End the war on solo gameplay in WoW

Community General Discussion
3762

Not everyone would understand this, but the frustration of applying to groups and being ignored or declined, and (even if you get invited) the anxiety of knowing that the group leader can kick you at any time for any reason (or lack thereof) can be intense for some people.

It’s like standing on the edge of a cliff naked and hoping that no one scrutinizes your personal bits (calls you out for your mistakes, low DPS, etc.) or knocks you off the edge (kicks you from the group just because they can). Even though you know it’s probably not going to happen, you know that it just might.

At least with matchmaking systems, you feel that you at least have some right to be there, and a vote will be required to kick you. Also, the content tends to be easier, so people tend to just carry on rather than get toxic.

Lastly, it’s nice to quest while in queue, and be teleported to the instance, to make the most of your playing time.

Yes, both sets stop at 3 iLvls below Normal.

I support covenant sets for what they were: a good reward considering that they came from campaign quests that you were going to be doing anyway. (Translation for the elitists: “free” gear.)

What I didn’t support about the covenant sets was that they didn’t cover all slots and couldn’t be upgraded further. It felt like a system that devs intentionally refused to finish because they wanted you to “graduate” on to group content.

In 9.0, you could also earn 197 iLvl Honor gear for the remaining slots very easily from unrated PvP events and weekly quests.

What other good options are we going to have in 10.0 to make up for the slots that Storm Sigil gear doesn’t cover? 10.0 is making the first three seasons of SL look good for solo players by comparison.

The question we should be asking is, why are DF devs copying all the gearing systems from SL, when the expansion was such a huge failure? Are solo players supposed to be satisfied with dragonriding for 2 years, because giving us progression options would be too threatening to group content?

4 Likes
3763

I notice for someone who thinks the world is wasted, you haven’t done much content in it.

Where is your loremaster ? Only half of questing achievements done ?

Lots of solo content in the world awaits you.

3764

Its a work in progress, obviously you’ve been checking my achievs so you’ve seen I have 6 of the 10 loremaster achievements done, Ive also done all the dungeons a ton of pvp and most of the raids. I get around, I dabble in lots of things, does that mean I cant want engaging and rewarding open world content? I think not.

5 Likes
3765

There’s plenty of it though.

Why do you need more ? You’re not even done with what’s there.

3766

I said engaging and rewarding

2 Likes
3767

You haven’t even partaken in the rewards that do exist. None of your gear was transformed into Tier for instance, and you’re not using maxed out Cypher gear which absolutely demolishes rares in ZM.

3768

To be quite honest I didnt know I could transform my gear into tier, I thought it had to come from raiding

2 Likes
3769

Obviously playing with people is not your problem since you don’t mind matchmaking content, so I highly recommend joining a guild & do content strictly with them.

You’ll never encounter those problems & your anxiety will be alleviated as that kind of toxicity is strictly prohibited amongst guild members.

Every guild these days have that written on their rules/code of conduct & will result in a gkick.

1 Like
3770

Sandworn relic gear and world boss gear (from Zereth Mortis boss or any Fated boss) can be converted, but not Cypher gear.

Conquest gear (even unranked) can be converted, even though Honor gear cannot.

Any gear from Mythic dungeons or M+ can be converted, before or after you upgrade it with Valor.

For example, the helmet you currently have equipped can be converted because it is from the ZM world boss, but not the shoulder because it is Cypher.

Head, shoulders, chest, hands, and legs can be converted so that they contribute to the tier bonus, even if they dropped from the raid as a non-tier.

Other non-jewelry armor slots can be converted for different secondary stats and appearances, but won’t contribute to tier.

If you want to gear up just one toon, doing Fated LFR for tier set is not so bad. If a head, shoulder, chest, hand, or leg piece shows up in the Great Vault, you can choose and convert it if necessary.

2 Likes
3772

Thank you, the shoulders actually were able to be converted and I have three pieces now :slight_smile:

3 Likes
3773

it’s funny when solo players campaign for removal of lfr.

3774

Is somebody asking for it to be removed? I think most are just asking for more solo content not the removal of things

5 Likes
3775

I don’t know how other solo players feel about LFR, because technically it is group content, but it is certainly solo-friendly because you can queue up for it on your own.

If LFR is removed, then Normal difficulty needs to be made queue-able, or we are going to end up with about three-fourths of the active WoW population not experiencing raids at all, and devs are going to be desperate again to justify the costs of producing raids.

I personally don’t do much LFR in Shadowlands because it is very time consuming, given all the trash that needs to be cleared, the time it takes to kill bosses, the time that is wasted when the group wipes, queue times, and the time it takes to find replacements when people quit after bosses.

1 Like
3776

LFR has determination. If your suggestion of only two modes (and no trash in one of them) is taken then the replacement raid will be harder, and mythic will be less difficult

If you don’t want to waste time in lfr, then don’t.

3777

Oh and since you edited your original post:

A solo-oriented progression system needs to cover all 16 gear slots with at least a Normal raiding iLvl, without requiring manual grouping, an exorbitant amount of gold or profession materials, or soulbound currency that requires half a year to earn.

Why invalidate normal raids?

Oh, and if you want gear that falls from the sky, and is the best, may I suggest diablo 3? (again.)?

3778

The success and popularity of M+ has shown that people want their content in bite sizes rather than having to commit to a full-course meal.

I’m not the biggest fan of raiding these days, but I would like to see it evolve and succeed, rather than see devs tear down all other content to keep raiding alive.

Dividing raiding into wings, reducing trash, and reducing boss health might help raiding to feel more rewarding and fast-paced. But out of respect for players who enjoy traditional WoW raids, the higher difficulties can be one long slog if there is in fact a demand for that.

1 Like
3779

LFR is already fast. It’s the players that make it slow because tons of people AFK (myself included at times.)

3780

As discussed in other posts, Normal raids won’t be “invalidated” by solo options any more than they would be by M+, rated PvP, or even the previous season’s Mythic raid.

You can pop into Normal and Heroic raids on raid launch day and start earning that gear, but the open world gear would likely involve some sort of currency grind over time. Players that like to raid can raid, and would be far ahead of the open world players early in the season.

Additionally, let’s be honest. Competitive raiding begins at the Heroic level. The hardcore players start each season in Normal iLvl (previous season’s Mythic iLvl) and would only clear Normal raids for new tier bonuses or other rewards. They would never be forced to do solo content for downgrades later in the patch.

Yes, there are players whose main goal is to clear the current Normal raid by the end of the patch. But these types of players would gladly seek upgrades from accessible sources if it helped their guilds clear the content more easily.

I have played Diablo 3 before.

But I much prefer an MMORPG, especially WoW, when it is not trying to gatekeep power progression from solo and casual players.

3 Likes
3781

WOW has always “gatekept” power progression from solo players.

What’s wrong with solo gear topping out just below normal?

Is there a reason why you want to have gear equivalent to normal raid?

3782

Not necessarily.

Wrath, Cata, and MoP had some sort of badge or Valor system where you could buy raid-level gear by doing lesser PvE activities.

Legion and BfA had world content that provided gear progression, which was upgraded each new season.

Most expansions also had decent unrated PvP gear and crafted gear.

You also have to remember that the older expansions had only one, two, or three raid difficulties, so solo players could earn closer to max iLvl than they can now with four difficulties.

Shadowlands was the first time that I ever felt “gatekept”.

Normal is compromise considering what we got in the past, and it is still at least 26 item levels (a full season’s worth of power) below Mythic raiding iLvl.

Keeping open world or solo players more than one season behind is just an insult at that point, and if some of them do decide that they want to try group content, it will be harder to get into groups.

2 Likes