I try to avoid most of the fuss the Internet likes the chew on, but this one deserves some kind of response. A week or so ago at PAX, BioWare Mythic held a panel to talk about Wrath of Heroes. It seems this video has generated quite a bit of controversy.
Honestly, the fact that this developed into something negative was a complete surprise to me. I watched the video when it came out, wrote down some notes for the blog posts and that was that. Today, Massively has a post saying Mythic is throwing Warhammer Online under the bus. Oddly enough, this is the most coverage WoH has received from Massively, other than a 2 paragraph blurb about its announcement.
I usually like what Syp writes at Massively and find it to be on the level. So what caused him to say this? In the video, Paul Barnett (Creative Director of Mythic) talks about aspects of WAR (and MMO's in general) and used words like 'boring crap' and 'dull.'
Why didn't this register with me? Context. It seemed obvious to me that Paul was talking about the differences between Wrath of Heroes and WAR (and other MMO's). The new game is aimed at players who may not want to take the time to do a lengthy progression or min-max gear and abilities. And that is the group he was talking to.
The panel was also given in a fun/excited tone, not a serious one where words like 'crap' would have a different connotation. That's all part of context though.
With that context in mind, I still don't see how it is throwing WAR under the bus. His statements don't affect my enjoyment of progression and min-maxing, I still like them. Telling people who may not enjoy those aspects that they are not present in Wrath of Heroes is fine with me.
Could his words have been better chosen? Maybe. Eventually though, this just leads to the path of no interaction and dry press-releases. That'll sure be fun.
That's enough of this serious stuff, looks like the 1.4.4 patch notes might be out today.
That's enough of this serious stuff, looks like the 1.4.4 patch notes might be out today.
