Earn It! - How Blizzard forgot the core element of an RPG

Community General Discussion
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Earn it! - How Blizzard forgot the core element of an RPG.

Yo. Blizzard.

I’m still trying to help you here. Are you going to try and do right by WoW yet?

I think one of the core mechanics of Vanilla WoW through Wrath that made the game feel fun was that, despite the time invested, gear and other rewards were handed out if and only if the developers of those days felt it had been earned by the player.

Now?

Timegating for the sake of just forcing players to slog it out trying to clear content for barely any reward at all and no meaningfully lasting gear drops of any power whatsoever is the single biggest issue in game right now.

Story retains the player.
Gear drives the player to keep playing the game.
Content and fun, RPG like in world elements that turn the game from a game to a chance to visit another world and interact with Azeroth through their PC is the why people would come back.

The single biggest feature in Vanilla WoW was that the world was so big, deep, and there were lovingly placed and hidden rabbit holes snuck into the game in every single zone.

Shadowlands? Never leave the quests on rails, for there is nothing rewarding to find.

And the timegating is no longer hidden behind in-game justifying mechanics, all timegating is now just right out in the open, forcing the player to recognize they are playing a game and not being rewarded for all their time invested as they once were.

If there is one thing you need to remember about game design to improve WoW, Blizzard, it is that by investing the fun of time played that one earns their rewards as a player.

RPG’s are about loot grinds. However, the best of these also totally HIDE the fact that there’s a loot grind.

By making all your timegating be blatant, you have removed the larger part of the incentive to play WoW. If you doubt my logic check your current number of players, or MAU’s, to you, Blizzard.

Finding the balance between time played, fun had, gear earned, and rewards unlocked is a delicate one for many game companies. Blizzard’s single biggest issue these days, especially with SL, and since Legion, has been making their timegating obvious.

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How do they mask the grind? Nothing new under the sun my brother.

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Not gonna lie, I stopped reading when you said time gating.

Yeah the game has plenty of it.
Yeah it’s a problem.

You didn’t address anything new though. This is an ongoing issue. You’re better off supporting one of the many threads already on this topic.

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Work the timegating into the in-game experience and story.

NEVER reveal that the grind is what it is to the player.

INVEST the player into the EXPERIENCE of the game and teach them how to find FUN in exploring content, clearing quests, and reward the player with EARNED drops and power, such as talents, glyphs, and other means, instead.

The game should both never treat itself as one, while also practically trying to hand the player every single in game experience as a fun, interactive story driven encounter that rewards the player for getting good at the mechanics used and progressing the player from one event to another without ever ONCE showing that the built-in timegating, when used, is a part of the design.

Timegating should at all times remain hidden within the experience as presented in game.

If a timegate is ever blatant, it causes the same effect as knocking a moviegoer out of the experience just by watching the movie, in this case, the interactive game that is WoW.

The experience inside the game should NEVER lead to nor force the player to have to check with reality, unless they’ve literally played long enough to need an RL break.

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Missing the forest for a tree.

I did type what they should do. HIDE the timegating as an in-game feature.

The OTHER thing that’s new? Timegating that is not rewarding is not an earned experience and loot. By handing out such pittance rewards for timegating content as much as Blizzard does, THAT is what is driving players away.

The time invested does not reward their attempt to get to said state.

If new players won’t play the grind just to at base level PLAY THE GAME, why should they ever have to grind just to do what was once FREELY playable content?

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I don’t like this analogy but we’re getting along great in another post so I’ll go back and read everything.

Though I do apologize ahead of time. Just feels like a dead horse. It seems so obvious the time gating is painful for new players that they should just fix it already.

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Fair, however people ask with what, and that’s the hard part.

The issue with timegating that I think is the best overall and playable solution is not JUST A timegate. Hiding said timegate into the game, such that it’s both not obvious and makes sense, basically adding dialogue that any given NPC wants you, the player, to do some quests, say a set of dailies at a quest hub to EARN their respect as they haven’t met you before might go a long way.

Also, rather than just designing quest hubs, the quest givers should have a WHY they are being sent before us as a content hub. Maybe we need their help to act as envoys to later introduce the players in another area, and they’re accepted, we’re not, and they can get us an audience.

Then, in this new area, at least it flows and makes sense story wise that the trip from one quest hub to another makes sense as a part of the story, not just a spot where we can grab a few quests and play.

The problem with any game is a balance between conveying context, keeping the ongoing story relevant, and ALSO not LOSING The player along the way.

