Players w/o friends shouldn't play the game?

[Jhaíra-kazzak]

It would be nice if they’d give solo players a progression path as well tbh. As a PvP player I fully understand your frustration of being hardstuck at a certain ilvl if you don’t go for endgame PvE. Maybe not to the same extend as mythic raiding but up to a reasonable level (visions were a step in the right direction for that imo, 470 vs 475 ilvl gear seems pretty fair) and Thorgast would be a good source for that.

I’m really worried about the game and their gearing philosophie. When WoW came out it was so successful because it was really casual friendly in comparism to other MMOs around and it was accessable to everybody. Days have changed, right now I don’t know about a big MMO (WoW, ESO, FF, GW2, BDO, GTA, Destiny) which is more hardcore, more difficult and more time consuming than WoW is.

And all of that for the wrong reasons. WoW isn’t difficult mechanic wise (it doesn’t require high apm and/or good reaction time) but so many things are locked behind timegates, the gearing systems are unnecessary complex (in my opinion a gearing system becomes too complex as soon as I need a third party program to decide if an item is an upgrade or not) and by making content unaccessable for most people (mythic raiding). Yet the entire game seems to exclusively cater to the endgame PvE niche community which becomes extremely obvious when you compare the rewards to PvP or solo players rewards. I was 1,8k rating for example and despite reaching that really early during the season I was wearing zero items from PvP except for Conflict and Strife which isn’t an item actually (tho I’ve heard that corruptions were easily farmable through PvP after the corruption vendor, can’t really judge that because I did quit before that).

When Jeff said at Blizzcon that they care about their community and that he will make sure that nobody will fall behind (regarding Overwatch 2) I realised that this is the concept which made Blizzard great. But this concept doesn’t apply to WoW anymore. It feels more like a niche game for endgame PvE now.

[Bitterborn-ragnaros (Bitterborn)]

Idk. All of this just sounds like excuses of being anti social and lazy… if you don’t want to talk/meet with new people in game and keep saying you don’t have any friends then what are blizz supposed to do?

[Enaari-darkmoon-faire]

Im a solo player and TBH I really like the idea of bots/NPC tanks, healers or DPS you could take into dungeons or out on adventures with you. Ive played other MMORPGs that work like this and its always fun.

However I also believe that the highest rewards should be for the people who do mythic group content or high end PVP. You should get better rewards for participating with others and playing the content as it was originally designed.

[Nícole-argent-dawn]

I’ve played this game solo for the best part of 8 years and I have gotten by just fine and I’ll continue to do so in SL. I don’t really care for raiding or anything though.

[Serenå-argent-dawn]

I reached 480 ilvl (as it was in 8.3) completely alone on my Nelf mage.

I have completed all +15 mythic plus
I have 3/12 Mythic Ny’alotha
I got 5 masks done as well

I did everything there without a single guild or community.

I only played with my bf, or sometimes with 2 friends max.

[Coupedegrace-neptulon]

From what you are suggesting is a small cutting corner that allows solo play.

I personally I’m against it - this game has great opportunities to get geared up and play it in solo content. As there has been said by others mostly every aspect is reachable in solo except Mythic raiding and I cant stress more how that gap should be widened.

Thing is if you want to be a casual gamer and still enjoy it - that should reflect on the cap you reach. The amount of time and dedication you put into the game should be equivalent of your achievements one is tied to other. And more challenging things you do must come from putting some extra work.

It is nothing more then in irl. At least that is how I view any multilayer gaming with layers of difficulty.

And I get it not having time as before is issue for many but it is also notably different to how game was before as well. There are so many milestones that can be riched now even without leaving your main faction hub, pushing it even further will such the joy of open world for whatever it is left atm.

[Duzurîx-burning-blade (Duzurîx)]

@Codexr-silvermoon

i never said that someone who plays 4 hours a week should have the same gear as someone who is dedicated.

Then i really struggle to understand what this post is about. You can pug +15 which is mythic raid item every week. You can pug heroic raid and later on even mythic…

[Vitold-twisting-nether]

@Codexr-silvermoon

Its a Fact that after you reach a certain ilevel with your character in wow then you need people to play with so you can further progress in order to get the high or the highest level gear.

Yes, it is true.

@Codexr-silvermoon

If you dont have the people, all you can do is make an alt and hit the same wall again since you wont be able to access the rest of the content of a game you are paying for just like everyone else.

No, it is not true. You can do whatever casual content there is on your own, you can do pug arenas, pug keys, pug raids, LFR, damn, you can do anything without friends.

@Codexr-silvermoon

BUT you have to take into consideration that times have drastically changed since this game was introduced and the design philosophy was way different back then because it was based on different data.

This is the argument I have never understood and probably never will. So back in 2004 nobody had to work? Please, enlighten me, because I thought at ANY timepoint in history people had full time jobs, girlfriends, kids and other stuff you’ve mentioned. Or you think its the same people who played then and who play now? Please, explain this point, cuz I didn’t get a single bit of it. I’ve been playing since 2008. Yes, I now have full time job and family. So what exactly should change in the game design, regarding there’s ME, the Highlord, the MVP of the whole WOW, having to work now?

@Codexr-silvermoon

What i m trying to say is why someone who just happened to get some free hours on a random day should not be able to log in and actually progress with his character even if he has no friends online or if his guild hasn’t scheduled a run at that particular time ?

