[Suggestion] An alternative to LFR: Tourist mode.

[Aeula]

(WoW armory thread: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...80800?page=1#3)

Before I start this is not an LFR hate thread, in fact this idea caters more towards the people who play LFR in an attempt to make their lives easier. I'm looking for constructive criticism, not people who came to vent about how i'm hating on LFR (Again, I'm not, LFR is the only raiding I do these days).

Post copied from my WoW forum:

An idea

So..I just had this idea regarding LFR in legion, for those of us fed up with the long queue times just to get our legendary quest progress.

We change LFR into (Or add as its own entity) a solo scenario.

It'd work like this: bosses not important to the lore (Such as the Iron reaver, the butcher and Oregorger) would not be a part of this scenario, cutting down the time it takes to complete significantly (Perhaps making the time it takes to run each wing the same time it took to complete a normal scenario in MoP).

Bosses would drop no loot, but would give quest items relevant to the legendary quests (Tomes, in this case) and at the end of the scenario a box would be awarded containing a random piece of heroic DUNGEON level loot (Much like raid lockboxes today).


Bring a friend or two

Now, I know what many of you are likely thinking "That isn't how MMO's work! MMO's are about being together!" Well I have a solution for that too. You could queue up solo, sure, you'd be given healer and tank (or DPS depending on spec) NPC's to help you out (Think Kairozdormu from the legendary questline), or...if you want an increased chance at getting a tome (100% maybe?), tripple the gold reward and a guaranteed piece of warforged dungeon loot, you can make a premade group with two other players, the difficulty would be increased to that of a heroic MoP scenario to make it a little bit of a challenge for an organised group and to make up for the greatly increased rewards.



So how would it work if implemented today? Well let me tell you.

The first wing would start with hellfire assault, upon completing it Khadgar would fly down and teleport deeper into the citadel, saying something like "We must stop Gul'dan! Quickly, I can teleport you deeper inside while your soldiers deal with stragglers in the lower halls!" He would then teleport you to Kilrogg (Due to his importance in the story) saying something like "My spell could only teleport us so far, you three venture on ahead while i catch my breath", upon dealing with (Reduced numbers of) the trash and Kilrogg you'd go to Gorefiend on foot, completing the first wing of the scenario upon his death and giving you your weekly reward for that wing.

The second wing would be pretty much the same as the current LFR third wing (As all three bosses are important to the lore except maybe Tyrant, but she yells every now and then in tanaan so may as well let you see her). Once again giving you your weekly reward.

The third wing (Now bare with me as I haven't done any of the bosses there) would consist of Fel Lord Zakuun (Due to Grom's involvement in that boss), after he's down Khadgar would appear once more, saying "Something's going on on the throne of Kil'jaeden! Quickly we must stop Gul'dan!" he'd then teleport you to mannoroth, and the scenario would finish with Archimonde. Rewarding you your final cache.
(This would make the reduced number of bosses total 9 instead of the current 13, cutting the number of wings from 5 to 3)

Now then, to make sure people don't just do these and ignore dungeons, you'd only get the reward once per week, making dungeons a more valid way of gearing up than they currently are, but still keeping the scenario's worthwhile (If you do it with three people anyway) to get your three pieces of warforged loot, perfect (Potentially best in slot) for non-raiders.

As for the ring it'd have to be weaker (Say ilvl 725 instead of 735) if you complete the quest via tourist mode, with an instant 10 ilvls being added when you kill archimonde on normal or higher (Or any 15 normal or higher bosses).

I believe this would be perfect for non-raiders, we'd be able to get decent pre-raid gear, complete our legendary ring questline and make a little bit of money with our immediate circle of friends, in addition to providing an alternative way to see the story that doesn't require large-group content or hour long queues.



So lets add up the pros and cons.

Pros:
A great for non raiders to get some pre-raid gear.
An alternate way to see the story that doesn't require large groups or long queues.
An easier (If slower) way to get the legendary ring and see the relevant questline story.
Much quicker to do than LFR, making it better for casuals (LFR as it is can take too long for a typical casual, this way would be much better for those with short bursts of time to play).
Won't get in the way of those who wish to gear through dungeons alone, as the loot is from the same table.
Doesn't overshadow dungeons as much as LFR since this mode rewards the same ilvl gear.

Cons
Queuing solo may defeat the idea of what an MMO is all about.
Could be too easy, devaluing the wellfare legendary to some people who think it should be reserved for the elite, despite the reduced ilvl for tourists).
If it replaces LFR, some who enjoy that mode may not be happy.
Takes longer to get legendary items than in LFR due to reduced number of bosses.

