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[Entropia]

MoP was a fun expansion. The bright environments, the music... I kind of miss it.

I am sort of pulling for our next expansion to be Kul Tiras with some pirates and trolls for a bit more of a light hearted adventure. Not all this dark, doom and gloom of the Void/Old Gods.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

MoP was a fun expansion. The bright environments, the music... I kind of miss it.

I am sort of pulling for our next expansion to be Kul Tiras with some pirates and trolls for a bit more of a light hearted adventure. Not all this dark, doom and gloom of the Void/Old Gods.

Yes please.

 

[Shahadan]

Lorewalker Cho's stories were the fucking best

 

[Frumix]

As much as I'd like to have a chill naval expansion it's just not gonna happen. Not after we went to SPAAAAAACE

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

As much as I'd like to have a chill naval expansion it's just not gonna happen. Not after we went to SPAAAAAACE

You never know. After killing two literal Titans it might be time for a wacky vacation

 

[cdyhybrid]

Pirates and Trolls and tropical islands pls

 

[Anoregon]

I think it's quite likely that the next expansion will have at least some degree of focus on Kul'Tiras and Zandalar, but whether or not it will be the long-awaited, navy-based "south seas" xpac is a big who knows.

Here's a little blurb from Marlamin, who is one of the main dudes in the datamining scene over at mmochamp:

In 7.3.2, Blizzard shipped 104 files behind a new encryption key (the Silithus stuff is under a different key). Not uncommon, but the unusually large amount and the fact we weren't able to instantly guess a few files behind it got me curious as to what it hides.

Together with some friends, we've managed to get a pretty good overview on what it blocks from view.

- A mount called raptormount_v2 with 37 new sounds.
- A mount, probably a horse. Possibly named Seabraid Stallion. Likely still WIP so unable to confirm name.
- A new battle pet named Tottle. It uses some existing Goren sounds and has ~47 new (still encrypted) files including sounds

Start of speculation

A new raptor mount is very interesting and the possibility of it being combined with a horse (especially one being named Seabraid Stallion) makes it all the more interesting when taken in the same context of Blizzard removing Kul Tiras and Zandalar filenames in 7.3.
My theory right now is that these are CE mounts (and maybe a pet) that'll be unlocked sometime during the lifetime of 7.3.2, maybe with digital prepurchase for the new expansion CE going up sometime after BlizzCon when they expect 7.3.2 to still be on live.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

I think it's quite likely that the next expansion will have at least some degree of focus on Kul'Tiras and Zandalar, but whether or not it will be the long-awaited, navy-based "south seas" xpac is a big who knows.

Here's a little blurb from Marlamin, who is one of the main dudes in the datamining scene over at mmochamp:

Plus didn't someone a few months ago find some Kul_Tiras Armor or something in the files, and part of the actual robe had a map on it that resembled Kul'Tiras? I could be remembering that wrong.

 

[Fjordson]

Plus didn't someone a few months ago find some Kul_Tiras Armor or something in the files, and part of the actual robe had a map on it that resembled Kul'Tiras? I could be remembering that wrong.

You're right http://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-may...ocation-of-world-of-warcrafts-next-expansion/

 

[Anoregon]

Plus didn't someone a few months ago find some Kul_Tiras Armor or something in the files, and part of the actual robe had a map on it that resembled Kul'Tiras? I could be remembering that wrong.

Yeah, the stuff I posted above is in addition to that.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

MoP was a great expansion, it helped cleanse the taste of shit that Cata left in my mouth. Then of course WoD damn near brought it back again. Legion is at least not terrible.

Excuse me

Cata was fantastic.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

Excuse me

Cata was fantastic.

I mean it started off okay I guess? Sorry, but overall I thought it was by far the weakest point this game has ever had. I take breaks every expansion, but that was the first one I legit didn't think I would come back. I guess I could see WoD having been worse in the end, but it's close.

 

[Metroidvania]

The actual Cata level zones were pretty mixed IIRC - Between the divisiveness of vashjir, Uldum fizzling out unless you REALLY like Harrison Jones, Deepholm being a vast empty space chasing after random cultists......I don't even remember much of the actual quest content of Hyjal aside from the molten front dailies during Firelands tier.

Twilight highlands is IMO the best zone (at least from a horde perspective), but not what I would call matching any of the highs of WOTLK, or the later innovations of the expansions after it.

I definitely petered out on 1st two raids, but Firelands was decent - the RP waiting kills Dragon Soul for me.

 

[Panthers]

Im glad I'm not the only one wanting a lighthearted expansion.

