Timegating

Community WoW Community Council
1

I think most people can agree that WoW really earns the subscription in terms of extended gameplay ten times over but I think certain things really go above and beyond just regular time sinks.

The extended time it seems to be each expansion/patch to earn certain things is getting to be a bit insane. If a new player wants to start playing from scratch they must first level to 60 which can take sometime which has really been lowered with heirlooms and such which I really credit blizzard for but for a new player its even longer or they can spend money. After hitting level cap they must grind out renown and with a catch up mechanic its pretty okay but without one its a real grueling task. Next they need to start gearing that again if you have a main an alt is easy to gear which really adds to the time it would take to actually reach the content you want.(Mythic+,PvP, Raids) The hardest part is getting a legendary to actually be able to join a group will take another insane amount of time not to mention the gold they will have to get along with all the torghast they will have to run and even if they cave and buy wow tokens the torghast stuff is still really grindy and with not perfect gear can be painful.

Now for arguments sake lets say they are full geared with legendaries willing to join friends who have been playing the game but the next patch is already coming out and now they have to wait 28 days to get the new legendaries that are basically required to actually do the new content.

I think currently a new player is really unaware of the amount of time they need to spend to currently join the game especially in this current stage of the game and while that may be on a planning side for blizzard it is really not a fun gameplay mechanic for the people that play the game currently and have been playing for a number of years. I think regarding to next patch they SERIOUSLY need to look at removing some timegating to enhance the gameplay experience because as it stands now people will have no reason to start playing again which is a real shame.

The number one reason Ive heard among people who want to play WoW but dont end up actually trying is when they do the research into what they will need to get started and find out how long it would take and give up to me at least that is a extreme failure at least for a game that should want to attract new players and create a unique gaming environment.
I am first and for most interested in crating a dialogue remaining positive. I would like to hear things that I have obviously missed that are time gated negatively towards gameplay from other people

246 Likes
2

To counter this. I’m actually on board with time gating, when it makes sense for story & immersion purposes.

Good Timegating

  • To set the pace for a story
  • To allow players to experience things at a set pace (Covenant Campaign)
  • To set the pace for power progression (Renown)

Bad Timegating

  • When the story is no longer relevant, yet the same restrictions are imposed (e.g. Requirements to complete Campaign before Korthia, or even the Covenant Campaign in 9.1)
  • When the story does not wrap up nicely for the week (Broken Shore)
  • When the entire story is irrelevant to the current world (Having to do BfA before Shadowlands as a new player.)
  • When power progression can be bypassed by tedious grinding (Korthia, Maw, AP)

To use some examples from this expansion.

Example 1: After 9.0 the Covenant were somewhat unified, the stories had come to their conclusion and in 9.1 they worked together. The world of 9.1 is now different from the world of 9.0 however if you create a new character now, you have a mix of both stories and you cannot progress into the current world until you have hopped through what is essentially a time machine story.

MMOs evolve, yet our worlds only evolve when our characters have had the experiences.

Example 2: New players have to go through the BfA story before they can get into Shadowlands. The only part of the BfA story that is relevant to Shadowlands is the max level story of the Faction campaign, but that’s a max level story, not the levelling story. The new player experience would be enhanced if it was all shadowlands imo.

5 Likes
3

Id say the covenant campaign would be good if it wasnt almost exactly the same for every covenant. If I do it once why do I have to do it again even when its basically the same.

22 Likes
4

Almost the opposite. The covenant campaigns had distinct overlap to show compromise where a mutual enemy lies. But you were left lacking an understanding of what was going on in the world unless you did all 4.

Like if you never did Necrolord campaign you had no idea why Kel’Thuzad was in Castle Nathria. He just appeared.

It was a hugely important piece of story for the expansion setting, but it was gated away behind the covenants with lots of weird restrictions in place to prevent you from dipping in and out of other stories despite being the Maw Walker which they all praise highly.

9 Likes