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Breakfast Topic: What expansion feature do you want to see next?
Earlier this week, we learned that work is already underway on the next expansion, which is interesting in and of itself. Naturally that means that things like story and lore are probably already in the process of being fleshed out. But with every expansion there's usually one or more fairly big things -- Heroic Dungeons, the LFG system, LFR, Transmog, Scenarios, Garrisons. You know what I mean, the kinds of features that players use again and again, the stuff that we eventually have for so long that we only vaguely remember what the game was like without it. Remember the original meeting stones? Yeah, I can't exactly say I'm unhappy that they're gone. It's almost kind of magical how Blizzard is still coming up with all these innovative things ten years after the game originally launched. But even with all the additions, there are still some things I'd really like to see. Garrisons are all well and good, but the housing system in Wildstar is still a magical playground of infinite possibilities, the kind of possibilities I'd very much like to see in World of Warcraft. Level 90 boosts are fine, but I still want to see some sort of championing system that will allow you to scale down and join your friends in lower-level dungeons without overpowering said dungeons, or maybe even just go the other direction and have every dungeon in the game just automatically scale to whatever level you happen to be. Level 100 Gnomeregan? Let's do this. What about you guys? What kind of expansion features are you hoping for with future content? Is there a cool thing you've seen in other games that you'd like to see implemented in WoW? Is there a feature already in game that you'd like to see updated or overhauled for current content? If expansion content is already underway, and future expansions are already planned, what do you hope will be the next big thing, and how do you think it could work?
Breakfast Topic: How The New Models Got Me To Play A Nelf Again
This is one of those Breakfast Topics where I really feel like I could point to the headline, then the comment section, and then go eat a delicious whole wheat bagel while y'all had at it. But because that's shockingly selfish and lazy of me, I shall instead relate to you a story. Back in Wrath, I started tanking for my guild again. Because we were doing heroic Anub, I decided to race change to night elf for the Quickness racial, because it made pushing unhittable to tank the adds just that little bit easier. I did this thing. And man, I hated it. Playing as a night elf meant looking goofy as heck. Luckily, we were soon in Icecrown Citadel and our tier set covered up a multitude of flaws, but I was still unhappy with the night elf dude and did not miss it when I switched to draenei for the hit. Flash forward to now. The new night elf guy has his work in progress model. Aside from still burying his face in his shoulder like he's sobbing when he uses a 2h weapon, it's leaps and bounds improved. I like it a lot better. And so, now I'm running around the beta on a nelf. And that's my story. And now, comment time. Have any of the new models got you to try a race you normally never would? Horde side I'm seriously contemplating a troll right about now.
Breakfast Topic: Where to next?
Okay, now that we know that Blizzard is already designing zones for the next expansion, my question becomes this - where is it set? Where are we going? Back to some lost continent on Azeroth? The Emerald Dream? The Dark Below? (I never get tired of that one.) Argus or Xoroth or some other world entirely? The Azeroth that would result if the Horde didn't invade it thirty-five years ago, so we can see all those cool Alliance heroes like Lothar and Turalyon and Alleria? Sanctuary? (Seriously when is the Warcraft/Diablo crossover going to happen already?) Are we going to actually go to Nexus, the setting of Heroes of the Storm? Probably not. But where are we going? Well, of course none of us know. But we can speculate. Where do you think we're going next?
Breakfast Topic: Six expansions?
I mean, I like planning ahead as much as the next guy, but six expansions? I read that and I actually had to sit down and think about what that means. They're already working on zones for the expansion after Warlords. Does that mean we'll get an announcement at BlizzCon? Does that mean we'll see those zones? How long of an expansion will Warlords actually be - will it be a year and then on to the next one? And then the one after that? Will we level up 5, 10, more or less between expansions? That could put us at level 160 and the year 2020, if all six take a year between releases. What would we even be doing at level 160? I can't be the only guy scratching his head at the idea of six expansions being in the conceptual pipeline, can I? It just blows my mind. What're your thoughts, gentle readers?
Breakfast Topic: Who do you want to see in your garrison?
The garrisons that are due to arrive in Warlords of Draenor have a full cast of characters, with plenty of familiar faces among them. (How Dog has made it from your Halfhill farm all the way to Draenor I don't know, but I'm glad he's there.) But as we try to make our garrisons feel like home in the wilds of Draenor, I wonder who should be there but isn't. Will we see pandaren eventually joining us in Draenor? Though the garrison's trade outpost was originally staffed by pandaren, they were replaced by other races in a recent beta patch... but that doesn't mean our garrisons have to be completely panda free. Perhaps Li Li or Lorewalker Cho might make the trek out to Draenor to join our crew of adventurers. And where's Harrison Jones this expansion? Exploring an alternate universe for artifacts seems like it would be just his thing. So tell us, readers: who do you want to see in your garrison?
