General Discussion

Our chronic casual gamer Steve Wilson returns this week with his weekly column. This time around, he's talking about World of Warcraft and the bility of casual players to gain epic gear.

I'm often grateful that there's one game out there that seems to be catering more frequently to the casual playstyle with every patch. World of Warcraft's latest patch once again shows that if they don't love the casual player then they are at least doing everything in their power to keep us around. Specifically, the changes to the battlegrounds have done more to put end level gear in the hands of the casual player than any other single event to date. Even with my paltry dozen hours a week (give or take a few hours) of play time I have managed to acquire the end level PvP weapon. And that's doing nothing more than something I already loved, fighting in the battlegrounds (at an hour a session as well).

You can read the whole column here

The patch was by far one of the best they have released... getting close to what the system SHOULD have been like in the beginning.  Finally WoW is waking up to the fact that not everyone loves 40-man instances that require hours upon hours of work for months-on-end to finish.

To me it is not even about the time involved.  I have a bit more time than the OP here to invest, and I could run instances to get gear... but who wants to do that?  (Well obviously quite a few people... but not many in my guild)  This is a PERFECT solution for guilds like mine that are mostly PvP oriented and have a wide variety of players in them.  We have some extremely hardcore guys (10-16 hours a day) and some very casual folks (10-16 hours a month).  Now we can ALL participate together in an activity that we enjoy (BGs and such) and everyone gets the same benefit from it.  Sure the guys in green gear are not doing much more than harrassing the enemy, but who cares... its about community as much as accomplishment.  And, those greenies are becoming purply much faster than ever possible before with the new system.

My only beef so far is that it seems we have to wait until 70 for the next set of PvP rewards... don't know why Blizz thinks we need to spend 10 more levels of instances and grinding before we can use honor points for gear...

Yea... I have heard the same... and in a way I felt that impact too.  I am in a mix of T1/2 gear, and now I see folks getting gear comparable or better in a matter of weeks... but all in all it makes the game more fun.  Our guild rarely ran BGs before this because the honor was meaningless and the people we played were idiots.  Winning every map every time because the opponents have no gear just stops being fun after a while.  And, since there was about ZERO motivation for the raiding crew to PvP they never stepped foot into the BGs.

Now, though, you have many geared out guilds participating in the action, and even the Puggers are getting better gear, and it makes for an all-around more enjoyable experience.  The more steps they get to making the playing field more equal, the more fun their game will become.  I think Blizz is finally learning that lesson.

Originally posted by MillaMerani
I don't PvP so where are my casual epics?  One might say it is not real PvP at all, rather a massive honor farming fest, but still...

There is no part of WoW that does not require farming... so yea that should be nothing new to you.  The issue here is what you have to DO while putting in your time.  For those whose brain's go numb and eyes bleed when they see the same instance for the 20th time... but who don't mind running PvP instances (as they are at least a TOUCH different game to game), well this allows a more palletable grind.

I don't know if there is a way to remove WORK from REWARD, even in a game... and honestly I don't know if I would want to play such a game anyway.  The important part is making the "work" side enjoyable enough to do and making the "reward" side worth the investment.

Originally posted by Vinadil

Originally posted by MillaMerani
I don't PvP so where are my casual epics?  One might say it is not real PvP at all, rather a massive honor farming fest, but still...

There is no part of WoW that does not require farming... so yea that should be nothing new to you.  The issue here is what you have to DO while putting in your time.  For those whose brain's go numb and eyes bleed when they see the same instance for the 20th time... but who don't mind running PvP instances (as they are at least a TOUCH different game to game), well this allows a more palletable grind.

 

I don't know if there is a way to remove WORK from REWARD, even in a game... and honestly I don't know if I would want to play such a game anyway.  The important part is making the "work" side enjoyable enough to do and making the "reward" side worth the investment.

WORK  | GRIND =/= Fun

Many people justify the need for hard work to get an epic item by saying "EPIC means EPIC effort".

I say that's bullshit. EPIC effort should mean EPIC FUN! EPIC should be EPIC difficulty, but difficulty =/= grinding. Grinding is a simple time sink that the companies put into their games to keep you subscribed. Designing something that is based on grinding for honor/reputation/items does not require creativity.

Ok, they designed an armor upgrade quest. It could have been fun if the results were worthy of the effort, but the upgraded stats are just slightly better than those of the old items.

I guess Blizzard is aware of the issue because - as far as I know (I may be wrong, I only say what a guildmate and friend told me about his experience in TBC beta) - some of the Burning Crusade quest items/drops are actually better than T2 items so player like me who don't like the grinding/pvp'ing aspect of the game (I'm a questing freak so bear with me) will have a chance to catch up with the raiding guys.

Btw, I agree this was a positive patch.  The fact that it does not offer anything to non-PVP'ers does not detract from its positive effects.

Too bad, MMORPG's have not evolved to the point yet where dynamic content dominates the max level end-game, offering fun for all playstyles. Hell, people may argue that it is something that is nearly impossible to achieve, but the same could have been said about the MMO's of today just one decade ago.

Originally posted by MillaMerani

Originally posted by Vinadil

Originally posted by MillaMerani
I don't PvP so where are my casual epics?  One might say it is not real PvP at all, rather a massive honor farming fest, but still...

There is no part of WoW that does not require farming... so yea that should be nothing new to you.  The issue here is what you have to DO while putting in your time.  For those whose brain's go numb and eyes bleed when they see the same instance for the 20th time... but who don't mind running PvP instances (as they are at least a TOUCH different game to game), well this allows a more palletable grind.

 

I don't know if there is a way to remove WORK from REWARD, even in a game... and honestly I don't know if I would want to play such a game anyway.  The important part is making the "work" side enjoyable enough to do and making the "reward" side worth the investment.

WORK  | GRIND =/= Fun

Many people justify the need for hard work to get an epic item by saying "EPIC means EPIC effort".

I say that's bullshit. EPIC effort should mean EPIC FUN! EPIC should be EPIC difficulty, but difficulty =/= grinding. Grinding is a simple time sink that the companies put into their games to keep you subscribed. Designing something that is based on grinding for honor/reputation/items does not require creativity.

Ok, they designed an armor upgrade quest. It could have been fun if the results were worthy of the effort, but the upgraded stats are just slightly better than those of the old items.

I guess Blizzard is aware of the issue because - as far as I know (I may be wrong, I only say what a guildmate and friend told me about his experience in TBC beta) - some of the Burning Crusade quest items/drops are actually better than T2 items so player like me who don't like the grinding/pvp'ing aspect of the game (I'm a questing freak so bear with me) will have a chance to catch up with the raiding guys.

Btw, I agree this was a positive patch.  The fact that it does not offer anything to non-PVP'ers does not detract from its positive effects.

Too bad, MMORPG's have not evolved to the point yet where dynamic content dominates the max level end-game, offering fun for all playstyles. Hell, people may argue that it is something that is nearly impossible to achieve, but the same could have been said about the MMO's of tod