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One of the things I would love to see in MoP is less of a spoonfeeding of a linear story as we have seen in Cata.
It all feels a bit console gamey. The new heroics are particularly bad. Fun experiences the first time, but it's all rather "Culling of Stratholme RP bit" after the first couple of times. I want to claw my eardrums out every time I hear the first boss in the third dungeon talk about Thrall the "shaaaaaaaaman". Unfortunately all this story has been added into these dungeons to disguise the fact that there's only 5 minutes worth of content in each, stretching them out to 20. |
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Edited by Shaelynn on 1/4/12 12:25 PM (PST)
Massively multiplayer online ROLE-PLAYING game.
Without story, you have no game. |
Massively multiplayer online ROLE-PLAYING game. Roleplaying is about making your own story against a background plot. Not about being fed a story. That's what differentiates a RPG from a graphical adventure. |
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It's about playing a role in a fantasy world - linear or otherwise. |
Community Manager
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We're always open to constructive feedback as long as it stays constructive. There are a few different types of thoughts from the community on these things that I've heard via podcasts or read on fansites and the forums here.
First, we've gotten lots of feedback through the years that it's difficult to learn the story of World of Warcraft. Many players have expressed that they have concerns over too much story having to be found outside the game and not enough in the game, or even not being led to the story in the game and thus missing it. Obviously, this is something we've been trying to correct where we can and trying to find a balance between the two. We're aware that Azeroth's history and story is pretty vast and with each new expansion, we're given the opportunity to expand on it even more. Second, we've heard (as you've stated) that once through, it's not as fun the second time. We've obviously experienced this as well in the past via Culling of Stratholme. As you saw there, we did eventually make it possible to skip this portion of the event, but there are risks involved with that too. For newer players or those that aren't on the front edge of progression, this can cause them to miss out on being able to see this story unless they're with people who are willing to let it play out so they can experience it. That said, I can't say that we'll do the same for the current dungeons (allowing the "skip"), but I can say that we'll continue to take constructive feedback on these aspects of the game as often as we can. We want to make sure we're giving the story that people want, while still making sure it's as fun as possible to be a part of it. As for Mists of Pandaria and the storyline there, we definitely want to continue down the path of offering up story where we can. We feel that this can only enhance the experience of the game. We're not unaware though of the concerns on both sides of the fence. |
#7
1/4/2012
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Story? Is that something that happens before or after I get epic loots and kill the alliance?
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POWA!
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So the problem, in this case, is that you guys would rather have us sit through all that, rather than simply lacking the POWAAAAH!
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Edited by Ehcks on 1/4/12 10:45 AM (PST)
As much as I dislike linear story-driven games, I can't enjoy a game with no story at all. Mostly, I think, I don't like being forced to sit and listen to someone talk about the backstory to each quest they want to give me.
I think Blizzard has it about right. There's plenty of story, but you have to look for it. You don't have to read it, but can just skip it every time. It's still there to be read, which is all I want.
How about figuring out a way to only let groups skip events if all party members have seen the event? Or, perhaps, if all party members choose to skip it? |
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Can Thrall maybe get an epic mount?
Seriously, the guy is level 85 and he's still running around in Ghost Wolf form. He doesn't even have it talented. |
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Edited by Fugfug on 1/4/12 10:49 AM (PST)
There is no good or evil, no light, only POWWWARRRR!
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I feel that story elements are best told through quests. The only time I ever want to be interrupted by the story while I'm working on content is at the climax of a raid. It's exhausting to see it slow me down in a dungeon.
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Edited by Asane on 1/4/12 10:53 AM (PST)
Put RP at the end, so that people can opt out, and others can stay. Right now, Ultraxion's startup and trash RP is painful. |
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I have to agree with the OP on this one. The heavy-handed storytelling in Cata really crushed my spirt, for several reasons:
1) It kills replayability. Yes, a story you can skip over can easily be skipped by accident, and that is unfortunate. But a story you can't skip over makes playing alts or even re-running a dungeon incredibly painful. In an ongoing, no-real-end style game like WoW, replayability is vital. Anything that makes people less likely to replay content would be something to avoid at all cost, I would think. 2) It makes me feel even more insignificant. Look, I know I'm not The Hero of Azeroth. That's fine. But every now and then, I can sort of pretend I am. Just yesterday, I completed the "Thrall comes to Nagrand" questline on my tauren pally. Yeah, I'd done it before, but in the context of the moment, I felt pretty dang heroic. Compare that to any cutscene in Cata, or the not-really-quests where all you really do is follow NPCs (such as the end of Vash'jir). Your class doesn't matter. Your gear doesn't matter. Nothing you can possibly do matters. YOU do not matter, because if you did, you might screw up the story. How is this "role playing"? 3) Challenge goes down the drain. This is more of a leveling gripe than anything, but I miss orange and red quests. It's so extremely rare to find a quest that genuinely challenges your ability as a player, as opposed to just timing things right in a vehicle or something. Nearly every quest is yellow, because nearly every quest ties into the story, and the story MUST be told in the right order. That means a puny handful of quests (we can hold TWENTY-FIVE, you know) which are nearly impossible to fail. ..... Fun? |
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Apparently because his name is BENEDICTus, which obviously has nothing to do with the word "benediction." At least, that's what a previous thread on the topic came up with. I thought it was a pretty stupid reason then, too. |
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Ultraxion's trash is simply there to make sure you can Heroism/Bloodlust at some point during Ultraxion's fight if you're coming there immediately after Hagara. |
