expansions
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Adding to the Azeroth map
Currently our map of Azeroth has two continents, but anyone who's played the original RTS games knows more is out there. Blizzplanet has some interesting information that leads me to hazard a guess that we may be seeing more added to the cartography of Azeroth in the future. They start with the information, lore and such that were added to the World of Warcraft RPG: Lands of Mystery tabletop rulebook. Should you own a copy (I, alas, do not) you will find it contains new info on Northrend and the South Seas. The maps that we saw on the WoW Collector's Edition behind the scenes DVD of Azeroth show that they have been planning such an expansion since 2004. On the map, it shows Northrend at the top of the world, with the Maelstrom and Nazajatar in the middle and the Isle of Kezen/Undermine at the bottom.
Rob Pardo talks content with Businessweek
Recently Blizzard's Rob Pardo sat down with Businessweek. He mostly talked about the future of the game, the success of The Burning Crusade, and the creative process. Since reading his interview, I have spent a lot of time mulling over what he said. The first thing that stuck out in my mind was his likening the MMO to a television series. "We're developing episodes just like Lost or Seinfeld," he commented, "We're always trying to come up with something that's true to the theory; that's true to the content that people love; but that is new." I never had the chance to look at the development cycle like this. In some ways it explains the company's drive to constantly bring us new content rather than connecting old dots (Uldum anyone?). The designers are looking forward, and as they mentioned at Blizzcon in 2005, more portals will be opening, new worlds for us to explore. And we as gamers are ravenous for this new content. Our expectations are high, and the company is there to try and satiate our ever growing appetite. What this also means is that there is a story arch with which they are working. I know Lost is working on a seven-year story arch. Does this mean that we can expect a grander plotline connecting the expansions together? I for one am eager to find out. I haven't really thought about the game in these terms. My previous experience with MMOs (*cough* Anarchy Online *cough*) has taught me that games are fairly linear. Yes, there might be a new world connected to the old one, but the story pretty much stays the same. Since playing World of Warcraft I have had to reinvent my view of the MMO, and now I, too am one of those ravenous players dying for new stories and new characters to love or hate. This interview has made me wonder where we are going with the next expansions. So I'd love to hear what you think. Beyond the proposed Northrend and Emerald Dream expansions, where would you like to go as the World of Warcraft universe expands into new worlds?
An expansion a year? Blizzard says "we'll try."
On the forums, poster Alorn asks when we're going to see a preview of the next expansion -- since, after all, Blizzard has told us that they're planning on having yearly expansions. Next January is only 10 months away, and we had previews of the Burning Crusade well in advance of 10 months to release. To this question Nethaera replies that Blizzard has not claimed they'll be producing yearly expansions -- but instead that they "wanted to try" to release an expansion a year. This sounds a bit different from what Blizzard COO Paul Sams told GamesIndusrtry.biz back in August, when he said: Starting with The Burning Crusade, every year thereafter we plan on bringing out a new expansion set - so every 12 months.Though I suppose "we plan" is different from "we will," and we can go back to Blizzard's usual "when it's ready" release date strategy.
Breakfast Topic: Off to the races
I doubt that, since the latest expansion featured two new races, we'll see any more playable races in Azeroth for a while-- more likely would be simply new content, a new class, or (most likely) the hero classes we've heard so much about.But sleepyfoxy on Livejournal says that if she could play as one race, it would be the sporelings, the little mushroomy guys that populate Sporeggar in Zangarmarsh. Personally, ever since I ran Mana Tombs for the first time, I think it would be awesome to play as an ethereal, the mana mummy-looking guys that make up the Consortium (I even like their Arabesque smuggler lore background). And though we still haven't seen them in the game, I thought for sure that Pandaren would appear at least as a mention (maybe among the Lower City refugees) in the expansion.So today's question is: what race will you never play as that you wish you could?
Forum Post of the Day: Name an item...
Can you name an item you have now that you're planning on keeping at level 70? Of course there are the obvious trinket toys (there are multiple mentions of WoW Insider favorite Dartol's Rod of Transformation), non-combat pets, and fancy clothes -- but think about it, is there any actual gear you plan on holding on to by the time you hit 70? For my part, I imagine my priest will be holding on to the Blue Dragon Darkmoon Faire card, as it has a unique effect that I doubt I'll see duplicated elsewhere. But for ordinary gear -- even epic gear that's taken hour upon hour upon hour of learning encounters and attending raids -- it may smooth the trip to 70 a bit, but I don't see any of it being irreplaceable.
Are you raiding?
Over the past few months, it seems as though all of the big raiding guilds -- both Alliance and Horde -- have disbanded on my server. For my part, I've watched each drama-filled guildsplosion while nodding to myself, thinking this to be an obvious result of the coming Burning Crusade expansion. By next month we'll all be jumping into playing Draenei or Blood Elves, or leveling our mains to 70. And would you rather spend four hours a night, as Zubon of Kill Ten Rats puts it, for a tiny chance at rolling on a desired item -- or would you rather just wait a few more weeks and pick up similar-quality gear as quest rewards and new instance drops?I know I stand firmly in the latter camp. The closer we've gotten to the expansion's release, the less I've bothered with my main. Why push forward into raid dungeons when I'll be replacing most of my gear in the leveling spree to come? So when I play, I play alts -- getting a new class to 60 just seems more useful than the slight chance of a minuscule improvement for my priest main seems right now. But what about you? Are you out there pushing through raid content? And if so, I must say I'm curious -- why?
