They also need to put activity in areas that are not "phased in". I should not be able to fly ahead in a zone, and see no npcs or enemies. Then when I return after completing a quest, the whole thing is populated. Sometimes this fits, but most of the time, it does not.

 

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I think they over did it a little but overall it's still better than just more of what they had.

 

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The way you describe the DK starter zone Auenwing, is exactly how I feel. I love it because it's so well done, an it tells a great story. However I never dreamed that this would be the standard. And I'm not sure what to think about it.
One of the things I always loved about WoW, was that Azeroth felt like a real world. I could go anywhere i wanted, and do anything I wanted. (Ok not really, if I'm lvl 5. But I know that things are where they are, if you know what I mean). Too much phasing, to me it takes a little bit away from that.
But I also agree that it's cool and that the questing is lots of fun.
I'm torn. It is a very good point that you bring up. Right now my fear of phasing is greater than my liking of it. But as you say, one should wait a while and try it out some more. I hope I will learn to like it. Maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it. I hope so.

While I enjoyed the DK staring quests, they served a purpose...

That purpose was to gear your character, and give you your talent points appropriate for your level, rather than just turn you loose scott free with a "noob" level 58 ish toon.

 

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For those who don't like this, and I like it, you won't like SW:TOR either...

 

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I agree with your comments on balance and definitely this.


It feels... inconsistent. I think either you should see the zone with mobs or have it be "obscurred" somehow. I don't know. It breaks immersion. Yes, I used the "immersion" word.

 

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"Directed gameplay" is the worst thing to ever happen to mmorpgs. It's the sort of thing that is thought up by someone who doesn't actually LIKE the first m in mmorpg.

Eventually someone will remember that the real potential in mmorpgs is the ability of the players (plural, and intentionally so) to make their own story. In the meantime we are stuck with a half assed singleplayer/non massive multiplayer experience utterly dependent on the carrot (waffle? haha!) addiction strategy to hold its players.





I suspect this is 100% correct.

 

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Yes I was in the beta.Â


The quests are far better than they have ever been. They draw the player in more, they are more fun, they have more story arch purpose, etc, etc.


Linearity is a draw back to the design method Blizzard has taken, however the next evolutionary step in this is to add CHOICE.


I would like to see them offer branching quest lines in the future where you can select alternate paths or even alternate conclusions. So say they ask you to save some person, well you would be able to say "screw that" and then there would be some consequences later on for that action. Games like Oblivion/Fallout do this and it works reasonably well, and I would like to see it in WoW in the future.


However overall, I am very happy with the quest style they have added.


Now instead of running around to random quest hubs that have aboslutly no purpose, I can at least do it for some overall story arch purpose.Â


Syrus complains "I dont know if I will like it after 4 or 5 alts". Ask him if he liked the old world stuff after 4 or 5 alts any better, chances are he liked it even less. I know I did.

 

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Mithan, thanks for responding. I understand your viewpoint and agree that "CHOICE" feels like the thing that's needed.


Having a dynamic quest line that affects you later by the choices made earlier would be wonderful from a story-telling/RPG character growth perspective. And somehow I can't see Blizzard adding that without issues. They seem to be focused on end-game. You never know though. If it's successful in other games, we could see it incorporated.

 

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Little bit of a misquote there Mithan.

Anyway I didn't mean to make it seem like I was unhappy with the current system. I actually said in another post that I like how it feels like you are actually progressing a story line and not just doing random chores for people.

It would be cool as you say if it was a little bit more like a choose your own adventure novel, and I think that Blizzard is laying the ground work for something like that in the future if they desire.

 

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