World of Warcraft 4.0.1 Patch Tomorrow

[trol]

Several places on the 'netz are reporting that the 4.0.1 Patch will go live tomorrow. With Blizzard warning of extended down time, these rumors are most likely true. MMO-Champion has an extensive list of the changes that is constantly being updated. You can see the list of changes HERE

[Esfires]

The ripped the new Druid mechanic right out of Warhammer. Like everything else, I guess.

[Zoobi]

The ripped the new Druid mechanic right out of Warhammer. Like everything else, I guess.

This IS Blizzard we're talking about. If they didn't rip gameplay straight from other games they wouldn't be Blizzard.

[Pyrrhus]

I hope my balance druid survives these changes.

[Graveworm]

How many times do I need to explain to you all that borrowing from other games is a perfectly acceptable and expected practice in the game industry. Really, what the fuck is there to complain about?

P.S. Totally stoked about the patch.

[Zavon]

I don't know, maybe some kind of longing for innovation? Something new?

[Graveworm]

Are you implying that Blizzard hasn't innovated at all with World of Warcraft? I hope not, because that would be retarded. We are talking about taking one good mechanic from a useless shitpile of a game and putting into a game that doesn't suck. Would you rather the mechanic never see the light of day outside of Warhammer/Mythic fandom? There isn't a single game on the market that doesn't borrow extensively from other titles. That's how progress is made; you borrow a lot, and innovate a little.

P.S. >>Watch this if you still don't get it.<<

[Zoobi]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say no, blizzard did not innovate anything with world of warcraft. They simply perfected existing mechanics which is what they do with most of their games.

[Alex Mars]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say no, blizzard did not innovate anything with world of warcraft. They simply perfected existing mechanics which is what they do with most of their games.

Wrong, but thanks for playing. WoW was the first game that allowed you to level up completely by questing if you wished. Prior to that you had to spend time in "camps" killing the same spawns over and over and over and over....

[Ziel]

They were also the first MMO (first game, even?) to have such a modifiable UI. You'd be surprised how much life that gives the game for some people.

[Zoobi]

Wrong, but thanks for playing. WoW was the first game that allowed you to level up completely by questing if you wished. Prior to that you had to spend time in "camps" killing the same spawns over and over and over and over....

"perfecting existing mechanics", this isn't innovation, this is adding more of the same. Quests didn't originate in WoW.

Letting you modify their XML files isn't innovation, it's letting other people do the innovation for you. I'd say ui mods are one of the major drawbacks for me in wow also, although other people don't agree with me. Yay for elitism created by damage meters!

[Ziel]

Aw well jee, if we have to use your personal definition of innovative, I think we may have a hard time finding something.

Still, even if they had only perfected existing mechanics/systems, I don't see why it should be portrayed as a bad thing. It's better than being stuck with the less successful implementations from other games.

[Zoobi]

Innovation means coming up with new and interesting gameplay. None of the above were new nor interesting.

I never said perfecting existing mechanics was a bad thing, I simply said it wasn't innovation, which it isn't. Blizzard has been perfecting rehashed mechanics since world of warcraft came out. The only thing cool that has come out of blizzard since wow's inception is phasing. I can't recall any other mmo using phasing before.

[trol]

Definition of INNOVATION

1
: the introduction of something new
2
: a new idea, method, or device : novelty

[Ziel]

Definition of INNOVATION

1
: the introduction of something new

So, every piece of content in the game then? :P

Innovation means coming up with new and interesting gameplay. None of the above were new nor interesting.

I think whether or not they're interesting is subjective. When I was still subbed, I think I spent as much time developing my UI as I did playing the game.

Come to think of it, had any MMO used the rage, energy or combo-point system before WoW? I seem to remember people were excited about the rage system for being a bit different (when WoW was still in development).

[Marou]

I have to agree with Zoobi here for the most part. If I had to say one thing WoW perfected, I'd say its the skinner box model. Your character is egged along through 1000 mini-rewards in quests and levels, and when you finish all the quests and levels you repeat crap over and over for tokens or honor or rating to turn in for better gear; and if you ever get the best gear you don't have it anymore a month later because new gear is put in. In this way its much the opposite of the original DAoC+SI, where the final emphasis of the game was player driven world PvP. WoW is much more in the EQ mold.

[Zoobi]

That's what it was, the skinner box, couldn't think of the name. Yeah, Blizzard definitely perfected the skinner box.

[trol]

I am just glad WoW did away with the whole /stick system. That makes melee a bit more fast paced. Yeah WoW is the constant pursuit of better gear. I usually hit the best gear way before they introduce more gear though with my main character. I enjoy the Battlegrounds more than anything else though. World PvP is a close 2nd. Only time I raid is to get pieces to augment my PvP gear. But of course I have to get the PvE gear to perform in the raids. I do like the Emblem system (that they just got rid of, now it is all the same emblems known as Justice Points) so I can do different Dungeons for gear rather than have to keep killing the same boss hoping the one item I need from him drops.

[Norska]

I am slightly confused that no other game took crafting to the level of DAoC n SI. I felt it was the perfect system. Crafters were essential, and thus the player economy had much more meaning than "hai guyz, look what I found!". I still remember when I got my first set of 99/100% gear. I saved up for so long, sc'ed it to fit my playstyle and needs perfectly. Colored it to be all camoflauge and sneaky.

Raids did serve a purpose, but I think they could have implemented ToA so much better. Instead of gear, they should have put out more crafting components in the dungeon. They should have added on ToA sc slots to crafted gear for new bonuses. But alas, they went the way of everyone else.

Honestly, Vanguards crafting system was just as good if not better than SI. Alas, the game had a horrible buggy release and since sony took over they have completely ignored PvP, which was one of the original selling points for most players. Beyond that though, sony has made the game much more polished and at least they have the money and commitment to keep even the shittiest games under their umbrella open with 1 server and a small team doing updates.