haven't played in a few months, I really hope the expansion isn't as boring as the live game is - then I'd not have a game to play AND I won't have anything fun to look forward to.

I did'nt get it yet, my main is only 44 still(yes i'm slacker) from what hear it is fun and the new lower raid counts will makle raiding much easier for those into that kinda thing still.

I bought it but haven't picked it up yet (preorder). My characters are in their 20s and 30s (plural, yes I have several b/c I don't know which I like best). I just hope the silly kids all make Blood Elves and free up some other population areas so I won't have to muttle through the throngs of lowbies.

I went to a midnight release. God, I am no super model but I was the only best looking guy there! There are some scary dudes at Gamestop at 12:30 in the morning. And my ex-girlfriend was one of 2 girls in the entire line (but like 200 dudes)

Waiting lines at midnight in Hungary. Some people waited 1 hour to get their copy.

http://www.hardwired.hu/img/wg/1/3/hwnews_2860.jpg

http://www.hardwired.hu/img/wg/1/3/hwnews_2861.jpg

I wasnt there :)

Lani

Got it this morning, gf installed it and stuff, ready to play when I get home... Soon! :D

Got it this morning, gf installed it and stuff, ready to play when I get home... Soon! :D

same deal for me!

She also got a couple of tshirts and some other gadgets as they were having some big bruhaha at the mall. LOL glad I didn't have to experience that!

I pre-ordered it from Best Buy 2 days ago online. Went today around noon and picked it up no hassle. Was pleasantly surprised.

And while its crowded (but not in instances, right?!), no servers have taken serious dumps. Probably the smoothest expansion release ... ever?

1 hour in line only? That seems rather tame compared to the next gen console launch.

Hurray, first server crashes happening!

It was too good to be true...

8 million subscribers just think how much quick money that adds up to just for a bought expansion not to mention the monthly fee revenue. Blizzard has more money then god.

8 million subscribers just think how much quick money that adds up to just for a bought expansion not to mention the monthly fee revenue. Blizzard has more money then god.
You mean Vivendi.

MSNBC did a report about it. They said something like they expected to sell 6 million units of the expansion in 6 months. 40x 6 million= 240 million if they make 1% profit each unit that would be 2.4 million in profit. DEAR GOD!

Now maybe they can fix the range bug in cat form now.

How many million dollars in development and marketing do you think have already been spent on it though? Just running the free alpha/beta servers and providing customer service on them for 6-9 months is significant.

I'm sure they're turning a nice profit, but it's easy to do the simple math and want to exaggerate their windfall.

What do you mean vivendi Sanch? I dont know much about Blizzards dealings.

Vivendi Games owns Blizzard and publishes WoW. Blizzard does the work, but if anyone's richer than God due to WoW, it's probably someone at Vivendi.

And Vivendi is the company behind the good years in Eq1 isnt it?

No, that was Verant.

I know they rake in a nice monthly income but i'd be curious to see thier monthly power bill not to mention what they pay for what has to be a godly amount of bandwidth pipeline.
correct if i'm wrong but don't you So Cal folks pay the worst power rates in the U.S.?

well like an idiot I tried making both a BE and an alliance cow; holy christ I have NEVER and I mean NEVER seen that many people in a single zone before. People were literally stacked on top of each other and there was no wandering to get quest mobs if you blinked you lost a mob lol. I couldn't handle the abuse but my gf is happily trucking right along with an alliance cow. I'm thoroughly impressed by how thing launched, SoE et all should learn a few things from this.

God damnit. I'm sitting down in podunk USA, no computer capable of playing WoW until we move in to the house next week.

It's killing me.

I did see a line of about 9 people outside the local Gamestop store, and half of them were girls. I was impressed, tho they all gave me weird looks when I asked if they were waiting in line for Crusade pre-orders.

Picked up the expansion Wednesday.

10 Minute installation, 10 minute patching, 10 minutes (solo) on a quest that gave my 60 Rogue a BP with almost triple the Armor class. They have made all of the stuff that was worked so hard for and/or paid for dearly in the AH worthless.

