Addon - BtW Quests, Tweets, Hearthstone BlizzCon Golden Legendary, HeroStorm

[chaud]

Diablo Patch 2.6.1 Now Live

Funny & Lucky Moments Reaches Episode 300! The 30 Minute Moments Special

Addon - BtW Quests
The BtW Quests addon shows your progress within quest chains, including your current quest and also all the future quests in the line, how they all connect and other quest lines they lead to or require.

You can open the window with "/btwquests". The currently supported quest lines are:

• Balance of Power
• All 5 chapters of Azsuna
• All 7 chapters of Val'Sharah
• All 11 chapters of Suramar as well as Insurrection
• Most of the Broken Shore quest lines
• Most of the Argus quest lines

World of Warcraft - Arena World Championship
The Wow Arena World Championship kicks off Monday afternoon at 11:00 am PDT! You can watch all the matches on all the days on Twitch, with Days 2 and 3 on the WoW esports stage live at BlizzCon, and broadcast on the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket.

You can see the brackets here and meet the teams here.

We'll potentially have the opportunity to talk to the teams and casters, so if you have questions you would like answered, submit them!

Game Developer Tweets

In a recent post on WoW, you said it’s easy in a rewards based system to manipulate players. How can you tell the difference between fun and manipulation? Sometimes it feels like a fine line between the two. Is manipulation related to when players do “bottom-feeding” like the Destiny loot cave?
I think the lines are often blurred, and sometimes even blurred for an individual player. Some evenings you may be enjoying the activity itself, and other evenings you may just be sticking around because you are close to a milestone on your reward. Some evenings you may be enjoying the activity, but it’s really only the reward that is keeping you from logging off, playing another game, going to bed, or ranting about Game of Thrones.

All of that said, overall I try to look and see if players are focused on the short term thing they are doing now, or if they are they only focused on the long term reward. Are they only playing for the rewards? Would the content even be fun without the rewards? A slot machine without rewards gets boring really quickly, so I would say it doesn’t pass the test. A game of League of Legends is (hopefully) fun, and we have a lot of players who have played 500+ games, so it’s probably not just “the grind” that is keeping them going.

I didn’t play Destiny, but I am familiar with the loot cave. But I also don’t think you can say “See? Players were trying to short cut the reward system for that game, so clearly the gameplay wasn’t very compelling.” A game can be fun and players may still feel compelled to do least-common-denominator type stuff to get rewards. I refer often to the Mechanar, the BC-era dungeon in WoW that everyone farmed on heroic because it was generous with its currency badges. I think Mechanar was a fine dungeon and I farmed it a lot to get my Sun Eater. But I think it is specious to argue that Mechanar was sooo much more fun than the other BC dungeons that players ran it at such high rates. If anything, Mechanar was causing players not to run dungeons that they might have enjoyed more (or benefit from the variety that is so helpful in keeping dungeons from getting stale) because the rewards were poorly tuned.

I compare it a lot to a long car trip. I love road trips overall (which typically goes along with spending a lot of years in Texas). But I also know there is a difference in road trips where you are enjoying every hour of seeing new things and listening to tunes, and others where you just want the ride to be done, and it’s also possible for a single trip to shift back and forth over its course. (Source)

BlizzCon's Golden Legendary is Marin the Fox! - Virtual Ticket Giveaway
Hearthstone players with a BlizzCon 2017 Virtual Ticket will be receiving a Golden Legendary Hearthstone card! Although we don't know his stats, yet, we do know he is Marin the Fox! Check out Hearthpwn for a chance to win a Virtual Ticket.

HeroStorm - Ep 30: Five Nights At Braxis
Another episode of HeroStorm has been released!

[Spiritflame]

OMG, Love this 1 from carbot

[Daedius]

Bit late to the FNAF party, but better late than never.

[Vakna]

Quests btw haHAA

[Divinexve]

Quests btw haHAA

Im 12 btw haHAA

[Thoop]

BTW Quest is amazing! Thanks for the authors of the addon!

[Tarx]

I really like this addon. I aways open the wowhead for check whats next or how many quests left . But this addon make the whole work much easier .

[Micronetic]

I really like this addon. I aways open the wowhead for check whats next or how many quests left . But this addon make the whole work much easier .

Exactly. Pretty nice Addon, thanks for that!

