After watching Quazii’s video, I have to say that I love all the M+ changes done so far. I went from feeling apprehensive about the next season to thinking it may be the best season yet.
However, there is one suggestion in his video that I disagree with, and I’ve seen it mentioned here from time to time as well: adding rewards beyond portals (currently at +10 key levels).
Please do not do this. At those key levels, group composition starts to matter more, and we begin to see very specific comps repeatedly while other specs are essentially locked out of play. If you put a reward at +15, the worst-balanced specs in the game would not be eligible for those rewards, much like they are currently not eligible for the title. This would be a massive loss for people who play a single main and would force them into swapping to the flavor-of-the-month spec to obtain the rewards, resulting in even less variation in keys.
Additionally, adding rewards above level 10 can make higher-tier content feel less approachable to the average player, potentially discouraging casual players. Keeping rewards at +10 or lower promotes variety and a healthier game.
Furthermore, it allows the development team to focus on ensuring balance and enjoyment up to +10 keys without constantly tweaking the game for extreme levels of play, leading to a more stable and enjoyable experience for the majority of the player base.
People play keys above +10 for titles and the intrinsic reward of pushing the score. It has always been this way, and it doesn’t need to change.
TLDR:
Higher key levels favor specific group comps, excluding many specs.
Rewards above +10 could discourage casual players and create balance issues.
Keeping rewards at +10 or lower promotes variety and a healthier game environment.
Developers can focus on balance up to +10 keys, resulting in a better experience for most players.
Players already have intrinsic motivation and titles for pushing keys above +10.
Look, I’m all in favor of hard nerfing the frequency and spam-ability of M+ gear rewards, but I don’t think the existence of an exclusive prestige reward hurts participation.
People will continue to do M+ because it’s the path of least resistance to high ilvl gear.
There are many reason people choose not to PvP, but I don’t think the existence of gladiator mounts/titles is one.
If rewards = gear, then no, I’d rather it not go any higher.
If rewards = achievements and/or brag rights, then sure.
In the same bucket, I’d love for Mythic raiding to be a little more achievable. And/or if they could do something flexible to let say… 10 people (eventually in the season) be able to do it together and succeed with enough of a challenge.
Same would go for higher than +10. Sure, let there be rewards, but please eventually make it accessible to even the “baddies”. They’re putting in the raw time anyways. Why should we care if our 30-day effort is shadowed by their late-season, 90-day effort?
This isn’t about nerfing at all. I’m suggesting keeping the reward structure the same where gear caps at +9’s and portals are at +10 with titles wherever the 1% lands.
The suggestion I see again and again is that there should be rewards after +10’s beyond the title and I don’t think thats healthy for the game. Primary due to balance issues where people get locked out of rewards. Particularly if they are class specific rewards.
Imagine being a bear in DF season one when they couldn’t push keys at all to even max rewards before the rework. The spec is than locked entirely out of those rewards. That is not good for the game at all.
But even looking at the last 3 seasons you see time and time again a comp that stands out and represents 75% or more of the higher level keys run. It means that if you want those rewards you have to swap to FOTM comps to attain them. This means switching mains or running alts to a very high level (more so than your main which I guess makes that your main.)
I think adding something at specifically 12s due to the affix change isn’t the worst idea ever. 11-12 is a significant jump now with removing a kiss curse affix and adding a lot of raw damage / mob hp.
Every single spec can get to 15’s. Some might not be able to do it easily in pugs, but it’s still a lot easier than mythic raiding. You should be asking for more balancing, not fewer rewards. Adding rewards to the dead space between 10’s and title would be a great change.
I’ve always liked the title by spec, or class at a minimum, idea that’s been floated around.
Dish out the same number of titles, but at least let your bottom tier specs have some kind of light at the end of the tunnel. Something to strive for.
It breaks the perception of meta a little bit, because you’ll randomly see some piss poor spec up on the rankings. Also allows them a little more leeway in m+ balance. I’d probably care less about double sigils I’d VDH didn’t have a monopoly on tank titles. Not that I push the content, but it really doesn’t make me appreciate the title any. Like good job, you played meta.
The problem with this is it just becomes 4 meta + one off meta carry getting a very free title, meanwhile people who’ve mained a spec that is meta for a long time have to get literal world first level keys done to be in contention. The only way to fix title contention is to care more about M+ balance.
I’m just having flashbacks of the alliance / horde split on HoF and how alliance guilds in world 500 or worse were getting it when horde had closed literally months ago.
Just doing some eyeball math 0.1% for Shadow Priests would be almost 3700 right now, with 4 weeks left to go and two off the best weeks in the season ahead of us. That’s 19s and 20s territory. Meanwhile less popular specs would need 14-15s. 14-15s are 4 mannable right now.
It has in the past. There’s a pretty clear dropoff after portals in seasons where portals are new, people also much prefer to set tangible goals rather than arbitrary ones.