Breakfast Topic: Will Mythic Raiding bring back raiding prestige?
One of the things I've never cared all that much about is world firsts. To my way of thinking, I don't care when someone else kills a boss. I care when I kill it. But in talking about this topic on twitter this week, I've been presented with the argument that once upon a time, the world first races on various bosses really mattered to some people. They kept track of which guilds got the world first kill, watched the rivalries develop. The argument is that the 10/25 split caused some difficulty, because it was hard to know which kill counted - does guild A killing, say, Heroic Rag on 10 man count more than guild B doing it on 25? I have no idea if that actually diluted the interest in world firsts and kill rivalries or not, but perhaps it did, and if it did, perhaps Mythic with its fixed raid size will once again give us this sense of interest as a community in who kills what first. What do you think?
Breakfast Topic: What does your character think about you?
Unless you're playing on a roleplaying server, chances are you don't really think of the character you play as a person. You haven't made up some kind of back story for their life, you don't really think about how they feel about queuing for yet another battleground or jumping into the Siege of Orgrimmar for more gear, or just running around killing stuff for other people. It's just not something that really occurs to most people -- your character is just a little collection of pixels. And that little collection of pixels has come under close scrutiny lately with all the new model revamps. Players have been watching like hawks to make sure their beloved characters still have the same faces they've always known and loved, and that new expressions and emotions don't look weird. We're all being incredibly judgmental, but for some of us, we've been playing these characters so long that even if we aren't roleplayers, they still feel like old friends. What if we flipped that around, and just for a moment, looked through everything with our character's eyes? What would they think of us, the people that constantly stick them in these situations where it's either fight or die? The people that happily hurl them off of cliffs without any regard for fall damage, or encourage them to go poke something large and dangerous looking just because it's large and dangerous looking? What, hypothetically, would your character have to say about you? After all, they've known you for exactly as long as you've known them.
Breakfast Topic: Have you considered a race change?
With the latest beta build, all of the scheduled new models are currently playable on the beta servers. Although some races are obviously in need of tweaks, by and large they all look pretty solid. But I have to say, it's a little weird going into the character selection screen now and seeing all the old familiar faces and models exchanged with gorgeous updated versions that are on par with the pandaren from Mists. Moving hair, emotive expressions, and in the case of female trolls, even eyelids and blinking -- it all blew me away. And after looking at all the new models, the urge to switch it up and play a different race is admittedly tempting. Orcs, humans and trolls in particular are so far removed from the original models -- yet they still retain that distinctive Warcraft look and feel. I know I have a handful of friends who have decided to switch it up and change what race they're playing when Warlords hits -- not for racial abilities or anything like that, but just because the new models are that impressive. So I'm curious what you guys think -- are any of you considering a race change? Do you like the new models well enough to switch from one race to another? Have you ever used the race change service before? Was it to take advantage of racial perks, a faction change, or some other reason entirely?
Breakfast Topic: Novus Alfar Noctem
Above you is a night elf male, on the beta. As you can see, in Tier 10 it's pretty hard to really tell the difference, but it's pretty profound if you get a chance to look at the model when it's more stationary. Understanding that this is still a work in progress, it's a pretty amazing leap forward and I'm definitely interested in playing a night elf warrior in Warlords now. Also debuting last night were the human male, tauren female, and both male and female trolls. If you got a chance to play any of them, what did you think? And if you're not in the beta or just didn't get a chance to play, which of the new models are you most interested in getting to see?
Breakfast Topic: How Many Dungeons? All.
I raided back in Cataclysm. But for me, the most fun was five player dungeons. I've always preferred the five player dungeon to any other form of content - I like them more than scenarios, more than raids, more than PvP. There's just something so perfect about the five player experience. Sure, it's not always good - I have had plenty of bad PuG's in my time - but to me the dungeon is like pizza. Even when it's bad, I'll eat it. Actually, that might go for most kinds of food. Hmm. I may have a problem. Anyway, reading Zarhym's forum posts today (as I do) one of the things that really grabbed my attention was that the folks at Blizzard are aware that we wanted more five mans and didn't get them for Mists. This is a good thing, this awareness, but only if it translates to a renewed focus on incoming five man content. Especially with Challenge Modes so much a part of the game today, more five mans means more Challenge Modes to do. I didn't like any of the Challenge Mode rewards in Mists, but the ones coming in Warlords interest me greatly, and I'm looking forward to them. So here we are, me praising dungeons. Five player ones. How do you feel about the humble five person experience? Yay or nay?
