Note: this thread is a discussion about Mists of Pandaria, and could potentially contain spoilers for the expansion. Read with caution if you wish to avoid them, and post spoiler warnings if your post contains spoilers.
Spotted some thought-provoking Blue posts on MoP this week, thought I'd share here and see what the minds of Earthen Ring are thinking.
It's a bit of a long read, but I'd recommend taking a look. It's a small insight to Blizzard's current gameplay and story approach, and the TL;DR bit of it is: they want to stop relying on WCI/II/III stories, start growing new material and characters, and let the world react to the player instead of vice versa.
We think, more than seven years into World of Warcraft's life cycle, it's time to start some new stories. Previous expansions relied heavily on heroes and villains established in the Warcraft RTS games. We aren’t content to rest on our laurels though. We want to introduce some new characters to get to know. We want to have some new enemies to fight. Perhaps, most importantly, we want to start sowing the seeds for future stories. Nothing is lamer than finding out that the boss you're supposed to kill is someone you've never heard of. It’s a lot more fun when you get to know the bad guys, get a reason to hate them, and feel like you're thwarting their diabolical plans and not just killing them for loot.
We've focused a lot on the lighter side of Mists of Pandaria as a contrast to the world-ending vibe of Cataclysm. It’s not all unicorns and butterflies however. There are dark secrets lurking beneath the new continent, and in some ways they're even more insidious, because you get to experience the beautiful new landscapes before they become threatened and sometimes even destroyed.
To summarize, we provided you all with a very basic framework for the next expansion at BlizzCon. By the time the press tour ends in March, expect to get a lot more information on the real meat of this expansion. It won't be correctly summarized by a portrait of a smiling panda chewing on bamboo.
Phasing is one of the most powerful tools in the designer toolkit. But like many powerful tools, it can cause great damage if used incorrectly. We definitely have overdone it in the past.
There is some phasing in Mists, but we try to take care not to separate friends, create ghosted mining nodes, and similarly disrupt your gameplay. What we were really referring to by the “dark secrets” is the way the story unfolds. The story in Cataclysm was something players knew from the outset -- Deathwing is back. The players were still heroes trying to undo some of the damage he caused, but they also still largely reacted to the things Deathwing and his minions had already done. In Mists we're attempting to take that one step further and have the world react to the players, and not just have the players react to the world. It gives the game a dynamic, “alive” feeling which is very much needed in a persistent-world game.
Some of the changes we’re talking about aren't going to happen right away, but we’ll build toward them in subsequent patches. While you can’t truly keep story secrets in this business, we're trying not to spoil the surprises too early. In retrospect, we’ve taken a little bit of flak for this approach, because the misconception among some players is that the new continent has no conflict. There is plenty of conflict, but a lot of it begins when you arrive (rather than in Cataclysm, where great cracks in Azeroth appeared before your adventuring began).
Source. (Blue Tracker)
It's nice to see Blizzard's approach to MoP beyond the panda explosion of Blizzcon 2011. I'll admit that I'm in the "meh" school of thought when it comes to Pandaren, but I was likewise "meh" at the initial idea of worgen, now I enjoy the race (especially the starting area) immensely. I can personally grow to like new things, it's all in the execution. We'll see if Warcraft pandas do the same. To see a post like this lightens my perspective on the new MoP race, but my final verdict is still going to wait till the game is released and I play the starting quests.
The idea of a world that reacts to the player is exciting. Being an MMO of such size, WoW has a tendency to remain stagnant. While that seems to contradict the entire idea of being an MMO (and even an RPG), Blizzard knows this and knows it well: it's playerbase is old, ornery, loyal as hell but extremely hard to please. It's very difficult for the players to accept change - they will resist nearly every step of the way.
