While I am glad there are alternate options for gearing and maybe AP grinding in BFA, the fact that the mentality “the hardest content should yield the best rewards” is what killed off Wildstar and threatens WoW’s death/maintenance mode is scary to me. I cannot stand the thought of there being less to do in WoW.
Warlords of Draenor tried that. Hated the “Raid or Die” with the butchering of LFR.
Blizzard/Activision should stop tuning everything assuming max TF limit + sockets and actually tune it around the intended item level. (For example, if a dungeon was tested assuming 405 item level, it should remain that and not scale up to require 455 + sockets if it needs Premade Groups.)
Basically, get 100-0 deaths out of the gearing path and only when you are actually at that item level will they begin to show. Beforehand, have the game prompt you when a mechanic would suppose to 100-0 or deal massive damage to you in “Elite Mode”.
“Elite Mode” would be a difficulty above Mythic and only there for guilds like Method to bash their skulls in for hundreds to thousands of wipes/depletions, for the thrill of the sport.
“Elite+” would automatically rename M+ 16 or greater.
Make Elite unqeueuable, but everything below that queuable with requirements adjusting based on completion of Proving Grounds and previous key levels average for that season, or the previous season the first week/repeated raid boss kills from both the current difficulty and the previous difficulty. Heroic Dungeons remain as they are, so would Raid Finder as a difficulty.
Using 8.2 Values:
370 Normal Dungeon
385 Heroic Dungeon
400 Mythic Dungeon/Old Raid Finder/Beginner
415 Normal Raid
430 Heroic Raid
405-430 Mythic+ Dungeon
445 M+10 Chest or Mythic Raid
It’s still the same for the gearing path, but it’s far easier to get into groups below the Elite level.
At the Elite level, the current difficulty spikes are thrown in. Expect bullet hell oneshots that previously had non-lethal mechanics. There would be an achievement, “Cutting Edge Elite” for those who actually clear this difficulty. Mounts/titles/etc. that Arenas/Rated Battlegrounds also give would be given here as a different color. Mythic would give a different version of the title/mounts as they do now, to reward people clearing that difficulty.
Fortunately my guild let me vent yesterday, this was the remainder of said venting.
I stopped here. Man this is sooo wrong. Wildstar died because the devs wouldn’t listen to valid feedback. PvP was completely broken. Gamebreaking bugs and glitches that were continuously reported went unfixed for the first year of the game. If they even just acknowledged the issues people were spamming on their forums and said “Hey guys we are swamped with a lot of things we are fixing. Please be patient and thank you for the reports. Please keep reporting them.” Instead it was radio silence while more and more crap kept popping up in the cash shop.
It seems like you have several different arguments here.
First, you don’t think harder content should have better rewards.
Second, you think there should be an additional difficulty above mythic.
Third, you want everything below “elite” mode to be integrated into lfd/lfr.
I disagree with all of them. I can’t speak to what killed Wildstar because I didn’t play it, but WoW was wildly successful for many years following traditional “difficulty=reward” gear distribution. We know it works; why mess with it? Alternative methods of character progression are fine, but it should not stray from that philosophy.
Adding an elite mode seems unnecessary, especially when lfr/normal are already a bit redundant. If I had to choose, I’d say get rid of one of those and keep the rest.
Lastly, people fail at the most fundamental tasks in lfd/lfr, which is why mechanics are virtually nonexistent in those environments. Having to actually respond to mechanics all but ensures nonstop failure+demands to nerf heroic/mythic content. Just no. An mmo should encourage players to engage with one another. WoW goes a step above by implementing lfd/lfr in addition to traditional grouping methods, which is essentially single-player mode.
I guess I don’t understand what you mean by “enhancing viability.” You made it clear that you think the “better gear from harder content” philosophy is bad for the game. Can you explain?
And the argument about nerfing heroic/mythic raids is disingenuous. An lfr group is not going to clear a mythic raid, even after the usual nerfs.
I can’t say why auto accept was removed, though I speculate it has to do with people abusing the system. Regardless, it doesn’t actually detract from the point.
As it stands now, it’s bad. You either do tons of the easy content rolling the TF lottery for gold or upgrades, or suffer one wipe disbands against anything needing a Premade Group.
I’d rather roll the lottery than bash my head against a wall. I’d rather toss a random, friendly chat than yell at people for leaving at the drop of a hat.
I don’t mind players better than me getting cool mounts and gear for their hard work. If I wanted those rewards, I’d make the effort to find a good guild, make my way through the ranks, grind out keys, gem and enchant my gear, get all the necessary flasks, study all the fights.
To me, it’s just not worth doing all that for a special mount, so I don’t do it. I’d rather just have fun playing the game.
The only thing that ever irritated me was when raiders got to see more of the story than I did. The story should not be locked behind raiding (that is inaccessible to most). This is why I’m a huge fan of LFR. I can see the content, and not worry about bringing some guild’s run down by my lack of addons, enchants, gems, etc.
Judging by some of the other comments it just seems like you want to take away from others to benefit yourself
If you don’t want to do the hardest content then you don’t deserve the best rewards. if LFR and WQ are your bag then that’s great, let’s not pretend you need 440 gear to help turtles make it to the water, or to collect 12 pearls.
Well you’re in luck then. I think you’re in for a rude realization, but have at it
I actually went back and read your post. I don’t understand your desire to change top end content when you yourself have not done said content and if that is the character you’ve been playing on then you haven’t even hoped into medium difficulty content. The game right now has more ways to gear up than ever.
Why care about +15s if you aren’t doing +15s? If all you do is world quests and +5s then submit suggestions and feedback regarding world quests and +5s.
Not at all. Allowing more content to be accessible in the gearing path is not really taking away. Myself only? Doubt that.
That is true, I don’t need gear for those specific WQ’s, except maybe the latter if something in the water smacks me. You are talking about that Nazjatar WQ/Daily, right?
What you define as “medium difficulty” I define as “one wipe disband”. Different strokes for different folks.
You didn’t elaborate. I’d fashion a guess you want the game to be like it was in WOD, or “Raid or Die”. I do like farming mobs, though.