WoWzers!

[Deva]

Whoa. You just used first person.

This was my plan all along!

My, my. Should have written "answering". Does not prohibit the use of first person, however. Has used it before (fairly certain, anyways). Does usually indicate poor phrasing. Example: "Would not, but we would." Begrudgingly allows that. Prefers, "Would not. Would," (with a "however" or "though" inserted, occasionally). Applies to verbs such as "think" and "believe" sometimes. Partially circumvents the form, if relied upon too heavily. Still requires them in select scenarios, of course.

I've had a love/hate relationship with this game for awhile. I've been playing it since Vanilla, and I've had some great times with it... but it's a pile of shit. The devs are just doing it wrong, and it seems to me like it is too late to fix it. I've been very active on the forums pretty much since Vanilla, and a few of my suggestions have actually made it in to the game almost entirely intact, but it seems to me that the community is being entirely ignored, now. Entirely ignored. Zarhym, one of the coolest CMs on the forums, was actually talking with us over one of the current 'top issues' in PvP, Feral Druids, and then I go off and see what he posts in another thread, or what another CM posts, and /sigh. I'm just kind of done with it all.

Enjoys it more than before. Added different avenues to obtain gear. Plays alone or with random people (see: unrated battlegrounds or random dungeons). Recalls the Vanilla days. Refused to join almost all by-invite groups. Could not get player versus player armor without constantly grinding battlegrounds (did not care much for player versus player, either). Only had the Timbermaw for soloable reputations. Relied on tailoring, random drop chance, quests, and the auction house for my equipment. Made water four at a time, too. Would have loathed providing food and drinks for twenty-four to thirty-nine other players.

Appreciated the ever-increasing number of reputations that popped up in later expansions. Completed the Shattered Sun Offensive dailies daily, just for a chance at Badges of Justice. Was awarded the Crusader title on two to four characters. Received my first piece of tier gear (nine) through random dungeons. Gave me enough confidence to do Icecrown Citadel (before and during the buff). Never killed Arthas or came close, unfortunately. Still carries Nibelung (along with a minimum of a bag and a half of other fun items). Dedicates large zones to dailies with rewards now. Awaits the new set bonus currently.

Still has issues, of course. Cannot code Ignite to function properly. Is at the mercy of the random number generator. May not spread all of my damage over time effects. Cannot utilize engineering in Tol Barad. May not cast Flame Orb or Blink near miniscule bumps. Attacks unnecessarily. Favors the newer World of Warcraft to the older version regardless.

Hopes Guild Wars will entertain you. Can be refreshing to play something different. Might change your mind after some separation. If not? Oh well.

[Ortus]

I've had a love/hate relationship with this game for awhile. I've been playing it since Vanilla, and I've had some great times with it... but it's a pile of shit. The devs are just doing it wrong, and it seems to me like it is too late to fix it. I've been very active on the forums pretty much since Vanilla, and a few of my suggestions have actually made it in to the game almost entirely intact, but it seems to me that the community is being entirely ignored, now. Entirely ignored. Zarhym, one of the coolest CMs on the forums, was actually talking with us over one of the current 'top issues' in PvP, Feral Druids, and then I go off and see what he posts in another thread, or what another CM posts, and /sigh. I'm just kind of done with it all.

Enjoys it more than before. Added different avenues to obtain gear. Plays alone or with random people (see: unrated battlegrounds or random dungeons). Recalls the Vanilla days. Refused to join almost all by-invite groups. Could not get player versus player armor without constantly grinding battlegrounds (did not care much for player versus player, either). Only had the Timbermaw for soloable reputations. Relied on tailoring, random drop chance, quests, and the auction house for my equipment. Made water four at a time, too. Would have loathed providing food and drinks for twenty-four to thirty-nine other players.

Appreciated the ever-increasing number of reputations that popped up in later expansions. Completed the Shattered Sun Offensive dailies daily, just for a chance at Badges of Justice. Was awarded the Crusader title on two to four characters. Received my first piece of tier gear (nine) through random dungeons. Gave me enough confidence to do Icecrown Citadel (before and during the buff). Never killed Arthas or came close, unfortunately. Still carries Nibelung (along with a minimum of a bag and a half of other fun items). Dedicates large zones to dailies with rewards now. Awaits the new set bonus currently.

