A provisional flight ban in the new zone, new character models, no more item upgrades, a healer nerf, no bonus for learned professions, and new information about the garrisons – over the past few weeks, a flood of information snippets about the new add-on Warlords of Draenor has poured down on the players.
We take a closer look at the announced changes in game design and wonder in which direction Blizzard wants to steer their giant World of Warcraft.
The flight ban – flying permitted only from 6.1
What is the news: You will not be able to fly in the new world during the leveling process to 100. Not even at level 100 immediately. With the first content patch (6.1), a quest will be unlocked that you must complete if you wish to fly again.
What is behind this: Flying in WoW is problematic for design reasons, as it takes danger out of certain situations: open-world PvP is trivialized, and players lose sight of the landscape. They zoom through areas that should convey a sense of the size and unpredictability of the new land.
Additionally, Blizzard wants to ensure that a player feels that flying is a reward and something special – not the norm. From the discussion, it was often read that game designers are generally dissatisfied with flying. Many competing games do not offer this possibility for good reasons.
Have there been negative reactions from the community? Many players fear that farming raw materials without a flying mount will be time-consuming and annoying. Additionally, rare and high-profile flying mounts would then have no more justification – and for some of them, players have spent real money or have pursued particularly difficult and lengthy missions (keyword: nether dragons).
In essence: It was never different than before. The leveling phase was managed on foot, and later, when the content had been seen up close, it became trivial from a bird’s eye view. Newer MMORPGs do not offer flying capabilities. Blizzard has historically parted with some design relics that seemed outdated. But a World of Warcraft without flying mounts? That would likely be hard to convey to the players.
The fast farming on the back of a flying creature has become a given for many players. Whether it trivializes content is irrelevant. The major challenges are waiting in raids – and there, the flight ban still applies.
Perspective: Without flying mounts, it would be possible to incorporate more challenging jump spots into the game (WildStar, Guild Wars 2) – or to give players a tighter feel for the landscape (The Elder Scrolls Online). Flying could eventually be a thing of the past if Blizzard continues to upgrade the engine or wants to take new paths. But that likely lies several years in the future.
New character models – from smooth to deep
What is the news? Blizzard has revised old models of player characters to match the level of newer races. However, it seems that not all will be finished by the launch of Warlords of Draenor.
What is behind this: The old models gradually appeared as foreign bodies in the world. A facelift was long overdue. It is a commitment by the designers to World of Warcraft. Blizzard naturally places a lot of importance on aesthetics and the “WoW” feeling with the characters. A large effort is involved with the new models.
Have there been negative reactions from the community? Not really. At worst, some anticipate that the extensive redesign will take away some time that would rather be invested in new content. But most agree that the facelift was urgently needed.
In essence: Mayors of cities where factories have settled often say: “As long as they paint the factory every two years, we don’t need to worry.” This decision by Blizzard can be classified similarly. It is a significant effort to keep the game attractive in 2014. For years, there has been speculation that Blizzard wants to let WoW run its course and focus entirely on “Titan.” The decision for the remodeling should silence such whispers for the foreseeable future.
No more Pimp my Item
What is the news? With patch 6.0, it will no longer be possible to upgrade items. Whether this will return later is currently unknown.
What is behind this? It is still unclear. Since item upgrades were introduced, Blizzard has regularly toggled them on or off. No one is particularly satisfied with the game mechanics. They mainly serve to extend content. While some dilution is necessary, it doesn’t exactly elicit applause.
In essence: In odd patches, new raid content is no longer added, but players continue to raid. With the valor points they earn per boss killed, they have the opportunity to marginally improve existing gear. This makes the raid easier and the character a bit stronger.
However, it is not the same as obtaining a new item; it feels more like a bureaucratic affair: first the weapon, then the set items. No one gets a thrill from finally upgrading the bracers by 8 item levels after the seventh successful raid of an instance.
Have there been negative reactions from the community? Item upgrading is still relatively new and not exactly loaded with emotions. Players have come to terms with the fact that it is a logical solution to some content problems. No one would particularly miss the possibility.
Perspective: As long as Blizzard doesn’t unveil some genius move, item upgrading will probably make its debut with patch 6.1, be deactivated again with 6.2, and return with 6.3. Not particularly exciting.
The healer nerf
What is the news? Healers will be significantly nerfed across the board. We have already reported on this extensively.
