Every new expansion, wow introduces a bunch of new stuffs, and deletes a bunch of old stuff. By delete, they obsolete it either in current content, or even as far as disabling it in past content.
Prime examples, Legion content
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Class order hall
None of the content post legion links back to class order hall. It is now simply collecting dust. The introduction of class hall is awesome but why stop there. We should extend it bit by bit following expansion, keep it relevant.
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Artifact weapon
If you are a new player, you will arrive at legion with a grey-ed out weapon. Receiving all these old school artifact power that is now grey-ed out… If you have experienced Legion, and just trying to blast your way through max level, it doesn’t concern you. However, if you are a new player, or even just returning that missed legion, this is a huge bummer.
We need wow to be good for veteran players, returning players, and new players. I understand the design philosophy of nothing matters until the end game, and thus trivializing the entire leveling experience pre-end game. This however, is a huge disservice to new/returning players that missed the early boat. The game is solid at max level but it needs to be good for players that just started fresh and wish to take it slow by choice. There is a level boost that came with the expansion, and that is fine, some players wish to experience the game from bottom top slowly, they might never make it to max in short time, but that journey still should be good.
In short, wow should move to building up upon previous expansion, and not treat it 100% like a seasonal game. Having gear reset to the last tier of raid is fine, but we don’t need to dump on the base expansion. Features should remain intact, and good ones should carry forward, e.g. class order halls. Stop designing content in a way that you plan to completely dump in the new tier. Convenant/Conduit is looking like that now. Spending entire year or more to develop something only to be junked right at the next expansion is a huge waste of resource and does not seems to be sustainable.
(edit)
I am not suggesting that we keep everything but
- Do not destroy old system in their habitat (legion artifact in legion).
- Carry forward good stuffs, e.g. class order hall. and build upon it.
I understand Legion Artifact is not possible due to how bliz redesigning classes, with full blown new borrowed power in new expansion. Maybe having 50% of your character power as borrowed power simply isn’t a good design.
Further examples:
- complete spec redesign, such as survival hunter and demonology warlock. You know, they could have been a 4th spec. Bliz spends so much time each expansion adding skills removing skills only to bring back again, sometimes it’s an improvement sometimes its not. But for survival/demo it completely removed the previous design, no more, just gone. At what cost? We cite balance a lot, is the game actually balance now? Far from, especially both surv and demo which has been meme spec since.
42 Likes
MMORPGs should not be seasonal games and yes to more evergreen content.
Rental system is not content.
Systemlands has more pointless systems than the US government.
49 Likes
Just because you don’t like it doesn’t make it a problem. It means it’s not the game for you.
6 Likes
It is a big problem because it goes against the entire design of WoW to its core.
And this type of schism in current design is why the game feels schizophrenic. WoW at its core is a MMORPG but the devs are trying to force it into an action RPG.
17 Likes
As someone that didn’t play Legion, I can tell you that we had no idea those grey items gave any power. They are just nice vendor items to us. Lol
Legion sounds like it was cool though!
3 Likes
Wow isn’t an MMO anymore. It’s a seasonal lobby game. The systems have turned this game into trash.
21 Likes
It’s always been seasonal.
There is more MMORPG in D3 now than WoW. There is more RPG in MOBAs than WoW.
What does that say about WoW? When First person shooters have better talent trees than WoW. What does that say about WoW?
9 Likes
Anything that affects character power has to be managed carefully.
Like artifact weapons would be a nightmare to continue. They’d always have to be considered during class balancing and reworks and all that. Would they just keep adding more traits and bloat it into oblivion or reset and remove your progress anyways?
It’s just not practical in the long run. Easier to let it have its moment then move on to new things. But two years is a lot of time to fully enjoy it. It’s not like they add them for a few months then take it away right when it gets fun. Gear always resets every tier too, WoW endgame has always been seasonal.
2 Likes
When did you start playing? BFA?
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So it would be a nightmare to rebalance artifact weapons but perfectly fine to throw everything in the trash and start from utter scratch every expansion. Did you think about that before you typed this?
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Yeah, um, after giving FF14 a fair shake, WoW looks really pitiful in regards to throwing things in the trash. I had a strong negative opinion on it before, but to play a game that doesn’t throw anything in the trash just makes my opinion even stronger.
10 Likes
Achievement system, glyphs, transmog are all every green content that has kept this game together and chugging along.
Countless hours of fun, purpose, goals, excitement, frustration and triumph.
That is what evergreen content does when it connects the player experience spanning from WotLk to Cata to MoP to WoD.
BlizZard learned all the wrong lessons from the WoD content drought. Pointless chores isn’t content especially when it is tied to rental power.
Gear is the only power that should matter. And even then gear still holds power after it is current in an expansion.
Ask people that level alts if gear is still relevant to them.
Ask returning players if gear from Legion is relevant as they level to cap.
Ask new players if BFA gear is relevant to them.
Ask an enchanter if all gear in the life of this game is relevant. That is a resounding yes.
3 Likes
I’m glad you’re enjoying it! It took me a long time to give it a fair chance as well I’m glad I did.
I was really into FF when I was in high school (mid to late 90s) and I have to say 14 has the best story out of any of the single player entries.
FF remade itself after the WoW Cata model. Yes, FF copied WoW’s Cata and continued to polish that model.
Never thought I’d see the day when Borderlands is a better RPG than WoW…
Everything resets every expansion. Gear, progress, all of it. BC onwards they’re all fresh starts, except for collectibles. Power in any form has only ever mattered in the context of its own expansion.
That’s not new, or bad for the game. It’s awkward to make legacy content mandatory for the current expansion.
It’s awkward to axe content that people paid for in the xpac box price and sub fees.
1 Like