Trying to stick to a schedule while enjoying a highly anticipated game's pre-launch is a bitch, I'll just bump Friday and Monday's collumns to this Friday and Monday and blame it on something plausable, like still working on layout, or the wrong prescription glasses I got last week.
Aaaaanyway...
Guild Wars 2 head start began 3 hours early last Friday which caught me a little off guard because I was watching this cool Day Z Event. It may have cost me a name or two, but with 19 characters to play around with I made do.
Everything seemed operational. I created my characters to my satisfaction and then went to bed, because I am on that 8-5 desk jockey schedule. Sadly when I woke up at 7am the game was down for maintenance and a rollback. When it finally came back up I was able to get in and play and really enjoy the content. Unfortunately there were some problems in the launch that cannot be overlooked.
Before I point out the flaws I want to take a paragraph to trumpet some of the successes. First, it's obvious this is not their first rodeo, Arenanet knows how an MMO should run, and how MMO communities tend to behave. The server options were made well. They set artificial caps on server populations to force players to spread out. When all the servers were full, they ratcheted up the caps a tick or two and waited for people to sift into the newly created space. They did not foolishly create an extra 12 servers. In the short term this is creating a lot of "you have been moved to the overflow server" messages, but in the long run it will lead to richer communities. Launching the game 3 hours early was a good call too, it prevented their log in server from getting slammed all at once. Outside of a few short maintenance windows servers have been up since that initial launch time. The same cannot be said about all of the game's features though.
World v World maps have had their share of problems, mostly corrected after extensive downtime on Saturday. Some worlds are still dominating, hopefully this will sort itself out as Arenanet cycles the matches at a faster than normal pace.
Guilds were borked on Saturday morning after the maintenance. Guild invites haven't been working for guilds that were created prior to this, and some people were removed for their guilds. Having broken guilds in GUILD wars seems bad to me. This seems to still be a problem, particularly for large guilds.
The Trading Post has also been non-functional since sometime Saturday...I don't know how well it was working prior to the point it went offline, but I suspect not well. This has been very frustrating for the crafting community because they want access to nubletts...err....other player's crafting materials that they are probably selling to NPC's for 3c a piece. As of Today, this has still not been fixed.
The lack of an iOS Authenticator has led to a surprising number of account hacking. I am leading that story, let me correct. There have been a lot of accounts hacked by Gold Farmers, a mobile authenticator could have prevented this sort of attack on some accounts.
Hacked accounts weren't the only bans going out over the week. Arenanet is taking a hard line on behavior. There is a fun reddit thread out there on the subject. Offensive names and harassing treatment of other players in public places (map chat for example) has resulted in warnings in the form of 3 day bans. I applaud them on this effort, but I remember another MMO who's naming rules included "no dude or leet speak" and "no celebrity names, or real world titles/military ranks" who realized somewhere around the 3 million player mark that this was more work than it was worth and just let the community deal with it. If this stays a thing, and people who call other people offensive and racist terms in chat, or bully and harass in other ways are thanked for their $60 and shown the door; I look forward to pleasant community.
There have been some rumblings about leveling curve. I have several friends who I play with and each of them seemed to kind of run into a problem around 15-20 where they were outpacing the content. Ahh...but what is the content? It seems that many players are stuck thinking of renown hearts as quest hubs. They go, fill it up and then move to the next heart. That's not really how GW2 is designed. If that's how you want to play it, more power to you, but you'll need to travel a little more and do more than your own racial starting zone to fill in the gaps. But further exploring the maps and digging into the crafting system can result in a significant shift.
I would give this launch a B-
The Guild and Trading Post problems that persist 5 days later put an ugly blot on what otherwise has been a pretty solid experience.
If you are still on the fence, I say probably wait a week for these last few problems to shake themselves out. If you are looking for something to play, though, the game itself has been a blast so far. I will give a more complete review after I've had a month or so to soak it in.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Expectations and Disapointments
I do not usually purchase the big boxes anymore in the gaming industry. The big budget, bigger advertising budget games. Mostly I stick to my MMO's and shovel my $15 a month into the fire. Certain anticipated products grab me still, but I like to think that's personal anticipation and hype.