[Deleted]

Ghostcrawler tweet is spot on and highlights current issues with WoW endless grind and badly tuned rewards. Bonus for mentioning slot machine

He's one of developers that had effort/reward right. It was out of whack in vanilla, but was fixed in BC and WoTLK. Today its out of whack again, big time and I do hope new developers can learn from their mistake. We'll see in a week.

[Zephire]

Ghostcrawler tweet is spot on and highlights current issues with WoW endless grind and badly tuned rewards. Bonus for mentioning slot machine

He's one of developers that had effort/reward right. It was out of whack in vanilla, but was fixed in BC and WoTLK. Today its out of whack again, big time and I do hope new developers can learn from their mistake. We'll see in a week.

What's wrong with today's reward system? It seems balanced and good to me. If you just added some way of upgrading the iLvL of items to compensate a little for the lucky TF gear then it should be about perfect.

[Deleted]

What's wrong with today's reward system? It seems balanced and good to me. If you just added some way of upgrading the iLvL of items to compensate a little for the lucky TF gear then it should be about perfect.

1. Titanforged and legendaries from doing mundane daily quests, all of them rewarded completely randomly without ability to target reward
2. Random reputation rewards
3. Gold from simply logging in (command table) every X hours

You see nothing wrong with that? Do daily quests, maybe you can get legendary that massively increases your performance. Got to exalted? Congratulations. Now get 10k rep more, maybe you'll get a reward. Log in every X hours/days to receive lots of gold.

That's player manipulation right there using "offline progression" and dangling carrot with no achievable goal in sight. That's gamer manipulation taken straight out of f2p addiction based games playbook. RNG is the king this expansion to string player along for as long as possible, not effort, not dedication.

I'm waiting for Blizzcon to announce changes to current system. If there won't be any, WoW will be completely dead to me.

[Zephire]

1. Titanforged and legendaries from doing mundane daily quests, all of them rewarded completely randomly without ability to target reward

I mentioned that some kind of ilvl upgrade system would be a nice complementation to super lucky TF gear. Say you get 4 copies of the same item, then you use those to upgrade the ilvl of one copy. I do agree that the TF system is not perfect and that the legendary system is fundamentally flawed, though as a none min-max-er I like the sudden popup of a legendary

2. Random reputation rewards
3. Gold from simply logging in (command table) every X hours

What's bad about those? Maybe you do log in only for the command table, I only do them when I'm about to log off, I don't feel forced to do the gold missions all the time though I don't play a ton and my 300k+ gold is enough to keep me from grinding so my motivation to do gold missions might be lacking^^

You see nothing wrong with that? Do daily quests, maybe you can get legendary that massively increases your performance. Got to exalted? Congratulations. Now get 10k rep more, maybe you'll get a reward. Log in every X hours/days to receive lots of gold.

I see the exalted satchel as a bonus. Nothing more. I don't feel the need to grind it out. Care to elaborate a bit? I'm curious.

That's player manipulation right there using "offline progression" and dangling carrot with no achievable goal in sight. That's gamer manipulation taken straight out of f2p addiction based games playbook. RNG is the king this expansion to string player along for as long as possible, not effort, not dedication.

I'm waiting for Blizzcon to announce changes to current system. If there won't be any, WoW will be completely dead to me.

I partly agree about the casino-loot but I also think it adds a sudden thrill from time to time, which is nice. I don't see an issue with offline progression though. In fact I kinda like it. It gives me a nice surprise when login in.

[Deleted]

What's bad about those?

Random reputation rewards: there should be reachable goal. Having infinite carrot dangling in front of you doesn't make content more exciting. How many times has player completed world quests to get to exalted? Many times. If those quests were good, there is no need for incentives to do them. Incentives to encourage running outdated content over and over again are needed when there is no real content.

Expansions before Legion didn't have that, was there lack of content? Only in WoD. Before WoD it was fine. Game had no excessive RNG, game had no unreachable goals and players were happy. Players knew that in order to reach some reward it requires X amount of effort. Now with RNG rewards its all out of whack. That doesn't make exciting content, that makes it frustrating.

Maybe you do log in only for the command table, I only do them when I'm about to log off, I don't feel forced to do the gold missions all the time though I don't play a ton and my 300k+ gold is enough to keep me from grinding so my motivation to do gold missions might be lacking^^

Just because you personally don't have motivation, doesn't mean its good mechanic. Gold should be given for playing game, not clicking menus.

