Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

All this time, I've been playing World of Warcraft nostalgia, not the classic version that stays at level 60 forever, but the Eve version of Wrath of the Lich King, until today WLK nostalgia is officially available.

There are more and more versions of ▲ World of Warcraft.

"Eve" is a special Warcraft term, which refers to the transition period before the launch of a new large version, which usually lasts about a month. During this period of time, some new mechanisms, new skills or new games of the new version have been installed, but the new maps and copies have not yet been officially launched.

I enjoy the eve of each new version, the steel tribal invasion on the eve of 6.0, the demon on the eve of 7.0, and the parade of rare creatures on the eve of 9.0. I spent a lot of time involved, not to mention the eve of Wrath of the Lich King that Chinese server players have never experienced before.

The official version of Wrath of the Lich King is even more meaningful in itself, and it allows us to see how World of Warcraft is moving towards modernization.

Wrath of the Lich King is undoubtedly a very special version, in the eyes of many veteran Warcraft players, it is the pinnacle of World of Warcraft and the heyday of MMORPG. But when it comes to why, many people can only vaguely say things like "the War3 plot continues here" or "the least difficult version is the most successful version."

There is some truth in these words, but in the final analysis, from the perspective of game design, the Lich King version has made some subversive adjustments to the previous design ideas of World of Warcraft.

"the best version of the Lich King of ▲" can be said to be politically correct in the World of Warcraft player community.

If you've only played version 60 or 70, or version 5.0 or 7.0, it's hard to understand how World of Warcraft has changed over the years. And because the game is so evergreen, it's hard to find a player who has gone from persistent play in the vanilla era to formal service (currently version 9.0).

Take a simple example: all players have to deal with flying points countless times. In the 1960s, almost every map had only one flying point. You can see the following map of the Alvin Forest, which has only one flying point in Stormwind. This is excruciating, because there are a large number of places in the picture that players need to visit repeatedly in the game: the East Valley Log Yard is where alliance players learn to ride, and the North County Monastery is the birthplace of the human race. Whether it is to bring new people into the pit or welcome friends to the trumpet, Flash Town is a must for many festivals, as well as the Dark Moon Circus every month.

Why is there only one flying point in the whole picture? The reason is not complicated: the flying point of the vanilla era is designed entirely according to the logic of the real world, and the reference is the airport. Flight points and airports are fixed sites for players to travel long distances, and there will be only one airport in a large area, so there will be only one flight point in a map.

In the Burning Expedition, there is a slight increase in the number of flying points, with roughly two flying points on each map of Outland. When it comes to Wrath of the Lich King, this is not the case at all. Take a look at the following map of Northrend's north wind tundra. There are six flying points on one map.

And why is that? Let's take a look at the map of the north wind tundra after opening the task plug-in.

It is easy to find that there are important tasks marked by plug-ins near almost all flying points. In other words, the design of the flying point no longer follows the logic of the real world, but according to the logic of the game world-the flying point is the mission distribution center, or the player's action base. Players start from a flying point to do the mission, finish the related tasks in this area all the way, and then arrive at the next flying point.

The reference object of the flight point has changed from a concrete airport to an abstract "anchor point", which is of great significance to the design of MMO.

When developers put missions into the map, they can design around the flying point, so that the missions near a flying point are all about a certain topic: it may be a threat to the walrus tribe. it could be how the alliance army gained a foothold in Northrend. Players also have a clearer mileage mark during the long mission: follow the mission to the next flying point, and you will know that you have finished a small chapter of the task and are about to start a new chapter.

▲ official server simply reveals the chapter system of this kind of task directly in front of the players.

If you have played World of Warcraft or even more MMORPG games, you will find that this set of design logic has become the standard configuration of MMO.

FF14's transport crystal, Guild Wars 2's destination is similar to the flight point, which is not only a site for players to travel long distances, but also an important mission node. When players arrive in these places, they can safely suspend the mission and do something else-not only because they have achieved their phased goals, but also because they have the means of transportation to return quickly to continue the mission.

This is modern design. We don't usually feel its existence, but without it, the world will suddenly become strange, just like takeout, express delivery, mobile payments, and so many things that modern human beings have become accustomed to.

The same is true of copy design. As you iterate from TBC to WLK, you can see how the basic game forms and social states of modern MMORPG are established.

There are many horrible copies of nostalgic clothes like the Blackstone Abyss. it takes more than three hours for players to find a team to clear customs, which is also because the design of the copy first refers to the TRPG game, that is, running groups: three or five players get together for an afternoon, finish an adventure, and then go home.

But MMORPG players don't play games like this. Players can only go online for an hour or two on weeknight, have to do daily tasks, and have no time to type three hours of copies at all, while on weekends, players have a full 12 hours to play games, and three hours of copies appear to be insufficient.

▲ Blackstone Abyss has nearly 20 Boss

So we can see a more logical copy of the game in Wrath of the Lich King. Mainline team replicas (such as Audur, Icecrown Fortress) have more than a dozen Boss for players to take risks all day on weekends, while the two hours of weeknight will be spent by a streamlined and efficient five-player. After that, even if it is a large five-person book, there will be no more than 8 Boss in it, and there will never be nearly 20 Boss five-person books.

If you want to analyze carefully, Wrath of the Lich King also brings more modern design ideas. Some players are not satisfied with this, feel that less RP flavor, so that "World of Warcraft" is not like a real world, but on the whole, all MMORPG followed this set of modern design ideas, indicating that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

So, playing Wrath of the Lich King is not only playing with nostalgic clothes, but also going through a great journey in the history of game design. Perhaps only in World of Warcraft, which spans nearly 20 years and has experienced the rise and fall of a category, can we find such an opportunity to witness history.

Due to some reasons at that time, national service players directly stepped into Northrend on the eve of the experience. This eve not only made up for the natural disaster invasion activities at that time, but also added a lot of special content. On the eve of the version, players will be able to play the "new" professional death knight, and will be given a mount that can be used for formal clothing after completing the novice task.

Once upon a time, the ultra-rare mounts, which can only be exchanged with scraper cards, can also be obtained directly by buying gift bags in WLK nostalgic clothes, once again giving players a chance to make up for their regrets.

In addition, there are many activities outside the game, such as the "to Alsace" online art exhibition, which is not a simple picture or video presentation, but access to an exhibition hall space, just like manipulating your character to visit in World of Warcraft.

At 6: 00 a.m. on September 27, Wrath of the Lich King has officially launched its nostalgic suit, and the world of Azeroth has once again welcomed a sea of people.

Along with Lang Lang's "Arthas, My Son", a famous repertoire about the fate of Alsace, Warcraft players should be no stranger. After more than a decade, the interpretation of Lang Lang's version also has a different flavor. It is hoped that all adventurers-both allied and tribal players-will reopen memories of the past in this sad tune in the ancient and modern continent of Azeroth.

This article is from the official account of Wechat: game Research Society (ID:yysaag), by Shark Goo

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