The last title I "Bought" at launch was Diablo 3, but I'd been locked into that since last October with my World of Warcraft Subscription. Prior to that, Mass Effect 3. Before that, Arkham City. (Ok fine, SWTOR, but that's different)
I am now looking around my workspace trying to figure out what the game before that was. Darkspore? Mostly I just keep to my MMO's
As a person immersed in gaming I am frequently not marketed to. Historically those big budgets reach out to the prime time TV viewers and magazine readers. This has started to change, Hulu and Youtube Ads have started featuring more gaming content as well as more internet based fan(ish) news sites trying to monetize their hobby business. I have been seeing a lot more of the big Budget games of the summer and fall season. August in particular has been a big month. Sleeping Dogs, Transformers and Guild Wars 2 all called to me.
Sleeping Dogs reminded me of Hong Kong Action Movies, and Shadowfist and Feng Shui the Action Movie Pen and Paper RPG. But for all its big bills and effective marketing it's just a stiff brawler with a sub par driving simulator and a disappointing shooter. The story seems pretty ok, if you overlook all the shit your character does while he's on the street...worst undercover cop ever. A slight disappointment, but I set myself up romanticizing Hong Kong.
Where I expected to most get burned was Transformers: Fall of Cybertron -- Have you seen those trailers?
I was totally hooked, but I knew there was no way this game was going to live up to those videos. Going in expecting to be disappointed set me up to be pleasantly surprised. The game play is solid, the voice work is good, the story is well told. It's a challenging and fun game. The Multiplayer is enjoyable as well. I normally don't play shooters, but this is fun. It would be more fun if I was playing on a console I think, the PC population is pretty low making it hard to find a game sometimes. But I'm happy enough with the solo game that I feel it was worth the price.
Finally Guild Wars 2. I am really excited about this. I have a lot of expectations going into tomorrow night when Pre Launch starts and going into the coming months when I hope to learn that there is enough content present to keep me from buying Assassin's Creed 3 on the PS3 (A PS3 that I don't own)
A side effect of these big titles has been a smaller titles that I've purchased from steam in the process. Orcs Must Die 2 is amazing! I'm having a lot of fun with Tower Wars, even though I just play the 3 classic Tower Defense maps because I'm afraid of other players. It's like Solitaire or Mine Sweeper.
I didn't have expectations for these titles, and I am thrilled to play them. On the one hand I feel like we'd all be better off going into our hobby like this, but without the passion how often are you really going to get that payoff?
The last title I "Bought" at launch was Diablo 3, but I'd been locked into that since last October with my World of Warcraft Subscription. Prior to that, Mass Effect 3. Before that, Arkham City. (Ok fine, SWTOR, but that's different)
I am now looking around my workspace trying to figure out what the game before that was. Darkspore? Mostly I just keep to my MMO's
As a person immersed in gaming I am frequently not marketed to. Historically those big budgets reach out to the prime time TV viewers and magazine readers. This has started to change, Hulu and Youtube Ads have started featuring more gaming content as well as more internet based fan(ish) news sites trying to monetize their hobby business. I have been seeing a lot more of the big Budget games of the summer and fall season. August in particular has been a big month. Sleeping Dogs, Transformers and Guild Wars 2 all called to me.
Sleeping Dogs reminded me of Hong Kong Action Movies, and Shadowfist and Feng Shui the Action Movie Pen and Paper RPG. But for all its big bills and effective marketing it's just a stiff brawler with a sub par driving simulator and a disappointing shooter. The story seems pretty ok, if you overlook all the shit your character does while he's on the street...worst undercover cop ever. A slight disappointment, but I set myself up romanticizing Hong Kong.
Where I expected to most get burned was Transformers: Fall of Cybertron -- Have you seen those trailers?
