World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Gets Release Date

[Ferisar]

I'm assuming you don't know how MMOs work.

Yeah, I really don't. I played a lot of UO way back when, but that was on freeshards. I know there were a bunch of updates and addons available and I even got Third Dawn at some point, but I never played MMORPGs "properly". The progression came from GMs introducing and coding new stuff or organizing quests and whatnot. Heck, I even was a GM for a short while on one of those. But after ceasing to play UO, I never picked up another MMORPG. I did not know about the ridiculous number of addons Everquest got. But let me say that I hope those were at least cheaper, because as far as I know Blizzard is charging a lot of money for the main game, per addon and monthly. And didn't they also recently add in-game transactions? I dunno. Maybe it was a different time, but the progression I know from MMORPGs came from emergent gameplay, from factions forming, buying houses, having wars etc.; it wasn't so much new territories being unlocked and whatnot. It was from the interaction with other player groups, not so much from new dungeons. Although, sure, the rare new dungeon or area to do stuff in would certainly help reignite some adventurism.

WoW does not work that way. The player-relevant gameplay that emerges from interaction is there, but the base systems don't support it. The world is a solid (as solid as an MMO can be, anyway) and you venture through it under that pretense. It's a theme-park at an extreme scale, essentially. But yes, the dungeons/raids are the primary draw for a lot of the veterans.

As far as pricing goes, they have made a point post-cata to just put everything in a tight bundle so the game remains at 60$ or so for a new copy. If you were to start playing, for instance, you'd pay as if you got a new game (at least some time into an expansion's life-cycle; if you come in at the start of one, you'll have to dish out quite a bit more). It's actually most expensive for the people who have been around longest, funny enough, since you've likely bought all of the expansions full-price, plus the subscription fee.

But yeah, it's essentially a trade-off between player-to-player interaction and systems that support player-driven narrative and gameplay to having a tightly constructed non-player narrative that the Player Character partakes in. It stands on the other end of the spectrum from Ultima, although I'm fairly positive that Ultima Online is fairly unique in the way it approaches the MMO. I'm not going to make a case for which is better having not played it, but the two are hard to compare as they aren't similar at a basic level beyond "we have many players!"

 

[spartandude]

That was Grommash (Grom), Garrosh's father. I guess that was a young Garrosh with him, but in previous accounts he was all "I never knew my father". What I don't understand is whether this is an alternate history thing or what. If the Orcs didn't drink of Mannaroth's blood and didn't get tainted and they did decide to conquer Draenor, why would they come to Azeroth at all? The only reason they came in the first place is because the Burning Legion, acting through Guldan forced them to. Also an interesting choice of making all the orcs brown here. When did they become green? Questions questions, I suppose we'll have an answer soon enough.

From my understanding Garrosh travels back in time creating an alternate timeline, where he's going to unite the Iron Horde and build a portal connecting the alternate timeline back to the main present day WoW timeline.

 

[Evonisia]

World of Orcraft: Orcs of Draenor. Couldn't even be bothered letting the Draenei have a cameo.

Well I like what I'm seeing in terms of the gameplay, the lore is going to be the third expansion in a row to have a full or near full Orc focus. How boring.

 

[Evonisia]

What is this odd feeling.. Garrosh did a good thing? What's this world (of warcraft) coming to?

Not really, he's only doing this so he can form the Iron Horde so he can be the boring, non character that he is.

 

[jackpipsam]

I am so keen for this!

I can't wait until this comes out

 

[JordanXlord]

I have watched the Cinematic around five times now. I have always been a massive fan of World of Warcraft lore and I have been playing WoW for 4-6 years now (started at Burning crusade launch) and Warlords of Draenor is on my pre-order list.

 

[nymz]

They went for a confusing timeline. Best way to think of it: Garrosh goes into an alternate universe/timeline and then goes some years into the past, and then comes back to the current universe/timeline. No paradoxes possible because they never go into their own past.

Actually, he just goes back to the past. Preventing the drinking of Mannoroth's blood is what creates the new timeline. Nitpicking, I know.

