The Digital Continuum: Expanding horizontally part 2

by Kyle Horner on Aug 24th 2009 10:30AM

World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, Expansions, Opinion, The Digital Continuum

For every hardcore raider, PvPer or what-have-you playing the game regularly there are probably ten or so people not playing, who just wish Blizzard would do something for the older world content. Their reasoning in simple: they're still stuck there, in Stranglethorn or Burning Steppes. They never really got past that content, and nobody can really blame them for being stuck because, well, even Blizzard seems to agree that the old content needs a revamp. This is actually a problem with just about every MMO I've played over the years. It's not an unheard of concept, but I can't think of a single case like Cataclysm where it's been taken to such an interesting extreme.

It gives me hope, because if there's one thing about World of Warcraft we all know, it's that other developers look towards it at least a little as a barometer. Will we see future expansions for all other MMOs have a little more horizontal content expansion? I certainly hope so, but I suppose that kind of outcome will be determined by the sales success of Cataclysm – although the past two data points don't really give cause to worry.

Blizzard doesn't seem to be interested in following the standard (shocking, I know) on visual updates. Instead, they prefer to incrementally improve their graphics. Most of the time, big visual overhauls come several years post-launch, which is why I found the lack of one in Cataclysm a little surprising. At the very least, I was hoping for a small polygon boost to the original races' models. Let's face it, the newer races have a sharper image. Yes I know the water looks better, which is to be expected when an expansion features some underwater zones.

This is the strangeness of a fifty-fifty -- give or take -- horizontal-vertical expansion. Yes, there's a bevy of fresh new content for levels 1-60, yet there's plenty of dungeons, new levels, equipment and high level content as well, just not as much as TBC or WotLK. Yet certain things seem a little half-cooked where they might've not been in a more focused expansion. It's hard to say, and I very well could be wrong about this, but I think splitting an expansion into two very different focuses has this effect.

What I'm most curious about are the long-term effects of this kind of expansion on two very different games. On one side of the spectrum we've got a highly successful MMO, and on the other we've got one that had a strong start followed by some turbulent waters. Of course, since then Age of Conan has improved and stabilized. Likewise, WoW has continued to do incredibly well over the years, but seems to have declined faster post-WotLK than it did after TBC.

I personally think both expansions are likely to be well received, and will challenge a lot of future expansions to do more than just toss some new content on top of the pile. There's so much else to do other than add a bunch of new zones, levels and sprinkles some tertiary features that may or may not be interesting to anyone more than five levels away from the cap. Horizontal is good, and so is vertical. I just hope that developers begin to realize that there's more to do than build upwards.

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Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, blizzard, cataclysm, funcom, opinion, rise-of-the-godslayer, world-of-warcraft, wow

Reader Comments (22)

This was a very interesting article so thanks for writing this up, I enjoyed it.

I've really taken heart over the last week that companies are reinvesting into making their games better, not just bigger, so I feel there is hope for the future of MMO's.

Horizontal expansion in an MMO is fine - expanding old areas and removing roadblocks, renovating loot tables in dungeons, etc. MMO gentrification, on the other hand, is dangerous, because it means the permanent destruction of the old content. Unlike a book, a movie, or a single player game, you can never go back and experience content that has been renovated in an MMO. It's a quick way to alienate players; see SWG or EQ.

I'm a fan of theme parks, and I think of MMOs being similar. There are certain rides at Disneyland that are gone and can never come back, and you can never revisit them except in photos and video. And yet they continue to change and add new things to Disneyland, and while it can be bittersweet, it's kind of awesome. New Orleans Square, for instance, wasn't originally in Disneyland at all - it could be seen as the first "expansion pack." It offered new rides (dungeons) that we now know and love: Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.

Maybe it's better to think of MMOs as theatrical plays rather than movies. You can always watch a movie again, but a live performance is a special thing that really can never be perfectly duplicated, not even by the same cast. That's what makes each performance such a big deal.