Still has issues, of course. Cannot code Ignite to function properly. Is at the mercy of the random number generator. May not spread all of my damage over time effects. Cannot utilize engineering in Tol Barad. May not cast Flame Orb or Blink near miniscule bumps. Attacks unnecessarily. Favors the newer World of Warcraft to the older version regardless.

Hopes Guild Wars will entertain you. Can be refreshing to play something different. Might change your mind after some separation. If not? Oh well.

Cataclysm is far superior to Vanilla, for sure. I hated Vanilla, and I quit back then... but then I played Burning Crusade when it released, and became sucked in. It's hard for me to pinpoint an exact reason for my seething dislike of the game, but at this point even the idea of immersing myself in the game is a huge turn-off. I spent a lot of time theorycrafting and doing the maths and immersing myself in the meta-game, and I have always found several things that I could dislike, or even outright hate. Those things, though, could be avoided/appropriated for my purposes or changed easily enough with the right arguments and support on the forums and with the devs. But now? I'm not sure the devs (all of them, not just the ones that aren't spending time on Titan) themselves could fix the mess that is PvE/PvP progression.

I played Guild Wars during the closed and pre-release betas, and I really love the way it plays. I've found plenty of things to dislike over the years, much like WoW, but I would take a break and come back as much as a year later, find my characters still largely up-to-date and viable, and find the game making huge leaps and bounds in its design and balance philosophies. I still play it occasionally, but I think I may go back and play through the campaigns again and do a bit of unrated PvP just to pass the time and further myself from WoW.

[Deva]

Discovered something today. Was in the Vortex Pinnacle, waiting on a teammate that tumbled off the edge. Quaffed a Potion of Illusion and transformed into a feral cat. Permitted full use of abilities (such as Dragon’s Breath). Researched the potion later. Copies the nearest player (usually), including any costumes. Supposedly applies to druid forms, polymorphs, Lifegiving Seed (the herbalist item), and the Sandstone Drake transformation, to name a few. Can only confirm the Brazier of Dancing Flames costume and some druid forms currently. Failed the Lifegiving Seed test. Became a troll in Stormwind.

Is not cheap, unfortunately. Requires three Volatile Life, one Azshara’s Veil, and a Crystal Vial to create one or two. Persists for two minutes. Can become a fireball throwing bear, though (assuming one can lob fireballs normally). And probably a treant too. Does anything else matter?

[Jesse]

I do not get endgame gear at all. I just do not understand what I am supposed to be getting, whether I need Justice Points or Valor Points and why I can buy half the gear with just JP, but the other half I need items that only drop on Heroics to unlock the non-heroic version so I can be geared enough to do the heroics to get the same item to get the upgraded version of the item I already did the heroic to get.

[Izawwlgood]

Whoa, blizzard refunded my subscription! I got a testy email though, to the tune of 'this is a one time thing, don't fuck up again'

[Deva]

I do not get endgame gear at all. I just do not understand what I am supposed to be getting, whether I need Justice Points or Valor Points and why I can buy half the gear with just JP, but the other half I need items that only drop on Heroics to unlock the non-heroic version so I can be geared enough to do the heroics to get the same item to get the upgraded version of the item I already did the heroic to get.

Forgets whether or not item level is visible on gear without checking a box. Recommends turning that on. Is probably hiding in Interface options. Can write out a general progression line.

Longer version:
1. Hit 85. Yay.

2. Run regular dungeons to acquire gear (item level 333) and Justice Points. Proceed to the next step when your average item level is 333 or higher. Buy Justice Point equipment (item level 359) when able. Ignore the heroic tier eleven pieces (item level 372) on the Justice Point vendor. Do not buy any blue text gear (item level 346) from this vendor unless you have bought all of the 359s. Cannot fill all gear slots with only Justice Points.

3. Run heroic dungeons to acquire gear (item level 346), Valor Points, and more Justice Points. Buy (item level 378) armor for Valor Points. Proceed to the next step when most slots are filled with item level 346+ gear.

