Whoa.

At some point they should just expand their cinematics team and make a full length movie. No need to license it out for someone else to screw up.

seems ill be addicted again

I'm busy working on my addiction again, the 4.0 patch went live last week and it changed a lot of the classes and UI.

Hmm, I seem to have wasted a quality on one of the dupes. Oh well, may as well *quality the real deal. So epic.

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by Sarzy.

It actually annoys me how after 6 years I'd still rather play WoW than other games coming out. They're just never as good.

*actionpack *art

Adding video to channels (Actionpack, Art) - requested by ant.

Since WoW has come out - videogame wise I've played a bunch of WoW. Some games would take me away for a while. I'm trying to remember which ones... Mass Effect 2, Fallout 3... lot's of indie ones - like Osmosis, Braid, World of Goo, Torchlight (which almost felt like a damn blizzard game) definitely Minecraft in a big way and recently Amnesia. And besides these innovative titles I've definitely played more of and been satisfied with WoW more than any other game since Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Which before WoW held the most hours played for me. Played that game every week for years - it's still amazing and I still think it's Firaxis' best.

Even more recently I've been having fun playing games I played when I was a little kid like Ultima IV, V, The Magic Candle, Syndicate, Sierra adventure games... developers obviously need to go back to the basics and innovate from there.

I posted this 28 minutes later, with nearly the same title, and siftbot didn't detect the dupe. I'm beginning to lose faith in siftbot's ability to detect a dupe.

*animation
*dark
*fire

Adding video to channels (Animation, Dark, Fire) - requested by garmachi.

6 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

3 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

Seems funny to me that no one mentions Everquest any more. Now it's like WoW is the only mmo that ever was. Everquest was the first online game to have an economy larger than some 3rd world nations. I played it for 3 yrs or so and I still miss it sometimes.

Sometimes I wonder why I can't stand WoW. Then I snap out of it and notice how much time I spend on the computer as it is, and I am grateful. Don't know what it is, just can't get in to it.

WTF? Where does it make sense that a dragon would need steel plate armor? Correct me if I'm wrong but I think dragon-scale armor is probably some of the best no?

>> ^Ryjkyj:

WTF? Where does it make sense that a dragon would need steel plate armor? Correct me if I'm wrong but I think dragon-scale armor is probably some of the best no?


It's not armor in the sense that it's to defend attacks from without...it's plating to hold him together, defending himself from within. The idea is that Deathwing was once Neltharion the Earth Warder a benevolent being defending Azeroth. He has steadily grown insane and powerful and the chaotic energies that drive him also threaten to rip his mortal drakonid body asunder. His minions are trying to keep him from falling apart completely so that he may complete his task of annihilating all the mortal races of Azeroth.

Hope that's helpful <3

Man that was even better than how I imagined his plates going in the book. I always downplay the size of the dragons in my head but this should help correct that.

Looking forward to playing WoW again when this releases, then quitting again when I'm done with the lore WoW can actually be a really good single player game if you can pull yourself away from having the best gear grindfest and get in to the story. Shame all the best encounters are reserved for dedicated guilds It typically takes me a long time to see any final encounter with PUGs.

>> ^Enzoblue:

Seems funny to me that no one mentions Everquest any more. Now it's like WoW is the only mmo that ever was. Everquest was the first online game to have an economy larger than some 3rd world nations. I played it for 3 yrs or so and I still miss it sometimes.


I'm right with you there! The economy was much more player driven in EQ, without limits/restrictions put in place such as Bind on Equip/Soulbound armor (the most epic of the epic stuff was indeed non-tradable). Once you were done with a piece of armor you could easily resell it to another player. It was really fun to haggle with people/search for deals and just upright barter.

