[Repost] [Games] World of Warcraft (Part 7: Classic and Legion) - How an illegal server birthed a protest that forced Blizzard to remake WoW, the new age of nostalgia, grinding, toxicity, and spit

Wintry · 1 year ago

[Repost] [Games] World of Warcraft (Part 7: Classic and Legion) - How an illegal server birthed a protest that forced Blizzard to remake WoW, the new age of nostalgia, grinding, toxicity, and spit

Wintry · 1 year ago

Legion

The most remarkable thing about Legion was that it was, for the most part, a success.

There is drama to be had, but it’s thin on the ground. This summary is mainly for non-players, or people who skipped Legion, so that we don’t have a two-year gap in the write-up between Warlords of Draenor and Battle for Azeroth (there will be PLENTY of drama there, I promise). If you just want the controversies, skip to the next section.

It began with a teaser trailer , showing Gul’dan (the only important guy from the last expansion) awakening Illidan (beloved and iconic antihero from Warcrcaft III and Burning Crusade). It generated a lot of hype.

Blizzard officially revealed their next expansion with a features trailer at Gamescom 2015, and then went into further detail with a cinematic and the usual presentations at Blizzcon a few months later. Like a beaten hound loyally returning to its master’s side, the community overflowed with excitement, and optimistic hope that this expansion would be better than the last.

After the mess that was Draenor, Legion had a simple premise. The biggest big bad in Warcraft history was back. Led by the fallen titan Sargeras, the infinite Burning Legion had tried multiple times to escape the Twisting Nether and conquer Azeroth, but had always been thwarted at the last moment. Now it had arrived for a full invasion. The heroes and nations of Azeroth had to do the impossible - defeat the Legion once and for all.

With the previous two expansions, Blizzard had done everything possible to avoid touching their existing lore. Now it seemed the shackles were off. Major changes were happening, major characters were dying. No one was safe. Everything was coming to its natural conclusion.

That resonated with players who had been around since Warcraft first started. Everyone wanted to see the final battle between the Titans and Sargeras. When Legion released in August 2016, the number of concurrent players hit the highest peak since the launch of Cataclysm – though the subscriptions immediately fell again, as had become tradition.

The expansion took place on the Broken Isle. It had always existed in the lore as a group of tiny islands, so Blizzard scaled it way up. Dalaran was copied (with a few improvements) into the skies above the new continent, and served as the major hub.

Players began with an all-out assault on the Broken Shore, where demons were pouring through into Azeroth. But the assault failed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE9HVy1vgws). Both faction leaders were killed. King Varian was succeeded by his son Anduin, and the troll Vol’Jin was replaced as Warchief by Sylvanas (with whom we will get VERY familiar in later write-ups).

There were five zones at launch, and players could complete them in any order they liked. Each held a magical item, vital in the fight against the Legion.

The Norse-themed Stormheim, full of steep ravines and jagged rocks, a deliberate call back to the popular Howling Fjord of Wrath. Players helped WoW’s version of Odin defeat Helya, the goddess of the underworld.
Tauren-focused Highmountain, with its scenic plateaus and snowy peaks, complete with a small city called Thunder Totem. Its story revolved around a dispute with the local Drogbar.
Azsuna was a wet, murky zone brimming with Night Elf ruins and haunted by their spirits. The main enemy here were the Naga.
The ancient groves of Val’Sharah played host to druid society, which had gathered around the world tree Shaladrassil. Its story focused on the Emerald Dream.
Suramar was the stand out zone of Legion. This ancient capital of Night Elf civilisation had been protected from history by a huge magical barrier, which had only recently fallen. It was basically ‘Elf Venice’, and remains one of the most visually stunning cities in WoW – or any game. Since the Nightborne of Suramar were working against the Alliance and Horde, players could only explore the city with a disguise. Certain NPCs had the ability to see through it, and would voice their suspicions whenever the player got too close. This made navigating the city frustrating for many, and caused the NPC lines (which were repeated ad-nauseum) to gain meme status.

Each player joined a Class Order – a secret society where the most iconic lore characters of each class worked to repel the Legion. Each class got a separate ‘Order Hall’, a uniquely designed headquarters that no one else could reach, with its own story and mounts. The halls carried forward several aspects of garrisons, but lacked major conveniences like hearthstone points or auction houses, so players never spent too much time in them. The community loved the Class Orders, though some of the campaigns were better than others (LINKS TO REDDIT). Priests were particularly screwed over, and had to be rescued by the Paladin class hall in their own campaign. But some, like the Death Knight story, had repercussions that are still playing out today. Since every class had such a different experience, it was a good time to level alts.

