I re-did the essence grind on an alt

Community General Discussion
182

I’m torn on this subject. I don’t necessarily think Essences should be completely account wide because I don’t feel like Bob the hunter alt you do a random BG on once in a blue moon should automatically have the rank 3 raid essence, rank 3 m+ essence, etc… Likewise, I don’t think it makes sense for Jill the gatherer alt of which you just fly around herbing and doing world quests for enchanting mats to automatically have rank 3 PvP, rank 3 raid, etc…

Some work should absolutely be required. However I’ll also admit currently, having to do the amount required is a bit much. Make it easier, definitely. I’m against total account wide though.

Like, Rustbolt/Unshackled/Waveblade. They could easily make Rank 3 purchasable on alts for 25% of the cost or something once you hit Friendly or Honored(provided you have the rank 3 already unlocked). Almost all of the “grind” aspect is removed but you are still required to do a little bit.

The PvP ones? Make it so you have to earn the rank 1 on a character basis but upon doing that, the rank 3 is unlocked provided you have it already on another character.

M+ essences? Just make it so a +4 gives rank 1, +7 gives rank 2 and a +10 gives the rank 3(all still needing to be timed). Essentially, just make a timed +10 or higher give rank 3 by default, assuming you already have rank 3 on someone.

Stuff like that, I dunno. Make it immensely easier, removing most of the grind aspects, but still require just a bit of effort. That would be a great middle ground in my opinion.

Of course, if they do make them account wide I’m not going to complain, but I’d also be 100% content if they just made unlocking them much easier for alts.

Honestly though, I’d be surprised if they didn’t tweak the essence system for alts in some way come 8.3, due to the addition of the new essences and legendary cloak. If you think of Legion with legendaries, we didn’t get Wakening Essence right off the bat either. If you think of Balance of Power, they didn’t make that easier for alts right from the get go either.

TLDR: I’m against total account wide, but won’t complain if it happens. But I’d prefer making the essences easier to obtain on alts to at least still require a little time/effort.

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183

Just go to bloodmallet dot com. They sim everything for you. What Dauntless reported is well within the results that have been widely accepted as true.

Its true. The very thought of opening the game right now for anything aside my main is maddening. At this point Id rather pretend wow doesnt exist.

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Kinda like what they did for Rep in MoP, I like it. It was still there just a bit easier the second time around. This game needs more of that, imo.

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Weird, I guess I will have to start posting on my account that do I all of my BFA stuff on then because I haven’t done any real stuff on this account this expansion other than play some alts here and there. My other account was my AH account, but I started playing on it instead, so it won’t have any old achievements.

They must have changed how the armory works to where you can now view everything on someone’s account, regardless of the character specific settings.

Anyways, getting back on topic: Yes, essence grinding sucks but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t have your third slot unlocked. Like Plantains just said, you can find this information in many different ways, most of which are going to show the 3rd slot being worth around 5%. Nice, but not gamebreaking.

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I can’t say I’d go that far. I do really enjoy the content on my main, just the thought of getting another character to that level is so utterly unappealing, I choose not to instead.

I think I’ve realized why, exactly, grinding rep and essences is so unappealing to me, by the way. I’m a group player - I’m almost always in a group, and doing dailies is pretty awful group content. I can do it with my friends - and I do - but it’s more like they’re along for the ride than contributing in any way. It doesn’t go all that much faster with them there, sadly.

I think the biggest issue with them is therefore the fact that they’re a barrier to performing group content for those who want to do it. It’s hours of solo-oriented, max-level content that’s borderline mandatory.

I have no issue whatsoever with there being a solo progression path, but it needn’t be the only option.

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For sure. Hell, they could literally adopt the Commendation system from MoP and further tweak it.

Character at exalted? Can buy commendation to increase rep gains for that rep, for the account, by 100%(up to exalted only to prevent paragon cache cheese)

Second character at exalted? Can buy another commendation to further increase rep gains for the account by an additional 100%(so now 200%).

Third? Add another to make it 300%.

Manapearls? Let us buy a “Bag 'o Pearls” for 50 pearls, which contains 50(or something) that we can mail to alts who may need pearls to buy the essences due to how fast they got the rep. Spare Crates, Ignitercoils, Oscillators? Make those bound to account.

Do the same for PvP, upon getting rank 3, you can purchase a commendation thing to effectively double honor gains towards unlocking essences(essences only, increased honor would not go towards overall Honor Level)

There are so many ways they could make essences much more friendly towards alts without needing to just make them account wide. Though, given the amount of people who only clamor about wanting account wide, I’m probably in the minority here.