Breakfast Topic: Forums vs. Social Media
Recently, Celestalon has been hitting the forums to talk about various classes and specs, from arms and fury warriors to discipline priests and death knights and elemental shamans. What's interesting to me about this is how it illustrates the strengths of forum posts over social media like twitter, and also, how much work it can be to make detailed forum posts like these. @MatthewWRossi I wish I had the time to do this type of thing more often, and for more specs. It's way more time consuming than you'd think. - Celestalon (@Celestalon) August 19, 2014 What social media does very well is provide an instant dialogue between developers and the player base. What it is pretty bad at is allowing for in depth responses. I find the idea of getting back to the forums for feedback like this something I want to encourage. I don't want Blizzard or other game companies and their developers to abandon twitter - far from it - but as time consuming as doing forum responses like these can be, it's an ultimate good in my opinion to get more detailed information out in front of the players. But since this is a Breakfast Topic, let's find out what you think about this. Which do you prefer? What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of each method of communication between game designers and players?
Breakfast Topic: What would you change about Warcraft's past?
We know that Warlords of Draenor takes place in an alternate version of the game world we know. And, as the trailer showed, in this world, Grommash doesn't drink the demon blood that enslaved the orcs to the Burning Legion... though it apparently doesn't stop them from being conquerors. But now that the door to crazy alternate Warcraft universes has been open, let's make use of it! Looking back on the history of Warcraft, what would you go back and change if you could? In my case, I think I'd go back to that Nagrand quest chain where we helped convince Garrosh that he was leadership material. Why did we ever do that?! (Answer: to get the quest achievement. But it wasn't worth it!)
Breakfast Topic: Do you want the Alliance and Horde to work together again?
I've never really been into the Alliance vs. Horde thing. I've played -- and have friends that play -- on both sides of the fence and I have fond memories of time as both Alliance and Horde. So why do the Alliance and Horde never seem to get along? As the game's storyline has pushed the Horde into the role of defacto villains, with Garrosh leading the charge to bomb Theramore, attack Ashenvale, and destroy the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, the rivalry's made a lot sense ... but it's also made me a lot less interested in playing Horde characters. (And I say this as someone who once had a blood elf main. Sure, blood elves weren't always good guys, but even my naaru-enslaving blood elf paladin had to look at Garrosh and say, "Hey, man, that's a step too far.") But the expansions I've enjoyed the most have always been the ones where the Alliance and the Horde have faced a common enemy, pushing them together as at least impromptu allies. Even if we didn't always like each other, none of us liked Illidan or Arthas. The Garrosh-caused conflict in Mists always felt forced, like my character was being pushed in a direction I didn't approve of (having anything to do with Garrosh) without leaving me any options to decide what I wanted to do... it was go along with everything Garrosh wanted, or play Alliance. (Spoiler alert: these days, I play Alliance.) So I'm actually kind of excited about Warlords of Draenor, since it looks like the entire game once again has a common enemy... even if it is still (sort of) Garrosh. So what about you, readers? Do you want more war in your Warcraft? Or do you prefer it when we all work together? Do you think the factions will have to band together to defeat the Iron Horde?
Breakfast Topic: What did you think of Lords of War?
Along with Thursday's cinematic reveal, we got the first episode of Lords of War, a new animated series from the same crew that brought us The Burdens of Shaohao. I have to admit that the reason I was excited about this expansion wasn't just the potential for draenei lore -- which I'm completely in love with on the beta so far -- but the addition of backgrounds and history for all the assorted orc clans found throughout Warcraft. These clans have always had evocative names, but little depth in terms of how they got those names, or how long they'd been around. The teaser trailer only got me more excited, because we're finally going to get some background on orc clans we knew very little about. Durotan was covered pretty well in Rise of the Horde, but this is a different Draenor we're visiting, and his story may be a little different as well. However, we know next to nothing about Grommash and Kilrogg -- both were briefly mentioned in Rise of the Horde, but how they rose to power was never really addressed. It's new lore, and I always appreciate that. What did you guys think of Lords of War? Are you looking forward to the remaining episodes? Were you hoping to see more of the storytelling methods used in The Burdens of Shaohao? What kinds of stories do you think Blizzard should animate and tell next? What areas of lore do you want to see fleshed out?
Breakfast Topic: Do you miss vanilla?
With the 10th anniversary events announced, it's clear that Blizzard is trying to take us -- in a way -- back to the days of vanilla WoW, with PvP battles between Tarren Mill and Southshore and an updated 40-player Molten Core raid. But as a vanilla-era player myself, I have to ask: does anyone really miss those days? While 40-player raids sound epic in scale, the effort coordinating 40 players to be at the same place at the same time -- much less getting them to act as a cohesive unit -- was a fairly major undertaking. And though the new Molten Core takes away some of the headaches by making the event LFR, getting even 25 people to work together in LFR is a challenge. Will I be in the new anniversary version of Molten Core with everyone else? Sure. (After all, I want a Core Hound mount as much as anyone.) But have I missed running Molten Core all these years? Not really. What about you, fellow raiders? Are you feeling nostalgic for the good old days of vanilla?
