The removal of LFR is controversial. Some despise LFR, but others see it as their only option to experience raid content.
First, I just wanted to address Blizzard’s reasoning for the removal of LFR: the fact that many more people experienced normal raiding in WOTLK and Cata. What this fails to take into account is that most of these were through GDKPs, which are not only controversial (RMT), but also detract from social integration by reducing the number of players looking for guilds to get involved in raiding. This isn’t an anti GDKP post, but using them as a metric for the decision to remove LFR is just poor form from Blizzard.
Celestial dungeons seem to be the chosen system to replace LFR. The issue here is that they are not comparable in any way to LFR. They do not allow the casual player to jump in and experience raiding. They do not allow players to get a feeling for raiding or learn mechanics. They simply allow players to obtain LFR level gear through running the same dungeons over and over and over and over. Whilst I love MoP as an expansion overall, some of the dungeons were not exactly great/enjoyable content.
The only real solution to the removal of LFR is the addition of flex raiding. The system allows guild raids to become less static, making them more welcoming to the casual player that might not be able to make it every week.
The announcement for the removal of LFR should have coincided with an announcement for the addition of flex raiding. There has been ample time for it to be developed and tested, and there really is no excuse for it to have been overlooked in the development process.
We have an opportunity to make this expansion incredible through the addition of flex raiding. It just solves so many issues. I just hope Blizzard is listening and puts time into this system instead of unnecessary balancing and janky Celestial mechanics.
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Thanks for this great idea but there 0% chance they are going to implement flex raiding on raids that don’t have it already. At the very least they could think about it in SoO even if it takes a lot of balancing do it in a 5.4.8 state.
The real solution is: give us LFR.
Perhaps you are right. But it absolutely should have been in the works from the second they decided to remove LFR.
If we push hard enough, we might be able to get it added for ToT or something.
Blizzard needs to do something though, because they are hemorrhaging their casual player base right now. That isn’t good for anyone.
Or not remove it at all?
Maybe but even for ToT its a bit too late imo. Like said, Flex raiding did not exist up until SoO (and that only in WoD), so balancing a flexible system is more than just a switch. This will require as much dev time as an entire raid in SoD.
Not. removing. LFR.
This is simply the worst decision ever and probably made by some tryhard classic player that is a classic dev
How about adding LFR in that shares a lockout with normal and heroic?
Win win solution right there.
Flex raid size isn’t just applying a scaling health buff, they also would need to redesign the mechanics on EVERY SINGLE ENCOUNTER to accommodate for anywhere from 10-30 players. This is why they’re not adding it until SoO. The older raids weren’t designed for it and it’d be too much work for their limited dev team to change up every single boss to have flexible raid size mechanics.
I don’t know if I agree with that assertion. There are a lot of GDKPs and no doubt it drove a lot of the pug and alt scene, but looking at the population as a percentage, guild raids is most certainly higher compared to the first time when retail was here.
The percent of “casual” players who actively play on classic realms is certainly much lower than the percent of “casual” players who actively played in retail in this time period.
I’ll add my voice to those seeking an LFR option. I still enjoy the World of Warcraft Classic experience but am not as invested in pursuing the cutting edge game modes. And I eagerly anticipated LFR as a way to experience the content and lore on my schedule, without waiting for a pug to form on low pop realms, or having to join a GDKP community, or committing to admittedly popular heroic raiding on a set schedule. It was with incredible disappointment that I read Blizzard will continue to abstain from implementing LFR in Pandaria and it’s unclear to me why.
If it’s for social reasons than I ask Blizz to please reconsider for later phases of MoP. The communities that we had in Era began to degrade in TBC and only accelerated in WoTLK with the advent of LFG. As it stands shoving all the LFR loot into yet-another-dungeon-farm-ad-nauseam is a tired approach and doesn’t particularly appeal to me.
Thanks for your consideration.
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Why would I care about lfr when celestials remove all the rng?
