This has been an issue for a longer while and it has been exacerbated by the re-introduction of group loot.
It is not okay if two players require the same item with the same priority and one of them can get it by luck in the second week of the patch while the other players gets it in the last week of the patch or not at all, despite clearing THE SAME CONTENT.
As someone that plays no plate classes, it is not okay that someone can get legendary in the second week of the patch while some people still do not have it to this day.
What is the justification for one player to be rewarded much better than another despite clearing the same content at the same pace? Not having agency over rewards is an outdated system which other MMOs have long ago ditched.
You need to implement a way for people to target specific loot they need. Both in raid and in M+. Even if you have to add it a few weeks into the patch to avoid the RWF/give luckier people a chance to utilise their advantage.
Endgame gearing has never been easier, as it is now. Heroic items can be upgraded to be only 6 item levels lower than the highest Mythics, crafted gear only 3 item levels lower.
Sure, trinkets or weapons with the special effects might look like “they are a requirement”, but unless you are Mythic raider or pushing +26 and above, then they are not.
The “slot machine” aspect is part of what makes playing these games fun, though. The actual problem, if there is a problem, is the time gating. In an ARPG, you can farm as much as you want, provided you put the time into it.
MMOs like WoW tend to delay this, so you only have a chance to get loot from a raid boss once a week and you only get one item from the vault per week. This stretches the content and prevents that people burn out or are done gearing within a week.
M+ is in (large?) part popular because you CAN farm gear up to a certain level, but for the best versions of items you are still time gated and limited to one item per week.
Without these time gates, I (and probably not just me) would subscribe for a month, binge for a couple weeks and grind out all the gear, and then cancel until the next season. Same as with games like Borderlands or Diablo.
M+ made gearing much faster, so even if you don’t get a specific raid drop or the mythic track version of an item, you can still gear up to a very respectable item level by just grinding out M+, which lets you tackle all content in the game.
In blizzards defense, we put them in a Catch 22 situation.
If Blizzard were to do the same as other games… they would simply lower the chance of getting an upgrade.
So whoever wants to be fully geared needs to farm a lot (a ton of time) to get there.
Like a “natural” delay sort of speak.
The problem with that started to show up in TBC, and especially WotlK back in the day. Where “welfare epix” was all the discussion rage.
Thing is that if you do what other games did requiring massive number of hours to farm it… then… you have a problem:
Because gear is so impactful on your performance, the lack of gear gates you from certain content. And this “gating” is what people started to complain about.
Specific example from back in the day: Sorry, you cant raid Molten Core yet. You still have to farm Stratholme 40 more times at least so you get XXX piece of gear, and ZulGurub some more times for YYY weapon… ect…
And then… after that… well: You cant raid AQ because you still need to farm Molten Core 20 more times until you get XYZ item/weapon.
So people were just bummed out of all this mandatory farming.
And that is why blizz made Epic items more accessible in WotlK. And from there, here we are. Where Blizz has to impose time-gates or else it just wont work.
They’ve said many times they don’t want it to be totally deterministic, there is then no happy moment when something unexpected happens, its just a grind / chore list.
People’s reward pathways are utterly broken by this RNG system. Its an addiction. The RNG unpredictability literally mimics the intermittent reinforcement seen in gambling.
I personally like GW2 a bit more compared to other MMORPGs in this regard. Its mostly a grinding game when it comes to gear. At least to the level I engaged.
What I said is just as much an opinion as saying there is caffeine in coffee.
With that, I am going to mute you. There is a limit to how much of a troll you can be. It feels like you are actively seeking some obscure reason to argue with people. Nobody needs such a toxic behavior lurking around, well, perhaps some do but certainly I don’t.
Anticipation (of a possible “win”, like a loot drop) is a potent source of dopamine, that is true. But dopamine hits are part of what makes activities fun and exciting. It’s not inherently evil.
Addictions have severe negative effects on people, physically or mentally, or financially (career, actual money, etc), and addicts suffer. If you feel that you’re addicted because of the loot system and can’t stop playing, then take that seriously and look into what options you have. I don’t mean this in any negative way, there are definitely players who get addicted to games with loot systems and it’s difficult to deal with because gaming addiction is still not taken seriously by everyone.
But for many other players these loot systems are fun and exciting. In a way, it is like with alcohol. A lot of people drink occasionally and have a great time without adverse effects other than a hangover the next day. But some can’t stop and it’ll damage their lives and health.
You can’t change the world around you, you can only change yourself. When I had severe alcohol problems some fifteen years ago, I quit drinking after I nearly fell into coma after an alcohol poisoning, cold turkey (it was hell). I didn’t expect that stores stop selling alcohol. I was bothered by alcohol advertisements and stopped watching TV altogether for a while because of that.
I play this game for the social aspect (playing with people) and for getting into the zone when doing content that is (for me) challenging. The loot helps me to progress more (and have a greater buffer for mistakes), but it’s not why I play. There are lots of ways to get gear now, it’s not as limited as it was in the past.
Fun and excitement from a game does not have to stem from that.
I throughly enjoy Elden Ring. Exploring its amazing world, finding bosses with unique mechanics that really pushes you. Its challanging and fun!
No RNG, no “WOWWWWWWW” loot moment.
Its evil. Because instead of making an enjoyable game, they rely on that constant dopamine hits. I am absolutely apalled that governments are not prohibiting this predatory and addicting mechanics within games.
And you do you, similarly, I also take care myself and do not let myself fall into that hellhole.
But to come out and DEFEND this (I am not saying you are doing so) and further, suggest that other methods of item farming have other “problems” (which somehow no one is able to count), to me, is either trolling or is geniuen and therefore disgusting.