Then there was perhaps the most well-received addition, the Demon Hunter class. With a dark aesthetic, a double jump, and fan-darling Illidan as their poster child, they became wildly popular. Players have been begging for demon hunters four years, and Legion was the perfect time to make them available.

The dungeons were good (and there were ten on release, an improvement over the previous expansions), and both of the first raids were excellent. The Nighthold ended with Gul’dan’s spectacular death.

Patch 7.1 brought with it a short raid and a fantastic remake of Karazhan, one of the game’s most popular raids (the new version was a dungeon). It also added to the story in Suramar.

Patch 7.2 began when the final General of the Legion, Kil’Jaeden, made his big move, and the armies of Azeroth pushed back against him. Players returned to the Broken Shore, where they gained Legionfall reputation through a mix of world quests, rare bosses, treasures, and story quests. There was also a new dungeon called Cathedral of Eternal Night, and a raid to pair with it, the Tomb of Sargeras. Players repelled the Legion and defeated Kil’Jaeden. At the end, Illidan opened the space between Azeroth and Argus, the fractured homeworld of the Legion. It became visible in the sky in every zone.

Patch 7.3 took the fight to Argus. Players boarded a Draenei spaceship and began their offensive, meeting with the Army of the Light (the new reputation) and working to take the Legion capital. Argus had three small zones, which players could navigate by moving their ship, the Vindicaar. They were Krokuun, Antoran Wastes and Mac’Aree. The latter, a reference to lead level designer Jesse McCree, was renamed to Eredath when he became accused of sexual harassment, but that’s a clusterfuck for another write-up.

Blizzard introduced Invasion Points, which were like world quests, but they teleported the player to small alternate worlds to sabotage the Legion. And of course, there was a dungeon and the big raid: Antorus the Burning Throne. Players worked with the Titans to trap Sargeras once and for all, putting a conclusive end to the Burning Legion. In the climactic final moments, Sargeras thrust his sword into Azeroth.

(Original post by Rumbleskim on /r/hobbydrama)

Wintry · 1 year ago

Legion was a triumph.

”Legion is proof that a 12-year-old game can still find ways to innovate and improve itself, and it’s got the strongest storyline of any previous entry.”

Almost every media outlet praised Legion, with Gamespot declaring,

”Blizzard has proven it can still craft an MMO experience as well as–if not better–than anyone else.”

It is the only instalment since Wrath to gain more positive reviews the negative ones on Metacritic. Blizzard had taken a major gamble by killing Warlords of Draenor to give Legion a shot at success, and it paid off. To many, it was the best expansion ever – the culmination of everything that had come before it, and a fitting send-off. Indeed, it felt like we were seeing the end of World of Warcraft. And in hindsight, it may have been best if the game ended there, when we look at what was to come.

”The questing is more fun than ever before and now with a ton of voice-acting and cinematics, it just oozes good story. The artifacts are amazing and a ton of fun! And the fact you don’t need to level in particular order is just amazing!”

But it was not without flaws, or controversy. And if one thing should be obvious by now, it’s that the World of Warcraft community will always find something to complain about. There are the doubters, the cynics, and those who insists that Legion wasn’t that good at all, it didn’t deserve the praise, but “being an okay expansion sandwiched between two dumpster fires will have that effect on people.”

They may have a point. While Legion has carved itself into the history of wow as a golden age, it benefits from hindsight. Most of its problems were fixed by the time its final patch released. The early days were far from perfect.

”Every expansion has faults. None are perfect. Legion just had, what I feel, are fewer faults than most others.”

Let’s have a look for ourselves.

Grinding and Gambling

One of the big features of Legion was ‘Artefact Weapons’. Every class got a weapon for each specialisation, which they gained through a unique story mission. A lot of these weapons were lore-significant, so players were eager to get their hands on them. There were various appearances you could mix and match for each weapon too, and these were all obtained in different ways.

Artefact power (AP) was best understood as a way to continue levelling, after levelling was done. Each weapon had its own progression system, with unlockable abilities and levels. This was all done through AP. Some of these abilities were woefully unbalanced, but that’s what players loved about them. Gone were the tiny stat increases and passive bonuses of previous expansions - here was max level progression that felt consequential. Some abilities made getting around more convenient, some completely changed the gameplay, and some were so good that they were made permanent at the end of the expansion. Long story short, AP was seriously important.

Unfortunately, it was incredibly grindy.

”There was an overwhelming amount (LINKS TO REDDIT) of trivial shit thrown at you that anyone not completely hardcore was daunted.”

Unlocking all of the abilities for just one weapon took weeks of work, and every class had at least three. The early traits came thick and fast, before slowing to an insufferable crawl. And if you chose the wrong weapon, you were shit out of luck. Though perhaps the worst part of AP was that it technically never ended. You could keep levelling up your artefact weapon forever. Of course the benefits were slim, but completionist players nonetheless felt the pressure.

