For Consideration by the Community Council: Removed Content/FOMO

I present a discussion for the Community Council’s consideration regarding the reintroduction of removed content/FOMO items. This discussion aims to be entirely constructive and discuss what, if anything, should be done with removed content/FOMO.

Content removal from a video game, which costs both a box price and a subscription fee, is viewed by many as detrimental to the long-term player experience. While removed content/FOMO is often used to try to keep players engaged, long-term damage is ultimately imposed. This damage affects both veteran completionists who simply were unable to complete the content at the time, as well as new players who will never be able to experience the content or achieve any such rewards.

Examples of removed content/FOMO in WoW are as follows:

  1. Pandarian Legendary Cloak Questline:

The legendary cloak questline in Pandaria wrapped up the storyline for Mists of Pandaria. Not only was a transmog item removed, but so was access to a world boss and a considerable chunk of the Mists of Pandaria storyline. Contrast this to the legendary cloak in BFA, which is still around and thus its entire story was rightfully kept in the game.

  1. Legendary WoD Ring Questline:

The legendary WoD ring questline. Again, a considerable chunk of an expansion story was removed. The story once again feels very disjointed, especially for returning or new players.

  1. Mage Tower artifact appearances:

This is contested on both sides but presents a non-storyline based facet. An argument is made by Blizzard that bringing the appearances back would “diminish player efforts”; however, difficulty was maintained (in fact, it’s arguably much harder than originally). In addition, there are many areas in the game that players once had to put forth considerable effort to get, only for such things to receive nerfs via the passage of time (legacy raids) or nerfs intentionally placed by Blizzard (e.g., Mecha-Done, Flying in WoD/Legion zones). Let us not forget that the Mage Tower was originally gated by time AND currency. For something like this, a strong argument can be made for the creation of an artifact ensemble that is locked behind the 36-challenge Feat of Strength.

  1. Gold-sink Items:

Long-term gold sink items, e.g., Mighty Caravan Brutosaur. It’s up for debate whether this item should’ve ever been removed from the vendor, although I think at a bare minimum many can agree that Blizzard’s late announcement regarding its removal was unfair to the general player base. I would love to see consideration on bringing the mount back in some manner (e.g., when BFA Timewalking is created) that still maintains the “sinkiness” factor of obtaining it, without relying on RNG BMAH crates. (Yes, I’m aware it’s supposedly on the BMAH rotation, but it’s prone to being gold-capped AND it hasn’t shown in the rotation since the July 14th crate hotfix [viewed as a potential bug by many]. That’s a whole separate discussion though).

  1. PvP Items:

This is an interesting one. PvP seasonal mounts are often reintroduced an expansion later, locked by Vicious Saddles. We’ve also seen Elite appearances reintroduced in PvE content (e.g. the Hunter Legion Timewalking bow). A big issue with PvP is that class balance and gear progression can wildly change, putting classes in a see-saw of major disadvantages and require either a “re-roll” or simply sitting on the bench. An argument can be made to introduce a currency system to allow previous Elite appearances to be purchased by players who win games while above the current season’s 2100 bracket; the same argument could be made for gladiator as well, with wins in the 2400 brackets. This, again, will allow players, both old and new, to put for the effort and work towards additional cosmetic rewards.

Removed content/FOMO also creates an “us vs. them” mentality that fractures the player base. For example, new players who want an appearance no longer in the game may be told “you can’t get that because you weren’t here at the time”. There are also players in the community who will use the FOMO items that they obtained to “lord over” others. Removed content/FOMO breeds a level of toxicity that the WoW community could absolutely do without.

My personal stance on removed content/FOMO, if it must be done, is this: if FOMO is used, it should be temporary, and any removed content should be introduced once the FOMO content’s expansion is considered legacy content. Using the Pandaria cloak questline as an example, the questline could’ve been “removed” from the game for WoD, and then reintroduced into the game at the start of Legion as that would signify MoP becoming regarded as “legacy content”.

