Review: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

[NeedAUserName]

Good too see they are getting rid of the grinders, for more original quests, although not completely, gotta get those rare items from incredibly unlikely somewhere.

 

[Susan Arendt]

maybe a week, tops? Especially given that, as a level 70, you have a bunch of the map uncovered already and just need to make a few discoveries per zone to reveal it all?

I think part of the difficulty when discussing achievements is that some folks define "casual" as being a function of time investment and others think of it as being a function of difficulty. So while tooling around the map to unlock everything certainly isn't difficult, it's still relatively time-intensive.

What kind of achievements (if any) could someone get, say, in an hour or two?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

maybe a week, tops? Especially given that, as a level 70, you have a bunch of the map uncovered already and just need to make a few discoveries per zone to reveal it all?

I think part of the difficulty when discussing achievements is that some folks define "casual" as being a function of time investment and others think of it as being a function of difficulty. So while tooling around the map to unlock everything certainly isn't difficult, it's still relatively time-intensive.

What kind of achievements (if any) could someone get, say, in an hour or two?

Aye, saying 'it's quite easy for a level 70' doesn't really count in all the time needed to actually get to 70.

I've been hitting TF2 for over two months now, and although Weenie Roast etc. is quite easy, I've still only done 100,000 points of fire damage.

 

[snuffler]

In reality, WoW has more people than "New York City", but when people hear "NYC" they're usually thinking of the New York Metropolis - with a population of roughly 20 million... That point is somewhat misleading. :\

 

[TOGSolid]

"All right, now my only option is to go kill these same mobs for hours on end."

That's the exact feeling I had when I played WoW. Every quest involved killing dozens of mobs just to find one item, or killing tons of boars just for 5 steaks, as if somehow the other boars were actually tofu boars. Everything I did in that game felt like a grind.

 

[John Funk]

maybe a week, tops? Especially given that, as a level 70, you have a bunch of the map uncovered already and just need to make a few discoveries per zone to reveal it all?

I think part of the difficulty when discussing achievements is that some folks define "casual" as being a function of time investment and others think of it as being a function of difficulty. So while tooling around the map to unlock everything certainly isn't difficult, it's still relatively time-intensive.

What kind of achievements (if any) could someone get, say, in an hour or two?

Plenty! I mean, there's more of a comprehensive list here: http://www.wowwiki.com/Achievement but... just off the top of my head:

Get a tabard, get a vanity pet, visit a Barbershop, complete 5 Daily quests, win a duel, kill a player in PvP, get a Honorable Kill on all five of the enemy races (easy in a Battleground), win any of the Battlegrounds, /Hug a fallen enemy before they release their spirit, so on and so forth. Also stuff for the different holiday events, like for the Halloween one you got an achievement for using a toothpick

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

...that then makes me think that the Blizzard Staff were ...

Actually no...how many flags would that take up? If you were to get all of them....that's gotta be over a year of play...

Buhhhhh...I just like 'kill monster, loot body, find next monster' not 'chop at monster with an overhead cleave for a badge, drop to your knees and beg for mercy for a badge, fireball at ground zero for a badge and then kiss monster before killing them and then loot the body whilst holding your bum with both hands. for a badge'

Especially as I give it a month before someone works out a way of getting over a hundred in one move.

 

[SonofSeth]

...that then makes me think that the Blizzard Staff were ...

Actually no...how many flags would that take up? If you were to get all of them....that's gotta be over a year of play...

Buhhhhh...I just like 'kill monster, loot body, find next monster' not 'chop at monster with an overhead cleave for a badge, drop to your knees and beg for mercy for a badge, fireball at ground zero for a badge and then kiss monster before killing them and then loot the body whilst holding your bum with both hands. for a badge'

Especially as I give it a month before someone works out a way of getting over a hundred in one move.

Then you aren't really asking for information, you are just asking for features to tear down.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Then you aren't really asking for information, you are just asking for features to tear down.

I was giving my opinion on why I thought that building a game geared to you spending time there whilst you're not actually gaming is not a great thing.

Features I'm all for, but there comes a point where the features are more than the actual game. That's when the rub starts.

 

[John Funk]

...that then makes me think that the Blizzard Staff were ...

Actually no...how many flags would that take up? If you were to get all of them....that's gotta be over a year of play...

Buhhhhh...I just like 'kill monster, loot body, find next monster' not 'chop at monster with an overhead cleave for a badge, drop to your knees and beg for mercy for a badge, fireball at ground zero for a badge and then kiss monster before killing them and then loot the body whilst holding your bum with both hands. for a badge'

Especially as I give it a month before someone works out a way of getting over a hundred in one move.

