When do you feel empowered in World of Warcraft?

[Deleted]

Every single game/mmo rely on a simple formula of incentive. The feeling of starting weak; becoming stronger/ powerful; using and showing that power.
My question is when do you feel accomplished/ empowered in World of Warcraft?

I just wanted to share with you how another franchise following the basic formula of Wow is doing this...and maybe somehow relate and compare to World of Warcraft:

Monster Hunter



In this game you socialize in lobby's and the incentive starts there. Just watching the other players wearing all this sorts of cool and amazing armors makes you want to be like them.
In Monster Hunter armor symbolizes:
-Accomplishment
-Skill
-Look Awesome
-Better Stats
-Unique Abilities

And another beautiful thing about this game is the "endgame cycle":
-"I want to be the best"
-"I am the best"
-"I am going to help new players while looking awesome and get rewards doing it"

Basically what im saying is that even after you accomplished your goals you don't want to quit playing....because you have yet to feel the "feeling of empowerment". And we get this feeling by helping lower levels, showing them how stronger they can become and how cool they can be with endgame gear.
And all this while still getting rewards good enough to make high level gear.

World of Warcraft



In Wow I kinda feel the end game is messed up. Is LFR endgame content? Or is it a "tourist mode"?
It makes more sense to me if LFR is endgame content because the gear look as awesome as anything of harder difficulty. But if its supposed to be a "tourist mode"...then why are we getting epics with tier bonus and cool looking armors? I don't get it. Is the sense of empowerment in item level alone?
I really feel LFR could be used as a tool to get decent rewards at max level while helping the community getting better armor but...the sense of empowerment and reward is missing here.
Hence the question "when do you feel empowered in this game?"

[Feali]

For me it's about PvE progression. If I kill the last boss of an expansion it's like finishing a good RPG game. I can focus on "side quests" and exploring stuff I didn't have the time to because of the "main quest".

[MrWolly]

The main difference with MH is it's a lot more skill oriented than WoW. While your gear does play a crucial role in your adventures, you can solo monsters without it if you know what you're doing. Granted, by doing so you would sacrifice gems and armor perks, but some people do it. I also feel like you have a lot more control over your playstyle in MH due to their not really being any classes, and your overall versatility is nearly infinite. Although, carrying in MH is a lot more possible, because someone can just wait back at the camp while an over-geared player beats the shit out of the monster, but all-in-all, Monster Hunter is a much more balanced game. I've been playing the game since 2005, and I've never really had any qualms with it...except for the original powderstone mission, that mission can go eat a dick.

[Schinto]

For me it's about PvE progression. If I kill the last boss of an expansion it's like finishing a good RPG game. I can focus on "side quests" and exploring stuff I didn't have the time to because of the "main quest".

I came back to WoW after a long break after the HC nerf in Cata, leveled up to 90, killed garrosh 3 days later and I must say I felt sick, in a bad way. And I felt anything but empowered.

I also have no incentive to look for a guild for any of the other difficulties since it's just like turning TES:Oblivion or whatever similar game from "Normal" to "Hard" it's just artificial difficulty, most of the bosses gain no new abilities and the only thing that changes is they have more HP and their shit hits higher.

HOLY SHIT SO COMPELLING! /sarcasm

I honestly feel like LFR isn't doing the game any favors and I really enjoyed PvE, I played through all of TBC/Wrath/early-cata, and I really liked doing PvE back then, but now, what the fuck do I have to gain from joining a guild? Other than being stuck to a raid schedule and "having" to play at certain times, just to do what I could be doing with a lower artificial difficulty, and with a bunch of random people who act autistic.

[Nazmina]

My alts in lfr gear struggle to solo most old world raids and get slaughtered in world pvp and they take forever to solo rares.

My Heroic warforged main can chain pull to bosses and solo MoP instances, one shot rares, facetank lichking as a clothy and solo it, and take on 2-3 lfr geared players in the world.

I do not merely feel empowered, I feel like a god.

[TheWindWalker]

I came back to WoW after a long break after the HC nerf in Cata, leveled up to 90, killed garrosh 3 days later and I must say I felt sick, in a bad way. And I felt anything but empowered.

I also have no incentive to look for a guild for any of the other difficulties since it's just like turning TES:Oblivion or whatever similar game from "Normal" to "Hard" it's just artificial difficulty, most of the bosses gain no new abilities and the only thing that changes is they have more HP and their shit hits higher.

HOLY SHIT SO COMPELLING! /sarcasm

Ya know, I'm just gonna guess you beat Garrosh in LFR and didn't bother to look up heroic modes. As far as I know, not a single boss in SoO doesn't have additional mechanics and different strategies when going from Normal to Heroic and most of them only get simple again once you outgear them.

[Muezick]

Scorpion Bear on heroic Paragons.

Highlight of my week, tbh.

[Schinto]

Ya know, I'm just gonna guess you beat Garrosh in LFR and didn't bother to look up heroic modes. As far as I know, not a single boss in SoO doesn't have additional mechanics and different strategies when going from Normal to Heroic and most of them only get simple again once you outgear them.