The whole game in general was just more player driven, and less rigorously structured around soloing: especially the PvP servers, with the pro-PK vs the pacifistic non-PK guilds, waging war and providing either their protection to newbs from highway thieves or pillaging certain zones of all players and looting the spoils. Not to mention all the social intrigue of player alliances, betrayals, guild spies and secret plots to overthrow/assassinate and usurp leaders, bounty hunters, and tests of loyalty to your compatriots. Such a dynamic has never existed in any other MMO, to my knowledge. It was a hard, unforgiving place where loyalty was worth more than any piece of gear.

If you're interested in revisiting Classic EQ PVE progression for FREE (Kunark is being beta'd atm and then Velious) I'd check out Project 1999, the finest private server available for purely Classic EQ, no custom modifications just the real deal. I have a level 37 Darkelf necro and have been playing fairly regularly, the server population is pretty good and everyone is friendly, helpful towards newbs as well. You wouldn't believe how happy I was when I discovered P99 and ended up seeing a few people I remember from my dear old Quellious server. It really is everything one could ask for considering Live EQ1, at this state, is an abomination. Well, there it is. Try it out, I'll help you get started right! PM me if you decide to come back to Norrath, this also goes for anyone else on the Sift who would try it/return. It really surprised me how harsh they start you out in that game after years of WoW, one needs all the help they can get.

Great WoW trailer as well, and I love Blizzard, but I just can't get back into the game despite my attempts to literally will myself into playing. I really feel as if I'm just being touted around, top-down style, by Blizzard to do this dungeon or that. My choices feel like they have no real impact on the game world, my actions rarely end up having actual consequences, besides maybe a momentary invconvenience. It's just too damned safe to be exciting! Raids are easy mode, though from all the impressions of Cataclysm is seems like they're trying to return to form of having the content be much more stimulating, brain intensive. If raiding becomes more like pre-BC/BC then I will return. I will most definitely at the very least try Cataclysm and see what happens.

>> ^Yogi:

It actually annoys me how after 6 years I'd still rather play WoW than other games coming out. They're just never as good.


Realy ? , the Core Interactoins and game play in wow are terrable ( quests , combat , delivery of story )

( although i do recognize the technical achivment and aspects of the visual design and the internal ballencing of items)


the thing wow does well is the illisoin it gives the player of Progress and time well spent.
I think wow is allso good as a socail game a 3d chat room with actoins and events taking place.

In the end people might realy enjoy wow which is fine , but I Would allso bet that the main motivatoin for people to play wow is The stat horing and levaling up.

Personaly I dont play wow I gave it ago for 5 hours and allso watched a friend play it over 4 years.

People spend way to long playing wow and not recognizing how piontless building a charactor is when what u can do with that charactor is so week and unimaginative.

granted there are plenty of games with stat bassed mechanics as the core motivator , but at the same time these games often can be finished in 50 hours or so.

Maby In 15 years or so we will have the technoligy to make an MMO with Deep content and storng charactor devlopment and the abality for people to truly have an affect in the world. something that allowed for creativity and dosent dumb the minds of players that take part in the game.


when i play wow it feals like some unforfilled promis , just like the CGI introes , if the game was like how they portray it then wow would be amazing , if u truly were an indervidual charactor with actions that actualy have a cusal affect on the world and the people in it.


.............................
allot of my negativity towards wow comes from the affect i have seen it take on people that have become adicted to it , its realy simular to gambaling adiction.

I belive people are more likely to be intrestign and understand the world and develop themslefs if they intake multiple forms of art , play manny games and do manny activities , lots of people only have time for wow and nothing else because everything else would detract from there levaling of there charactor , and getting Item x.

@westy I see where you're coming from, but WoW is genuinely a great game. It does what it does great - it hooks you, and it is FUN. The whole point of wow is to be FUN on a logarithmic scale, first a lot, then less, then less and less. It trains you to work to get the rewards with longer and longer grinds. Everything else is filler. Every little game mechanic is geared towards being yet another hook in the player and it's all predicated on the simple idea of "well, I've gone this far, I can't stop now!" All the little things under the hood, attack tables, stat conversions and yadda yadda are just tools towards the gear grind. PVP combat is also yet another way to get players to grind more gear and also a hook in itself - competition draws out the crowds.

