This topic went 'round the blogosphere a few months back, but I'm revisiting it because the situation on the ground has changed.

I think Mark Jacobs was just playing the marketing game, it was a defensive 'WotLK won't hurt us' much like his recent 'layoffs won't hurt us'. He was just trying to put out fires.

I didn't buy into it. And if it was true, why should Mythic be proud of it?

MMORPGs encompass a variety of activities and gaming urges for the players. So if your game's population is taking time to play another MMO, then you've probably got some gaping holes in your content. In other words, if it was as compelling as it should be, they shouldn't be wandering so easily.

I understand playing other games, that makes sense. MMOs don't cover the same kind of gameplay as say Guitar Hero or Wii Fit. But to jump back and forth between two Diku-derived MMORPGs? These are time and focus consuming: Players invest in their characters.

So it probably wasn't true back in October, but it's becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. I know I clued in that WAR's PvE content lacked a good foundation. And Mythic's emphasis has shifted fully to RvR (PvP) since release. It's become the 'why would you come here for PvE?' game.

On the forums, on the blogs, on the channels in-game-- It's evident that a good deal of players are playing WoW (or EQ2 or LOTRO) for PvE and WAR for PvP. In the blogosphere alone it's getting hard to find WAR players that are solely for WAR, it seems like they've all re-subbed for WotLK. I could make a long list, but more effective is Tome of Knowledge's "A Tale of Two Hunters" comic:

(Note: Not my comic, it just illustrates this so well. Go visit Tome of Knowledge to fully appreciate it.)

The problem for Mythic is whether Blizzard clues in. I suspect it'd be a lot easier for WoW's PvP to get patched into something more compelling, than for Mythic to rework most of WAR's PvE. I'm of the opinion that PvP content is much easier to create, the players do much of the work for you. That's WAR's driving force altogether, in the masses of players.

And here's the bottom line:

I don't think players want to subscribe to multiple MMORPGs. They do it because they want both experiences to be great: PvE and PvP. If one of the games does both well, they wouldn't need the other.

Since it was announced at Blizzcon, player response to Wrath of the Lich King has been mixed. What surprised me most was the large number of players that have balked that the new expansion may be coming too soon.

Too soon?

More content is always needed and Blizzard thus far has been poor at keeping up with the rate players churn through the existing content.

So what's too soon about it? I started asking some in-game friends and it's become clear: They still haven't fully settled into the Endgame of Burning Crusade and it's too soon to start the process of leveling all over again. Even with the expansion coming in a year or more, they're not comfortable with the reset switch it will come with, following Blizzards formula with Burning Crusade.

That "reset switch" sucks

Blizzard is still rebalancing classes for level 70. Arena PvP is just hitting its stride now. Most raiders still haven't killed Vashj, let alone done much in Black Temple. Zul'aman is on the horizon. But meanwhile, there's a lack of small team content and areas to satisfy the explorers among us. Wouldn't it be great if Northrend could be added while Outland is still content at the same level?

Do we really want to level to 80? Do we need that as an excuse to add new gear, new progression, new professions and a new class? Are we really lacking in powers / abilities that we need more of them and additional talents as well? I understand the idea of progression, but we all know we have that with gear. Why couldn't Northrend just have higher quality gear?

Blizz needs a new paradigm

The real problem here is Blizzard's leveling system, how it's designed to work best as solo content. When Burning Crusade was released, it tore apart many guilds and raiding groups as they had to put their teamwork on hold and it went back to everyman for himself for awhile. Some of them pushed to 70 as fast as possible, but this divided friends as others (myself included) took time to explore the Outland quests at the levels they were designed for.

I really think Blizzard should take another look at whether they need to push the level cap up to 80 at all. Is level 80 just a way to force players to buy the expansion to be able to catch up to the new Endgame?