On the other hand, I made a BE hunter and am having fun playing in new areas with a new race. At least, until the game bores the shit out of me again.

Also, they have a bunch of new realms, and are basically threatening to split servers if people are not willing to make free voluntary transfers, to ease the congestion and log-in waits.

Damn you Byl, you taunt me so.

itemization, the bane of every game lol.

Well I liked Everquest's model better. The best items from Naggy and Vox were still good (maybe great) to the bulk of the non-raiders, and the raids were now easy. Warcraft has completely invalidated all of Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, Ahn'quiraj, and Naxx - when they could have been fun instances for people with smaller groups (supposedly Naxx is doable with 20 level 70s). They took great content, and made it worthless. Everquest people were still in Fear / Hate before they went to Velious even after Velious' release.

For once I completely agree with Kelraz. At least if they had made the T2 comparable gear require an entry level 10 man instance, I would have been totally down with that as it would have given smaller guilds two valid, fun paths to that level of items. While my true casuals are loving the upgrades, and have gotten a huge power increase in a matter of hours, it's a shame that they didn't think out the mudflation a bit better. On the other hand, it's great to see my guild members really enjoying all the questing for the first time in ages...

Regards,
Nydia

I had Nag/Vox/CT/Inno loot when Kunark was released. I replaced multiples pieces of that stuff in the first dungeon zone I got to (Karnor's). I'm not sure what you're remembering from EQ.

In TBC, T4 doesn't beat T3. Not at all. Naxx gear is still extremely good, even compared to Kara stuff.

However, I'd think if you haven't cleared Naxx yet, you'd be ecstatic that you have a chance to get almost comparable gear from Kara. 25 70's won't clear Naxx unless they retune it. It's physically impossible. Would it really be preferable that the expansion releases and you spend another year gearing and training before you can even experience the level 70 content? Ick.

You did replace some stuff, but I know in my guild just looking at the date of screenshots we were still doing Fear / Hate / Air as well as Trak / Veeshan's Peak, then we were still doing the former while in Kael'drakkal killing for the first tier of Velious armor. Once we hit the halls of testing we didn't do as much other stuff, but we stayed in NToV throughout the Luclin expansion and we were doing Emp / Vex Thal well into Planes of Power (though obviously not once we got the elementals).
My mage was in full gear from BWL with 1 item from AQ40. Now every single piece has been replaced, and I'm only level 64.

25 level 70s have cleared Naxx already in beta.

It just seems silly that they make all this content that only 5% of the population could ever use, but in Everquest I wasn't in the top guild for most of my EQ career but killed every boss up through Quarm.

Old World -> Kunark there was a whole lot of change, the dragons were only really good for haste items after you reached the planes. When I was on progression, you replaced almost everything the second you entered the planes.

Every expansion after that though was just like WoW. Velious offered set armor that destroyed planar armor (PoH/F vs. PoG for example -- and thats not even including ToV).

Luclin did the same thing, PoP did the same thing, and so on.

The reason you were raiding old zones was mostly likely the non-instance issue, and/or the 70 person raids, and needing to gear people at all levels of equipment up. Not to mention epics.

Would someone buy an expansion if the gear in the old zones was better than what could be attainted in new zones?

Speaking of EQ, you know they just announced a new expanson, right? :D

25 level 70s have cleared Naxx already in beta.
Link.

Would someone buy an expansion if the gear in the old zones was better than what could be attainted in new zones?

Are you telling me after Kunark came out, the haste belt from Vox was worthless? All of Cazic Thule's drops no one wanted? Why were we still doing NToV after Luclin's release? Why were we still doing Vex Thal after Planes of Power was released? I even remember killing Sleeper mobs Because there was some (most) great upgrades there. Were they all instantly replaced from random drops from critters wandering around Lake of Ill Omen? No ... some were immediately, some were replaced at level 60 in Sebilis, but you didn't replace EVERYTHING in the first 10 hours of the expansion from soloable content.

Sanchek I don't have a link for you just what a few of my guildmates have told me after participating. While they didn't kill the 4 horsemen or anything beyond they're fairly confident that it'll be doable even before doing any of the raid content.

