RPG Aspects of WoW

[Undeadprotoss]

Remember when we had hunter ammunition, spell reagents, and class trainers that actually taught you spells were a thing?

Do you guys miss the more RPG-ish elements of WoW or do you think they are archaic.

[Onikaroshi]

To me the main RPG aspects are "Leveling", "Gearing" and "Character Progression", sure they removed some things that were RPG elements, but it was mostly QoL. Hunter ammunition was awful if you were an airhead, reagents too.

[A Chozo]

Those are not RPG aspects, those are game mechanics. And some were fucking annoying - FARM TEH SOULSHARDS LOL

Want a RPG aspect? Give me a option to actually give my opinion regarding the decisions my character do. Cool, I'm the Farseer, but why can't I throw Magatha into the Maelstrom?

[Super Kami Dende]

Remember when we had hunter ammunition, spell reagents, and class trainers that actually taught you spells were a thing?

Do you guys miss the more RPG-ish elements of WoW or do you think they are archaic.

Ammunition/Rogue Poisons-Powders/Reagents were more of a nuisance than anything else. NOthing more annoying than someone running out mid-dungeon/Raid and wasting everyones time.

Class Trainers in the end were mostly pointless, but nice in an "immersion" kind of way, yet once Spell ranks were removed you visited them so seldomly they weren't really needed anymore.

There isn't really much "RPG-wise" that I miss at all from Vanilla/TBC etc. Nearly all changes where QoL or purely annoyance removal.

The only real RPG mechanic I truly miss from the old days were Profession Specializations. I was a Master Hammersmith Blacksmith in TBC. Being able to put a lot of time(or Money if you had it) into my professions to make myself a Stormherald which rivaled many Raid weapons I enjoyed. As it gave me something unique to my Character that people in my Guild that weren't Hammersmiths did not have.

[McNeil]

Small and sometimes even inconvenient RPG aspects are what makes games feel more like a RPG. Even something like carrying ammunition is what makes your class different then others, they could've gone a bit further to make different kind of ammo that works different for each spec but instead it got removed. The game now feels a lot more like an arcade, which might be fun for others but to me it just feels like a different game. Most classes now play almost the same and there's very little identity left.

[Onikaroshi]

Exactly - meaningful character progression tied to story progression in a persistent world.

That kinda went out of the window in Legion though - mostly due to the focus of implementing 'systems' that created grinds without any connection to story or progression. Most of it was just pointless busywork without any real goals, other than 'filling a bar/counter'. The 11-week timegated "epic" 7.2 questline was a perfect example of this.

7.2 was kinda meh if you only had 1 class you played yea, too much focus on individual classes. I do however, find plenty of meaningful character prog in legion.

[yjmark]

Yeah, I actually do miss a lot of that stuff. BUT, they added a ton of stuff into the game too, so I'm not complaining. I actually feel way more connected to my toons in Legion than any other expansion (I started toward the end of vanilla). To me, that makes the current game much more RPG-like. I'm actually kinda sad that they are removing artifacts. The class/spec weapon was a really defining piece of the toon (imho). I'm curious how the azurite necklace (or whatever it's called) will be...

[callipygoustp]

I miss quite a few of the RPG-ish "flavor" elements that have been removed over time.

[Polarthief]

Remember when we had hunter ammunition, spell reagents, and class trainers that actually taught you spells were a thing?

Do you guys miss the more RPG-ish elements of WoW or do you think they are archaic.

I don't miss archaic things like ammo/reagents and trainers, but I do miss some aspects like leveling actually meaning something (a talent point and spell ranks every level instead of sometimes getting literally nothing for 5-10 levels).

Looking at other RPGs (not necessarily MMOs), they tend to have customization through what spells you learn (talent points), what bonuses you get (talent points), gear (WoW gear is pretty much "sim this for best results"), and usually stat points. Taking D&D as an example, your Level 20 Sorcerer is likely different from other Level 20 Sorcs. You've probably got differing spell lists, races (changes a lot more than just appearances and minor racials), Magic Items/Equipment (up to your DM), and Feats (essentially talent points). WoW doesn't really have that customization aspect anymore and I wish it would.

We really do need more ways to customize outside of 7 talents that barely change things or aren't even real choices. We need more awesome item effects (like Kara Cloaks and Seat of the Triumvirate Chestpieces), we need some other customization outside of talents. Both Artifacts (straight progression, no choice) and Azerite (RNG "choices" that are things we used to just have) fail in all aspects of customization.

[MasterHamster]

WoW feels extremely streamlined, all the "useless fluff" cut away (which also added flavor). All the "inefficient" things like reforging, enchanting all slots, bunch of gems, being able to mix talents inefficiently if you wanted, being able to hit some crazy thresholds... all that is sort of gone. You don't ever see any "crazy stuff" anymore in the game. It's a streamlined, ARPG MOBA version of what it used to be. The only things you actually get to choose is spec and 1 out of 3 in the talent rows. Then you make combat extremely fluid yet have zero impact, in a world where all non-instanced content is designed to be insulting, and you sort of get this husk of what the game used to be.


