Every time a new expansion comes out, there are the cries from some in the fan-base that
it’s the same old, same old with a fresh coat of paint. That there is nothing really new and that Wow is just rehashing the same old stuff for a profit.
But is it true? Kinda yes and no. Wow is a game locked in a hard-coded game engine. The Devs would need to rework that game engine in order to make big new changes. To a great extent that could prove to be not cost effective. And near impossible from a programming perspective.
So what do they do? Well they take existing content and rework it. They take assets that are already in the game and change it slightly to appear as something brand new. This can be risky. Since any change in the game engine can result in some major problems in other parts of the game that can cause glitches and unforeseen negative, unintended results.
So the Devs make small changes to the content. Which is basically cosmetic in nature and present it as new stuff. The biggest real new content is new islands/continents/land masses = new open world game zones.
So in essence the Devs have made a better game with what they have to work with. The only way a real brand new World of Warcraft gaming experience could be made for the players is if the Devs created World of Warcraft 2. With a brand new game-engine.
Keep in mind that the Devs are working with a 20 year old game engine.
While I would love to see EVERYTHING refreshed, the largest concern is:
What unintended consequences will happen?
As you said, the code is old. Even adding Warbands emptied a far few banks and bugged some characters. Cross Ralm Zones used to make people disconnect, or dismount even between Elwynn and Westfall. We’ve seen good and bad happen. My personal opinion would be to create an entirely new set of servers, with all new coding, the zones, refreshes, etc and then just like the PTR, we “copy” our character onto them. In fact, when the new server is ready, a copy button will appear in the login screen next to each character.
Then, then can safely move the “deleted characters” over so if anyone wanted an old character back, they would be there for restoration. But, that is contingent on at the very least 200 new servers to house all these realms, characters, items, expansions, etc. It’s a HUGE undertaking. Might almost make more sense to create “World of Warcraft: Beyond” and copy your characters into the new game and eventually let this version shut down organically.
I don’t understand why people constantly harp on about WoW 2 as a fresh start or the savior to the WoW IP.
A WoW Engine doesn’t change the existence of the WoW Token.
A WoW Engine doesn’t change their general philosophy around homogenized class design.
It doesn’t change four raid difficulties.
It doesn’t change decisions such as currency caps, AOE caps, the MMR / Rating systems.
It doesn’t change how much they value ESports.
The only change I can fathom outside of graphical changes of a newer engine meaning faster content delivery. I’m personally happy with the pace of the content though.
if they stop wow and make a wow 2 … i wont be buying nor subbing to the new one… no way… the only thing keeping me and probably others is nostalgia because it sure isnt the “direction” they are taking the characters… and “wow 2” would be the same nonsense they are doing here … but worse… because there will be no ties for people to play the “new one”.
There’s far more to a new expansion than wanting updated graphics or new models.
Serious complaints have been many and varied.
story is mid
leveling was too easy and early access issues.
bugs a plenty even after testing and launch
dwarf allied race adds more dwarfs…what are there now? Like 8 dwarves
same boring expansion formula. 4 zones, 8 dungeons and a new gimmick.
voice acting is atrocious
group loot
no heroes to rally behind
It’s just another mid expansion where after a few months you have to ask yourself, Am I having fun or just doing stuff because I don’t want to admit it’s boring?
WoW 2 won’t fix any of that unless they dump everyone involved currently and get some new talent in there.
Story is always mid because they don’t tell stories very well. If you go and buy ff14 expansion they tell you the entire story of the expansion on release. Meanwhile in wow you get a little bit and then you have to wait to get a little bit more months and months.
I’m sure the world soul saga will be a great story but it’ll be trickled to us every few months
Not crazy about the lack of individual faction quests, otherwise I am rather enjoying the game and the story, while not great is much better than DF or SL.
At what point does the OP not realize that WoW 2 is not happening…at all. This is insanity to keep pushing this. You’re not going to get a different result.
The OP is not making a push for a Wow 2. If you read the original post fully. The OP is making the point that some of the people complaining about new expansions just have unrealistic expectations about what the Devs can and can’t do with a 20 year old game.
