Sweetie, WOW has NEVER allowed you to solo your way to endgame gear. Not ever. Go play classic and see if you can solo your way to the top gear. It won’t happen. If anything current retail is FAR more solo friendly as you can level the entire game without a group within a week or two. SL gave you numerous titles and rewards while soloing the game. Classic doesn’t. In fact the very reason so many players wanted classic back was because they felt all the QOL features that were added were negatives to the game.
I said wow is the most casual mmo on the market. You moved the pole. I don’t mind teaching you history of MMOS, but that had nothing to do with what was being said.
I said wow has always cater to casuals and soloer players, and over the years adapted to them because WE are what keeps them in business. Not raiders, not mythic dungeon people.
Right now, we are going to see if the new trade skill system is enough to keep us, but if they don’t focus on content that makes us happy, and give us gear that we can chase after also. Blizzard will find out what happens when they betray the people who help kept them on top.
Gear power matters very little anymore, and having all play styles having a carrot to chase will be best for the game. Raiders ego can’t handle that I guess.
IMO this is part of the issues with Visions, Torghast, and other similar content over the past few expansions.
Instead of challenging side content with its own rewards and own progression, they make it mandatory for progression outside the content while making progression within reliant on gear from other content.
A similar issue existed with Mage Tower in that progression was highly dependent on gear from other sources, though it was better than Visions or Torghast as it was not tied into other systems such that players felt required to participate to be viable in other content.
Doing tedious chores and world quest each day based off Blizzard design is much harder than raiding. So ya I deserve something for the tedium since that gear is going to get tossed away next content patch anyway.
I want raiders to have the coolest looking gear, and be able to gear up quickly. I want a carrot to chase also worth my time.