Legendary 84: Is Mists Of Pandaria Aimed At A Younger Audience?

Written by: (@garygannon) | July 13, 2012 4:30 am

156 Comments

The gang is back for another week of World of Warcraft shenanigans.  Topics for this weeks show include:

  • Is the Mists of Pandaria expansion aimed at a younger audience?
  • What is Blizzards motivation behind the recently announced  Guild Mentoring program?
  • Vivendi is looking to sell off its 60% stake in Activision Blizzard…What if Microsoft were to scoop up the shares?
  • Dragon Soul gets nerfed to 30%! Have things gone too far!?
  • And Blizz announced a new game at the San Diego Comic Con…I bet you didn’t see this one coming!

Be sure to tune in live every Thursday at 8PDT for all your World of Warcraft news wackiness.

Legendary 84: Is Mists Of Pandaria Aimed At A Younger Audience?

  • http://twitter.com/BarrensChat2 Benjamin aka Beowülf

    Either way, I’m excited to play this expansion! :)

  • http://twitter.com/WaylandX JB

    If  Microsoft bought Blizzard then Titan would be an Halo mmo

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      I took it one step further, if Microsoft bought Bilzzard.   Microsoft would bundle Titan (Halo MMO) with Windows 8(or an update) and make the largest MMO of all time.

      • MMO_Doubter

         Wow. You just blew my mind.

      • Old Ben

        And they would then go bankrupt trying to pay the antitrust fines. Forgot what happened with MSIE and WMP…?

      • http://www.youtube.com/user/cpjontek cpjontek

        OF ALL TIME!!!

        /Kanye interrupt

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/Z36GPOU3Q2QIQYBIDVNQAVGNGE Raul

        Thanx for the Nightmares I shall be having tonight.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1764743642 Jop Mulder

    BEATLES!
     

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Quinn/504633100 Jason Quinn

    I would say no, but it’s definitely the least mature expansion and content I’ve ever seen from them.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      The story lines do seem more sultle in MoP.  But they are all still there, stories about oppression, corruption, insanity, ancient races attempting to dominate the world and turn everyone into slaves.  You know, everyday politics.

  • http://www.facebook.com/adi.romaga ADi Romaga

    damn..never knew mike b used to be a member of N*SYNC, cool bangs brah’ :) )

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      Never doubted that MikeB had game and Gary Gannon was one laid back dude.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23323284 Heather Kelsey

    Awesome episode! 
     
    I don’t see Mists as an expansion geared towards kids.  Sure there are pokemon and pandas but the way they are portrayed isn’t as childish as it sounds as first.  I may be biased tho… I just like Asian things a lot.  And I wasted almost as much of my childhood on pokemon as I did on Mario, Final Fantasy, Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Castlevania – so I’m pretty psyched up about pet battles.  So yeah, I might not be dancing anywhere near age 14 anymore, but I’m interested.  Part of me longs for the darker days of Vanilla, but the majority of my feelings are pretty positive. 

    • Old Ben

      > I just like Asian things a lot. 

      That’s a bit like saying “I like European things a lot”. Asia is a big place with radically different “things” (food, religion, culture, etc.) depending on which country you visit. True, WoW is a bit of a mash-up, but they’re far more Chinese than Japanese, Mongol or Indian, for example.

  • Maurice Reimann

    I always get the feeling that things like that inflamatory title card (“AIMED AT KIDS?”) don’t… fit in with what the episodes actually say.

     You know, when gary is like WHAT ABOUT [interpretation that angry people on the forums would rage about]???   and then both lore and mikeB have to explain “no, actually that would be stupid for these several reasons. You know blizzard still like having money.”

    And in the end the show gets condensed with these titles, and  I’ll just assume the target audience for these troll titles are people who actually go “What? IMPOSSIBRU blizzard is at it again breaking our game!!”. 
    But to me it always feels like all the efforts to explain stuff to gary failed and he’s still a raging guy on the forums :<

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/Q323LZHG6N6RXWYHCJDXVVX654 Zaronis

    Mike S., Axis and Allies was originally published in 1981. RISK was published in 1957.

    Also, Blizzard will release the Warcraft movie when it’s just right. /facepalm

  • http://www.facebook.com/jeanpierre.naranjo.52 JeanPierre Naranjo

    Isn’t all of WoW aimed at kids? 

    haha sorry had to go there.

    • Old Ben

      Considering it has a subscription and a cash shop, no. Well, maybe at kids able to steal their parents’ credit card.

  • http://twitter.com/aidshbe hemmer

    Furry mouse? http://www.instructables.com/id/Mouse-Mouse!/
    Mouse Mouse!

    You’d have to get a rat or something though to fit a gaming mouse.

  • http://twitter.com/Naqaj Naqaj

    MikeB’s picture proves he has to play charr in GW2. Already rockin’ the horns …

  • Krzysztof Kotarba

    hahaha MikeB looks like a dork from backstreet boys, but Gary… oh damn looks like Dave Mustaine.What if EA buys blizz…

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23323284 Heather Kelsey

      EA?  Oh, dear god… please, no. Just. No. *shudders*

  • Alex B

    90 levels is 60levels + 40!

  • Wolfdreamer101

    A whole episode where there was no Netflix or Donation plug?  That tin foil covering your naughty bits must’ve interfered with your brainwaves somehow.  Still a good show when there really wasn’t that much to cover.

  • http://twitter.com/OlivierPavade Arkanmizard

    trouble with WoW getting a tv show is that blizzard will have to stick to the lore and wont be able to hide behind “a wizard did it” excuses when they mess up with it.

    • MMO_Doubter

       Haven’t seen ‘Lost’ have you?

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      Thats okay, Red-Shirted Fan will keep any eye on the lore and let them know of any problems.  

      Actually saw the Red-Shirted Fan npc wandering around the Darkmoon Faire, must be checking up on the lore.

      Hope that npc makes it out to Pandaria.  

  • Fredacp

    Gary, nice job man. 
    Last week the show was really off track and it was kinda hard to watch.
    but yesterday you did a great job. IMO you don’t need to stop making jokes, you are a very funny guy indeed. The problem is just that sometimes you start making the same jokes over and over again and don’t let people say what they want. So I guess everything is just a matter of getting the feeling of when to do the jokes.

    Mike S. too did an awesome job. 
    Since he started appearing in legendary he clearly got a lot more confident. And it’s also very nice to see that he receives all the jokes everyone makes with him in a very mature way.

