Lessons From MoP

[Duridi]

I really hope they've learned to stop butchering 5 man content. Doesn't matter which way they've butchered it. They've been messing around with this type of content for so long now, they better soon represent a model that is more stable and predictable in the future.

By that I mean, understand that this content isn't any less valuable than raiding, and that it contains a ton of potential and appeal, if you do it right.

Overall, I've had a quite okay experience in MoP, but I've hardly been around, so I never got to experience core parts of MoP character progression.

Flying is another heated subject in my case, but that seems to be set in stone for testing beyond the Thunder Isle, Isle of Giants and Timeless Isle. Nedless to say, it's content I've hardly visited, because I cannot fly there. It makes me feel trapped and claustrophobic, and it ruins my immersion. As I have said before, for me, being able to see something from high up in the air, trigger my senses. I love it in real life, and I love it ingame. The world is so much more beautiful and alive, when you can see it from the sky.

[Deleted]

- scenario's mean nothing to me once i completed them
- the whole kung fu panda thing really felt like a way to lightweight story and reclycling sha models everywhere didn't help in delivering a lot of variety in enemy mobs.
- there was not one single dungeon i found hard, didn't rip through in 15 minutes or EVER TALKED TO STRANGERS because you simply don't have to because of the boring, easy mandatory faceroll bossfights/trashmobs.
- no 5 man content for with my friends at all (dont say challenge modes as they are a joke and just a timer running on a dungeon and also me and my friends can't get to that type of coordination because of the dumb timer mechanism) i'd rather see a hard -> don't cc? - ok u die.

The fact they're completely throwing the raiding scene around is one i can only approve cause never felt i so locked in a difficulty as now
Also hope they learned that gear models should fit everyone and not just the pandas

[yjmark]

Lessons I hope Blizzard learned:

1) a large portion of the player base has no self control. If there is an option for gaining any gearing advantage, people will do it even if they really despise it.
2) 5-man dungeons should be relevant.
3) Pet battles are pretty fun - this should get expanded
4) Making gear have a larger impact on output relative to skill causes more need to grind. Too much grinding burns people out.
5) warlock green fire - want more of these.
6) Far East customers are not won over by making an expansion based on their culture.

[Haywire5714]

- Dailes
- Heroic Dungeons
- Pandas

[Dom]

The problem wasn't dailies themselves. It was the fact that there was no alternative, too many of them, and you were forced to do them. Dailies are fine, I actually prefer them to the Timeless isle killing the same mob thousands of times. It's literally the same thing as a daily quest hub, only without the quest part.

It's really unfortunate they won't be able to put in much dailies anymore because they won't be able to grasp WHY all the dailies failed. Only that the phrase "daily quest" makes people cringe and they will distance themselves from it as much as possible. So now we're going to be stuck with Timbermaw-esque grinds from now on. People will get sick of it and Blizzard's pendulum game design philosophy will swing to the other side with no chance of finding the middle ground.

Isle of Thunder had it perfect. Where dailies were nothing more than a catch-up mechanism and for vanity items.

[Ryme]

The rest is your opinion. But dude, you really cant say any Raid in MoP was bad.

Yes you can, Heart of Fear was bad (bar the dance on boss one) - in fact, it verged on terrible for me :P

[khalltusk]

Yes you can, Heart of Fear was bad (bar the dance on boss one) - in fact, it verged on terrible for me :P

Mechanics wise it was pretty good, visual wise is as always opinion based. I quite liked it. We never had a wood/amber themed raid before. We were after all in a big tree.

[Sansnom]

I hope they learned dungeons are actually fun at max level, albeit they eventually become repetitive and boring with time (Just like any other content).

And that is a difficult problem to solve. The problem is that hard dungeon are great when they are new and fresh. They are tedious when you are just grinding and farming them for VP or JP or what ever is in there.

When people ask for hard dungeons, I always look back at Heroic Halls Of Reflection. It was a good challenge and much harder than all the other dungeons before it. With a good group, it is okay. With a disorganized group, it will be problematic. I have seen so many tanks and healers just leave once they see that dungeons on their loading screen. I also dread it when it comes as a healer.

And that is the problem. People just avoid hard dungeons when they are just grinding and farming. They do not want hard dungeons. How do you find a balance that caters both?

[yjmark]

And that is the problem. People just avoid hard dungeons when they are just grinding and farming. They do not want hard dungeons. How do you find a balance that caters both?

You make them a form of progression instead of just another grind. Harder dungeons should give better rewards. No one liked HoR because it effort vs reward were way out of whack compared to other dungeons.

[Tart]

X-Realm /10char

[wxcopy]

The Censor on Timeless Isle is a nightmare and well hated by all those people just there to get the catch up gear while getting farmed by heroic geared pve players w/cloaks. What an awful idea. I'm sure they will do it again. It's not the world pvp that people were asking for, how's ilvl 496 vs ilvl 600 pvp? It's the same as going to one shot level 30 questers. Just stupid.

[dejaa]

Agree with everything but that. Timeless Isle restricted flying and was a huge success and well-received by people.

Only because it dropped epics like candy.

[Marxman]

Mechanics wise it was pretty good, visual wise is as always opinion based. I quite liked it. We never had a wood/amber themed raid before. We were after all in a big tree.

I'll go ahead and disagree. Garalon and Amber Shaper were downright terrible bosses. I liked Empress and to a lesser extent Wind Lord. Vizier and Blade Lord were meh.

I think most people dislike gimmick bosses, of which there were many in MoP. Heart of Fear just happened to have 2 of the worst in the expansion.

What did Blizzard learn from HoF? Hopefully they learned that putting RNG in something that has to be learned (Amber Shaper monstrosity piloting) is a terrible design. How do you learn something that you only get to see 1 in 15 attempts? That boss was easy, but the poorly designed transforms made it extremely difficult to learn.