4. Complete Zandalari heroic dungeons and normal raids for Valor Points. Receives (item level 353) gear from Zandalari (should be full of items not covered by Justice Points). Finds item level 359 and 378 from older raids and the Firelands, respectively. May also complete the heroic version of older raids for (item level 372) gear and for heroic version of tier eleven armor (doubts too many people do the older raids now, though, except Arcane Mages and achievement people. Could be wrong). Go to the next step when your average item level approaches 372.

5. Run heroic Firelands for (item level 391) equipment. Fill out any weak slots with Valor Point items as necessary.

Short version:
1. Hit 85.
2. Do regular dungeons. Spend Justice Points.
3. Do heroic dungeons. Spend Justice Points. Acquire the occasional Valor Point piece.
4. Do Zandalari heroic dungeons and/or normal raids (probably Firelands). Acquire the occasional Valor Point piece.
5. Do heroic Firelands.

General point-spending tips:
- Valor > Justice.
- Buy the armor with set bonuses first (chest, legs, and gloves). May select another piece of gear from the vendor when the two-piece bonus is active. Feel free to get that third piece if that needs replacing, of course. Will probably not get the four piece set bonus of tier eleven without doing older raids.
- Use whatever has the highest item level (excluding player versus player gear), provided it has your primary stat (Strength, Agility, or Intellect) and is your armor type. Tends to outshine lower item level stuff.
- Will not find a main-hand weapon on either vendor. Either do Archaeology until your eyes bleed (359 and not recommended), run dungeons (333 for normal, 346 and 353 for heroics), hope for a raid drop/buy it (359ish, 378ish), or craft/buy it (365).

May be able to supply which secondary stats are ideal with a class and spec. Can also try Rawr. Upload your character from Battle.net and start poking around (if your spec is supported). Is set for raid bosses by default. Requires more hit and expertise, generally valuable stats for damage dealers, than a heroic dungeon boss requires. Also shows most reforging and gemming options. Do not be surprised if you see an item several times because of that (can probably turn that off, though).

Was not too confusing, hopefully. Will clarify as needed.

Whoa, blizzard refunded my subscription! I got a testy email though, to the tune of 'this is a one time thing, don't fuck up again'

Is glad. Did you discover why you were charged at all?

[Beardhammer]

Well, I can still say Frost Mages feel overpowered, and I really wish there was a harsher penalty for chaining CC effects together, but otherwise PvP hasn't really changed at all. I don't expect to live with five people pounding on me, but it'd be nice if I could do more than wiggle my fingers as I'm dying - chain stunning is really obnoxious.

Lost over half my HP (150k, with stamina buff) inside a single Deep Freeze. Mage used his pet's Freeze on some other people, promptly zapped me with Deep Freeze (Spell Reflection was down), and turreted damage into me while I was stuck in the Deep Freeze. No warning, no setup - just, bam, stunned for five seconds while taking heaps of bonus damage. This was with 3800 resilience and the Defensive Stance modifier, too. Entered the Deep Freeze at roughly 80% HP and exited it with a little under 30% (like 28% or something.) Pretty dumb. Shouldn't you have to sacrifice damage or survivability in order to gain lots of control? I get a lot of control as Protection, but I also lose a TON of damage. You can say the same thing for specs like Blood and Frost for DKs - you gain lots of control as Frost (root on Chains of Ice, Hungering Cold, AOE snare with Howling Blast glyph and Chilblains), but you don't really have much in the way of survivability (with Dark Succor nerfed into uselessness the only thing you've got is really just Lichborne healing.) Blood trades damage and control to gain incredibly high survivability.

But it seems like Frost Mages get everything. As long as the target's frozen OR you have Fingers of Ice (you will virtually always have one or the other), you do solid damage. With Ice Barrier, the Arcane Blink-sprint talent, or Blazing Speed out of Fire, you also have some pretty respectable survivability. And then, of course, you have lots of control. Four different roots (Frost Nova, Freeze, Improved Cone of Cold, Shattered Barrier) on two different DR timers, a blanket silence on your ranged interrupt, a limited dispel with Spellsteal (expensive, though), and of course a ranged 5 second stun that also considers the target to be frozen.

