Meh.  I wasn’t expecting much and that’s pretty much what I got out of it.

WoW launched at this time in 2004.  I played, at least when the servers were stable.  I raided enough, stopped at AQ.  I truly question people’s sanity who think fondly of those days – at least from a game mechanics perspective.  Grinding past level 20, farming materials (tubers!), resist gear, prime rotations, farming tranq shot, running into whelps…looking back you get to realize how far the game has come in 14 years.

I have enough trouble emulating a WinXP or a DOS game today, I can’t fathom how much trouble that would be for an MMO that dates to back then.  I do understand the allure of progression servers, to take that entire trip once again.  I do not understand time locked servers.  But if there are people willing to pay, you can be sure someone is going to find a way to make it work.

Even the expansion seems to backtrack on expansion progress over the years.  Mechanically getting rid of the artifacts is a good step.  Level scaling across the board is good.  Lots of dungeons, open groups, all good things.  Ignoring the story, it looks like it can work. It’s the first expansion where I am I not curious, in the least bit.  Borderline apathy I guess.

I’m sure that some folks were quite pleased with what came out over the weekend.  The general theme though appears to be somewhat neutral, if a bit negative.  Maybe it’s due to the lack of a content drought?  Or maybe that there are just too many options on the table today, and people’s time is just not as available as it once was. Curious thoughts.

I am disappointed in the lack of Diablo news.  D4 could be something neat.  After having played a lot of Path of Exile (awesome), Grim Dawn (recent expansion), the loss of Runic (for Torchlight), and Marvel Heroes seeming to go dark… we could use a decent ARPG.