That’s the real trick. So far, most attempts have failed.
I don’t know about “most”, but there’s been a slow eroding of community and challenge for most game aspects (other than mythic raiding I guess).
There are a few features I’d actually like to see, but I won’t name them simply because I’d rather have the pure vanilla experience.
Well, it’s as good as it gets, seeing most companies never release how many active subscribers they have.
And I think Google trends shows that WoW still blows away every other game in interest.
Biggest relief will be not feeling compelled to outgrind some unemployed dude every day.
honestly i have yet to encounter anyone arguing for lack of difficulty or reduced effort needed to accomplish things. it seems like the cool thing these days is to be proud of the effort needed to accomplish things in old wow.
" WHY IS CONVENIENCE AND QUICK GAME-PLAY BETTER?"
It’s not. It is what has destroyed this game over the years.
I think that was my point…
You’re right. They should make death remove half a level of experience points, and let players loot your corpse while you’re running from the graveyard. Speaking of which, graveyard runs should be twice as long. That’s how it was back in Everquest; before WoW came along with its quick gameplay and all of its conveniences.
FF14 does many things better than WoW, but not the endgame which is what matters long-term.
I actually don’t mind anything except, how loot was handled, and forming a group to get said loot.
I am in the camp of personal loot. I wanted this feature since Vanilla. I hated the idea that some shmuck can take my upgrades for whatever reason they can dream up. It gets worse as you go down the gear type level.
Finding a group was a huge waste of time for me back in Vanilla. Even playing support classes like Priest and Warrior it took a long time to get a group going. I was glad LFG/R was implemented. I can sit down after a days work and actually go to a dungeon in a timely manner and progress.
It depends on what drives you to play a game. If you’re playing for a steady stream of shinies and character power, convenience and speed are going to be seen as superior while all your usual RPGisms will look like annoying speed bumps and chintzy decorations.
Similarly, if there’s a particular segment of the game that you like to hyperfocus and tunnelvision on, you’re probably going to treat everything else as a massive nuisance.
The players most well suited for slower, less convenient games are those who treat the game as a whole as the goal.
Damn it.
Now I miss my Ogre.
To the discussion at hand, though…?
Being convenient isn’t bad, but a few added ‘quality of life’ adjustments and additions can take a World and turn it into a Game in a big damn hurry.
Most of us are excited about being in a World again, I’d imagine.
You hit the nail on the head! (but if I could have one of the ‘sprinkles’ be duel talent specialization to save my Druid grief!! I’d take that ONE change)
Why is in not better?
Convenience and quick gameplay are important because players’ time is valuable.
Think about. You might pay $15/month to play WoW, but the opportunity cost the time you spend playing is $7.5/hour (if you earn minimum wage) and up. The latter dwarfs the former.
It is economically rational to prefer games that deliver the “good parts” in quick chunks, without a lot of filler grinding. So it’s not surprising consumers have moved in that direction.
Convenience is king and time is precious. Not a hard concept to understand.
It’s the reason wow is still around, and why you’ll be able to play Classic soon.