tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post1993864382315524435..comments2023-06-19T10:45:56.724-04:00Comments on Player Versus Developer: Revamping Low Level Azeroth Would Take Time Blizz Doesn't HaveGreen Armadillohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15564045048380177626noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post-17535883179820394592008-12-13T12:36:00.000-05:002008-12-13T12:36:00.000-05:00Hi, just found your blog and been going through th...Hi, just found your blog and been going through the archives.<BR/><BR/>I think part of what's ruining the lower-level questing is the complete breakdown of groups. My alt has to switch between zones to level up enough to finish the quests, just like Lum complained. But I think the original design assumed I'd get a half-level or so of XP from doing an instance (Blackfathom Depths, Gnomer, Razorfen whatever) every few levels. There's plenty of xp in the instances--I know I guy who started out with a group of five friends and they're doing *all* their leveling in instances. But you can't get a pug at low levels any more. When that was true the quests fit in fine--you could do your instances without leveling past all the quests in your zone. But breaking the culture broke the quest design.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post-18256469500699195862008-11-21T14:13:00.000-05:002008-11-21T14:13:00.000-05:00@Thallian:Some of your comments are RE: a later po...@Thallian:<BR/>Some of your comments are RE: a <A HREF="http://playervsdeveloper.blogspot.com/2008/11/what-can-wow-learn-from-lotro-and-eq2.html" REL="nofollow">later post</A>, but I suppose I might as well reply here. :) <BR/><BR/>You're right that people can and will churn through Wrath, which is precisely why (in my later post) my initial reaction to the launch date was puzzlement - very few (though not zero) people have cleared out the entire game a week after launch, so it would have seemed to make sense to launch the competing expansions maybe 2-3 months down the line - like Turbine did with the original release of LOTRO. Again, this is conjecture on my part, but I'm guessing that the companies decided that customers who come and visit from WoW churn are going to come and go anyway, so it's not worth planning launch dates around them. <BR/><BR/>I obviously don't own Moria, so your correction should probably go to Sanya Weathers, whose article I cited. One potential issue in either case is that players might use up the outdoor content in Eregion BEFORE getting to the quest with the legendary weapon, and thus have nothing left but grinding. <BR/><BR/>And finally, my guess is that Blizzard does not think their culture is compatible with ballooning the dev team. As you point out, they have MORE than enough money to do so - they have more people on their CGI team than most whole studios. The fact that they HAVEN'T done so, in my mind, suggests that there's a reason for it - maybe there isn't more money in revamping Westfall, but there would CERTAINLY be more money to be had in having expansions more than every other year. <BR/><BR/>From what I've heard at various interviews, it sounds like their dev process includes a lot of back and forth. My guess is that they just don't think that culture works if you put 200+ people in the room.Green Armadillohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15564045048380177626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post-19300978518369433172008-11-21T13:46:00.000-05:002008-11-21T13:46:00.000-05:00You have a pretty good rundown, just a couple of s...You have a pretty good rundown, just a couple of small fallacies. First of all, nothing is keeping the WoW people from playing through Lich King and then gettign bored and trying out something else, so if Moria or EQ2's expansions are really that good they may attract people just based on quality alone.<BR/><BR/>Second you can level your legendary item and get exp at the same time. If you choose. There is a wealth of quests in the new area of Eregion on the West side of Moria.<BR/><BR/>Lastly I think you are confusing "having time" with "wanting to" Though I appreciate that you are approaching the subject in a playful manner. Blizzard simply doesn't love their own game enough to improve it, the lower older game that is. They could easily hire a ton of people and revitalize it and milk it and add dungeons and stuff. This might be a good marketing and business decision (if they overhauled enough stuff I might even come back for another spin) but in the end they don't do it because they don't care about it. They want to make new stuff in new places.<BR/><BR/>It is definitely not a money limit or a time limit. They could hire an extra dev department if needed. They are richer than many oil countries now. Anyways I enjoyed your article, keep up the good work.Thallianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05906461308866998300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post-43012031125452021032008-11-07T11:49:00.000-05:002008-11-07T11:49:00.000-05:00The 0-to-mid 50's portion of leveling needs to be ...The 0-to-mid 50's portion of leveling needs to be optional. I mean, I pay to play an MMO with other people, and at those levels there just isn't anyone online that I can group with. It's a complete solo grind and very boring. On the rare occasion that I actually find a group for one of the low level dungeons (SM, Mara, RFK to name a few), they usually fall apart because one or more of the people in the group hit alt-F4...and most of the time they don't even say bye, which makes me waste even more of my time. Once I hit the mid 50's with my latest alt, kapow! I suddenly could do some dungeons and the quests went pretty fast. They need to give us the option to start any of the classes at level 55 like they're going to do with DK's in wrath.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com