    Josh and Mike B. also did a great job, as usual. XD
    Well, but great show and congratulations to you guys and everyone else from Gamebreaker that don’t appear on the shows. You all definitely make my life… better. lol

    And….. Buff Skippy!!

  • Thomas Philp

    Guild mentoring strategy:

    Why do
    people
    fail?

    Rumors
    Negativity
    Fact vs. Fiction
    Incorrect Information

    The way to surmount these obstacles is to inform yourself! 

    Due to the nature of the game culture, information can be tainted as it is passed from one person to the next. From 100% to 50% to 15% to 3% and generally speaking people only RETAIN 10% of information.

    MVP status on the forums = Recognition

    The only thing left to do is for blizzard to turn the game into earning residual money. ( affiliation ) not like D3 but different.

    This and more are steps they are taking to make more money.

    Look up: MLM or multi level marketing.

    • MMO_Doubter

       You make a good point, and I think that such changes might well be inevitable for long running MMOs.

      Which might well mean MMOs are doomed to be turned into pale shadows of what they once were (if they EVER were any good in the first place).

  • dakumaro

    lets face it wow is dying because of how they’ve been treating the players and the community
    they care more about the bottom line then about the players.
    for this reason. I’ll stick to my GW2 it’s free to play :D

    • JJversion1

      Where are ppl getting this WoW is dying crap? I’ve seen nothing to indicate that it’s dying, slowing down maybe, but still not dying. If the next report indicates a mass exodus of more ppl cancelling their subs, then maybe I’ll believe it. ‘Til then, WoW will be dead when it is dead and not before. Just because a few disgruntled individuals say that it is doesn’t make it so. That being said, I agree that WoW is trying to bring in some new blood and that the content in this next XP is a slow and subtle way of doing that, not that it’s a bad thing it’s very good in fact imo.

      • MMO_Doubter

        Going in reverse is not ‘slowing down’.

        MAYBE you will believe it, if the next report shows a mass exodus? MAYBE?

        You have a problem.

        • JJversion1

          Where are you getting this info? There is no such info to indicate such a thing, all info so far indicates that WoW is holding steady at 10.2 million subs. Nothing indicating that it’s dead. It may be dead for you, but that is not an indication that it is dying. And my “maybe” is my way of stating that things can turn around, it could very well be “dying” in the next report… however MoP could turn all of that around and then next thing you know WoW’s had a revival. Seems to me that someone does indeed have a problem, but it’s certainly not me.

          • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

            It does seem the hip, cool thing is to bash on WoW.   But, you also have to believe there is a ton of burnouts, who have played WoW for many, many years.

            It also seems odd for them to root for a game to fail and take joy in that.   While I no longer play Rift or SWTOR I don’t wish for them to fail.

            The next numbers call should be early August, but it won’t matter.  If it comes in under 10m, they will jump up and down like giddy school girls.  If it goes back up (seeing alot of players returning), they will claim everyone is stupid and Blizzard is making up the numbers.

            The real question is can MoP out sell Cataclysm.  Cataclysm sold alot of copies. 

             

          • JJversion1

            That is a very good question. I’ve played a bit of the beta here and there (don’t want to delve too much into it before release) and what I’ve seen actually impresses me. There are some aspects of the XP that I don’t care for too much but that’s the point of a theme park MMO, there’s something for everyone. If you don’t like this then you can go try this, etc. That’s what I like about WoW. But Haters are gonna hate, no matter, my whole point isn’t about their opinions.. it’s them stating their opinions as fact while ignoring any proof to the contrary nor presenting any proof of their own to back up their statement.

          • http://www.facebook.com/jari.kivinen Jari Raimo Kivinen

            MoP can never outsell Cataclysm, simply because you need Cataclysm to get MoP.

          • JJversion1

            I think that he’s referring to opening sells, not overall sales that are accumulated with time. It will be interesting to see if it does outsell Cata or no.

          • http://www.facebook.com/jari.kivinen Jari Raimo Kivinen

            durr

          • JJversion1

            Really intelligent, my point still stands. You’ve contributed nothing to your point.

          • Old Ben

            > Cataclysm sold alot of copies. 

            Less than WotLK, on launch day (if you actually add together both WotLK launch days, East and West, instead of comparing Cataclysm to just one of them).

          • Old Ben

            The thing is… that’s info coming from Blizzard. If you look at actual “player activity” graphs, coming from 3rd party sites like GuildOx, you see a 50% decline over the last couple of years. And Blizzard’s reports are getting less detailed each year (now you can’t even get regional numbers, just a single global total of subscriptions).

            Ultimately, “more” and “better” are two different things. McDonald’s slices of soggy cardboard don’t become any more similar to real burgers just because more people eat them. People who like WoW would presumably keep playing it even if there were only 10 thousand players worldwide, and people who don’t like WoW wouldn’t play it even if there were 10 billion subscribers.

          • JJversion1

            Which is exactly my point, the phrase “WoW is dying” is merely an opinion. It can’t even really be called conjecture, we don’t have any recent updated info as to the state of the subs and we won’t have it until next month to see if it confirms whether or not WoW is currently in a state of decline to the point that someone can state that it’s clearly “dying.” The whole point of my point is that no one can state their opinion as fact without definitive proof to back it up. Their opinion is just that… their opinion. They are perfectly entitled to it, all I ask is that they back up their statement if they want it acknowledged as fact. I’m not necessarilly asking for links (although it’d help their case), but quotes from experts or something similar to that effect (kind of like what you did) would probably allow their statement to be more acceptable as fact.

          • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

            Took a look at the GuildOx article, that was a shoddy piece of work.

            There are so many weakness in the metrics they were using in that article.  Seem to be all setup to give the “WoW is dead” headline.

            If your progression raiding guild is stuck on Heroic Spine, you don’t get credit for being an active raiding guild.

            If your casual raiding guild already has a mix of normal and heroic boss achievement kills, you dont get credit for being an active raiding guild.  

            If your guild has more than one raid team, you only get credit as a single active guild. End of expansions, always has consolidations of guilds.  With a new expansion you will see an explosion of new guilds, for Cata my favorite names were “OMG Ice Cream Truck BRB”, “Mean Girls” and “Good Guys.”

            Again the article was a piss poor attempt at a shock headline, based on a manipulative interpretation of statistics.