WoW Moviewatch: Singing Sylvanas
I wouldn't have expected it either, but apparently a quest in the Ghostlands leads to this interesting scene involving Sylvanas. When you turn in the quest, you receive the following text, and the above drama begins:Lady Sylvanas Windrunner looks down at the discarded necklace. In her sadness, the lady incants a glamour, which beckons forth Highborne spirits. The chamber resonates with their ancient song about the Sin'dorei...
Breakfast Topic: What will you be playing in the expansion?
We're getting closer and closer to the expansion's release date, and if you're anything like me, you're making plans! As a long-time Horde aligned healbot, I'm excited about the addition of paladins to the Horde, and will be making one of the hundreds of newbie Horde paladins -- and possibly making it my new main character. And with the countless changes to classes across the board, I can't be the only one planning on having a different main in the Burning Crusade than I do now. So, what do you think you'll be playing in the expansion?
Around Azeroth: The crypts of Karazhan
Reader Matt sends in this, one of the creepiest shots of Azeroth I've seen. (And beyond "creepy" I can't come up with any good words to describe it.) It is the interior of the crypts of Karazhan, dungeon to be opened with the Burning Crusade. Not officially opened, but some people will always find ways...Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.
Hey! Update your info!
I know, when you log on to the game those first messages tend to fly by so fast that you might not notice them at all. But these yellow text messages tend to be important... unlike the nonsense that's likely to come after. Yellow text informs us of emergency reboots and these login messages usually informative of things so important that everyone needs to see them. But this one? It tells us to make sure our contact information is up to date -- you know, in case they need to contact us. Now, I know I'm getting dangerously close to the realm of conspiracy theory, but why would Blizzard need to contact us? And why would anything be important enough to make an in-game alert to advise us to update our contact information? The obvious answer to me is beta invites -- though I may just have Burning Crusade on the brain. It would not at all surprise me, however, to see the beta opened up to a larger and larger pool of players as the expansion release nears, giving Blizzard a heavier stress test of the Outlands zones. Of course, this may not actually be a sign of that. Maybe Blizzard just thinks it's really important to update your account information.
More jewelcrafting rumors
Because just one set of rumored items just isn't enough, today I bring you even more possibly real, possibly fake, jewelcrafting items. Noggyh on the World of Raids forums has posted a list of some very interesting new trinkets, necklaces, and rings. And, wow, some of these things look awfully nice. (Which probably just means they'll take ten of each of the rarest jewels to craft, I assume.) Chance on spell hit to restore 128-173 mana to the bearer? Looks like I'm going to be adding several new trinkets to my collection...
Wait No Longer: Official Talent Information!
It's not so long since I put up a post about more Burning Crusade rumors - but now there's no more waiting to determine what's fake and what's not (unless you were waiting for druid, hunter, or priest news). Blizzard has announced the official talent and spell changes for six classes! (Though they do not that the information shown is not final and still subject to change.) The new information comes complete with talent calculator, so you can go right ahead and plot your new build. These changes confirm some things we've seen rumored, and deny others. And all in all, these changes only make me more curious about what Blizzard has planned for the three classes they've not yet done announcements for.
More Potential Burning Crusade Data
We've got yet more leaked data about the Burning Crusade! And perhaps I'm just being naive, but I'm tempted to believe there's at least some truth in all of these rumors. The Caverns of Time site has information on the druid, mage, paladin, rogue, shaman, warlock, and warrior talent trees as well as a large collection of interesting screenshots (including the Draenei mount). (Though, of course, the class about which I am most curious - the priest - is still conspicuously absent!) At any rate, check it out for yourself and tell us what you think.[Thanks, Nelson]
Blizzard planning new WoW expansions every year
Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, everyone's favorite frigidly named developer has revealed an intention to release more World of Warcraft expansions on a yearly basis. "Starting with The Burning Crusade, every year thereafter we plan on bringing out a new expansion set - so every 12 months," says Blizzard COO, Paul Sams. More expansion packs to a game that's more or less played by everyone ever? Not surprising. A commitment to yearly releases from a developer whose release dates are often born on top of a rain soaked hill? That's a little more interesting. Still, it seems Blizzard is dedicated to achieving annual releases. Earlier this month, Jeff Kaplan (WoW's lead designer) told Joystiq that Blizzard's plan for expansions are "a little bit more ambitious than one every two years. We have to weigh that against the quality of the product and how much content we want to put into it. We won't put something out until the quality level is there. So, our goal though is to provide content quicker than we have been up until now. We've really beefed our team up -- we have about 100 now and when we started we had around 50." It looks like the developer has given WoW fans plenty to look forward to in the coming months and years, though some may interpret this as series of bear traps being laid on the path of escaping a sordid addiction. Mind your step.