Razorgore through Nefarion they did with under 20.

So by "cleared", you meant "killed the relatively easy stuff".

I would be extremely surprised if 4H happens with 25 people, unless they are amazingly well geared in TBC epics we haven't seen yet. I raided in TBC beta a lot, and the guys trying Naxx were a running joke for those of us doing Kara. They were failing pretty miserably, as of early December when I left. Too many of those encounters depend on numbers and stacking certain classes.

The reason you were raiding old zones was mostly likely the non-instance issue, and/or the 70 person raids, and needing to gear people at all levels of equipment up. Not to mention epics.

Bingo. EQ seemed less immediately mudflated because there was substantially more time-based item scarcity. If there had been as many Trakanons or NToVs as people wanted, few would have bothered getting the inferior items from older fights like Nagafen. Haste was a special exemption for a long time since they almost reached the effective item limit on it before any expansions (plus the Nagafen level loot took you to maximum haste with L60 spells anyway, rendering the difference moot), and you didn't start seeing large stat incentives to replace those until late Velious.

(I can't believe I'm still dedicating brainspace to this information)

Haste was a special exemption for a long time since they almost reached the effective item limit on it before any expansions (plus the Nagafen level loot took you to maximum haste with L60 spells anyway, rendering the difference moot), and you didn't start seeing large stat incentives to replace those until late Velious.
Of course, an FBSS was effectively as good as dragon/god haste for a long time, until they fixed the multiplicative thing.

Would someone buy an expansion if the gear in the old zones was better than what could be attainted in new zones?

I expect better gear with expansions, but not to be able to solo a quest and have a new BP (green) with better stats and almost three times the armor class of Primal Batskin. Or, another quest that took all of 15 to 20 minutes solo for a dagger that beat my Assassination Blade.

Better gear yes, but gear that should take some effort would be what I expected; this is all gimme stuff to get folks hooked into the game more. And, that is not necessarily bad, just disappointing somewhat.

Anyway, I left the high end game and lvl 60 Rogue behind and am having a gas with my BE Hunter, at a lowly lvl 22. I will most likely level to 70 on both, if I stay interested.

Regardless of why people still raided old zones, there was reason for people to do that.
I've never killed anything in Naxx. Only 1 Horde guild on my server (thats 60 people out of what, at least 5,000?) has, and they haven't killed 4 Horsemen or beyond due to my server being relatively new. So we've got these instances that took months to release (Naxx took 2 or 3 months right?) which only 1% of the population is ever gonna see. Why doesn't that seem dumb to anyone else? Why couldn't the entry level gear (you know, the stuff coming from the 5 man dungeons) be comparable instead of the solo gear at level 61 being leagues better?

(I think Kelraz still wore his Coldain Ring and Prayer Shawl when I retired him in the GoD expansion too)

Try Saryn shoulders from time? DUH

They have made all of the stuff that was worked so hard for and/or paid for dearly in the AH worthless.
That's a bit exagerated.
I didn't do alot in BC yet with my priest (only half way to 62 with half hellfire penisula quests done, first instances done twice or three times), but I didn't remplace anything in my healer set. I'm wearing T2 and BWL/AQ gear (my guild didn't go far in Naxx), but nothing yet, quests or drops, beats it.

I did some upgrades in my "dps" gear (I'm shadow now :devil), and these aren't really upgrades, but "new" items to fill empty slots (of course I didn't need +dmg stuff when we were raiding). Nothing beats my volatile robe, nor my firemaw's clutch, not to mention warlord pieces. The only replacement I made was Anathema by a "mace + off hand" combo, I only gain +1dmg (but it's heal & dmg vs shadow only), and I lose some stats.

And well, it's WoW all the way, did we all forget how we were replacing almost everything every 10 levels of xp grinding? Went to kill Arugal for its robe, to change it 3 levels after with an green "eagle" drop?

A big /agree with Samanusuke and Malse, the big difference is the size of raids. When half of a WoW raid gets upgrades clearing one instance, EQ raiding time seems insanely long. I'd say people weren't changing stuff easily not because nothing better was dropping, but because they had to wait their turn (in their own guild, and in their server too).