          • http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

             Its the End of the Expansion theres always decline on Guild Ox, Ya DS is very boring that means nothing, people will be back in MoP.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Simpson/1517418357 Chris Simpson

    I like the mentoring system in eq2, where u basically gotto a npc called a chronomage an pay gold an have your level/items/skills reduced to a level of your choice an just type /unmentor to go back to normal, or group with a player target them an type /mentor and your reduced to the same lvl as them so u can quest together do dungeons etc

  • ClubberLaing

    Nice show guys.
    Very professional this week.

    Bring on the newbs…The Alliance could use some help.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

    Sure it Caters to the kiddies, I mean you got Pokemon Battles, Pandas I mean all thats left now is to introduce Dora the Explorer. Blizzard has just lost all perspective and the sad thing is people will continue to play this game because its all they really know. GW2 is coming out soon and that is definitely more towards the mature crowd wanting something that is fun and entertaining.

    Something WoW lacks every which way they turn.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      Dora the Explorer is much more GW2.   Got to figure Dora will explore GW2 in about six months and then move on to the next MMO.  But that’s okay, Dora didn’t have to pay a monthly sub.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

         Not sure if that was in Defense of WoW or just an off the wall comment. You sure you aren’t a Sharuko multi? Like WoW is any better on the explorable front? You can only explore so much in a game. Its the content that really matter, which GW2 has easily fleshed out moreso than WoW will ever dream of.

        • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

          Me, no. I’m playing WoW, WoW MoP beta and GW2 BWE. 

          Loving the GW2 combat, races and professions.  Having a total blast with WvW.  That’s why you find me on the GW2 forums.

          Not a fan of the GW2 PVE, to me it seems to lack depth.  It’s all about how clever our mechanics are, look at this Dynamic Event.  Or hiding quests in the Renowned Hearts.    

      • http://www.facebook.com/adam.michaud.9 Adam Michaud

        When Dora is done exploring for 6 months she can do WvWvW or structured PvP or as long as Arenanet delivers…roll a new Dora and have completely new events to do in every zone. Or maybe Dora likes the storylines and wants to see completely different storyline with a new character while she experiences the new events. Sorry…an ever changing mmo is more interesting than a static mmo with just a patch every few months. Not to say World of Warcraft is a bad game…but face the facts folks, its outdated.

        • JJversion1

          I am interested in picking up GW2, it seems like it’s gonna be a fun game. However I highly doubt it’d get me to cancel my subscription to WoW, I will most likely be one of those gamers that will play both games and with no sub fee in GW2… that will be easy.

        • http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

          Ya but bandwagon train never stops at station for to long, its always moving and it passengers never leave.

      • http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

        lol Dularr

    • JJversion1

      The Panderan race was brought in because of popular demand, Idk about the Pet Battle system… I might, and that’s a strong might, dabble into it and might stick with it if Blizz makes it worth my while. However I doubt it… I’ll give Blizz props though, they are trying to come up with some fun and intuitive things for MoP and it’s certainly interesting for me. However, I do agree that some of the things that they are introducing do seem to be appealing to a younger audience, but that’s how they’re gonna keep their player base fresh. It’s the nature of the beast.

      • Old Ben

        > The Panderan race was brought in because of popular demand

        In all the years I played WoW, and up to the moment when MoP was announced, I never heard a single person say they wanted to play a pandaren. Goblins, yes. Naga, yes. Pandaren, never. 

        • JJversion1

          Blizz used the same method for the panderan that they used for the goblins and naga. At gaming events, such as Blizzcon (which we no longer have) and such, they took out surveys on what races would most players like to see in WoW and Blizz claimed that the Panderan were #1 followed by the Naga, which came in a close 2nd. According to these surveys, the panderan race was the most popular. I, personally, would’ve love to have seen the Naga myself. 

          • Old Ben

            > Blizz claimed that the Panderan were #1

            Which, given their track record in the last couple of years, makes it more unlikely to be true than if they hadn’t actually said anything. :-P

            BTW, I like how you spelled it there, “panderan” (instead of pandaren). It’s almost as if they’re pandering to some specific market…

          • JJversion1

            You caught that huh? I thought no one would catch on. lol.

          • Old Ben

            Msot poeple wnot ntoice sawpped leettrs in the mdille of wrods. As lnog as the frist and lsat leettrs are crreoct, tehir brian recgoznies the wrod.

          • JJversion1

            lol, good one. It just seemed, to me, that no one (present company excluded) noticed. You’re extremely clever and I just wanted to give you your props.

          • http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

             Ben is one of the most clever people on here. He never trolls always gives good feedback and never bashes, Just gives his opinion.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/Z36GPOU3Q2QIQYBIDVNQAVGNGE Raul

          I would not have dropped My sub after nearly 7 years,
          if they’d brought us the emerald dream.

          For many of My former guildmates, it was not so much about what they will be bringing us,
          as much as what they choose to leave out.

          I kept seeing that Dark Ranger NPC in Dal, and hoping….

          Also,
          Semi Naked Female pandas in goldshire are not going to be pretty.

          • JJversion1

            I would’ve loved to have seen the emerald dream, however I’m not too miffed about the pandaren. I’m not too excited about them either but I have no probs with them. Will I play a Pandaren? Probably, they have some pretty sick racials; however that will be the only real reason why I’ll even consider playing one. Playing one because I like the race will not be a factor because I’m not too fond of them. I would’ve liked to have seen the Jinyu and the Mogu as playable races and just have the Pandaren as a neutral npc race rather than a playable one. But, meh, what ever will be will be and it isn’t gonna break the game for me.

        • http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

          During Blizzcon for like 4 years they had a poll that if you could put in a new race into WoW what would it be and Pandaren were the favourite for 3/4 years. The year they weren’t the favourite, Worgen were.

          • Old Ben

            Got any evidence of that?

    • Sharuko

      Right GW2 caters to a “mature” crowd which is why their “legendary” weapons are pink colored rainbow unicorn bow’s.  You couldn’t pick a more kid friendly item than that.  You guys are working towards that rainbow colored legendary that is your end game goal. At first I though the guy was joking when he said it then I saw the weapon and laughed out loud.  The GW2 community has no right to attack Pandas anymore.