A lot of it depends on what kind of player you are, and the interesting thing is that WoW offers something for just about every type. The only players that are not attracted to the game are the people with a negative attitude before they try it (like I had back in the day) or people who don't like the art direction - they miss the immediate hooks and are usually lost for the game, unless there's social pressure to join with your friends.

Hehe, imagine if L. Ron Hubbard had been a game designer? What a dreadful religion he'd make then.... Zynga, I'm looking at you..

BoP/Soulbound/BoE is the bane of the MMOG economy. I so hate the mechanic that when an MMO I am looking forward to is revealed to use the system I almost always start a movement against it.

On topic.. blizzard sure knows how to make these cg intro's don't they? This is EASILY the best expansion intro movie by far though!

@Xaielao About the CG intros. I disagree. I think the intro for Wrath of the Lich King was better, because the storytelling was more focused on, while the "action" was held off for a long time. It's obviously harder when the "protagonist" of the videos is a huge-ass dragon, but I think this is more action-packed, but I like the quiet summoning of the frostwyrm in the older one.

But both Wrath and Cataclysm is far superior to the original or burning crusade intro.

Original

Also relevant:

seems weird to premiere this a week before Blizzcon. I would think they'd have premiered it there. Oh well, more time for me to spend on Diablo 3 stuff!

Grrrr dragon angry!!!
Dragon smash!!!
Dragon look damn good while destroying shit!

I think some people in order to get into WoW just need to relax and smoke some ganja. Not even joking. The art direction, sound, ambiance, flow is all masterfully done and when you're starting out you might need to be a bit mind-altered enough to really see and feel that vibe.

Blizzard definitely worked on the patience aspect though - both BC & Wrath introduced lots of small quests that did not result in 30-40 minute grindfests making the game more satisfying. They also reduced the amount of experience needed to level up so it's much quicker to level up. The instances at this point aren't as satisfying as they used to be - not as much CC - but at level 80 a PUG will stomp right through the instance which may satisfy some. With the new expansion they will be reintroducing key CC situations which will be interesting.

I never really got into EQ. I did play EQ for a little but I thought that that was a "grindfest" and after coming from UO it didn't feel as free... you couldn't have pirate ship wars.

>> ^shagen454:

I think some people in order to get into WoW just need to relax and smoke some ganja. Not even joking. The art direction, sound, ambiance, flow is all masterfully done and when you're starting out you might need to be a bit mind-altered enough to really see and feel that vibe.
Blizzard definitely worked on the patience aspect though - both BC & Wrath introduced lots of small quests that did not result in 30-40 minute grindfests making the game more satisfying. They also reduced the amount of experience needed to level up so it's much quicker to level up. The instances at this point aren't as satisfying as they used to be - not as much CC - but at level 80 a PUG will stomp right through the instance which may satisfy some. With the new expansion they will be reintroducing key CC situations which will be interesting.
I never really got into EQ. I did play EQ for a little but I thought that that was a "grindfest" and after coming from UO it didn't feel as free... you couldn't have pirate ship wars.


Not to mention the fact that this "Cataclysm" is a chance for them to remake the world. A lot of the grind of leveling in WoW was the boring quests, although they weren't bad for the time they weren't fantastic. Now Blizzard has learned a lot and as we can see from Wrath they can make leveling really fun. So that's what they're doing with the old world...changing it completely, new quests, new antagonists should be whats most appealing to people who like to level up alts.

>> ^gwiz665:

@<a rel="nofollow" href="http://videosift.com/member/Xaielao" title="member since March 13th, 2009" class="profilelink">Xaielao About the CG intros. I disagree. I think the intro for Wrath of the Lich King was better, because the storytelling was more focused on, while the "action" was held off for a long time. It's obviously harder when the "protagonist" of the videos is a huge-ass dragon, but I think this is more action-packed, but I like the quiet summoning of the frostwyrm in the older one.
But both Wrath and Cataclysm is far superior to the original or burning crusade intro.


