Warlords of Draenor (Pre-Expansion Thread)

[daviddoran]

New world pvp zone? will follow work? or is it the begging of the end for /follow in the open world? It SOUNDS like maybe some multiboxing PvP dream zone!! what ya'll think?

This is the part that has me the most excited. It seems like it's a mix of world pvp, bgs, and wintergrasp all at once.

I will definitely consider resubscribing a month or two prior to the expansion, so I can get reacquainted with my characters, and relearn how to play. They always release a patch just prior to the expansion, which has all of the expansion's changes, minus the new zone or levels, so that would definitely be the time to resub. It will definitely be interesting to come back after over a year off, so much has already changed, let alone a new expansion.

[ebony]

Omfg i just read this and was like oh yea... Heirlooms are now truly cross-realm and account-bound. All characters on the account (new and old) will be able to summon the heirlooms that have been unlocked straight into their inventories!

at email level as well.

[Lyonheart]

i just noticed this. what a clever way for them to make more money 8) >>

• You can technically buy as many level 90s as you want if you buy another copy of the game, get the level 90, and then transfer the character to your main account each time. The team has talked about putting a level 90 purchase option in the store, but it hasn't been decided yet.

[MiRai]

i just noticed this. what a clever way for them to make more money 8) >>

• You can technically buy as many level 90s as you want if you buy another copy of the game, get the level 90, and then transfer the character to your main account each time. The team has talked about putting a level 90 purchase option in the store, but it hasn't been decided yet.

I don't know if I would necessarily call it "clever" because how do you expect them to prevent it from happening?

Battlechest $20
MoP $20 (Assuming after WoD goes live)
WoD $40 (?)
Transfer Fee $25

Now, if someone wants to pay $105 per level 90 then, by all means, I say go for it. If a 5-boxer wants a new team of level 90s after their RaF has run out and they've already purchased WoD on their main set of accounts, then that's going to total $525 -- No, thank you. Best case scenario is if you caught everything on sale (which they're coming up) and then the model would be something like this:

Battlechest $5
MoP $10 (Assuming after WoD goes live)
WoD $30 (?)
Transfer Fee $25

And even that is $70 per level 90 character (or $350 per 5-box team). If Blizzard ever offered free high-level characters through their in-game store (which I'm assuming they eventually will), they're going to be much cheaper than $105/$70.

Honestly, I'd rather drop $20 (at most) on a few Battlechests, RaF myself to 85 in less than a week, and then finish out the last 5 levels in a few more casual days of questing... all while saving $80 per account.

[Starbuck_Jones]

I haven't dug much into the news about the expansion, but is this just some big Caverns of Time expansion? I really wanted another Burning Crusade type expansion and a revamp of Outlands to bring it up to current lore. Instead we get to travel back to pre-apocalypse Draenor and and dick around with dead people?

Lets go after Sargeras and the Burning Legion. Lets go find the hero's from Warcraft 2 who went after them like Alleria and Turaylon.

[daanji]

i just noticed this. what a clever way for them to make more money 8) >>

• You can technically buy as many level 90s as you want if you buy another copy of the game, get the level 90, and then transfer the character to your main account each time. The team has talked about putting a level 90 purchase option in the store, but it hasn't been decided yet.

That is exactly how I interpreted it. With WoW subs hurting and continuing to drop, what better way to inflate your numbers than by allowing round-a-bout purchase Level 90 option?

A direct purchase makes a lot of sense from a consumer standpoint of course due to convenience and cost. But from a business perspective, this bumps WoD expansion sales numbers, increases total cost ($40 expansion + $25 transfer), and they can still claim they are not allowing "Pay-to-Play" .


However, if they go with a direct purchase Level 90 option that was reasonable, say $20 or less. I may just come back...

[daanji]

I haven't dug much into the news about the expansion, but is this just some big Caverns of Time expansion? I really wanted another Burning Crusade type expansion and a revamp of Outlands to bring it up to current lore. Instead we get to travel back to pre-apocalypse Draenor and and dick around with dead people?

Lets go after Sargeras and the Burning Legion. Lets go find the hero's from Warcraft 2 who went after them like Alleria and Turaylon.

