The restrictions get lifted and catch-up mechanics get added in almost every x.3 patch and everyone starts having fun. Even days after launch, there were posts talking about coming back in 9.3 and unsubbing until the game is “fixed again”.
How many times do we need to learn this lesson, Ion? The game is the most fun when we can progress at our own pace without roadblocks. It happens every expansion. Just stop trying to 5-head player metrics and give the people what they want.
Yea let’s max everything right away and then complain we have nothing to do instead!
Blizzard hasn’t made a game in almost a decade, they HAVE been perfecting the art of the parasite. Just latch onto people’s wallets and suck them dry for the beloved stockholders!
Bro, you do realize how this works right? Blizzard wants to curate a certain experience at expansion launch. They want a specific progression through the content paced out in a certain way, and they continue to do the same thing not because they “didn’t learn” but because the system works exactly the way they want.
Then, later, once that model doesn’t make sense because the launch window is over, then they open it up.
acti record profits says everything works great
Because if everything was fun and easy then people would get through content too fast. I.E less time playing, gotta keep that play time high
I feel like having a lot to do up front and then having nothing to do the last month or so of a patch feels better than the slow delivery drip method they’ve changed over to.
Yeah, people cleared through everything quickly. So what? Now they got people waiting until the expansion is over before they can even enjoy it.
This is true. The first patch has the least amount of content for players so they restrict it the most.
Patch 2 adds more content so it can be less restrictive for new players and alts…
Patch 3 is the least restrictive because it has the most content.
It makes sense when you look at it without all that salt
Do you just get paid to lurk the forums looking to defend damsel blizzard in distress or something? You are always saying how wonderful the game is but you never seem to actually be playing it… huh… weird 
I can’t play WoW at work, but I can post in the forums.
If using common sense to argue against some of the silly rage on these forums is defending damsel blizzard…I only wish I was getting paid for it.
As if only Blizz put in work for content that not all gear. They can add in like player housing, the F2P ripoff battlepass that add mogs, Mount training, Professions that make stuff for your home. Hunts that add stuff for your home. Dung and raid tokens for showing off in your home…
Stuff like being a bard and singing in a city. Better archaeology than clicking on a spot every 13 feet and also you can add that junk to your home. Toy profession to kill time with and so much more.
But yea it wont happen.
Blizz could do something like armor power points. It’s like leveling, except it’s for armor and weps. Gives players a way to grow stronger regardless of content played.
How to encourage players to do variety of content.
WQ gives a very minor amount
Norm dungs go a little higher
Heroic dungs, even more higher
Myths, a lot more higher
During dungeons, each unique one for the week gives 25% bonus.
There’s opportunity for other interesting ways to play, like scaling down and helping a guildie get through leveling dungeons or hard quest. If blizz is worried it’ll take away from current content, make it a buff instead of direct points.
Basically what I’m saying, players can always have a way to grow their toon and the much higher points will still encourage higher content.
Difficulty can also play a factor in points. In a dung and one shotting everything? Points won’t grant nearly as much.
Tanking subs is what happens if it isn’t balanced right. In SL the balance is totally off.
three 
Wont that upset players that come back later or reroll? More so than the game as it stands now already does?
It does?
We get catch up mechanics to get folks “ready for raiding”, but we haven’t had any free form “catch up at our own pace” system for, umm…ever?
They’ve always been gated. Badges were gated and capped all the way back to Wrath, and that’s been pretty much it since then. The closest I guess they may have come was the Nethershard gear in Broke Isles. That was a pretty unlimited currency, and that gear didn’t last long.
How would a more flexible way of power growing upset those players?
Because they would be behind everyone else?
Yeah. They added the Azerite vendor and had visions that dropped some bis items from doing 5 masks. Anyone remember 8.2? What? Gotta grind out BGs on 4 toons to get BotE? Gotta do rep on every room because the rep ones were just that awesome. The vendor was them “caving” and it honestly opens up the possibility of having alts.
In legion it was the legiondary vendor. You could unlock the entire weapon with one quest drop AP by the end of the expansion.
In WoD… idk about WoD. I actually quit the game then. Not that I didn’t like it, I just couldn’t raid. Nasty stuff IRL. But I assume there was something? The garrison missions, I heard, were gated heavily though. Maybe that’s why it’s so ill remembered.
MoP of course had the TI and old school vendors. This was the last era of “content over systems” and 10 man raids. No gating at all, gear up a friend in a day if you want.
Cata had old school vendors. You could get great item level (albeit mediocre stats), 10 man raids, etc. no gating.
Wrath actually added 3 dungeons at the end of their cycle that dropped near end-game loot. Remember the “wrath baby”? Lol now it’s everyone fondest memory. No gating.
BC - they dropped the 27 step attainment. Highly controversial at the time, but between badges and pvp gear, you could get up there in item level.
And vanilla. The only gating was luck. Do what you wanna do.
Ever since I came back in legion, content had been replaced by ever more complex “systems”. This expansion we got 8 dungeons and 1 ten boss raid. The least amount of launch content literally ever. The systems are frustrating. If they want to gate the bleeding edge of progression that’s one thing, but all caps should be seasonal, imho, so that late starters and alts aren’t at a permanent disadvantage dealing with systems.
I much prefer people having the ability to go through content at their own pace, and rush through it if they please.
Timegates are mood and enjoyment dampeners. They work alright on mobile games, because the focus is to incentivize people to pay money to circumvent the timegate, but we can’t have that in WoW for obvious reasons.