah, something is screwy there. Another reason for raiding on day one?
MMORefugee, I love that the pointless running around was truncated.
mmogamerchick, thanks for writing the article you did with your newbie friend. It’s a valuable point of view to get out there. And thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Is it laziness or is it training? I can easily imagine how a new player could think it impossible to skip the rails. Sure WoW had its rails before, but they had more obvious branches and more frequently would end, flinging the player into the abyss. With everything on rails it is easy to assume that everything is on rails, meaning there is nothing to discover or explore.
I have to admit that when I first leveled I explored constantly, often to the point of curiosity-induced death. Now I’ve had to really will myself to jump my nelf mage off the rails and skip to a higher level area. It’s not that I’m trying to follow the rails for speed of leveling, but because the story is told in such a clear manner, at least as far as story-telling in WoW goes.
Something is lost from exploration when you know that wherever you are, the train was headed there anyway. Before the Shattering I remember telling a friend, we have to get to the Ironforge airport before they let us!
That’s what a veteran player does though. You also have to love the game to do it. The dirty little secret of MMOs is they suck in terms of gameplay, with WoW as the king of suck: that’s why people wont love the game enough to play in it.
It’s sad, but for all the bells and whistles MMOs have, they are failing to provide fun experiences where people play together. The turning point for me was realizing that I had more fun playing 4 player Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Phantasy Star Online than in most modern MMOs because the gameplay was so engaging. Solo grinds punctuated with stale raid gameplay aren’t. Is it any wonder why people are funneled through them?
One of the thing that fascinates me about the pet-obsessed hunter community is the mix between what other players might call casual and hardcore.
We have fluffy hunters (and I mean that in the nicest way, being one of them) who like collecting pretty pets.
And we have challenge hunters who, for example, try to work out how to solo-tame King Krush or Chromaggus.
Even better, these hunters are not all veteran players by any means. For many of them, WoW is their first game and they’ve been playing for only a month or two.
But something off the rails caught their attention and .. off they go. 🙂
Mania, thanks for stopping by. Petopia rocks. 🙂
I really do wonder how MMOgamerchick’s friend will play; she’s a Hunter.
I spend a fair bit of my time as a Hunter trying to find ways to tame the odd beast I find here or there. I wish I had a larger stable to keep them all in. Oh, and my daughter loved the blue moth so much she had me go tame another one. Who can fathom the mind of a four year old?
“but since Alliance and Horde can only communicate in cutscenes”
LOL
“Tangentially, I find it interesting that often, those who complain about wanting challenge can’t be bothered to go find it”
The problem here is your essentially taking non optimal actions and calling them challenges. It’s a bit like deliberately avoiding the escalator and instead swinging a grappling hook and climbing up to get up.
There is a tangible difference between ignoring the escalator (and climbing the rope) and there being no escalator to begin with and you have to (read: your ‘forced’) use the grappling hook. The latter is very different thing to experience – your just not getting the same thing from ignoring the escalator.
I’ll also note in warhammer online you can join a que for a battle ground the instant you start the game – you don’t have to spend gaming time looking for challenge instead of actually engaging challenge (which I think is a contradiction). But also in warhammer you could poke around and go off the beaten track and perhaps find it challenging to do so. No one has to be forced into finding their own challenge, either – you can have that instant battle que and the off the beaten track potential, side by side.
(Hi, random wandering in after seeing the latest pretty art over on BBB’s blog. Also one of the less-about-fluffy-more-about-what’s-most-effective hunters from over Petopia way)
I already commented on this over at the Dragon Chasers post you linked, but wanted to throw it in here as well: if someone wants to make questing harder for themselves without having to skip an entire zone, then they can use the twink NPCs (Behsten for Alliance, Slahtz for Horde) to turn off XP for a while. Work through a zone with XP switched off, then you still get to see the whole story, but the next zone will be almost as challenging as if you had skipped the previous one (although you will likely have better gear than you would have in the latter case).
Another thing to keep in mind that hunters are, as always, crazy-overpowered from a levelling point of view (especially with the new Mend Pet and Glyph of Mending) and stealth classes can avoid the large-aggro-radius mobs that are most likely to swarm and kill new players, so hunters, rogues and druids are generally going to end up with a fairly skewed view on how difficult things are. I’m not sure which classes are “hardest” to level these days, but I’m fairly confident in saying those 3 are going to be amongst the easiest.
Having spent more time creating new characters over the past 5ish years—a starter zone professional am (was?) I—than playing the “endgame” on level capped characters, the new starter zones are more challenging. After the Shattering, I created a dwarf paladin to try out the new stuff. I was horrified by not have a healing spell straight away!! I have actually died a few times on some of my newbie characters in this post-Cata world. Before, it was a badge of honor for me to prolong my first death as long as possible… usually until the mid/late teens, sometimes in the 20s if I was particularly careful.
Granted, my unexpected and shocking early demises could be attributed to my expectation of things functioning as they had before. I might have took on more mobs than I should, and more than a player new to the game probably would. That said, I still think the new character experience is more challenging. The way spells and talents are now spaced out helps contribute to this challenge. Not having a way to heal oneself straight away provides a sense of urgency to combat. It was unsettling for me! But I like it and perceive it to be an improvement.
However, even with the reduced dungeon xp, my new characters swiftly outlevel their questing zones… without heirlooms. This, I’m not too happy about.
~Mama Druid