For the new xpac I’ve changed faction and server. Started in the middle of 9.2 and now when I unlocked everything in the new zone for cypher of the first ones I started to make alts to get benefits from my main and I discovered that nothing in that new zone is account wide, except a stupid item which give you an extra 50% cypher. I can’t send currency to alt, I need to do again the same research and that means I need to do again the same content as on my main, and this is very discouraging to play on an alt and generally.
And this is my request do everything account wide in Zereth Mortis including campaign which can be optional.
That isn’t account-wide either. Using it on one character will not affect the amounts gathered on other characters.
I tend to agree with you. except I’m not sure it makes a great deal of difference. I took 4 characters through ZM, one for each armor type. That was more than enough for me. I mean, maybe I would pick up Unity and some 230+ gear for my umpteenth alt there if I didn’t have to climb the Cypher ladder, but I doubt it. Zereth Mortis, unlike say Timeless or Isle of Thunder in their different ways, is very shallow, and I’m happy to be done with it.
I do think the Cypher Console should be more alt-friendly. The only concession to alts were that 50% item you mention and the removal (for alts) of the 5 day waits (which should never have existed in the first place) on research items.
For Alts these research items should have had a much reduced cost, in the order of 10 cyphers per research - more or less free, a token cost.
I hope any such grind system (box of many things, Cloak Insanity ranks, cypher console, Sanctum buildings, Garrison Plans) will be either account wide or have token costs on alts.
True, to an extent. The game has changed quite a lot over the years and so have the players.
One big change (certainly for me) is how many alts we play. From TBC to Cata I had two characters, this Shaman and a Paladin. The Pally was played more in TBC and Wrath and my Shammy took over since then.
Around MOP I started playing more characters but mostly just dabbling, I leveled a DK, a rogue and a hunter. In Legion I leveled a bunch more of them (mostly for the Order Hall Campaigns and Class mounts).
I doubt I’m the only one who is playing more alts now than ye olde dayes.
In MOP, my alts would ding max and pop over to Timeless Isle and loot a bunch of chests and be able to just get on with stuff. Several of them did do the Tillers farm, which was a bit grindy but not so bad.
None of my alts are doing the cypher console, that’s just way too grindy. Better than Korthia at least. And 233 gear ain’t so bad I guess (for me, an ultra casual).
Edit to add:
Not to mention all the new races, classes and Allied races added over the years just giving the players more to deal with.
Why do you need the console though? I have 8 alts doing ZM stuff, and I don’t need it on either of my toons.
If you’re looking to get geared, farming all the cyphers until you get 252 items is probably a longer grind than doing a few M+ runs (3-8 bracket which is piss easy), and you will be able to even make tier set out of these items, while the cypher ones arent made for the catalyst.
I don’t disagree with that. But I don’t understand why it’s a surprise to people when they come across this sort of thing.
I certainly think that more needs to be Account-wide. But I still think there should be some things Character bound.
for example. I enjoy farming reputations to earn the rewards on multiple alts and going through the quest lines again. But at the same time, I don’t like that need to farm currencies like Cosmic Flux and borrowed powers on multiple alts.
Basically, I want to have the ability to jump in and play my alt how I want to play. But I don’t want that play to be limited to running Dungeons or PVP or Raiding. World content, Reputation grinds are just as an important part of the game to me.
I just don’t want to be Forced to play one content to need to play another. Such as Farming Currencies for borrowed power.
The problem isn’t how the content isn’t “Account-wide”, the problem is Borrowed Power, Currencies for Borrowed Power and Forced content.
See, I have it maxed out on 3 characters now. There wasn’t much of a grind. I just focused on the useful parts (Jiros, Pocopoc Energy, Protosynthesis), and just unlock the rest when I have what I need.
I don’t like re-grinding reps, although I did used to do them multiple times back in MOP when I was only focusing on two characters (while dabbling in a few more).
But I wouldn’t make Rep fully Account Wide. I would make all or most items sold by a Quartermaster Account Bound. I’d leave the Rep itself character based. This way those who do like to grind the rep can do so, those that don’t like it don’t need to regrind it.
It’s the systems, like borrowed power (hopefully gone now) and sanctum buildings and consoles that I do see needing more alt friendliness.
They’ve said Dragon-riding will be an Account Wide feature. This is a good thing.
If there will be Dragonflight Sanctums / Garrison / Oder Halls (whatever this time) then I hope they will have much more alt-friendly upgrades.
Yes, but you have to give those people are reason to farm it. Paragon is 1 reason.
But also reputation rewards are another. Now I do agree that some (and more than currently are) Quartermaster items should be account-wide, but not all.
I really want to play my Monk at the moment. But I feel restricted because I need to upgrade my Legendary and make another one for Unity. Gold isn’t really my problem, I have loads of that. But I don’t really feel like I should have to spend that to play the game. Atleast not on borrowed power. Then the need to farm the currency to make it as well.
Then I need tier sets, so I need to farm Cosmic Flux to convert…
Now, how I enjoy playing the game, I would get Cosmic Flux over time. But it’s being Forced to farm it, which is the problem. I’d rather just concentrate ZM on the chars I want to concentrate on, and not feel restricted on chars I might log in and play once a week.
Most could live with that, not sure what would remain soulbound though. The items that bug me the most are profession recipes. I’d quite like to learn all the recipes just for completeness sake but I’m not grinding a rep on my Tailor just for a recipe or two to fill up my recipe collection.
Well, power items should be Account-bound, along with anything else that’s current account wide.
Transmogs items should be Character rep-bound. For example, I buy the Cloth Transmogs on my Mage, and can use it on my Priest. But I can’t buy the Plate Transmog on my Mage.
However, I believe all Achievements should be account-wide unless they’re character/class specific. i.e. Mage Tower achievements are Character/Class specific. But Path of Ascension (or covenant sanctums), are not Class or Character specific, and should be account wide.
“This”? Which “this” is this? There are different “thisses.”
We’re talking about an end-game zone, whose purpose is to provide people with entry-level raid gear, and some grinding towards some extra power (and, of course, as always, to provide a pleasant time sink, which is what Blizzard are basically selling.)
ZM’s Cypher system is a noticeably threadbare and shallow incarnation of the basic grind-for-progression mechanism. You can certainly say that everything from the Isle of Quel’danas to the Corrupted Zones/Visions of BfA are “this” - grind-for-progression mechanisms - but they differ in their richness, stickiness, longevity, rewards and reward feeling.
