I think Blizzard’s priorities are sub-optimal and that adjusting this could correct a host of issues in one fell swoop. We can theorycraft as to why it’s like this; perhaps it has to do with who left the company or who was put in charge of certain departments or Activision’s influence… doesn’t matter.
The fact remains that the current design philosophy prioritizes players who engage in competitive eSports-like activities that take place entirely within instanced areas over players who engage in all other content.
The problem with this is that the majority of the player-base never push high-level raids or do arena once they see what those things really entail. Most players want to at some point, but they seldom/never actually get around to doing it. That’s fine. They don’t have to do it. Not all content is for all players. That is precisely why Blizzard should not design the game around content with such a high barrier to entry and such a significant learning curve.
However, some content is for everyone.
This is the content we call “casual.”
Catch a special (elusive) fish like Old Ironjaw or Old Crafty.
Dig up an heirloom sword you can assemble and send to your alts.
Hunt down a list of critters and /love them.
Explore the world.
Grind reps.
Max out your Engineering and build a motorcycle.
Battle pets.
Collect poop.
Do quests.
Fly around.
Do mini-games.
All the things that everyone can do. Raiders, PvPers, and soloers alike.
That is truly universal content, and the way I see it, Blizzard could not go wrong prioritizing such content as the meat of each and every content patch.
Sure, there should always be a new raid tier for the people who want that. There should be new battlegrounds and arenas for those who enjoy them. We should still see rewards related to those activities introduced; but not a single patch should go out without new activities everyone from 6th level role-players to BiS M+ Keystone Masters can jump into and consume either as a downtime distraction or as their main course.
The key to keeping this game fresh is a steady influx of new casual content in tandem with the things that Blizzard is already doing.
This could be accomplished with minimal impact by simply assigning a small team of developers specifically to the creation and cultivation of casual evergreen content.
It would also make the game more fun and engaging for virtually everyone if we could pursue new, compelling rewards like mounts, pets, and transmogs through engaging casually with the environment.
To be clear, I am not asking that rewards be migrated from other content.
I’m suggesting that new rewards should be created specifically for casual content and that anyone who does the content should receive them.
Thank you.
