I Want to Play Wow Again but Is the Gear Still Dumb
World of Warcraft is a game with a lot of content, and at max level players accept a lot of activities to pursue. There are raids and dungeons; there'southward soloing and world content; there are callings and world quests; there's Torghast with its roguelike gameplay style. And that's only scratching the surface.
All of it seems to exist calling, sayinghey, take y'all done me notwithstanding this calendar week and I detect myself wondering: do I have to practice it all? I didn't even mention PVP there, but that's out in that location too. There's a existent pregnant amount of repeatable content for level 60 players inWoW. And that makes me wonder — how much of it should I, should anyone, exist expected to do in a week?
Should you exist able to raid Normal or Heroic without ever setting foot in a Mythic+ dungeon? Should you never need dungeon loot if you want to be a defended PVPer? How of import should group content be to a solo player who wants to focus on pushing Torghast? Well, quite frankly, if you never want to PVP or go to a dungeon then you're gonna be waiting for a while for Renown to push your World Quest rewards upwards high enough that you can really button that Torghast content, but it will eventually become achievable.
Practise we have to exercise absolutely everything? How much Warcraft do we really have to play in club to play Warcraft?
WoW's loot treadmill has changed in Shadowlands
I recall this why gearing and gameplay inShadowlands feels different than its predecessors. It'due south more hard to ready, and solo activities offer fewer gear rewards. If you want to raid, the fastest and easiest way to fix is currently via PVP. And if you lot aren't willing to PVP, you'll accept to run some Mythic+ dungeons to fifty-fifty authorize for LFR.
In previous expansions, especiallyLegion andBattle for Azeroth, it's probably off-white to say that you could stay more in your lane, at least for people who raided or ran Mythic+ dungeons. PVPers have long felt a bit pushed to run group PVE content, andShadowlands has simultaneously made gearing easier for them if they stay in PVP spaces — though some PVE trinkets and weapons yet feel like better PVP gear options. And it'due south off-white to say that there's pressure level to do some PVP grinding for even the near dedicated PVE players for weapons and other particular slots you've had bad loot luck with. The gearing game has changed, and we're strongly encouraged to participate in everything the game offers us at max level, whether we're interested or not.
The fact is, we're all on the loot treadmill inWoW. Merely the treadmill slowed down this expansion, and for a lot of players, they experience similar in lodge to become where they desire to be they need to also jump on the elliptical or even start doing squats, and that's not what they signed upwards for. Forgive me this metaphor, because information technology'southward already a bit out of hand.
And everybody wants a Legendary, so everybody is farming Soul Ash in Torghast. I'grand not certain what practise machine that would be in this scenario, just yous understand the bespeak — people who have, over the past four years, comfortably worn a groove into the item style of gameplay they enjoy now experience like they're beingness asked to play well outside of their comfort zone to get to where they want to be.
Shadowlands is pushing us all towards group content
I know for some people themultiplayer part ofmassively multiplayer online role-playing game has felt similar it's been less of a priority forEarth of Warcraft for the past few years. I would even be willing to agree that the game has slowly moved towards beingness a more than solo-friendly playstyle. But even if y'all're simply a thespian who logs on a few times a calendar week and has no interest in grouping content or min-maxing, there'south alot of pressure to participate in it.
Should solo players have to run group content to successfully play the game? The argument for this is usually a variation ofwell, if you lot're a solo player why do you need better gear — and it ignores the roots of RPG games that spawned the MMO genre andGlobe of Warcraft. Even in solo games, players climb on the loot treadmill. There are a lot of things a solo actor does — World Quests with elite mobs, or overpulling when solo farming, or trying to get through a higher layer of Torghast — all of these activities simply crave better gear.
Plus — and I think this is of import to consider — there are people who playWoW who are not great at socializing. For the past several years the game has provided them an outlet, where they can still appoint in social aspects of the game if they desire them, but don'thave to if they are prone to anxiety or otherwise can't always deal with what we can charitably call the more abrasive aspects of the game and its player base of operations. I'm a fairly hardened person by this signal, but even I get tired sometimes of dealing with people in PUG dungeon runs or LFR who simply insist on shortcuts that aren't shortcuts at all or who take the time to exist unpleasant during the run.
Forcing players who have come to waitWoW to be their condom space to engage with these aspects of the game feels regressive. Yes, back in 2008 nosotros all had to run Shadow Labyrinth, but it'due south non 2008 anymore. The game and its player base have changed. Trying to bring back too much socialization too fast can be disruptive.
Should we be forced to grouping up to advance?
Even though the game seems to exist pushing united states all towards group content, the web of advancement options correct now is probably the best the game has ever had. In that location are lots of different activities to do at max level, and the game encourages and rewards yous for a fleck of stepping out of your normal haunts. I've been doing more group content this fourth dimension around — I'd have to admit that I've run more dungeons, done more LFR and even tipped my toe into PVP inShadowlands, and I probably will continue to exercise and so despite my general trend to want to avoid talking to other man beings if I don't already know them.
So peradventure it'southward working, andShadowlands has succeeded in moving to a more than social model where players are willing to group up and run content they're not accustomed to. Or peradventure the expansion is pushing players into activities they don't want to participate in, and will eventually push them also far — significant it needs to ensure that players don't demand to pace so far from the content theywant to pursue. I call back elements like the Renown system provide players the opportunity to play completely solo, if they're willing to await a while to take hold of up to what players who button group content are capable of doing, so perhaps that'south a sufficient safety valve for the real introverts out there.
But I don't know what PVPers who feel pushed into Mythic+ can really do, or what to tell raiders who are PVPing not because they love competition merely because they tin't go a weapon drop. I don't know if it's ultimately for the all-time if players do content they don't want to because they feel they have to. I don't know how Blizzard tin make an MMO that caters to everyone at one time without some friction most what nosotros're expected to practise in it.
Is Shadowlands asking as well much of players? I think a lot depends on how long we're going to go before the next big content drib/reset period. If we get new content (and new gearing opportunities) in March or Apr, it will be a very different situation than if we get one in June or July. In the end, players who feel forced to do some things they don't want to exercise tend to finish doing everything. If you but don't like PVP, or raids, or Mythic+ no corporeality of in-game force per unit area will make them fun for you.
At level 60, players all have a long list of things they could — or should — exist doing to advance. Only do we have to do all of them? Should solo players have to group, PVP players accept to PVE, LFR players take to One thousand+? Right now the game seems to be saying yep, and that's a blazon of gameplay that solo-friendly WoW hasn't had for a while.
For ameliorate or for worse, Shadowlands is pushing players to work together. Whether that's also pushing players to a breaking betoken … well, nosotros'll observe out soon.
Originally published 1/4/2021. Updated 2/17/2021.
Source: https://blizzardwatch.com/2021/02/17/interconnected-content-shadowlands/
0 Response to "I Want to Play Wow Again but Is the Gear Still Dumb"
Post a Comment