What is behind this? PvP balancing certainly plays an important role, as they want to remove as many instants and no-brainer heals from the game as possible. However, the healer also has a special role in PvE progression. A healer gets stronger with better gear, but this doesn’t necessarily enhance their enjoyment. As a healer gets better, they also heal less in a raid because the tank with better gear takes less damage, and damage dealers kill the boss faster. Hence, a healer with better gear heals less and shorter.
Blizzard wants to reverse this so that healers don’t end up on the bench at the end of an expansion because the instances can be healed solo or with two players, hence the nerf in item scaling.
Have there been negative reactions from the community? Absolutely. Nobody likes it when their class gets nerfed. However, there is a general consensus that healing became too easy again with MoP. It’s also not the first time such a thing has happened. Healers were hit by the nerf bat at the start of Cataclysm once before.
In essence: Blizzard wants to continuously challenge healers to decide which heal to use in what situation. This has been stated multiple times, and they intend to stick to this line.
The same among equals
What is the news? The bonus for learned professions is being removed. Previously, each profession at max level provided a specific, relatively trivial bonus to a skill, which they now want to eliminate.
What is behind this? One of those “We’re parting with an outdated game mechanic” decisions by Blizzard, which they have made repeatedly in the past. In other games, there are significantly fewer craftsmen than in World of Warcraft, where practically every character is required to strive for mastery in a profession.
Perhaps they want to make crafting in World of Warcraft more complicated and in-depth and associate it with more effort. At the moment, it is not a problem to train a character to become a mystical super-grandmaster, even if there is no interest in blacksmithing. It merely requires gold, access to the auction house, and a guide.
Perspective: This could have significant effects. The crafting area has long been a weakness of World of Warcraft. Major changes were difficult because most players had one or even multiple characters with maxed professions. Any changes would have impacted countless players, from the crafting nerd to the crafting reject (who, of course, still has four chars at max because they want to raid).
If you want to change crafting without having to consider every player, that’s a really nice thing.
What else is there?
About 200 small and tiny news items. Hey, hunters can now tame a hydra! One of the most important changes is certainly coming with the garrison for the players. It was so important to us that we reported on it in a separate article.
The information that came from Blizzard prior to the expansion indicates that they are proceeding cautiously and that no significant course changes are in sight. After the Mists of Pandaria expansion, Blizzard’s game is in a significantly better state than after Cataclysm. The ongoing issue will still be to avoid or mitigate larger content droughts.
Otherwise, it is still quiet about the Warlords of Draenor. No new class has been announced, and no new race. The garrison feature and the new character models are the two largest features announced so far for Warlords of Draenor. Neither of these changes has a greater impact on the philosophy or overall direction of World of Warcraft.
The garrison is likely to give crafting a somewhat higher status – but it’s still unclear whether it will really become a part of the “main game” or remain a side activity like pet battles or the personal farm in Mists of Pandaria.
This is the challenge with World of Warcraft: If you make something important through bonuses, so that players gain a direct advantage in other areas of the game, you must consider both hardcore raiders and hardcore PvPers, and design the feature accordingly to be painless and straightforward. So that players can derive maximum benefits from it without feeling constrained or irritated by the feature. If you let it unfold parallel to the world (like the farm or pet battles), you trivialize it.
Blizzard is currently in a position where they want to open the game up to new buyer demographics but do not want to alienate their loyal customer base. It seems they want to first wait and see how customers react to the old-new continent and how they accept the fresh character models.
Evolution instead of revolution: polish instead of rebuild
Apart from the design decisions, Blizzard has distinguished itself in recent years by thoroughly thinking through what everyone else does and finding new ways to make it a bit better.
So there have been quests in World of Warcraft for 10 years and phasing for 6 years, but especially with the last add-on, Blizzard has shown that they can carry this forward and think about it further.
Especially storytelling, interconnected quests, and pushing a large storyline have been excellently executed by Blizzard in recent years. According to reports from dataminers, the new expansion will also bring back old acquaintances: Rexxar, Kil’Jaeden, and Gazlowe are reportedly on the guest list for the expansion.
[pull_quote_center]Polishing instead of tearing down and rebuilding: That could be exactly the right formula to ensure that the Warlords of Draenor brings new glory.[/pull_quote_center]
