Showing posts with label lessons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lessons. Show all posts

Friday, May 29, 2015

5 Things I Hope Blizzard Learns From Warlords

In a recent post I mentioned how I'd rediscovered the "spark" that first pulled me deeply into World of Warcraft after struggling this expansion with finding the motivation to do much outside of my garrison. However, I admitted that even with my focus realigned, Warlords of Draenor will likely go down as my least-favorite expansion. Here are five things I hope Blizzard takes away from the Warlords of Draenor experience.

Value of Scenarios
I won't say I missed them dearly, but scenarios in Mists of Pandaria provided an excellent opportunity at max level for small-group content. Scenarios were especially attractive for damage-dealers and those with limited amounts of play time. Queues were always short; it was sometimes possible to run multiple scenarios in the time it would take for a damage-dealer to find a dungeon party.

Utility of Alternate Currency
We saw some of this with Apexis Crystals, but the effect was dramatically scaled back compared to previous expansions. Instead of earning this currency through dungeons, scenarios and multiple quests, crystals were a reward for completing a single daily quest given in the garrison or by mindlessly grinding mobs. I think it would've been advantageous for Blizzard to have included Apexis Crystals as a dungeon reward, and by extension, the non-existent scenarios. Not only would it allow players to fill some holes in their gearing strategy, but it extends relevancy of group content at max-level. Like dungeons.

Return to Factional Daily Options
Many people agree that Blizzard went too far with daily quest options in Mists of Pandaria. You want a rep grind? We'll put a rep grind behind a rep grind! What we have in Warlords of Draenor seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to the outcry over too many dailies. To me, it's clear the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. Give us some other way to gain factional rep other than Apexis dailies, garrison missives, and mindless mob slaughter.

Benefit of Farmable, Rarer Mobs
This might be a personal peeve, but the way rare mobs were handled in Warlords of Draenor was a bit of a letdown. Kill it once, you're guaranteed whatever drop(s) the mob has on their loot table, and you're done. Previously, there were a number of items that could drop off of a rare mob, one of which was usually some sort of unique item, like a vanity pet, toy, or a crazy-cool leveling elixir. Maybe players cursed by RNGeesus have had enough, but seeking out those rare or missing items gave me another reason to get out into world after I'd exhausted the leveling content.

Additionally, Draenor is incredibly overpopulated with rares. It's kind of like how if you hand out epic gear to everyone and their uncle it ceases feeling like epic gear. In addition to not guaranteeing drops on every kill, rare mobs should be fewer and far between.

Need for Better Travel at Max Level
I nearly titled this section "The Value of [Redacted] at Max Level" but then thought better of it. I'm swallowing the Kool-aid, Blizzard, and trusting that you've got something in store here. Fact of the matter is pretty much since the Burning Crusade players have taken earning flight as a reward for reaching max-, or near-max level. With the removal of flight there needs to be a better system of travel to wherever players want to go in current content. Waystones, portals, I don't care. Give us something more efficient than "improved" flight paths.