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.