I have never said people can’t voice their frustrations. Nor have I told people they can’t be frustrated that the content they want isn’t available yet.
In answer to your question, yes I think what Blizzard have done is totally fair and I hope to see more of this. I would love to see this approach adopted going forward.
This is the most irritating misconception I see peddled by people that aren’t enjoying EA/launch until heroic week. Now whilst I can sympathise and understand that they are chomping at the bit to get into M0/Raid they don’t seem to be able to accept other people exist who do that content too who also enjoy this time.
The reason I love EA and this quiet time is because I’ve been able to play so much of the game. Because once the competitive season/gearing starts, that’s all I have time for.
People who don’t do hard content don’t care when the season starts because it does not affect them. They can carry on doing all the easy stuff regardless of when that season is.
I wasn’t specifically talking about you. It was more of a broader statement to the general attitude of the forums.
We can agree to disagree.
What would’ve been fair, in my opinion, is if Blizzard would’ve opened M+ but just limit the ilvl on the drops. This way we could enjoy the challenge of M+ while not getting ahead on gear.
And before you question whether people actually would do this or not. Yes, me and half of my FL would do this just for the sake of enjoyment.
I don’t think this is a misconception as I’m exactly this type of player.
I’ll probably also not enjoy heroic week too much because M0s will still be rather easy and I’m not into raiding anymore.
But we do? I have no issues with other people doing quests all day long or picking flowers/mining.
We just don’t want to be denied from playing more challenging content, while other players enjoy the game but we can’t.
If M+ would’ve been open from the first week but didn’t drop any gear, would this impact you? Genuine question here. I’m curious. Would you feel urged/forced to “practice” just for the sake of practicing even if no gear whatsoever was involved?
I’ve heard people disagree with this statement because they’d “feel left behind on gear”, which, in my eyes, is nonsensical because players who invenst more time and are better at the game will inevitably have better gear anyways by the first week of the season.
If you were able to recognise that players exist that like both M+ and raiding and are enjoying this time now, you wouldn’t refer to them as ‘flower pickers’. But people repeatedly can’t. So they spend their time talking down to anyone who dares to enjoy the game at this time. Calling them ‘flower pickers’, making stupid comments about not liking challenging content etc etc.
Unfortunately nothing has changed, so we will see the same language over and over. If they actually understood that once gearing starts that’s all there is time for then they would understand why this period before heroic week has been bliss for those of us that play more of the game than just M+/Raid/PvP.
I don’t find it hard to understand in reverse that people are bored, but it seems to be too hard to comprehend that you can like both.
If any gearing content existed now, that is what we’d all be doing. All those players that want to progress would be in there. That is why it only works when it’s not available. There is no middle ground.
So I love this staggered release because it gives me time to play the game and I’ve had a fabulous time. People who don’t like this content are bored. There is no in between.
Whether or not Blizzard will do this going forward remains to be seen but I would love it to become standard practice. I would say it could be a longer staggered EA but I don’t think people should have to pay for it. But there is nothing to stop those who only like competitive play to start later. Don’t sub from the beginning of the expansion. I think the problem this time is many didn’t realise. EA was also blown out of proportion by many who presumed it would be an advantage, even though Blizzard clearly stated there would be no power gain.
However I’m just repeating my points now, so hopefully you can see we simply don’t agree, I’m just going to agree to differ at this point. I have nothing more to add.
I kinda agree with OP, overland is ridiculously easy. Yes, quests are good and environments are excellent, but I’m not reading a book or admiring wallpapers, sometimes I want to play a game. The sandbox isn’t challenging in any way whatsoever. We’re at the point, where open world engagement is below zero. Huge portion of the game with virtually no gameplay, it’s insane if you think about it.
I didn’t refer to them as flower pickers. It was one example of an activity that came out of the top of my head that people could do right now because that’s literally something I do currently myself.
I know this term has been used in a condescending way in this specific context but at the time of writing my reply I didn’t think of that and it wasn’t meant this way. So if it came across like this, I apologize.
Which I didn’t do.
Thus my suggestion to remove gear from the equation. Just let people enjoy the hard content without any gear.
Absolutely not. It’s just hard to understand why it’s so acceptable to just tell players, who only enjoy challenging content, to “just wait 3 weeks longer than others to play the game”.
Which, again, is why I was suggesting the limitation of gear drops before actual season start and even asked you about your opinion on this solution.
In my case it was just my own fault. I knew EA didn’t give you any advantage at all. I also knew that it would’ve been enough if I re-subbed right around now in order to be prepared for M+ launch. I was just eager to play the new expansion but am stuck with no content to enjoy, which again, is my own fault because I knew the release schedule very well beforehand.
I just think this could’ve been handled differently and I’m talking about this so we might find a more suitable solution for future expansions.