I was totally hooked, but I knew there was no way this game was going to live up to those videos. Going in expecting to be disappointed set me up to be pleasantly surprised. The game play is solid, the voice work is good, the story is well told. It's a challenging and fun game. The Multiplayer is enjoyable as well. I normally don't play shooters, but this is fun. It would be more fun if I was playing on a console I think, the PC population is pretty low making it hard to find a game sometimes. But I'm happy enough with the solo game that I feel it was worth the price.
Finally Guild Wars 2. I am really excited about this. I have a lot of expectations going into tomorrow night when Pre Launch starts and going into the coming months when I hope to learn that there is enough content present to keep me from buying Assassin's Creed 3 on the PS3 (A PS3 that I don't own)
A side effect of these big titles has been a smaller titles that I've purchased from steam in the process. Orcs Must Die 2 is amazing! I'm having a lot of fun with Tower Wars, even though I just play the 3 classic Tower Defense maps because I'm afraid of other players. It's like Solitaire or Mine Sweeper.
I didn't have expectations for these titles, and I am thrilled to play them. On the one hand I feel like we'd all be better off going into our hobby like this, but without the passion how often are you really going to get that payoff?
Monday, August 20, 2012
Where did SWTOR's Subscribers Go?
Star Wars the Old Republic had a lot of hype building up to its
launch. It sold over 1.5 million copies and had one of the smoothest
launches of any MMO in the last several years. After that, things took a
turn. Bad press, bugs and perceived lack of end game led to
hemorrhaging subscription numbers. From 1.7 million to 1.3 million and
now somewhere between 500 thousand and a million. Why did this happen?
What drove the MMO player base to turn their back on this product? There
were several reasons, all of them had a significant impact.
At launch, more than 100 servers were created in an attempt to keep the launch smooth. This successfully avoided any negative press during the head start and official game launch, months later this decision created a problem. Populations shrunk by 25% which left many servers underpopulated. This problem magnified itself as bored players flocked to active servers to create alternate characters or took a break waiting for new content. Underpopulated servers became virtual ghost towns.
A major part of the player retention strategy was the assumption that most players would want to see all eight personal stories. When you consider Bioware's trademark branching morality based approach to story telling it was easy to assume that many players may even want to try out different options in each of the stories. In practice this is not what happened, for a couple of reasons. Primarily lack of depth. This is true in the personal story as well as the world arcs that all classes experience. While you can make light side or dark side decisions there is no nuance, no interplay between quests. Furthermore very little changes from your actions. You can choose to kill someone, they die. You can choose to let them live. they leave and are never seen or spoken of again. They may as well be dead. Even the dialog lacks depth. For the most part most NPC's only react to the way you treat them in the following audio clip, after that everything is forgotten. These factors make replaying the same story unsatisfying. It doesn't take long to realize that choices don't really matter. There is no impact outside of the final cut scene on the planet. No one on this planet will be seen again regardless of what you do. This doesn't even address the large portion of MMO players who only care about End Game. This is a culture that has been built over the last decade and the SWTOR team should have been prepared for it.
For End Game SWTOR launched with 3 Warzones for instanced PVP, 6 Hard Mode Flashpoints for challenging small group play, 1 and a half Operations for challenging large group play, and two daily mission hubs for solo and small group play. They also had an Open PVP area. On paper this all seems pretty reasonable. There were things for most players to do. Unfortunately not enough thought was put into player behavior and most of these systems started to fall apart. The ratio of Empire to Republic players on most servers was greater than 2 to 1. This destroyed the open world PVP area, and also vastly diminished the enjoyment of Warzones. One of the three Warzones allowed for same faction combat, resulting in a much higher occurrence of this Warzone for the majority of players. Huttball went from being the greatest instanced PVP map ever designed to being that game you were tired of playing. Hard Mode Flashpoints were hard for the average player, enrage timers required solid performance out of every group member. With no group finder, finding a group could take up to an hour of shouting in general chat on the fleet, and no guarantee of success. This lead to frustration for casual players. Organized players were more interested in Operations. In addition to the second Operation not being complete at launch, both were far too easy. For most groups the only challenge came from unintended bugs in the boss encounters.
