Would an AP cap each week work?

[Deja Thoris]

There already is one.

It is called my brain.

Pretty small cap then ^_^

[schwarzkopf]

Pretty small cap then ^_^

Says a lot about everyone else then, if my small brain can work out efficient use of time to get AP and so many others can't ...

But to set the record straight - my brain is typically sized for a male of my height. No Ziki in my family tree.

[Tojara]

Keep in mind that it's not all about governing how you play and helping high end raiders from moaning about having too much to do. I mean, I agree on that front, but I can look past it because I think a more pressing issue is present with AP.

My largest issue with AP is that people with multiple DPS specs are kind of fucked depending on balance, and while it's fair to say "control yourself", what do you do if you're in a raiding guild or playing the game at any level, if the specialization you enjoy the most ends up not being the hot thing anymore? I mean, they pushed class fantasy and specialization very hard this expansion, but I don't think it's necessarily positive for the game.

Think of it like this. Fire was probably overpowered in 7.0, but with the changes to the spec, it's primarily used on a mix encounter, or ones with heavy AoE components. A lot of mages are moving towards Frost now, but there are HEAVY barriers disabling you from doing this effectively. First is legendary items, second is artifact iLvL, and lastly is AP.

You can tell people to not go crazy and limit themselves, but with how class balance has been in this expansion, AP is probably one of the largest limiting factors in regards to having somebody not play a different class... but actually play a different specialization within the class they play. That's the aspect I find absurd. I know people will cite the differences aren't that large, but there are pretty heavy differences between a lot of the specializations within each class (let alone comparing other classes), and it kind of fucks these people royally when they can't really compete on different encounters.

I'm all for class identity. To a degree they did it well, but I think that AP (and legendary items) cause some serious problems. I also wouldn't even be bringing up the discussion of caps if AP was universal for your entire class, but it's not. That's really what the issue is, at least for me. I'm not really speaking on behalf of myself (again, I only tank, my DPS off-specs as a DK are something I do once in a blue moon), but for any class that has multiple DPS roles in the same class.

You know why shadow priests are seen as really overpowered right now? It's a mix of the class being really strong (and honestly it doesn't really need to be nerfed, so much as others need to be buffed) and some of the factors I listed above. Shadow priest only requires AP into one weapon, it only requires legendary items into one class, and it only requires relics into one weapon. It also performs well at every major facet in one class (aside from absolutely mass AoE, but those encounters are rare) because it has to, it really has no other option. Compare that to a warlock, mage, hunter, or rogue. Each specialization has way different niches and strengths compared to the other and you get pigeonholed into collecting legendary items for one, in addition to having to worry about AP as well.

Again, not entirely suggesting a cap, but if it was done right it could collectively solve some major issues with what I outlined. Their are other ways to solve such a problem, but I doubt they will abandon philosophy like this in the middle of an expansion. I suppose it's a moot discussion point as they likely wouldn't throw a cap on either in the middle of an expansion.

[Toastyame]

..and on and on it goes....

PvP already has restrictions and who truly is invested in mythic+ dungeons and solo content? The primary demographic upset are raiders as they feel forced to get to "x" level to kill "y" boss. By having a soft-cap you both let players not feel forced to be max day 1 as well as slowly nerf content over the course of 2-4 months without just slapping 10% nerfs. I haven't seen compelling arguments from non-raiders about AP being an issue that doesn't devolve to "get rid of it entirely!".

AP is clearly here, we have to deal with it. How/what would make it easier for players?

[Super Kami Dende]

No, since Caps are literally only ever there to stop people with no Self-Control from complaining they are "forced" to do things in Videogames.

[RoKPaNda]

Leave it as it is. No point in changing anything to cater to the 3 guilds in Europe who still care about pushing for world first and people will zero self control.

[Toastyame]

Leave it as it is. No point in changing anything to cater to the 3 guilds in Europe who still care about pushing for world first and people will zero self control.

Getting 54 traits certainly affects more than just half a dozen guilds. I think content being released and being heavily influenced by artifact power is something that affects plenty of guilds raiding mythic currently.

The demographic is still sub 5% but clearly its a vocal enough minority to be addressed.

Changes can exist without affecting casuals.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

No, no cap. People can't control themselves, it used to be complaining about dailies(They had a cap at one time remember).

[Erolian]

Who cares about the cap etc. The only issue I have is investing for months into a spec only for class balancing to create a situation where everything that I did before was a bit of a mistake and then I have to turn around and do it all again. It should be class wide. As a mage I shouldn't have three toons worth of grinding to play my role (DPS) well.

[Nnyco]

last thing we need is valor points 2.0, so no

[RoKPaNda]

Getting 54 traits certainly affects more than just half a dozen guilds. I think content being released and being heavily influenced by artifact power is something that affects plenty of guilds raiding mythic currently.

The demographic is still sub 5% but clearly its a vocal enough minority to be addressed.

