I played way too much World of Warcraft during Wrath of the Lich King. Most WoW players have gone through a phase where the hooks were in a little too deep. Wrath was it for me. I was fully dedicated to end game raiding. My guild for the end of the expansion broke top 200 US which felt like a huge deal. It was during this time that I truly learned to appreciate the raid zones we were entering into. Naxxramas, though just a rehash, felt epic. A huge sprawling necropolis full of undead minions, spiders, and abominations. Then there was Ulduar! Who didn't love Ulduar? Just clearing the trash to Flame Leviathan made it feel epic (despite how much I hated that trash by the end of the tier). Romping through a huge titan complex on our way to stop a returning Old God. Oh, and by the way, you should also talk to the giant star man who is sending a message to blow up the planet. Defeating Algalon was one of the most satisfying gaming experiences I've ever had. Then, we got Trial of the Crusader.....
After defeating an Old God, saving the world from the titans, and while under threat of the Lich King himself, we decided to start a jousting tournament. We are at the feet of Icecrown Citadel, epicness almost on the level of Ulduar, and we start a jousting tournament. The premise was that we held a tournament to determine the strongest Azeroth had to offer against the Lich King. And this tied in to Icecrown Citadel where Arthas tells us that he let this all happen so that when he killed us he had an army of undead stronger than what the armies of Azeroth had left. The problem with all of this was that ToC felt like a silly way to prepare for the Lich King. It felt more like a distraction than preparation. That is what got me to thinking. What could have been a suitable raid replacement? What would have got the player excited to warm up for a fight against gaming's best villain, and cut some of his resources off?
Azjol-Nerub was already the basis of two dungeons in Wrath of the Lich King. The lair of the Nerubians and the invading Faceless Ones had the feel of an epic sprawling zone. The architecture was unique, the mood was dark and ominous, and it had the size befitting a raid zone. What if in our trip to Ulduar, we discovered an alternate entrance to Azjol-Nerub, that Yogg-Saron was sending his minions through to invade. Through this entrance we decide to kill two birds with one stone. We can take out the minions of the Old God to prevent any future trouble, and we can also cut the Lich King off from his Nerubian reinforcements. Get us out of that one circular room for hours on end in Trial of the Crusader. Best of all, we would get to keep the Anub'arak fight. Despite the raid that led up to him, the Anub fight was really well designed and extremely challenging on Heroic. I think the ToC tier is a noticeable blemish on the face of WoW's best expansion and all I can do is imagine how perfect of a path we could have had.
Then, there is the elephant in the room. If you are like me you have tried to put the mess that was Dragon Soul out of your mind. Cataclysm was the period I played the least since I started in 2.1. I was working a ton and couldn't commit to a real raid schedule. Because of that most of the opinions I have on the expansion come from what I have heard from other people who played through it tier to tier. Blackwing Descent and Bastion of Twilight feel awesome. The mood is perfect for the zone, and the end bosses have meaning. Granted, Nefarion really just played on our nostalgia, but defeating the Twilight Council and Sinestra mean something. We do what a trip to Azjol-Nerub could have accomplished in Wrath. We cut Deathwing off of one of his supporting armies. Firelands was a raid that people seemed to enjoy overall. The boss mechanics were interesting, the zone felt epic, and Ragnaros was the right kind of challenge. The main issue was that the entire tier only consisted of seven bosses. That is just too few for an entire tier. Especially when the next tier consists of mostly rehashed models in rehashed zones. With the exception of Spine of Deathwing, and Deathwing himself all of the fights feel like just bigger versions of trash that we have killed before. I think we could have gotten better.
