Massively Overthinking: One more chance for WoW Legion?

The World of Warcraft subreddit went nuts this week over a response to a player who told Blizzard that it had “one more chance… again” to win his heart. Blizzard’s PR Facebooked back,

“This is quite humbling really. We’re very thankful to have such an amazing, trustful, and enthusiastic community. You guys really are the best. You won’t regret it btw, we’re doing our best, we’ve learned a lot from past mistakes and we’re putting everything we have into Legion.”

The sub gave it thousands of upvotes in spite of some more cynical players who pointed out it was generic PR that could have been said by any studio (and has been said by Blizzard before). People are excited for Legion… and hopeful. As I remarked on this week’s podcast, my guildies are piling back into the game as if it hadn’t been abandoned for the past year, all eager to give Blizzard another chance. Maybe they really believe Blizzard’s changed for the better, or maybe they just don’t want to believe the magic is over. It doesn’t matter: They ponied up for Legion.

So for this week’s Massively Overthinking, I polled the MOP writers on whether they, too, are giving WoW another chance. Is Legion enough? What would it take? Will Legion really be different from all the expansions before?

Andrew Ross (@dengarsw): I have seen and heard absolutely nothing to bring me back to WoW. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but even after a year of mostly MMO-like games a few trips into my old MMO haunts (SWTOR and the now-finally-released Landmark), nothing coming to the game feels new or fresh for someone who has ventured into MMOs beyond Blizzard’s subscription only gates. That may come off as elitist or hipster-ish, but I say this as someone who has been experiencing a broader genre palate due to living abroad, and going back to singleplayer games and local multiplayer has been a big reminder that the power of MMOs was interesting social play, and WoW just hasn’t tackled that in a way that excites me. In fact, I’d argue Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, and Overwatch did more to cultivate social play in their respective genres over the past year than WoW has or will do for the next year. Maybe the next expansion will get my attention, though!

Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): Sometime I’d like to see Andrew explain how a card game without chat is more social than WoW!

The last time I had a fantastic time in World of Warcraft was in Mists of Pandaria, which I was surprised to realize (many months after launch) I loved. I’d put Pandaria right behind Wrath for expansion packs. Draenor did nothing for me. In fact, Draenor marks the first expansion that I bought, played a little, quit, and didn’t come back to for catching-up purposes, making Legion the first expansion I’m not ready for at all and don’t care to be. That’s a big deal for someone who’s been playing WoW since alpha. Draenor was exceptionally alienating to my specific playstyle, and while Legion is addressing that a bit (particularly in regard to leveling and 5-mans), I’m not over my extreme distrust for Blizzard brought on by Draenor, and the latest round of class dismantling has been particularly painful to my love for my personal characters.

I know better than to say never — that would be silly. My guild is already boisterously loping into World of Warcraft, unaware of the politics of their decision, and they usually drag me along with them (or vice versa). But I haven’t preordered, and I’m not hyped at all. I’m having too much fun in other games — yes, other great MMOs exist! — and I wish we could all teach Blizzard this time that it can’t just crook a finger and get us back without serious effort. So right now, I’m in a wait-and-see holding pattern. Wow me, WoW.

Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre, blog): Look, on the one hand I am the wrong person to ask about this because if someone has failed to notice, this is part of my job. Giving WoW a chance with Legion has never been a question mark for me. It’s like going to see the Warcraft film: I was kind of honor-bound to head down this road no matter what I felt about its overall prospects.

But more so than before, I actually like what’s being done with Legion. It still has parts that bother me or raise my hackles, but it also has things that it’s doing that feel genuinely new, stuff that really feels in play like the developers are integrating new lessons and trying new things rather than just hashing out the same road again. The whole idea of world quests and the way that Order Halls work is much better than what was done with Garrisons, giving you both the management aspect without the tedious check-in-every-half-hour aspect. It feels like an incremental upgrade that I rather like.

There’s no way that this will erase the disappointment and slight high point of the game’s previous three expansions, but I do genuinely believe that Legion is going to be better than Warlords of Draenor from top to bottom. And as someone who loves the game, I want it to be. I know it’ll never supplant Final Fantasy XIV at its current point, but it could certainly provide a great alternate point to what FFXIV does so well. More than I had when gearing up for Warlords, I have hope.

Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): At the beginning of this year, I wasn’t even thinking about coming back to World of Warcraft. I assumed my days in the game were long behind me, but after a winding journey, I’ve arrived back in the title and am quite excited for the big reset button of Legion. While Blizzard hasn’t addressed everything that I would personally like, there is a whole lot here that has the potential for months (years if they get the patch machine going) of entertainment.

In particular, I think the zone auto-scaling to your level and the varied world quests (shamelessly — and smartly — ripped off from Guild Wars 2) offer a different WoW experience than we’ve had to date. I can’t wait to dive into artifact weapons too — talents 2.0 anyone?

There’s no doubt that the community is primed to evacuate Warlords of Draenor and flee into Legion at a moment’s notice. The leveling quests will no doubt be excellent (they usually are), but the real question is whether Blizzard manages to crack that endgame nut and give players a variety of content that’s fun and rewarding to repeat.

Your turn!