Could you maybe consider for a minute that I’m not a troll and that we both like the same game and maybe I have a reason for feeling the way I do?
At this point you’re putting all of your energy into proving WoW has solo elements (I never disagreed btw) without recognizing that MAYBE they went a bit too far.
I’m telling you that all of these solo gearing options have made the game less enjoyable for those of us who depend on playing with others to have fun.
Stop trying to tell me that I’m WRONG or that WoW isn’t a game like that. It WAS at one point no matter what you say.
Players have been getting “welfare” epics since BC, where you could spam queue battlegrounds and eventually spam run heroic dungeons for badges.
At the end of the expac it was almost compulsory to complete Kara (in under an hour - sometimes under 30 minutes) because the badge vendor gave out tier six equivalent armor and weapons.
Those questions I have no problem with and quite honestly agree in a lot of ways… But what I don’t agree with is that this bed is something you all have made… You’ve asked for harder over world content… Which in reality means then that solo players need higher level gear to face the up scaled mobs. They aren’t you or mythic raiders. A lot of people who play this game simply want to log in, kill some mobs and unwind after a bad day at the office. So in the future be careful what you ask for, because honestly you don’t know how it ultimately will impact your play.
The issue is players don’t play wow to actually play a game.
The majority of people I know only play to get there mounts and mogs.
Even if they are raiders they won’t even run an instance unless it gives them a piece they could use. (Can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked a guildie to come to a +10 and response is oh that dungeon doesn’t drop a piece I want so no thanks)
Blizzard needs to try and shift the focus of the game back to fun actual gameplay instead of this fantasy Barbie dress up game that it’s turned into.
The day of Raiding / Dungeons being fun is over. Many players have been doing that since EQ introduced them in 1999 and are tired of it. Others simply dont like the FPS/platform style fights/mechanics Blizzards puts in their newer raids/dungeons.
I enjoy both warfronts and Island expeditions ( I Know I am in the minority). I will play those to see the lore (and do the barbie dress up) but even if the mogs in new raids were good, I still wouldnt do it. Outside of WF and IE the only thing I enjoy doing any more is leveling.
I’m not disputing you have a reason for feeling the way you do and that was never my intention. I was simply disputing your characterization of the game.
The question I would pose is why does having options for progression for other play styles impact high-end group play?
If one player enjoys group play and receive rewards that allow them to further progress in their type of game play, how does another player getting something similar in another play style have any impact on the first player?
This is not catering to casuals. This is catering to raiders. Bypassing all progression and being ready to raid on day one doesn’t make the experience any nicer for casuals. It makes in nicer for raiders because they now have a wider pool of players to recruit from. I don’t know where this idea that casuals wanted a game that gave them a free boost to level 110 and raid-ready gear upon ascension to 120. It’s not the fault of casuals that Blizzard decided to render all the content that they traditionally consumed meaningless. Make no mistake about it. This is done purely for the benefit of raiders.
I actually explained this but let me break it down into a detailed example.
Lets say your favorite part of WoW is raiding and its the only reason you play.
Lets say “Bob” in your guild likes WoW and he likes raiding but he MOSTLY just likes GEAR and having it.
From Vanilla through WoD Bob was a part of a guild and he came to the raid nights. Bobs a good player and he’s fun to play with and he’s a key part of your group.
Fast foward to Legion - BfA. Bob quit the team and now that he can just play casually and get to nearly the same levels he doesn’t have as much of a desire to log on or play.
I miss Bob. I miss him because he’s a cool guy but I also miss him because he was a key part of our team for a long time and now we have a giant Bob-sized hole.
That’s how this affects me and players like me. Maybe it’s for the best that Bob isn’t raiding if he’s not that into it and it’s cool that he’s found another path that he enjoys but the problem then becomes … where do we find another Bob?
New players just want the fast/easy gear so the grind or progression seems not just unfun but full on STUPID to them.
So um, why do you care about what gear I have exactly? I’m not going to be raiding with you. I won’t be in a random pug with you. I’m going to be grinding out world quests, old raids, pet battles, etc. So what does it matter to you if I have gear that’s slightly lower than yours?
I still worked for it. I know it’s the popular thing to afk warfronts and such but I never have and never will. I slogged through timewalking with people who didn’t know mechanics. I died trying to take on harder mobs by myself. I’m not impeding you in any way, so what do you care?
Okay, so why are you so intent on wanting the gear if nothing you do needs Heroic level gear?
I care because gear exclusivity encourages me to do that level of content. The Challenge Mode gear was exclusive, so I worked with a group and we pushed the dungeons. Giving out Heroic gear for yes, zero effort or work, isn’t something that should be available. I only did Normal back when I started raiding back in Cataclysm because I wanted to experience the exclusive gear, and I felt an accomplishment for being geared that way. Now getting a Heroic(Normal) piece is nearly meaningless.
I understand your viewpoint and I agree there’s some merit to it.
I think this issue is so complicated and has so many moving parts it’s hard to get a handle on it. Mainly because players approach the game from so many different angles. Some enjoy the social aspects of it, others, group challenges such as raiding and for another group, simply collecting things. Not to mention, people change over time. What might have been important at one time of their lives and their game play is no longer as important now.
I think where Blizzard has been falling down (for a very long time) is developing support systems for guilds. Guild management has been weakened recently for some unknown reason, guild recruitment tools suck, we don’t have as many guild socialization systems as perhaps we should have, and we certainly don’t have special aspects only for guilds such as guild halls that other MMOs have. Getting them to even pay attention to these aspects of the game for a brief period of time is often succeeded by years of neglect.
The other aspect is player motivation. There are still serious barriers to moving up from LFR to normal and beyond levels of raiding. Players really have to be motivated to do that since again, there’s not much of a support system for new players provided. Is gear the only answer for satisfying that motivation? For some, maybe the best gear in the game is the answer. But I think it’s again more complicated than that and I honestly don’t have an answer. I think there needs to be something besides gear as the sole motivation but I don’t know what kind of prestige item/system that could entail.
Many have asked for the game to have more difficult open world content and Blizzard’s answer was level and ilevel scaling. If we’re going to have that sort of open world content, where each patch becomes by extension more difficult than the last, with an increase in ilevel just to tackle the content, then gear from other forms of progression outside of raiding will need to increase as well. Some could argue that helps players transition into raiding since it lowers a barrier to entry but it certainly doesn’t address the skill issue for group content. Having epic gear doesn’t make you an epic player ready for high-end endgame.
So, I don’t have an answer except that I wish Blizzard would spend more time on it. But I also don’t think the answer is to lock out a segment of the player base from gear progression merely because they don’t happen to raid.
I still need to be able to survive in the open world?
Then do it? This still has no bearing on those of us who don’t want to do challenging group content. You’re basically whining because other players get things too. God forbid every aspect of this game designed for millions of people isn’t designed for your playstyle alone.
So the people who get gear should exclusively be those who spend their time in raids only? That would be foolish of blizz to cater to the smaller portion of their fan base whilst giving their more toxic forum posters ammo to belittle people who dont raid.
