Choose between 1 of 3 items in the weekly cache

Community General Discussion
1
Not really complaining here, just an idea:

As a compromise between the rng of the weekly cache / weekly event quest rewards, what if upon turning in your weekly you were given a UI that allowed you to choose your item out of a generated list of 3?

It'd be the compromise of the system we have now, and the RPG aspect of "making interesting decisions". I guess the Azerite vendor coming in 8.1 alleviates some of this, but I don't think it'll really address the disappointments of your Tuesday chest... you're still going to be waiting for something to happen.
2
I would be cool with this.
3
As someone who has gotten some pretty bad things from the chest (one of many people) having some choice in the matter would be nice. I doubt it would be hard to implement, but it could just make things like raiding harder to balance.

I am not too knowledgeable on raid balancing, but getting to pick 1 of 3 items instead of just getting a random 1 is likely to greatly increase my chances of being optimized and meet hard DPS/HPS checks opposed to going into a new raid with just sufficient gear and the fights being initially hard.

So I would like it, but it might effect balancing a lot.
4
What about 100% chance of 1 item in chest.
60% chance of 2 items.
25% chance of 3 items.

This still gives a somewhat DECENT probability of three items (and more than a fair shake at two), yet doesn't shower you with loot.

Because if M+ is a parallel route to raid-level gear, then as soon as you do this, it makes raiding TOTALLY SUCK. "Why can't the boss loot table allow us to choose???"

That is where balance gets hard.
5
11/06/2018 01:52 PMPosted by Thunderçatz
As someone who has gotten some pretty bad things from the chest (one of many people) having some choice in the matter would be nice. I doubt it would be hard to implement, but it could just make things like raiding harder to balance.

I am not too knowledgeable on raid balancing, but getting to pick 1 of 3 items instead of just getting a random 1 is likely to greatly increase my chances of being optimized and meet hard DPS/HPS checks opposed to going into a new raid with just sufficient gear and the fights being initially hard.

So I would like it, but it might effect balancing a lot.

Yeah I could see that. I was thinking along those terms too but ultimately arrived at the fact that we're talking about one item on a weekly basis, and that for those who don't raid, they're reliant on these for their progression. It'd still be entirely possible to get a dud if all 3 aren't good... so it isn't a guaranteed thing either.

I was inspired by that fact that when I'm leveling alts up, it's actually kind of a nice moment to see a quest's loot table and start comparing some numbers. Or in the case of this character, when I did my first Conquest turn in, I sat there and thought "Hmmm... do I want the 2h for Blood, or grab a good 1h to bring Frost up to speed?" Those moments of decision feel a little like they go away at 120's systems... but just looking at a vendor list in equally uninteresting in some ways. I agree with what the devs said in the Blizzcon Q&A "just looking at a list and knowing on this specific day I can get the item I want lacks excitement" (paraphrase). So that's how I arrived at this compromise - items are rolled, then the player makes a choice... feels like a good balance to me.
11/06/2018 01:56 PMPosted by Brocknor
What about 100% chance of 1 item in chest.
60% chance of 2 items.
25% chance of 3 items.

This still gives a somewhat DECENT probability of three items (and more than a fair shake at two), yet doesn't shower you with loot.

Because if M+ is a parallel route to raid-level gear, then as soon as you do this, it makes raiding TOTALLY SUCK. "Why can't the boss loot table allow us to choose???"

That is where balance gets hard.

I'm not as worried about the amount of items I'm getting, as I am the interaction I'm having with getting them. Extra randomness probably wouldn't alleviate players' concerns. This offers a measure of some control.
6
Today i got a 380 vers/mastery socketed veiled crystal in my chest. Fund it.
7
11/06/2018 02:08 PMPosted by Lucard
Extra randomness probably wouldn't alleviate players' concerns. This offers a measure of some control.


I understand. But if the "creators" concern is that the player gears up too fast, then something has to keep that in check.

If you just give everyone 3 choices, frankly it seems to me everyone would gear up too fast. (side question: is that a bad thing??)

The other alternative is what I suggested as far back as Cata-- EVERYTHING should just award a currency. Then the Devs can control it, the players can control it. Isn't that a win-win??? And MOST IMPORTANTLY, it allows the player to feel like they're actually working toward a goal, instead of just being a slave to RNG.

Keep in mind, I suggested this in early Cata, and was DESTROYED on these forums, the majority saying how they actually PREFERRED RNG!!!

Classic case of "be careful what you wish for."
8
Ya, as others have pointed out in this and similar threads, giving that type of selection is not fair to other types of content.
The idea you present does sound interesting for sure, but what we do need to consider is just how much gear this is already giving people, for effectively zero effort.

You already get a reward for completing M+, so getting ANOTHER reward for free each week needs to stay balanced and realistic.

