Meh. I had hopes Blizzard would learn from the mistakes of the Burning Crusade. The overwhelming criticism was the lack of even a minimum of mid-level content.
-Now before I rant too deeply, it appears that the business philosophy of Blizzard is to continue only with the new, and those that buy the original game will still have the addictive experience we did Pre-TBC. The game, as I assume they see it, appears to be for those who play to progress a single character. It's understandable, as that's one perspective many have. However, the majority of subscribers are %casual% players who rarely progress all the way to 70, much less 80.
The word Expansion OBVIOUSLY means the game will expand and improve into higher levels, higher difficulty, higher content. But WoW isn't necessarily just a game to progress in for people. It's an MMO and has an enormous social aspect. Adding new mid-level content could be done easily, and has been done in the past through large patches. I think that, at base minimum, would be a few additional NPC questlines to spice up the old zones.
The beauty parlor is an addition to the game that is a LONG time coming, but I would anticipate a hundred ways this could go sour. First is the level minimum to use it. I can only hope it is a capability available, and affordable to lower levels. Secondly is the parlors' location, it better not be ONLY in Dalaran. Third is the relative minimum of available new options. Unless there's at least 5 new hairstyles for the original 8 races, it's going to miss the mark.
The notion of the Epic Class is warming up to me. I initially didn't like the idea of a Hero class starting out at 55-60 because it's exactly those lower levels that NEED an additional tank class, not the raiders with mandated prots and holies. If the Hero is meant to allow for the exploration of the game through a new class, why only allow the Hero to experience levels already dominated by the laws of TBC 5-Mans? And the rune-resource seems overly complicated and far too slow to maintain aggro. Aside from these concerns, it's sounding more appealing.
Overall, I'm disappointed with Blizzards Dungeon design team, as they continually make it difficult for me to find a place in the game. I WANT to be moonkin as well, and have done an enormous amount of work to collect the gear and craft the items suggested to be a DOOMkin powerhouse. I'm persoanlly abhorrent to using cloth for gear, but the +damage on leather does pale in comparison to the cloth, specifically in raid dungeons. Horrible itemization strikes again. Also, as many know, a DPS caster regardless of utility MUST have a viable source of crowd control. Cyclone is too short, and Roots is unavailable in most dungeons. Altering both and developing +damage leather would let moonkins come to raids.
Zul'Aman, like Zul'Gurub and Zul'Farrak, will be an outside instance, allowing for roots. One can only hope caster leather will drop there.
I look forward to Northrend, but I worry that much snow, ice, and chilly temperatures will depress me further. |