TL;DR: Make LFR into a Scenario with fewer bosses that still drop legendary quest items and give a chest with dungeon-equivalent loot as a reward.

So what do you think? A better alternative for than LFR for Legion? Do you prefer current LFR? Let me know.

[Sevarin]

i personally know a lot of people that stopped playing because most of what they did was lfr, and lfr loot got gutted. some people dont have time for serious raids. they do lfr and might pug a normal, or maybe even pug heroic once they get enough gear.

as it stands most people require an item level higher than you can obtain from the raid, never mind the fact that you cant get set bonuses or trinkets that arent god awful from lfr. their chances of doing much of anything are lower than ever before, and no, a piece of heroic dungeon gear wont help in that situation.

[Aeula]

i personally know a lot of people that stopped playing because most of what they did was lfr, and lfr loot got gutted. some people dont have time for serious raids. they do lfr and might pug a normal, or maybe even pug heroic once they get enough gear.

as it stands most people require an item level higher than you can obtain from the raid, never mind the fact that you cant get set bonuses or trinkets that arent god awful from lfr. their chances of doing much of anything are lower than ever before, and no, a piece of heroic dungeon gear wont help in that situation.

The thing is that normal mode ilvls would be lower (What LFR would have been), so it'll still be more or less the same (Plus I imagine lots of normal equivalent loot can be found outside of raiding too). The ilvl on current LFR gear is worthless compared to loot from any other source, it's been gutted enough now that it rewarding slightly lower item levels wouldn't matter too much (Besides, it's warforged).

Basically if this was put in at the start of WoD normal highmaul would drop 640 gear and this mode would drop 630-636 (With heroic dropping 655 and mythic dropping 670).

And the ilvl would increase with every new raid tier. Loot would be the same, if not better, than it currently is.

[Dasani]

Spectator mode. You queue up instead to be ported into a real raid and watch a group of real raiders kill it and you just watch, as a ghost or something. And when it dies, you have a chance to get a watered down version of a piece of loot.

Keeps the freebie gear for doing nothing flowing, removes the watered down version of raid that offends a good deal of people, and most people seem to want to afk through LFR and not contribute anyway so should appeal to them as well. Also removes queue times since you just pop into any fully formed raid and would be going by yourself, you'd have no need for others to be with you to watch.

hey hearthstone has a daily where you watch someone else play the game and get a card pack for it.

[Aeula]

Spectator mode. You queue up instead to be ported into a real raid and watch a group of real raiders kill it and you just watch, as a ghost or something. And when it dies, you have a chance to get a watered down version of a piece of loot.

Keeps the freebie gear for doing nothing flowing, removes the watered down version of raid that offends a good deal of people, and most people seem to want to afk through LFR and not contribute anyway so should appeal to them as well. Also removes queue times since you just pop into any fully formed raid and would be going by yourself, you'd have no need for others to be with you to watch.

hey hearthstone has a daily where you watch someone else play the game and get a card pack for it.

Seeing the story isn't the same as experiencing it, hence why I think turning it into a 3 man scenario (Heroic scenario if players are brought along) would be better, no queues, doesn't take as long as a real raid, legendary quest items (This is really the only reason 90% of people do LFR these days) drop and you get a piece of good pre-raid gear to help you get into normal. It'll also fit the 'hero and commander' fantasy that's been going on this expansion, you're a hero, taking down the big bads while your followers take care of the irrelevant ones.

[HeedmySpeed]

The only thing that would make LFR better (to the LFR goers) is if you could:
-Flex size it down to a solo raid
-Mythic quality loot
-Guaranteed loot (no RNG)

Anything else would be considered a "nerf" to LFR.

[Rhyseh]

They already had this system. It was called scenario's... and I liked them.

Honestly I feel like LFR and similar systems are what is the decline for this game. People log on, open up a window, queue, get into a raid, don't communicate with anyone, hit the loot piñata, leave. Doesn't feel very "MMO" to me.

[Aeula]

They already had this system. It was called scenario's... and I liked them.

Honestly I feel like LFR and similar systems are what is the decline for this game. People log on, open up a window, queue, get into a raid, don't communicate with anyone, hit the loot piñata, leave. Doesn't feel very "MMO" to me.

Which is why i believe the system I have suggested would be a good compromise, you get better loot if you find your own group (Just like heroic scenario's). The only difference between my idea and scenario's is that it'd be a raid scaled down into a scenario, instead of its own independent thing, thus letting casual players see the story and complete their legendary quest without spending hours in a queue or in LFR itself.