Edit: Accidentally sent the reply before finishing…
We can absolutely disagree. I’d still like you to ask you about your take on my suggestions of simply opening M+ earlier and disabling gear drops from it.
The best way to help people who play casually and can never ever enjoy wow expansions is to have more side worlds like MOP Remix material. Since the early days in vanilla when I was in an amazing guild that protected me and gave me the chance to experience raids as a forever newb because I never played everyday, or week, or even went a month without play AS I have a real life. So I was always behind in gold, ( I have very little gold btw) equipment, experience, THE GAME in general. I never studied or knew the dungeons or raid tactics. That was more time away from game. Alot of struggle to level. Just to enjoy game. With Draenor, I never ever completed any of the content or lands. Too much for a casual player. I never felt the power of a hard core gamer UNTIL MOP Remix. I did not even know the island experience existed until remix and never got to do all of it or the dungeons. I started slow with regular leveling. Did not do dungeons or raids . I did a dungeon with some excellent people … I could not even keep up with them going through the dungeon. Just trying to loot. Of course I was just playing not reading all the quick ways and if you did not loot boss your loot went to mail. But I loved Remix. I felt alittle of the power the hardcore gamers feel. I wasted so much time on just general leveling like the 19 years of casual play. Level , work on reputation, basic skills, I with 19 years of causual playing gave up dungeons and raids. The forever newb who could wipe out the group., Sorry. Some of us are that. I am one of those. I could live in the world of Remix now. Loved it. It gave me power. A chance to kill rares. A chance to feel more powerful. To experience more of the Pandaria Expansion. I have played every expansion very little since the beginning. Very little because I am a casual gamer… If I did not love the game >… I would have quit long ago. So maybe it is time for Blizzard to start remixes. You super players who get bored can do alittle remix. Every expansion with a remix would be awesome. But let your high level characters go into the remix. (Not just new characters) Keep all the years spent with them intact. But knock there level down to level 10 and held to the remix just like the others until They agree to leave remix to go back to the present expansion and that character is not able to return back into that expansion of remix. Causal players have a chance to advance and be powerful. Bored super gamers Well … Do not have to make it easier for the casual player to begin in the new expansion. Dragonflight was horrible. AS a casual player. Too much , too fast, I will never get it unless it is a remix as long as it was an expansion. I always thought I would go back and do all the expansions from the beginning. As level 70 I could experience it as a supergamer. Maybe someday but feeling hopeless in that as it takes time. Too much too fast. Legion had some powerful equipment. but never was able to experience all of it either. The level grind, the equipment grind , the content grind. I am not a fan of grind. But MOP REMIX gave me the feel of what the super gamer feels. Grind is part of it as with no grind How is blizz going to keep up with the challenge of You Power Players, keep the middle, and introduce the game to the new players. Or keep the casual player even staying all grind and no power No FUN No PLAY
I assume it’s so people don’t feel forced to rush to max level and whatever the baseline itemlevel is, and can enjoy the story, get used to how classes play and stuff.
Of course the players still rush everything anyway, but the idea was to give a bit more time for it.
Because there is no way to cater to your wants early on without screwing over people who don’t have time to play constantly. If you were allowed to do M+ and raid week one, there’d be millions of people who get screwed over and left behind, and then they wouldn’t be able to get into groups bc they don’t have gear so they’d be permanently behind.
If you have a suggestion of something that would meet your needs without screwing over the many, many players who don’t have as much spare time as you, I’d love to hear it.
My suggestion would be to just simply open up M+ and disable the loot until the actual season starts. This way people who want to do challenging content can do that for the sake of having fun, while other people won’t get screwed and left behind. For the sake of having a completely clean slate, even reset the aquired key level.
And yes, I’d actually play that and most of my friends list would do so too.
Did they? What content would that have been for example?
This case would just be a temporary thing of 1 or 2 weeks. Not sure why would people more mad over having a choice rather than having no choice at all for a week or two.
If you’re correct though then we’re just out of luck I guess and we have to accept that future expansions just will get released 3 weeks later for some people.
Alternatively you could grant some title or mount or something. If that’s also an issue to people then idk what to say… Because that wouldn’t screw anyone over, you’d just have 1 title less and I mean I’d argue that 99.9999% of WoW players don’t have titles/mounts that are no longer available anymore.
im sorry for your loss, but not really. im having the time of my life. it’s a game, chill out.
ppl are so hellbend on being max lvl as soon as possible and then just stand in i city pumping HC or M+. im chilling, because the i love to enjoy the game, not rush it
How was it the other way around? I can’t really remember a day where “casual” content was timegated and raids/m+ were not?
I get the sentiment but I don’t think the comparison computes that well.
I’d get it if you meant that casual content wasn’t really available for many years.
you can do HC raid that is now pretty challenging if you dont have gear.
And mythic plus is in few days.
this is expansion for casual players
or as streamers say MOLE people