I see the exalted satchel as a bonus. Nothing more. I don't feel the need to grind it out. Care to elaborate a bit? I'm curious.

You see that satchel as bonus, collectors see it as goal. Goals should be reachable. RNG satchels ≠ reachable goal. What was wrong with having reputation rewards purchasable at exalted? Nothing. So why did it have to change? To make people feel like they are doing something when repeating same content they've done many times before? If content was any good, there is no need for additional pat on back. That satchel is not needed.

I partly agree about the casino-loot but I also think it adds a sudden thrill from time to time, which is nice.

Sure, sudden thrill is nice. But 90% of time its disappointment. Another downside is it also takes control over progression from player. Thrill is fine, but not when its cheap thrill based on taking control out of player's hands and putting it into lottery.

Thrill should come from accomplishing something. There is no accomplishment in being lucky.

[Zephire]

-snip-

I see your point with random rewards from satchels from factions. Since you can buy things when exalted I only saw the randomness as a bonus. I didn't even know you could get mounts from them, thought it was only materials. Yeah, that is kinda sucky. Do you think it's okay for end bosses to have low drop rates on mounts? I mean, that's almost the same, you waste time going through a raid or waste time doing 4 world quests. I guess people prefer different things.

The casino gotta be a matter of perspective. You always get at least what you should. The problem is that people expect to win instead of getting what they should get, a none upgraded item. Which leads to disappointment. So again, some reliable way of upgrading would be a great addition to the current loot system.

Collectors have many reliable ways to get their hands on collectables I think it's okay for some to be unreliable (random drops) but only a small portion.

[Deleted]

Do you think it's okay for end bosses to have low drop rates on mounts? I mean, that's almost the same, you waste time going through a raid or waste time doing 4 world quests. I guess people prefer different things.

Of course its normal to have mounts drop in raids. Raiding is multiplayer content that always existed in WoW.

Difference is reputation rewards were always not random and amount of effort is not comparable. Reputation is not based on multiplayer content in Legion, it is solo grind. Effort required for 1 attempt to get mount is massive compared to simple raid clear.

Reputation reward was a reachable goal that required X amount of effort. Raid drops were random. At the end it was mix of both concepts, so there was variety. Wanted to try luck? Run raid. Wanted sure reward? Get reputation.

Legion changed all that. It changed everything to pure luck. That is not fine.

The problem is that people expect to win instead of getting what they should get, a none upgraded item. Which leads to disappointment. So again, some reliable way of upgrading would be a great addition to the current loot system.

Yes, exactly. That's developers view as well as Ion has stated in previous Q&A. But its nothing but opinion. There is no right or wrong when it comes to opinions. Its not objective truth, but subjective view on same issue.

For many players expectation has changed because of RNG. Before Legion expectation was to get item, now expectation is to get item with proc. Item without proc is not enough.

Expectation is to be rewarded for effort. Reward used to have only basic random - it dropped or it didn't. That was it. Now reward has multiple layers of random. It can drop, it can drop in basic state, it can drop as very powerful item and don't get me started on legendaries.

Reward no longer reflects effort. It is entirely RNG. No reachable goals anymore. Control has been completely taken out of player's hands and put into pure luck. Is that fun? Not for me.

That's my opinion shared by many other players and its as valid as Ion's opinion. Something that he can't see or ignores on purpose. I believe current system has more downsides than upsides and should be removed.

[Zephire]

Of course its normal to have mounts drop in raids. Raiding is multiplayer content that always existed in WoW.

Difference is reputation rewards were always not random and amount of effort is not comparable. Reputation is not based on multiplayer content in Legion, it is solo grind. Effort required for 1 attempt to get mount is massive compared to simple raid clear.

Reputation reward was a reachable goal that required X amount of effort. Raid drops were random. At the end it was mix of both concepts, so there was variety. Wanted to try luck? Run raid. Wanted sure reward? Get reputation.

Legion changed all that. It changed everything to pure luck. That is not fine.

You can go back and farm previous content mostly solo for mounts. Grinding to exalted to unlock the possibility of a drop could be compared to progress raids to get to the last boss. Eventually you have it on farm and you will do it easy, just like world quests. WQ are also for solo players where as raids (current) need more than a single group to do. I realize I'm comparing raids with emissary quest satchel, which makes it easier to get but I'm also thinking you need a raid to reset before you get another chance.

[Tupolew519]

cool. they even made five nights at freddy's motives.