      GW2 is catered to the tween demographic and I have said that since day one, just to name a few reasons why:

      No subscription fee, doesn’t require parents credit card
      Only 5 keybinds necessary
      Asura who look like miniature telebubbies
      Don’t have to work for gear everything is handed to you
      Slyvaria are clones of Navi from Avatar

      I can understand players who play other MMOs say that about Pandas but not the GW2 community that time is gone after the rainbow unicorn bow.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/Z36GPOU3Q2QIQYBIDVNQAVGNGE Raul

        Dear Enmasse employee, 

        please post Your GW2 hatespam in the appropriate areas, 
        as this area is strictly for panda-bashing only.
        thank you.

        • JJversion1

          I didn’t realise this site was for bashing anything…

  • hotpei

    Its pandas guys….PANDAS. If you ever needed a reason to quit this ancient game, surely pandas will have to be it.

    MoP will be a Flop, this is a “jump the shark” moment in mmo history. And in the end, no one will care…WoW had a great run, we all played it, but seriously…the game play is old, tired and unresponsive now, fully 3/4 of the game is inaccessible or meaningless to complete, and now pandas.

    Pandas.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      What problem do you have with killing Alliance Pandas?   I just wish I could get the rainbow shooting  unicorn bow from GW2 so I could shoot the Alliance Panda.

    • JJversion1

      Yes pandas, but however Blizz is introducing the panderan race because of fans asking for them. If this is an indication, then Pandas could very well be the reason why many fans won’t quit. We don’t know if MoP will flop, for all we know it could very well be a huge success, or it could cause WoW to burn to ashes. The only way we’ll know is when the XP actually gets released.

    • http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

      Ya cause every other WoW Killer didn’t flop after they were proclaimed to be a god, Bandwagon GW2 fanboys grow the hell up and let the people who want to continue to play enjoy it, The real Guild Wars community doesn’t WoW and know that there game isn’t a WoW Killer or the this messiah. You will all eventually jump ship to Elder Scrolls online before the beta comes out.

      Ya WoW is really inaccessible, when its alot easier to do things not a days than back in the day. I think you should look the words meaning before you post.

      Have you met a Panda before? they are bears you know and will rip you shreds if you mess with them or there Bamboo.

  • MMO_Doubter

    Starcraft Risk appeals to me.

  • SevenFold

    If Microsoft buys Blizzard will we be able to pay for our sub in MSP’s? :p

    • Old Ben

      More importantly, if they make a Kinect version of WoW, will arcane mages finally have to move more than one finger?

      • http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

         I would love to be a Mage with Kinect !!

  • Deathstar2x

    Dat squeaky chair…

  • Luís Rocha

    So… Why did Gary have the background monitors filled with pictures of Britney Spears?

    P.S.: Yes, I know they were pictures of a younger Mike B, I just found them to be “strangely” similar to the singer. =P

  • Johan Andersson

    To comment the G600-glitch: Also have a G600 mouse, and have THE SAME PROBLEM! Same with Rift! It IS a mouse-glitch, and the problem is the micro-switches for the right- and left buttons, that SOMETIMES “jump” (dont know the english word for it) an extra time when you release the button, and after that the USB get some weird signal that you moved the mouse a far distance when you actually didn’t do that.
    The problem has 2 solutions:
    * Open the mouse and make the gap between “clicked” and “none-clicked” on the microswitches bigger. (there are videos on the net describing this). I tried this… but got afraid to destroy the mouse, so I put it back together.
    * The SIMPLE solution: Install “AutoHotkey” and google for “Buggy-Mouse.ahk”. Change the dubbel-click-value in the beginning of the script to 50 or 70 or something, and it will solve MOST OF THE PROBLEM (not the complete problem, but good enough). If it works fine with 70, try lower the value until you reach your mouse micro-switch-click-interval as close as possible to it wont interfer with your gaming. Mine is 60, lower then that and it doesn’t help.

  • Karizee

    http://www.battlenet.com.cn/wow/zh/blog/6496062/%E7%9B%9B%E5%A4%8F%E9%AD%94%E9%83%BD_ChinaJoy%E6%9A%B4%E9%9B%AA%E6%9D%A5%E8%A2%AD-2012%E5%B9%B47%E6%9C%8813%E6%97%A5
    Look at the latest blue blog on the China realms. You can use Google Translate to see what it says “naive Panda people” and “In addition to the staged outside the WOW version of “Kung Fu Panda” Panda cosplay scene”
    Blizzard themselves is saying it’s Kung Fu Panda.
    Face it, the only people that were screaming for Pandas were kids in China.

  • http://profiles.google.com/gl7676 gl 7676

    I don’t play WoW but brought my 5 year old kid over to my buddy’s house who was playing the MoP beta and he thought my friend was playing a KungFu Panda video game and wanted to join in !

    • JJversion1

      This is a sad and unfortunate thing about MoP, the association with Kung Fu Panda. Many ppl whom are ignorant of the lore often make those associations in Trade chat, but the fact of the matter is that the Panderan race has been out since Warcraft 3, which came out long before Kung Fu Panda, and has been one of the races that many fans have been clamoring for a while now to come out for WoW. Without the proper knowledge of the lore, there are going to be many trolls in general and trade for quite some time before and after the XP comes out.

      • http://profiles.google.com/gl7676 gl 7676

        Trust me, I bought Warcraft I back in the mid 90s and it was a blast way back then but when people see a walking/talking panda nowadays, first thought is Disney and not WoW. Tbh, I did snicker when they introduced a Panda hero in WC3 and he was not easy to play.

      • Karizee

        It says Kung Fu Panda on the official Chinese forums, latest blue blog titled ChinaJoy.  Go look if you don’t believe me, lol.

        • JJversion1

          I wouldn’t doubt that, but it just reinforces my statement.

          • Karizee

            No, I’m saying Blizz themselves posted that – the Kung Fu Panda thing.

          • JJversion1

            I wouldn’t doubt that either, but all it’s doing is feeding into the sterotype and only proves that in the end all Blizz is doing is “cutting their noses off to spite their faces” so to speak.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/Z36GPOU3Q2QIQYBIDVNQAVGNGE Raul

          I would also not doubt that, as it re-enforces my beliefs, as well.

      • ArsenicSundae

        Perception trumps lore and the perception is kung fu pandas … for kiddies.  If Blizzard were half the developer they use to be, they would have recognized this fail before it made it to production.  It just highlights how pathetic they’ve become.  MoP could well be their tombstone.

