Content pacing and LFR

[Beeflord]

I think LFR is a great feature but I think it would add more to the game if it wasn't available immediately as new content gets released. Just delaying it by 1-3 weeks after each major content patch could have a huge effect already.
(One could expand on this idea further by making hardmodes available 1 week before normal modes but I'm not sure this is a good idea right now its the opposite hardmode isnt available at first)

Reasons:
- I think its underwhelming if I (and everyone else) can see all the art and most mechanics of the new content within 2 hours after a major patch after Blizzard has spent weeks on creating the content. Its like eating a whole cake at once and feeling sick afterwards.
- Killing deathwing in LFR just left me with a feeling of disappointment (that's it?). On normal it was better for me as you do have to work out a proper strategy and put in a few attempts and effort (and being tighter tuned the mechanics did make a lot more sense). Human brains are wired in a way that makes people appreciate those things more for which they had to put in some effort by giving them bigger gratification for bigger achievements.
- I think people should get the opportunity to put in effort before they get the option to do it in easy mode because when the option is there people are pressured to use the option to gear up. Top guilds wouldnt feel pressured to run LFR so much to get their tierbonus early
- I think it would be fair and a good incentive for players to put some extra work in if they want to see the content a few days earlier
- content might last a bit longer and people might burn out slower

I'm really interested in what other people think about it but please don't try to pidgeonhole me into being elitist or whatever I like wow having good options for casuals but wonder how it could still feel a bit more epic and fun

[Jacob6875]

I hate to break it to you but a ton of pugs cleared 8/8 normal mode on day 1. (on area 52 anyway)

It wasn't really much more extra "work" (playing a video game is work?) than running it on LFR if you had decent players.

[Beeflord]

I bothered to check your server and found out that even the #7 DW normalmode kill on your server happened on 6th of december. Really nice trolling.
http://www.wowprogress.com/guild/us/area-52/Monolith

But even if your lies were true it would mostly show that normalmodes may be undertuned and that pacing is even more of an issue than I suggested in the OP

[Beeflord]

Really expected more discussion as I think that that pacing is one of the key elements to keeping an mmo alive. If you see 90% of content within a few hours most people will feel they are done and move on to something else. If you have seen all the content why gear up and wipe tons of times just to see 1 more mechanic of the fight? On top the current model will burn out hardmode guilds because killing the same boss 3+ times in one week (where at least 2 are pushovers) even kills the motivation of dedicated raiders (it was already bad enough in wotlk having to do 10 and 25 man every week).
I neither think that is a good long term solution for either the players or blizzard as there is little reason to subscribe for more than 1 month after each major patch. So I'll give this one more try... How about something like this:
Week 1: Only hardmodes; week 2: normalmode unlocks week 3: first part of current raid available in LFR; week 4: second part available in LFR etc
Yes gating content is not an elegant solution but where are the alternatives if content is so easy that almost everyone can see it in 1 day.
It could also help if all difficulties shared the same lockout. Another idea would be to make LFR start out harder and gradually easier each week through playerbuffs (like ICC).

Maybe I'm trying to start this discussion still a bit too early. Pretty sure within a few weeks the wow forums will be full of threads complaining about this very issue. Yes its great if everyone can see content. But its not great if everyone sees the content in 2 hours and stops playing soon afterwards because they are bored.