Very hardcore gamer here. Glad. CE. KSM. You name it.
And I still think locking meta behind a raid ain’t it (and no I’m not playing a lock, my mage is already on the WSG rep grind and I’m about to level an alt hunter).
In my mind, classic was always about the journey.
Leveling was incredibly fun. I actually stopped the dungeon spam just to go level out in the world. You want me to run across the continent to turn in this quest? Sure bud. You want me to run back and I forgot to change my hearthstone? Whatever you say.
Runes, imo, should enhance this experience as much as possible. Getting groups of mages and locks OUT IN THE WORLD to kill the Frozen Murloc/Trogg was fun. Getting groups of mages and warriors to kill the elite in Duskwood aka, OUT IN THE WORLD, was fun. Having my runes to play around with, OUT IN THE WORLD, was fun (regen/living flame gang wya).
I don’t mind locking runes behind hard content, just let that content be out in the world.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I don’t think instanced content needs to be incentivized anymore than they already are. People will already be doing them for BiS gear.
Instead, make the world of Azeroth feel alive. The game just feels more alive when I see a bunch of people out in the world.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.