        • JJversion1

          Anything’s possible, however one thing I thought of, recently, is that making such a connection could actually turn around the franchise. If so, that’d make Blizz a marketing genius. They would be bringing in alot of fresh blood that are fans of the movies and series.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/Z36GPOU3Q2QIQYBIDVNQAVGNGE Raul

        By clamouring Fans, I can only assume You mean their pan oceanic subscriber base.
        That is the market they are aiming for, anyone can see that.

        Blizzcon was not an unprofitable event, but look to where their efforts were directed this year.
        I wouldn’t be surprised if they started holding it in Seoul, or even Hong Kong.

        Everyone I played with wanted nothing to do with that relatively minute part of the lore,(compared to say, oh,The Emerald Dream)

        And while some of us were okay with battling pets, none of the 400 + members of our now – defunct guild wanted the “introduction to wow” design approach they are currently employing. 
        (Dire Maul V2, anyone? )

        The content is being designed for new markets, not dying ones.
         
        There was a time when the majority of players were the north american and European markets.Those days are long gone.

        • Karizee

          Blizz just announced World Championship being held in Shanghai lol

          • http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

            They said the Battle.net championships would be in China, when Blizzcon was cancelled this year.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Vic-Coleman/100000230803712 Vic Coleman

    On 25 man, heroic spine basically killed my guild. We were clearly the first five bossed in like one hour at 10% debuff, take  a few pull to kill boat, and we would wipe hard on, and over and over on spine and this was this way in 10%,15% and 20%.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      Heroic Spine was the guild killer for DS.

  • Spatology

    In answer to the title of this video:

    Yes.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=604561747 Coral Valenzuela

    mike ssuch a cutie but, whats up with the blond?

    • http://twitter.com/MikeSchaffnit Mike Schaffnit

      <_.<

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JD5RIAPTFFZFIF3DCNYVVG7NIQ Kyle Bohannon

    i find it mildly entertaining that anyone who associated mop with kung fu panda (on forums like mmo-champion or something) were immediately countered with this fierce looking pandaren piece of art. people would say that its looks kinda kiddieish and someone would inevitably post this ferocious looking panda.

    unfortunately everything ive seen out of mop has been similar looking to kung fu panda and nothing like the ferocious looking pandas that have been used to counter the kiddie look.

    personally i dont care. i stopped playing a couple months into cata as 7 years of basically the same stuff got me fairly burnt out. i sincerely hope that something piques my interest but as of yet its looks like more of the same. a couple of news ways to farm gear but thats about it. i wish them luck and hope that one day i might return to azeroth but for now ill stick to LoL, swtor and gw2

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/Z36GPOU3Q2QIQYBIDVNQAVGNGE Raul

      Thank You for prettymuch typing what I would’ve.
      Been playing since it began.

      The current lack of imagination and obvious marketing direction can only be explained by the financial directives of the Company, not the handful of original team members.

      Look to where their original talent went, if You miss the feelings You got when azeroth was young.

      My 5 level 85s will probably remain eternally wandering the twilight highlands, and I will miss them a great deal,
      but Pandas and lazy game designing do not equal adventure, to me.

      • http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

         The other animals from the farm would like to speak with you.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      Nah, its all about the Mogu. Hozen, Jinyu, Saurok and others.  I do find the Pandarens to be rather passive.  Seems like there are only a few locations where the Pandarens are locked into never ending battle.

  • http://www.facebook.com/rasmus.nielsen.75491 Rasmus Nielsen

    In regards to the Microsoft buying ActiBlizz to get Bungie back, that would be the ultimate Neener Neener…

    Bungie : We don’t like you! Neener! We’re going to Activision! You’ll never get us now!
    Microsoft : -writes check for 10 BILLION DOLLARS, then cackles like doctor Evil.-

  • Old Ben

    > MikeB dixit:
    > Aren’t the people feeling it’s too late [for the nerfs] the ones leaving?

    I don’t think they are, but, even if they were, so what? If the content gets nerfed and they finish it, then they’ll just complain there’s nothing left to do and leave anyway. 

    There is absolutely nothing to gain in having all content accessible to everyone. Having goals is an important part of enjoying a game (and life in general), even if those goals are unattainable. It’s running _out_ of goals that makes people give up.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      The hardcore raider is using the end of expansion nerfs to finish gearing up a couple of alts.   You never know what the next progression raid is going to need.

      I looked up one of the top geared druids on my server and he only completed the heroic versions of the raids,  its all about preparing for the next tier of raids. 

      • Old Ben

        > The hardcore raider is using the end of expansion nerfs
        > to finish gearing up a couple of alts.

        That’s just silly. You know as well as I do that quest greens and blues from MoP have better stats than anything you can get from heroic DS, and no item from Cataclysm is going to be even remotely viable for MoP raids.

  • Reehab

    Call
    of duty loses money on purpose!  I can not explain this in 140
    characters or less, but knowing Gamebreaker.tv fans are self educated
    read this first – The Hollywood Economist.  The Suits basically set up
    separate companies for each game title, therefore, Call of Duty, the game
    is in fact its own separate entity within Activision/Blizzard.  It is,
    in fact, in their best interest to show a loss for the Call of Duty
    franchise because most if not all of the compensation for the people who
    develop the game (the talent) is directly related to the success of the
    game or entity forever deepening the divide between the Suits, Hardcore Gamers, and the Muppets (aka casuals)

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      You sure about that.  While I understand The Hollywood Economist reference,  big Hollywood studios juggle the books on blockbuster movies, making them appear to lose money, so they don’t have to pay the talent their back end bonus.

      Can you point me to a article in the press that outlines this practice for the major gaming titles?

  • http://www.facebook.com/sean9000 Sean Majzner

    lol nice shoes gary

  • http://www.facebook.com/chris.collins.5059601 Chris Collins

    Is it just me… or does that panda look like gary?

  • Elusive Fox

    I just wanted to leave a comment on the mentoring program, I think that an expansion is the perfect time for it.  there are always an influx of new players around the expansions, sure it isnt as many as returning players.  
    Keep in mind that Wow is a big game for new players, and while it only takes a week or so to get to end game for MMO vets, not knowing what builds are relavent etc is a big curve for the new MMO player.
    if this is going to be great it needs to be good guilds chosen for each server.

