Originally it was proposed half in jest on the forum that during shadowlands players would be leveling up multiples of their main so they could have one in each covenant ready for when the nerf bat hit. Only the most hardcore of achievers did this, given what turned out the crushing workload to maintain multiple characters at a competitive level.
Are you serious?
I’m not understand why you think it is “good for the individual but bad for the game” if players can switch specs between raid bosses rather than being benched and replaced.
It promotes more inclusive behavior. If you rotate more players in, more players get to do the content. Versus just using the same group which keeps the content more exclusive.
But ultimately, can all four Covenants clear the Heroic boss. If the answer is yes, Covenants were successful, regardless of whatever number that pops out at you.
You run the straight line of least resistance doesn’t mean there aren’t any bumps in the road.
That’s really the biggest issue with players right now. They are so fixated on the numbers, rather than what’s fun, and it’s what’s making the game suck. Remember fun? It used to be what we based our choices in games on. It’s why we picked certain races in video games, because they were fun to play. It’s why we picked certain classes. It’s why we picked specializations and talents. Fun.
Now it’s all about the numbers, and you’re trying to turn the numbers into fun, but that’s impossible because statistics will always rob you of your fun. If you follow the numbers, you’ll always feel forced to pick things that you don’t find fun because those things are just ‘better’ and then you’ll get angry at the creator of the game for not making the numbers better on the things you wanted to be fun so you could pick those instead.
How does it promote more inclusive behavior? The more rigid structure we have now than ever before has resulted in more exclusion than ever.
We were told that with shadowlands and covenant restrictions that limited specs, roles, and types of gameplay that we would see little to no difficulty in getting into groups. The opposite has happened. A raid team does not keep unproductive players to “rotate in” during progression. Players who have chosen the wrong covenant for raiding are now locked out of raiding, not regularly rotated in.
Whats fun about not being able to try new skills or synergies that exist only for this expansion? I’ve had fun with my one covenant and I bet I’d have more fun with others. Who cares about numbers I want to play the bad covenants when i’m bored without holding back my friends.
Give me a moment to go back and read our conversation because there appears to be a miscommunication somewhere between us. The premise which I was speaking deals more with the swapping of specs, and being harder to swap specs due to covenants not working with the other specs. This doesn’t have much to do with covenants other then it being the tool inwhich makes switching your specialization harder.
What you’re saying is that players should not have wanted to play well, that competitive gamers should have chosen to entirely ignore the history of the game and its endplay design - including that meta devs build in - and have just sat on their thumbs and roleplayed, or got smashed in PvP because they chose the wrong covenant and couldn’t get into rated - and somehow they should have been happier.
I’m not understanding. Have you ever played a multiplayer game? I mean, especially since the entire design of end game is now built around encouraging high achievers to jump through all the right hoops to do even better, I’d say you’re deliberately misrepresenting the game, the playerbase, and the events that took place along the way.
You said it was better for the game if people couldn’t switch specs. Which is what we have. Can’t switch to healer because wrong covenant, go sit on the bench. Can’t switch spec for PvP, stop doing Pvp.
Yeah was just trying to see how you was tying the covenants in. I understand we are on the same wave length of what I am saying though. I think the big thing here is, I’m looking at things from a mechanical and long term approach. And you are looking at things from the how it feels short term approach. Given the time players and Blizzard would adapt. Having mechanics which require different specs to counter, or to perform better would result in a more rotation style of play inside of raids. PvP I will concede would become a issue. Which I propose loadouts for. Allow players choose their pvp role and while in pvp that covenant/spec is used. while outside of pvp they revert to their pve covenant/spec.
‘Playing well’ is not the same as ‘being competitive’.
Competitive players are the lowest denominator when developing an MMO RPG. A developer could instantly discover how competitive players think just by consulting a calculator and a simulation.
Competitive players will always go straight to the path of least resistance, so their overall input outside of raw numbers is completely meaningless.
No surprised given you see through a competitive lens.
I’m labeling the playerbase for what it is; over-competitive people who drove out the more casual audience, and how their constant infatuation with numbers is slowly killing the game in its entirety.
This is probably one of the reasons why people are having fun in Final Fantasy, there is less of a fixation on min/maxing, if you use damage meters for anything other than personal knowledge of your own performance you can be banned. People are just enjoying the game for what it is.
Every job can complete every activity. The difficulty is set so that can be achieved. Players know this, which results in a more relaxed, carefree approach to the MMO.
In Final Fantasy, players realize that it and the end content is still a game.
In World of Warcraft, players approach it like a job, where time is wasted and never used ‘effectively’.
People should know, your performance is still monitored and judged in Final Fantasy. They just do it secretly as to not get banned. Instead of telling you you are bad, and what you are doing wrong. They just kick you and stop inviting you.