Warlords of Draenor launch a success despite a few hiccups
In the 10 years since its launch, Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft has been without a doubt the most successful MMO game to date, and today marks the launch of its fifth expansion: Warlords of Draenor.
Although the MMO giant has seen a slow decline in subscribers over the years, those numbers have started to rebound. The game saw an increase from 6.8 million subscribers to 7.4 million from June to September of this year.
The gain can be attributed both to the new expansion and to the excitement over an upcoming Warcraft film being produced by Legendary Pictures (“300,” “The Dark Knight,” “Pacific Rim”) and directed by Duncan Jones (“Moon”).
“With the 20th anniversary of Warcraft and the 10th anniversary of World of Warcraft taking place this month, now is the perfect time to re-explore the series’ roots—and to reinvent one of its greatest conflicts for a whole new generation of players,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Warlords of Draenor contains some of the most epic and thrilling content we’ve ever created, and the included level 90 character boost makes it easier than ever for anyone to jump right into the action.”
The launch had a few minor issues due to the sheer volume of players logging in as soon as the content was available. Most notably, many players were unable to turn in an important quest because a game character was obscured by hundreds of players standing in the way.
Blizzard quickly hotfixed the issue, however, by making the quest complete without the need to click on the character to turn it in.
Features
- New zones: Players explore the world of Draenor before it became Outlands, the primary zone from the first WoW expansion
- Free level 90 boost: Players can start enjoying the new content right away with a free boost to level 90 for one character
- Higher Level: Level cap raised to 100
- Updated Graphics: Entirely new character models and multiple updates to spell effects
- Player Garrisons: Garrisons allow players to build up their own fort with vendors, recruits, crafting materials, and more
- And much more: New dungeons, crafting recipes, mounts, achievements, events, and others.
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