It seems this game’s popularity has attracted all the wrong kinds of people who joined this game because it was cool and hip rather and popular than because they enjoy mmorpgs.
A very integral part of an RPG is building your OWN character, making meaningful choices as to what types of powers they will have, their stats, their spec, talents etc.
As a video game the goal is to create a character which fits your own playstyle and you enjoy playing, entertainment is the goal of this.
Yet what do we see now from many players asking? "What is the best build?"
They have no interesting in THINKING and building their own characters, they have no interesting in making major choices and being invested in their own characters, all they care about is the highest mathematical build, they dont care about the RPG aspect of an RPG, all they want is to follow a guide and brainlessly jump into some content to “win”. Their goal isnt to play the mmorpg, their goal is to win just like any other videogame so they can feel better even though games are designed to be won making the achievement quite meh if you are self aware enough.
And now that we are introduced with strong RPG elements such as the covenants? The GOGOGO brigade that just wants to “win” instead of playing the MMORPG wants to change the game and ruin it for us who actually enjoy mmorpgs.
In other words, mmoRPGS are not for everyone, if what you dont want to think and build and character and all you care about is to just go into a game and “win” go play CoD or some moba, mmoRPGs include character building, thinking and choices.
That type of min/maxing trickles down from the top. Thank the MDI and streamers for creating a meta and optimizing classes and comps. It’s not just the players Blizzard created this problem too.
This is a thing in every single MMO out there though? There’s nothing wrong with wanting to play the best you can.
Frankly I went into ESO when I started playing with that “I’m gonna do what I want” mentality without looking builds up, and I was horrendous. My first time trying to clear a delve by myself went horribly so I looked up how to play my class.
Nope, it’s having a character that you can role play as, be it one of your own making or one the game creates for you.
Having a character with the “highest mathematical build” does not disqualify that character from being an RPG character. If that’s the character people want to play as, it’s their choice and RPG does not prevent them from doing so.
It’s an inherent conflict between offering an RPG and offering an online competitive space where the top players literally need to be the best they can be.
And then uninformed, more casual players see trends among the top 1% of players and assume they need to follow suit.
I don’t know how many times I’ve said that what world-first mythic raiders (and people doing +26 M+ keys) have to worry about has almost no impact on the average player, but it’s an argument that will never end.
At the end of the day, community perception and very high-end content means that making choices on flavor or roleplaying is tantamount to shooting yourself in the foot. As a tiny example, I’d love to rock Aegis of Light as a Prot Paladin – it’s the epitome of paladin coolness, imo – but I know I’ll never ever ever use it (or at least, never use it in a context that helps my group), so why waste the talent choice?
This happens with everything remotely geeky. Wider audiences find out about the cool nerd thing, enter its fandom, and then ignore every esoteric aspect that comes naturally to the fans (actual dorks) who made the thing popular in the first place.
Hoo boy, part of me is wondering if I set this off in another topic.
Now, when it comes to RPGs in general… the same truth is that there will ALWAYS be an “optimal build” thanks to the customization element. “Cheese builds” come up quite often in many games, very simple skill and gear set-ups which allow you to crush the game with minimal effort.
Just thinking of some easy examples outside of WoW, one simple build in Diablo III for Barbarians is called “Spin to Win” (well, I like to call it that). It mostly comes down to this:
A pair of swords which make a set which generates a lot of resources, effectively infinite.
The “Wastes” (?) set, which causes you to launch dust devils every time you use Whirlwind… and you are pretty much going to hold that button down constantly, which means LOTS of dust devils. It may have also provided a ridiculous damage boost to both Whirlwind and the dust devils.
A pair of rings which gives some ridiculous set bonus that I’ve already forgotten what it does. Was it a crazy damage buff with a short duration? Anyhow, the constant spinning meant it never dropped off.
A choice selection of legendary gear affixes from the Horadric Cube to enhance the above. Same goes for legendary gems. And passive traits.
But yeah… it really just boiled down to just holding down the whirlwind button as you became a very fast-moving meat grinder which shredding everything in range. It was fun for about 5 minutes, then it became boring.
Stuff like this shows up in EVERY RPG, both single-player and multi-player variants. Players rely on them all the time, and in many cases actively seek them out; some choose to ignore them, notably on repeat playthroughs when they have a more solid grasp of the mechanics and no longer have to rely on them.
Now, the issue isn’t so much the question “What is the best build?”
You’ll never be able to eliminate that question entirely.
The issue is that the question is DOMINEERING.
Literally everything in WoW seems to revolve around that question, and the focal point of the game’s design (the “cutting edge” endgame and above) pretty much requires players to comply with the optimal builds both numerically and culturally.
To break this concept will require making all that “cutting edge endgame” mostly irrelevant… possibly even removing it. Doing so is arguably necessary, but no one is denying the amount of pain and upheaval it will cause to the playerbase.
Even in single player games player will ask what is the best build. Even in single player games player will save before meaningful choices to be able to go back.
Those elements that designer keep pushing throught people throats might be fun for some people but they are not the only way for a rpg/mmorpg to exist and have sucess. Did Wotlk have this kind of choice? Do other mmos have that kind of choices? Even FF14 the main wow competitor is even more open by making one character being able to play all classes.
What is wrong about wanting to excel at what you do? People do this in every game and YOU don’t have to. Guides have existed since video games existed, even if in paper form.
I would change the title and name it WoW is not for everyone anymore with you being part of that everyone, deal with it and adapt or, well, do the usual cancel sub rant.
When a character has 0 thought put into them and simply follows a guide that character is nothing more than an irrelevant tool you use to “win” the game.
That is what games with no character customization and RPG elements are, play that X hero, win game, feel good even though the game is designed to be won and make you feel good.
There is 0 investment or thought put into said character therefore it does not belong to the RPG genre. That is what differentiates RPGs from other games, you THINK, you BUILD and create a playstyle you enjoy and does well, the moment you ignore everything and ask others, you are no longer BUILDING YOUR CHARACTER.
That kind of player DOES NOT BELONG in an RPG and instead should go play some game with 0 thought requirements where you just get into a battlefield and fight.
And once again this boosts my point that people shouldnt be playing such games since they dont care about the RPG aspect of a game and instead want to ‘win’.
Someone with “0 thought” put into their character wouldn’t be following a guide. They obviously put thought into what they want their character to be, otherwise they wouldn’t know what guide to follow.