On a case-by-case basis, it makes perfect sense to also require the same level, or greater, difficulty (the timewalking Mage Tower difficulty is a great example of this being possible). It also makes sense, depending on the content, to simply put it in BMAH if it’s done in good faith. (Waiting to announce the removal of a very pricey item near the final patch of an expansion is not in good faith from my view). There is also absolutely nothing wrong with putting reintroduced content/rewards behind a currency that absolutely ensures players are putting in an equivalent/meaningful level of effort to obtain such rewards.

I don’t think it’s ever too late for Blizzard to reintroduce FOMO content, especially when a period of time has passed and players who acquired rewards from such content have been able to enjoy them during that time. We really should avoid the “us versus them” mentality that divides the community and allow all players who put in the effort to obtain the rewards.

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This is a very great post–thank you for taking the time to be a voice for players. Thought out and well written posts are exactly how we ALL should communicate in GD. Very good points brought up, as well!

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The issue with FOMO/remove content is this:

  1. Blizzard will never say this, but it is incredibly profitable for multiple reasons. This is one of the main reasons it will never entirely leave the game.

  2. Blizzard has nurtured a really loud part of the community to support this, even if its to the detriment of the game and those same players. Habits like these are seared into players’ reasoning for playing the game, and you will have an incredibly hard time changing the perception of people once this is done.

  3. Development philosophy. It boils down to the fact that this IS actually how they prefer to design the game. They attach “bragging rights” to this franchise as “healthy competition”, and with a transitory audience, it’s enough to get good cycles through patches and releases.

I agree that FOMO and removed content only make this game smaller. I would like to see them NOT design the game like that going forward.

I also think that it is far easier to do this, than to retroactively try to fix what’s already done. The resistance from those that have vs those that don’t is just too great to try to engage it as a company when you are the one feeding the FOMO in the first place.

It’s a great post, but I am going to be a negative Nancy and say there is ZERO chance a brave Blue will even touch this with a ten foot pole.

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blizz will never stop doing this, and the blizz shills who fail to see how its inherently bad for them and the game will always defend it.
Content from 2 Expacs ago being reused with cosmetics? Available only a few times out of the year to rake in extra subs through FOMO. It wont end

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I understand the frustration, which is why I’m hoping a discussion about how this can be changed can take place. Hopefully.

I don’t know why you bother. you’re obviously intelligent and eloquent enough to present an argument like this but dont you think you’d be better off doing something constructive with your life?. bliz is not going to change the business practices that have made them so much money. nothing short of a court order will stop what theyre doing.

but you wont listen of course, your most likely fully addicted. good luck.

and for those not around in late 2014

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i believe content should always, ALWAYS be available in-game. with the only exception being holiday stuff.

BUT! that does’nt mean it should be easy to get.
honestly, i think all ‘limited-time’ content should become like mythic raid mounts. where after their time, they’re still obtainable, but are at a ridiculously low drop rate (like invincible).

that’s just my opinion though.

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There’s a good video by a video game reviewer on YouTube.

He basically said that by removing something from a game there will always be an infinitely increasing amount of players that want that thing and become envious of the static number of players (potentially even decreasing if those players start to leave the game) that do have it.

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I'm vaccinated against FOMO. Oh darn, i don't have every transmog...

If it was removed for an actual reason, such as elite sets, it should remain removed.
It’s better to change the systems going forwards to healthier structures, than invalidate literal trophies and the efforts of people in the past. There are very very few of these kinds of rewards in the game luckily, and if the model itself is unique, it is more than fair to put recolours in and leave the original trophies be.

For example, the red WoD S1 warrior set will remain removed, but because that model is no longer available, they’d place a blue, white, and green version into the game in various PvP related locations.

I usually get shot when mentioning this could also work for old Gladiator mounts. It’s been over a decade, and we still can’t have an armored netherdrake that’s an entirely different colour from the originals?