I'm all for Cataclysm. Maybe I'll change my mind if it doesn't live up to my expectations, but I think the idea is really ballsy and cool. I can't imagine being a game designer and being just fine with destroying some of my old work. (Poor Auberdine! I've been Horde for years now, but I still have fond memories of the first time I went there on my very first toon, a human warrior. Aww.)

I think that Cataclysm is as much about customer retention as anything else although I think you could argue that by revamping the lower levels they have a fresh pitch for new customers:"Do you know that new game that everyone but you is playing? Well the whole thing is even better now." We've seen a lot of changes that effect the lower level game recently, stuff like lower mount requirements, speeding leveling up to 70, and others. Previously they seemed like quality of life changes that were aimed at getting people to that upper level content that the devs were concentrating on. Cataclysm changes that a little, doesn't it? Now it's less about quality of life and more about answering some of those lingering complaints and making the lower level game as attractive as the upper level. Since you don't need to buy Cataclysm to experience the New Old Azeroth, the changes are a new chance to snag new players and lure them into buying the other expansions.

Any way you cut it, as a long time non-raiding player I'm pretty excited about it. When I saw the damage done to Dark Shore in that trailer I actually felt a little jolt of shock...

"Unlike a book, a movie, or a single player game, you can never go back and experience content that has been renovated in an MMO. It's a quick way to alienate players; see SWG or EQ."

I think that comparing these changes to SWG (no experience with EQ here) is some hyperbole. SWG didn't rearrange the map and reduce the requirements for owning a speeder bike, they gutted the game and completely over hauled the fundamental way it was designed. Nothing like that is happening here. I also think that comparing an MMO to a book or a movie isn't very accurate, or at least expecting it to be like that is setting yourself up for disappointment. An MMO is a fictional space with a history and, theoretically, an advancing timeline. Complaining that you can't do X low level dungeon in a 5 year old MMO anymore is like complaining that you can't go to the movie theater and see the original Star Wars anymore. The devs have said that as time moves forward in WOW that would necessarily obsolete old content. Now we see how seriously they're taking that statement.

Personally, I consider this a pretty bold move on their part but what sense is there to being a leader in the MMO world if you're not going to do some actual leading now and then?

All that said, with the Cavern of Time they could keep some of that old content in stasis and available to players that might want to do it for old time's sake.

That games you did name did suck before and still are now, Blizzard is not sony... It will be a huge storyline boost in the old world and old players finally will be able to fly over it!! Its not WoW 2 I am sure they will keep some quests we all know and love to hate in there! All they will do is use the tech and xp they gain with designing BC and lich king and use it to give that much more dark feeling to the old world! Return the horde to the war part!

Two pages about expanding horizontally and no mention of Guild Wars?
The MMO that sold millions of copies expanding only horizontally, three times.

Expanding horizontally works out fine in my experience, but maybe only when it occurs in games that've been designed to do so - for instance Cataclysm may be gambling if they focus too much on content that offers no gameplay value to existing characters beyond a sightseeing "ooh; that's changed" stroll while swatting low-level nuisance mobs.

I very much doubt Blizzard will fall in to that trap of course (AoC... not so sure), but it does sound - to an outsider - like a culture-shock concept for a game rather famously loot & raid acquisition centred.

Great write up, Kyle.

and while I agree 100%, the future of more horizontal development is completely dependent on seeing these two succeed. My worry is that it's too little too late for both companies. One has earned itself a niche sub base and scores of jaded and hateful players that wouldn't piss on the devs if they were on fire, and the other (as you said) is aging rather rapidly, even in the eyes of its most devout followers.

So, if new blood wins out (subs, boxes, sales, etc) over horizontal xpacks, are developers going to view this innovative world changer as a failure, even if it's not entirely based on how the content is received? That's my biggest worry.

"I've really taken heart over the last week that companies are reinvesting into making their games better, not just bigger, so I feel there is hope for the future of MMO's."