2 Likes
cryboomers will always cryboom and continue to eat the slop because nothing else satisfies their dopamine addiction
LFR with a share lockout with normal and heroic is the real solution IF it is ever added in at all.
LFR is not a social event, no one talks, Ready Check and pull. People AFK, people just do normal attacks on the boss people don’t heal people don’t taunt swap and the raid gets more and more stack of determination. They are easier than the heroics and people go on about elites? give me a break.
The celestials are not much harder than the heroics, so once again nothing elite about it.
If you wanna do nothing and raid go to retail Q and afk for loot.
Bro, you literally gear up with prebis with set bonuses and all, and then geared like that go and do real content. Its extreamly easy to gear up through this new system blizzard has announced
Only people who are upset about these changes are GDKP’ers cause they know people with items that are 80% BiS ilvl will just go in and clap the content and get to expierience it even as casuals once this goes live, instead of bringing naked chars to GDKP runs where they need to purchase gear
Celestials are literally pre-bis farm
And raids are raids not just tourist attractions where you walk in zerg and leave, which is in my opinion no fun at all
I think my point went completely over your head.
But even so, your entire post is defunct just due to the fact that pre-bis gear can literally be farmed through celestial dungeons. If you do not want to ever set foot in LFR, you do not need to.
Please explain what difference LFR being added to the game would make to you if you are able to use the alternative (celestial dungeons) to gear up anyway. I would love to hear it.
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LFR raids are not raids, theyre just “bosses” with “mechanics” that do nothing. Theyre not different to going and doing a quest and killing 30 mobs to get an item.
You dont seem to understand that raiding regular content will be significantly easier for your average player if they have a full set of “LFR” gear that they got from doing dungeons.
Like i said before, this change hits GDKP sellers the most cause it removes their core customer base. And im all for it, more guild runs, more pugs, get rid of gdkp.
This is a step in the right direction
I don’t think you have even the first idea what you are talking about. You seem to just be parroting things you have read online and are getting confused.
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LFR raids DO have actual mechanics. The mechanics are not as punishing as normal raids, but it is very much still possible to wipe. It is absolutely not the same as doing a quest to kill 30 mobs, that is a nonsensical analogy.
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Again, you are conflating the removal of LFR with the addition of celestial dungeons. The inclusion of LFR alongside celestial dungeons makes ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE to your point, simply because gearing through celestial dungeons is already going to be in the game. So I will ask once again, what difference does the inclusion of LFR make?
Blizz already told you, you just didn’t like the answer.
I mostly disagree with what Blizzard said. As LFR could have been left in alongside celestial dungeons as an alternative to running the same dungeons repeatedly. The removal of LFR was meant to alleviate the burden of players NEEDING to run it weekly to pick up their tier set pieces and upgrades.
The same gear is still available. The only difference being that it is more accessible and farmable through dungeons instead of tied to a weekly lockout in LFR.
Do you have any thoughts of your own on the matter other than “hur dur me no like LFR”?
That wasn’t mentioned by Blizzard at all, but yes, H+ is objectively better for obtaining that gear.
I love how LFR posters are incapable of posting without slinging insults when other players aren’t immediately supportive of their babby mode raiding. And it’s pretty funny how quickly you completely abandoned your thread’s premise to just make your same whining pleas for LFR again. Sorry you don’t get to permanently damage the social fabric of this MMO this time. 
I have not abandoned any premise. I am simply replying to people like yourself that did not actually read my post and are just banging on about LFR. I would 100% take flex raiding over LFR any day, because it is such a massive upgrade to the casual raiding scene.
On a side note, I do actually play with a family member that is disabled. He won’t join raids because he feels like a burden, and LFR was his way to experience some form of raiding. It may not affect you in any way, but there is a genuine reason for lower skill level content like this to be in the game.
You seriously have not made a single actual point. It seems like your only reason for being here is to be argumentative.