I understand they're supposedly balanced around their victim having a dispeller chained to their ass, but how's that supposed to work? You need two players to handle a single Frost Mage? I really think they just need to remove dispels from PvP (by making ALL player-applied effects Physical) and redo it from there.

I'd also like to see casters actually have to CAST to do damage (and increase the cooldowns on interrupts to make it actually POSSIBLE to cast) or healing. Instants should still be in, but they should be powerful, expensive, and be on semi-lengthy cooldowns (10+ seconds.)

Just my two cents on the matter.

[Ortus]

Frost Mages sacrifice decent playing past the 2500 mark for their stupid amounts of melee roots and damage. It's pretty much that Mages are gods in the lower brackets and good luck ever beating one, but after you get competitive it's like an annoying, but free, kill; they get wrecked by most other casters as hard as they wreck melee. I've suggested multiple times that they lose most of their roots (and cut the 8 second duration ones in half), but make them undispellable. Beyond that, I don't care, because Affx bitched until they took away my mobility and I wouldn't mind seeing them (Frost Mages) deleted from the game forever.

You shouldn't ever win against a Frost Mage as melee when it's 1v1, but you should never lose to one 2v2/3v3+. Variable with comp, but warriors are pretty much: train healer, collect points.

[Beardhammer]

I always thought it was odd that Blizzard actually seemed to listen to Gladiator players when considering balancing changes. It never seemed like a smart way of doing things - it'd be like listening to Idra for SC2 balance changes.

[Beardhammer]

Playing a few battlegrounds has cured me of any desire to play WoW whatsoever. Aside from Frost Mages being annoying to fight without a dispeller, there aren't any real balance issues.

Instead, it's issues with the players. There are AFKers in every single game, and worse still... there are TONS of just outright incompetent players in every single game. Played a Battle for Gilneas just recently and went to hit lighthouse alone. There was a lone druid there - I guess Resto since he wasn't in a form and didn't summon treants. I forced a trinket with a stun, then promptly feared him when I was standing next to the flag. Fear lasts 8 seconds, it takes 8 seconds to capture a flag. In other words, I just guaranteed the assault.

And then a retard feral druid runs up and slaps the druid out of the fear. So then we get to spend another 2 minutes chasing the druid in circles. Can't interrupt resto druids because they don't actually cast spells (which is another major issue that bothers me about WoW - spellcasters just spam instants, they don't actually CAST anything), and they took Waterworks somehow. We finally assault Lighthouse and get it capped, and they send NINE people to take it back. I get stuck in a CC chain with no trinket and they eventually get the assault.

During all of this... why did they not capture Waterworks? Literally 9/10 of their team was at Lighthouse, which means at most one person at Waterworks. I don't care if it's a motherfucking Prot Paladin, you can kill or otherwise CC lock someone long enough to attack a flag when it's 7v1 (we had 2 "defending" or more accurately, AFKing at mines, and I was alone at Lighthouse.)

Many, many times I've felt that incompetence should be a bannable offense - or, at the very least, be grounds for a 3-day Deserter debuff. But can't let the retards know they're retards - that might hurt their feelings! sigh.

[Lucrece]

If anything needs further nerf, it's fucking rogues. They're still immortal. In any situation where any other class would get blown up for overstepping, they get a do-over with all the immunity cooldowns, and downright the best control in the game that can't be dispel spammed. Smoke Bomb is the best ability in arenas hands down after the ring of frost nerf.

That, and DK's need to lose all the magic immunity. If frost mages have trouble dealing with DK's, you know all other casters are fucked because frost mages are the benchmark for caster survival and all the other classes don't have anywhere near the kiting tools and just have to stand there and take it.

AMS needs to go down to 4-5 seconds, and stangulate should be a 3 second silence.

Warriors need their damage nerfed, and hunters need to have better defenses against DoT classes and in turn not be such a hard counter to mages.

But, hey, Guild Wars 2 is coming soon so all this annoyances should be over soon ~_~

[Beardhammer]

I laugh at rogues. It took three geared out sub rogues literally 3 minutes to kill me in EOTS the other day. I had no chance in hell of killing them (recuperate outskills paltry Prot damage), but it was really funny watching them blow all their cooldowns and do like 8% damage total.

