Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Warlords of Draenor feels ephemeral


When is the last time you changed the music on your garrison juke box?

When is the last time you actively sought out music rolls for your garrison?

When is the last time you collected the ore from your mine?  Flowers from your garden?

After your bodyguards hit max reputation, do you use them anymore?

Have you got to max rep on all of your bodyguards?

Did you get the selfie achievement?

After getting the achivement, how many people use their selfie cameras?


How popular is the twitter functionality?

What do we do with those toys that are only of use in Draenor?

What about those toys that somehow aren't really toys?

During the Wrath Timewalking weekend I ended up in the Halls of Lightning for one of my runs. After we beat Loken, I had the music roll drop from him.  It surprised me because I had completely forgotten about the jukebox in my garrison and about collecting the rolls for it.  I had meant to go back to get a lot of them later but just never got around to it.  (That was about the time that the no-flight thing was in full swing and it really curbed my enthausim for playing.)

It struck me as odd how quickly I had forgotten about this part of the game.  Then I remembered how others have said that the developers have said (2nd hand knowledge warning) that the garrisons are just for this expansion.  We won't be getting a new garrison in the next expansion and our followers won't be joining us.  It really underlined how self-contained this expansion is.

Think about Draenor as just leveling content, with no intent to do "end game". Any character that comes to Draenor after the next expansion is out probably won't have a level 3 garrison because why would they?  They'll level through the area fast enough to not need it and the benefits from it may not be enough to justify the time and resource sink that it is. If they don't have a level 3 garrison, they won't get a shipyard (okay, so there is an upside) and they wont' be going to Tanaan.  Even if they get to Tanaan, and assuming they didn't have a higher level character earn the Pathfinder achievement already, are they really going to take the weeks to get the rep to honored so that they can get the achievement? So new players are likely to never fly in Draenor.


Is this something unique to Warlords of Draenor? Is this really different than past expansions?  Am I being fair?  I guess something just feels different this time.  There are so many time sinks that when we come back to this content as pass through, it's going to feel very pointless to do a lot of these things.


I'm not sure of those answers but here are some other features that have stayed relevant past their addition to the game. These are not core gaming components, but they are significant enough to have developer time in patches and expansions after their introduction.

(I thought about adding flying to this but 1) I consider it a core part of the game and 2) I think others do too, and now Blizzard knows that.  I'm not sure if they'll try to remove flying again from the game, but I doubt it would be anytime soon if so.)

Pet battles

Only "recently" introduced, pet battling has become an identifiable main stay of the game. They've really only been here since Mists of Pandaria, granted that was around 3 years ago that they were introduced, but it did such a good job of taking something that had been around since Vanilla, revamping it and giving it a life of its own.  Some people hate it, yes, but the same could be said of PvP or raiding or crafting. The key thing is, it is popular enough that it draws people and isn't going away anytime soon.

Heirloom items

I had forgotten that heirlooms were introduced in Wrath of the Lich King.  There have been numerous changes to them, and with the latest heirloom tab it is even easier to use them. But they've been through 3 expansions and I doubt they'll remove them anytime soon.

Transmogrification

A Cataclysm update that had been requested in video games since the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt. Rough estimate.  Not only are they now creating gear that is solely for transmog purposes, but if it were to be removed, I'm pretty sure the transmog community might put the flying community to shame.  Their numbers are probably smaller than the pro-flying crowd, but though they be but little, they are fierce!

I have no doubts that there are other things we could point to and argue about as additions or content and I welcome any additionally thoughts.  The bigger thing for me is that the stuff I associate with this expansion, is stuff that is going to stay with this expansion, good or bad.

As to my questions from above: 

As I mentioned, I forgot about my jukebox.  After I get Pathfinder done (almost there, a few more days, when I can find the time) I may go back on do that, although to be honest, looking for those rolls feels like a nothing-to-do thing for me.

I generally still harvest my flowers for a few reasons: as a tailor, some of the flowers are needed for my daily cool down. My spouse has an alchemist so I send along the others I don’t use. And I typically get the food buff fruit for when we play, so while I’m over there I grab the flowers. Also, my druid has a storehouse, so I can easily and quickly drop the flowers in my bank. But other than that, no, I don't do it often. The mine I do even less.

I only have one bodyguard up to max rep, so I have a ways to go on that front before this is an issue. But I do know that I doubt I'll be getting wingman on more than my main and one alt.

I think I've taken 4-5 photos with the selfie camera.  I might do more.  I'm not inherently against it, it just doesn't really appeal to most of my characters, so I don't do it. But it isn't a draw for me.

Never used twitter, doubt I will. If I do, it will never be in game.

I hate that so many toys from Draenor are specific to this world and doubly hate the ones that take up space and for all intents and purposes seem like they should be toys but somehow aren't.

6 comments:

  1. I totally ignored the jukebox, SELFIE camera, Twitter, etc. I simply pretend they're not in the game. It still bugs me that I won't get the achievements for using them though. I do use Twitter in RL, but if anyone I follow ever starts Tweeting from WoW they'll be unfollowed PDQ.

