I know there is a ‘tradition’ in messing with levels and items in each new expansion, but why? Can’t developers focus in creating good new content instead of changing mechanics and levels at each new expansion?
I don’t like WOW anymore because I know all content I play will just serve to get items that will be sh** in the next expansion, so I dont get the motivation to continue playing.
EDIT: I am talking about items that are really unusable between previous and current expansion. If there was a not so huge difference between items it would be much better.
EDIT 2: Maybe max level should be fixed in 100, and items from a new expansion improve a little over items from the immediate previous expansion.
Even in games with horizontal gearing, the new items added to each expansion are typically more powerful than those previously in the game to motivate players to complete the new content.
I can’t think of an MMO that doesn’t follow that pattern.
I was going to say, every MMO that has levels, has gear that is replaced as you level or on new expansions, there isn’t no “you get one piece of gear and you will never replace it for the life of the mmo”
You can technically play ESO like that, but as I mentioned in my earlier post, if you actually care about your performance you will get the newest gear from the most current expansion because it is usually stronger.
Make all gear function like Heirloom gear does - you can create it, so no need to store it in bags.
Make all gear within an expansion only powerful in the respective zones.
This preserves old content and provides players with more content options. Your work progressing power through an expansion would never get invalidated because its always there when you need it for that expansions content.
Yes, because anyone that cares about staying relevant replaces their gear in every expansion in every mmo that has levels. You can play WoW using the gear from the current expansion until the end of time, but that is a bad idea.
Its a little different in ESO because they use horizontal gearing so the “vanilla” armor sets in the game are available at max level and can be used in current content. In WoW that is impossible.
and makes sense…Just logically. We are facing more powerful foes, why should stuff that was strong against someone 5 years ago be as just as powerful from stuff the more powerful foe drops?
Can be used, sure, would be used by anyone after each expansions gear comes out that cares about their gear? No, so for the purpose of this thread the difference is the same as WoW.
The only example of a gear that isn’t just straight up replaced as expansions go on, in an mmo that has levels that I can think of is the original Guildwars, since there was such a thing a max stat each weapon class could reach, and was mainly about what inscriptions and such were on the gear, and newer inscriptions didn’t just overpower older ones, they were just different ones.
While I enjoy ESO gearing, they still replicate the need to farm new content for gear every expansion by making the set bonuses more powerful.
Yes, you can still wear the old sets at max level, but why would you?
Also, ESO has a huge problem with equipment bloat because they keep adding new sets without removing old ones. It’s hard for new players to navigate the hundreds of sets and gear combinations
(Note: Apparently, there are over 481 armor sets in ESO. All usable at max level.)
The only workable scheme I can think of was Like Star Wars Galaxies. In that game player power came from your skills not your gear. The best weapon could be 5% better than the worst.
But that system also required item decay and continually needing to replace your gear.
And you didn’t need soul binding. You could give a new player the best gear, it’s just makes them 5% better than if they had the worst gear.
Nothing you obtain is real in WoW. They pull the plug and you have nothing. It is the definition of a waste of time. So what is the real issue here? Are you actually just feeling burned out?
Transmog singlehandedly gave value to old gear by saving the looks.
Not an MMO (and technically not relevant), but when I was playing Titan Quest one time, the chestpiece I got off a skeleton an hour into the game stayed with me until I beat the final boss of the first expansion.
Elder Scrolls Online might do something like this? If I remember correctly–and I very well may not, it’s been a while–their world gear everywhere scales to the same level. However, it’s been a while since I was on the ground floor of a new xpac after getting reasonable gear before it dropped, so I’m not at all certain.
You are right, new items are more powerful in other games, in new expansions. But in WOW you really just cant continue using old items because the difference is HUGE.
I’d be happy if they just let us valor upgrade all raid, dungeon, and world quest gear to the current ilvl max. Sometimes you just like a trinket from an off-season dungeon. I would begrudgingly accept having to refarm with each major patch even.