WoW in the NYT

[cKGunslinger]

New York Times article

...

That ease of play has made the game fantastically successful, but it has also created what has become almost a blood feud in the game and on Web message boards between the game's casual users and more serious players. The issue is that once players reach Level 60, if they want to keep fighting bigger and badder monsters and if they want to get rarer and more powerful loot, they must start to work in teams, perhaps of 10 or 20 players. The most epic challenges, like conquering Blackwing Lair and its master, the black dragon Nefarian, require 40 players to work together with the coordination of synchronized swimmers.

But because the game from Level 1 to Level 59 is so easy, there are a ton of Level 60 users who don't know how to be team players and don't have the time or inclination to learn. And that is the root of the current conflict. Casual players complain that they can't get rewards comparable to those earned by hard-core raiders, like the Claw of Chromaggus or Mish'undare, Circlet of the Mind Flayer. Raiders like me often respond that casual players just want a handout.

And caught in the middle are Mr. Kaplan, known online as Tigole, and the rest of the Blizzard team. For the game's newest high-end area, called Ahn'Qiraj, they set up a system earlier this month that essentially requires most of each server's population, casual and hard-core, to work together to amass huge amounts of war materiel like bandages and metals before the gates to the dungeon will open. Naturally, the population on some servers has responded by pulling together (much respect to the Medivh server for being first to open the gates), while on dozens of other servers, like mine, the war effort is progressing more slowly because casual players don't care about opening a high-end zone.

...

Also mentioned in the new 40-man dungeon, Naxxramas.

Q. What can you tell me about Naxxramas?

A. Naxxramas is going to be the most difficult thing in the game until the expansion pack comes out. It will be the pinnacle, and it's absolutely massive. You'll see this big necropolis floating above Eastern Plaguelands. It's a 40-man raid zone, and it's bigger than the Undercity [one of the main cities in the game]. Things could change, but we're up to something like 18 bosses in there, and they are really cool, too. But it's going to be hard. Really hard. We're hoping to release it in the spring.

 

[Chompman]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger

Also mentioned in the new 40-man dungeon, Naxxramas.

Q. What can you tell me about Naxxramas?

A. Naxxramas is going to be the most difficult thing in the game until the expansion pack comes out. It will be the pinnacle, and it's absolutely massive. You'll see this big necropolis floating above Eastern Plaguelands. It's a 40-man raid zone, and it's bigger than the Undercity [one of the main cities in the game]. Things could change, but we're up to something like 18 bosses in there, and they are really cool, too. But it's going to be hard. Really hard. We're hoping to release it in the spring.

I don't get it... Undercity is not that big so this is going to be one of the smallest instances yet they call it big?

 

[CKent]

yay, more raidfest content *yawn*

 

[Xyclone]

Imagine what non-gamers think when reading stuff like this in the newspapers.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: Xyclone
Imagine what non-gamers think when reading stuff like this in the newspapers.

Well, probably the same thing I'd think when I'd read the sports paper and hear about all kinds of words and statistics I have no clue about.

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger

Originally posted by: Xyclone
Imagine what non-gamers think when reading stuff like this in the newspapers.

Well, probably the same thing I'd think when I'd read the sports paper and hear about all kinds of words and statistics I have no clue about.

Agreed. I liked the interview, mostly because it was clear the interviewer really knew what he was talking about, instead of just asking "What's this interweb thing you keep talking about!?".

The funny thing is, people are already complaining about the Tier 0.5 instance (5 man) that will be released so Casuals can have an epic set (albeit light). They say that 5 people is too many!!!! Why can't they solo the whole thing, the poor souls?.

 

[heelside23]

Check this out, it's also in the comics Link