I think you have a strong argument because up until that point and because of Warcraft 3, the Fall of Arthas was the most compelling story they had going for them. I remember back in Vanilla going to Statholme and just being in awe of the genocide that took place there even if I agree with it. So the story for building Arthas and his eventual arrival as main antagonist made that Intro really special.

I like this Deathwing Intro because finally we have a Dragon as the Marquee boss of an expansion. Dragons play a absolutely huge role in Warcraft lore and they're usually put down as side bosses or one off instances. Now we have a Dragon that is really terrifying and I'm really glad a GIANT evil Fire Breathing world destroying Dragon that we can do battle with at the end of this expansion...it's going to be sweet.

Silly Blizzard, Diablo isn't a dragon!

people that don't like wow are people that can see that wow is just a grind.

I can fully understand people that play wow casualy , and play it as you would play anny other game thats totaly fine , just going online doing some quests with mates maby spending 1 hour a night (or how many hours u normally spend on games) , or cuple hours a week thats fine and there are manny people that do play wow like that.


but the vast majority of people that play wow are deluded into this false sense of productivity , its like a cancer.

thats why the mechanics are bad its gr8 in a comercail sense , but in terms of game play its utter shit ( aside for people that are able to believe they are been productive)


its analogous to gambling ,in my opinion its fine for people to gamble every now and again and can be quite enjoyable despite the fact that pure gambling (slot machines bookies ect fixed odds betting) is rigged and you are going to lose , you can still find the enjoyment in it , its when people fall for the trap of thinking its a profitable thing , and get sucked into the emotional aspect of it.

wow

I found this one EXTREMELY underwhelming. Nothing really happens except for this big-ass dragon waking up, which granted, is cool and epic, and all, but apart from that - nothing. Very few locales and environments are shown. I know I'm probably missing something, since I've never played WoW, but still, this seemed a lot worse than all the previous cinematics that were linked to. Also, having recently finished Starcraft 2, I must say I was rather disappointed with some of the art direction and pacing in its cinematics as well

[redacted]

1. Tower in Barrens being toppled.
2. Statue at Booty Bay about to eat a giant wave.
3. More Barrens destruction with a chasm opening.
4. Blimp crash in Durotar.
5. Thousand Needles (which is below sea level) having the ocean flow in between the pillars of rock.
6. Unknown Mountain Range... could be near Iron Forge.
7. Docks in Darkshore at Auberdine.
8. The Dam above the Wetlands at Loch Modan.
9. Stormwind.

"Look how awesome our plot is! Now go mine bunnies for thirty levels."

http://videosift.com/video/Warcraft-3-Intro

Still the best one IMO. Sets the stage so well for the complexity of the Horde/Alliance interactions...which mostly get ignored of course.

I MISS WARCRAFT SO MUCH!
THEY NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE...NOW!
...gahh...i loves dragonses.

yawn. Didn't I already play this game a billion days before?

>> ^shagen454:

I never really got into EQ. I did play EQ for a little but I thought that that was a "grindfest" and after coming from UO it didn't feel as free... you couldn't have pirate ship wars.


I miss the wild west days of Ultima Online! I know exactly what you mean about the switch from UO to EQ. UO had something special that no other MMO has quite been able to replicate. It was kill or be killed, but since there weren't any "epics", if you lost all your items it wasn't a big deal, and if you had the skillzs, you could completely own a player more geared than yourself with a single spear and a few reagents to cast a spell or two. I remember days riding naked on a horse, killing blue players in plate armor then dumping all their shit in my house. I had a chest that was completely filled with random gear and masks -- Oh, the glory of my coonskin hat collection!