It does seem like Rogues could use a nerf somewhere, probably in survivability. I know people hate homogenization, but honestly... Recuperate needs to be something kinda like Enraged Regeneration. Keeping a heal like that up the entire time with no drawback is honestly pretty ridiculous.

[eeris]

I like how everytime I feel like getting back into WoW I can just come on here and be reminded of all the reasons I quit in disgust. Thank you everyone.

[Beardhammer]

Hey, no problem. There was like half a day there where I actually considered renewing my subscription when it expired on the 5th. 10 minutes in a BG today cured me of that desire.

[Lucrece]

I'm done with treadmill gaming, anyways, so all I do is watch i nostalgia for what the game used to mean to me before I'd reach endgame and realize what the game became then, every expansion.

MMORPG's with no proper incorporation of storytelling and continuity into their activities fail completely for me now, and WoW proved that for me with Arthas. Yeah, it showed Sauron 2.0 in many dungeons, but little things like not even involving Sylvanas in his kill, or how raiding fails so badly at extending the story and conveying to me who the bosses are and why they care about the head honcho and what the player makes of them in the Warcraft world has given me a rather bitter feeling.

And then they go and hide storytelling with encounters like Sinestra, which I quit before doing because raiding heroics bored me silly on a 25man with attendance problems. Like, seriously? You would deprive a large part of the playerbase from Sinestra and Calen's eventual death?

Another flaw that is not only WoW's but also with every MMO out there is that the PvP aspects of a MMO involve no story progression whatsoever. You wouldn't necessary need impossible/hard to attain victories to give PvP some meaning in the world as opposed to removing PvP'ers from participating in the RPG aspect.

[Midnight]

That would be the standard definition of incompetence...

Is it? Incompetence would be being unable to get anything done, and what you do get done is lousy. Last I checked, people were really pumped for Firelands.

Being understaffed isn't the same as being incompetent.

As much as I appreciate an actual argument,

selectively looking at a portion of an entire game and representing it as the whole is a bit ridiculous. Blizzard straight-up informed their player base that they don't care to adjust numbers; apparently adjusting numbers is too bothersome or time consuming for a major content patch. And ignoring the whatever it's called (fuck me if I can remember it right now), I would wager the majority of people* have at least one character under level 85. Seeing as how Firelands will only be accessible in its entirety (ignoring Hard Modes, including the Hyjal dailies) to a very small number of people in relation to the total population, I would also wager that more people care about the pre-85 experience than Firelands.

I stand by my incompetence comment.

*http://www.warcraftrealms.com/census.php

...yeah, but who cares about the game pre-85? It's damned easy to level.

[Ortus]

...yeah, but who cares about the game pre-85? It's damned easy to level.

Uh.. everyone who isn't 85? Or has an alt they play below the level cap?

[mind404]

So do they still spend all their time in the Barrens trading tired Norris jokes, or is that just a grinding pit stop for alt characters anymore?

[Deva]

Finally announced some appearance customization for 4.3. Permits donning old armor without losing stats. Do you desire to kill Ragnaros in the armor you wore in Molten Core? Possible. Limits some options, however. Cannot appear to use a sword when actually wielding an axe. Forbids use of lesser armor types (such as Paladins with cloth). Announcement here.

Wants the Wrathful mage set now.

Edit: Also, Deathwing battle in 4.3.

[Lostdreams]

Tier 2 and 3 and arena 2 contained most of the best style armors in the game.

[Midnight]

4.3's the last patch then? time flies.
I recall them saying they made a mistake letting Illidan be conquerable so early on in BC (though that forced them to follow up with Sunwell, which is cool) so they made Arthas the last villain in WotLK... except they didn't, they threw in Halion randomly. AND everyone was bored as shit of the general Scourge design by then, so it's clear that Ulduar was the coolest instance in WotLK.

IF they do this shit, there better be another island of queldanas thing. maybe gated like QD (but based on server population so it's an equallish playing field). and there better be a ton of bosses. fourteen or something. but maybe you can only access the last 7 if you've beaten the first seven, so you don't have to keep wasting time killing the first seven on raid nights.

[Lucrece]

I'm just sad there's no Dreamwalker from 40man Naxx. Soooooo unfair.

And now what Rogue will stop wearing Warglaives of Azzinoth.

