Yesterday, Blizzard launched its last major patch, 4.0.3 in preparation for the release of Cataclysm.
Along with the new patch, Blizzard began one of the final stages of the pre-cataclysm event. Both Horde and Alliance players will have to help defend their capital cities from the elemental invasion.
After defending their capital cities, players will be able to counterattack the elemental invasion by entering four portals which each feature revamped versions of some classic World of Warcraft bosses.
Since a majority of the current players of World of Warcraft have never experienced the original content of the classic game, 4.0.3 and Cataclysm will allow players to experience new and updated versions of some great boss encounters that were forgotten with the introduction of the previous two expansions.
4.0.3 should be the final patch before the shattering of Azeroth that will come with the release of Cataclysm. 4.0.3a which will come when Cataclysm is released on December 7, will introduce a plethora of brand new quests, zones, and dungeons to the original world of Azeroth that players experienced prior to the two expansions.
Being a player since open beta, I hope it goes on longer. However, they can certainly retain their player base by going with the next generation of MMO. Their next title is certain to draw new crowds.
I just applied for a job with them. I've been so impressed with the company. they actually do fully communicate with their customers. They go to the point of pain for customer service. (If you doubt the "pain" part, go read the WoW forums. their CM's certainly do go through pain in the name of customer service.) I hope against all hope that I get that job. It would be my dream job.
Patch notes here.
The most depressing aspect of the new expansion? Shadowmourne (legendary weapon) will be replaced by a measly req lvl 83 green =(
Also, WoW is not going to die anytime soon (10+ million subscribers or so, they'd be insane to turn off the servers). Everquest is on it's like 17th expansion and still making money with only like 15 servers left, so do the math.
Many years from now. There's still millions of players last I heard, and even MMO's that should have been dead years ago (starwars galaxies) are still around. I bet it will still exist in 2020.
tbh about the best pvp i've seen in an mmo has got to be Dark Age of Camelot, their pve content is what killed that game though.
there wouldn't be any fun to lvl from 80-85 and have to wait till raid content to get any upgrades.
they learned from burning crusade where people were replacing tier 3 with lvl 63 and 64 blues i know i was sad to replace my bonesythe gear and it looked worse... but stats were better and i was partially happy to get an upgrade at all. in wotlk you could use hyjal blakc temple and sunwell gear well into the game often up to instances in the later lvls round 78.
i'm sure as cata is 80-85 you'll see upgrades fro low lvl raid gear in first few lvls and icc upgrades more lvl 85 instance/heroics
Asheron's Call was the best MMO... (i bet i am alone on that one) It is still running, but should have been shut off 5 years ago.
I played WoW for 10 months when it first came out, then i bot it for a year maxed all my char slots in 12 days each, the game is dull and boring. It truely is a waste of life.
I have played a lot of MMO's (and bot as well) (maybe 12+) I realy feel WoW was not in the top 5! It is too linear, designed from a cookie cutter.
10 million subs cant be wrong but they can be uninformed or inexperienced.
This Expansion being only 5 levels instead of 10. (Which actually tells me they are planning on stretching it out a bit - I can see the next expansion being 86-90)
As long as their subscribers are "in the millions" they will keep the game going. Even if they limit it to level 100 - I can see them adding new zones and even extending more "Outlands" thru different portals (also alluded to at one of the Blizzcons).
Gonna have to call BS on that.. 50 characters at 12 days each is 600 days, which fits in your math except that its 8+ hours a day for almost 2 years straight.
Do you think the "bot" part might in some way be related to the after which "is dull and boring" part?
It's funny how all the people that don't actually read the quests and actually follow the storyline - think it's boring.
/big sigh
Funny how you think because you are into a poorly written fictional story line that everyone must be.
Or people play the game for the other 50 things blizzard has designed to be enormous time sinks and just do the leveling grind to be able to do them.
Quoted for truth. Article is incorrect.