We could keep all the 5 man dungeons leading up to our raid. We still go back in time to retrieve the Dragon Soul. However, this time when we come back to the present, the powers of the Dragon Aspects waned from the Dragon Soul. The first step of our raid is to go to Dragonblight and enter the Sanctums to defend the Aspects while they re-power it. We get four boss encounters as Deathwing sends his biggest baddies to try and stop us in the act. The fights could even include putting the sanctums themselves to use, a time stop mechanic in the Bronze Sanctum, things like that. The great thing about this is it lets us keep the Dragon Aspect story portion of the raid without just putting bosses in holes in the ground to the left and right of the temple. Once the Dragon Soul is fully empowered, we head to Grim Batol to confront Deathwing and his Twilight Dragonflight at their base of operations. We can face Ultraxion as we attempt to enter the mountain fortress since that fight was pretty interesting. Then, once we get inside, we have a fight or two on our way to a battle similar to Nefarian in the original Blackwing Lair. We find an open room on the side of the mountain in Twilight Highlands were we face off first against the human form of Deathwing. Honestly, with such an awesome model how did we not see more of this guy.
Let's face it. Deathwing is arrogant. He's a dragon aspect with the influence of the Old Gods. It's not out of the question that he would think he could take down 10-25 of us without giving 100%. Of course we would get to the point where he's had enough and flies outside and we get an epic battle with a giant dragon on a cliffside. No killing toenails here. Eventually we get the same ending, the Dragon Soul laser beams Deathwing out of the sky, and we reflect over what we've lost. The Aspects still lose some of their power to empower the Dragon Soul, and the age of mortals is still ushered in continuing our story as we know it. Same story with way cooler delivery.
I know that with World of Warcraft or any game really, everything comes down to development time and resources. Putting this much time into either an Azjob-Nerub raid, or a revamped Dragon Soul, would have extended a previous tier, or caused other features to be cut or suboptimal. None of that is lost on me, but dammit its fun to dream about this stuff.
I really appreciate the people who have been checking out the blog. What I hope to get going now is a conversation on this stuff. Don't hesitate to leave a comment with your own ideas. Thanks again for reading.
Chris
I agree with you 100% We have the same thoughts on the matter. There are economical and political constraints that limit game developers. However, that's not our problem to solve as consumers.
ReplyDeleteBlizzard used to be an unstoppable force in game development. They never made excuses. They compromised to no one. They only delivered a product they would stand and die behind. Although with the inclusion of parent companies there has been a major shift. Yes, some doors they were closed to a solo company were now opened, but in return they were forced down a path of boundless hurdles. Turning what was a Legendary success story, into a crumbling tower.
Despite that, it's not our place to decide how to get around those hurdles. As fans, and consumers it's only our choice, even responsibility, to vocalize that we haven't stopped seeing those bigger pictures. We do notice the slumps, pitfalls, and disasters that come from micromanaging in a system that was previously held second to none.
More often than not, publishers won't listen to the developers. They throw it back saying "it's not OUR problem to make a good product within this budget, or timeline. We just set the bar."
Then the developers have the same argument backwards.
It only comes down to the people neither side can ignore, and that's the consumer. Dreaming big on a consumer front is never a fault. It's a requirement. Showing publishers, and developers, that we hold the integrity of the product higher than any time or financial burden.
That being said, keep up the good work Chris. Say what needs to be said, and don't apologize for it. As a dedicated fan, it's your responsibility to call it like you see it.
Blizzard fans have a reputation as eternal apologists. While I do give them the benefit of the doubt, earned through years of games and content that I've enjoyed, I agree with you that sometimes you need to just call a spade a spade and point out missteps. I'm not saying that Blizzard should be ashamed of Trial of the Crusader or Cataclysm as a whole, but I do ask that the disappointments of the past not repeat themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think Blizzard Activision is more of a partnership than you are giving them credit for. If Activision did have control over budgeting and release dates, I think Warlords would have shipped 3 months earlier as a lesser product.
Outside of vanilla Diablo 3, Blizzard has held up their end of the bargain in my eyes. The D3 auction house was an abomination that ruined a tried and true gameplay system, and the repetitive nature of the leveling process killed the replay ability before the true grind began. I haven't been disappointed in anything they have released since then and Reaper of Souls took massive strides to fix the problems. If you haven't seen Josh Mosquiera's panel at GDC this year, you should check it out. It really showcases the Blizzard mentality.
On a macro level I totally agree with you, we have a responsibility to expect more from our developers and to express those expectations. However, I think Blizzard avoids many of the pitfalls better than nearly any company out there. There is a reason they have the customer loyalty they do.