The reason is it builds “engagement”… one of many metrics used to judge success in the vid game world.
If you’re a gaming company seeking an edge over the competition, you’re probably also a big fan of game analytics. At the same time that you are measuring your regular MAUs and DAUs, CPIs and CTRs, you’re also measuring LTV, CAC, and of course ARPU, no matter what platform you’re on.
Its like any other industry that wants to min/max (just as players do but on a larger scale).
Many gaming companies learn that 80% of their revenue comes from 20% of their players (Pareto Principle).
Focusing on these players and targeting campaigns to them (yes, including rehash of old content because its metric maximization w/o addl cost) will significantly increase revenue. Reverse cohort analysis can be an extremely effective tool to gather insights of IAPs, starting with an action of the IAPs and going back in time to analyze the events that lead to it. You’ll analyze past player actions such as previous deposits, losses, session duration, levels completed, and types of mini-games played.
No, I’m not a game designer - I’m a healthcare analyst with a psych (and biochem) degree - but I can use Google.
Fire up your Googlie-dooglie machine and check out what Blizz and other industry leaders measure.
When you understand what they measure (because it drives their valuation and as result their bonuses) you understand a little better why they do the things they do.
exactly this. they dont understand why many of us didnt hesitate to choose sabellian over him. Wrathion created the final Legion war.
They will put legendary cloak quest line back with Mist of Pandaria Classic.
Sure, but I play retail, not classic, I’m not invested in classic, I’ve played very little on Wrath just for nostalgia of the world pre-cata. I don’t want to have to level a new toon to… 100? For a questline that Blizzard decided to remove arbitrarily.
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iirc you can just kill enemies on the Isle of Thunder to get rep with him. All the way to Exalted as well.
His rep was time gated during MoP. 5.0 = honored, 5.1 = revered and 5.2 = exalted.
Even in regards to FOMO, the removal of the Mists and WoD “welfare legendaries” (not my term) just makes no sense. It was not some sort of badge of honor. Everyone got them if they played the requisite amount of time. I got the cloak on my original account and missed the ring because I came back one reset too late.
The idea it was removed because they were so powerful doesn’t jive, because having them was almost baked into what was going on at the time. The cloaks have very nice transmog looks. But, again, more than anything, it is the story removal. The scene where Wrathion comes into the Stormwind and gets punched by Anduin?? Good look making heads or tails of that without the context of the Legendary Cloak quest chain. Want to see ANY story in WoD beyond the leveling zones?? Too bad, because the ring quest was literally all that was given in that regard. Indeed, that entire 4 year period is nonsensical story-wise from a perspective of what is available in-game.
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Blizzard removed Fangs of our Father for rogues. That was a convoluted questline where we helped Wrathion escape from Ravenholdt. You have to pickpocket some raid boss to start the questline.
Fangs are still in the game, I got them earlier this year.
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My hunter sat parked in the grummle rested area for 77 weeks, coming out only to either kill a celestial or refresh her DMF rep buff. World’s least engaging gameplay.
Unlike some other early legendaries, the item still exists but its effects have been removed.
It used to take 1-2 hours
I think they want players who missed the only content that made the expansion make sense to blame themselves, go out and buy a garage full of garage sale books to study for months, and never unsubscribe again for fear that the story will be removed again, and it will be their fault.
The only legendary items that have been removed are Atiesh and the Cloak and Ring. And at least there is a viable explanation for Atiesh being gone because of Naxx being reworked. Everything else is still attainable. Again, my problem is how arbitrary the removal was based on precedent. Same as the Long Boi.
Come on with the second one. It was a bug it ever dropped in the first place. Might as well throw Martin Fury in if we’re going that route.