Yes, no, well maybe?

Basically what I got from all the Blizzcon info is "IS NOT A TRAVEL BACK IN TIME" expansion. They have reiterated that point several times.

• This isn't a time travel expansion, time travel is just a tool to explain the ongoing story. It isn't being used to massively change the current timeline. The past is fine!

Yet they still use phrases like
---------------------------------------------------

• The Horde will have a chance to go back and redefine itself, and come away from the end of Mists of Pandaria even stronger.

The lore of this time doesn't
The current timeline is already somewhat of a mess, so the team may just move access to the current Outland to the Caverns of Time...
When Garrosh goes back, he spins off his own timeline...

• Garrosh is creating the Iron Horde, but he only sets things in motion, he isn't the main bad guy. He is trying to open a portal to the current time to come back for his revenge.

How is this time travel going to work with the story?
We aren't going back in time, the Dark Portal is turning red, bad guys are coming through. We look at the Orc Clans as they were, but things are happening now. The end of this expansion will launch the next one.

Did Outland happen or was it changed by going back in time?
Outland is still out there.

Will we have two of characters due to the time travel?
No, this isn't a time travel or paradox story, it is about going to Draenor.

The timeline is during Rise of the Horde?
Garrosh goes back a few years before they drink the blood. So it is during Rise of the Horde before critical events take place.

---------------------------------------------------
Someone has a hard-on for Draenor and they wanted to do an expansion that focused on as-it-was and then inserted some weird logic to justify it story-wise.
Basically the new Draenor is just a parallel Universe that is mostly the same, but not entirely.

I understand the desire or need to do retconns now and then, but an entire planet? Geez.

[MiRai]

That is exactly how I interpreted it. With WoW subs hurting and continuing to drop, what better way to inflate your numbers than by allowing round-a-bout purchase Level 90 option?

Here's the definition of a subscriber from one of their press releases:

World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.

So, if you're not currently within your free month of the game or have an active subscription, then you aren't counted as a subscriber.

However, if they go with a direct purchase Level 90 option that was reasonable, say $20 or less. I may just come back...

Vanity items and mounts are $20 or more. I doubt Blizzard is going to sell free level 90s for that much because they'd have an incredibly high demand. I was thinking more like $35-$40 per level 90, but we'll see.

[Bigfish]

I'm not sure what they will charge for a 90, but chances are it will be a HUGE money generator. People have payed for this service in the past. At least Blizzard doing it puts it in a controlled environment. But then, it never made sense to me that Blood Elves/Draenei didn't exit their area at 58, Death Knight didn't finish their area at 68, and that Worgen/Goblins didn't have the option to exit their area at whatever level you needed to be to do Cataclysm. The same goes for Pandaria. Last time I quit so many months ago was because I got burned out on the trek to 85 and Mists leveling wasn't THAT enthralling. Blizz wasn't their subscribers back, and they aren't going to get them by making them grind through the expansions that made them quit in the first place.

I think people are confusing the Time Travel aspect of the expansion as well. The story isn't going to be about going back and killing your own Grandpa, or Thrall accidentally breaking up Durotan and Draka and having to get them back together on prom night and then take his delorean home. It's like JJ Abrams' Star Trek. It involved time travel, but it wasn't a time travel story. In this case, the player is Old Spock. We know how things went down in our timeline, and this new one has some weird stuff going on in it, but changing events doesn't change our past.

Personally, I'm betting on them setting up the next expansion as covering the First War, either as a complete reboot with a new engine, or a further item/level crunch. That or they're setting up Warcraft 4.

[daviddoran]

Somehow I don't think they will charge directly for a level 90, as that is too obvious, and for sure it will make news headlines and will receive a LOT of backlash. I mean just after the trailer was ran, people were already whining about everyone getting free 90s, when they had to earn it. I think blizzard will be fine with people using a workaround "loophole" to get multiple 90s by buying copies of the game. I'd bet that after WoD is released, that MoP will be bundled in with the battlechest, so it will only cost $60 for the game, then $25 to transfer, which is high enough for it not to be free, but not too high that people that have more money than time will gladly use to get some alts.