End the war on solo gameplay in WoW (Part 1)

Thogar-the-scryers · February 11, 2022, 6:58pm

It really is a shame to see this current Dev team so strongly pushing the “3 pillars” all of which are instanced, and neglecting the open world and those players so much. If you aren’t playing their way, ie taking part in of of those “3 pillars” you might as well not even bother anymore.

Høneypøt-moon-guard · February 11, 2022, 7:01pm

So beautifully written

Frostyjawn-andorhal · February 11, 2022, 7:02pm

Channyn:

I think, after reading through all of this…

…that I am a “bad” player of World of Warcraft. The thing is, I was a “bad” player since it launched in 2004. I’ve gotten better and worse, better and worse (and so on) over time at playing whatever class I wanted to play at, but ostensibly, I am, according to a lot of people on these forums, just “bad” at the game.

The funny thing is, I have always felt fine being “bad” at the game and playing it as I can and am able to do so. I’m legally blind, and at one point in time, I did the hardest raids in the game. I stopped raiding in Legion after most of the friends I raided with left the game; (they didn’t like that they couldn’t just raid in the game and instead had to do quests and dungeons and other things with their time apart from raiding. It wasn’t fun for them). I was, and have been, grateful that LFR existed after that because building a raid team, learning the fights, and learning how to work together as a team takes time and energy that I just didn’t have the time, patience, or energy to do any more. I still can’t seem to motivate myself to do those things, and I think that’s fine.

The other thing I know is that most of the time there were ways for people to get high-end gear from killing world bosses or a treasure chest, or something else that didn’t take a lot of time or skill to do to get it. It was luck based, and certainly not an ideal way to hunt for gear, but it was what I had the time, energy, and willingness to do.

I pushed myself to get the legendaries because …hey, I wanted a legendary. I thought that was neat, and it also involved a lot of story that was included with it–at least before Legion. When the legendaries were just dropping from mobs, they kind of lost that special appeal to me; that said, I did get excited when one would drop. It was a neat feeling getting that “cool” new orange thing. The same can be said for any purple upgrades I get from killing World Bosses–like I did in BFA, or at the beginning of Shadowlands. Going to each of the new areas and having a potential drop that could be as good or better than raiding or M+ gear, to me, was neat. I enjoyed having that chance, and I enjoyed it when my gear got upgraded that way. It made me feel like I could do the things I wanted to do in the game and still have fun–while also getting to get gear that meant my time spent grinding out whatever I was grinding that day took a LOT less time and effort.

You see, “bad” players at the game do need those extra bits of added power. And most of the time us “bad” players are actually learning a lot out in the open world about dodging attacks and learning our rotations, etc. Many of us have alts that we don’t know like the back of our hands, and we’re doing our best not to “ruin” the game for others by playing them solo so that we can get better while learning how to play them. Or we’re just having fun with a new concept, new RP character (which we’re trying to gear to look cool), collecting mogs with, or otherwise just want to mindlessly hack and slash at things for a while, and this is how we choose to spend our entertainment budgets for the month.

So I get what the original poster of this thread had to say. I appreciate that they said what they did. For the most part, I agree with a lot of it, but that’s because I’ve seen, over the years, that getting gear–good gear–has become harder, takes longer, and is less “bad player” friendly than it was in the past. I don’t want to argue the semantics of “casual” or “solo” gamer. I just want to state my opinion as someone who is defined as “bad” by most of what I’ve read here on the forums. “Bad” players actually need gear more than those of you who can play the game with others and have fun doing it and are relaxed with it. That said, I get the enjoyment of achieving things–and part of that achievement comes with higher gear scores and being able to do things quicker, faster, and better so that you don’t have to keep doing it once you’re “done” with it. Unfortunately for “bad” players, it means we spend so much longer on that treadmill than most of the rest of you. Often we don’t complain, though, because we have goals in mind just like you. We’d just like it if our goals could be done more quickly like the rest of you, and right now, we don’t really get to do that. We’re stuck at the bottom of that Sisyphean hill, and we never seem to get very far up it these days. In the past we had options for gearing that would help with that. These days it’s just a grindfest that really isn’t all that fun when you’re competing with other players with better gear who can kill faster, complete quests faster, and then leave you behind for the next big thing that’s already come out by the time you’re finally able to get anything remotely comparable.

WoW was fun in the past because it did give those “welfare” epics to people that spent more time just dorking about out in the open world or doing content that could be done with a group out in the open world (and people would do those things because of those chances). Nowadays it just feels like a chore–something I need to do in order to get to a point where I might be able to… But no. The next thing has arrived, and I’m behind again.