If Blizzard can’t present content as a meaningful quest hub to go to the next and how, as well as SHOW the WHY, then why should anyone keep playing said game?

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I think you’re onto something my non-sober brain can’t latch into.

I will say I’ve been leveling TBC Outlands for a while now, and tediously reading every quest for the sake of exploring the lore. Truth be told, there’s no story to follow whatsoever.

Funny thing is, I don’t care. It’s painful but fun at the same time. And the only reason it’s fun is because of friends.

Those friends, and a lot of people, don’t read the the quest. Their win is hitting the next level, getting new abilities, feeling a bit stronger, rinse and repeat.

None of that fits in retail these days. We can blame retail surely because could you imagine doing that again? I’m doing it right now, and I’ll be honest, I can’t stand it.

I guess, where’s the fine line? How do we hide time-gating for both new and experienced players? How do we win on all fronts?

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Thus the reason for this thread, Mustachio.

If there’s enough minds trying to find that line, then maybe, we, those that love WoW, might somehow manage to get lucky.

The single biggest sign of that line is that from a developer perspective, if there is no investing the player into the why from the start, that is a dev error. The rub is that, as a player, I cannot deny the possibility that said line MIGHT exist in game, however if it does, Blizzard has hidden it too well.

And in hiding their why throughout the game too well, they are doing a disservice to any and all players that play the game.

The age old reporter questions, Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why, should NEVER be hidden. However, any and all timegating efforts MUST be, or it breaks the experience.

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Timegating seems to be the new buzzword as FOMO seems to be slowly going out of style

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By all means, then why is it replacing content since Legion?

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WoW has always had timegates. What do you think attunements and rep grinds were?

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At least they were hidden in the past.

Blizzard’s single biggest mistake was making timegating of any type blatant.

I know for a fact that timegating was in the game since Vanilla.

As above, the issue is when timegating stopped being hidden.

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I don’t want to put the full blame on the devs. Surely they can force objectives onto us as players, but part of what drives new players away is the experienced player.

My contribution to your thread is two fold.

  1. I agree Blizzard needs to rethink time-gating.
  2. I think we as a community need to take a chill pill as a whole.

Here’s where I think changes need to be made. Mind you, I’m trying to take my perspective as well as a classic players perspective.

  • Professions need to be time-consuming again.
  • Leveling need to be longer.
  • Lore needs to somehow be important (Read below for personal investment).
  • PvP needs to feel appropriately achievable to all parties in reasonable timeframes (Less steam rolling).
  • Raiding need to be considered some of the elitist of the elite, while allowing new players to do normal raids to see content (LFG is not a solution).
  • And I’m sure there’s plenty more.

** I didn’t get into the lore until I realized I loved the game. I wanted to know more about Thrall, Jaina, Arthas, Kaghdar, Illidan, etc. I think that’s a perfectly valid way to want to explore lore deeper. Gameplay as the incentive.

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i don’t agree at all. there are bigger problems.

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um … are you sure you looked?

(not that I’m a huge fan of the style of secrets in Shadowlands, but it’s crazy to claim that there aren’t things out there off the beaten path)

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You mean like the day long CDs on profession crafts? How exactly were those hidden?

It said in bright red letters: Cooldown: 1 day

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People hate actually having to earn stuff, though.

Look at the current PvP gearing system. Or keys, or raids.

Being rewarded for playing? No, just give it to me.

Cosmetic I want isn’t a 100% drop rate? a SLAP IN THE FACE from the developers themselves.

Syvanas bow/dagger didn’t drop on the first kill? Unsubbed all fourteen of my accounts.

I’m a PAYING CUSOTMER dang it.

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I think what hid them more was how they were presented. A rare material, opposed to a grind that is entirely disconnected from the RP.

In that same sense, if flight was available but at the cost of a seemingly unreasonable amount of anima at the start…well, I think it’d be perceived better than the current setup, with an invisible wall.

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Yes, I looked. In every single zone.

Maybe it was somehow phasing that kept me from finding things. That’s still bad design.

Not the timegating I was referring to here. That ALSO is bad game design.

Maybe Blizzard leaving the RPG aspects of WoW out is what’s caused people that arguably don’t enjoy anything close to a real RPG experience was the mistake.

I for one think RPG’s of all types, ESPECIALLY MMORPG’s, should be all over and about, “Earn it!” That Blizzard no longer is to me happens to be one of the greatest drivers of sub losses to date.