Thorrock
02-04-2008, 05:11 PM
Looking at the home page here, the Top Ten WoW Gripes were......interesting. When it comes down to it, it would take several years, if ever, to actually get a "balance" in this game. Before I begin here, I will say that this is mainly for PvE, b/c PvP isn't required in the leveling process.
But going off a point that was made, what do I consider to be the biggest complaint and everyone else's resolve?:
Complaint: "My class is underpowered"
Solution: "Re-roll another class if you don't like it"
Yes. Re-rolling might resolve a small % of the population. But for those of us who actually have jobs/families/more responsibilities, who has time to level another character to 70? Or who even wants to?
Complaints:
1) The time it takes to get from 1-70 with limited play time (10-20 hours/week) is astronomical, only to be made worse by being required to get to 80 in WotLK for the level cap.
2) It took me almost 9 months to level my first character (warrior) to 70, when I began playing in March of 2007. I was able to level another character (mage) much quicker, but it still took many, many hours of playing ONLY the newly created one.
3) For the time it takes to level a character to 70, you run into a few problems:
a) Never being able to find a group for quests and don't even get me started on instances, if you do not have guild support.
b) If you do find said group, we all know how most PuG's turn out >.<
c) Restraints on time/effort make it impossible to just sit around in LFG hoping that a group will be available, then running the instance (which could take anywhere from 1-4 hours, depending on the number of bosses/quests available).
4) When you finally do get this new character to 70, how do you know your skill level? How are you supposed to judge your PvE prowess if you've run a few instances or never been in an instance before with your new character? How can you assume that you know the character very well if you've never been in countless group settings?
My proposed solutions (taken from an idea that was quoted in the original post on the home page and one of my own):
It seems kind of obvious to me that Blizzard has shifted this game towards more of a group/guild mentality since 2.0 (at least). They want people to work as a team but make finding this said team extremely difficult and when you do, who's to say that anyone on the team has any skill whatsoever? What if they did the following.......
1) Every 10 levels, you are required to complete a very difficult quest using most, if not all, of your abilities to continue leveling. You cannot complete this quest in a group. You MUST solo it. Whatever the objective would be, YOU would be the only one who can attack the mobs/loot the materials. So basically, you are REQUIRED to do this task if you want to progress starting from level 20, 30, etc. etc.
Suggestions: (Warrior) Require class to do a series of fights using all three stances to stay alive (i.e. mob who fears into some form of damaging AoE on the ground, mob who is required to be stunned using intercept, charge, etc., mob who has to be sundered, then shield slammed.......you get my drift)
(Priest) Requires class to keep a group of targets alive while being attacked for a certain duration OR requires them to kill certain targets while in shadow form, while shifting out to heal a friendly target when they start running OOM.
Just some ideas there. It would make each and every class learn their roles/abilities while providing a really "unique-to-WoW" way of leveling. Giving out a nice piece of blue (or dare I say purple:wink2:) gear at each appropriate level would make it worthwhile. At the same time, it would teach everyone which kind of gear to pick for their respective class. This may even help in resolving some loot conflicts in later raiding.
2) We all know the "ugh" time we've spent in LFG or trying to get into one instance, only to go with a potentially horrible group, never see anything drop/never finish, or a combination of both.
Similar to the last idea, you would be required to do this. Instead of doing it per level, you should have to run 1-2 instances, completing a form of quest, to unlock the quests from the next zone(s).
Suggestions: You are level 21. To progress to the Duskwood/Wetlands/Hillsbrad/ quests, you must kill Aku'mai in BFD or the equivalent.
I know, I know. I can already here those who only love PvP groaning. Ok. Let's make a comparison. You must win 4-6 WSG's in the 10-19 or 20-29 bracket and capture one flag before being able to move on.
I think this type of synergy with groups may provide a unique look on a new way of leveling and making sure that people know at least a bit of the following:
1) Know how to work in instance groups
2) Learn how to PvP more effectively as a team
3) Recognize the use and necessity of certain abilities
But going off a point that was made, what do I consider to be the biggest complaint and everyone else's resolve?:
Complaint: "My class is underpowered"
Solution: "Re-roll another class if you don't like it"
Yes. Re-rolling might resolve a small % of the population. But for those of us who actually have jobs/families/more responsibilities, who has time to level another character to 70? Or who even wants to?
Complaints:
1) The time it takes to get from 1-70 with limited play time (10-20 hours/week) is astronomical, only to be made worse by being required to get to 80 in WotLK for the level cap.
2) It took me almost 9 months to level my first character (warrior) to 70, when I began playing in March of 2007. I was able to level another character (mage) much quicker, but it still took many, many hours of playing ONLY the newly created one.
3) For the time it takes to level a character to 70, you run into a few problems:
a) Never being able to find a group for quests and don't even get me started on instances, if you do not have guild support.
b) If you do find said group, we all know how most PuG's turn out >.<
c) Restraints on time/effort make it impossible to just sit around in LFG hoping that a group will be available, then running the instance (which could take anywhere from 1-4 hours, depending on the number of bosses/quests available).
4) When you finally do get this new character to 70, how do you know your skill level? How are you supposed to judge your PvE prowess if you've run a few instances or never been in an instance before with your new character? How can you assume that you know the character very well if you've never been in countless group settings?
My proposed solutions (taken from an idea that was quoted in the original post on the home page and one of my own):
It seems kind of obvious to me that Blizzard has shifted this game towards more of a group/guild mentality since 2.0 (at least). They want people to work as a team but make finding this said team extremely difficult and when you do, who's to say that anyone on the team has any skill whatsoever? What if they did the following.......
1) Every 10 levels, you are required to complete a very difficult quest using most, if not all, of your abilities to continue leveling. You cannot complete this quest in a group. You MUST solo it. Whatever the objective would be, YOU would be the only one who can attack the mobs/loot the materials. So basically, you are REQUIRED to do this task if you want to progress starting from level 20, 30, etc. etc.
Suggestions: (Warrior) Require class to do a series of fights using all three stances to stay alive (i.e. mob who fears into some form of damaging AoE on the ground, mob who is required to be stunned using intercept, charge, etc., mob who has to be sundered, then shield slammed.......you get my drift)
(Priest) Requires class to keep a group of targets alive while being attacked for a certain duration OR requires them to kill certain targets while in shadow form, while shifting out to heal a friendly target when they start running OOM.
Just some ideas there. It would make each and every class learn their roles/abilities while providing a really "unique-to-WoW" way of leveling. Giving out a nice piece of blue (or dare I say purple:wink2:) gear at each appropriate level would make it worthwhile. At the same time, it would teach everyone which kind of gear to pick for their respective class. This may even help in resolving some loot conflicts in later raiding.
2) We all know the "ugh" time we've spent in LFG or trying to get into one instance, only to go with a potentially horrible group, never see anything drop/never finish, or a combination of both.
Similar to the last idea, you would be required to do this. Instead of doing it per level, you should have to run 1-2 instances, completing a form of quest, to unlock the quests from the next zone(s).
Suggestions: You are level 21. To progress to the Duskwood/Wetlands/Hillsbrad/ quests, you must kill Aku'mai in BFD or the equivalent.
I know, I know. I can already here those who only love PvP groaning. Ok. Let's make a comparison. You must win 4-6 WSG's in the 10-19 or 20-29 bracket and capture one flag before being able to move on.
I think this type of synergy with groups may provide a unique look on a new way of leveling and making sure that people know at least a bit of the following:
1) Know how to work in instance groups
2) Learn how to PvP more effectively as a team
3) Recognize the use and necessity of certain abilities