I guess what I’m saying is, it would be nice to feel like there’s an option out there for me, however chance-ridden it might be, that I get some gear that means there’s that much less of a grind I have to do–or that makes that grind significantly easier on me when I do have time to do it.

That said, I think what I’d mostly like is more story–something that made the things I’m doing feel like they mattered. I’d like those repeatable quests to add up to something more than just “and here’s the next thing we do with the new patch.” For instance, what if doing those quests week after week opened up new things on a bar for that area or region–things that made us more powerful and didn’t reset from week to week? By the time we max out that bar for the area or region, we’re able to do the toughest things in that area or region without thinking too much about it. It becomes trivial. This helps out not only “bads” like me, but also people who have to grind stuff out there for whatever content they’re doing–or for people who have alts who later go there to gear up. It also adds a story-element to the game that proves that we’re getting better at a thing; we understand more now, or we were able to create that “death ray” that sometimes just randomly hits big, rare, monsters in the zone when we’re trying to kill them.

sighs I don’t know. It just seems like that would be a lot more fun for everyone, and it would help out people like me who are disabled, or don’t have a lot of time, or who just kind of want to putz around in a computer game from time to time. I know Brewa mentioned we’re getting some unlockables for the new area; so, I’m excited to see how that works out. But mostly it sounds like it’s going to be another grindfest if we have to do that for all our alts, too (for those of us who enjoy that sort of thing).

Mostly though, I just want to be able to roam around and sometimes find an upgrade from a chest, or get a cool upgrade from killing a rare–something that reminds me that, even if I’m not raiding, or M+ing, or PvPing my eyes out, I have some ability to get better and faster at the game, too–rather than just grinding day in and day out for a pittance of “insert new currency here.” It also feels like the story dribbles out in bits and pieces this way, too; so, when I’m mostly interested in that story portion, by the time I get to the next part of it, I just feel like my soul has been stomped on repeatedly so much that I’ve kind of forgotten the whole purpose of what it was I was doing in the first place.

Anyway, that’s part of why I support what the OP has to say, along with my own clarifications based off of what I’ve read. Also, I don’t want to have to pay someone else in order to “enjoy” the game. I’m already paying Blizzard; carrying services honestly just seem antithetical to the whole concept of “gaming” to me. If you want to offer slots for carries for a pet, or mount, or a chance at a special weapon or something, that’s fine, but expecting the community to fund your raiding or PvPing or whatever else you do for “fun” in the game makes it seem like less of a game and hobby and more like a business opportunity. I’ve got enough people in my RL competing for my time, interest, and money. I don’t want that in my gaming life, as well. To each their own on that, though. I certainly can’t stop you from offering your services for a price. I just won’t be buying them, especially if I can find other groups that are willing and able to offer those things for free–in the spirit of offering enjoyment and community building for the game.

Also, if you’re only comment to this is, “Git gud” or “go play something else”–I’ve heard you, and I’m still here. I believe I should get to have a say in what I pay to play, too. And I feel as though my opinion is just as important as yours. If the developers don’t want to listen, that’s up to them, and that’s fine. If you don’t like it, …go create your own game, I guess–the game where I don’t get to be, or want to be, a part of the player base?

I mean, I suppose you could try to drive me away from this one? And you might one day succeed? But for now, I’m still here, and I’m still willing to offer my thoughts and ideas on how to make this game more fun for me and people like me.

tl;dr: I’m a “bad”, and this is my explanation for why I agree with the OP. I also express ideas on how the game could be improved in ways that would help not only people like me, but others while contributing to the overall story of the game, too.

Quoting all of this so players can see it again. Well said, bravo.

Høneypøt-moon-guard · February 11, 2022, 7:05pm

So well said.

I think some of us, myself included, forget at times that ppl with disabilities play this game and need the social aspect of an MMO but also need mostly solo play style.

I used to be pretty gud at WoW and was very competitive. I had a switch a little over a year ago and become the most non competitive person.

Just wanna relax, chill and occasionally do challenging content these days in a video game. If that makes me “bad” oh well

Nui-feathermoon · February 11, 2022, 7:05pm

Of course not. The usual suspects are going to frame it that way anyway. They are negligible at best.

Pisaro-malfurion · February 11, 2022, 7:09pm

I mean…it’s just not a solo game. When I play FF7, I don’t complain about the lack of online multiplayer support.

Briandris-laughing-skull · February 11, 2022, 7:12pm

LOL. It’s not “too hard”. Solo players just don’t want to commit to times and dates and hours that if they don’t show up for, negatively impact other players experiences within the game.

I’m sick of hearing how because after 9 years of raiding every raid I’m bored of it but still enjoy the other aspects of WoW. This doesn’t mean I am a bad player, less dedicated, lazy or whiny. It simply means that after years of raiding my interests have changed.