As time passed the development team worked to correct many of these issues. Server populations have been corrected by a merge that not only increased the active user base at all times of the day but also fixed the faction imbalance on most servers. The addition of a robust group finder allows for the average player to successfully participate in Hard Mode Flashpoints. A third Operation was added that was significantly more challenging than the first two. All Warzones now allow same faction play, resulting in a much more diverse play experience. Unfortunately problems continue to arise.
Layoffs in the community team have left the players feeling cut off from the development team. Information about where the game is going comes infrequently and often with little detail.
A major combat overhaul with massive class balancing occurred in 1.2. This, combined with delays in the ranked PVP system, has left the PVP community unsatisfied.
The developers have promised a rework on Nightmare mode Operations that will create the intense difficulty hard core guilds seek. It has been months since 1.3 was released and this promise has not been realized.
Earlier this year, at the Guild Summit, players were told new class story would be coming later this year. Most recently when Makeb was announced the community was told that it would not include the progression of class stories and to expect that sometime next year.
Star Wars: The Old Republic put all of their eggs in one basket -- Story. More specifically the ownership of your own personal Star Wars story. That basket has two giant holes in it. Truthfully, your choices don't matter, once you realize that some of the magic is gone. More importantly, at 50 your story stops. Much effort was put in place to attempt to address the fragmented community and their individual desires, this shotgun approach has resulted in overall improvements in all areas, but has failed to place SWTOR ahead of its competition in any one area. Meanwhile the most front facing feature languishes.
At launch, more than 100 servers were created in an attempt to keep the launch smooth. This successfully avoided any negative press during the head start and official game launch, months later this decision created a problem. Populations shrunk by 25% which left many servers underpopulated. This problem magnified itself as bored players flocked to active servers to create alternate characters or took a break waiting for new content. Underpopulated servers became virtual ghost towns.
A major part of the player retention strategy was the assumption that most players would want to see all eight personal stories. When you consider Bioware's trademark branching morality based approach to story telling it was easy to assume that many players may even want to try out different options in each of the stories. In practice this is not what happened, for a couple of reasons. Primarily lack of depth. This is true in the personal story as well as the world arcs that all classes experience. While you can make light side or dark side decisions there is no nuance, no interplay between quests. Furthermore very little changes from your actions. You can choose to kill someone, they die. You can choose to let them live. they leave and are never seen or spoken of again. They may as well be dead. Even the dialog lacks depth. For the most part most NPC's only react to the way you treat them in the following audio clip, after that everything is forgotten. These factors make replaying the same story unsatisfying. It doesn't take long to realize that choices don't really matter. There is no impact outside of the final cut scene on the planet. No one on this planet will be seen again regardless of what you do. This doesn't even address the large portion of MMO players who only care about End Game. This is a culture that has been built over the last decade and the SWTOR team should have been prepared for it.
For End Game SWTOR launched with 3 Warzones for instanced PVP, 6 Hard Mode Flashpoints for challenging small group play, 1 and a half Operations for challenging large group play, and two daily mission hubs for solo and small group play. They also had an Open PVP area. On paper this all seems pretty reasonable. There were things for most players to do. Unfortunately not enough thought was put into player behavior and most of these systems started to fall apart. The ratio of Empire to Republic players on most servers was greater than 2 to 1. This destroyed the open world PVP area, and also vastly diminished the enjoyment of Warzones. One of the three Warzones allowed for same faction combat, resulting in a much higher occurrence of this Warzone for the majority of players. Huttball went from being the greatest instanced PVP map ever designed to being that game you were tired of playing. Hard Mode Flashpoints were hard for the average player, enrage timers required solid performance out of every group member. With no group finder, finding a group could take up to an hour of shouting in general chat on the fleet, and no guarantee of success. This lead to frustration for casual players. Organized players were more interested in Operations. In addition to the second Operation not being complete at launch, both were far too easy. For most groups the only challenge came from unintended bugs in the boss encounters.