There’s Visions. Completely solo-content, which used to give a fine gear and even BIS items if you’re lucky enough. And also pugs. We’re gonna have Torghast in SL, which is also solo-content. What’s your point here, fam?

@Codexr-silvermoon

Is it so bad that i want to be able to log in and progress without having to spent multiple hours on socializing or trying to find people to do content with ?

No it’s not bad. Go and pug. There’s literally almost 0 socialization with pugs except for saying “Hi” at the beginning of the run.

As for the rest of your post - why? I don’t see a point in implementing such a complicated and hardly balanced system to cater those, who can’t sign up for a pug run.

Go be me:

I get to play 4-6 hours a week, I don’t expect the highest gear. I’m fine with that. I know how this game works, I know that you have to invest TIME to get the BEST items. Do I have that time? No. Do I really need that best gear? No. I accept it and I don’t care. This is what to be an adult means. You can’t get everything you want, so you have to set priorities.

[Chromie-aszune]

WoW is perfectly suited to not having friends. You can group find, do many things solo and enjoy old content alone super easily.

WoW in general is very open to players who are alone in game or have IRL friends in game.

[Vitold-twisting-nether]

@Kornag-draenor

For example, no one is going to pug a mythic raid at release or a mythic+ dungeon after a certain key level.

Which is definitely not your type of content, if you get to play only here and there during the week.

[Mellinora-argent-dawn (Mellinora)]

@Codexr-silvermoon

Would it be so bad if lonely-solo players had the opportunity to get high end game gear by themselves ?

No, it isn’t bad, in fact it would help WoW keep solo players which are absolutely vital for its survival.

The way they should do it is this:

Make all gear available to both solo and team players.
Make team players get gear earlier than solo, via existing mechanisms (M+, etc).
Make solo players get the exact same gear, but later, via things like dailies or valor points or renown or whatever, with timegating.

It should be either effort or time. Half-way through the raid tier, every solo player who was doing their dailies busily should have all the same gear that the raiders do. And the differentiation should move into mounts (which solo players will also gain but much later than raiders), transmog (they are underdoing this), titles, etc.

They will likely come around to this eventually, it’s a no-brainer.

[Dbzjiren-sylvanas]

Join the club of >watching LFG screen for 1 hour and play for 30 minutes and logoff.

Anyway pugging is the way to go, been doing mythics 13 easily on my horde character though. Forget about pugging alliance, always ends up horrible for some reason.

[Gram-ghostlands (Gram)]

@Enaari-darkmoon-faire

Im a solo player and TBH I really like the idea of bots/NPC tanks, healers or DPS you could take into dungeons

Me too, but I wouldn’t really call this progression. It’s not much different to LFR tbf. If they did have npc tanks / storymode (even moreso than LFR) than it wouldn’t give gear any higher than blue quest rewards.
The best gear should still be rewards from the hardest content (even if a lot of that hardness comes from organisational logistics).

[Psjohly-argent-dawn (Psjohly)]

It depends a bit about what content we talk here. Pugging a +15 is totally doable, so there are no bots needed. +15’s are the most done dungeons.
https://benched.me/
On higher levels coordination becomes more and more important towards needing perfect interrupt/stun/cc rotation, perfect positioning and dodging because 1-shots, etc.

Like don’t position the 1st boss of freehold on the right spot, people can not LoS the azerite powder shot. When ranged are not outranging and baiting the puke it is a wipe too.

Unrealistic for bots.

[Ashelía-tarren-mill]

Reach out talk to people make some friends, I’ve meet some great people over all my years in WoW nothing that has been taken into RL though.

Joining and becoming a part of a community is apart of the game if your a loner that don’t want to do that than yes this game might not be the right fit for you but like everything its up to you what works and doesnt work for you.

Up to Cataclysm I didnt really care much if I was in a great community or not I played the game for the game but since Cataclysm it has gotten more and more important to me to be in a guild where I feel at home and enjoy my stay without that I might just aswell quit the game.

I still like the game but without a community I enjoy there isnt enough pulling me into it. And main reason I’m back is because my old guild in Legion decided to make another go at the game and I’m more than williing to join them in that.

[Schmusedecke-alleria]

no offense but it seems to me that you want all the convenience and perks of group content without wanting to deal with the social aspect of the game.

you cant have your cake and eat it too.

there are plenty of single player games out there for you to choose from but i dont think that its unfair or unrealistic to expect from an mmorpg to participate in social activities.

if you want to play completely solo, go ahead, but accept the drawbacks. if you want to profit from group content then make friends, join a community or a guild.

i dont think wow should cater to people who want to completely play solo yet expect to gear their characters like people who put up with others do.

[Brewny-argent-dawn (Brewny)]

post edited

[Brutum-drakthul]

If all else fails, you can always try the ‘POST IF YOU WANT TO MAKE SOME IN-GAME FRIENDS (PT3)’ thread, pinned in the ‘General Discussion’ part of the forum. I haven’t tried it myself and cannot comment on its success rate, but it might be worth a shot.

[Radium-dragonblight]

It would be interesting to have this choice when it comes to social aspect of the game. While at first glance it would just feel like very antisocial thing to have, it might have surpricing effects for actually playing in human groups. I think it would probably make real player groups (pugwise) more pleasant to play with, because everyone would have other option to do the content if company is not pleasant to be with. Sort of “person must behave nice towars others, or other people will play with bots instead”.