Artifact appearance gated behind the nighthold.

[Nurvus]

Maybe if people make enough pressure, Blizzard will also make Gladiator-only Mounts available through LFR, because "content should be available for everyone".

[Blayze]

I would say that the legendary system and titan/warforged system is great for casuals.

It's great for casuals who don't plan on raiding.
Any who do will have to hope they get lucky enough to be considered for baseline normal content.

[4dahorde]

Please, people, stop using the word 'gated'. EVERYTHING in this game is 'gated' behind SOMETHING. EVERYTHING in this game takes some sort of time/effort to achieve, be it doing a few WQs, doing a few dungeons...or heaven forbid, you have to do a long lengthy quest chain/achievement filled treck for a COSMETIC reward.

This seems to be the new flavor of the month/expansion word. All I see on forums now is 'gated'. Well, no shit. Things in this game have always, in some way been 'gated' behind doing something. "Oh, I can't do a dungeon when i want to because it is gated behind rep" "I can't fly when i want to because it is gated behind achievements" "I can't have a cosmetic reward because it is gated...blah blah blah.

Entitled. "They better give me everything I want, when I want it, or I am going to go to forums and complain because this is bullshit" That is the mentality of 90% of the posts on WoW related forums.

[Tradu]

It's not about the storytelling, it's about them trying to make casuals into hardcores.
They tried it with Cataclysm to cover up the fact that there was fuck all endgame other than overtuned group content.

Why do you reckon we have Titanforging? It's to try and force casuals to become hardcore.
They know how the community works. They know that a higher iLevel available means a higher iLevel demanded.
Titanforging lets them increase the iLevel disparity between casuals and hardcores, which (a) keeps casuals out of the premade Group Finder until they cave and decide to become hardcore to try and meet the insane iLevel requirements demanded, and (b) satisfies the tryhards' incessant need for epeen.

Yeah, all those systems that allow more casual, non-raiding players to get gear equivalent to those who raid are definitely there in an attempt to punish casuals. Wait... what?

[Kardagh]

It is a bit BS that you can't use the skin until you have done the raiding questline.

Not everyone raids, so you lock out people who do their preferred mode of content (Mythics, achievement runs) until they do the content BLIZZARD WANTS you to do.

Well done Blizzard, once again catering to that narrow demographic.

[Blayze]

Yeah, all those systems that allow more casual, non-raiding players to get gear equivalent to those who raid are definitely there in an attempt to punish casuals. Wait... what?

It's equivalent FOR NOW. That's the important thing to remember.

LFR is currently 835 and normal 850, for a difference of 15.
But Nighthold has LFR at 845 and normal at 875, for a difference of 30.

Blizzard want to get non-raiders hooked on normal+ raiding with the stick of "you won't be able to keep up and get into normal groups otherwise."

[Xilurm]

Yay, another mindless "entitled!" post. This fucking community, I swear.

And yes, things are "gated". No shit. The entire topic here is criticizing the nature of this specific gating because it's silly. You know it's ok to critique the game, right?

Lemme guess, you'd prefer to be able to buy this from the store?

[Lochton]

If that is the intended design (and I don't believe that it is, but we'll go with that), then it clearly failed.

There's really no way of looking at this situation that makes Blizzard look good.

What would your idea of a good design be then? Content can't be 100% dictated by skill, as it is an MMO. You don't wish for timegating either. Sooo...

[Xilurm]

It is a bit BS that you can't use the skin until you have done the raiding questline.

Not everyone raids, so you lock out people who do their preferred mode of content (Mythics, achievement runs) until they do the content BLIZZARD WANTS you to do.

Well done Blizzard, once again catering to that narrow demographic.

So what then? What the fuck is supposed to be the reward for doing that questline then?

[Krille]

It's equivalent FOR NOW. That's the important thing to remember.

LFR is currently 835 and normal 850, for a difference of 15.
But Nighthold has LFR at 845 and normal at 875, for a difference of 30.

Blizzard want to get non-raiders hooked on normal+ raiding with the stick of "you won't be able to keep up and get into normal groups otherwise."