As time passed the development team worked to correct many of these issues. Server populations have been corrected by a merge that not only increased the active user base at all times of the day but also fixed the faction imbalance on most servers. The addition of a robust group finder allows for the average player to successfully participate in Hard Mode Flashpoints. A third Operation was added that was significantly more challenging than the first two. All Warzones now allow same faction play, resulting in a much more diverse play experience. Unfortunately problems continue to arise.
Layoffs in the community team have left the players feeling cut off from the development team. Information about where the game is going comes infrequently and often with little detail.
A major combat overhaul with massive class balancing occurred in 1.2. This, combined with delays in the ranked PVP system, has left the PVP community unsatisfied.
The developers have promised a rework on Nightmare mode Operations that will create the intense difficulty hard core guilds seek. It has been months since 1.3 was released and this promise has not been realized.
Earlier this year, at the Guild Summit, players were told new class story would be coming later this year. Most recently when Makeb was announced the community was told that it would not include the progression of class stories and to expect that sometime next year.
Star Wars: The Old Republic put all of their eggs in one basket -- Story. More specifically the ownership of your own personal Star Wars story. That basket has two giant holes in it. Truthfully, your choices don't matter, once you realize that some of the magic is gone. More importantly, at 50 your story stops. Much effort was put in place to attempt to address the fragmented community and their individual desires, this shotgun approach has resulted in overall improvements in all areas, but has failed to place SWTOR ahead of its competition in any one area. Meanwhile the most front facing feature languishes.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Someone make Online Roborally
I have been hoping for an electronic version of Roborally for over a decade. In 2008 I got...something. Game Table Online has a simple java game. It's legit and it works, but it's very simplistic looking. It is only capable of attracting the most hardcore fan. I feel like Roborally is destined for more. This property is a great candidate for browser based play in the Unity Engine and/or IOS devices.
Let's back up. What is Roborally? Roborally is a board game. The object of the game is to guide your game piece, a robot, through a factory filled with obstacles to numbered flags faster than the other players. Movement is determined by laying down a sequence of 5 cards out of 9 dealt at the start of each turn. The challenge in the game comes from correctly plotting your movement with the cards you are given and predicting the actions of the other players. The depth of the game is enhanced by additional elements.
The core product includes 6 boards, these can be used individually or combined in any way to increase the scope of a single play session. (14 Additional boards are available through expansions)
In addition to movement cards there are option cards that change the behavior of your piece, allowing for increased movement, ability to damage other players' robots, or to avoid certain hazards on the board.
Why would a robust online version of Roborally be preferable to the physical game?
The boards are the size of a standard board game. If you are interested in a multi-board game of Roborally you either need a large table or a willingness to play on the floor. Even the space needed for players to set up their turns is greater than most games.
Keeping track of the different elements in the game can be frustrating to some players. Placing movement cards, tracking damage, understanding what each of the board elements will do as well as where and what the other players' robots are up to. Giving the player a simple and functional UI would certainly help.
Easy customization. Different game modes could be applied, such as capture the flag, or resource gathering, I've even seen rules for Roborally Football. Features for novice level players like movement previews as well as other game options like which board obstacles are functioning and rules for damage and re spawns could be controlled in a pregame interface.
Replays.
Time can be an issue also, a large Roborally game with 6 boards and 8 players could take hours to play. Using the design of games like Words with Friends or Hero Academy, you could have multiple games active and submit your turn for each within the time limit allowed. Sometimes these games could have no time limit and games could go on for days between friends, but within their schedule. And at the end of a three week game, Replay!
How do you Monetize something like this?
In the end it's all about money. It's a great game, but people aren't going to pay to play individual games. They may pay a nominal fee for an app on the app store, but that isn't going to fund development costs. Some sort of cash shop would have to be part of the business model. The trick is figuring out how to build in fees without segmenting the player base.