Yeah, I agree. Refreshing the old world content in a pretty bold way shows a serious investment in keeping the game viable for a long time. Also, by doing incremental graphical upgrades rather than big radical ones they're clearly showing players that they want to keep the game moving forward but they don't want to lose the more casual players out there. Blizzard is showing everyone that they're in it for the long haul. No WOW 2.0 here when they can continue to grow and service the existing game creatively.

The ONLY thing that might bring me back to WoW is the old-world overhaul. I have always loved the lower levels and despised end-game content but had grown tired of leveling in same old Azeroth.

I will wait to see how deep the overhaul is before committing but it is the only thing WoW has done to intrigue me in a long time.

The ultimate problem with persistent worlds is that they've been a little TOO persistent. The real world evolves. Game worlds don't. It's a frustrating and irritating thing for me. All I have to do is go back to Westfall to have this brought home. Five years now, and the inn by Sentinel Hill is still missing half its roof? The carpenter's union must be awfully strong!

I think that what Blizzard is doing with Cataclysm is exactly what the genre needs. In fact, I wish they'd take it farther by adding in incremental changes to the land over the course of many patches. We can assume that there will be a lot of damage following the cataclysm. For example, it seems like Orgrimmar is going to be rebuilt by Azshara. It would be great if at first the city was little more than a collection of tents and hovels. As each major update takes place, the city becomes built up a little bit more. Same goes for other damage and rebuilding throughout the world.

Not only would this sort of thing dramatically improve immersion, but a little tweaking to the NPC random dialogue would provide a way to make the players feel like they've had something to do with the changes. Something like, "I'd never have been able to get that roof fixed if it weren't for those adventurers helping to fight off the Defias gang."

Great post, Aurickle. Persistent worlds do seem just a bit too static.

How many years, for example, have William and Donna been fighting over that dolly in Stormwind? Those two should probably married by now (and still fighting, no doubt). The idea of a persistent world actually *moving forward* is really intriguing to me and rare to find in MMOs.

Maybe this week Astranaar is in elvish hands, but next week it's a burned ruin and under Horde control... WoW is doing this rather jarringly with Cataclysm, but why can't this sort of thing be ongoing, with every patch, with (unannounced) small and large changes taking place all over the game world and players just bumping into them as it were?

It would have been cool, for example, if by use of phasing, Old Azeroth and Cataclysm Azeroth could have somehow coexisted, divided not by geography but by level or quest line: level 1 to 60 = Old Azeroth (perhaps revised and updated), level 61 to 85, post-Cataclysm Azeroth. Something like that. Higher-level players could then return to Old Azeroth by means of the Caverns of Time perhaps.

Guild Wars had Presearing and Postsearing Ascalon, something the instancing structure of GW easily allowed, but I always thought that was a pretty cool game/story-telling feature.

The best thing about an old-world overhaul is the chance to mix multiple leveled classes together again.

The way WoW works today is that the majority of the world is empty, save for a cluster of players in some new land running end-game instances. This, at least, might make the world seem richer with the mixture of new players and level 85 players around the same general area. Maybe even populate old cities again!

But really, the biggest cause of this is the level progression that many MMOs use. Levels, as they are used, just serve to distance players from one another. There are far better ways to give players a sense of achievement while still placing artifical barriers on areas of the map you don't want players to access yet. Actually, the entire endgame of WoW is a perfect example of a level-less system that provides months/years of advancement.

I think even Blizzard realizes the downside of levels now by only going 85 with the next expansion. I expect to see less and less level cap increases from Blizzard (maybe with no levels at all in their next expansion) and other systems like the titan stuff for achievement based rewards.

I always thought that Blizzard should do something about Lv1-60 content. Not that it is tough nowadays, but rather boring and empty. For a newbie maybe not too much of a problem while you don't know the world (maybe from party perspective though) but for those rerolling alts ..... One of the reasons for me why I gave up after 1 lv80 and lv70, with probably half a dozen mid-level chars. Too boring. And to simply do xp-boost runs.... what's the point then?
So I actually look forward to this expansion in that aspect, although if I will have time with all the competition of MMOs out there....

