NickMcC (not verified) on August 14, 2006 - 21:49.
There's a number of points in your post that I'd like to address. First, I really do appreciate that people enjoy the challenge of raiding. That's not in question. I would never want to change or interfere in that enjoyment, although you admit yourself that you don't particularly enjoy it. I get the sense from your post that you consider the existance of a gear "gradient" to be integral to your enjoyment of the game. You need to feel that the hours you put in to differentiate your characters gear must be rewarded. I understand that, to be honest, and I wish I had that option outside of raiding. But what you perhaps like to characterise as laziness is, in my case, a total unwillingness to participate in raiding because the bullshit you have to put up with pretty much ruins my gaming experience. I've raided, not extensively, but enough to know it's simply not for me. I also would like to say that the hours I put into my character are rewarded fairly. The difference between you and me is that I have a far lower tolerance threshold for putting up with raiding. Call it laziness if you like, but it is what it is.
Secondly, the "raiders need epic gear because of epic encounters argument" is, in my view, only a partial justification. The full truth of the matter is, players favouring one play style (raiding) not only get gear that lets them fulfill their playing style, but also dominate another (PvP). If you think this is fair, then you are saying that your play style is somehow more deserving than not only mine (solo/small group), but also people who favour PvP. I don't have much sympathy with that attitude, particularly when you consider that there are many players that put as much time in as raiders do. Why should the same time investment spent solo not yield the same rewards? I also think you conflate player preference with design-driven behaviour. They are not the same. People would flee raiding if there were alternatives and the game would not collapse.
"how do you expect people to face increasingly difficult content not meant for mass consumption if they can't increase their stats to a level that puts them on par with raid mobs?"
The point is that Blizzard design both ends of the stick, here. They control the gear and the mobs. There is no law of design or gaming that necessitates the gear gradient we see in WoW today. You can have epic encounters and smaller five mans that give out roughly equivalent gear. Why could Blizzard not design tiered 5 mans similiar to the current raid content? I have yet to hear a compelling argument against this, from a design standpoint.
At the end of the day, I believe the gear disparity is part of what players like yourself enjoy. That's fine, I can honestly understand that. We all like to differentiate our characters. I don't accept that raiding is somehow more deserving than other playstyles. It deserves no special place in the MMORPG pantheon.
Reply
Who's online
There are currently 0 users and 105 guests online.
Re: Honor system revamp and world PvP
There's a number of points in your post that I'd like to address. First, I really do appreciate that people enjoy the challenge of raiding. That's not in question. I would never want to change or interfere in that enjoyment, although you admit yourself that you don't particularly enjoy it. I get the sense from your post that you consider the existance of a gear "gradient" to be integral to your enjoyment of the game. You need to feel that the hours you put in to differentiate your characters gear must be rewarded. I understand that, to be honest, and I wish I had that option outside of raiding. But what you perhaps like to characterise as laziness is, in my case, a total unwillingness to participate in raiding because the bullshit you have to put up with pretty much ruins my gaming experience. I've raided, not extensively, but enough to know it's simply not for me. I also would like to say that the hours I put into my character are rewarded fairly. The difference between you and me is that I have a far lower tolerance threshold for putting up with raiding. Call it laziness if you like, but it is what it is.
Secondly, the "raiders need epic gear because of epic encounters argument" is, in my view, only a partial justification. The full truth of the matter is, players favouring one play style (raiding) not only get gear that lets them fulfill their playing style, but also dominate another (PvP). If you think this is fair, then you are saying that your play style is somehow more deserving than not only mine (solo/small group), but also people who favour PvP. I don't have much sympathy with that attitude, particularly when you consider that there are many players that put as much time in as raiders do. Why should the same time investment spent solo not yield the same rewards? I also think you conflate player preference with design-driven behaviour. They are not the same. People would flee raiding if there were alternatives and the game would not collapse.
"how do you expect people to face increasingly difficult content not meant for mass consumption if they can't increase their stats to a level that puts them on par with raid mobs?"
The point is that Blizzard design both ends of the stick, here. They control the gear and the mobs. There is no law of design or gaming that necessitates the gear gradient we see in WoW today. You can have epic encounters and smaller five mans that give out roughly equivalent gear. Why could Blizzard not design tiered 5 mans similiar to the current raid content? I have yet to hear a compelling argument against this, from a design standpoint.
At the end of the day, I believe the gear disparity is part of what players like yourself enjoy. That's fine, I can honestly understand that. We all like to differentiate our characters. I don't accept that raiding is somehow more deserving than other playstyles. It deserves no special place in the MMORPG pantheon.