Customization. Everyone loves hats! Sell dye packs, custom skins, and/or modification parts to the robots. (Flashing lights, spinning rims, anything that doesn't interfere with option cards)
Limit on number of concurrent games.
Access to a level editor.
Alright, someone figure out how to get a hold of the digital rights to this IP and start up a kickstarter!
Meanwhile I will, when really itching, play a game against ridiculously skilled computer players on Game Table Online, because I am not paying dollars for that simple of an interface.
Let's back up. What is Roborally? Roborally is a board game. The object of the game is to guide your game piece, a robot, through a factory filled with obstacles to numbered flags faster than the other players. Movement is determined by laying down a sequence of 5 cards out of 9 dealt at the start of each turn. The challenge in the game comes from correctly plotting your movement with the cards you are given and predicting the actions of the other players. The depth of the game is enhanced by additional elements.
The core product includes 6 boards, these can be used individually or combined in any way to increase the scope of a single play session. (14 Additional boards are available through expansions)
In addition to movement cards there are option cards that change the behavior of your piece, allowing for increased movement, ability to damage other players' robots, or to avoid certain hazards on the board.
Why would a robust online version of Roborally be preferable to the physical game?
The boards are the size of a standard board game. If you are interested in a multi-board game of Roborally you either need a large table or a willingness to play on the floor. Even the space needed for players to set up their turns is greater than most games.
Keeping track of the different elements in the game can be frustrating to some players. Placing movement cards, tracking damage, understanding what each of the board elements will do as well as where and what the other players' robots are up to. Giving the player a simple and functional UI would certainly help.
Easy customization. Different game modes could be applied, such as capture the flag, or resource gathering, I've even seen rules for Roborally Football. Features for novice level players like movement previews as well as other game options like which board obstacles are functioning and rules for damage and re spawns could be controlled in a pregame interface.
Replays.
Time can be an issue also, a large Roborally game with 6 boards and 8 players could take hours to play. Using the design of games like Words with Friends or Hero Academy, you could have multiple games active and submit your turn for each within the time limit allowed. Sometimes these games could have no time limit and games could go on for days between friends, but within their schedule. And at the end of a three week game, Replay!
How do you Monetize something like this?
In the end it's all about money. It's a great game, but people aren't going to pay to play individual games. They may pay a nominal fee for an app on the app store, but that isn't going to fund development costs. Some sort of cash shop would have to be part of the business model. The trick is figuring out how to build in fees without segmenting the player base.
Customization. Everyone loves hats! Sell dye packs, custom skins, and/or modification parts to the robots. (Flashing lights, spinning rims, anything that doesn't interfere with option cards)
Limit on number of concurrent games.
Access to a level editor.
Alright, someone figure out how to get a hold of the digital rights to this IP and start up a kickstarter!
Meanwhile I will, when really itching, play a game against ridiculously skilled computer players on Game Table Online, because I am not paying dollars for that simple of an interface.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Blizzard is in the wrong business
I mean that in the most flattering way.
Have you seen the title cinematic for Mists of Pandaria?
This is a very different type of opening than we have seen before.
The original World of Warcraft opening used a simple metaphor to great effect - The Drums of War. In a series of scenes we are introduced to the races and classes of World of Warcraft. Each cut happens faster and faster, like the beating of a drum, or a quickening heartbeat. It instils excitement and anticipation.
The opening to The Burning Crusade went with the different tone. The general message was a challenge, but it wasn't unified. There was a lot of filler, showing off things that people had come to love about World of Warcraft - such as Polymorph, Murlocks, and Mounts. It also took time to introduce the new races, the stoicism of the Draenei and the sinister lust for power in the Blood Elves. That was framed with the message: if you want to fight Illidan you'll need to gain 10 levels and claw your way through three tiers of punishing raid content.
Wrath of the Lich King introduced us to something new. The sole focus was on the Lich King, no mention of the players. This set up the most cinematic of the World of Warcraft expansions. Each new patch focused on a significant amount of NPC character development.