Guess what.. If you don't raid anything above LFR you can't and shouldn't expect to be on par with those who do raid. This is working as intended.

[Blayze]

So what then? What the fuck is supposed to be the reward for doing that questline then?

Let us complete the quest on any difficulty, and move the skin to Gul'dan on normal or above after the questchain is completed.
The quest can give AP; that seems to be Blizzard's go-to "fuck you" reward these days.

Guess what.. If you don't raid anything above LFR you can't and shouldn't expect to be on par with those who do raid. This is working as intended.

The problem is you won't be able to get INTO a normal raid, because of the community demanding iLevels that increase faster than you can ever hope to keep up with. Even creating your own group won't do shit, as people would rather fail to get into a 'better' group than risk wasting their time on yours.

[Raiju]

So what then? What the fuck is supposed to be the reward for doing that questline then?

That specific colour rather than the entire row. The row locking makes no sense outside of the hidden one anyway.

[Xilurm]

Let us complete the quest on any difficulty, and move the skin to Gul'dan on normal or above after the questchain is completed.
The quest can give AP; that seems to be Blizzard's go-to "fuck you" reward these days.

That specific colour rather than the entire row. The row locking makes no sense outside of the hidden one anyway.

I don't even want to think what would happen if it was on Hard difficulty instead.

[Raiju]

I don't even want to think what would happen if it was on Hard difficulty instead.

Mythic+15 is far harder than farming raids on normal. Don't kid yourself. Honestly the achievements are far harder too.

[Krille]

The problem is you won't be able to get INTO a normal raid, because of the community demanding iLevels that increase faster than you can ever hope to keep up with. Even creating your own group won't do shit, as people would rather fail to get into a 'better' group than risk wasting their time on yours.

Weird.. I see a bunch of "slow runs" in the group finder which specifically states that it's a group of lower geared players. Seems nobody wants to join those runs, because guess what, even the ones with low gear/non-raiders want to do the raid fast. You can't expect to get into a raid that aims to do the raid in under an hour if you don't have the gear for it. I don't see the problem here.

- - - Updated - - -

Mythic+15 is far harder than farming raids on normal. Don't kid yourself. Honestly the achievements are far harder too.

At this moment yes. Maybe Blizzard didn't expect people to do the +15 in this gear, but in Nighthold gear (which probably isnt THAT hard with 900+ ilvl). But this is part of a bigger problem of Blizzard always underestimating their players. Look at EN mythic for fast reference.

[Blayze]

Weird.. I see a bunch of "slow runs" in the group finder which specifically states that it's a group of lower geared players.

All I see are groups demanding 850 or 855 plus. I even saw an 860 earlier today. This is for normal.
The number of times I've read "fail once and be kicked"...

[Krille]

All I see are groups demanding 850 or 855 plus. I even saw an 860 earlier today. This is for normal.
The number of times I've read "fail once and be kicked"...

Looking right now i see 2 raids in group finder for EN normal with 835 as requirement (on EU). And they're mostly empty. The average actually seems to be about 840, so i think you're exaggerating the gear humping. The high ilvls are for raids that want to do it really fast, i don't see the problem with that.

[Blayze]

Looking right now i see 2 raids in group finder for EN normal with 835 as requirement (on EU). And they're mostly empty. The average actually seems to be about 840, so i think you're exaggerating the gear humping.

My battlegroup must be more cancerous than yours, then.

[Seditian]

Mythic+15 is far harder than farming raids on normal. Don't kid yourself. Honestly the achievements are far harder too.

Mythic +15 is harder than Mythic EN by far. Even on the simplest affixes in the rotation. Legion Hero should've been the unlock, second color would be world bosses, third would be Balance of Power and the final one with the +15 mythic requirement.

I do kinda understand why they want a big questline to unlock the appearance row, though. But they shouldn't have locked it behind Nighthold. Ah well, it's not like they're going to change it.

[Queen of Hamsters]

As with everything else, you either jump through the hoops set in place as a requirement for certain rewards, or you accept that you won't obtain those rewards.

Simple as that really.