Don't give up on failed content

So I’ve noticed over the past few expansions that content just gets removed instead of improved. Instead of scrapping a failed concept, why not make it better? There has been tons of content that had huge potential, but flopped on release because it missed it’s mark, for instance Garrison’s. When I heard about Garrison’s, it gave me hope for player housing in wow(which I still hope we get) but when it failed to meet expectations, it was removed for future expansions, only really leaving the command table to carry on. Order halls were similar in some aspects, but all of the player housing aspects had all but been removed. I’m not saying I have the answer for how to implement it right, but giving up on the idea seems like a waste of design time and resources.

There’s some other examples too, but I’d rather get into failed content from bfa that shouldn’t be removed, but rather improved.

Island expeditions- they have amazing potential, especially with the ai that the enemies have(which is amazing btw), I feel they missed the mark though, and I don’t think it’s the reward system either, it’s more down to the fact that it strays from the holy Trinity(healer/tank/dps), along with the fact that it feels like mindless grinding accompanied by random rng of the spawn on the map. I feel like if each expedition had it’s on unique mechanics, mixed with an even better ai, it would make the experience extremely better, and the rewards targeted towards those who would enjoy that style of play.

Warfronts- again this has amazing potential. This was one of the things I was most excited for, but again it really missed it’s mark(arguably more than islands). This I feel could go two ways. Either shift it more towards a pvp battleground(or world pvp zones like ashran/wintergrasp), or make it more of a defense of the ancients style play where you start with limited gear, and get items through the battle to gain an advantage over the enemies(maybe adding the island enemy ai as well?). Both ways would be amazing, and would be better than a complete removal of the content.

Azerite armor- I can see the issue being addressed with the implementation of azerite armor, and the idea in general is amazing, but again implementation of it missed the mark. This one would be easy and hard to fix at the same time. Tier sets offered a set bonus that made you rethink how you played your spec, meaning each raid tier you weren’t playing the same version of say a beast mastery hunter. One tier you could be focused on cobra shot spam to reduce cool down on kill command, and another tier you could be focused on making sure you had maximum uptime on barbed shot buff. But with azerite armor you’re not making meaningful changes to your rotation or playstyle. So the only thing that would change how you play is a talent or two, otherwise every beast mastery hunter is doing the exact same thing with maybe a haste proc here or there, or even worse a flat stat boost. So adding in more playstyle altering azerite traits would easily fill the void tier sets left. But at the same time I understand the balance standpoint and how hard it would be to keep things from getting out of hand, so some middle ground could be made.

All in all though I feel that content shouldn’t be scrapped, and I hope going forward I can see some of the things I got so excited for when bfa was announced live up to expectations in the future.

8 Likes

At some point, you need to burn the canvas and buy a new one. Too many paint-overs gets…weird.

9 Likes

What Hamish said, you can’t redo a concept too many times or it’s a waste of time.

5000 islands, no mounts. No thanks.
200k residuum takes about 2 months to get 1 piece of gear. No thanks.
Weekly chest = 90% junk. No thanks.
Exhausting M+ with no upgrades.
NO Benthic upgrades anymore.
AP grinds.

The game just kinda sucks now because Blizzard Activision have made it so the carrot is forever out of reach, only the profoundly lucky or stacking groups get any decent upgrades.

The effort just isn’t fun anymore so I quit.

26 Likes

Pretty much this

The game is currently designed to make you waste your time and suffer from RNG and Time gating constantly

9 Likes

Sure, things can be iterated upon for a better second pass, but it’s not like the playerbase can do much about that. If something isn’t fun, they shouldn’t subject themselves to it. We judge things based on what they are, not what they could be.

1 Like

Exactly, because it’s our time and our money being spent now.

2 Likes

My biggest issue is that people can vote to kick you, which almost always equals you being kicked. I had that happen in 3 person scenarios in Legion, though trying in earnest. I had no idea such little quick content was such “serious business.” I mean, I’m NOT doing mythics for a reason but I think I’m OK for this little content?

I would like it more if the game could tell if you were participating or not, so a kick would not go through unless you were AFK. Unfortunately, we don’t seem to be there.

When you are not that keen on a thing, are hanging with the other people and trying, then one person votes to kick (which has the other party agreeing 90 percent of the time), then you get a deserter debuff (for a lame thing you were not that keen on), it is kind of… lame.

Warfronts are not that great, but at least there when I try people don’t seem to be picky.

Warfronts are a complete joke.

4 Likes

This. Retail is designed to be a time-gated gambling fix. Classic is where it’s at now, or another MMO.

3 Likes

Also why there is such a huge loss of interest in retail.

1 Like

I’ve never been kicked from an Island Expedition. It’s weird so many claim to have been. I kinda think you get kicked from Island Expeditions because you’re bad at Island Expeditions…

I also don’t think the enemy AI is anything to write home about. I can’t tell the difference between the AI Alliance team and random mobs to be honest.

2 Likes

Islands, despite how boring they are, can stay. But, they should not be the only form of content for 3 man groups. The scenarios like back in MoP should return, be it used for storytelling or for challenge (yeah, throw in the modifiers and make it reusable & repeatable content!)

Warfronts, same thing. Throw in a couple of modifiers, make spawns faster, make darkshore not a straight rampage, tada.

Azerite system however, seriously. Artifact power grinding is ‘content’ but at the same time, not. It’s a grind that doesn’t last. Want it to last? Let the artifact / azerite only matter for the expansion’s content, but disable it for instances. Make artifact power an ‘open world’ boost. Open world is currently so boring, be it bad wpvp or boring world quests, make challenging content in open world that would encourage people to grind artifact power (and you can balance this better if the artifact power ONLY affects outdoor content)

1 Like

The distressing part of all of this, is I actually kind of enjoy the content itself, it’s just the reward cycle from actually doing that content is kinda broken. And I know, gear isn’t everything, but getting a nice reward in fun content is the ideal, isn’t it?

3 Likes

Azerite needs to go, simple as that.

Island Expeditions are whatever. I find them pretty dumb but I wouldn’t suggest deleting them. They have potential at least but in their current state they are pretty pathetic.

Warfronts should have been PvP from the start. I’ll never understand why those things weren’t made PvP right from the get go. Those stupid things would have made for FANTASTIC PvP maps. Without the PvP aspect, they are major let downs and are downright boring as a result.

1 Like

This is a whole other issue entirely, I’ve hated time hated content since MoP

Running Tol Dagor 50 times for no dagger, running Shrine 50 times for a trinket, getting the same downgraded version time after time… sorry, the game designed that way absolutely sucks. Trying to make timers, like it or not, is hard work, for nothing, no one does this for no reward… that’s the real reason people went back to Classic… you are levelling, you are getting stuff again, and the nostalgia factor… but with such ill will from the dvelopers and no relationship with the players feeling like they are in a game that is fun and rewarding, I have no interest in playing retail or classic.

3 Likes

^

A lot of the stuff offered isn’t fun. When the stick is long enough so that you either can’t get the carrot or can only get a piece of the carrot that is abysmally small it is not worth it.

4 Likes

This is an issue, the RNG of loot is getting out of control

2 Likes

I’d be happy with more cosmetics, or a shared currency between islands and warfronts.

I don’t mind islands or warfronts - though I think making warfronts so hard to lose that you almost need to be trying to throw the fight was a massive, massive mistake - but AP, while necessary, doesn’t feel like a reward. And even running mythic islands means a handful of doubloons, 9 runs out of 10. I’d run them more often if it didn’t feel like I was wasting time I should be spending in other aspects of the game. Like fishing for the ridiculous number of fish I need to make a FEAST.

1 Like