3 player Scenarios: How do you feel?

[Rioo]

I strongly disliked them since they were tied to the catch-up mechanic and iirc the best way to farm valor. It's a good way to tell a story, but not a fun thing to do over and over again.

[Marston]

I really liked the scenarios as something to do for a few minutes and I would really like to see a return. However, I think instead of themn just being simplified dungeons Blizzard should go wild and just use them as a sort of testing ground or to dome more crazy things. Throves of the Thunderking showed that Scenarios can be used for something different than just being simpliefied 3 man dungeons without tank and healer. Why not something similar but for a group? Or just using them to tell a story (like it was done in WoD for many of the zone finales), but also allowing players to replay them (basically like Dagger in the Dark, Secrets of Ragefire, Dark Heart of Pandaria or Blood in the Snow from MoP).

Also, scenarios don't have to be for 3 players. Why not something for only 1 or 2, or bigger ones for 10 or 15? There could be all kinds of stuff in there. I secretly am still hoping to see a sort of "Vanilla Alterac scenario" which uses more of the PvE elements that were present.

[Mgann-Morzz]

Scenarios themselves were just okay, simple content that was fun to do with friends (Battle on the High Seas in particular, was a blast with some of my pals, had loads of laughs shooting ourselves out of cannons and falling in the damn water). But they were emblemic of what made MoP such a strong expansion and possibly the best in terms of game design: Varied Content and a willingness to add more and more of it, as well as sometimes trying new things. I mean I think like 3 of the MoP patches added new Scenarios, 3 of them ether added New Zones or totally revamped existing ones aside from Timeless Isle which had it owns totally new system of stuff to do, those zones had new quest, dailies and storylines, with loads of outdoor content and stuff. Really until the massive content Drought at the end, there really wasn't a point where I didn't have stuff to do in Mist.

[Deleted]

Although I will say that scenarios came in for their share of hate at the start of MoP. And the start of MoP is when the framework for Warlords was being created. So perhaps it's not surprising that they were pushed onto the back burner along with traditional dailies.

Could be, maybe i just don't remember scenario hate because back then i was playing the game, not reading forums. (unlike WOD lol)

But now to think, apexis daily areas kinda look like scenarios. Kill/collect X in small area, also i think that devs meant them to be played in groups of ~3... maybe they thought that they could just make scenarios and dailies into one (shitty) feature. Though personally i feel like they did not think ANYTHING when they removed valor and put apexis in as afterthought.

[JemiS]

They did make scenarios leveling content- there are 1-3 per zone, as you level. Shattrath, Nagrand, the fights in Gorgrond, fighting Kargath as The Talon King.

[Wrathonia]

The only reason I came to hate them is that I felt they were being pushed instead of new dungeons. I really, REALLY resent how Blizzard has treated dungeons over the past 4 years or so. I don't really care for them, but if they can exist as well as offering dungeon goers a worthwhile experience, I couldn't care less. So if they bring them back as they were in MoP or phase them out entirely I don't care either way.

[MoanaLisa]

The only reason I came to hate them is that I felt they were being pushed instead of new dungeons. I really, REALLY resent how Blizzard has treated dungeons over the past 4 years or so. I don't really care for them, but if they can exist as well as offering dungeon goers a worthwhile experience, I couldn't care less. So if they bring them back as they were in MoP or phase them out entirely I don't care either way.

People never seem to believe this but the raids/dungeons group is responsible for raids and dungeons. When nearly all raids nearly doubled in size in Mists dungeons after launch became non-existent. These two things are related. Did Blizzard think that scenarios in Mists might take up the slack? I'm sure they did but it wouldn't have made any difference if they hadn't. Raids and dungeons have been a zero-sum game since Cataclysm. When one gets larger, the other gets smaller. You can devote the art assets to big raids or dungeons unless you want to reuse art assets. Actually I wouldn't mind them doing that if it made sense but they got an earful about that from previous expansions so now it looks as if they design new stuff for every instance. If you want your dungeons, you're probably going to have to give up on raid after raid after raid with 12-14 bosses in all of them.

Scenarios are a different animal altogether because they aggressively embrace reusing art assets and places in the world. Which is why they are relatively cheap to make and can be done pretty quickly in comparison to other instanced content. It is the players shooting themselves in the head every expansion by demanding that X and Y be removed from the game because it doesn't suit them. That's how we got to Warlords. It would be great if lessons were learned on both sides but I have yet to see any evidence of it.

[Zuben]

They're great at presenting lore events around the world. Blood in the Snow showed Moira and her Dark Iron going pro-Alliance, the whole thing about Theramore, we even got to witness Vol'jin's shining moment in Dagger in the Throat Dark.

As repeatable feature to gain rewards, they are considerably less fun to do than dungeons. After the initial run to see the lore, I only found value in them through achievement hunting with my cousin. And I suppose the daily scenario was fine too, as it was quickly over and done with.

+ Easily implemented lore events around the world
+ Good for achievement hunting

- Dull gameplay, when the only motivation is valor points

Come to think of it, MoP-style scenarios would've been perfect to show Iron Horde gain some victories over us.

[WintersLegion]

I don't think they were hated I think it was more they just weren't really played much until they became such a good way to get valor.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

I'd prefer solo scenarios, because typically I was carrying the group in 3mans (unless I queued up with guildmates).

