The most exciting time during the lifecycle of the World of WarCraft is a new expansion. Before that, however, the game’s developer Blizzard implements what is referred to as the Pre-Patch. The game version is incremented, with updates to lead into the upcoming expansion.
The War Within’s Promises
When Blizzard announced the expansion The War Within, excitement for World of WarCraft revved up. Beyond story and content updates, core features of the game were to be updated. These updates were eagerly anticipated, and seen to bring new life and energy to the game. Chief among them was the Warbands system, an update to how Blizzard handled account-wide progress. For instance, item appearances would be unlockable on any character, regardless of equipment restrictions. Another example was an update to the game’s reputation system. Going forward, reputations will be tied to your account and not individual characters. This was a promise of evergreen progression moving forward, an investment in the game’s future.
World of Warcraft Pre-Patch Day
On Tuesday, July 23rd, Blizzard launched the Pre-Patch for The War Within. Updating the game to version 11.0, key features like the Warbands system would be implemented. While the new story and zones were not yet available, Pre-Patch did have new content. On July 30th, the Pre-Patch event would begin, named Radiant Echoes. This would allow players to earn high-level catch-up gear. While a minor update in terms of story, it would hopefully draw in players. However, the launch day did not go entirely as expected. Much to the player’s consternation, World of WarCraft was a bit broken.
Bugs and Concerns
A few immediate bugs were concerning to the players of World of WarCraft. Most notable among them was an issue with the game’s trading system. If you attempted to trade items with players on another server, your character would break. Unable to fight, teleport, or take any action, your character was stuck. Blizzard quickly disabled this feature in an effort to avoid players seeing the bug. Additionally, a promised feature of the patch, Warband Banks, was not functional yet either. This was a new bank that was shared between all of your characters. A promising feature, but players were disappointed to find it not working at launch.
Radiant Echoes Disappoints
Players bided their time waiting for the new content. When the Radiant Echoes event began on the 30th, however, they were still disappointed. The event’s story quests were short, barely advancing the World of WarCraft plot. The event’s mechanics also drew ire, with players finding it tedious and hard to enjoy. Much of the event hinged on a cyclical rotation of boss spawns. The way to spawn the bosses emerged every 90 minutes, with players quickly downing them. Players would log in, only to find they had to wait over an hour. While there were weaker mobs to farm, players were not interested. The rewards also seemed too expensive, with the quests offering currency being on weekly lockouts.
A Quick Response
Not wanting to lose momentum for the upcoming World of WarCraft expansion, Blizzard went to work. Feedback was heard quickly and implemented just as fast. By August 1st, certain details about the event were changed to satisfy player demands. The rotating cycle was lowered to an hour as opposed to 90 minutes. The quests used to spawn the boss would remain after it was downed. This gave players who showed up late something to do to earn the exclusive rewards. The weekly quests were changed to dailies, allowing players to more easily earn new currency. With the swiftness of these updates, players were pleased to see Blizzard working fast.
The Reality of Game Development
Over World of WarCraft’s nearly twenty years of operation, the game has had infamous glitches. The War Within, with all its promises of underlying system changes, was risky. Changing so many components of how the game works was bound to have bugs. The concern is always that they don’t get caught early. This seems tough to defend when the game is tested by players ahead of time. However, there is no true test of code like pushing it to a live server. Some things simply can’t be discovered until the live game is updated. Blizzard is also tackling gameplay critiques, keen to make players happy. With their controversies behind them, Blizzard is working for a better reputation.
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