Bad news for solo and world players

Community General Discussion
845

There are certainly more options for each slot under the current DF crafting system. (Original Valor didn’t even cover every slot.)

Also, the current DF crafting system goes as high as 447, a mere 3 below current max. (Original Valor was set to Normal raid, 15 below max.)

So for hardcore group content players, the current crafting system beats the original Valor as well as the SL M+ Valor by a longshot. It is a form of progression in and of itself rather than just serving as consolation for unlucky slots until you get real gear.

The current crafting system heavily favors hardcore group content players. Open world, queued PvE, and casual PvP players are never going to be able to craft at the higher levels, or at the frequency that the hardcore players do.

The original Valor system was truly universal. Everyone earned the same currency for the same rewards.

The MoP legendary cloak, Legion legendaries, BfA legendary cloak and artifact necklace, and SL legendaries were available at max iLvl for world players.

There was only one Artifact Power. One Azerite Power. One Anima.

But DF devs have to create these convoluted systems just to make sure players can’t get a single powerful item from easier content. If DF gets a legendary item, for example, I’m sure it will have upgrade ranks based on the level of the content that you do.

Crafted gear should be more about the time and the gold that people invest, rather than being yet another system gatekept by the content that they do. The new upgrade system is already discriminatory enough, so can crafters equip their own crafted gear again without having to do Mythic-level content?

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846

could’ve fooled me

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847

Some are definitely harder than others. Generally (except for the very first day they came online which was a complete poo parade) I find it manageable.

It’s easier if you find an ad-hoc group doing more or less the same thing you are.

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848

I’m an on-and-off WoW player who has typically stuck to solo content until recently. It seems to me like Blizzard has done a lot to make sure players in a massively multiplayer game, who decide not to engage with much of the (more challenging) multiplayer content, still have stuff to do.

It’s our choice what level of content (and challenge) we want to engage with, but it’s eminently reasonable for players who choose to complete more challenging content to receive better rewards than players who choose to complete less challenging content . I don’t see how any of this is controversial.

849

This is interesting. Is there any particular reason why you started doing more group content?

What exactly is Blizzard doing now to make sure solo players have content?

MoP allowed solo players to completely power up a legendary cloak, for the first time without organized raiding. The Timeless Isle zone was revolutionary in terms of an open world zone offering gear progression.

WoD had garrisons, a huge expansion feature. (Note: Not saying garrisons were a good thing, but they may have been intended as content for players that didn’t raid.)

Legion introduced world quests and 12 unique class halls with quest campaigns. Artifact weapon talents could be powered up with AP from solo content.

BfA had world quests, faction and N’Zoth assaults, and a necklace that could be powered up entirely through solo content. Later, we got an artifact cloak that could be powered up entirely though solo gameplay, including Horrific Vision scenarios.

SL had world quests, daily quests, covenant activities, and Torghast. Solo players could craft fully powered legendaries. Anima farming could be done solo. (Note: Gear rewards were nerfed, and Torghast didn’t drop gear, but a completely solo player had many things to do.)

DF’s main feature is its lack of solo content. Even the Annulet is going to be nerfed by 40%, and crafted gear and legendaries cannot be fully powered unless you do group content. Open world content keeps being introduced, but it always requires parties or raids.

Solo players really don’t have a choice about what level of difficulty they want. Elites and open world events are now being tuned and designed to require parties or raids.

So the only choice is whether you do the solo world quests and start yet another stack of Whelpling Crest Fragments, or you just log off in Valdrakken.

WoW is basically driving players out of its own game, despite subs dropping and sales for DF being low. And also in spite of the fact that demand is high for live solo-friendly RPGs among the overall game industry.

The average age of WoW players is rising at about the same pace as the game’s age. This means that WoW’s main audience continues to be older gamers that are nostalgic for the older model of MMOs. This market can only shrink and shrink.

But if you approve of this direction, then no, it’s not going to seem controversial at all.

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850

I wasn’t contending Blizzard has done more or less relative to past iterations, but rather that it has taken steps historically to accommodate solo play in an environment that is intentionally designed to be multiplayer. Being a solo player is the choice – and there is content for that despite the fact that the game intends to be multiplayer.

But I think I understand (one of) your positions to be that there isn’t enough challenging content for individuals who choose to be solo players? I think I’d agree that there should be a better tranche of challenging content for solo players. I don’t, however, see how that translates to the idea that gear progression should be more solo-friendly in the current game. In fact, faster and quicker gear progression would be antithetical because it would trivialize the only content solo players currently have without offering them more to do. And again, I’d agree that it would be great if more were offered, but it isn’t and so I don’t see why more advanced or quicker gear progression is necessary.

And to your question about why I started doing group content, it’s primarily because I felt like trying it out. Typically, I play solo because I don’t a chunk of time to dedicate to finding a group / running a dungeon etc. Personally, I’ve never felt like my limited or slower progression was an issue, though I understand everyone can view it differently.

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851

The warforging / thunderforging system MoP & WoD had was different to the Legion / BFA one. The MoP version (which came with 5.2) had a chance to increase the items ilvl by 6. That was it.

The legion / BFA version was that it could go up to the relevant ilvl cap but only in intervals of 5 and it had to ‘proc’ again each time.

By bosses I think they mean the ‘not a world boss but is totally a world boss’ disciple of Fyraak that can spawn when Fyraak is at max rage.

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852

Again the lie, that you constantly are hearing from casuals or solo players that they want bis gear for doing the easiest content in the game. Just like top performers in Shadowlands PvP got upgrades to make their gear the best gear in the game by doing the easiest content in the game, ie farming graveyards in bgs in premades.

But getting back to the lie that whenever anyone asks for any progression of any sort is demanding bis gear for doing nothing…

it’s almost as if you are under the impression someone is paying you by how many times you repeat that lie.

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853

Don’t you have some stuff about Ion to say or something?

They have it. It’s well defined.

Come back when you play an expansion when it’s current, thanks.

854

Sure they do. They just make the choice to play WoW solo, knowing full well that the rewards from that aren’t as good as endgame gameplay rewards are.

855

Most of us are OK with this. I’m happy with smallish, incremental improvements.

As a solo player, I think the solo game is actually in a pretty good place just right now.

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856

I quite like how many solo players are telling OP that they are making a big stink about basically nothing here.

857

I also like how this person is wearing 5 pieces of suffused gear yet none of them are on slots that can be catalysed into tier pieces.

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858

And they don’t appear to find that to be a problem.

859

Maybe I’ll get a piece that upgrades. Maybe I won’t. Is that worth getting bent out of shape over? Not really. What I’ve already got is good enough for what I do.

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860

No it isn’t.

It stinks. You won’t see Dragonflight winning any design rewards for its predatory tactics.

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861

Yes it is.

No it doesn’t

What’s predatory? Be specific.

862

By not informing the players how the catalyst was going to work later in the patch, making them commit to longer grinds just to inflate time played metrics.

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863

So the three patches old raid tier gear hand out system not being detailed down the absolute letter is predatory because

You actually think this is a thing. You personally were never going to do any of the content that could be used for the catalyst so why do you even care?

864

With tender being tradable for RL $$$, yeah.

If you don’t point out someone’s poor decisions, then they’ll keep doing them.

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