I came back in the game with 3 MC items (purple), and had 4500 HP and 5100 Mana at that time as warlock. After 3 days and some AH purchases I am 6800 HP and 6700 mana. I think I spent 80 gold total for that. All I have from my previous era is now my trinkets, who couldnt be replaced.

Its awesome for us, casuals, but probably the people who have farmed MV, BWL and AQ40 to death are shocked.

Lani

It will be interesting to see if Blizz does what I think SoE does. It always seems that for two weeks or so after an expansion drops and highly desired items are less rare and then after two weeks it just kind of dries up. Could it be this is the case here?

It seems to me this is the same complaint heard after every expansion in the past few years. It doesn't really affect me I'm not into raiding. I've just been levelling umpteen characters trying to find one I like enough to go to 70 :D

I don't know about you but I don't recall such high gear turnover with a new expansion. Yeah - after a while we would break into the raid zones and then shit would start getting upgraded but I wasn't replacing half my raid items with 5 minute quest items within a day of the expansion releasing.

Blizzard has a lot of catching up to do, what with it being 2 years since the game released.

They have to keep the majority of their players happy, and nothing makes an MMO player happier than new, shiny, phat lewts. :)

My question is this: Are they gonna follow EQ's example now and start pumping out expansions every six months to keep the cash rolling in?

Do they need to with 8 million subs?

Need to? Definately not...

But, if you were Blizzard, wouldn't you?

Seriously though, on top of the monthly subscriptions, if you could get away with it, an extra $39.99 (or more) every six months to a year? That multiplied by 8 Million?

I mean, come on! Blizzard execs have to eat! Right? :D

Blizzard is notoriously slow. Even with 1 expansion in 2 years they missed their deadline. I imagine it'll be a year or two before we see the next one.

This is true, though I'm sure that building and releasing BC was a huge learning experience for them.

I figure another year and they should be able to keep more loot, more zones, more levels and more content coming for the players.

The billion dollar question (literally) is this, do they try something new and revolutionary or do they keep the game in line with what they already have, and only add more of the same?

I guess I hope they keep more of the same with "new stuff". I kick myself for being so critical of this game in the beginning I never really gave it a good chance now I'm loving it. We're totally MMO addicts again playing several hours everyday. The immersion factor in this game is just incredible IMO, they have paid attention to so many details that I never noticed the first two tries at playing. I'm continually impressed.

That being said I can see how some have issues with it. I've levelled one character to almost 40 and three others to their late 20s / early 30s in a little over a month. And I am NOT trying to do that but just quest, explore, and have fun.

This is true, though I'm sure that building and releasing BC was a huge learning experience for them.

I figure another year and they should be able to keep more loot, more zones, more levels and more content coming for the players.

The billion dollar question (literally) is this, do they try something new and revolutionary or do they keep the game in line with what they already have, and only add more of the same?
They would have to be absolutely batshit crazy to try to revolutionize the most successful game in the industry, after 2 years and only growth.

The expansion is definitely evolutionary though. It's not more of exactly the same. It's more fun than the original game in every way. The amount of <1h 5 man content should make a lot of people very happy.

Hell, even the flying mounts alone are well enough done that they'd probably be worth the entire expansion cost to most people. I think I spent about an hour just flying around after I got my epic.

post some screenies of that pls. perhaps it will motivate me to be more than just a casual slug. :D

There's video of most everything from the expansion on YouTube and Google Video.

Well, it's like this...

EverQuest at one time was the "most revolutionary" game, but it lost a lot of subscribers to WoW when it released. EQ didn't change, so the customers did, it was that simple. It's not that it's a bad game, but it had it's day in the sun, far more infact than I think WoW might have.

It's not that WoW is a bad game either, for someone new to the game, it's like trying to drink from the fire hose there's so much to do. Unfortunately I find the replay value just isn't there. Once you've done it, you've done it, know what I mean? The difference between races and their newbie areas are pretty much cosmetic at best. You can only do the same content over and over again. Granted, for someone new, they have a while to get sick of this. It still took me the better part of two years to get sick of the game, so that says something (though it was longer than that for EQ).

