Truly Impressive Game ... Thank You Blizzard

Community General Discussion
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I am a returning WoW player who last played 8 years ago since WoD. I also played Classic and TBC nearly 20+ years ago.

I’m truly blown away by the extreme and exceptional changes that this game has been through. I’ve already finished up War Within’s campaign and truly appreciate the worldbuilding, story, and experience. I’m now starting to level my level 40 mage (just hit 59 in one day) in the Dragonflight expansion regions - truly aspiring, immersive, and breathtaking.

I intend to also go through the earlier expansions, such as Shadowlands, BFA, Mists of Pandaria, etc. with several other toons. The sheer amount of worldbuilding put into this game is impressive beyond anything I’ve experienced before - exceeding Skyrim, GTA 4/5, The Witcher 3, the Pokemon RPG games. It’s truly marvelous how so much effort was put into this game to build it up from nothing. From the music, the creatures, the sound effects, and the architectural and natural wonders of MoP and DF regions - everything impresses me vastly.

I’m a 12-time book author and fantasy novelist myself, and really appreciate the depth of the worldbuilding. The story may not be the best for some expansions in terms of plot or character, but the experience overall - PvE, PvP - all make up for it.

To be honest, there are only three games in my entire life that have engrossed me so much and provided such a restful rejuvenation: Empire Earth 1+2, Tetris (I’m writing 2 Tetris guidebooks now and own a well-known Tetris guide website), and World of Warcraft.

In terms of overall scope, breadth, and the sheer mesmerization and epic scale of the worlds built upon so many layers of stories, lore, and epic adventures, nothing really rivals World of Warcraft from my perspective.

Thank you so much, Blizzard, and I hope this game never ends. Please keep up the good work.

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Well said. It might become my favorite expansion. I love the themes, the zones, and most importantly, the gameplay. Its fun and theres a ton of things to do. The hero talents imo bring a lot to each class. They are a sort of icing on the cake.

Its been a bit buggy at times, but 99% of it has been not buggy.

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I dig your enthusiasm, but for the love of all that is holy avoid that xpac.

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It’s the small details that they put in that impress me the most:

  1. Dragonflight:

The entire architecture of the main city befits the dragon-like theme of the game. What’s most captivating is the overall landscape - they seem to be based on the Scandinavian countries’ icy terrain and auroras. There’s this Skyrim-like vibe that I’m getting when I play this area.

  1. MoP:

As a person of Chinese descent myself, I’m absolutely blown away by the precision of the Chinese architecture put into designing the buildings. Traditional Chinese architectural styles involve a square-like design with the central garden representing harmony with nature and heaven. The four sides of a dwelling also have a deep symbolic meaning to them.

  1. War Within:

The Nerubians truly impress me the most. It’s very difficult to portray a completely alien race such as this. There’s an unusual fusion between Middle-eastern architecture with something completely different and exotic.

  1. The Shadowlands:

I haven’t touched this storyline yet, but I will. The idea of depicting an entire afterlife that has some semblance to Greek Mythology - like in Dante’s Inferno - truly has a significant literary root.

I think the story of War Within is decent with balanced character development for the protagonists, but I wish the antagonist had more depth to her, with a somewhat deeper engagement and interaction.

Then, there’s the design put into PvP - all the talent trees. Imagine the years of evolution it took to test out every method such that the result is the relatively refined class designs we have now? I used to play many classes in WoW Classic - many classes have undergone extreme refinements. My mage in WoW Classic was monodimensional - just spamming fireball or frostbolt. Today, as I leveled my mage, it’s a far different story with so many dimensions.

Very impressive overall. While Blizzard may have been through controversies over the years, the art and game design teams have certainly carried WoW rather well into the present. It’s a one-in-a-lifetime experience, and I’m glad to have been in the generation to have played and appreciated WoW. As an author, my life is rather solitary - to be given a game that takes my mind away elsewhere to so many places is not just epic, but deeply spiritual.

