The Iron Horde Are Coming But I won’t Be Battling Them

Warlords Of Draenor. Blizzard’s fifth expansion in the World Of Warcraft series launches tomorrow and in typical Blizzard style, they have launched a mightily impressive PR campaign with Videos, storylines, social media hype and a very angry looking ride in a New York Cab!

Blizzard really are an impressive company when it comes to publicity, their cinematic trailers are superb and one wonders if they’ve ever considered extending those trailers into a longer series on their own, although I’d imagine they are damn expensive to make.

Warlords Of Draenor takes a step back in time to create a new timeline and the rise of the Iron Horde to bring new chaos to Azeroth.

There are obviously going to be new quests, new places to explore, new dungeons, an increased level cap and more. Despite all this and despite the buzz I’m seeing around certain circles, I won’t be participating.

They’ve left their mark on New York City. Azeroth is next… #Warlords pic.twitter.com/zOY41QRJM3

— World of Warcraft (@Warcraft) November 11, 2014

When Blizzard announced they were changing subscription costs for those who want to pay in pound sterling my first reaction was “They’re taking the piss” and it remains my only reaction to the news. That’s despite the fact that there’s a two year grace period for those who pay in pound sterling and stay subscribed and despite the fact that the actual rise is only a quid a month at most. I’m at the stage now where it’s not the cost, it’s the principle, it’s not like I haven’t been here before.

When Flickr revamped their site in May 2013 I found the changes so abysmal that I cancelled my premium subscription to Flickr and that only cost twenty something bucks. I think that may have even been a two year subscription. However going on Flickr was so irritating. Flickr’s lack of understanding the issues people were complaining about was beyond absurd. I asked myself “Why am I paying for this?” and came to the conclusion that I really shouldn’t. Flickr has improved much since then, although some irritations remain.

My issue with Blizzard is somewhat similar, I was irked logging in, wondering why I’m paying for this if I believe the company are really taking the piss and came to the conclusion that yes they are, and no I shouldn’t pay for it. Therefore I cancelled and won’t be going back any time soon, if ever. I’d rather have fond memories of World Of Warcraft, such as when the Cataclysm expansion launched and everyone wanted to fly:

I don’t want to get to the stage where I lose all respect for Blizzard. They do a lot of things right, they are a company with fun in their PR and a lot of people will happily be fighting The Iron Horde over the coming months. I wish them all well, Blizzard will do very well out of it, but at this stage, it’s just not for me.

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