Published on August 17th, 2011 |
by Dan
>World of Warcraft’s new patch: Beginning of the end?
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Finally, in the next content patch, we will see the end of Deathwing. This should be an absolutely epic fight, as one of the key villains in WoW goes down. This is also one of the largest and most detailed models Blizzard has ever come up with, so I am very excited to see him in action. This will include three new five man dungeons and a new raid. The fight with Deathwing has been kept under wraps, but there will be a phase where you are on his back fighting as a raid. Epic! Other special features include the ability to “transmogrify” armor together to change it’s look as well as new storage provided by the Ethereals.
This, in my opinion, signals the decline in World of
Warcraft. This expansion will have lasted a year or so and that’s just not as long as the others. Wrath was 1.5-2 years and it’s content had long run dry. The player base has been on a slight decline recently from it’s peak at 15 million subscribers.
I have a feeling this patch comes out some time this fall, and that’s it for the expansion. Either they need to have the Deathwing raid be as massive as Icecrown Citadel or have a Sunwell type ending they aren’t talking about right now to extend the content. Blizzard either is thinking this way or is shortening the lifespan of expansions before they basically end the game. A leaked road map showed a couple more expansions on the docket. This is a road map and obviously subject to change, but I figure they do another 5 level expansion pack and then a final 10 level one to take it to 100 and end the game. A 7 year old MMO engine can only support itself for so long.
Blizzard has a lot on it’s plate. Starcraft II has expansions, Project Titan is deep in development and Diablo III is right around the corner. It might be time for the World of Warcraft team to hang it up. If this is the beginning of the end for World of Warcraft, I’d say it goes down as the defining game of the past 20 years. Whether you played it or not, the social, economical, technological impact of this game permeates everywhere. Haters can hate, but you cannot deny the wide sweeping impact of World of Warcraft.
Tags: World of Warcraft
nipnops
DanI put the OO in Swagoo.
One of the founders of KBMOD. I stream on Twitch as well as writing and editing for the website.
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