I hope WoW never ends. Maybe in the future, it can be made free for everyone to explore and wander around the many quests and lands created so far. It’s too masterful a piece of work to be forgotten - WoW needs to be archived for future generations and is an integral part of internet history.

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This game blew me away when i started playing last year. People really take for granted how rich a world blizzard has created.

Is it it perfect? Well of course not. But to me it stands out as one of the most beautiful digital worlds ever made.

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I’mma keep it a hunnit

You can skip this one.

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My friends are back and so far TWW seems to be very appealing to the gang.

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Can you hum any of the new in-game music right now? No you can’t?
Because it’s AI algorythmic and not memorable.
Just ended your whole career.

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Make sure they get attuned to Grim batol.
And don’t play too much, blizz doesn’t like people earning an advantage over casuals.
Also, Crests gear upgrades are 250% more expensive than last xpac because we deserve it.
Enjoy.

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as an older guy that likes to solo, I too am having fun.

I love dragon flying. Its so awesome, I really wish all games would have this kind of fun way to move around.

The follower dungeons are great, I can play a slow tank without getting yelled at to pull faster or going the wrong way. Plus the follower dungeons still give some decent rewards (valor marks and even decent upgraded blue gears).

I’m also enjoying the delvs. Some of them are kinda annoying and some are just “hard” but getting thru them gives a sense of accomplishment for myself (i did solo unlock 4,5,6 last night) Planning on grinding out 7 and 8 after work.

I even started to dabble in crafting, something I never really took an interest in.

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I appreciate this post because it really highlights something WoW accomplishes as a fantasy RPG that tends to be overlooked imo. As veterans we tend to judge the game these days based solely off the latest expansion. However, there are many players like yourself who get to experience this game from a fresh perspective as a whole, admiring everything that’s been implemented and added from years ago. As a standalone RPG, nothing really comes close to WoW if you’re a newer player starting today, and I’ve been real critical of WoW.

The sheer number of races to choose from, and the AR’s to pursue and unlock as personal goals and the customization they come with. The bottomless pit of lore and story to delve into, now a bit more coherent with a streamlined introduction and features such as Chromie Time to help discover past stories. Not to mention the outside material such as the multiple short stories on the website, comics, and published novels.

The multiple aspects of this game to get lost in, discover, and pursue. From learning professions, to delving into pet battles, dungeons, raids, PVP, mount farming etc. I mean it’s easy for us veterans to just kind of forget about all these things as we’ve grown accustomed to just dipping our toes into the latest content drop and focusing only on what we like. But WoW is still a fantasy RPG that is practically beyond any other gaming experience if you look at it as a whole and imagine what it’d be like starting today. We all used to be that kid once upon a time.

I absolutely adore BG3, Witcher 3, Dragon Age Origins, Skyrim, other fantasy MMO’s such as ESO, GW2, and FF14. However, even then, I’d say if I picked them all up today with a neutral perspective knowing nothing about any of them. I’d still be absolutely blown away by WoW the most. The sheer amount of content there is, and effort put into each expansion creatively from zone design etc, to all the races to choose from with their own history, and books to get lost in about the game etc. It’d probably absorb my life and soul. Maybe I’m blessed to not be new lol.

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everquest 1 before xpac’s was my jam. I loved that game so much, if they added WoW graphics (and dragon flying! - haha) and re-released eq 1, id be playing every free time moment there.

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I feel a truly passion project EQ remaster is such an easy W. Primarily a streamlined graphical update with some modernized engine tweaks to help it run smooth and a UI overhaul etc. I think so many people would love and support such a project. However, it would be a monumental undertaking, but it could be an apology for Everquest Next.

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Its was a pleasure reading that.

I really appreciate when somebody has the ability to appreciate the finer details. The world building just through the art, and quest dialogue is really well done. The Nerubian culture is quite funny in a brutal way. Hallowfall is gorgeous, and for me personifies yin/yang. It’s really a work of art.

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Can you catch a sunbeam and put it in your pocket? No! Such is Mango!

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jonathan frakes asks you questions