Massively's best of - Favorite expansion of 2008
by Michael Zenke 
Dec 16th 2008 at 2:30PM
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online
When Blizzard released their first expansion to World of Warcraft, they made some improvements while at the same time making plenty of new mistakes. With Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard has leapt beyond the original game's vision to introduce substantial new improvements to the title.
So many quests in the new expansion involve both epic lore and quest mechanics that it's easy to forgive the rehashing classic MMO gameplay. Be prepared to literally stand on the shoulders of giants while battling your foes in ways unseen in any MMO experience to date.
Zone design is part and parcel with enjoyable questing, which is why the Northrend quests are some of the most fun yet in the game. The pacing is much better this time around, and a lot of the new zones feel either fresh and new or evoke themes running through the entirety of the Warcraft saga. Dragonblight is in many was as much of a wasteland as Desolace or the Barrens – but Blizzard figured out how to make the whole area packed to the brim with interesting content and locales.
As the icing on the cake we now have Death Knights, a triumph of Blizzard's improvements to the game since their first set of MMO classes. Not only does this first hero class feel entirely heroic, the starting zone and quests associated with the class recapture for some the emotion and wonder of playing World of Warcraft for the first time. Once you'd stepped into those dark shoes, it was impossible to stop until the ride was over and you were back in Outland.
Wrath is a cut above the rest this year. It's a huge improvement over The Burning Crusade, and has done much to change player perceptions of what a WoW expansion could be. If you've been hoping for a WoW 2, the closest thing you'll find to that for a long time is Wrath of the Lich King.
Runner-up: Mines of Moria for Lord of the Rings Online (writeup by Shawn Schuster)
Not only has it been an exciting year for expansions, but if all goes according to plan, the competition will remain fierce in the coming years. There's no denying the fact that World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion deserved the praise it has received since its launch in November, which is why it won our top spot in the Favorite Expansion of 2008 category. Yet, we can't forget about Turbine's own entry, released literally within a week of Lich King.
Lord of the Rings Online's Mines of Moria expansion is winning the hearts of MMO gamers everywhere. With two new classes, an enormous Legendary Weapon system and one of the largest seamless maps in any MMO, Moria is practically a full-featured game in itself, for the price of an expansion. As the bar continues to get raised, and competition grows fierce, players are finding themselves on the winning side no matter which expansion they buy. Game studios must provide quality content that continuously out-performs itself to remain competitive in this market. Mines of Moria is certainly a perfect example of a product that was released to keep Turbine competitive against what would inevitably be the more-popular choice in Lich King.
So why didn't Moria win top spot, if it's really that good? There are a variety of reasons, but the simple fact is that more people play World of Warcraft. This being LotRO's first shot in the Expansion Wars, I'd have to say they're not doing too bad, either. This is certainly one of those cases where second place is still quite a compliment.
Not only has it been an exciting year for expansions, but if all goes according to plan, the competition will remain fierce in the coming years. There's no denying the fact that World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion deserved the praise it has received since its launch in November, which is why it won our top spot in the Favorite Expansion of 2008 category. Yet, we can't forget about Turbine's own entry, released literally within a week of Lich King.
Lord of the Rings Online's Mines of Moria expansion is winning the hearts of MMO gamers everywhere. With two new classes, an enormous Legendary Weapon system and one of the largest seamless maps in any MMO, Moria is practically a full-featured game in itself, for the price of an expansion. As the bar continues to get raised, and competition grows fierce, players are finding themselves on the winning side no matter which expansion they buy. Game studios must provide quality content that continuously out-performs itself to remain competitive in this market. Mines of Moria is certainly a perfect example of a product that was released to keep Turbine competitive against what would inevitably be the more-popular choice in Lich King.
So why didn't Moria win top spot, if it's really that good? There are a variety of reasons, but the simple fact is that more people play World of Warcraft. This being LotRO's first shot in the Expansion Wars, I'd have to say they're not doing too bad, either. This is certainly one of those cases where second place is still quite a compliment.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kraft said on 7:13PM 12-16-2008
"So why didn't Moria win top spot, if it's really that good? There are a variety of reasons, but the simple fact is that more people play World of Warcraft."
??? That's bullshit. Teenage pregnancy is pretty popular, but it doesn't mean it's the best option.
More people play it? Come on... The amount of people that play it is not a way to prove quality. What about that band you like that very few people do, or that movie you watched that not a lot of people know about.
If you're going to award the best expansion to WoW, at least give us the real reasons (or the "variety" of reasons) as to why you thought it was a lesser expansion.
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Snorii said on 8:45PM 12-16-2008
Sorry, but I have to agree with Kraft here. "more people play" is a sorry answer.
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Tateru Nino said on 11:18PM 12-16-2008
Mines of Moria is a great expansion, seriously. But would we have lined up for it outside stores at midnight, like tens of thousands of people did for Wrath of the Lich King?
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Jaxtherogue said on 12:31PM 12-17-2008
Lotro players were still enjoying lotro at midnight of the Moria release. :)
..and..you could buy a downloadable version from day one.
..and..is being lumped in with midnight expac shoppers a good thing? At that point one has to question their judgement and ability to judge a good expac from Crap In A Box.
I'm not beating on WoW really; LK is entertaining, what I have played of it. I like the changes and zones, but Moria takes you to a very different and awe-inspiring world. And the legendary system is a very welcome addition.
My real point is that popularity has little to do with quality and it's embarrassing to Massively's journalistic integrity that it was a criteria.
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Jess said on 12:42PM 12-19-2008
"My real point is that popularity has little to do with quality and it's embarrassing to Massively's journalistic integrity that it was a criteria"
Sad but true. Major kick in the balls for LOTRO:MoM.
Brendan Drain said on 2:16PM 12-17-2008
Every time I hear about LoTRO, I get the feeling I should definitely be playing that game. It looks awesome and the developers seem to know exactly what they're doing.
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Tateru Nino said on 12:01PM 12-18-2008
You should give it a go, then! There's a free trial, last I looked.
CJ said on 9:42PM 12-19-2008
I was actually disappointed with Lich King; I'm a relatively casual player, and I resubscribed partly due to the hype. There was little for me there.
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