What does the future hold for WoW? Who knows? But realize this, other companies are looking at WoW, and are developing strats to beat it. Sooner or later, something will beat it, it's only a matter of time. It happened to EQ, and it will happen to WoW.

It's not that it's a bad game, but it had it's day in the sun, far more infact than I think WoW might have.

EQ1 never had anywhere close to 8mil subs. What do you smoke and where can I get some? You have the most interesting outlook's on things, I really need some of that lol.

Personally, I think there's plenty of content in WoW to never make an alt. If you're only interested in the single player aspect of the game, an MMO might not be the best choice for you. Else, missing out on Naxx is a tragedy. That's the best designed, most enjoyable zone in the game.

WoW beat EQ without being revolutionary at all. It just did everything better and made progressive improvements. WoW beat EQ with a brand name more than anything. Without pulling in hundreds of thousands of Blizzard fans that weren't previously MMO players, WoW wouldn't have instantly overtaken EQ and snowballed like it did.

Whatever beats WoW will probably be a different situation than WoW beating EQ was. Assuming the market even lasts that long. There's no guarantee how long MMOs will continue to be so popular.

EQ1 never had anywhere close to 8mil subs. What do you smoke and where can I get some? You have the most interesting outlook's on things, I really need some of that lol.

Did I mention subscriptions?

At it's peak, it had 1.5 million subs. At the time, this was the number to beat. No one, and I mean NO ONE saw what Blizzard would have, not even Blizzard themselves.

Personally, I think there's plenty of content in WoW to never make an alt. If you're only interested in the single player aspect of the game, an MMO might not be the best choice for you. Else, missing out on Naxx is a tragedy. That's the best designed, most enjoyable zone in the game.

WoW beat EQ without being revolutionary at all. It just did everything better and made progressive improvements. WoW beat EQ with a brand name more than anything. Without pulling in hundreds of thousands of Blizzard fans that weren't previously MMO players, WoW wouldn't have instantly overtaken EQ and snowballed like it did.

Whatever beats WoW will probably be a different situation than WoW beating EQ was. Assuming the market even lasts that long. There's no guarantee how long MMOs will continue to be so popular.

I dunno, it's kinda hard to not play a game these days without some sort of multiplayer experience. Once people get into MMO's, they tend to find it hard to get out of them. I personally find it hard to play RPG's that are singleplayer. For some reason, after playing MMORPG's, it just seems.....dead, know what I mean?

I dunno, it's kinda hard to not play a game these days without some sort of multiplayer experience. Once people get into MMO's, they tend to find it hard to get out of them. I personally find it hard to play RPG's that are singleplayer. For some reason, after playing MMORPG's, it just seems.....dead, know what I mean?
So get in Naxx and stop making alts! Then you won't have to complain about lack of content.

LMAO, I never said there was NO content, but I guess compared to EQ (which had lots, but lets be fair, it does have a number of years on the game), and the fact that most of the major content is instanced, it always felt like we were doing the same shit over and over. Yes that happened in EQ, but there was so much more to be at in between the raid grinds, that it made it bareable.

All WoW needs are some more world mobs for competitive purposes, and I think it'd silence the complainers. People can't complain if they're too busy chasing down mobs. ;)

Instancing gives you more to do, not less. How many times have you killed Kazzak, Azuregos, or the green dragons? They're hard as hell to catch alive.

No you didn't say subs but you said "peak", how has EQ beaten WoW in that regard?

Hehe, I didn't say EQ beat WoW. In fact, it's the other way around. Both were champions of their genre's, just at different times.

Blizzard was smart. They knew there was a global market out there, and they went for it, and it paid off in spades.

As far as instancing goes....I'm still not sold on it entirely. Part of the fun (and sometimes frustration) was chasing after raid targets. Maybe I'm just a sucker for punishment, but I know I'm not the only one.

I'm with you in that regard. I hate instancing.

ya instancing isnt so fun.. I really liked chasing for raid bosses especially emp ssra.. lol fun times fun times