Kudos to Curse Gaming for snagging a good and thorough interview with Jeff Kaplan at the Leipzig Games Convention. It's really pleasing to hear direct and detailed questions compared to the vague drivel from most of the gaming press. The topics ranged from patch 2.3 to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

Regarding the interview itself:

• Blizzard has come to their senses and will basically unlock Deathknights to any current player upgrading with the expansion as long as you've leveled another character (which everyone has). Now if only flying mounts in Northrend could be extended the same kind of reasonable thinking.
• It's encouraging to hear that Dustwallow Marsh will get a makeover to address the level 35-45 grind problem which has plagued the game since day-one. That's been a topic of discussion within my guild and circle of friends whenever any alt gets stalled around level 40. I just hope this is just the start on revitalizing the older continents, but I'm a skeptic and more likely I think they'll call that job complete.

  The leveling grind brings up an important issue, the emphasis of Groups in the Endgame contrasting with Solo leveling to get there. Kaplan indicates they'll be accelerating leveling by converting low-level "elite" group content into "normal" solo material, with the example of the Alterac elite Ogres becoming normal mobs. It fits in with the roadmap WoW is on, but I'm unsatisfied with where that leads, because eventually leveling is going to have to be trivialized or bypassed altogether. There's already a large amount of good content in this game that's been made less meaningful, but that's a hollow complaint because I don't see how they can go back and undo what's already been discarded.

• They might be fun, but I expect Siege weapons to be limited to Battlegrounds because flying mounts would make them pointless in the outside world. I love having my own gryphon, but I think Blizzard is starting to realize the tactical reprocussions of inserting such an advanced form of personal transportation into what is otherwise a medieval world.
• Inscriptions just scare me. I understand why Blizzard would want to create a widespread and super popular profession, they're eager to have features in their expansions that appeal to everyone. But whether it's pure damage or utility, increasing existing abilities IS power creep like Kaplan described, it will feel required to get inscriptions just to keep pace with other players and the mobs that are balanced around them. Again it's too late since Blizzard already took a direction here, professions in WoW are not a sub-game, they're integral skill sets that are expected to be pursued.
• More Heroic badge loot, that's awesome. I'm a bit worried that they may extend the heroic badges into raiding with Zul'aman, I hope that Kaplan discussing them both in the same sentence doesn't indicate such a link. I love that the badge system is an alternative for small group players.

~whew~ So many multiple topics all covered at once.

At Blizzcon, Blizzard has confirmed the next WoW expansion will be Wrath of the Lich King, but I don't see any mention of a release date and very few details overall, which is very disappointing. There's not much to confirm or deny the speculation from the leaked info.

Certainly more details will follow, they sort of have to, there's not much there so far. Even their expansion mini-site is like a short press release. This is less info than I recall from when they announced TBC, which we at least had a ballpark for release. I understand the concept of "done when it's done", but I just don't think that cuts it with MMO expansions, it leaves many players wondering how to pace their gameplay with the current content.

Perhaps they're holding back the date information for the rest of Blizzcon? I sure hope so, this is info players would like to know right away.

Update: Obviously the real expansion has been announced shortly after this post. The leaked rumours were close, but the actual details are different.

. . .

It's been leaked, but it's no surprise, the next World of Warcraft expansion will be Northrend. The rumoured title is "Wrath of the Lich King" as Blizzard follows the logical progression of their content.

I'm sure Blizzard will still have a few surprises up their sleeve for Blizzcon this weekend.

Here's hoping that the new content on the original planet will give them an excuse to update all of Azeroth for flying mounts. The expansion will have to progress flying mounts of course, otherwise their biggest "wow factor" for TBC will be a letdown. My guess is they will spruce it up a bit by adding flying / mounted combat, although frankly for my money that's just something long overdue.

Other notable items in the leaked / rumour list:

• Levels 70-80. Exactly as expected.
• Death Knight class, unlocked by taking a character to 80. Very much like what the once planned "heroic" classes.
• New occupation: Inscription. Sounds a lot like enchanting to me, but hints at the ability to make repairs. I can see it now "free repairs on the AH bridge!"
• "Heroic" mode will be included for 25man raiding dungeons as well as 5man.
• And of course the Lich King / Arthas.

These are just rumours of course, real answers will be in a matter of days. The big question though, is how soon? Whatever Blizzard states at Blizzcon, add about 3 months to that.