 

[Zelias]

The actual Cata level zones were pretty mixed IIRC - Between the divisiveness of vashjir, Uldum fizzling out unless you REALLY like Harrison Jones, Deepholm being a vast empty space chasing after random cultists......I don't even remember much of the actual quest content of Hyjal aside from the molten front dailies during Firelands tier.

Twilight highlands is IMO the best zone (at least from a horde perspective), but not what I would call matching any of the highs of WOTLK, or the later innovations of the expansions after it.

I definitely petered out on 1st two raids, but Firelands was decent - the RP waiting kills Dragon Soul for me.

Cata was definitely a mixed bag. I liked Hyjal and Vashj'ir, though, and Deepholm was my favourite zone of that expansion. Uldum was terrible and Twilight Highlands I found underwhelming for a 'final' zone.

Dragon Soul was abysmal too, not even just the relentless RP, but the massive reuse of assets. I still have two mounts to get from there and I just can't stand to run the place.

 

[cartographer]

The actual Cata level zones were pretty mixed IIRC - Between the divisiveness of vashjir, Uldum fizzling out unless you REALLY like Harrison Jones, Deepholm being a vast empty space chasing after random cultists......I don't even remember much of the actual quest content of Hyjal aside from the molten front dailies during Firelands tier.

Twilight highlands is IMO the best zone (at least from a horde perspective), but not what I would call matching any of the highs of WOTLK, or the later innovations of the expansions after it.

I definitely petered out on 1st two raids, but Firelands was decent - the RP waiting kills Dragon Soul for me.

Hyjal and Vash were really buggy, too. It's still buggy. The phasing issues are out of control there. Deepholm is pretty but forgettable. I do like TH.

Uldum is one of the most disappointing things in the game's history. The whole Indiana Jones joke was sort of emblematic of how bad the story direction and writing for Cata as a whole was. The whole thing was just a mess.

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

I mean I didn't really mind Harrison Jones/Uldum at the time, but maybe it's just because I was younger.

In hindsight, taking a joke character and spooling him up into the main plot for an ENTIRE ZONE was probably not the best design decision.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

I mean it started off okay I guess? Sorry, but overall I thought it was by far the weakest point this game has ever had. I take breaks every expansion, but that was the first one I legit didn't think I would come back. I guess I could see WoD having been worse in the end, but it's close.

To me, Firelands made the expansion for me. It has absolutely the best Mage set, it introduced a nee Druid Kitty form which iirc was the first of its kind, and it was just this epic volcanic setpiece.


When I think of Cata, I think of Firelands lol.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

To me, Firelands made the expansion for me. It has absolutely the best Mage set, it introduced a nee Druid Kitty form which iirc was the first of its kind, and it was just this epic volcanic setpiece.


When I think of Cata, I think of Firelands lol.

I’ll give you Firelands, it was and still is a great raid/zone. I actually always forget it’s part of Cata because it’s so opposite the rest of the expansion to me, or it could be that I always think of Vanilla when it comes Ragnaros.

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

Firelands and Molten Front dailies were pretty great, but I wasn't playing when that patch was current content, so most my experience there is mostly after the fact.

Dragon Soul being mostly shit, especially with the clusterfuck that was LFR on release turned me off the game until shortly before Mists. I didn't have the best time with the initial raids either, though that's more a personal issue than with their quality: I failed a tank trial early on, and didn't come back until Dragon Soul opened (which, as mentioned, was another short stint for me).

So I kinda missed out on the best part of Cata, but whatever. I did get to enjoy the "brutally hard" heroics at the start: those were fun, especially getting the dungeon meta achieve within the first month or so.

Overall the expansion was certainly flawed in more ways than it succeeded, but it wasn't all bad. I would sill rank it second from last, with Warlords taking up the rear (raid quality doesn't excuse the other failings).

 

[water_wendi]

Cata is like a lot of really good ideas that werent fully fleshed out. The "cinematic" camera work in the new zones.. Uldum being particularly poor in this regard imo. When camera control is taken away for a "cutscene" of two people talking using just the in-game chat bubbles, its time to stop.

The Harrison Jones stuff i didnt mind but the conclusion of the story was awful. That thing you were chasing? Just Brann in a Can who pops out of it to tell you that all the stuff you've been doing is dumb bullshit.

edit:

There needs to be a Brewfest music roll.

 

[SargerusBR]

People hate Harrison Jones in Uldum? You guys have no soul.

 

[Nista]

Im glad I'm not the only one wanting a lighthearted expansion.

