What would have gotten you excited?

| Monday, October 24, 2011
I'm cautiously pessimistic about Misty Pandarens and I have a strict policy of never talking about anything when it is relevant, so I am withholding judgement beside the first words of this post and what I said Friday. But let's imagine that hypothetically I was not particularly excited by the announcements and possibly other people were similarly not enthused.

What change to WoW, big or small, would get you excited? I mean resub excited, finding time on your calender excited. I don't mean "I guess I won't unsub yet, it looks good enough."

For myself, I'm going to add the pre-condition that the sub price drops to $1. This is purely to get over my strangely arbitrary cheapness and is not a reflection of what WoW is actually worth. I'd bet that at the current time it would still be worth $15 a month to me. I am not a rational consumer.

I'd like to see massive raids again. While we're at it, old AV or something similar, which mixes large-scale PvP and PvE. That type of content was something I loved, almost a microcosm of WoW, with everything going on in it: rep, questing, PvP, raiding, leveling, even farming for a time.

Dynamic zones. I don't think the unbalanced factions and players would work well with an entirely dynamic world. If we wanted EVE we'd play EVE. But it would be neat to see zones that players could change for a bit of time. Maybe we'd have an outdoor raid to unlock something, like another raid, or a really great farming area. That too, get rid of most daily quests and bring back farming, materials and mob kills, as the primary way that players actively generate income.

19 comments:

Shintar said...

Tough question. More world, fewer bite-sized random tasks with random people. And a general slowing down of everything so people have an actual chance to savour the experience, whether that's levelling up, earning a reputation or basking in the afterglow of having killed a raid boss.

Ephemeron said...

Procedurally generated dungeons, raids, zones and scenarios.

Stabs said...

For me: slow leveling.

I had my most fun in WoW when it took a long time to get 60. I enjoyed watching other people progress and seeing how far behind the highest player I was. I ended up playing mainly with very decent players as we'd left the rubbish ones behind. People also tended to be courteous because the standard was so high they tended to respect each other.

Possibly something like the EQ 1999 progression server would get me interested again.

Imakulata said...

Something that is short, challenging and doesn't involve PvP. At this moment, the quests don't provide much challenge (although at the very start of Cata is was quite a challenging for a new and ungeared 80, I managed to get my priest alt to 80 on Tuesday just a couple of minutes before the servers were shut down for the upgrade so I had a chance to level through the crazy respawn rates with a fresh character) while the raids and (difficult) dungeons take quite a long time. (Yes, I'm looking forward to challenge modes.)

Doing tasks with random people is interesting but most of the time they can't be relied on being bad enough to make the tasks challenging.

I also admit that bringing back farming would get me excited but not in a way I'd appreciate.

Leah said...

WoW going free to play. completely free to play. I tried the endless free trial and its far too restrictive (I cannot even pick up the pets I have tied to my battlenet account, becasue free accounts don't get to mail things). plus it doesn't let me play my original characters.

right now 15 bucks a month for a game I would play extremely sporadically? so not worth it. on sale, I can get 3 games on steam for that money. and they tend to last me longer then a month (heck, I bought Mass effect 1 and 2 for 5 bucks each last year and I'm STILL playing them)

Issy said...

Bard class. Nuff said.

Klepsacovic said...

@Imakulata: "Something that is short, challenging and doesn't involve PvP." That sounds like heroics. "Doing tasks with random people is interesting but most of the time they can't be relied on being bad enough to make the tasks challenging." It sounds as if you like heroics, but people in them don't fail enough for you?

Targeter said...

To be totally honest, I find myself intrigued over MoP as it is. It looks to be adding the fun back into the MMO, and that's quite alright for me. I'll probably resub when MoP drops and play on the nights I'm not raiding in TOR.

Anonymous said...

Retro servers with new content.

If Blizz would rewind WoW's game system to either BC or Wrath status, and then just add some new content to those servers, my entire crew would resub.

As it stands, none of us are interested in playing the current incarnation of the game system, and MoP is blazing a trail even further in the wrong direction.

So giving me the option to elect out of Cata and MoP would definitely get me excited.

Imakulata said...

@Klepsacovic, heroics usually take at least 40-45 minutes, Zuls which are more challenging start at a hour, 1:10. I am looking for something in 15-30 minute range. I understand heroics will eventually end up there - they did in Wrath - by that point they will not be challenging any more.

The random people issue is a bit more complicated and I admit it simplified it too much - to the point when it's not quite right anymore. Note that the perceived fail depends on your point of view - who considers HCs a bump on their way to VPs, will find their group seemingly failing more as their criteria for a successful group are much higher.

Anonymous said...

Bigger level cap, such as 100, or just making the leveling take longer than 1 week to max. Preferably a few months.

Also, an actual progressive/tiered raiding system with gear drops that give you an actual sense of accomplishment instead of everyone wearing the same gear.

Tesh said...

I'm with Leah; drop the stupid subscription already and run with a GW business model. I'll pay for content, but paying for time pisses me off.

That would even allow for classic servers; players only play the "chapters" of the game that they have paid for, including the mechanics for those chapters.

Anonymous said...

Wow.
Hard question.

Like wanted priest says, PRE BC servers that would evolve on their own with different expansions, kinda like a different timeline. But one that kept the style, soul, design philosophy or whatever you want to call it from vanilla.
A different set of servers where a 31 talents puzzle would never be replaced by 6 tiered perks.
I can dream.

Nils said...

- Scrap the random LFD
- Scrap 99% of daily quests
- More diverse mobs in the open world
- More casual content in the open world that is reasonably challenging (=not totally boring).
- Scrap resilience, then add some world PvP with consequences and a third faction
- BUT NO KUNG FU PANDAS !

Klepsacovic said...

@Imakulata: One-boss heroics sound like the thing for you.

@Tesh: You get a post tomorrow. :)

@Nils: I don't think WoW is a game well-suited to consequences. I might like to see it, but not in WoW. It doesn't work there.

Dan said...

What will get me excited is footage of new mechanics - if it's up to Blizzard's usually quality.
As of right now, after seeing a good amount of footage, my next MMO of choice will be Guild Wars II. If Blizzard can top the mechanics on Guild Wars II, I *might* resub.

Anonymous said...

A small vendor shop that hands out the highest tier gear for the entire expansion when you ding max level for free that can't be used in BG's, Raids or dungeons and comes with a tin foil hat.

Typhoonandrew said...

What is exciting? How about an actual enemy. A foe to fight against, which is exciting.

Kring said...

They should have added a new race penguinarians based on the "penguins of madagascar". That would be awesome. I'd love to roll a penguin.

But Pandas... meh.

And if they can't do the penguin thing, maybe this?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6uxvWNGcsQ

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