Breakfast Topic: The Best Quest Ever
Its Welcome to the Machine. We all know that it is. But I know that some people haven't done it - I myself dislike the Forsaken and so I resisted doing the quests in Hillsbrad for a long time. But eventually I succumbed and what so many told me was true - this quest is the best quest in World of Warcraft. But since I understand that not everyone is going to agree, and because I'm always interested in what other players think, let me put the question to you - what do you think is the best quest in World of Warcraft, if for some reason you don't think it's Welcome to the Machine (which it totally is)? I'm also fond of Fiona and the paladin pals from Cataclysm and the overall Klaxxi experience in Mists of Pandaria, if we need runners' up. Vanilla Darrowshire and Order Must Be Restored would be my favorite classic quests. So now it's up to you - share your favorite quests, the best quest in the world (funny thing is that quest isn't actually anything like this quest, this is just a tribute).
Breakfast Topic: Your ideal Warcraft reality show
Azeroth Choppers may have come and gone, but that doesn't mean the reality show of your WoW-playing dreams isn't a possibility. It may not be likely, but that's no reason not to speculate on what the next generation of Azeroth Choppers might be. (After all, who thought we would have even one Warcraft-based reality show?) I'm thinking a Big Brother style show featuring WoW NPCs (preferably including faction leaders) could be a big hit, and though that's not entirely reality the same sort of take could be fun with WoW developers. Or maybe we could get something along the lines of The Bachelor that matched up players with guilds. But it's your turn to jump in on the brainstorming, readers. Tell us, just what kind of Warcraft-based reality show would you like to see next?
Breakfast Topic: What's your dream expansion?
Thursday's the day we find out when Warlords of Draenor is coming out. Naturally, that means I've already moved on to thinking about the next expansion, because I'm like that. I'd like to get to go to places we haven't seen or heard much about yet - I've always wanted to check out places like Argus and Xoroth. Failing that, that South Seas expansion people keep talking about would work. An Emerald Dream expansion could also work, since it would be like going back to pre-Sundering Kalimdor, but it would be so heavily druid-based that it would make it hard for anyone else to care about it if they weren't careful. So what about you? What's your dream expansion?
Breakfast Topic: How much do you explore?
One of my favorite parts of playing on a beta is the exploration aspect of it all -- combing the world for hidden hideaways, cool places of particular visual interest, and of course, the bugged areas. Holes in the world aren't really a thing to be feared on the beta, they're a thing to be noted and submitted so that wayward travelers on live servers don't inadvertently fall under the map and die a horrible death in a sea of nowhere. But sometimes these areas do make it to live servers, which is why I don't just explore on the beta, I explore everywhere. It's one of those things I've loved since vanilla. My first character was a druid, and I remember after finishing the agonizingly long chain to obtain aquatic form, I decided to put a hold on questing and instead swim around the entirety of Kalimdor, from Darkshore to Silithus and back around. I died a lot. But the journey was incredibly fun, and I got to see areas I never would have encountered in the normal span of questing, and familiarize myself with just how big the world actually was. It's something I do every expansion -- swim, climb, crawl, jump, and poke around every nook and cranny of the map until I'm satisfied I've seen absolutely everything there is to see. After all, someone out there at Blizzard went to all the trouble of building these far-flung areas and caverns. Of course I'm going to give them a look. But what about you guys? Do you spend any time in the game just running around and exploring the world? Have you ever had a strange trip under the map? What was the coolest hidden away area you've ever seen? How much do you explore?
Breakfast Topic: Have you ever attended a server-wide event?
For several years now, I've played the game on a variety of roleplaying servers -- mostly because I like the roleplay, but also because the atmosphere in general is pretty cool. This week I got to attend a couple nights of a week-long server-wide event that had participants from several different servers, thanks to CRZ, called the Tournament of Ages. While I didn't sign up to participate in anything, several members of the guild I'm in decided to, so I showed up to cheer them on and see what the event was all about. It was honestly pretty amazing. The last RP server I was on didn't exactly have a gigantic population to begin with, not to mention roleplaying community, so being on a server with a roleplaying event this large-scale was kind of mind-blowing. We're talking hundreds of people milling around both roleplaying and participating in dueling tournaments, contests, jousting -- just tons of people, tons of activity, and a chat screen that would not stop frantically scrolling from all of the chatter going on in every direction. Plenty of servers do these kinds of large-scale events for a variety of different reasons -- holiday celebrations, PvP tournaments, mass raids on major cities. It's not something that's restricted solely to roleplaying servers at all. So I'm wondering -- have you ever attended a server-wide event? What kind of event was it, and how many people were around? Did you have fun with it? Was it something you actively participated in, or just observed from the sidelines? Is this the kind of thing you'd like to see on your server someday?