I'll admit I'm pretty pissed with their dumping Abyssal Maw. To me it sounds like sheer laziness and not wanting to appear like they ran out of time and plans. Vash'jir was hands down the best explorable area in Cataclysm.

This is why I quit WoW. Their MMO design really fucks up storytelling because leveling is where most of the storytelling happens, and then endgame is all about non-RPg related grind that fails miserably at advancing the story.

Arthas's death had no meaning to me other than it was the most difficult boss ever. A bunch of nobodies with no tie to the lore killed him, AND Sylvanas wasn't even there for the kill -- and I've seen little follow-up from Jaina on his death.

I admit I really hate the game being centered on raiding, because the resources go strictly for that purpose of gear/logistics treadmill while everything else gets the short stick. The RPG gets neglected, PvP'ers have no involvement with the world, and most of the accomplishments involve one grind or another.

I'd venture a guess that it may be the reason why the game's lost subs. People get tired of raiding really fast if it has little meaning other than new looks.

[Menacing Spike]

PvP'ers have no involvement with the world

WoW PvP balance = it's balanced if you are both frost mages.

[Lucrece]

I didn't mean PvP balance. I mean that doing PvP has no immersion whatsoever as it concerns the storyline and the world. You get a few arenas, most of them pretty old, and you repeatedly combat groups of players with no narrative behind it or RPG involved.

[Menacing Spike]

I didn't mean PvP balance. I mean that doing PvP has no immersion whatsoever as it concerns the storyline and the world. You get a few arenas, most of them pretty old, and you repeatedly combat groups of players with no narrative behind it or RPG involved.

But there is a narrative behind.
WSG: Fuck off, we need your wood.
Alterac: Fuck off, that's OUR valley.
etc

[Lucrece]

Well all they're needing is a goddamned flag or the lord because the mines and woods sure are sitting there and nobody gives a shit!

[Deva]

Announced the next expansion: Mists of Pandaria. Includes
- Increased level cap to ninety
- New race: Pandaren
- New class: Monk
- Challenge mode dungeons
- Player versus environment scenarios
- Pet Battle System

Boggles. Is not the first of April. Remains leery. Cannot balance classes well already. Needs a second race for either Horde or Alliance too. What is even the point of travelling there?

Expects them to announce, "Just kidding," and maybe show The Emerald Dream (or whatever the next expansion is).

[Jesse]

Pandaren is long running joke.

[Deva]

Knows. Still created a trailer for it (half-filled with old cinematics). And a subforum (easily retitled, of course). Seems unusual to pull this stunt.

[Newt]

- Pet Battle System

Boggles. Is not the first of April. Remains leery.

They're quietly putting in a pokemon MMORPG!

I'm pretty sure they're serious. I'm not familiar with the non-game based WC lore, but they're nearly out of 'big bads' people would be familiar with, so I suspect they're going with 'smaller', more focused expansions from here on out as they let WoW gently fade into the background in favor of newer projects.

[Enokh]

Pandarens are supposed to be available to both Horde and Alliance (according to the WOW website).

I too am suspicious since I vaguely recall Pandaren-themed April Fools jokes.

[Decker]

I wonder if Pandarens are going to get an alchemy bonus, since they're supposed to be such excellent brewers.

[Aiea]

I hope that they'll be like DK's and start at an elevated level.

[Deva]

I wonder if Pandarens are going to get an alchemy bonus, since they're supposed to be such excellent brewers.

Currently possesses a Cooking bonus. Will probably not receive another profession skill bonus.

I hope that they'll be like DK's and start at an elevated level.

No. Starts at level one.

[ProZac]

Not sure why you would think it's a joke? I just returned from blizzcon, it wasn't too surprising of them to announce it. It'd been rumored for a long while.

I will say however, that watching the announcement of a pet combat system was *hilarious*. It took all of 2 minutes to realize "Wait, this is pokemon." The rest of the time was spent predicting various features of the system. I kept joking about "traveling to all the cities to fight the awesome trainers so you earn rewards showing how great you are." I was duly impressed when they actually announced that as a feature of the system. I was really disappointed they never described it as a "unique experience". The whole announcement could have been shorted to "we ripped off pokemon".

