Wrath just might be too easy...

AnubisKhan — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:36:59 GMT

I know this is a bit long, but if you actually are interested in an opinion about the game of WoW, I don't believe you'll be disappointed to read this.

Here is what has gone wrong in my opinion.

When WoW first started it offered something that few other games had offered before, and I'm not talking about content, yeah it was great for that, but I'm talking about the way the game progressed. I often found myself playing games that would either be too easy, and getting bored with them, the same as Fantom909, or I would end up playing a game that was like Mega Man or Metal Gear original, too hard to a fault. The reason I liked WoW was because even if you came across something that was too difficult for you to beat or pass at that time, there was always something else you could do to get yourself up to that level. It was a slower process but it offered a great diversity of play, and while it did get tedious at times, it actually had the players exploring the world, learning new things and practicing the game out. Now, blizzard has made its countless changes to leveling, characters, classes etc. in attempt to get new players into the game by offering a faster way to the top. There are two problems with this line of thinking. First, the players that get "rushed" to the top, either by their own devices or by having friends or guild power level and gear them through instances(still not as bad as D2 got) have missed most of the game, which honestly is one of the things that makes it so great, and also when they reach level cap they have no idea what they are doing, and either hamper the progression of players who actually went through the loops to get there, or they get frustrated because they can't do the content at there level, have to head back down and then get bored and leave. Second, for the veterans, at least for myself and several others I've talked to, blizz has made a mockery out of its own masterpiece and has taken a large element of fun out of the game. I like that they brought Naxx back, I wish many of the good instances wouldn't be skipped anymore. But there is no point in heading all they way out to Desolace to run Maraudon when you will only use the gear for an hour.

Anyway, that is my opinion, sorry it's long winded I just miss the way it used to be more than I appreciate the changes they've made.

plesky — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 03:10:39 GMT

Content? What raid content? They took an old raid and reworked it for level 80s. That and three short encounters, that was the LK raid content.

It concerns met that with all the resources and money coming in that blizz can't come up with timely content, even with the amount of ppl leaving the game now.

Something tells me that the technology is grinding to a slow halt.

Tagnaar — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:33:01 GMT

there are more then just raiding and kill bosses, Blizzard has seen to that you arent left alone if you dont want to raid, there is always things to do do improve and that the radiers cant do either, spending time in places when you are free and do what you want to do.

fantom909 — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:54:15 GMT

Also, most of the people who say that this isn't too easy... have you really worked for what you have? sure, you just didn't get very far... most of you guys havn't killed the first boss of sunwell and maybe touched the trash a bit.

fantom909 — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:52:22 GMT

Being the kind of guy that I am I think anything is too easy untill I can't do it, and then it's perfect. it gives me something to strive to beat in a game. a goal that me and my friends can work toward.

Now if I clear all that a game has to offer in a week... I feel kind of bad and I tr to find a new game a much harder game.

and jsut a heads up I don't care much for spelling

Sylari — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:27:23 GMT

The problem with calling Wrath too easy because of this: All of these encounters were on beta.. so there was no learning bosses process, just looking up strategies, heck Naxx isn't much different than it was in Pre-BC...

Cjros — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:45:11 GMT

If you make the end game content easy... or rather, a joke... you do one big thing:

You take out the challenge and anything that may have felt rewarding about any effort you put in. If 8 million / 11 million players have cleared 25 man Icecrown within a month or so, 7 million of them are going to go "wow... there is now NOTHING for me to do... I've done EVERY cause this game is a JOKE now..." and eventually get so utterly bored of it, they just stop playing.

Now you may argue "well PvP," but I'm sorry, just like with raiding, the amount of 'hardcore' PvPers will always be a smaller bracket, just like the 'hardcore' raiders.

TL;DR

Easy content gets boring faster than wiping on hard content.

Burninlusr — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:22:04 GMT

I had left wow not very long after BC was out. I wanted to come back for some time now but knew I would be far behind in progression so I would not be able to raid with most of my guild.

With WoTLK it gives me a chance to come back and be a part of the guilds raiders again. If I needed to go back and gear up in BC just to play in a WoTLK group I would have never come back.

By the time everyone is 80 and doing raids would you think a new player could find a raid group for any of the BC stuff? They would be stuck and left out in WoTLK.

exgolfpro — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:10:09 GMT

My whole problem with the "casual" vs "hardcore" debate is that a guild like Ensidia that clears everything that can be cleared in WotLK in the first week and cries about it being to easy has no real baring for most of the players that are out there. They bring professional gamers, completely geared out in T6 and Sunwell loot and then gear up from that and complain that it is too easy?

I play in a family friendly raiding guild. We have cleared most all of SSC, TK and BT except final bosses. Dipped our toe into Sunwell as WotLK was about to come out. This is basically the same story in Original WoW as we were dipping our toe into Naxx as TBC came out. The core of our guild has been playing since launch and we enjoy playing together. All of our toons were geared enough to move onto "better" guilds that were farther along in the endgame progression, but chose to stay with our friends and try to go as far as possible. Downing new bosses with friends that you have raided with for 4 years is far more gratifying then any joining of the two best guilds in WoW could ever imagine.

I reached level 80 in less than a week and am now waiting for more of our guild to join me. As usual, healers have always been our problem and we will have to wait.