Changes can exist without affecting casuals.

4% would be being generous, let alone 5%. And it's not about impacting casuals, it's that entire other 96% of the playerbase from casuals up to anything below the very top tier of raiding. Fuck that, if they have no self control let them burn out.

[FelPlague]

no, because i can go "you know what i feel like farming a fuck ton this week" and do it then other weeks take a break and relax...
with a weekly cap you would need to EVERY WEEK hit cap, and that would be so annoying, it would be emblems of frost all over again

[chrisnumbers]

I'm sort of split on this, and honestly it doesn't really effect me either way.

How did you write so much then? This is the only sentence I read because... TLDR
There is no need to put a cap on AP. None whatsoever.

[Tojara]

How did you write so much then? This is the only sentence I read because... TLDR
There is no need to put a cap on AP. None whatsoever.

Just because it doesn't effect me, doesn't mean that it's something that doesn't effect others. My post is primarily about logic as to why a cap might be good, outlining some of my reasons that lead me to believe that.

To me it doesn't matter because I tank and I'm 54 in all traits anyway. I don't feel the need to grind them out, but I did because I had fun doing it. My reasoning as to why I think caps might be a good idea is mostly because class balance is horrible, and pure DPS specs don't really have the luxury of swapping specs with AP being in the game (let alone legendary items) because of how much effort.

AP in a system where you had one artifact weapon for all specs within a class would be the easiest solution, but that's not going to happen in this expansion.

TLDR; It sucks for DKs, rogues, warriors, mages, hunters, and warlocks who want to play different specs on different encounters, but can't because they invested all of their shit into one spec (AP, legendary, etc). That's the core issue, caps can resolve this to a degree, and there are other benefits to caps (probably smoother balancing overall).

[chrisnumbers]

Just because it doesn't effect me, doesn't mean that it's something that doesn't effect others.

It doesn't affect others. No one has ever thought "boy I sure wish I couldn't get this much AP"

[Tojara]

That's not my primary premise though. You ever play a pure DPS class, invest all of your time into it and then because of how the class is balanced can't really compete on the next encounter? That logic doesn't necessarily only affect guilds of top tier quality, but can be strung out through guilds running raid content at the very bottom. Perception matters a lot, and if the community deems something terrible it's pretty hard to get into groups for things. Ask warlocks or feral druids what it's like to try to get into M+ groups?

Simply put if you designed an intelligent way to make a cap system, it would likely have some benefits that help curb the issue I pointed out, primarily that swapping specs within the same class is really punishing. It was never like this in the past and obviously pushed in this expansion because they wanted you to focus on something. I just question whether the focus was a good thing, especially with class balance being in such a flux.

Destruction warlocks are great on cleave encounters, but pretty terrible when your primary focus is ST, you would be better playing affliction. It's not necessarily fair that said warlock can't easily swap to affliction to fill this niche because their relics are probably behind, their AP is behind and they have likely been rolling destruction legendary items. Healers (except priests), tanks, and most of the hybrid DPS classes wouldn't see this issue because it really doesn't effect them. Again, part of the reason shadow priest is so strong is because priest has 1 DPS spec and if you're a shadow priest you're fully committed to it. Shadow has to be designed to be solid in multiple areas otherwise it's just useless. All the previous classes I listed have these issues, you can't freely swap between a mage or a rogue spec for example for encounter needs without putting in way more effort (like AP).

A cap system that rolls over each week and doesn't punish you for missing a week, and being unique to each artifact weapon would be a solution. Blizzard could likely set a schedule to which you get whatever artifact trait at 'x' week and balance the game a bit better because of this. Again, this still has issues and I'd much rather they just have AP be a giant pool that you can freely put into any weapon, and it gets refunded every time you change specializations.

[Terahertz]

Caps are the worst thing ever in any game. WoW is horrible with this, trying to govern how people play the game with caps on everything.

If there's one thing Legion did right it's not having a cap on something for once.

[Chickat]

Yes, there should be one, but you should also be able to earn AP after the cap. Any AP earned after the weekly cap would go into a pool and it would add it to your usable Ap each Tuesday when you log in. If you want to grind for 2 months, you can and then be done with it for a couple months. Also lets people play when they have the time and keeps them from falling behind. Cap should also increase every week you dont reach it like Conquest used to until you catch up.

[Asrialol]

Not for most of the playerbase, I would think.

Look at it this way. If there is a cap, players will feel "forced" to having to meet it each week. They can no longer feel that "Hey, think I'll chill out this week and farm more AP next week". Won't work at all with a cap.

I can only assume that most people don't continuously farm AP like raiders do.

Then you can toss in the argument that "those people don't really need high AP, though". Which is quite true indeed, but personally I feel that having no cap is best for "both worlds", in the sense that it gives you the freedom to choose your own pace.

[TyrianFC]

Cap is a terrible idea for reasons mentioned above.

People think, for better or worse, that any cap in place is mandatory to reach.