Hilaribad

My previous view of Warhammer was made one month in, when the game showed some great potential. I think the game still has some good potential, but the main complaints -- as we continued to level -- were as follows:

1. The need for server population balance. The game started with too many servers, and this caused some problems since population really defines both the pvp/pve elements. People leveled fast to get to "end game", leaving many beginners without the groups to do public quests and even some battlegrounds. Those who leveled too fast were stuck waiting around for people to catch up so the T3/T4 battlegrounds and taking of keeps could fill out. I am not sure that these issues ever got resolved, because we stopped playing when the game seemed to dry up with people.

2. Class balance. This was more evident at higher levels, but at the time we quit, one class was completely ruling the pvp: bright wizards. Their dps was so high compared to others that pvp became unbalanced because of it. There were a couple new classes introduced around that point, too. And there was the problem of a lack of healers in pvp after a while (making my job tough since I would often be the only one in a pvp battle, and would get killed right off the bat).

3. Going along with the above point, my healer shaman could barely kill anything the more points I put into the healing tree, compared to earlier times in T1/T2 I could kill and heal well. Into about mid T3, I could heal myself through stuff, but had trouble killing anything on my own. Compared to WoW, where I don't even mind leveling as a resto/holy class, I know that I can't kill stuff as fast as other classes, but stuff is still killable in a reasonable amount of time when I'm soloing, which is usually the case.

4. By T3 and T4, the leveling experience turned into more of a chore, and grinding was introduced. It took too long to level after a while, finding groups were required for continued pve leveling, and the pvp was the same-old same-old (still probably more active and better than WoW's but not enough to keep us in the game).

I think my friends and I discovered that while we enjoyed Warhammer's new concepts of pvp, the populations were too imbalanced to pull it off and the instanced pvp battlegrounds, though way more in number than WoW's, got boring after a while -- especially since the most popular instances always popped, and the least favorite (some of which we liked) took hours to get into.

We also realized that we missed heavier pve content, like classic dungeons. I can't blame Warhammer for not going deeply into that content. They hadn't intended to before, and never promised it. It just took us a few months of playing before realizing what we were missing, especially since pvp got stale after a while and similar grinds were in store for end-game stuff.

Part of it too was that the foursome I usually play with, two guys and two girls, began to head down different directions in gaming. The guys reverting to strategy and FPS games and the girls going back to WoW, with really only me playing somewhat seriously.

So a quick rundown of the Lich King expansion:

1. I joined a guild that said that it was for slower-paced folks. Well that's me. I don't live for the "end game" of any game, at least games that have a rich world to experience before max level. I like the guild but still felt a little pressured to level fast and start doing heroics and 10-mans asap. I never experienced half the dungeons in Wrath before people wanting me to join in on their heroic versions. I don't like this speed, since a) my gear never got upgraded and b) I haven't gotten familiarized with the dungeon yet. I have resolved these prospects by leveling a healer who will be able to find groups for everything easier and be able to see everything for myself instead of being expected to get to end game fast. I don't blame WoW for the way that players play; the nature of most players is to maximize gear/dps/healing/etc. as quickly as possible. Why? There won't be another expansion for a long time, so I am not sure. And at least our guild wasn't formed to raid 25 mans, just do some 10-mans.

2. This brings me to my next point. I think WoW really needs to provide more depth to leveling up. Going back to vanilla WoW would not be good, however. I can tell that lower-level content is easier than it used to be, which is good for people who want to level alts and not go through a long leveling process each time they level. But on the other hand, there are still people who enjoy some of the lower dungeons, including those in BC and in NR pre-80, and it is just nearly impossible to find groups for these dungeons anymore. I think doing these dungeons should provide some more reward than just an achievement for completing the dungeon once. Maybe a badge system for better gear, and a trickle-down badge system that would mean that even if you helped out on a lower-level dungeon the badge that you earned for that dungeon would be a fraction of a badge you would earn for a higher dungeon, and said badges would stack up to form another badge. The badge system is one of the best things WoW has ever done, and helps quite a bit with upgrading gear (though random surprise gear is always nice too). Why not incorporate badges into all instances so that people will want to do these instances now?

3. The pvp in WoW is worse now than ever, if that's possible. Since everyone is either 80 and min/maxing or simply not too caring of the game, battlegrounds sometimes never open up. I've been trying to get into Alterac Valley on my server on and off now for about 4 levels, and it never opens up. It's really the only battleground I like. I did go into Wintergrasp once to farm some fire elementals (which I never found). I happened to be there during a "win" for our side, though I saw nobody fighting. Then a rogue came up and stunned me through my death, and that was my experience with Wintergrasp. Having never gotten into AV, I didn't have a trinket to free myself!

4. Graphics. I'm still hoping that WoW updates their engine some to update their old cartoony graphics. I miss the detailed look of characters and environment found in Warhammer. However, kudos to the beauty and scenery found in all the zones in Northrend. I really enjoyed discovering these zones.

5. Professions. I took tailoring on my mage, and once I got to 80 realized that if doing dailies didn't kill me, grinding the cloth and stuff to make epic gear would remind me of why I stopped playing WoW before. It's that whole time-based reward system that probably needs to be revamped some. I am leveling a druid who has herbalism and alcehmy, and those are about the easiest professions in WoW that do not require as much time as other professions. The less time, the better, for me at least.

Summarization: I do enjoy WoW still but lost my desire to maximize a character in gear and professions. It just takes too much time and involves too much repetitive grinding of faction, same-old instances, gathering, and so on. I still dream of a much more in-depth explorative world that you can get lost in and battle in without so much reliance on a lot of grind/repetition. This type of game would involve the players getting important enough rewards not just from hitting 80 fast and spending enough time in game that it could be a part- or full-time job, but from making the game more exciting and more rewarding at all levels and in more ways than just "daily heroic" groups.

I also miss playing with my four traditional players (and five including when our friend Wayne played). We had a perma-group and were able to explore at the pace we wanted to, a pace that let us do all the instances and get to know them before doing them on heroic level. I do not like how heroic level now is a joke and you can get pulled into one and ride along the backs of others without having ever completed the instance on normal level and just learning the ins and outs of the instance. The new WoW is like playing blind. I mean, it is nice that everything is so easy all of a sudden in some ways. I actually healed a pubbie group through the Lyceum on my druid with no wipes, and we were all of the level or lower than the average level for BRD. This simply didn't happen often in old WoW. I realize I'm probably contracting myself some. Easy stuff means less time, and I seem to be asking for challenging stuff but keeping less time commitment in game. All I really want is that there is some sort of incentive for people to not jump into heroics the minute they hit 80, without even having been able to find a group for that same instance in normal level. It would be nice to have lower content, both in original and BC to be fleshed out some and provide enough rewards that people would actually want to do that content, and not just at 80 because it's easy enough.

Back in BC, we leveled to 70, learned all the instances, got revered rep with all the factions before doing heroics, and then started on Kara. Eventually, we were in T5 and then T6 -- but I believe the latter raid schedules finally burned out our group (I still play but will never raid again, and feel very adamanet about that). But I did get spoiled having good friends to play with and experience all the progressing-up content with. Now I rely mostly on pubbies since the guild I'm in doesn't do a lot together pre-80 heroic/Naxx.