Does exclusivity make a better game? Gating content

[Deleted]

Locking content behind a skill check barrier or time sink. Does it make the game more immersive for you?

Is "the journey" and "epic quest for rare unique rewards" healthy for the quality of the game?
or
You want the majority of content open to the masses?

Possible controversial issues:
-Easy / Welfare Epics
-Buying Mythic runs with gold for mounts
-LFR
-A big % of people will not be able to see all the content
-Snowflakes VS Wrath babies

Just so you know, i am a proud snowflake who thinks exclusivity is key for immersion.

[Deleted]

Locking content behind a skil check barrier or time sink. Does it make the game more immersive for you?

Is "the journey" and "epic quest for rare unique rewards" healthy for the quality of the game?
or
You want the majority of content open to the masses?

Possible controversial issues:
-Easy Epics
-Buying Mythic runs with gold for mounts
-LFR
-A big % of people will not be able to see all the content
-Snowflakes VS Wrath babies

Just so you know, i am a proud snowflake who thinks exclusivity is key for immersion.

Yes, having some content gated so u can only acces it later when u have progressed further gives ppl some content to look forward to and not just another difficulty.
The mythic only kara dungeon is gonna push casual players to get better gear in order to get in, they will have something to look forward to

I think exclusitivity is mainly good for the casual playerbase. Even tho most of the casual players say they want acces to everything immediately, they will only stay subbed if there is content for them that isnt accesible immediately.

[Ghostile]

I know I'm quite alone with this, but I always loved TBCs way to gate content.

[Krimzin]

Its like anything else in life, if you have to work for it you enjoy it more.
I love gating with attunements it gives you something to work toward.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

No it of course makes a worse game. The more content people can't see without dedicating more TIME than they have is not good.
But the difference that isn't being considered here is content like the game has now where everyone CAN see it, they just choose not to because they are casuals.

TBC and Classic gating made it impossible because the amount of time everything took in the game was unsustainable.
But now, you can get right to the challenging part without the 10 minutes of run backs and summoning 40 people and passing out 6k stacks of water etc.

The game is almost there to the right balance, we just need to move past LFR and MAYBE queueable dungeons, but I'm not convinced at that as long as Mythic+ takes off as it should.

Anyway, then the gate would be proper. Enough initial commitment to see "Normal" raids (which can be as difficult as LFR if needed, but still have the normal societal and progression orientation.) Then more would be spurred to over come the exclusivity barrier on their own.

[Louisa Bannon]

Yes votes made by special snowflakes with myopic views on how to play. BTW, nothing you have achieved in game impresses me nor is it interesting in any way ever.

[Deleted]

Yes votes made by special snowflakes with myopic views on how to play. BTW, nothing you have achieved in game impresses me nor is it interesting in any way ever.

For the record i never achieved anything special in WoW but i was happy as a sheep...a working bee trying to climb to unique content (raids) knowing that maybe someday i would reach the top. Or not.

I'm happy as a sheep. Nowadays i have everything and live in paradise. So i am unhappy xD

[Deleted]

I know I'm quite alone with this, but I always loved TBCs way to gate content.

You are not alone. To me it was (and still are) the right solution.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

Some gating does help, the bigger issue lies with Blizzard always going from one extreme to the next without stopping at a middle ground. MoP had literally over 40 dailies per day at max level until you got enough rep for all the factions so you could buy JP and VP gear. WoD we got 1 daily, and a bunch of extremely shitty gear that you could get if you spent weeks doing that one shitty daily.

[jellmoo]

There should always be multiple paths to the same content and rewards. Different people have different skill sets and interests, and WoW has evolved into a game where these need to be acknowledged.

Now, it may not be the same amount of time or the same timeframe, but the content should be available to all. Cutting edge progression raiders may get their firt, but there absolutely needs to be a path for others to get there in other fashions as well.

[grexly75]

There should always be multiple paths to the same content and rewards. Different people have different skill sets and interests, and WoW has evolved into a game where these need to be acknowledged.

Now, it may not be the same amount of time or the same timeframe, but the content should be available to all. Cutting edge progression raiders may get their firt, but there absolutely needs to be a path for others to get there in other fashions as well.

Precisely having only one way to get to your goal is never a good idea, it is always better to have more options..

[Jtbrig7390]

Locking content behind a skil check barrier or time sink. Does it make the game more immersive for you?

Is "the journey" and "epic quest for rare unique rewards" healthy for the quality of the game?
or
You want the majority of content open to the masses?

Possible controversial issues:
-Easy Epics
-Buying Mythic runs with gold for mounts
-LFR
-A big % of people will not be able to see all the content
-Snowflakes VS Wrath babies

Just so you know, i am a proud snowflake who thinks exclusivity is key for immersion.