I want one too, but from reading through the datamining reports about the gash in the world, I suspect it's going to be another retread of the same old tedious "Alliance vs Horde" hatred BS with a seasoning of Void Lords. The Sylv vs Grey story basically got ignored for Argus, but Silithus has already been a annoying pvp conflict long ago.

Course that sounds a bit like the intro to Pandaria, but without a brand new continent of fun stuff to explore, it could be another Cataclysm.

 

[traveler]

I still want to see Ny'alotha. At this point, I'm ready for the Old God expansion they've been teasing. I know it's another dark theme, but we haven't directly fought an Old God in ages, yet we keep having to put down their henchmen/influence. It's about time we dealt with the source. While I'd expect Azshara to be the face of the expansion even if N'zoth is the ultimate villain, I suppose I'd also be alright with an Azshara focused expansion as a lead in to an Old God one, though done back to back, it might be too much Old God content next to each other.

Which is actually a problem with their more logical storyline progression. They try and setup the next expansion within the current one now, but that typically means a good chunk or at least the end bit of content in an expansion will be the same aesthetic and theme as the next whole expansion. Done lightly, it can work as a nice tease, but I do feel the Legion was too present in WoD when the next expansion was pure Legion. Fortunately, 7.3.2 is pretty much the first indication we're getting of where we might be headed next, so we should be fine this time.

 

[cdyhybrid]

Yeah, Legion was fronted by Gul'dan and KJ, but

Spoiler

Sargeras/Argus

ended up being the final boss.

I'd expect that Azshara would be the face of the expansion with Nyalotha and N'Zoth being the final boss.

They could also make Azshara the final boss and save N'Zoth for the next one. She's big enough to do that, IMO.

 

[EmiPrime]

The questing and QoL changes in Cata initially were a huge hit. It was a small subset of players complaining mostly about stuff losing its charm. But if you compare the leveling experience pre-Cata to post-Cata, the overall changes were amazing. It used to be a nightmare to level through Vanilla content, because the exp scaling was all wacky, and you had no clear idea where you should be going--the Hero's Call quests in SW and Org were the true MVPs of that expansion.

I think the problem with Cata was mostly for people leveling 80-90 or 85 whatever it was. The zones you went to were incredibly spread out and required you to take all sorts of scenic routes that were incredibly annoying unless you had the portal locations and such memorized. Also Cata--much like, but not as bad as--Lich King squandered a lot of potential, and I think Deathwing was just a pretty uninteresting villain. I think the way it screwed with the timeline was also an issue--you went from Cata Era in the Old World from 1-58, then Pre-WotLK Outlands, then Northerend Pre-Cata, then back to Cata in the new zones. It's all sorts of screwy.

Honestly at this point I wouldn't mind some of the timeline consolidated, stretch out the Cata zones so you don't even need to go to Outlands and Northerend, and add the dungeons/raids from there to the Timewalking events or allow people to solo queue into them for xmog runs. I kinda wish there was never a reason to do WoD content again either, but that's too ambitious...

There was a lot to like about the revamp but it stretched the development team really thin and the max level stuff suffered for it (Uldum and Deepholm were really bad). I agree Deathwing was a damp squib and I didn't like the timeline inconsistency.

Regarding the raids, the first tier was massively over-tuned on 10m heroic for quite some time. Firelands was a really good raid but casters were all expected to get the legendary resulting in tedious farm runs for the rest of the raid group. Dragon Soul was awful (progression on Spine of Deathwing was soul destroying) and nothing is more effective than a content drought for magnifying all the social tensions within a fragile raiding guild; 7 bosses for 9 months doesn't go a long way. At least I have that awesome Alexstrasza mount to show for my troubles.

 

[Lain]

People hate Harrison Jones in Uldum? You guys have no soul.

I hate Uldum in general. It was supposed to be a dungeon! And it has no portal back to Org!
Okay I don't hate Uldum, but I really would have preferred it being a dungeon and I never understood why it doesn't have a portal back like the other zones.

 

[Syf]

They could also make Azshara the final boss and save N'Zoth for the next one. She's big enough to do that, IMO.

Agreed. Would be a shame not to make her a final boss. As lore characters go she's one of the biggest.

But then I thought the same about KJ and here comes the bigger daddy.

 

[badflame]

Could we say that it is the longest game in the history of video games?

 

[Rizzi]

I got the Master Harvester on my warlock. That's a good one, right?

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

Could we say that it is the longest game in the history of video games?

Hmm?

EVE Online predates WoW by a year and is still going.

Other MMOs that predate WoW are still kicking too, like both Everquest 1 and 2! (Though 2 by only a couple weeks.)

