I won't say that people are any less excited about a new version of World of Warcraft, but the initial rush of YouTube and blog posts seems to have calmed down quite a bit. Still, one of my observations that the game may change but the community doesn't seems to remain accurate...
And...
The speed running crowd certainly seems to be working things out right now, which kind of defeats the point of WoW Forever. Those seeking to monetize the optimized leveling process, such as Zygor, are prepping their tools for a release alongside (or shortly after) WoW Forever releases.
If nothing else, the WoW community does not disappoint.
Okay, let's be honest with ourselves: speed running was definitely going to happen. There's no two ways about it, really. The concept of speed running has been baked into video game culture for decades now, and it is so ingrained into MMOs such as WoW that any attempt to slow the speed runners down has drawn lots and lots of gripes by the larger WoW community. Concepts such as time-gated content, staggered raid wing releases, and abilities (such as flying) locked behind reputation grinds are all there to combat speed running and protect the community from themselves.
I guess someone ought to create a WoW Forever bingo card based on when they observe certain classic WoW community behavior in WoW Forever, with others providing a Shocked Pikachu face when it happens:
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| Use it or lose it, I guess. From all over the internet. |
Instead of the Center Square being free, it could be a behavior which is effectively free: Saying "I'm bored" in Trade Chat.
Oh well.
Not to detract from your main point, but did you actually watch the videos you linked? Because the first one at least has nothing to do with actual in-game speed running; it's a dev podcast in which they talk about class changes in WoW Forever; the "speed running" just being a reference to the fact that it's hard to go into detail about nine different classes in a little over an hour and they end up only touching very lightly on some of them.
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't. In fact, I haven't watched a single WoW Forever video, nor a single video from BlizzCon itself. Not even MadSeasonShow or any of the others I tend to frequent.
DeleteEven if the "speed running" refers to a quick overview of something, the point that speed running itself is so ingrained in video game culture that the title engenders a reaction like mine without even watching it.
I'm sorry I misinterpreted what the video would be about. Still, since Blizzard also celebrates the Race to World First in Retail it wasn't exactly a big stretch for me to believe that they were talking about speed running in WoW Forever. Given that the title of a video is the allure to generate clicks, I have to believe that the communications team knew what they were doing when they selected that title.