I don’t really consider AoTC mounts to be a part of real reasoning thought. That was a “I was there” thing, and it’s kind of nutty they aren’t nerfed to 1% drops like the CE mounts. Them not even being on the BMAH is odd, considering how many people buy them on the regular.

If TCG items are to be reintroduced more, the BMAH and Hearthstone itself should be the sources. It’s insane they didn’t cross the loot system over to Hearthstone.

But yeah, I don’t think messing with what is already gone is a good idea in the slightest.
Just change how the game is structured going forwards and stop doing it instead. It’s the most eloquent middle-ground.

Pretty sure this one is actually because of legal issues.

I do want to clarify that Blizzard has already started reintroducing Elite appearances into the game. For example, the hunter Legion timewalking bow is the same model as the WoD S3 Elite weapon:

What makes this particularly interesting is that it was a PvP award reintroduced as a PvE vendor reward.

Perhaps PvP and PvE rewards should be separate discussions considering they’re entirely different pillars, although things are getting muddy now based on my previous example. Recolors at a minimum make complete sense though.

AotC mounts are interesting since the achievements themselves don’t directly reward the mount, but rather simply getting a heroic kill during the current raid tier drops an item to turn in for the mount.

I have a couple AotC mounts myself, such as the Violet Spellwing, and I do agree that these should simply go from guaranteed drops to 1%. Note that the CE achievements also don’t directly reward mounts. Instead, mythic kills have a drop rate of 2 per-group, which is then nerfed to 1% later on.

I don’t disagree with this. I’m a little hesitant considering the RMT behind TCG purchases, but I suppose one could make the argument that it’s equivalent to spending money on WoW tokens and buying the loot in-game as well? (Full disclosure, I’m sitting on numerous unscratched cards so I’m a little biased here).

I still think a good argument can be made to correct past mistakes by requiring the same level of effort/difficulty upon reintroduction. I certainly agree going forward that this sort of thing should be highly limited.

I’m quite curious as to the specific law, whether there’s a time-limit on the law and perhaps whether there’s hope we can see things become legally available again. At that point then we could have a stronger argument to make to Blizzard. I think these hokey prize laws are also what prevents us from buying Tyreal’s Charger, since the Korean region still has access to it.

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FOMO content :-1:

FOMO rewards :+1:

My opinion. Players should always be encouraged to play the version of the content when it is tuned to be challenging and fun, and FOMO rewards are the carrot to encourage you to have the best experience.

FOMO content is much less good. I’m glad we’re starting to get timewalking versions of content that had been removed from the game, like Legion M+ and Mage Tower. I think it would be pretty cool if Blizzard brought back MoP and WoD CMs as content you could play. I chose not to play MoP CMs at the time because I wasn’t a fan of how tanking felt with low secondaries in MoP, but with the more modern design for tanks I wouldn’t mind getting another crack at the content. I wouldn’t expect the same rewards as honestly just some new content to play is its own treat.

Just create the mage tower artifact appearance with a different color tint and people would be happy.

no.
it was branded as limited time. limited time means…limited time.

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Well, I won’t disagree with this to an extent, but I feel like there’s a deeper issue that also needs to be discussed, along with the way forward and remediation of effects from previous mistakes. The thing with this game is that “mistakes from the past” remain in the current game. For example, while the removal of the Pandaria legendary cloak questline happened 6 or 7 years ago, the effects of that mistake (no access to the questline, no access to Ordos, etc.) remain in the game to this day. The same goes for the other items listed out as examples; Blizzard may have made the mistakes many years ago, but players continue to pay the price from my perspective.

geez - he doesn’t speak for me so please don’t advertise he speaks for ‘players’.

I say no. He has made threads on these issues previously and making more is crossing over to spam.

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they would not one post wonder - whose alt are you?

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I am a supporter if legacy or only being able to attain an item during the time frame the game was balanced around. But not all items that have been removed really seem to make much sense in those regards.

it isn’t bad for players except for those who don’t play throughout the expansions - and I think loyalty should be rewarded.

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