Like I said though, I won’t complain if they do become account wide, but I’d be perfectly happy with just making them easier to obtain. I can’t imagine Blizzard doesn’t have plans to tweak them next patch though.

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188

I added the emphasis to drive my point here home. Group content is all I like to do in an mmo. In Legion I did non stop mythic plus on my main and alts. It was a great experience. Mythic dungeon gear was not as good as raid gear but It was good enough. Sinking 20-30 hours of solo play time into an alt for content I hate doing is a non starter for me. I have been an avid altaholic since MoP and the only reason that stopped is this essence grind. Thinking of the fun I had in past expansions farming up my alts is a great memory that makes me upset these days when I open wow and look at all the characters I have fond memories with that are now abandoned.

All I do in wow is get on my main and play it here and there. But overall I am not playing the game. Because when I do open the program it makes me sad that in order to play with friends I have to commit to another solo play time gated 20 hour grind fest that is not fun or engaging in any way.

Instead I am playing other games with those friends that respects the players time invested into the game. Specifically Destiny 2, FFXIV, Borderlands 3,Dota 2 and Overwatch. If I want a premium single player experience I am not looking to WoW for that because Activision Blizzard hands us world quests to fill that void.

I end up buying premium games instead From companies that actually worked for the single player game and made sure to give you a great experience, not world quest farming.

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189

You keep naming your characters like that and people will think your name is Tim!

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It’s never going to happen. Catch up mechanics? Maybe. But not flat out account wide.

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I support this and I know others in game who have quit playing alts because of this as well. You are only hurting yourself with this one Blizzard.

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I really stopped caring about 8.2 because of this essence crap. Farmed all of them to stay competitive and raid-ready, finished my keystone master achievement, got my AotC and finally wanted to play a different class and have fun running Eternal Palace.

Then I noticed how annoying it is to do the same essence grind for the second time. Quit instantly and now only keep my account active for classic and random forum posting.

Here is a hint, Blizz, if you care so much about your precious time played metrics, how about encouraging to play other classes once I’m tired of my main? I’m sure you would get more metrics from me and a few others.

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193

Can’t wait for 8.3 so the grind on alts can be even worse with the new cloak grind and even more rank 3 essences.

I’m going to have so much fun (not playing the game).

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194

Yep, i believe blizzard is sorta finding this out with BFA, both my guilds one on horde other on alliance…imploded because of the insane grind for alts some just said the hell with it and quit some just play classic and thats it…

If the next expansion is like BFA in the alt unfriendly grind for what ever they decide on for 9.0…its just going to bleed subs slowly again like this expansion and more and more people will just say heak with it and not even care anymore to see the next patch or next expansion

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The problem is it’s a huge power boost that is required.

And not just by guilds. Blizzard is tuning content based on people having these essences. And you can bet that all the content in 8.3 will have this in mind.

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People were clearing mythic raids and high tier mythic+ keys without having them. 8.3 would be a perfect time to add in a catch up mechanic, as it is adding more essences and I think AP levels to our HoA.

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199

Agree this seems to be a core design issue, a lack of devs with any real connection to the game

Used to be founders making a game they loved to play and sharing it with us and caring about feedback

Now it just feels like a bunch of cold spreadsheet devs that could care less if they ever played the game again

They don’t find their own game fun

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200

I’ve done this crap what, 3.5 times now between my characters (druid, paladin, hunter, monk)? Check my raider io if you need confirmation of that (Varivane Area-52). It’s awful. It wasn’t fun the first time.

I miss when the game didn’t involve such stupid F2P style timegates and grindy content to this extent. I like doing stuff with friends like dungeons, raids, and once upon a time pvp but this mandatory essence, world quest, rep grind, and artifact power stuff needs to go the way of the dodo.

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201

I tend to agree and hope that 9.0 will see an end to these types of character progression. I would still like to keep a modified version of the AZ armor instead of the old tier set. Maybe just make each piece you have equipped unlock a ring instead of linking it to an AP system.

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It sucks, but also driven by the “need” to min/max so hard in this game.

You get 4 rank 3 essences for basically just playing your alt at all in PvE.

They tossed out essances for basically every type of content for something to work on.

But god forbid blood of the enemy sims 1% higher than CLF you basically get for free. To the forums!

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The problem I’d say isn’t in itself the situation of getting an alt to max and being at effectively 0 again.

Working on a character’s progression is supposed to be FUN.

If you think in principle it’s bad to have to ‘repeat’ progression on a second character, then MMORPGs really aren’t the genre you should be playing.

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