Syd Lexia wrote:

To say that WoW has a story isn't really fair. It has cutscenes, to be sure, but not a real story. In fact, I'd argue that it's impossible for an MMORPG to have a real story. Let's say you kill the hardest boss, the one who's in the "current" storyline. I don't know who it is anymore, so let's just say it's the Lich King. Okay, great. You killed the Lich King. And you can kill him again tomorrow too. And the day after that. And you'll get a badge or an emblem or whatever, and maybe a handful of NPCs will recognize your achievement. But for most of the WoW world, the Lich King is still there. The game state doesn't change in any meaningful way as a result of his demise. Killing a boss is meaningless, in that regard.

Right, this is mostly true, if you haven't played the game you aren't going to know about most of the stuff i am going to mention here and i mean played within the last 2-3 years. Originally the game only had cutscenes at the beginning of the game, like proper video cutscenes - like those in Warcraft 3. Starting with the Wrath of the Lich King there where two more types of cutscene added: first was another similar to Warcraft 3s sort of pre-level cutscene where there was the action on the top and a small bar at the bottom with dialogue. This sort of cutscene occurred during certain quests when something happened so the quests flowed better. The other type of cutscene was one which typically happened at the end of a major quest arc and it would reveal more story and usually the in-game terrain would reflect this - with this in mind there is actually a story while playing. For example in WOTLK there is a mission where you are invading IceCrown which is where the Lich King is residing. You and the Valliance (i played Alliance) are tasked with invading camps set up by the Lich King along the way. When you take over those camps the terrain changes or the game changes. That camp has friendly npcs in it, the enemy npcs and monsters are removed because you have "killed" them. This process is irreversible with your character because you have progressed the story and taken that camp. This is a way in which Blizzard decided to make the story more involved with the gameplay. As i already mentioned the story was primarily in the quest text. Basically each zone of the game had it's own major quest arc and these were linked between zones and it basically ends up quest wise and story wise where the last boss is or where the overall story ends up to that point e.g. Lich Kings death.

Now i get to the Lich King repeated death thing. I totally agree with what you are saying however it isn't viable to remove him after one death. The Lich King as well as other bosses added into the game (with patches or any other expansion) was a part of the expansion which had to be paid for. Now i said i agree with what you are saying but would it be fair if say a raid goes out and kills the Lich King and then no one ever gets to play it again? That's major content for the expansion, hell it's what that whole expansion is based around. The Lich King isn't even one battle, it's a whole sequence of dungeons of him attacking you, sending in his lesser minions and battling up to him. Personally if it was the case where he was removed i would feel gypped and the expansion would have no point, it would just become "race to see who can kill him first". The thing is that even though they have moved onto Catacylsm, you can still fight the Lich King - hardly anyone will do it because the gear is now substandard, but you can do it for achievements.

This sort of thing is evident sort of in other games: Take GTA for example after you do the final mission you can still play: there isn't really that much to do though unless you want 100%. This is the same sort of thing. We can't forget after all that Blizzard is a business and the fact that WoW keeps running is because of the subscribers so it wouldn't make sense from a business point of view for them to go "final boss is killed, credits roll" then you are booted from the game unable to log in. There is other stuff which you can do. Like there are some changes in the game but it doesn't usually take effect until a patch has been released.

The task you are asking for i feel anyway is highly unrealistic. With the death of the Lich King you can't expect a total overhaul of the world. It wouldn't even be needed - you have to be max level, there is no need to go back and do earlier quests which say: "oh noes the lich king is coming". Still the Lich King was final content and a few months later Catacylsm came out. The Lich King wasn't actually available when the game came out. It was a patch to introduce him. Then the next major patch i believe was the Shattering - where they actually changed all the old world quests and prepared for the next expansions release.

Like i do agree with you but it just isn't viable or fair to players and the fanbase would complain about it. Like if you go to Wowwiki he is listed as Deceased. The storyline just gets picked up again with the next expansion (now that the Lich King is dead, it's become a total farse).

Syd Lexia wrote:

To say that WoW isn't a grindfest also isn't really fair. At the end of the day, it is. Maybe you're not grinding for levels anymore, but you're grinding through the same boss fights over and over again in hopes that it drops something good and you win the die roll.

I don't personally raid because i find it boring for that reason. The problem is it is related to the story and i like to sort of keep in touch with it. I find the whole thing tedious because you grind and grind for the best gear and then the next dungeon comes out and you do the same. It's just stupid to me and i don't care enough/have (or want to spend) the time to do that. Like i said in an earlier post, you don't have to do this. There are other ways to get gear but i suppose they are related to grinding e.g. playing lots of pvp and getting points - it's not as samey though. There are other ways you can spend your time in game - doing some of the achievements - but again they are sort of grindy as well.

Honestly when i get to that stage of the game i just switch off because i can't be bothered with the whole rigmarole of it.

Syd Lexia wrote:

This whole discussion also reminds me why writing feels like such a chore these days. Back when I started, I wrote whatever I want. I had a lot of strong opinions about various pop culture things and I put them out there. Some of them were popular opinions, some of them were not. And I didn't really give a fuck whether or not you agreed. But now I've got forums and a Facebook, and now I've got to be nicer.

Well i hope you wouldn't be an asshole for no reason (don't hurt me ) but it provides stimulating (to a degree) conversation. You shouldn't stop writing just because you think someone will get offended. It's all opinions man.

Syd Lexia wrote:

And if I say "Fuck WoW and fuck people for liking it", someone will take it personally. I don't mean it personally, that's just how I like to talk. But if I say that, I'm going to get into a long debate and end up making concessions, because at the end of the day, I'd rather be liked than be funny or edgy or angry or famous.

There is one problem i have with the internet and basically text and it's this: emotion isn't really conveyed over it. I don't know if this was aimed at me or not but to use that internet meme: "i ain't even mad".

It may look like i was a raging inferno but i was totally fine about it. This is after all a forum and there has to be a degree of discussion. It may look bad because i swear a lot (i toned down for this post for this reason) but that's how i talk and carry myself as a human being. It's just a part of how i talk and convey stuff and it's also how people where i live talk. Like if i say "fuck that" you may think i am upset but i am just using it for a substitute for "no". I guess it sort of it is a cultural barrier of sorts.

The end of the day, i don't play WoW that often anymore like i said - i hit 85 and get bored, i could start an alt but even that gets dull, i am in the trend of buying each expansion and then levelling it up and stopping again. It isn't raining on my parade that he has a problem with WoW or dislikes it. I was merely pointing out what i regarded as inconsistencies with his ideas.