As much as I love Monks, I'm not sure what to make of this one. No auto-attack feels awkward, mostly when something is at 2% life and you don't naturally kill it. I'm expecting that to change yet. The roll (while awesome) also doesn't feel appropriate in WoW. I'm not sure WoW has a place for that kind of extreme mobility. The healing (like a disc priest, deal damage, do healing) doesn't seem like it will work either. Attonement works in some situations, but I don't think many people play it seriously? It'll be interesting to see where the monk goes though.

Also, I am definitely picking up that 12 month subscription to WoW with the D3 collector's edition. Yay free D3!

[JudeMorrigan]

I too am suspicious since I vaguely recall Pandaren-themed April Fools jokes.

I can understand the initial skepticism, but Blizzard really has gone far beyond the point where they could pull a "haha, just kidding, here's the REAL next expansion".

[Deva]

Not sure why you would think it's a joke? I just returned from blizzcon, it wasn't too surprising of them to announce it. It'd been rumored for a long while.

Used it in this 2003 Warcraft Three April Fool’s Day joke. Deviates from the Warcraft theme too much. Saw one Pandaren ever. Does not recall any Asian architecture. Understands a quest line of Pandarens, or even an entire zone. Seems foolish to base an entire expansion off of lore that no one has heard before. (Apparently furthered the Horde versus Alliance battle though. Do not get attached to Theramore.)

How would fans react to Diablo Three: Secret Cow Expansion? Play as a heroic Secret Cow Barbarian and visit new Secret Cow lands. Can justify it with some lore fast-talking, like a door-to-door salesperson. Existed before, after all.

[JudeMorrigan]

Not sure why you would think it's a joke? I just returned from blizzcon, it wasn't too surprising of them to announce it. It'd been rumored for a long while.

Used it in this 2003 Warcraft Three April Fool’s Day joke. Deviates from the Warcraft theme too much. Saw one Pandaren ever. Does not recall any Asian architecture. Understands a quest line of Pandarens, or even an entire zone. Seems foolish to base an entire expansion off of lore that no one has heard before. (Apparently furthered the Horde versus Alliance battle though. Do not get attached to Theramore.)

How would fans react to Diablo Three: Secret Cow Expansion? Play as a heroic Secret Cow Barbarian and visit new Secret Cow lands. Can justify it with some lore fast-talking, like a door-to-door salesperson. Existed before, after all.

Strictly speaking, there were two Pandaren in TFT. In addition to Chen in the Orgrimmar campaign, you had one in the main campaign if you beat the secret bonus level. Only the latter one is really analagous to the Secret Cow Level. Chen figured quite prominantely into the founding of Orgrimmar.

As far as it goes, a Far East expansion is practically an MMO tradition. I'd be unsurprised if the idea of getting to use Asian architechture and put samurai armor and such into the game (you know the xpac will have it) had a significant allure to the devs. And hey, if you're going to to make that sort of xpac, you might as well go ahead and throw pandaren into the mix.

As an aside, I always thought that the people who insisted that pandaren could never be in WoW because of Chinese law were full of it. I assume that this means that their received Internet Wisdom had the value that most received Internet Wisdom does.

[Kag]

Deviates from the Warcraft theme too much.

Maybe in some flip universe where the last six years of WoW didn't happen and Warcraft is still even remotely serious.

[Deva]

Deviates from the Warcraft theme too much.

Maybe in some flip universe where the last six years of WoW didn't happen and Warcraft is still even remotely serious.

May anything be added, then? How about World of Warcraft: The Nazi Zombie Front? World of Warcraft: The Search for Mankrik’s Wife? World of Warcraft: Spaaaaaace? (Sort of happened, but hush.)

Is rarely completely serious. Would not have had characters like Harrison Jones otherwise. Recalls becoming a game fowl and lighting up some dragons too. Still contains some seriousness, however. Prohibits certain items for Transmogrification (for now), such as fish weapons and rolling pins. Had Leyara’s quest line in 4.2, detailing some of her journey towards becoming a Druid of the Flame. Watched the Wrathgate event (and the Battle for the Undercity quest line for some). Helped Keristrasza in the Nexus, which led to her eventual fate. Were those not serious events?