Cataclysm brought the players back into the cinematic, but subtly. The opening showed us what happened to the world; showed us the terrible power of Deathwing; showed us places we could recognize being destroyed by our new foe. This engaged the player, making us feel helpless and driving us to fight back against this force of nature.
This new opening is something different, something...more.
First we have a Darkness to Light metaphor that perhaps gets a little heavy handed at the end but is still very effective.
The character models used are amazing. The level of detail is staggering, and still, even with the human, you can tell immediately that it is a Warcraft art asset.
When it builds to the fight scene it feels perfectly in place. Something straight out of a 1980's Jet Li or Jackie Chan period film (Once Upon a Time in China series, Drunken Master, or Chinese Ghost Story). Demonstrating amazing choreography with just a dash of comedy. It fits perfectly right down to the conclusion where having been beaten the Horde and Alliance characters resign their conflict with each other and their new foe to appreciate the beauty of the land that they have discovered.
The only odd moment for me is the very end with the weird tongue smacking, I'm not exactly sure what that was about. Maybe they thought just sniffing the cherry blossoms was too stereotypical, but didn't want to anger to Parent's council by having him take a swig of beer, because let's face it, that's what Chen Stormstout thinks is worth fighting for.
The music, the story telling, the animation. It all combines to become something more than you'd expect from a video game.
Blizzard is in the wrong business.
Also, before people start shouting nerf monks, obviously the monk is level 90 and the Orc and Human are level 85,
Have you seen the title cinematic for Mists of Pandaria?
This is a very different type of opening than we have seen before.
The original World of Warcraft opening used a simple metaphor to great effect - The Drums of War. In a series of scenes we are introduced to the races and classes of World of Warcraft. Each cut happens faster and faster, like the beating of a drum, or a quickening heartbeat. It instils excitement and anticipation.
The opening to The Burning Crusade went with the different tone. The general message was a challenge, but it wasn't unified. There was a lot of filler, showing off things that people had come to love about World of Warcraft - such as Polymorph, Murlocks, and Mounts. It also took time to introduce the new races, the stoicism of the Draenei and the sinister lust for power in the Blood Elves. That was framed with the message: if you want to fight Illidan you'll need to gain 10 levels and claw your way through three tiers of punishing raid content.
Wrath of the Lich King introduced us to something new. The sole focus was on the Lich King, no mention of the players. This set up the most cinematic of the World of Warcraft expansions. Each new patch focused on a significant amount of NPC character development.
Cataclysm brought the players back into the cinematic, but subtly. The opening showed us what happened to the world; showed us the terrible power of Deathwing; showed us places we could recognize being destroyed by our new foe. This engaged the player, making us feel helpless and driving us to fight back against this force of nature.
This new opening is something different, something...more.
First we have a Darkness to Light metaphor that perhaps gets a little heavy handed at the end but is still very effective.
The character models used are amazing. The level of detail is staggering, and still, even with the human, you can tell immediately that it is a Warcraft art asset.
When it builds to the fight scene it feels perfectly in place. Something straight out of a 1980's Jet Li or Jackie Chan period film (Once Upon a Time in China series, Drunken Master, or Chinese Ghost Story). Demonstrating amazing choreography with just a dash of comedy. It fits perfectly right down to the conclusion where having been beaten the Horde and Alliance characters resign their conflict with each other and their new foe to appreciate the beauty of the land that they have discovered.
The only odd moment for me is the very end with the weird tongue smacking, I'm not exactly sure what that was about. Maybe they thought just sniffing the cherry blossoms was too stereotypical, but didn't want to anger to Parent's council by having him take a swig of beer, because let's face it, that's what Chen Stormstout thinks is worth fighting for.
The music, the story telling, the animation. It all combines to become something more than you'd expect from a video game.
Blizzard is in the wrong business.
Also, before people start shouting nerf monks, obviously the monk is level 90 and the Orc and Human are level 85,
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