Oh please The only thing close to that on the list is the "Make Love, Not Warcraft" where you need to /hug an enemy player before they release.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Oh please The only thing close to that on the list is the "Make Love, Not Warcraft" where you need to /hug an enemy player before they release.

Strangely enough, I was more expecting a "Make Tea(bag), not Warcraft."

 

[Delmar Wynn]

What kind of achievements (if any) could someone get, say, in an hour or two?

Well as they launched the achievements with the 3.0.2 patch a few weeks ago, you could actually get an achievement for clicking using your pet, or for trick or treating. Oh and if you got toothpicks for your treat you got an achievement for that.

Then there are fishing achievements (which I have to complain about as I have a 350 fishing and well they only have me recorded for the 100 or so I have caught since the patch. If you have a 350 fishing skill you have caught at least 350 fish), achievement for learning recipes, etc.

Tons of stuff can be done without even trying. Yeah there are some "grindish" style achievements, but on the whole many easy one. Oh here try this one - Go to Thunder Bluff and jump off the platform. Take you 30 seconds and you should get an achievement (especially if you survive the jump).

 

[Delmar Wynn]

Oh please The only thing close to that on the list is the "Make Love, Not Warcraft" where you need to /hug an enemy player before they release.

My favorite is while in the battlegrounds getting the achievement for throwing weighted pumpkins onto people. Both sides of the war.

 

[John Funk]

Oh please The only thing close to that on the list is the "Make Love, Not Warcraft" where you need to /hug an enemy player before they release.

My favorite is while in the battlegrounds getting the achievement for throwing weighted pumpkins onto people. Both sides of the war.

Haha. I managed to get that one within a few minutes of heading to Shattrath, but your way sounds more fun.

 

[Fordo]

Just saw the vid part of the review. First vid I've seen that was not Yahtzee related. Very informative. I would have liked more insight into PvP in the game these days as a guy who loved PvP back at release, and grew to hate it around the time arenas were introduced.

*edit* read the full review from WarCry.

Looks like I can safely sit this expansion out.

 

[John Funk]

Really? Because the PvP in Wintergrasp is pretty fun. At least on beta, was sort of like the old TM/SS days, in that you went there just for the sake of PvP even when it wasn't up for grabs.

 

[Jursa]

Have to admit great review. Not that I'm ever going to even turn WoW on again, it's nice to see blizzard actually putting new things into the game rather than just the same grind crap. Either way great job

 

[Fordo]

Really? Because the PvP in Wintergrasp is pretty fun. At least on beta, was sort of like the old TM/SS days, in that you went there just for the sake of PvP even when it wasn't up for grabs.

Thanks for the reply. I do miss the old TM/SS days cannot deny that. We'll see. I've had a problem with the way Blizzard has itemized things for either pvp or pve. PvP seemed much more fun when the only places you could get excpeitonal gear was MC. It was hard to get. So hard for my server that only one guild per faction could clear MC for a long long time. This meant the majority of players were on the same playing field. As WoW developped the pvp side of the game, it really changed the community from people going out to pvp at TM/SS for the fun of it and the server cred, to grinding BGs like AV and AB for Rep, and honor points for gear.

It seems each person now is in a never ending arms race...I suppose that's what blizzard intended.

/rant

 

[KenzS]

i wish the expansions never happened...

 

[lanceton]

Now, it's an expansion pack... of course things get improved

The point is, this game is 4 year old. How much improvement does blizzard need to implement for it to worth the $40 price tag (not to mention this price does not include one month worth of subscription).

Imo Blizzard is not doing nearly enough

Much of the content that are in the expansion packs, were supposed to be included in the original package, for example, the hero class, i.e. Death Knight, etc.
And Over the years, Blizzard actually strip the game off some original contents (that actually made into the formal releases) and make them available later as 'new content'. To me this is almost cheating and hence unacceptable.

The graphic engine is obsolete. I feel it that way 4 years ago, and I feel it ever more so now.
I just finished fallout3.. and then came back to try out LK. I almost couldn't continue to play it because the crudeness of the look. Yeah I know, the style is different, blah blah blah. But to me, the difference is really unacceptable, at least for a $10 difference.

Then, they're making the game 'more accessible', in two ways.
Firstly they further simplified the game mechanisms, taking away the last bit of challenging elements of the game. (if you've been playing BC and find some of its content 'challenging', then the original release of wow will be IMPOSSIBLE for you to play)
And they further expand the 'grinding' mechanisms (I'm talking about the macro meaning of 'grinding', i.e. the more time you WASTE, the better off you're in the game).

It's a shame that warhammer online had a premature release and went under-budget so it failed to challenge the mmorpg throne of wow. So for now, all I can do in protesting is refusing to buy a copy of WOTLK and only borrow my friends' accounts for some true 'casual play'.