Gamers on the Street: Some thoughts on the Expansion

In Gamers on the Street, Krystalle Voecks will be creating characters and joining different US servers in an attempt to find out what the everyday Gamer thinks about different things going on in and around the World of Warcraft. With research in hand, she'll report back here, to share the word from the front lines.

After a week off to plan the Stampede on Stormwind event and deal with that Real Life thing that likes to sneak up on me between raiding and writing, Gamers on the Street has returned for another weekly chat with the denizens of Azeroth! Poised and ready to ask the nowhere nearly hard questions that many other people spend all their time on the forums thinking up. This week's run took me to the Bronzebeard server where I actually was able to find people on both sides of the fence who were willing to share their opinions about the news from Blizzcon about the upcoming expansion, and some of the buzz that has been going on ever since.

For this week's interviews with a couple of very cool WoW players, join me after the jump for the word from the Gamers on the Street.

For the Alliance side of the house, this week we spoke to the lovely Night Elf Druid Mezzaluna from the guild <Balance>. She let me know that one of the things that she really loves is when she gets to gaming with people, letting them know that she's a grandmother! She said she loves breaking down the gaming barriers -- especially when she lets them know she has three other 70s under her belt! When she's not running around on Mezzaluna, or having fun with her new guild (she recently joined them to take a break from "hardcore" raiding burnout) she loves to spend time helping other players out -- no matter if they're Horde or Alliance.

WoW Insider: So, with the news about hero classes, what do you think? Should they add more, or do you think Death Knight is going to be enough for now?

Mezzaluna: Well, I was hoping that the initial release would include multiple hero classes, so that we'd see more... But if the mechanics need to be debugged a bit in play, maybe [having only] one is a good idea.

WI: How about the new dances and hairstyles? Are you looking forward to changing your look, or do you think those are kind of silly additions to the new expansion?

M: Actually, I don't care much about dancing, but Ive always thought that more customization to your character would be great. I'm a good example! My blue rinse hair does not go well with this set of robes. Dances are fun for about 2 minutes, but after that...meh. I hope they didn't spend a lot of man-hours on dances.

WI: I'm with you on customization, I've been after armor dyes myself. If you had the option to add any one thing into the new expansion, what's the one thing you really hope to see?

M: More character slots per realm. I'd also like to see a second hearthstone -- one for Azeroth and one for Outlands; with faster cool-downs. And a pet peeve I'd like fixed would be: make the NPC's on PVE servers non- flaggable for PVP.

WI: Those are all great ideas. Finally, if they do a Collector's Edition for WotLK, what kind of Limited Edition pet do you think you'd like to see?

M: LOL! Let's see..... a penguin! Northrend is very icy, I hear. I think a Penguin would be terrific. I just like the idea of a little waddling penguin, maybe with a little "Happy Feet" tribute in there.

Later, I managed to get a few minutes of time with Frostkip, level 70 Undead Mage from the guild <Legacy>. Much like Mezzaluna, Frostkip also recently joined his guild. However, in his case, Frostkip admitted that outside of raiding, he spends most of the rest of his time gaming with 10 of his his close friends from Boise, Idaho who call themselves the Comrades of Awesomeness! Frostkip let me know that he and his friends had a guild together for a while, but they branched off to seek raid progression once they got to endgame. (There seems to be quite a lot of progression jumping going on as of late!)

WoW Insider: So, with the news about the Death Knights and hero classes, what do you think? Should Blizzard add more in, or do you think sticking with one is enough for now?

Frostkip: They should put in others. Considering it will be the newest, coolest thing, everyone will have a Death Knight. it will be like how Silvermoon City was filled with Paladins the day Burning Crusade was released.

WI: How about the new dances and hairstyles? Are you looking forward to changing your look, or do you think those are kind of silly additions to the new expansion?

F: They will be a very nice addition to the game. The hairstyles thing will add dynamics to your play and Blizzard just does a good job with their dances.

WI: I can definitely relate -- I'd like to see more character customization myself! If Blizzard let you design one thing for the new expansion... What would be the one thing you'd really want to see in it?

F: That's a hard one. Allow big cities to be raided easier. Make actual goals and quests for 40 man raids to attack the opposing faction's cities. This game pioneered the concept of open PvP. [They should] continue to build on [their] brain child.

WI: And finally, if they do a Collector's Edition for WotLK, what kind of Limited Edition pet do you think you'd like to see Blizzard add in?

F: Well since they've already made the Yeti, how about a mini fake siege weapon to go along with the new siege content?

WI: That's an interesting idea! I'd be curious to see a little catapult, but since there is a baby bomb pet from Engineering, why not?

F: Very true.

So with the buzz going on about different aspects of the upcoming expansion, what do you think? Should they open it up to other Hero Classes, or keep it to one until they work the bugs out? (Especially considering there wasn't even a playable Death Knight demo at Blizzcon, and Blizzard undoubtedly has a lot of work ahead of them...) Do hairstyles and dances make the character, or would you rather see other options for customization? Will Happy Feet rule the day or a wee little trebuchet? We'll have to wait and see, but it's always fun to daydream.

And remember, if you've got a Level 70, 15 minutes, and don't mind sharing your opinions, let me know you're willing to be interviewed for an upcoming edition of Gamers on the Street! Just drop me a line with your character name, server, if you're Horde or Alliance, and a good time to catch you online at gamersonthestreet@gmail.com! You never know, you could be the next person getting /whispered by me for an interview.