Not to mention games like Ultima Online that live on in one form or another, and whatever MUDs that I'm sure exist out there somewhere.

 

[Dog Problems]

Anarchy Online is another one that's still going (barely) and it came out in 2001.

I got the Master Harvester on my warlock. That's a good one, right?

Going by what Ivy Veins has listed, it's pretty good for Affliction, ok for Demonology, and good for Destruction.

 

[cdyhybrid]

EQ the GOAT

 

[water_wendi]

EQ the GOAT

Yeah. EQ is up there if you take into consideration that its been basically by one company like Blizzard. There are other games that have been running longer but theyve traded hands a few times. i wonder what Wows 23rd expansion will be like?

 

[Rizzi]

Anarchy Online is another one that's still going (barely) and it came out in 2001.



Going by what Ivy Veins has listed, it's pretty good for Affliction, ok for Demonology, and good for Destruction.

Well that's good.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

We can all agree Zul'Drak sucked right?

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

We can all agree Zul'Drak sucked right?

Probably the worst Northrend zone.

 

[FriskyrumX]

We can all agree Zul'Drak sucked right?

Honestly I could care less if they ever removed it from the game, really wouldn't miss it. No memorable memories, nothing of value.

 

[traveler]

Zul'Drak is gorgeous and distinct, but, yeah, no real highlights there. Thought the 5 man was solid.

Borean Tundra gets the honor of being the worst WotLK zone, but WotLK had the best batch of zones of any xpac, so that's not really a huge insult.

 

[RandomSeed]

Hmm, I think I like all the WotLK zones. I think Storm Peaks is my favorite, or at least everything after K3.

 

[CassSept]

Hmm, I think I like all the WotLK zones. I think Storm Peaks is my favorite, or at least everything after K3.

When I got my flying mount back at launch and went for a fly over Northrend to see how the rest of the Northrend looks and to get free exp and achievements and this music kicked in (1:51) while I was flying over Thunderfall, that was just amazing. Disappointment kicked in after I started dwelving into 3.0 raiding content, but right after launch I was really high on WotLK.

That said, I always thought Zul'Drak was fine. Not particularly outstanding but fine, Borean Tundra was faaar worse.

 

[Lain]

We can all agree Zul'Drak sucked right?

I liked the atmosphere as a prelude to something bigger (a raid) that sadly never came.

 

[neurosisxeno]

Zul'Drak is gorgeous and distinct, but, yeah, no real highlights there. Thought the 5 man was solid.

Borean Tundra gets the honor of being the worst WotLK zone, but WotLK had the best batch of zones of any xpac, so that's not really a huge insult.

Borean was great from a design standpoint. Having the quests hub and connect the way they do was perfect. The biggest problem was that it was just a boring zone. Personally I hated Scholazar the most. It was just a glorified farming zone with 2 boring competing rep factions. My favorite was probably Storm Peaks just because of the good use of vertical space and the good number of relevant things in the zone--Ulduar and the Hodir guys being there as well as the Time Lost Proto-Drake.

Zul'Drak had a really interesting storyline where you play alongside that Gal'darah dude seeking power from the Lich King. It was an interesting story leading up to Gun'drak. The zone itself was pretty meh though. I think the major problem with it was that tiered design they went for that was kind of hard to navigate before you got flying because the connectors between different sections weren't always clear, and it kind of funneled you through the zone in a specific way.

 

[Moff]

Mop is the only expansion I did not play at lauch. I hate Pandaren, the only thing worse would be a troll expansion.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

GET YOUR OOK ON

 

[cdyhybrid]

GET YOUR OOK ON

When someone tells you they play Alliance

 

[neurosisxeno]

GET YOUR OOK ON

I'm gonna OOK you in the DOOKER.

My favorite thing to come out of MoP.

 

[CassSept]

Mop is the only expansion I did not play at lauch. I hate Pandaren, the only thing worse would be a troll expansion.

You missed out, MoP is the GOAT expansion.

 

[B-Dubs]

You missed out, MoP is the GOAT expansion.

It was way too grindy. It had the right idea, but went way too hard on that aspect. By the time you'd unlock a piece of gear you'd wind up with a way better one from a normal or heroic dungeon.

 

[CassSept]

It was way too grindy. It had the right idea, but went way too hard on that aspect. By the time you'd unlock a piece of gear you'd wind up with a way better one from a normal or heroic dungeon.

They overdid it with dailies in 5.0, no doubt about that, but on the other hand 5.1 implementation of dailies was one of the best in the game's history (did not play enough Legion to compare, though they dialed back on dailies and went with world quests indeed afaik, right?).