by Copra
Cataclysm beta leaks. I hate them. I really do. But they are a genius pre-marketing tool from Blizzards side in many ways.
Achievements. Guild levelling. Instances. Class changes. Gear wipe. You name it.
Every little bit of information going out of the new shiny expansion fills a specific marketing target. There is a fabulous name to this creation of future expectations which cause people focus on the future rather than to the current moment.
Nextopia.
It's the current trend that we expect the next big thing to be The Thing. The same as the reason to publicise the next big concert a year ahead, put an outrageous price tag on the ticket and see how the price of the tickets declines the closer we come to the gig. It's the way we look our world tomorrow and forget to concentrate on the current moment. Tomorrow everything is better.
And we're all playing according to Blizzards pipe on this.
Take the guild achievement system for example. ICC is more or less on farm for most of the guilds out there. They are keeping some sort of raiding schedule to keep the raiders happy, to feed the not raiders through the LK grind and get everyone geared for the next big thing. (See what I did just there? Nextopia!) Some have started to look for greener pastures, and Blizzard reveals their plans for guild achievements and how ancient legendary weapons are ranked high in that system.
Guess what happens. Oh, sorry, you may have seen this, so it's no spoiler at all.
The guilds which have gotten bored or just lost the zest to go through ICC for the umpteenth time turn their eyes towards their legendary weapons. Suddenly there is a new surge in going through Ulduar, vanilla raids and so on. The people scatter from Dalaran to do their magic in the areas where they have set their foot a couple of years ago, if ever.
Blizzard just created 'meaningfull' stuff to do to you people! Clever marketing trick using the Nextopia idea!
At least I'm interested to see how Blizzard will fool us all to go through the old content once again. Cataclysm itself started the new minigame boom on achievements, but what if they introduced another one just to make sure everyone leaves the safety of Dalaran to see the old world again...
I can't wait for it to happen. It's bliss to live on expectations!
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