”I actually quit this week because of it, I can’t take it anymore” (LINKS TO REDDIT)

AP is often attributed with driving away or burning out most of the players who returned at the start of the expansion.

”I log on for an hour, get burned out because I can’t do much other than daily quests, get bored, then boot up steam.”

[…]

”Being on a gear treadmill (LINKS TO REDDIT) has been part of WoW for over a decade. Yet, this neck grind just feels so much worse. I look forward to getting gear; I’m motivated to do content for it. AP, on the other hand, just feels lethargic and tedious.”

The system also did much to undo the alt-friendliness of Class Orders, by incentivising players to invest time in a single character. If you switched, you had to start from zero every time.

”It really hurts playing alts for me… Everytime an alt gains AP that’s Ap not going to my main, who already needs every ounce of power he can get because Shaman.

Even worse with low level alts… When I have time to play I have to think about not just leveling up… But leveling through Legion, getting the weapons, getting AP, getting gear…”

Another major issue was the overuse of RNG mechanics – random chance – particularly when it came to legendary item drops. Legendaries could drop during almost any max-level content, and came with unique abilities. Players were guaranteed to get the first few quickly, but the drop rate lowered with each legendary they obtained. The game gave no indication when players might get a legendary that was necessary to play competitively. Since there was no clear connection between work and reward, some felt like they were slaving away for nothing.

“You were better off rerolling your entire character in order to get the legendaries you need, and your class/spec might be completely unviable without it.” (LINKS TO REDDIT)

Blizzard gradually made it easier to gain AP, and by the final patch, the grind was removed entirely. They also created a vendor for legendary items. That did nothing to bring back lost players, but it did wonders for the reputation of Legion going forward.

”People somehow forgot that legion was a hot mess until the last patches trivialized all of its poorly received systems with catch up.” (LINKS TO REDDIT)

Unfortunately, many unpopular systems from Warlords made it into Legion (like the garrison mission table) and even more of the unpopular systems from early Legion made it into the next expansion. But that’s a story for another post.

”Legion was the beginning (LINKS TO REDDIT) of all the awful design philosophy shifts that people have been complaining about ever since.”

Tentacle Boy Just Won’t Go Down

As the general of the Burning Legion, it’s reasonable that Kil’Jaeden would be a difficult enemy to kill. But what resulted was one of the most unforgiving, brutal bosses in the history of the game, with zero margin for error. It was a fight riddled with bugs and design issues, to the point where it was impossible for even the top guilds in the world - until Blizzard tweaked it. To some, that made him the best boss ever. To others he was the worst. Entire guilds disbanded over Kil’Jaeden, such was the trauma of smacking over and over into a brick wall without making the slightest progress.

”We literally couldn’t get more than a few minutes into the fight.”

At first, only one guild was able to defeat him – Method. Here are some quotes from them.

”…after a butt load of nerfs it became manageable. It’s a very challenging fight, maybe the hardest one I’ve done in my 11 years of raiding.”

[…]

”Overall I consider it as the hardest boss ever done (in terms of mechanics).”

On the highest difficulty, every small advantage was vital. His knockbacks pushed players off his platform to their deaths. Every class had some ability to overcome it, with the sole exception of priests. And when they died, the fight failed. But Goblins could be priests, and they came with a racial ability that dealt with the knockback. When the Tomb of Sargeras released, almost all top Alliance raiding guilds had already switched to Horde, but the final holdouts were forced to bite the bullet just for a chance to beat Kil’Jaeden. (LINKS TO REDDIT)

On one server, he wasn’t killed on mythic difficulty until three years later.

Really though, the fact that these were the worst complaints about Legion should tell you how good it was. It was a fantastic time to be a World of Warcraft player. But there were storm clouds on the horizon. The two expansions that followed would reduce the game to its lowest ebb, leave its playerbase a weathered and self-hating shade of its former self, and bring Blizzard to ruin.

Until next time.

(Original post by Rumbleskim on /r/hobbydrama)

[Repost] [Games] World of Warcraft (Part 7: Classic and Legion) - How an illegal server birthed a protest that forced Blizzard to remake WoW, the new age of nostalgia, grinding, toxicity, and spit

[Repost] [Games] World of Warcraft (Part 7: Classic and Legion) - How an illegal server birthed a protest that forced Blizzard to remake WoW, the new age of nostalgia, grinding, toxicity, and spit

Part 7 – Classic and Legion

“You don’t want to do that. You think you do, but you don’t.”

“I want to talk about ice cream.”

”ITS FUCKING HAPPENING!”

”git gud scrub”

Legion

Grinding and Gambling

Tentacle Boy Just Won’t Go Down