    I still do the Herb Garden and Mine on my five lvl 100 chars because I need mats to make armour and weapon upgrades for my three non-raiding alts who have not set foot outside the Garrison since they got to lvl 100 other than to join in Guild dungeon runs. Maybe if I hadn't had 2 months off I'd have the store of mats that others seem to have amassed, but I'm pretty much hand-to-mouth on everything except Draenic Stone. I have plenty of that. The herbs get devoured by my Alchemist making potions and flasks for the raid teams, my Inscriptionist for inks, and converting them to GR in the Trading Post on all my characters. I use the GR to buy Dust for my enchanter so that I can sell any kit that drops for gold. My ore gets used by my JC, Engineer and Blacksmith.

    My main (Arcane Mage) uses bodyguards to make soloing in T2 easier and for the achievements. Once I get a bodyguard up to Wingman status they become inactive and I find the next one to replace them. I'm currently on the 4th one, Leorajh. (Incidentally, he's level 97 still and not gaining any xp at all from the endless slaughter he's already helped my commit, even though my Skinning follower gets battle-hardened by doing jobs in the Barn. Odd that.)

    My toys-that-are-toys get clicked, disappear into the Toy Box and I never see them again. My toys-that-should-be-toys-but-are-not-toys-apparently clutter up my bag until I have a clearout, when they go into my bank and I never see them again. One of my characters got an achievement for having X amount of toys-that-are-toys but I couldn't tell you how many it was. 100 probably?

    When I first started playing WoW I hated the idea of pet battles, I didn't see a place for them in WoW at all. When I got sick of Draenor earlier this year I started exploring them with my Shaman who I was levelling up at the time. I started to enjoy the simple mechanics, it was nice to collect the wierd and sometimes wonderful pets, and the battles gave good xp. It gave me a new way to level her up whilst travelling through content I'd already done. It's nice to know that content is there, and it is genuinely optional (for now anyway, who knows what JC recipe Blizz will only have drop off a Master Pet Tamer in the future.....)

    I tried PvP only because I had to to get the Cloak. I hated it and never intend to go back, but maybe a Guildie will succeed in tempting me into a BG someday. It's cool the stuff is there for those who want it, but it must cause Blizz such headaches trying to tune classes to be reasonably competitive at all ilvls in PvP and still work in PvE. I read the ever-growing list of nerfs and buffs that Blizz make to spells in PvE and wonder how they're ever going to get out of the hole they've seemingly dug for themselves. The popular concensus would appear to be that PvP is broken in WoD, and yet I see new PvP guilds popping up regularly on my server, and there is a sizeable chunk of our guild that is active in that part of the game.

    In terms of end game content I don't think WoD will be much different to MoP. When I get a character to level 90 now I don't look at the Tillers or the Pandaren cooking questlines. I don't bother getting rep with the various factions for the fantastic mounts. I certainly don't go fishing to impress Nat Pagle! If I have plenty of gold I buy the Flying license, then I just chat with Khadgar and I'm off to WoD.

    Hopefully Draenor will end with a sizeable comet hitting our Garrison, and we'll be whisked away by Wrathlon to continue his devious plans against the Legion.

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    1. My various alts are spread out amongst multiple servers, so they generally can't support one another much. I typically try to level one to max on each server then go back. So yeah, I'm kind of like you on the hand-to-mouth when I want to make something, but since I don't raid, I'm not really using the resources often.

      I love having the trading post on some characters because it is such a great resource dump or herb/ore dump. I tend to build my garrison thematically though, so not all have it and when they don't, I really miss that ease. Ah, the struggles of self-inflicted RP :)

      I also have an Arcane Mage and yes, the bodyguards are a nice help. I love having the tank for him. Using Leorajh was mainly because I like a cat person and having access to the follower table if I wanted it. Sadly, I'm not using that as often as I though I would.

      I don't do much with pet battles, but like you, I enjoy them when I do play them. I'll try to do the dailies for the currency so i can get the toy or the pet, but if I skip it, I don't feel a terrible loss. Pet battles are really great optional content, although I did have a rueful laugh at a JC recipe dropping off of a Master Pet Tamer. Don't help Blizz!

      You are right that WoD will be a lot like MoP but somehow, Pandaria just feels more repeatable to me. Which is ironic considering how long it was around and how much I already did it. I am one of those that does think Wrath was the best but there are some things about Pandaria I do enjoy to.

      I'm having a harder time thinking of those things for Draenor. (I have a post scheduled for Friday somewhat about that)

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  2. When is the last time you changed the music on your garrison juke box?

    No need to change it, got grizzly hills, that is all I need.

    When is the last time you actively sought out music rolls for your garrison?

    The week it came out? But now there is the new achievement to get them all so I might do that some day when I am in the mood.

    When is the last time you collected the ore from your mine? Flowers from your garden?

    Months or days, depending on how you look at it. Sometimes I do in when in queue for something to waste time. But doing it for ore or herbs? Months.