Cataclysm is a miracle in many regards, since the Azeroth of vanilla is long gone and will never return, and aside from the occasional gripe on the official forums, players aren't too focused on the loss. They have their freshest set of complaints, but the old standbys still frequent the forums: ______ class is overpowered, PvP is imbalanced, lack of new Brewfest stein sucks, and the ages-old casual v. hardcore.
Really, it's nice to see a glimpse about MoP that isn't about pandas. The idea of a different story approach and new characters is a nice glimmer on the horizon, as is new antagonists. To put bluntly, about damn time. It'll be nice to be more invested in the death of the end boss as well, which was one of the main issues with Cataclysm. Deathwing was a bad guy, but aside from his intention to end the world, few characters truly had motivation to kill him.
It's also great to see Blizzard openly stating that they want players to be more engaged with the plot. As roleplayers, we often take the initiative and read WoWpedia, buy the novels, read the online short stories, or simply talk to one another in our collective channels about Lore. This is not a normal Warcraft player practice. There are people who simply play this game for the loot, and farm ore, herbs, cloth or what have you for no overarching storyline purpose - they simply play and pay to grind. The plot is the frame, but not the driving force behind their play. Blizzard seems to be pushing for a little more engagement in that regard.
The above is more conjecture on my part than anything, but I'm curious to see other thoughts on this.
What are ER thoughts on MoP now, several months after its announcement? The main plot of Cataclysm has drawn to a close, no new content is going to be released till MoP. Have players gotten more or less excited about the expansion? How about the above hints that Zahrym posted on the forums? Interesting or nah?
Food for thought.
A new, unspoiled paradise to protect? The Sunrise Brake can continue it's mission. That's all the motivation I need to play the expansion. All the new additions are just icing on the cake.
"In Mists we're attempting to take that one step further and have the world react to the players, and not just have the players react to the world."
If we have to farm stupidly overpriced materials to grind in order to unlock a silly gate again, I am going to make every panda into a parka. /grumblesaboutAQ
I do like TB asnd wintergrasp in the essence that actions actually changed the condition of a certain environment. I think they will develop this sorta mechanic for other things also. Unfortunately, it can be very inconvinient and is not good for people who like to schedule things. Not owning TB when you want to do TB dailies is a drag. I guess its an okay tradeoff though.
You get what you give.
I'm still worried what this implies though...
I'm acutally getting more excited for MoP the more I think about it.
Cataclysm at the end of the day was the expansion pack that wasn't about us, but it was about the game itself. Cata was a needed thing that Blizzard had to do to keep the game viable in the common day MMO marketplace. However by doing so, they shot themselves in the foot as the general consenus is that this was a weak expansion when it came to anything not 1-60 content. Damn if you do, damned if you don't.
However, I'm glad that Blizzard is going back to the idea of a new continent to explore with Mists. It means that excitement we had from TBC and Wrath will come back and it will be a brand new, and so far beautiful world to explore. As I am a fan of asian culture, this is also a personal joy for me.
As for Pandaren. I've recently come to the conclusion that the so called "backlash" was because people acutally didn't believe Blizzard was serious when it came to the race. Whenever someone mentioned or asked that Pandaren be included in WoW, it was always responded by the company and community with a tongue in cheek, "Oh wouldn't that be sweet, Blizzard you lovable scamp" response. So when we all found that. "Oh, they are acutally going all in in this Pandaren thing" people freaked out about.
I sorta understand where they are coming from, but as I have grown up with Warcraft since the first game, and welcomed the Pandaren in Warcraft 3 with open arms, I look forward to seeing them acutally in the game itself. I have faith that Blizzard will do the Pandaren justice, and not make them some joke race. I think that once the dust settles and people get into the beta and try it out, that the hate will just go away, like it did for Draenei and Worgen.
Either way, everything about Mists makes me excited. The fact that we aren't doing another round of "Generic bad guy wants to kill us all" is fresh and a welcome change. I believe that Mists of Pandaria is going to be the Vacation Expansion, and we can all kick back and relax, and experience some excellent stories and RP along the way.
