WoW Patch 4.3 'Hour of Twilight' launches today

@Cap Morgan
If only it lasted a mere hour in the spotlight.

@xHotPotatox Last I checked it still had 8-9 million subscribers....They won't end it with that kind of profit. Swan song will come in around 2 million players I think...which is STILL a HUGE number for pay to play MMOs now days...but I think that's around when they'll feel the need to change things drastically in "WoW 2"

In rely to Trapz, increasing the top-end graphics does not mean they'd have to increase the bottom end. Cat increases the graphics quite a bit but unfortunately not as much as some people would like, but they could still technically do more. They'll never go for a realistic look though, it wouldnt fit the world they've established

@xHotPotatox

Yeah I was thinking the same thing - what more appropriate name for the state of WoW than "Hour of Twilight"?

I know there still MILLIONS of subscribers, but "peak oil" has been reached, and that number has been dropping and will continue to decrease, that's just reality.

Honestly, I don't think the $15 a month model is sustainable for any game really, WoW was an anomaly. Paying $60 every 4 months to play the same game, doesn't make much sense on paper.

@Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En

Is that equivalent to 4.3379 minutes of blowjob or did I get the equation wrong?

@Warlock234

A lot of people like you don't realize what an overhaul it would be to update the games graphics.

Yea they can add water, lighting and spell effects but anything beyond that would mean basically a new engine..and you can't just introduce a new engine into a game like that.

I hate WoW, I wasted many hours in that game but after Cata was released I realized it would never get better..so don't think I'm defending the game.

I'm simply saying the game is old..but it's an MMO that is played by millions.

1. Updated the games engine would basically mean remaking the game
2. You wouldn't believe the computers that some people play this game on and still can barely run it.
3. Updating the visuals to compete with AOC or Aion would basically cut WoW's subscribers in half..if not more because they POS computers couldn't handle it.

So in all..it will never happen and remember..when WoW came out in 2004 it was pretty impressive visually.

@Warlock234

They are sitting back and making money.

Millions every month.

@Warlock234

WoW has an art style which is faithful to WarCraft 3, and all previous WarCraft games. Not only does it allow the system requirements to be lower so everyone can play, but it still has it's unique look.

Look at any "realistic" MMO made in the last several years, and they look crappy now. EverQuest 2 looks pretty crappy. Even LOTRO has player models which from the screenshots don't completely fit into the environment.

So, the only thing keeping you from playing is the artsyle, and the price? You don't want to play because of one of the very things that make it WarCraft?

Please, look at this and call it ugly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VE9qBtWYKog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_915570&v=GQ12VD2OUM0&src_vid=VE9qBtWYKog

@Warlock234
"because graphics are what keep from playing WoW"

The irony is your Minecraft avatar.

@Warlock234 Are you really so naive to think that game developers write graphical engines based on the most relevant cpu architecture 7 years in the future?

Listen, 2004 WoW was made for 2004 systems. They've upped the system requirements on it due to having increased texture size, poly count, shaders, etc. but there's only so far you can push your minimum specs up before your isolate a large portion of your player base.

Even if you were suicidal enough to want to write a new engine (read: updated system requirements) for a game with 9 mil+ players the executive team would have you fired for lacking common sense before you even wrote the first line of code. That is why developers wait to release sequels - it isolates no one as the original players can keep playing the old game while new/existing players can choose to upgrade to the new one.

I hope this makes sense.

@(Unverified)

It does..to most of us.

And it's amazing how many others out there think like this Warlock guy.

@Traptz

I run WoW on a POS computer, and before Cata I ran WoW on an even worse POS computer. I'm lucky to get 10 FPS in a raid, and if 25 people have to stack up I am screwed. Despite all of that, I love the way WoW looks and would hate to see it changed so drastically.

@Drakkenfyre

I looked at it.

It's ugly.

@ungeheier

Skyrim has Vampires and Werewolves..no panda's yet though.

@Traptz

Let me know when they get them and I'll jump all over skyrim... Can you play as a sparkly Vampire?

@ungeheier

With PC modding? Definitely.

Hell, there's a mod that changes your characters skin to look like Spider-Man.

@drunkingamebar Nope, though they've stated they're considering it for the future.

@Pr1mus

Yep, looks like old-school WC3 Illidan. One of the benefits of including time-travel in your game is a "legitimate" means of dredging up old content and characters.

@freaparn The Caverns of Time havsn't reused any old content, outside of content covered by the books or older games. Honestly, it's one of the highlights to me to see these events in-game.

@(Unverified) amen, my favourite wow-hater quote is
"I value my time way too much to play wow like you losers "
-quote from someone in a video game blog site forum.