Repair bills don’t matter, since gold isn’t an issue.
I don’t think M+ belongs in the game, but I’m in the minority and most people play it. So getting more choice in your gear reward is meaningful given how terrible people say their weekly rewards are.
I don’t think Anima will be an issue, so it isn’t a strong draw.
Consumables goes back to the gold not being an issue thing, although it’s better than repair bills being cheaper.
I think xmogs cheapens the game for those who earn the right to look great by completing harder content. Mounts can be cool if we have a choice of extremely rare mounts, since everyones tastes are different. I only like horses, wild cats, wolves, and dragons as mounts.
I’d want to see more. Something that most people would hate to miss out on, thus making it truly a hard choice not to be loyal. Something akin to challenge mode xmogs, rare artifact skins, mage tower skins, brutasaur, etc.
I actually disagree here. I think the min/max mindset is there because Blizzard tunes the high end content that way.
If it wasn’t required to squeeze every last ounce of performance out of your characters/teams to complete content - I really don’t think there would be as big of a drive.
That’s why a covenant system with the current restrictions make more sense in a Vanilla/Classic type of environment.
Gold may not be an issue for you, but I know a lot of people where it is an issue for. Especially tanks that take way more durability loss than non-tank players.
And sure - more ideas would be welcomed. But the underlying theme is to give players tangible rewards to their “meaningful choices.” Because otherwise, the “meaning” can be self rewarded subjectively in a free-to-switch system the way players already do with the other systems in the game.
You get benched now for playing outside the ‘optimal builds’. What difference is there between then and now? Nothing. Just a knee-jerk reaction from a player driven problem.
Good. The game could use a pause amid the constant vomit of flexible choices. Instead of choosing the best ability for every scenario, ‘skilled’ players might have to do something they’ve dreaded since Wrath; Adapt.
How many PUGs do you see that demand ilvl 465 to do just Heroic Nyalotha… the gear in there drops at 460. I am just saying if people can make something easier they will. That is why no matter how easy they tuned Mythic the min/max mentality would not change. The only way to break people of it is to slowly add layers of choice with ‘punishing’ consequences and as those add up people start realizing no one is going to be perfect and to just accept what will still work.
I understand it comes down to a difference in opinion between you and I. That’s okay, everyone is different. So I won’t argue this point, since it will always come back to us not agreeing.
As for your other comment, I do not believe the sub-optimal abilities will be useless in the content you’re wanting to do. Most people agree that you’d still be able to complete +15’s with any choice. Design decisions shouldn’t be made in what’s balanced for keys higher than that, because any higher than what the game rewards you for is personal choice and eventually regardless of your choice, you’ll be limited by your class/spec/talent choices anyways. I’m sure you’re not proposing the ability to swap class/specs during dungeons runs are you?
Skilled players do adapt - they adapt by using the abilities given them. Taking away choice does not introduce skill, it removes it. Skilled survival hunters in classic were still bottom tier in raids?
Because using an optimal build never forced you to be unable to be competitive in the other 2/3 forms of end game. And you know competitive players enjoy having transmog and enjoy relating to covenants as well.
The same could be said for benching the sub-optimal dps specs, but mythic teams still bring them. I believe Mythic teams will still bring people with sub-optimal covenants as well. Not discounting the fact that some will bench, but that’s their loss for losing the pleasure of your great company and your skillful execution of the boss mechanics.
See the best part about this is there is a great solution that lets both us have fun in the game. By allowing the choice of covenants to be similar to talents, you can enjoy the choice to remain within class fantasy/look/playstyle, while I can be free to also have fun by engaging in multiple facets of the game without being penalised.
The theory is sound. So far it’s the only suggestion I’ve heard so far that could add bite to your decision without affecting the players power. Mage tower skins and challenge mode skins were and still are super popular. Most people who stay current with WoW strive to get those when they’re offered. Those same people usually are the types that want to min/max everything to ridiculous levels. So it’d be a hard choice for them.
I can not support that and hope Blizzard does not change its way. The way Ion spoke they are definitely moving ahead with it being a somewhat locked in choice. He is hoping they can tweak numbers to balance them. That said I would accept a dual spec type thing for covenant that corb already mentioned. I do not mind some flexibility but I dislike free reign like the current talents.
They ‘adapt’ by picking the best ability at the moment with zero consequence. It’s like playing poker, except instead of discarding worthless cards, you simply ask the dealer to give you the exact card combination for the ‘optimal’ hand.
It’s such a MOBA-driven way of thinking that it’s almost embarrassing that it takes precedent over RPG elements in an MMO-RPG.
Classic had something that tipped min/maxing on its head and that was threat. Threat was such a clever way to set benchmarks for bosses that wasn’t completely driven by damage.
If Retail still possessed a modicum of the threat generation Classic had, I would’ve agreed with you.
Oh there’s definitely consequence. I’d prefer if you would actually have done some difficult content before having this opinion, but such is the GD forums. The choices skilled players make almost always come at a great loss.
For me, taking soul of the forest is a very significant loss of healing in the rest of the dungeon. But I take it so I can heal through one boss fight. The rest of the dungeon becomes infinitely harder by that one choice.
Same with typhoon vs mass root vs stun. They are all useful and almost every time I pick one I find myself wishing I had the others.
With Tomes existing and having the ability to change talents the moment you phase in completely demolishes anything after this statement.
The fact that judging someone by their achievements without addressing the argument speaks far more volumes than any special title in this game.
Unless you pop a Tome and take less than three seconds to swap talents.
The term ‘Jack of All Trades’ seems applicable here, except the latter half of that phrase, ‘Master of None’ does not apply to the ‘skilled’ content of Mythic, Mythic +, and 2200+.
Can’t swap talents in a dungeon? It’s for the whole run? Which is a very good design, because it forces choice.
Also, yes I can judge you by your achievements. You talk about no consequences in decisions at the highest level… But you have never done the hardest content you have no idea. How could you possibly weigh in on something you have no idea about? It’s like a high school student weighing in on how best to proceed with a surgery
So you’re stuck with a sub-optimal ability for most of the run, because you wanted to make one part of the run easier. How is the result of choosing a covenant any different. There will be times where your choice will shine over the other choices and visa versa.