I’ve been playing Wow for more than 10 years. Generally speaking, I enjoy the game, and have for a long time.
However, there are OFTEN times these days where I feel my investment of time and energy into the game has been a complete waste of time.
It took a long time to get my DH up to level 242. It’s a lot of time and a lot of effort, and not even something I look forward to doing.
I don’t have the time or the inclination to raid, so I limit my efforts to Mythic dungeons. Truthfully, the effort to complete four level 15 dungeons just so I can choose between two 252 pieces at the end of the week really just feels like a grind, and something I HAVE to get through if i want to level up my character’s power. I might even do more than four M 15s if I wasn’t a DH and DPS only, but then there’s all the additional time spent just waiting around to be chosen to join a dungeon.
So I finally complete four M 15s this week, and what do I see in the weekly chest? Two items I can’t use at all. Out of 16 possible gear slots, ONLY THREE have iLvl 252 pieces or higher. That means I have an approximately 81% chance to get at least one item in the weekly chest I can actually use. Yet, Blizzard found a way to make sure BOTH of my two weekly chest options this week were (guess what?) two of only three gear slots for which I already have 252 pieces or higher.
That makes me feel like my time and effort over this past week has been a complete waste of time.
Would it be THAT HARD, Blizzard, to install some kind of programming that briefly scans the gear I already have and cares to reward me with SOMETHING that feels like a reward for the time and effort I invested last week? How do you think I feel when my only two gear options this week just HAPPENED to be two of ONLY THREE slots for which I don’t need 252 gear anymore?
Blizzard, if you don’t actually care about making sure you reward your loyal players for showing up every week with a piece of gear they can use, then at least put in a bit of effort to NOT make it look like you don’t give a damn AT ALL about how your players will feel when something like this happens.
I"ll be taking a break from the game for awhile.
unholy wall of text critically hits you for 225 points of damage!
Should be corrected to 252 points for ilvl continuity. Thank you for your cooperation.
Just get the gear. 3 ring claw second lvl door on left.
Don’t do this. Someone took the time to type up how they are feeling about a game we are all passionate about. Don’t discredit his time with comments like that.
OP, you aren’t alone with the frustration of this issue. Take the time you need, it appears Blizzard is at least moving in the direction to fix this issue.
We didn’t see this complaint in Legion or BfA. We see it a lot now. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that people mostly get duplicates or items for slots that don’t need upgrading.
Just playing devils advocate, not a fan of the vault myself.
It is unfortunate. This happens 3.515625% of the time.
Imagine how often it happens when you have 13 252s 
The answer is 66.015625% of the time.
It sucks but that’s how it goes. I’ve had alts that do a 15 after a week of being 60 and the 252 isn’t an upgrade when I’m 220 overall and nothing higher than like 239?
But it would probably be really hard or bordering on impossible to do what you want without causing other problems.
Like, what if I have 2* 252 trinkets but I still want a blood splattered scale from DoS? Will it not drop because it’s not an ilvl upgrade?
Same with a weapon like the pox blade from PF. It’s a dps upgrade over a normal 252.
Having up to three choices is certainly an upgrade over 1 in previous incarnations of the weekly chest but if rng of the entire 8 dungeon loot table is involved then there’s always going to be undesirable loot.
Bottom line is though if you’re just playing to increase a number and you’re not having fun it’s probably time to take a break until next season if you don’t have any current goals otherwise.
Did you enjoy that time? Did you find the play entertaining?
If your answer is yes, then it was not a waste of time.
If your answer is no, then it was but I am at a loss as to why you did it, given you said you don’t raid so you don’t need the gear for that.
I think that would be wise.
I am considering the same for different reasons with the same resulting frustration.
Blackbelter casts TL;DR. It’s super effective!
I’ve reached the point in my life where I have come to appreciate WoW and other games both for what they are, and for the mental stimulation they give me. Playing video games engages my mind and gives me mental exercise far more than just sitting in front of the TV soaking in yet another garbage show.
Mental exercise is important to keep the mind sharp as we get older. So anything that helps with this is never a waste of time.
For me, I only chase a gearscore if it is preventing me from getting into content. For example, when I was trying to get [Two Sides To Every Tale] back in BfA, I had to defeat Jaina, but my iLevel was initially too low to get into LFR. Once I had the score, and defeated her, I went back to not caring about it.
That being said, gear is a diminishing returns game, because as you go up, it becomes less and less likely that you’ll get something useful. When gear was more plentiful, this worked out better, because it wasn’t as noticeable. With less gear overall, things like this stand out more.
Ultimately, the best gear is going to come from the hardest content, and my perception is that the vault really only helps get into that high-end content, before becoming mostly obsolete.
Are you kidding? I complained about it in Feb 2020 and beyond. In fact I only started even posting on forums when the game began to be unbearable for all the changes.
They haven’t cared for a LOOOONG time about this. I haven’t even bothered to do beyond M+& in legion for the same reasons.
The thing that you only play the game for your weekly vault chest is sad Op. Reconsider your attitude.
Yea, ive said countless times what Blizzard should do is simply put a mechanism in play to check gear and not to RNG the slots but target slots needing upgrades. I mean they can incorporate IO into their group finder, why not use the same algorithms to check for slot needs?
I’ve started looking for reasons to NOT play. My wife only got into the game shortly before the Shadowlands pre-patch so everything is still so new to her… But I’ve been playing on and off since patch 2.2… I know what’s good and bad. This past weekend I actually suggested that instead of playing WoW, we deep clean the house… not sure what excuse I’ll use this upcoming weekend.
Don’t think of it as wasted time. Think of it as ‘idle hands are the devil’s playground’ and WoW is your means to not commit evil atrocities upon the world. Not all of us were mindless when we started WoW in the first place and not all of us were herded into being here.
What do you expect to get out of this game besides fun and time wasted?
RNG happens in games that use RNG… WoW has since release.
Recycling your pixel body!