You do realize most of the things u listed has been around since WoW released right?

Hell the expansion most of ur group praises (TBC) started the easy epics.

[grexly75]

Some gating does help, the bigger issue lies with Blizzard always going from one extreme to the next without stopping at a middle ground. MoP had literally over 40 dailies per day at max level until you got enough rep for all the factions so you could buy JP and VP gear. WoD we got 1 daily, and a bunch of extremely shitty gear that you could get if you spent weeks doing that one shitty daily.

Yes exactly the gating in MoP was too much if you did not have the time everyday to do it.. The days of spending 24/7 playing WoW is over for a lot of people, as for one it is not healthy for one..

[grexly75]

You do realize most of the things u listed has been around since WoW released right?

Hell the expansion most of ur group praises (TBC) started the easy epics.

Exactly, want an "easy" epic go do a heroic TBC dungeon, and by the end of TBC "easy" epics were raining from the sky especially when Magisters Terrace was released..

[darkwarrior42]

Depends on how it's handled, but for the purposes of the poll I voted no.

Edit: Voted no because, despite there being things I like, much of the "exclusivity" that remains is in one of the forms I dislike.

Forms of "exclusivity" I think are good:
-Skill checks
-Gating based solely on skill or completion
-Rewards that are rare because of cost (gold, valor, whatever the current currency is) or difficulty (Mythic-only mounts, gear, etc)

Forms of "exclusivity" I think are undesirable:
-Gating content based on time sinks
-Rarity based on "you didn't play at the right time"
-Rarity based on RNG, particularly if they're non-tradable
-Story exclusivity based on difficulty (i'm a huge fan of difficulty levels; if you're less interested in doing harder content because other people saw it on an easier difficulty, you're not really interested in the challenge in the first place.)

Forms of "exclusivity" I'm relatively neutral toward:
-Gating rewards based on time sinks (rep rewards from exalted, etc)

Having things that are hard to get at is good; it helps provide goals and motivation.... I actually enjoyed TBC's system for the most part, though it was a bit annoying when it came to alts (having keys for heroics at Honored or Revered, and account-bound keys at Exalted, would seem like an obvious compromise on heroic dungeon attunement.... ).

I only get really annoyed by things that are rare only for the sake of making them rare. Mounts, pets, anything that's non-tradable, comes from content which is now trivial, but has a low drop rate is huge here. Sorry, but your Phoenix from Kael'thas is no more impressive or boast-worthy than your racial mounts... neither requires any skill at all to obtain. I can even be ok with rare things that are BoE, because anyone who doesn't want them can sell them, anyone who doesn't have money can try to farm them.... there's potential interaction and value there. But BoP rare-drop stuff is only valuable as a time sink for collectors who don't have them yet.

[Jtbrig7390]

Exactly, want an "easy" epic go do a heroic TBC dungeon, and by the end of TBC "easy" epics were raining from the sky especially when Magisters Terrace was released..

Not even just the heroics there was also the pvp gear. My warlock in TBC had a couple epic pieces within a day or two of him being 70.

[Deleted]

Exactly, want an "easy" epic go do a heroic TBC dungeon, and by the end of TBC "easy" epics were raining from the sky especially when Magisters Terrace was released..

Heroic Dungeons weren't exactly "easy" and on the final patches there is always some kind of hub to give welfare epics.
Even in WotlK the welfare epics were only implemented mid/late expansion (on Ulduar i think).
In WotlK you entered in a raid with only 2 or 3 epics from heroic dungeons and reputation farm the rest were blues.

[Krimzin]

This boils down to players becoming lazy.
They want everything with as little effort as possible.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes votes made by special snowflakes with myopic views on how to play. BTW, nothing you have achieved in game impresses me nor is it interesting in any way ever.

By looking through your posts, you seem to be the special snowflake. There seems to be a pattern to your whining about raiders. Did you not get picked for the raid team and have a bad taste in your mouth from it.

[A Chozo]

As with many things: Only in moderation.

What I dislike more than anything is when they remove the hability to actually DO a specific part of content.

-Challenge Modes
-Old Kalimdor + EK (c'mon we have caverns of time let us access it already)
-Legendary Questlines

Maybe remove some of the rewards, but the whole thing? Blegh. After too much, players start to question if it's worth it to play the game -_-

[Jtbrig7390]

Heroic Dungeons weren't exactly "easy" and on the final patches there is always some kind of hub to give welfare epics.
Even in WotlK the welfare epics were only implemented mid/late expansion (on Ulduar i think).
In WotlK you entered in a raid with only 2 epics from heroic dungeons the rest were blues.

Once again you forget the epic pvp gear u could get early on in TBC. Also Wrath had Naxx early for easy epics.