This suggestion does feel like a good compromise, and I certainly like it better than just getting more items out of the gate, but I feel like after 8.1 is out the problems will all be solved.

Especially if they are actually considering adding the item protection Ion discussed at Blizzcon (you can't get boots multiple weeks in a row etc) then I'm not sure what problems would remain.

Azerite gear is the absolute back breaker right now, and makes the system really frustrating when you are solely seeking it, and that is being solved.

Every other item works exactly like it did in Legion, so not sure why its suddenly a big problem now compared to then.

I wouldn't say no to being able to choose 1 out of 3 items each week, but it feels really selfish when we know just how many easy 380+ items are already flooding the streets.

Honestly, if anything, I think we should be getting LESS gear from M+.
Maybe a fair concession is to make it all 370 instead then, and then offer either multiple items, or a choice of 1/3.
9
11/06/2018 02:13 PMPosted by Brocknor
The other alternative is what I suggested as far back as Cata-- EVERYTHING should just award a currency. Then the Devs can control it, the players can control it. Isn't that a win-win??? And MOST IMPORTANTLY, it allows the player to feel like they're actually working toward a goal, instead of just being a slave to RNG.

It's tempting in a way. Personally I feel like then it turns into a neverending grind - you'd then be constantly feeling like you had to do every piece of content to max yourself out. Or there's a cap, and we're back to valor. For me, the RNG introduces an element of "I could do that content, but my time is probably better spent elsewhere considering there's some measure of likelihood that I won't get an upgrade" when it comes to a number of the content... but if there's currency, there's no maybe/maybe not in choosing what content to tackle - it just becomes a straight line of assessing what's the most efficient path to my goal. "Do I want to do X? No. It's too long and doesn't reward enough Y. Lets grind out Z runs instead", which is kind of exactly what happened when it came to Maw of Souls and the currency of AP in Legion at its early stages.
10
11/06/2018 02:16 PMPosted by Metrohaha
Ya, as others have pointed out in this and similar threads, giving that type of selection is not fair to other types of content.
The idea you present does sound interesting for sure, but what we do need to consider is just how much gear this is already giving people, for effectively zero effort.

You already get a reward for completing M+, so getting ANOTHER reward for free each week needs to stay balanced and realistic.

This suggestion does feel like a good compromise, and I certainly like it better than just getting more items out of the gate, but I feel like after 8.1 is out the problems will all be solved.

Especially if they are actually considering adding the item protection Ion discussed at Blizzcon (you can't get boots multiple weeks in a row etc) then I'm not sure what problems would remain.

Azerite gear is the absolute back breaker right now, and makes the system really frustrating when you are solely seeking it, and that is being solved.

Every other item works exactly like it did in Legion, so not sure why its suddenly a big problem now compared to then.

I wouldn't say no to being able to choose 1 out of 3 items each week, but it feels really selfish when we know just how many easy 380+ items are already flooding the streets.

Honestly, if anything, I think we should be getting LESS gear from M+.
Maybe a fair concession is to make it all 370 instead then, and then offer either multiple items, or a choice of 1/3.

Really good points. I'll probably have to see how 8.1 pans out. Guess at the core the idea was inspired by making those small choices with quests / conquest rewards and thinking how good that felt.
11
11/06/2018 02:24 PMPosted by Lucard
11/06/2018 02:13 PMPosted by Brocknor
The other alternative is what I suggested as far back as Cata-- EVERYTHING should just award a currency. Then the Devs can control it, the players can control it. Isn't that a win-win??? And MOST IMPORTANTLY, it allows the player to feel like they're actually working toward a goal, instead of just being a slave to RNG.

It's tempting in a way. Personally I feel like then it turns into a neverending grind - you'd then be constantly feeling like you had to do every piece of content to max yourself out. Or there's a cap, and we're back to valor. For me, the RNG introduces an element of "I could do that content, but my time is probably better spent elsewhere considering there's some measure of likelihood that I won't get an upgrade" when it comes to a number of the content... but if there's currency, there's no maybe/maybe not in choosing what content to tackle - it just becomes a straight line of assessing what's the most efficient path to my goal. "Do I want to do X? No. It's too long and doesn't reward enough Y. Lets grind out Z runs instead", which is kind of exactly what happened when it came to Maw of Souls and the currency of AP in Legion at its early stages.


There neverending grind is here already its called war forging and titan forging. RNG is okay in manageable bites but when it dominates the landscape it just becomes boring!
12
*Slot machine spinning wheels*

Spot #1 = Garbage
Spot #2 = Garbage
Spot #3 = Garbage

Now pick one.......

I guess Spot #2 ???

I actually like the idea of 3 random generated pieces of gear and you get to choose 1 out of a cach.
13
Yeah, I'm really sick of getting more useless gloves, something that titan forged for me months ago.