  • Unknownman14

    If Microsoft buys Blizzard I will be flipping tables in their office! Literally! They already ruined RARE by forcing them make shitty Kinect games instead of making their own ip (Killer Instinct anyone?) that could have help the 360 console I mean seriously, the Xbox is in the top because of the XBOX exclusive BS!

    Imagine what they will do to blizzard? I mean seriously, they will poke on Blizzard until it dies to the ground and if they are going to make a SC Ghost, I have no doubt it will fail since they will only sell it for the title.

  • http://twitter.com/caid M.L.

    Gary, please tone down your disruptive behavior a bit. I watched the first 20 seconds of the show, then I closed the browser because I couldn’t stand another show where the discussion was continually derailed by weirdness. Being a bit silly at times is ok, but lately its been growing out of proportion. A pity, Saturday mornings with Legendary used to be a golden moment in my week. :(

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23323284 Heather Kelsey

      Well, your impatience caused you to miss an awesome show.  Your loss. >_>;

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      GamebreakerTV trolling Legendary viewers is starting to get old.

    • http://www.facebook.com/liam.is.teh.bestist Liam Gormley

      The silly behaviors the best thing about Gamebreaker. There are plenty of more serious news outlets to use if fun isn’t your thing. 

  • http://twitter.com/Shiandi_85 Helen Pomfret

    I think I was more of a wrath baby than anything else but if I’m honest I’m contemplating leaving WOW not because it’s too hard (give me a challenge!) but because it’s, well, boring. It’s more of the same old same old for way too long.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      The WoWLK babies was an interesting problem with Cataclysms.  I watched several guilds implode over the increased difficulty of Cataclysm heroics and raiding, before Blizzard finally caved and nerfed the content.  The LK babies asked for a challenge and when they got it, about 2 million left WoW within the first few months. An now you see them every day, crying on the forums that WoW suck and it uses to be so much better. 

       

      • Old Ben

        I don’t know anyone who left WoW because it was “too hard”. They left because it was too boring. 

        • JJversion1

          Most of the individuals reported leaving at the beginining of Cata were supposedly casuals who quit because of the increased difficulty of Heroic dungeons and other content. I do know of a lot of ppl complaining, not necessarilly of the difficulty, but of the length of time it took to get into dungeons and the length of time it took to “slog” through the dungeons and many of those ppl quit because of it. I feel that the individuals who quit WoW, at the beginining of Cata, were of a mixed bag. However, just based upon my own personal experience, I feel that the majority of them that did quit did so because of the previous reason I stated. It wasn’t because of the diffculty, nor do I feel that it was because the content was too “boring,” but that it took too long to get anything done and they just didn’t have the time for it.

          • Old Ben

            Key word being “supposedly”. It’s easier for Blizzard to blame the loss of subscriptions on players’ supposed “lack of skill” than it is to blame it on their own lack of vision for the game.

            Cataclysm was a piece of cake compared to TBC heroics, and WoW kept gaining subscribers all through TBC.

            True, some Cataclysm encounters  (ex., all of Stonecore) abused “one-shot kill” mechanics, but that’s really just bad design. Overall, once you learn to avoid those hits, they actually become easier than fights where everyone takes steadier but unavoidable damage. 

            If something is fun, people won’t care how hard it is. They’ll keep trying to do it. If it’s easy and boring, they’ll burn through it and then complain there’s nothing left to do.

          • JJversion1

            The “supposedly” comes from 3rd hand info like tankspot and others and not from Blizz so I can’t blame Blizz for that one. I started playing during TBC and that’s how I became involved with WoW and I will say that with the LFG system… it became alot easier to get into groups. But I do know what the TBC dungeons were like and yes they were, in some ways, more difficult yet; however; they were shorter than the Cata Dungeons. So I can understand what many of the ppl that I know were complaining about. Waiting an hour after you queue up for a dungeon, only to drudge through it for 2 hours is not something to look forward to if you have a life outside of WoW.

          • Old Ben

            > I will say that with the LFG system
            > (during Wrath)… it became alot easier
            > to get into groups.

            I never had any problem getting into groups before. In fact, the dungeon finder kind of “broke up” some groups because people had to leave at least 1 random slot open if they wanted the extra rewards (title, pet, satchel).

            Needless to say, that slot tended to be filled by some guy who clearly would never be able to get into a group of people who actually knew him (which was the demographic that the dungeon finder was designed to cater to).

            > Waiting an hour after you queue up for a
            > dungeon, only to drudge through it for 2 hours
            > is not something to look forward to

            Two hours? You must have been doing some very different Cataclysm dungeons.

            Mine took 15-45 minutes to do (depending on whether you kill just the mandatory bosses or all of them). A full clear of Zul Gurub (including all the trash) is the only thing I can see pushing past 1 hour.

          • JJversion1

            Yes 2 hours, it’s because of how the dungeons were set up. Unlike most TBC dungeons, which were set up in a way to where you could skip mobs if you wanted to, Cata dungeons forced you through alot of narrow “walkways,” so to speak, and made it difficult to skip trash mobs and forced you to face them. Unlike TBC dungeons where you went through narrow walkways, yes but with only a few mobs, and into big rooms where you could decide to either clear the room or only part of it to get by and reach the boss. Blizz tried to turn Cata dungeons into “dungeon crawlers” and that formula didn’t work out so well. It made LFG runs rather archaic and frustrating. I like the LFG system, it took far less time to get groups together that wasn’t a dedicated group, i.e pugs, and you could get into a dungeon at your leisure and didn’t have to schedule a run with a group. Nor did it force you into a role that you weren’t very comfortable with. (I remember how TBC was and on the server I was on, if you wore plate but didn’t tank, you didn’t get to go in groups or in raids). LFG has it’s quirks but it’s a big improvement over the previous system imo.

          • Old Ben

            > TBC dungeons, which were set
            > up in a way to where you could
            > skip mobs if you wanted to

            You can skip not only mobs but even several bosses in most Cataclysm dungeons. 

            > LFG has it’s quirks but it’s
            > a big improvement over the
            > previous system imo.

            For people who couldn’t convince others to play with them, maybe. Those now seem to be the majority of WoW’s player base.

