WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Preview
There's an article on 1up about the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft. I've set this expansion as the thing that will get me back into WoW, at least briefly, and one of the points in its favour for me is that the developers have learned from The Burning Crusade.
One quote that really interests me is from Chris Metzen:
"It [The Burning Crusade] had a lot of high-concept ideas, high-concept environments," he says, calling to mind the psychedelic mushrooms of Zangarmarsh, the tragic majesty of Tempest Keep, "but other than some really nice moments, there was nothing really personal about it."
and then:
"We want to add some layers of psychology that put you in strange moral situations of how you fight the good fight that mimic some of Arthas' own experiences.... By the time you reach level 80 [the expansion's new level cap], by the time you stand toe-to-toe with this bastard, do you still have your pretty principles and highfalutin morality, or is it a mirror reflection? Arthas is after that as much as global domination. It's a hook that makes it personal that Burning Crusade didn't have."
A conversation I was having with a few friends last night, one of whom has played only MMOs, and one of whom has played only single-player CRPGs, centred around this idea of story and personality, so I'm very interested to see it being dealt with like this. If they can personalise the story aspects, without having them be the same, that'd be something pretty fantastic. By that I mean - the Thrall questline for the Horde in The Burning Crusade was pretty cool, but it played out the same way every single time, and if you'd seen it happen for someone else, there was very little point - storywise - in doing it yourself. If this progress in Arthas' footsteps can be made, well, personal, it'll be a very good thing.
Posted by Drew Shiel at November 8, 2007 12:46 PM
Yeah Drew, everyone I know who's playing WOW is really looking forward that the wrath of the Lich King could come fast and furious.
I think only the Lich King could bring back forth the kingdom. Azeroth is really quiet on my side currently.
Posted by: Joana's Guide at December 6, 2007 3:48 PM