Making the end game accessible to more of the 11 million players will not only make that number grow, but will make the game more fun. And isn't that what we are playing for? To have fun?

For all you that are racing through the endgame and are already waiting for the next patch all I can say is "Are you having fun yet?"

ladypandi — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:02:04 GMT

I am a casual player, I have one of every class and I enjoy playing all of them. I don't care that I did not see all of the BC content, not even close. I had a blast from Kara to ZA, and that's as much as I saw.

Perhaps I'll get to see more of BC now that I can make the gear requirements without farming/raiding nonstop to be sufficiently geared to walk in the door.

I don't mind that! I'm not complaining at all. Kudos to the people who did see it all and bust their butts to do so.

With that said, I simply don't want to run out of content, and I know I will not, there is much I haven't done even pre-BC. Not to mention the achievements. So, I can understand the more serious players concern, they also don't want to run out of content. I was quite surprised to see guilds doing so much so quickly. I remarked that I wouldn't want to have rushed through it so fast, I like to poke around and explore. I like to fish and cook and craft.

I don't think that Bliz will let those hardcore players down, they've always been good at addressing issues. No worries :)

Ok back to picking flowers.

SpageGoat — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:21:52 GMT

I don't see how it's casual with WotLK. It's exactly like SunWell when that opened up. Everyone trying to do the same thing all at once. Players ganking mobs right before a DOT went off, forming lines around an end quest target. Just annoying. Only thing to do is do something else for a few days until the crowds move on to a new zone.

As for the instances, my raiding guild never finished SSC. So I would be over the moon if the end game raiding was easier and didn't rely heavily on gear that the next instance UP would give you. After grinding and questing to get to another level cap, turning down the 'difficultly' mode will be welcome by many.

Solafein — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:46:45 GMT

just my opinion btw im sure all of you have valid points and whatnot (just trying to save myself from the flame im likely to get from somebody =D)

Solafein — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:43:04 GMT

Honestly, who cares if it's too easy? As a player at 80, you can improve your gear without needing some over-the-top hardcore endgame guild that requires perfect raiding attendance by all of its members. I spent all of BC raiding and cleared Kara to KJ. That being said, I definitely don't mind being able to easily clear the instances/heroics/raids and get gear. I prefer that to having to spend 4 hours or more a night 5 days a week raiding. Does anyone truly realize how much time goes into hardcore raiding? Personally, I spent 150 days of my life raiding at level 70, and even more long ago at 60. I came close to quitting before and after the release of SWP, as the hardcore nature of raiding was just burning me out. It became more of a job to log on and raid with a bunch of mostly annoying (save a few) people that I didn't even know, and sit for hours at a time wiping on the same boss over and over again. I'm not the only person that I know that either thought about or actually quit due to the time WoW required. However, the casual appeal actually encouraged me to buy WotLK and continue playing. Now, players don't have to waste away in front of their computers all day just to have items in a video game that is supposed to be entertaining, and not job-like. People can actually do whatever the hell they want IRL, and have good gear on their characters too! How awesome! Oh, and if your enormous e-peen has been dramatically affected by this, then stop playing WoW and go away. If WoW is that important to you, and you feel that in order to make up for your lack of confidence in IRL you have to be better or more successful in a video game than anyone else, then...you are a very sad case indeed. This isn't aimed at all hardcore raiders/PvPers, but I'm sure everyone knows what kind of people I'm talking about. Anyways, all the Pre-TBC and BC raiders got to have their time as the "omg your gear is so good can i sux ur e-peen" people, and now it's over. After 4 years of catering to only the hardcore WoW addicts (although they slowly added more and more casual aspects, and smartly I might add), Blizzard is actually making "success" in WoW a possibility for casual playing. Hey, and on the bright side, now everyone who used to spend all of their time either raiding/PvPing or farming mats for raids can do productive things in their life like getting a job, or going to school (and passing). Or maybe pursuing a meaningful relationship with the opposite sex. And of course, there always is the option of going outside one's house (if that applies). Not to say that it's impossible to do any of these things while maintaining one's status as a hardcore raider in some top end guild, casual playing definitely makes this easier! And on a final note, if you bought WotLK and are disappointed by the so-called easiness of it, just remember that it's merely a video game and meant to be enjoyed by everyone. Just play it and enjoy the lore, cool graphics, or slaughtering countless numbers of Horde/Alliance (whatever floats your boat).

skier55d — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:30:10 GMT

Correction: 2 and 1/2 men.

skier55d — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:17:03 GMT

I think people are missing the point.

It's not about hardcore vs casual players. Yes, fun is the ultimate goal for both hardcore gamers and casual players alike. Problem is, alot of the fun you get out of a game comes with the difficulty of play. Something too hard is frustrating, people quit or give up. However, if it's too easy, theres no sense of accomplishment, its not fun and results in players giving it up for a game with more challenge.

Keep in mind theres "regular" and "heroic" modes for a reason. Ideally fresh players or the casual types can have an enjoyable experience in the "regular" whilst the 'hardcore' can enjoy a real challenge in "Heroic."

From my personal experience, my guild has been 10 manning the 25 man content. Thats a problem. (They are experienced, T6 geared raiders but aren't worth 1 and 1/2 men each.)

Keeping regular easy is fine, let casual players have their fun, but you need to be able to challenge your devoted fans as well.