Whoever thinks that Cataclysm will bring back the magic of his first days in WoW is in for a harsh suprise. The Game has changed as well as the community and doing your dailys in southern Barrens instead of Storm Peaks doesn't turn a boring grind into something new and awsome.

Though appreciate the fact that Blizzard finaly takes a second look at the old world, the main purpose of this expansion seems to be low development costs which is disappointing.

Anyone who has run through all the quests in, say, Goldshire and in Eversong woods knows which is more interesting. The BC and WOTLK quests certainly have more snap to them. Sure there are still the "kill 20 squirrels or whatever but there are also bombing runs, mounted patrols, cut scenes, phasing, etc... I don't know that anyone will be experiencing the magic of WOW anew but it would certainly persuade some people to run up a couple more alts. It's also a clever way for Blizz to renew zones that were pretty empty (Desolace, Southern Barrens).

I think it's a good idea. As someone stated above, the persistent work of an MMO is often too persistent. Doing something this ambitious helps make the game world feel like an evolving place. Hopefully if works out we'll see if more often. I'd love to see a hurricane wipe out Booty Bay :)

People are making an awfully big assumption about this being because of low development costs. The fact that flying in old Azeroth is now going to be possible proves that fact. You see, the devs long ago stated that flying wasn't possible in the pre-expansion areas due to the fact that the world had originally been made round which caused flying in a straight line to actually take you ever higher into the atmosphere. In order to bring flying to the original content, they would not only have to finish all the inaccessible parts of the map (like Mt. Hyjal) but also rebuild the world as a flat map like they did with Outland and Northrend.

What's more, they have to relocate just about every quest giver in the original game, and go over the quest text to determine what needs rewriting. That's thousands of quests that will need new directions at the very least.

Given the fact that Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms are WAY bigger than Outland and Northrend put together, it's a good bet that this expansion is actually more expensive for them than the previous two.

I think the combination of horizontal and vertical expansion is a smart move by Blizzard. I've been playing WoW for almost two years, and have been a serious endgame raider for about half of that time. I enjoy the game a lot, and I spend a pretty good chunk of time (probably too much) playing it.

I have *never* been as excited about the game as I have been since the big unveil of Cataclysm. It's not just the revamp and progression in the old world, it's everything: Deathwing, Gilneas, the return of Ragnaros and Malfurion Stormrage, and all the rest of the new or updated lore; the complete overhaul of the mechanics of talents and statistics, and also of the thing that drew me into the game to begin with, the hunter class; the new secondary profession and Path of the Titans system; reforging (can't wait to see how this one works out); guild advancement and achievements. Even the mundane UI stuff, like cross-server LFG, has me quivering with glee.

It's funny, though, that it's made Icecrown Citadel seem like little more than an obstacle to push through. I'm sure I'll feel different as it gets closer to release, but right now, I'm guilty of that old sports cliché of "looking past" my next opponent because I'm so amped up about the one after that.

""but seems to have declined faster post-WotLK than it did after TBC.""

Dose anyone have any solid facts about Wrath having a "poor retention" rate or is that just blown out of proportion?

I for one have not seen a large increase since the boom of wrath on my server but it is still FAR, FAR ahead of what it was during burning crusade. However that is just one server.

I have heard multiple people on places like massively and MMORPG.com yapping about this and I'd like to know where they are getting it from........

I lost interest in WoW two years ago. I'm still not sure if I'll ever go back. I had a great time in Vanilla WoW and may have it again... but right now I'm looking more towards SWTOR.

I must confess, though, that Cataclysm IS an interesting move by Blizzard. Just wish they would've made a massive overhaul of the graphics too. It's possible to retain the cartoony looks while still looking beautiful... why they don't do that is beyond me.

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The Digital Continuum: Expanding horizontally part 2

Reader Comments (22)

Posted: Aug 24th 2009 11:33AM Mr Angry said

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