Sorry to say guys but it is pretty obvious by now. The game is not designed for new players and only currently designed for older players that are slowly dwindling away.
When a lot of the EQ crowd left during Wrath they were quickly replaced by new players who found no issues catching up. It has been amazing returning after so long to a game that has added so much but gutted its core.
I returned to the game I guess as a trial to see how much time I want to really invest now that I am older. The answer is the trial has been a failure. There are certain things going on right now that are like a cancer killing the game from the inside out.
Things that changed that I like: Pet battles:
Sounds silly but it is a side deal World quest:
I see more people out in the world now then I ever have before Raid boss scaling:
Prior to this if you entered a raid with 19 people and it was a 25 man then you were fighting the boss on a 25 man scale Transmog: Back when I left Blizzard said this was not possible. It became very possible when subs fell off a cliff with multiple other MMO’s competing with WoW at the time.
What I do not like and my breaking point: Pathfinder:
Sorry but this is simply game breaking. The reasoning behind having it as a gateway is just to increase playtime in the new content. If it were some core philosophy you would not be flying in Outland, Northrend or Old world. Argue with me all you like but when I left Blizzard was embracing flying and making it feel epic. Race locking:
You create new races like Void elves or Kul Tirans and then lock them behind reps and achievements. Not only that you lock them behind prior expansion content. Look at it from the view of a new player who started December 15th after 9 years. I AM THE GUY WHO YOU WANT TO COME BACK!! Void elves looked cool but to do not only do I have to find time to stay current with the new content but somehow grind out old content. If I wanted to return just to play a Void Elf for example you force a new payer to roll a Human grind out rep/achievements then tell them to reroll to the character they actually wanted. Vendors
Honestly just stop being lazy here. Top guilds have showed what a joke this current Titan Residdum system is by farming it for months prior to the current content. You used to have a sense that you were progressing but now you hit a wall. Raider IO
If you started mid December like me towards the end of a season my score is going to be low to non existent. Starting Season 2 people check Season 1 and auto deny you for raid and Mythic content. Blizzard is not addressing this just like they pretended gear score was not an issue. RNG on top of RNG
Honestly I feel like I am playing Aion again. If I craft something I am praying that it procs or else the gear is now useless. Not sure how someone looked at the completely failures of Korean grind fest in the US then thought copying any of that was a good idea. Titan forging and warforging are Korean concepts that do not work with an American player base. Professions:
They are dead. You scaled all the gear up in Season 2 but not the professions so outside of 2 pieces on my list Blacksmithing is completely useless. Also to make it even more useless you make it so that I cannot sell the gear as it is bind on pickup. Classes
Broken on top of broken. I clearly came back in the wrong expansion because Legion from everything I hear and see on videos the classes worked better. I honestly am not sure they tested Ret because praying something procs or waiting is not fun. Prot seems like it is in a good spot until you check Raider IO and realize Ret/Prot are complete jokes at higher end content. Ion
Plain and simple. He seems nice but not open to feedback. I have watched 3 dev Q&A’s since I came back and outside of minor things on the edge he avoids serious issues with this game. I strongly suggest he look at game directors from other MMO’s and what happened in the long run to them when they ignored player feedback. No unsub survey
Last point that proves Blizzard just does not care. When you leave you are not asked why. No other company I have seen has this philosophy outside of ones that either know they are going out of business or just does not care.
TL’DR:
Came back after 9 years to test out the game. Some things changed for the better but core systems are now broken. Sub expires February 15th.
This post seems rather detailed for someone whose been gone 9 years. Pretty sureI wouldn’t know the current game director or anything. Try harder my friend.
Maintenance mode means they are just designing things for an older playerbase and have no intention on attracting new players.
Core systems that were changed in this game were designed for older players who would not mind but are large hurdles to overcome for returning players.
Pathfinder for Legion or WoD content might not seem like a big deal to you but when you have to maintain current progression to keep up a Raider IO score do tell when I have time to grind old content rep just to be able to fly?
This game is no longer designed for new players to get in and enjoy the content. Just because you can gear fast does not mean anything. It never did but rep was used as a way of giving you the best enchants.
Right now with rep gear not scaling for Season 2 you are grinding REP FOR THE SAKE OF GRINDING REP. Something is fundamentally broken with the current game design.
No, maintenance mode is when the game stops getting new content and goes into a state where continued development is, for the most part, ceased, and the only thing the devs do is work to keep up the servers and stuff.
Literally where all the devs do is maintain the current state of the game instead of adding new stuff. Its in the name.
What does a new player need to fly in old zones right away for? The gear that was behind that rep wasn’t obtainable when it was useful to old players. TW literally dropping 365 base ilvl. Wow is the king of catch up mechanics. Your only valid argument is raiderio which isn’t designed from the devs, but a player created problem.
Then allow people to reset their keys. I have been in groups with idiots who killed a key timer and yes I understand why Raider IO exist. It exist do to failures from Blizzard to address why it is being used.
The core issue with Raider IO is the same core issue with Gear Score and suffers from the same failings.
Depends on what you mean by “older players”. Most older players I know (and I guess I am one) despise much of the newer systems.
And, just as an aside, the game has been going more and more and more towards offering up 99% of the game for more or less simply logging in in. Now, to me, that wouldn’t constitute “enjoying” the game, but they are targeting, or at least pandering, to new players and have been for a very long time.
raider .io is alot more then gear score, gear score is a pretty poor way to measure if someone is competent, id rather take someone 30 ilvls below someone who dosent know what to do.
Gear does not equal getting to see the content. It used to be a good enough gauge of a player skill. I full agree some of the gearing systems they have are just insane.
There are things I did not list there that I have in other threads.
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