I mean this question sincerely and objectively. Whether you like the content, gear, systems, rewards, etc., or not - Blizzard still needs to keep some kind of balance between various game theory components for WoW.
Changes and adjustments are and will always be necessary throughout this game’s life.
One thing I’ve noticed - is that when the community voices their opinion and requests a change that is met with action from Blizzard, it will often come at a cost. This usually reminds me of the wishes granted by a Djinn.
Here’s a recent example.
The community was voicing their distaste over the layers of RNG (for this example, you’ll want to make note of the item slot layer).
Blizzard “gives” us a vendor - with the ability to earn currency for azerite pieces through various means. We’re also able to target a particular item slot with one mode of purchase - and can even target a specific piece at the highest item ilvl available (at a premium).
On the surface - this is GREAT! A little more control over what we get in terms of azerite gear. We can eliminate the item slot layer of RNG as a basis for the system and can get rid of the remaining layer of RNG all together if we’re patient enough.
But what did it cost us?
So far - it cost us the chance for an azerite gear piece out of our weekly cache. That was just 1 roll of the dice, but the number of rolls we got in a given week weren’t very plentiful in the first place - so from a % perspective, I wouldn’t call it an insignificant cost.
From what I’ve been able to tell - it’s also cost us the emissary cache reward that was implemented to fill in the distribution gap of azerite gear pieces above 340. Since 8.1 we now have generic gear cache’s that add in a huge layer of RNG that gets in the way of azerite gear acquisition.
We also seem to have been given the opportunity to acquire azerite gear through the new assaults , but from what I’ve seen - the azerite gear cache’s are limited only to the 7th legion pieces (If you know otherwise - please fill me in!). Part of me wants to call this a wash since the 7th legion pieces don’t ever seem very great and are often PvP based. At the end of the day it seems like an attempt to tweak more of the RNG knobs and pipes to bring about some sort of “balance”.
In any case - trade offs.
Like them, or not - they’re there. Objectively, we can acknowledge them.
I dig it - from a game theory philosophical point of view. From a player point of view - I really like some things and have a great distaste for others.
What other Djinn trade-offs have you noticed in the areas of WoW that you play? Please be as objective as possible when sharing the facts - but feel free to finish your posts with the emotion that it elicits in you (while being respectful of course.)
![:rofl:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/rofl.png?v=6" ":rofl:")