Ofcourse, I did say 3 days after hitting 90 right?

And yeah but mostly it's still artificial difficulty, and when I checked the dungeon journal I didn't see many new abilities, on normal anyway, maybe I'm wrong in this.
Not like I could be bothered to do some actual research since the content has been cleared.

[Scratches]

When do I feel accomplished/empowered? Whenever I use Shield Slam as a level-15 prot warrior... shit, I don't just feel empowered -- I feel like a god.

pvp... working as intended...

[Deleted]

When do I feel accomplished/empowered? Whenever I use Shield Slam as a level-15 prot warrior... shit, I don't just feel empowered -- I feel like a god.

pvp... working as intended...

Hahaha, i can't believe someone beat me to this.

But yeah, this alone has been the reason for multiple Prot warriors being rolled.

I can't tell if it's the sound or the damage or just the concept of Slamming someone in the face with a shield, so hard - that they DIE ; that is empowering to me, but it's great.

Also , having great versatility in form of control in fights - As in being able to determine if people die or live (i've played all 3 roles, but i lean towards DPS or Healer mainly) is the greatest incentive for beign "Empowered" for me.

Now if ONLY they would add Palpatine's lightning....

[Jester Joe]

I want to disagree about gear looks...

BUT GOD I LOVE MONSTER HUNTER.

But in WoW when I accomplish something that's a challenge, be it soloing something, or killing a heroic boss in my guild.

[Deleted]

When I powershot their healer behind LoS to score a kill on his partner or something along those lines. Moments like that where I play above my usual ability make me feel pretty empowered.

[Deleted]

Not like I could be bothered to do some actual research since the content has been cleared.

If you don't consider higher difficulties content then that's on you. I, for one, don't feel like stopping to play the game because I killed a boss once on the easiest difficulty.

OT: Mostly PvE progression, but as I'm playing casually nowadays and just join some pugs when I've got some spare time, it's probably ilvl/dps that drives my thirst for the game.

[Saphyron]

For me endgame is 2 things.

Progression.
I start out in a new expansion with nothing. I slowly or quickly depends on my luck gear through dungeons then heroic then lfr then normal then heroic raid. I then work on my other engame which is getting every single achivement in the game. when new patch comes around depending on my luck and gear i go through lfr then normal then heroic and start doing achievements again.

Sadly because I am lasy and my old raiding team was casual i never really finished heroic.

But my aim is to 100% dedicate that formula to wod except i am also adding garrisons to my list.

[nekobaka]

Overcoming a task with a group of players requiring teamwork. Gear is a tool. I will push myself for the betterment of the group as a whole, topping meters is not the goal.

[rayden54]

First time I felt "empowered" was when I went back and one-shotted a mob that killed me repeatedly at low level... I'd never gone back before.

It's funny, it seems like every time you get stronger, so do the mobs. I wonder how much that matters in raiding.

Kill mob A in 10 minutes. Get better gear. Kill mob A in 5 minutes. Next tier comes out. Now it takes 10 minutes to kill mob B. Even though objectively you're getting stronger, it feels like you're getting weaker and you have to work even harder to feel like you're standing still. Hmmmm.

[OzoAndIndi]

Embowered? Eh, not really ever... suppose if anything it's a light toss up between gear look, gear level, and damage numbers. But that little bit only really lasts until it's been old news.

Did get a compliment recently on the look of my Belf's gear, that was nice since I'm kinda proud of his mog.

[Sinndra]

i am finding it harder and harder to "feel empowered" due to too much RNG and farming. i like some things to be rare and somewhat difficult to get, but there just doesnt seem to be anything in the mid range that is fun to get. everything has to have an obnoxious grind to it, because the only real sense of progression is player.

other MMO's are catching on to the player housing aspect which allows them to give rewards during the interim of one major conquest to the next. and those interim rewards will feel nice with little to no grind (hopefully). if not, well, another one bites the dust.

im not saying i dont want to work for things.. but i dont want to work for EVERYTHING. i dont want the only decent tmog gear to be blocked behind terrible RNG. i dont want every decent mount to be blocked behind elitist doorways. they can still have those mounts, just there should be other mounts of equal standards and beauty but with relative ease to gain. i dont want weeks of farming rep, or days to weeks of camping rares, and world bosses should not have mounts of less than 1% drop rates. well not ~all~. some sure.. but all? no.

ive been playing WoW for far too long that there doesnt seem to be any reward left to get during the interim. all i can do is farm the horrible RNG of the latest tier.

[Sixteen18]

Over the years I have grown to be much more concerned with aesthetics. I used to enjoy the competition Wow offered with progression raiding and arena, but these days I play it sort of on autopilot. Having a good looking character has become a must.

[brunnor]

When I do or get things other's don't have. Killing bosses before other people, getting a rare drop mount while it's still rare etc. I value the unique aspect for "empowerment". If lots of other people look the same as me, have the same mount, title, ilvl etc, it just doesn't feel the same.