Latipha-azuresong · February 11, 2022, 7:13pm

GET OUTTA MY HEAD!!!

This is one of the best statements I’ve read on here in a long while regarding this topic. I’m an old school MMO player. My hardcore days were in EQ, but that’s what drew me to WoW. My Raid-or-Die days were already waning. And I love this game. Mostly because even though I do not like the current expac and haven’t even bought it, I can still go back and do stuff that I either missed, or just love for the re-playability.

And bottom line is, I’d like to see WoW continue for a while longer.

Phibbus-farstriders · February 11, 2022, 7:15pm

Would you have to do it if it was just as easy or easier to get it from the 15 key?

Snozh-malganis · February 11, 2022, 7:18pm

You clearly cant read. I never said current solo content would be too hard. I VERY CLEARLY stated that any type of solo content that rewarded mythic level gear would be too hard for most solo players.

Your parse average for normal CN was 49.1 as BM
Your parse average normal Uldir was 16.6 where you parsed grey for 6 out of 8 bosses.

Other then that you only do LFR. So unless you have another char you used to raid on I would disagree.

Snozh-malganis · February 11, 2022, 7:18pm

If it was rewarding 252 in this current patch I would be required to do it weekly.

Nui-feathermoon · February 11, 2022, 7:22pm

That’s a “you” problem.

Warzug-mankrik · February 11, 2022, 7:28pm

You can be a solo/casual player and still be a decent/OK player skillwise.

Not sure where this idea came from that solo player automatically = bad player.

Are some ultra-casual solo World Questers, LFR’ers, RP’ers etc often below average or “bad” in terms of gameplay skill or raw numbers on the DPS meter? Maybe. But we can’t paint all solo/casual players as “automatically” being bad.

Snozh-malganis · February 11, 2022, 7:31pm

You arent going to be able to complete any solo challenege that rewards mythic level gear as decent or ok.

Because the majority of them are.

I never said ALL. I said most. I have yet to find a solo player that actually has decent logs.

Paen-area-52 · February 11, 2022, 7:33pm

This thread is still going eh?.. and it’s gotten no better.

Foossnacks-area-52 · February 11, 2022, 7:34pm

Solo and casual are pretty much completely separate for the purpose of most arguments on here. Sure some, perhaps even most solo players might be casuals, there is nothing inherently casual about being solo or keeping you from doing group content if you are playing casually. Plenty of casual players are rather good, or at least decent. Heck, some of today’s casual raiders were yesterday’s orange parsing CE guys. The trouble with saying solo players are good is they are doing nothing to prove that is the case. Someone PvPs they have a rating. You have a good rating then you are good. You raid, you have progress and parses. One or both of those are good, you are good. M+ you have a rating, have a good rating you are good. Solo players have…nothing really that demonstrates that they are good, and as with most things in life if you can’t prove you are good people will presume you are bad, ok at best.

Finori-scarlet-crusade · February 11, 2022, 7:39pm

Hopefully it’ll be enough to do the solo play and kill the everyday stuff we come across. As a solo player, I’m good with the upgrades given me. I’ll work to get the max value of each item, and I hope to survive the new content.

Indeed!! The only thing that will concern me is whether I’ll have time to work on all my current alts and get them all geared before the next expansion.

Briandris-laughing-skull · February 11, 2022, 7:48pm

I healed with a druid named Awakune for most of my raiding years, not that she’s gonna show some elist numbers either, I played her because we were always short of healers, not because I loved the toon. My guild stopped raiding at the beginning of BFA or end of Legion, I forget.
Some friends I used to raid with asked me to come hang out in CN for a day because if you’re looking you can see I only went once, maybe twice. It was a last minute invite and I wasn’t prepared and didn’t know the fights and spent most of my time dead, in discord laughing and fooling around with my friends.

I also never said I was elite, I said I wasn’t bad. My guild never raided for gear, we raided for the fun and to spend time together. I don’t even know what parse avg or parsed grey mean. I don’t care either. I had fun, I hung out with friends and we slowly pushed through normal and heroics. We didn’t play to compete, we played for fun.

Also, it seems neither of us can read because I VERY CLEARLY stated that solo doesn’t equal bad as you suggest it does.

Snozh-malganis · February 11, 2022, 7:57pm

I mean you still heal with a green overall for heroic. That means you are an OK player at best

You are OK at best and thats being nice.

Briandris-laughing-skull · February 11, 2022, 7:57pm

People like you are likely a big reason a lot of players choose “solo” play. We just don’t have the desire to put up with your assumptions, belittling and number checking. You take the fun out of it, lol.