Editorial - Compairing Wrath of the Lich King to The Burning Crusade

[Messiah]

Since getting into the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Beta Byron "Messiah" Mudry has been flooded by questions about it by friends, guild mates, and just about everyone else. Everyone wants to know about something in the beta, whether it is how a Death Knight plays, which professions should they level, who is best in PvP or any number of other questions. However the most often asked question is "What's it like compared to the Burning Crusade?".

Congestion in early zones led to quest competition Everyone was competing for the same resources and kills and this lead to frustration, delays, and eventual griefing between players. In an attempt to minimize this in WotLK, Blizzard separated the starting areas for each faction in each zone a little more, and added additional faction quests that focus on different resources and kills. They also added what seems like many more quests in each zones and broke them up into many more small quest hubs. This also makes questing far less frustrating as you very rarely need to run across a whole zone to turn something in. You get to a small quest hub, complete quests near it, then move to the next one.

You can read all about it in Messiah's Editorial - Comparing Wrath of the Lich King to The Burning Crusade.

[jeffo20]

Sounds great, Messiah, I'm looking forward to seeing it go live.

It's good to see Blizz learned from some of the issues of the past. When the Sunwell content went live, the Island was dreadful for questing on. Splitting it up is a great idea.

I did not play so-called 'Vanilla WoW' so I don't know what the transition was like then, but I for one was thrilled to find the Outlands Greens and Blues, which were so much better than the things I had. I think I replaced about 1/2 - 2/3 of my gear inside of 2 hours betweene drops and quest rewards. I do find it curious how some people still get hung up on the color of an item -- 'He's got 3 greens! We can't take him in our group!' But if those greens are better than the blues or purples he might otherwise have, who cares? Still, it's nice to know that the things I've been picking up since hitting 70 might be able to last more than an hour in Northrend. Maybe that will encourage people to keep raiding until the expansion comes out.

[Miralyn]

That first week of TBC was not fun and I was glad I was able to level at off hours. I still despise Hellfire due to Zeth'gor but find that when I leveled my shaman through Zangarmarsh I went from despising it on my warlock to loving it on my shaman...mainly due to the fact that the poor drop rate quests were much more manageable when you didn't have 10 other people.

That they are not making the gear obsolete is nice and this is where I have loved how KZ has fit in. I have spent a lot of time gearing several of my toons and knowing that it will last a while is nice. My warlock went to 70 in full tier 1 but my other toons, who were not geared for MC, loved the first quests in Hellfire as they massively upgraded the gear they had from Scholomance, Stratholme and the like. I think KZ has been a huge help in this regard.

I have tried to avoid a lot of information about the expansion but unlike TBC I am really excited about Wrath. The only issue I have now is that primals are now eternals but will probably serve the same purpose. It does sound like Blizzard learned from their missteps on TBC and Wrath will improve them....and of course open new issues.

[ArcaneBomb55]

Sounds amazing. Can't wait!

[Demonyx]

NOW THIS IS AN EXCELLENT REVIEW....Major props to you good sir...It encompasses most questions ive had pertaining to WRATH.When BC hit,Hellfire was a major headache.I was wondering if this scenario would be played out again.

I think you should be promoted and given CODYBYEs job..Nice review...Good work...

[Miralyn]

I agree Demonyx. Unlike TBC which I really didn't get excited about until about two weeks prior I have been excited about what Wrath is bringing. However I was dreading another HFP type deal where the whole server is there fighting over mobs. I am glad to see Blizzard learning from what worked and didn't in TBC and making some really good design changes in the game.

[MapleShadow]

Rather then battling half the server in the two new starting zones, I might just stay in Hellfire and do the small mountain of quests I have left for Netherstorm and SMV. XP is XP.

[Aegwynn]

I'm wondering if all the stuff I have accumulated will be obsolete. What about the mote and primals? The badges of honor? The rep with the various factions? All that goes bye bye or will it still be useable? Should I sell off my void crystals and shards? I'm rather curious because I don't have any alts so should I be making room for the new stuff?

I like the idea I can still use my epic raiding gear for awhile. It's not that it's "purple" but that I worked hard to get it (I'm still working hard to get it) and I like the idea of some use of these things rather than have them rendered obsolete from the beginning. Plus the gear just looks so good! Also, I just busted my butt to get Shatar rep and spent a fortune in time and gold to get my Redeemer's Alchemist Stone for my Paladin and if what happened in BC happens in WOTLK then I would be basically wasting my time. Seems that might not be the case, which is a good thing.


Sounds like Blizzard has learned from prior mistakes and is fine tuning things. Personally I'd like to see WOTLK come out early next year instead of late this year but whatever happens is Ok at this point.

[Antamar]

Seems like it'll be a much smoother launch than TBC was. If I get my current toon to 70 in time, I'm probably gonna test the waters at each place by going to each of the starting zones, getting a couple of the starting quests, and seeing which ones have more players working on them. I'll just go to the one with the least players each night and instance alot (almost entirely from 70-80 once I get the quests soloing in fact) since everyone will be LFG, especially people who missed out on KZ running Nexus and Utgarde.

[Wihtgar]

Originally Posted by Aegwynn

I'm wondering if all the stuff I have accumulated will be obsolete. What about the mote and primals? The badges of honor? The rep with the various factions? All that goes bye bye or will it still be useable? Should I sell off my void crystals and shards? I'm rather curious because I don't have any alts so should I be making room for the new stuff?

Well I'm not in beta so I can't speak to your question itself, however, keep in mind that people still need to level up professions and BC items will still be good for another 25-30 points in the profession. I expect there to be huge demand for adamantite, hardened adamantite, primal fire and Fel Steel, as soon as WOTLK releases because people will want to power level blacksmithing and the like. You should see the same effect in Enchanting and other professions as well.

I've noticed over time that some Pre-BC items have actually gone up in value due to people wanting them to either change professions, or more likely to level up an alt's professions.