          • JJversion1

            Actually there were many more mobs that you couldn’t skip in Cata than in TBC. Like I said there were only a few mobs in the “walkways” of the TBC dungeons, unlike in Cata. And there were more mobs in much larger rooms that could be skipped completely without having to pull every mob in that room in TBC, unlike in Cata. Cata Heroics were not very “pug” friendly in the beginining and, at the time, LFG didn’t help matters any I’ll admit. At times LFG put you in what I like to call “hopeless” groups, groups that wouldn’t have any CC or interrupts. Although that was rare, it still happened and was a major pain to be able to get through a Cata Heroic that way. And it wasn’t just about “convincing” others to play with someone, many times in TBC I would spam for hours trying to find a group on my warrior and couldn’t get any because I wasn’t a “tank.” I didn’t like tanking on my warrior at the time and I’ll admit it, I wasn’t very good at it. However, I wore “plate” and on the server I was on plate=tank, no exceptions. I was in a guild too and although I did get into groups with them, we didn’t always have 4 other ppl on when I wanted to run to get a group going. LFG was created to fix those problems and, for the most part, it succeeded.

          • Old Ben

            > Actually there
            > were many
            > more mobs
            > that you couldn’t
            > skip in Cata
            > than in TBC.

            Well, since you repeated it and added “actually”, it must be true…

            And yet somehow I still managed to do any Cataclysm dungeon in less than 20 minutes, skipping about one third of the mobs, sometimes even with 4 people instead of 5…

            > it wasn’t
            > just about
            > “convincing”
            > others to play;
            > many times
            > I would spam
            > for hours
            > trying to
            > find a group

            Heard of guilds? Friends lists?

            If you need to “spam for hours” you’re doing the MMO thing wrong.

          • JJversion1

            Again, I was in a guild and most of my friends were in it. Ppl I actually enjoyed playing with, but they weren’t always on. It happens. As for the “spamming for hours” and doing “the MMO thing wrong”  then there must have been a heckuva lot of ppl “doing the MMO thing wrong” in TBC for Blizz to decide to introduce the LFG. And my encounters in the Cata dungeons vs. the TBC dungeons are based on my experiences and the experiences of my peers. So my “actually” is based off of said experiences. As far as LFG goes, I feel that it was a good move by Blizz, not everyone agrees and their entitled to their opinions, so I digress on that subject.

          • Ryan Proksch

            ShadowLabs Heroic? Arc Heroic? or my favorite (in all seriousness) Shattered Halls heroic…

          • Ryan Proksch

            Heroic SLabs? Heroic Arc? Or my personal favorite (no sarcasm) Heroic Shattered Halls. Huge rooms of unskippables. Long if you were bad. Short if you were like us and AoE pulling Heroic SH in half t4 half blues. But not skippable.

  • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

    Looked at the pictures on the web site, MoP is going to sell a crap load of copies.

    • Karizee

      They will sell a crap load of crap to China.

      • http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

        You do realize what Cosplay is right ?? They put on a show for the comic that was released.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/Z36GPOU3Q2QIQYBIDVNQAVGNGE Raul

     +1 to This

  • Tenthletter1979

    Why do Normal Mode raids even exist anymore?

    LFR is for people to see the story/lore behind raids (which Normal Modes were supposed to accomplish originally), and Heroic Modes are for the Hardcore to have a challenge. With the continuous nerfs to Heroic Raids so more people can complete them, why even have Normal Raids at all?

    Between 25 man LFR; 10 man Normal, 10 man Heroic; 25 man Normal and 25 man Heroic, that’s a ton of time spent balancing and retuning difficulty, plus three tiers of gear per raid release to contribute to gear inflation.

    Seems like a lot of itemization and tuning wasted as things stand now, especially when older content is nerfed anyway. LFR eliminates the problem TBC had with not everyone being able to finish the story.

    Groups can queue for LFR together anyway (guilds are scheduling organized runs on my server for LFR) so just eliminate Normal and make things 10/25 LFR and 10/25 Heroic. Now you only have two tiers of gear per raid, and less time spent balancing and tweaking boss abilities.

  • http://www.facebook.com/liam.is.teh.bestist Liam Gormley

    How could a company owning 60% of Blizzard be $15 billion in debt… Blizzard has orc statues made of gold and all that surely? What the hell else does Vivendi own stakes in? WeBurnMoneyzForFun corp?

  • http://twitter.com/Aoewin Maxime Beaulieu

    That hairstyle mikeb was amazing..! haha

  • Missy Conner

    I just wanted to say that My roomate and myself dont watch the show when Gary is hosting.

    The side jokes and sillyness are just too much. Its almost impossible at times to figure out what they are actually talking about when the host seems to just troll the entire show.

  • Darth_Matter

    So SW:TOR comes out and 6 months later Vivendi is losing so much money from Blizzard that they are selling the company to anyone that will take it… Interesting. I wonder what Blizzard’s real numbers are? They obviously have been inflating their figures for awhile now.

    • JJversion1

      Who said that they were losing money from Blizzard? Vivendi doesn’t solely rely on Blizzard as it’s source of income and just because they are selling stocks from Blizz doesn’t necessarilly mean that Blizz is the cause. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that they couldn’t be contributing to the decline, I’m saying that everyone seems to be pointing fingers at Blizz and stating that it’s their fault when we don’t really know if that is the case. For all we know, Vivendi could be selling off pieces of their largest contribution to their income because of their own mismanagement and not Blizz’s. And how do we know that Blizz is inflating their figures? We don’t have enough info to make that assumption. I’m not trying to bash anyone, I’m just trying to stick to the facts here. With alot of varibles that come into play in such a business and not enough info coming from the primary source, all we’re doing is making alot of speculation and some ppl are touting it as fact. It’s a habit we need to break.

      • Darth_Matter

        The wishful thinking of a Blizz fanboi. =) Common sense dictates that if you are having trouble financially that you don’t sell off those companies that are netting a profit otherwise you will only be left with companies that are taking a lose. They are selling Blizzard for the same reason they sold NBC. Poorly managed company that is far ballooned beyond it’s actual worth. Cataclysm, the release of ToR, and the upcoming GW2 has brought down the beast. If Blizzard claims that everything is still fine yet the parent company is looking to sell it to anyone they can then obviously Blizzard has been skewing the numbers for a while now. I salute your company loyalty though.

