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Learning from Past Releases

By Jon Wood on Jul 15, 2008

MMORPG.com's World of Warcraft Correspondent Darren Bridle files this report that takes a look at what Blizzard could learn from their first expansion, Burning Crusade and apply to the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King.

Blizzard is set to release a new expansion for its world renowned MMO and questions need to be answered. How big do you make it? What type of player do you cater to? Are there more raids, more mobs, more loot! However the real question should be, “What have you learned from The Burning Crusade?”

What didn't work

Location location location!

It’s clear that moving away from Azeroth, away from the lands of Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, Orcs and the like, was possibly a wrong move. It was a brave adventure that almost paid off. Moving away from traditional character backgrounds and giving a detached feeling from the mainland really was its failing. Wrath of the Lich King (WOTLK) has a big bonus; it’s ripped straight from Warcraft 3 and contains proven lore and strong character backgrounds. Die hard Warcraft fans will instantly feel comfortable on the new continent of Northrend. The team working on WOTLK is huge and contains personnel that have worked from as far back as the original game, this is really important in terms of deciding what works, what doesn’t working, and keeping a consistent feel across the expansions. But what about arriving there on day one, along with 9 million other people…

Read it all here.

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