[Wrathonia]

People never seem to believe this but the raids/dungeons group is responsible for raids and dungeons. When nearly all raids nearly doubled in size in Mists dungeons after launch became non-existent. These two things are related. Did Blizzard think that scenarios in Mists might take up the slack? I'm sure they did but it wouldn't have made any difference if they hadn't. Raids and dungeons have been a zero-sum game since Cataclysm. When one gets larger, the other gets smaller. You can devote the art assets to big raids or dungeons unless you want to reuse art assets. Actually I wouldn't mind them doing that if it made sense but they got an earful about that from previous expansions so now it looks as if they design new stuff for every instance. If you want your dungeons, you're probably going to have to give up on raid after raid after raid with 12-14 bosses in all of them.

Scenarios are a different animal altogether because they aggressively embrace reusing art assets and places in the world. Which is why they are relatively cheap to make and can be done pretty quickly in comparison to other instanced content. It is the players shooting themselves in the head every expansion by demanding that X and Y be removed from the game because it doesn't suit them. That's how we got to Warlords. It would be great if lessons were learned on both sides but I have yet to see any evidence of it.

It isn't about who was developing what. That's a moot point. What I was concerned about was Blizzard's stance on dungeons specifically. It seems like they are constantly wanting to phase them out, but have recently been throwing us some half assed bones in the form of timewalker dungeon weekends and mythic dungeons. Which are nice, but doesn't solve the major problems. Not enough dungeon variety or reason to run dungeons at max level for most of the week during normal play time.

I was annoyed because, at the time, it seemed like Blizzard was using Scenarios as a replacement for dungeons. It felt even more annoying seeing Heroic Scenarios during MoP and NOTHING for dungeons during the entire expansion.

[Maneo]

Sorry for the language but the whole topic of scenarios being dropped and then we get an expansion with barely anything to do in the world at 100 just pisses me off to no end.

I hear ya.

Honestly I enjoyed scenarios a great deal. It was kinda nice to be able to accomplish something w/out having to wait for the sacred tank healer combo to log on.

Anyone that hated scenarios is probably a healer or tank, or at least usually had them available to them.

Weren't they toying with the idea of making it so you could do dungeons w/nothing but DPS at one point?

[MoanaLisa]

I was annoyed because, at the time, it seemed like Blizzard was using Scenarios as a replacement for dungeons. It felt even more annoying seeing Heroic Scenarios during MoP and NOTHING for dungeons during the entire expansion.

I think Blizzard was hoping they would be but people disliked them enough (and seem to have really bad memories about how scenarios were slagged on forums at the start of Mists) that they didn't return as instanced group content. I thought they were pretty unimaginative myself but that the idea behind them was potentially game-changing (and still is). But sure, Blizzard was probably hoping that scenarios would catch on fire. They didn't although I thought heroic scenarios were generally well-received. But it doesn't change anything. Because they didn't they are pushing raids instead of dungeons. Raids have sustainability; dungeons don't or at least they were set up so that people wouldn't bother with them too much this time around because...raids. Who makes them isn't moot at all. It's the whole point.

Maybe with the larger team. People like to diss all of that but I've always thought that most of the people added were put on the new expansion. When they were added the Warlords design was pretty much set and one would imagine that personnel were budgeted to it. Hell, it's what I'd do: Put pretty much everyone new on the next expansion. I guess we'll see.

[Gwiez]

I liked them except when the krasarang trap one bugged out and unsuspecting people got put into it while the previous wave of people were quitting. I loved the monkey one, even on my crappy dps characters, I'd sneak up to the giant head and get half the beer before the other people cleared to the pit fight. Getting achievements for strangers was fun.
If you're not going to have very many dungeons, scenarios make up for it. plus they're good for telling a bit of story and have the player engage in it. The progress bar apexis areas or bonus objective areas in WoD just weren't as exciting.
Scenarios would work better in leveling too, than getting sent to a dungeon. As in it wouldn't mess up the pacing or story, if you were leveling through quests.

I loved them on my tank and healer too. My tank had a dps spec I could switch to for when it fit the group better. Although it was a blast rounding up a large group for the dps to aoe, knowing that my healing depended entirely on me doing my job right. The only time it was tough on my healer was when another healer was in the group and they didn't have a dps spec either. Smite smite smite.

[ComputerNerd]

They don't need tanks. I don't want to play DPS because I love tanking. So I didn't. First and last scenario I've ever done was pre-MoP "event". They're shit and you can't change my opinion.

Your opinion is a blased attack on the format, when it was a player decision that as always is driven by the "efficiency at any cost" mentality.
You are narrow-minded.

[Ihnasir]

It was a lot of fun because I was in a very small guild of friends that didn't have a proper setup for endgame dungeons. Scenarios allowed us to experience content together that wasn't questing, leveling alts, or LFR.

[Wrathonia]

I think Blizzard was hoping they would be but people disliked them enough (and seem to have really bad memories about how scenarios were slagged on forums at the start of Mists) that they didn't return as instanced group content. I thought they were pretty unimaginative myself but that the idea behind them was potentially game-changing (and still is). But sure, Blizzard was probably hoping that scenarios would catch on fire. They didn't although I thought heroic scenarios were generally well-received. But it doesn't change anything. Because they didn't they are pushing raids instead of dungeons. Raids have sustainability; dungeons don't or at least they were set up so that people wouldn't bother with them too much this time around because...raids. Who makes them isn't moot at all. It's the whole point.

Maybe with the larger team. People like to diss all of that but I've always thought that most of the people added were put on the new expansion. When they were added the Warlords design was pretty much set and one would imagine that personnel were budgeted to it. Hell, it's what I'd do: Put pretty much everyone new on the next expansion. I guess we'll see.

Well, that is a whole other tangent with their raid or die mentality that needs to be fixed. People need and want things to do outside of raiding and WoD has failed to deliver that spectacularly. And dungeons USED to have tons of end game viability until Blizzard themselves destroyed it piece by piece.