- Green Armadillo tweeted that he feels strange looking forward to Mists of Pandaria while the blogging community is almost universally negative. Blizzard has handed more ammunition to people already dissatisfied with World of Warcraft. And their voices are loud, no matter how long they have been away from the game. But GA is not alone.
- I signed up for the annual pass on Saturday.
- I understand that it is not in vogue to like WoW anymore, but I do. It's not a game that I'm going to dedicate my life to, but it is one that I will go back to from time to time. So when Blizzard announced that Diablo III would be free for anyone who commits to twelve months of WoW subscriptions, I knew that I would be back sooner than I expected. Yes, it feels like a ploy to buoy their flagging subscription numbers, but it is a ploy that I can get behind. The total cost to play WoW and D3 makes it more than worth my while.
- And the expansion still looks like a lot of fun. Yes, Blizzard is lifting systems from other games in toto. Yes, they are going to rewrite whole game systems again. Yes, questing is five more levels of "more of the same." Yes, the endgame will probably be as exclusionary as before. But I really don't care. That is all the stuff I sign up for when I buy a new expansion. World of Warcraft is the ultimate known quantity in MMO gaming. If I wanted something vastly different, I would subscribe to something else.
- That said, Guild Wars 2 can't get here fast enough.
- I'm sorry if WoW isn't for you anymore. I'm sorry if the pandas aren't ushering in the game's second coming. However I'm happy to see WoW get a little bigger and a little crazier.
© 2011 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
I believe I mentioned this before, but though I'm not signing up for the annual pass, I am going to buy the expansion. Pandaren brewmaster was my favorite hero in Warcraft 3, and I am going to ride out the free 30 days in the pack.
ReplyDeleteI've already thrown my chips in with SWTOR for a bunch of reasons I don't care to list. That being said, I don't feel a need to complain about WoW when they don't have my money. Hell, I even uninstalled the free trial. I'll come back when it's worth my time, and not a minute sooner.
Were you reading my tweets again Anjin?
ReplyDeleteClose friends of mine know that I have never ever liked the idea of pandas in WoW. I did quit WoW but I also quit the few others I was subed to when I learned of the TOR launch date, so the silly panda expansion had no bearing on that decision.
I think WoW is a great game, and if you or anyone else still loves the game then by all means keep playing. Frankly I will never understand all the hatred towards a game that has done so much good for the genre and the industry as a whole.
@Jaydub
ReplyDelete"I will never understand all the hatred towards a game that has done so much good for the genre and the industry as a whole."
Well said!
@Anjin: if I knew factually that I was going to be buying DIII I'd find the year pass pretty tempting. Lifting the skrimish system from LoTRO is a good idea, it's a fun system. I also like the look of the new areas that they showed off, even if I'm not a big fan of the Kungfoo Panda vibe. I'll probably buy the expansion and play for a few months like I do every time they release an expansion.
If time allows when MoP comes out, I know I'm going to buy and play the expansion. I wasn't gutsy enough to go for the annual pass, though. It has less to do with what I think of WoW and more to do with the fact that I can never plan so far ahead, with anything. So much can happen in a year, and I don't think I can commit to anything right now for more than three months at a time, especially MMO subs.
ReplyDeleteGuild Wars 2 can't get here fast enough.... word.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, the entire MMO genre needs a massive shot in the arm right now.
Where are our LOTROs, City of Heroes, Tabula Rasas, and all sorts of other variety we used to get. :(