        • JJversion1

          So we resort to bashing rather than facts? Wow. Common sense dictates that if you’re having trouble finacially you do what is necessary to keep your company afloat to survive, even if that means you sell off stocks in the branch that is netting you the most profits. Most investors are not gonna put their money in a stock that is sinking, their gonna put it into what will give them the most “profit.” And where are your “facts” that Blizz is “mismanaged?” There’s no info to indicate as such just as there’s no info that GW2 has brought down anything, as of yet. And if Blizz is skewing their numbers, it’s not by much. There would be too many signs of that happening, you provide me with some evidence and I’ll believe you. Blizz has taken a beating, but there’s no info, as of yet, to indicate that it’s in such a decline that it can be considered a sinking ship. And it’s not about “loyalty,” if WoW died tommorow I’d just move onto another game, it’s about “facts.” You have an “opinion” and are stating it as “fact,” a trap that I myself have fallen into more than a few times. If you want your opinion to be acknowledge as fact, provide some proof (it doesn’t haveta be links, although they’d help, but quotes and sources would be sufficient. I’m not a dog that needs to be lead by the nose with some dog treat. I do my own research). Browbeating someone with insults and opinions do not defend statements such as yours.

          • Darth_Matter

            So you resort to just burying your head in the sand? Wow. You are hoping that Blizzard isn’t doing poorly but the only evidence that you have is that it’s being sold… That doesn’t make any sense.

            Your customer loyalty has led you to an “opinion” that the company is doing well regardless of the “fact” that they have lost millions in subscription numbers and now their largest stakeholder is selling to anyone they can to get off the “sinking ship”.

            BTW I find it interesting that your entire response is fixated around me calling you a “Blizz fanboi”. I wonder what it says about Blizzard that you took that as such a grave insult.

          • JJversion1

            So far any evidence has only indicated that they’ve lost around 2 million of their, once, over 12 million base. Hardly a drop in the bucket. And that was at the beginning of Cata, arguably, the worst XP WoW has ever had. And having 60% of their company sold is your only evidence of “mismanagement” on Blizz’s part, when that gives no real indication as such. It might seem to hint at it, but all that it really could mean is that Vinendi could be dropping the ball here and expecting Blizz it pick up the mess or that Blizz could be a contributing factor in the decline.  We are not in their board rooms, listening in on their meetings; we don’t have a mole feeding us info about their reports. Basically, in other words, we just don’t know and we won’t have any real idea until their annual earnings report next month. You make a lot of assumptions and are touting them as facts. Much like my being a “Blizz Fanboi,” do you know me? Do you, at least, know of me? I took insult to being called that, because you assumed that I was one when I gave no indication as such. Just like you assume that it’s Blizz’s fault that Vivendi is having financial trouble. You seem to have a strong dislike of Blizz, and you’re entitled to feel however you want, but you seem to be the only one here who’s judgement is clouded, seems if I’m “burying my head in the sand” that I’m not alone. I am not gonna defend Blizzard to you or anyone else, nor am I gonna jump on the bandwagon of ”WoWbashing” or “Blizzbashing.” I only deal in facts and the fact is, we don’t have enough info to make any assumptions that are true.

    • http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

      This shows how clueless you are on the matter, Vivendi isn’t losing
      money from Blizzard, Vivendi is having there own problems in France’s economy,
      they just switched CEOs and the new CEO sees that the company needs to go in a
      different direction.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/WZ324KCWGCMJENR2ZFFTCK3QP4 Blaze

    fuck wow i have moved on from that dumb pointless game sick of grinding for gear and paying 15 a month just to keep doing it over and over and over and over again.  Unlike most people i realized that there are far more important and fun things to do than argue with people and wipe in raids.  MOP is definitely aimed at kids everything has been simplified you can que for raids and see all the end game content in 1 hr.. 

  • Allyndaar

    When you make Pandas look angry they cease to be Pandas anymore. Now they’re Koalas with hairdye.

  • Ryan Weckbacher

    It’s only a matter of time before World of Warcraft goes free to play.

    • JJversion1

      It’s only a matter of time, if the trend continues, before all MMOs go F2P.

  • Key Foster

    LOL. I was thinking the same thing.

  • Karizee

    I’m a little panda bear, sitting in my panda chair
    When the lady pandas come they laugh and dance and
    Ha-ha-ha-ha!
    We are soft and fluffy bears, with some soft and fluffy cares
    Let’s all find some cutie bugs and have a fluffy time!
    I’m a flippin’ panda!
    Check out my panda powers!
    Meesa cutie panda bear, with some stylish panda hair!
    I was made for all the kiddies, tickle me please
    Ha-ha-ha-ha!
    See the furry panda fruits, in their furry panda suits
    Now that furries have the panda the world’s at an end!

  • Rodysniper

    Blizzard is treading water, I give them credit for what they have done but not so much on what they are doing. I felt nothing good would come of Vevendi Actavision buying Blizzard not that I thought they would mess with what Blizz was doing, but, somewhere along the line Blizzard would have to answer to someone about what they where doing. And in a billion dollar business arena NOTHING is cut and dry, people who think blizz just has free rein to do what they want is crazy talk, and that perhaps cost cutting efforts are fueling problems all the way across the board. You lay off employees some one else has to pick up the slack, you rush releases to make your quarter better for your over all fiscal year you end up with Diablo 3 launch, and when you have a project in the works such as Titan which i can’t wait to see actual cost of development (my guess is over 200mil) then all of a sudden you become dead weight that needs to be sold off before the sub numbers totally tank and you can’t even hope for a return on your investment even though you helped cause all these problems. Just like a war its all about the money, you follow that you figure it out.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/bothand.nether Bothand Nether

    MOP is for Easy Retooling in China, methinx.
    Define “Kids”

    I imagine it might go like this……..

    MOP Launches very well,
    Vivendi sells  to Chinese Company/Govt Ministry of Wow.
    Gets some “adjustments”
    Releases Special version in china.

    The first meeting with Ministry of Youth Evaluation/whatever,
    Went something like this, methinx.
    Govt cashflow bonus day
    + Official Special ghost moderation.
    winwun.

    Throw Rocks at Tanks or throw them online at eachother…

    (C’thun sighs softly…and goes back to sleep.)

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Genre: MMORPG Fantasy
Developer: Zenimax
Metacritic Score: n/a
World of Warcraft MMO News
Genre: MMORPG Fantasy
Developer: Blizzard
Metacritic Score: 82
SWTOR MMO News
Genre: MMORPG SciFi
Developer: Bioware
Metacritic Score: 85
League of Legends News
Genre: MOBA
Developer: Riot
Metacritic Score: 78