The game is extremely well-done, Legion's content is stellar, yet it has completely forgotten what gives games like this a captivating 'soul' beneath. WoW has sort of become what Minecraft would be if you removed all the digging, because 'digging is tedious and I just want it over with'.

[Undeadprotoss]

The problem with RPG elements being/feeling frustrating at times is that Blizzard choose to abandon them instead of simply refine them like any other game system. They really go a long way in terms of making classes feel unique, distinct, and fun.

There's a reason even people who don't care for the lore prefer certain race/class combinations over others, the game is steeped in fantasy! It's best to embrace that instead of minimizing it.

[Otaka]

Imagine playing a singleplayer rpg-game today that was made similarly to what WoW is now... you never need to "learn" abilities, they just pop into your actionbars... you never need reagents for archery or anything of that sort.
All you do in the "rpg"-game is run from 1 dungeon to another... hold on, run? what nonsense... just teleport instantly to its entrance. Imagine skyrim or witcher or whatever this way.

Unfortunately WoW has gone the direction of what any random Call of Duty-game is... its just a massive lobby where you navigate the game through menus.
They tried to move away from grinding but they have gone nowhere, its no longer about grinding mobs but rather grinding repeatable quests (which often involve mobs) which will reset once a day... unlike mobs you cant do them as long as you want, you have to stop once they are done... so its timegated.

This is from a single character viewpoint... ofcourse you can repeatedly do them with multiple characters but thats even further away from the rpg-mindset.

[Eleccybubb]

The problem with RPG elements being/feeling frustrating at times is that Blizzard choose to abandon them instead of simply refine them like any other game system. They really go a long way in terms of making classes feel unique, distinct, and fun.

There's a reason even people who don't care for the lore prefer certain race/class combinations over others, the game is steeped in fantasy! It's best to embrace that instead of minimizing it.

Which other games refined them in their 2nd MMO/Sequel out of curiosity?

[Aggrophobic]

Remember when we had hunter ammunition, spell reagents, and class trainers that actually taught you spells were a thing?

Do you guys miss the more RPG-ish elements of WoW or do you think they are archaic.

Yeah, it was annoying as heck. What about it?

[Darktbs]

Not when this Rpg elements get in the way of my enjoyment of the game and become more of a burden then something immersive.

- - - Updated - - -

Imagine playing a singleplayer rpg-game today that was made similarly to what WoW is now... you never need to "learn" abilities, they just pop into your actionbars... you never need reagents for archery or anything of that sort.
All you do in the "rpg"-game is run from 1 dungeon to another... hold on, run? what nonsense... just teleport instantly to its entrance. Imagine skyrim or witcher or whatever this way.

Looks like my modded Skyrim. :P

[msdos]

I miss the class specific quests and legendary paths. I actually used to get excited about the class specific gear also and helping people get their stuff added a bit of warmth to doing 5 mans.

WoW right now feels more like ARPG, but that's not a complaint from me as I am obsessed with ARPGs!

[Sorrior]

Those are not RPG aspects, those are game mechanics. And some were fucking annoying - FARM TEH SOULSHARDS LOL

Want a RPG aspect? Give me a option to actually give my opinion regarding the decisions my character do. Cool, I'm the Farseer, but why can't I throw Magatha into the Maelstrom?

They are part of the rpg aspect and not all rpgs are about your story some are about a world or characters story.

- - - Updated - - -

I miss the class specific quests and legendary paths. I actually used to get excited about the class specific gear also and helping people get their stuff added a bit of warmth to doing 5 mans.

WoW right now feels more like ARPG, but that's not a complaint from me as I am obsessed with ARPGs!

Agreed especially on class quests.

I really miss the RPG/Immersion/fluff side of things myself

[Queen of Hamsters]

To me the RPG aspects are just as intact and improved even as of Legion between Artifact weapons, Class Order Halls (the ultimate Class specific and SPEC specific content), Suramar etc...

Sorry, but keeping arrows in my bags was a must, just part of going through motions for the shit that I really cared about and which REALLY progressed my character/account...

Also: Randoms don't get to rebrand a game due to their feels. WoW is and always will be, an MMORPG. Not ARPG, not Lobby game, not whateverelse based on each individual's warped ideas based in nostalgic rememberance.

[A Chozo]

They are part of the rpg aspect and not all rpgs are about your story some are about a world or characters story.

Never said shit about story - I'm talking about Role-Playing in the Game.

The most important aspect of the RPG is diluted in WoW. That's why the Deathlord actually communed with the Lich King, for example.

[msdos]

To me the RPG aspects are just as intact and improved even as of Legion between Artifact weapons, Class Order Halls (the ultimate Class specific and SPEC specific content), Suramar etc...

Only problem is they dropped the ball on legendaries, all the involvement is the tooltip. What if I actually want to experience obtaining it, learn about it's origins? It's kind of a "write your own saga" design, but it comes off as lazy and uninspired.
Then some of the actual identity of the specs as far as abilities unique to the class seem to have been skewed or lost (e.g. Survival hunter).

Other than that I agree. Legion was better for the classes in the big picture of things than the last 2 expansions, especially in the quests and lore department.