 

[thetoddo]

My big concern is from a lore perspective. Starting in Burning Crusade we've had the Keepers of Time faction telling us that if the past is changed at all then the universe will cease to exist. That was the Infinite Dragonflight's whole deal. This seems like a major change to the timeline, is alternate Dreanor going to pop out of existence?

 

[Xeorm]

Actually, he just goes back to the past. Preventing the drinking of Mannoroth's blood is what creates the new timeline. Nitpicking, I know.

My big concern is from a lore perspective. Starting in Burning Crusade we've had the Keepers of Time faction telling us that if the past is changed at all then the universe will cease to exist. That was the Infinite Dragonflight's whole deal. This seems like a major change to the timeline, is alternate Dreanor going to pop out of existence?

He doesn't go into our past. He goes into another past. That's the point. It's a confusing solution to why aren't there any paradoxes.

 

[nymz]

He doesn't go into our past. He goes into another past. That's the point. It's a confusing solution to why aren't there any paradoxes.

He does not. It is the same past, but after preventing the blood drinking, a new timeline is created. It does not exist prior to Garrosh's intervention. And then they hijack our portal from their timeline.

 

[bliebblob]

Me: "Love it, orc bromance done right! Maybe I'll get back into it, what have I got to lose?"

Brain: "yeah um, remember daily quests and reputation grinds?"

Me:"... I hate it when you're right brain."

 

[Mangod]

He doesn't go into our past. He goes into another past. That's the point. It's a confusing solution to why aren't there any paradoxes.

He does not. It is the same past, but after preventing the blood drinking, a new timeline is created. It does not exist prior to Garrosh's intervention. And then they hijack our portal from their timeline.

The thing is, there are Changes to the timeline that Garrosh wasn't there for and couldn't influence, some even prior to Garrosh showing up, so the idea that it's a different dimension's past isn't impossible. We'll hopefully get more clarification on it later down the line.

 

[Ferisar]

Me: "Love it, orc bromance done right! Maybe I'll get back into it, what have I got to lose?"

Brain: "yeah um, remember daily quests and reputation grinds?"

Me:"... I hate it when you're right brain."

Dailies in their post-Wrath iteration aren't going to be in the game anymore, no idea about rep though.

 

[bliebblob]

Me: "Love it, orc bromance done right! Maybe I'll get back into it, what have I got to lose?"

Brain: "yeah um, remember daily quests and reputation grinds?"

Me:"... I hate it when you're right brain."

Dailies in their post-Wrath iteration aren't going to be in the game anymore, no idea about rep though.

That's cool but I'm more generally referring to the typical dissonance between MMO trailers and what you actually end up doing in-game.

 

[nymz]

He doesn't go into our past. He goes into another past. That's the point. It's a confusing solution to why aren't there any paradoxes.

He does not. It is the same past, but after preventing the blood drinking, a new timeline is created. It does not exist prior to Garrosh's intervention. And then they hijack our portal from their timeline.

The thing is, there are Changes to the timeline that Garrosh wasn't there for and couldn't influence, some even prior to Garrosh showing up, so the idea that it's a different dimension's past isn't impossible. We'll hopefully get more clarification on it later down the line.

You're actually right, and the Hellscream short story confirms it. I am pretty sure thats not what they said before, and they actually changed this little detail.

 

[Nikolaz72]

Me: "Love it, orc bromance done right! Maybe I'll get back into it, what have I got to lose?"

Brain: "yeah um, remember daily quests and reputation grinds?"

Me:"... I hate it when you're right brain."

Dailies in their post-Wrath iteration aren't going to be in the game anymore, no idea about rep though.

That's cool but I'm more generally referring to the typical dissonance between MMO trailers and what you actually end up doing in-game.

Well, I abandoned World of Warcraft back before Wrath in Burning Crusade and recently returned (Yesterday) to try out Pandaria and get a monk to 90 before the Orcs hit, or go back to one of my oldies.

I must say they've really improved the gameplay. Quests feature NPC's not just walking patrols or standing still but walking around, attacking things, running around, running -at- you! It's pretty neat when compared to other MMO's like.. Elder Scrolls Online, that had quests that said they did that but... Didn't.

It's fun going back to this ten year old MMO and seeing it do everything better than things released last year (Except GW2, GW2 beats WoW on a number of areas)