    After your bodyguards hit max reputation, do you use them anymore?

    Nope. Got them to max a few weeks in, never use them again.

    Have you got to max rep on all of your bodyguards?

    Yeap, did all of them early on.

    Did you get the selfie achievement?

    Yeap.

    After getting the achivement, how many people use their selfie cameras?

    Never used it for anything other than the achievement. Not before, not after.


    How popular is the twitter functionality?

    What twitter functionality? (I know it is there, just serves no purpose to me)

    What do we do with those toys that are only of use in Draenor?

    Save them in our bags and complain about lack of bag space, at least that is my intention.

    What about those toys that somehow aren't really toys?

    Same as above.

    Most things in draenor have no repeatability. That is what hurts it over all in my opinion. Even the raids, and I like to raid, do not feel worth doing over and over like they have in the past. But that could have more to do with me changing than the game.

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    1. I'm pretty much the same on the jukebox - waiting to get around to it when I feel like it. What is sad is that it seemed like a cute, simple, optional idea when it was introduced. Generally easy to do, not much involved overall, no real impact on the game. But I just completely forgot about it. To be honest, I don't even know if Blizzard is doing much with it. Do they plan to add other music from more things?

      "Save them in our bags and complain about lack of bag space, at least that is my intention."

      Working as intended I fear. But yes, that is what I foresee as well.

      "But that could have more to do with me changing than the game."

      That's one of the things I was trying to think about. Each expansion is temporary to some point. I don't generally go back to Wrath content even though I enjoyed it. But something about Draenor feels different to me and I'm afraid that it might be more me than the game. or at least a pretty good 50/50.

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  3. I got the Mulgore music from fishing in Thunder Bluff, and that and the Thunder Bluff track itself are all Kam really needs in her Garrison. I did get her the Darkmoon Carousel track, but I never listen to it. I thought that I'd like to pick up the Grizzly Hills and Storm Peaks tracks, but I haven't gotten around to it.
    If I ever manage to get any of the rest of my characters up to level 100 before Warlords ends, I have one or two RP-inspired tracks that each one will get and use -- for example, my Paladin is currently doing Argent Tournament dailies so that she can get that track as soon as she gets her Jukebox -- but I probably won't try to collect all (or even most) of the tracks on any one character.

    I collect Frostweed from my gardens pretty regularly, as I'm stockpiling catalysts with my alchemists so that they can convert them all into Savage Blood as soon as they get to level 100 and can get the transmute. I generally collect ore from my mines only with characters who actually use it when they need it -- though shortly after Patch 6.2 hit, I spent a week doing all my characters' mines and dumping the ore into my guild bank, so that Kam could use it when the Trading Post wants ore.

    I ignored the bodyguards for most of the expansion and only started using them recently, so I've only got Viv at max, I'm currently working with Tormmok. I may or may not get them all to Wingman before the next expansion arrives. With Kam, I'll probably continue to use a bodyguard whenever I'm in Tanaan, or when I'm trapping the elite beasts in Nagrand -- she doesn't need them for other content; in fact, they rather get in the way. I may or may not use the bodyguards extensively with my alts.

    I initially thought about trying to do the selfie achievement, but then I never got around to it, and I didn't ever really *care* about it, so I probably never will do it. My main interest in the selfie camera is that it provides a way to get good close-up images of my characters' faces for the Characters page on my blog (provided I time the picture to get the neutral expression)... but that project is still on my to-do list. I haven't really updated my Characters page since Kam hit level 100... hopefully I'll manage to get the page "updated for Warlords" *before* the next expansion launches.

    I'm not on Twitter -- a deliberate decision when it first came out; I didn't need another level of Internet distraction in my life.

    As for toys... oh, the bag space occupied by Draenor knicknacks that I think really ought to go in the toybox but don't..! I suspect that I might just dump most (if not all) of them when I am prepping to begin leveling in the next expansion. Unless the expansion pre-patch includes a serious overhaul to the Transmogrification system, my bank is too full of clothes to have any room for Draenor knicknacks that I've never used anyway.

    Bagspace issues being what they are, I still have one of my secondary characters who is a Tailor toiling away at Sunsong Ranch growing Windshear Cactus and Songbells to make Royal Satchels. My Horde Mage has done nothing but make Hexweave Bags with her Tailoring. These uses of the Farm and the Garrison are likely to persist well into the next expansion(s), not just for me but also for people who want to make AH money.

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    1. I plan to try to get most of the tracks on, well not my "main" per se but my two more-equal-than-others alts. Beyond that, yeah, probably just RP tracks, if even that.

      I actually kind of like the bodyguards in principle however they need to move out of my click range. If they were attackable, I would never have any with me because the moment I go to loot or click a quest or whatever, one of them gets in the way. I would soon have a line of skulls while all of my bodyguards "rested" back at the base.

      Yeah, I'm much the same way about storage and bags. My kingdom for a transmog tab! To be fair, if they make a transmog tab, it would basically just need to have everything in it, because if it was limited, I'd still be frustrated.

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