Then the people that left after finishing LFR will have left 2 weeks earlier.
As much as we all hate long grinds, FOMO, and lock outs, they’re probably sitting on mountains of data that tells them as soon as someone feels they’ve achieved their goals, they shortly drop their sub.
At the very least the need rewarding long term goals to work towards. And the process needs to not be annoying, preferably fun, but that’s a significant ask for content that will last months. 10.1 kind of missed on this.
The primary purpose of LFR is to provide entertainment for players who want ez mode raiding. Their participation dwarfs that of players who do it once only.
Other demographics are people who want LFR mogs, and players running LFR on their alts for gear.
I would seriously want to see numbers that show anyone subscribes only to do LFR once and then quits. Yet we constantly hear the claim that they are a large demographic that doesn’t mind staying subscribed for an extended period of time while doing nothing and then quits immediately after doing it once.
WoW’s model works just fine. Every expansion that releases, half the people pick it up, play it for a month to level a character and look around, and then quit for 2 years until the next one comes out.
And Blizzard is perfectly happy to have those “box sales” from people they know are never going to stick around, no matter what.
The question regarding Dragonflight, which has been discussed before on this forum, is: Why were “box sales” so much lower for Dragonflight?
I think it’s because of the lack of a recognizable (to casuals) character on the box/marketing, and the removal of the core dynamic (Horde/Alliance) from the game.
So then what is the problem with releasing all of LFR at once?
People are going to leave after they get it done, people will unsub until it’s all opened up, do it once then leave, either way, it makes no difference so just open it all at once.
No matter the type of player, they want to make sure you stay subbed for at least 32 days.
And LFR is for the solo story type players and LFR gearing type players.
Two weeks than staggering means LFR type players needs at least 32 days. Weekly lockouts and bad luck with loot drops means at least 63 days to gear with it.
But if they launched with LFR completely open then the LFR type player is done in less than 31 days.
Well if they are going to delay it, then at the very least, don’t lock the story behind it like they did with this current patch. If they insist on locking the story behind raids, then LFR needs to open all at once.
“It is, however, worth noting that starting the final chapter DOES require completion of the quest Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: Sarkareth, which requires a Scalecommander Sarkareth kill in Aberrus. Players who have not completed this quest will not be able to start the final chapter of the 10.1 Campaign.”
The quest is available to all without killing him, once the last wing of lfr comes out.
For those that kill him before the last wing of lfr comes out, they can do the quest right now.