The arbitrary Azerite grind and core issue with 8.2..ptr observations

[Puremallace]

While 8.2 offers a lot it is one grind on top of another grind. Getting to level 50 on your heart of Azeroth is already a pain in the ass and weeks of grinding that is SEVERELY unfriendly to alts as the Heart is not account wide. In 8.2 instead of addressing this grind it is turned up to 11

On the PTR when you turn in the quest unlock the Heart Forge you are bumped up to 55 which unlocks the major and minor slot at 55. This appears to only be for PTR purposes and god I hope it is not. It took my heart from 47 to 55. To go from 55 to 56 requires 164,775 Azerite Power with the next minor essence slot being opened at 65 and nothing in between at the moment. If this goes live as is then 8.2 is dead on arrival.

They are still trying to keep this grind system alive despite the obscene amounts of feedback that this is not fun. Anyone coming back I am warning to to check back on this if large grinding was your primary reason for leaving.

Blizzard has got to be aware that a majority people who left maybe at best left with a Azerite level of 35 or atleast that is my experience with guilds that were dying prior to BoD. Now you need to take your heart from 35 to 50 then to 55 just for a minor slot.

This system is the most insane grind I have seen and remind you I played Korean grindfest MMO's for 9 years before I came back to WoW. You may say grinds are a normal part of MMO's and I will agree with you but there is no remotely effective path to grinding Azerite right now that anyone considers fun.

Azerite rewards will need to be boosted SIGNIFICANTLY if these values are going to stay in the game. Why content creators are just glossing passed this in their videos is beyond me but this will be a major issue for a lot of casual players and turn off a lot of raiders.

[Inthislzon]

While i do see it as a problem, chances are they will ramp AK hard. Either that or drop the requeriment.

Remember artifact at 54 near the end of legion? When you "leveled" your artiifact weapon? I feel it will be the same. You will be able to "unlock" your hearth in a couple hours from reaching lvl cap.

[Puremallace]

Sort of what I am hoping but on the PTR for the moment everything is the same. If they keep these levels then AP rewards need to be multiplied by 10.

[EbaumsTipster]

"Core issue with 8.2: grinding isn't fun"

Nice feedback, lol

[Dakara]

Yep, if 8.2 doesn’t kill AP grinds for future expansion then I doubt anything will.

Blizzard have even acknowledged people play seasonally now, that is they sub for a content patch, achieve what they want (e.g. AOTC) then unsub till the next. People don’t enjoy grinding AP... even if they enjoy Grinding (I don’t mind it from time to time), they don’t want to Grind AP as it’s boring.

[Justpassing]

"Core issue with 8.2: grinding isn't fun"

Nice feedback, lol

Well, I don't share his enthusiasm but it's still a better feedback than "just make a better game" or "write a better story" that we get oh so many times.

[Trend]

Now you need to take your heart from 35 to 50

What are you talking about? Who is at 35? I have alts I don't even play that are well above 35. I have new-to-120 alts that are over 40 with a trivial amount of effort.

You may have some great points but don't exaggerate to make 50 sound like something difficult as things stand now. And every week it gets easier.

[Nnyco]

You totally forgot about knowledge, i mean even right now you need like 38k for 49->50 on max knowledge and you just need lvl48 to unlock everythin. I belive you are just lazy if you cant even do that, alts i never play are 35+.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Sort of what I am hoping but on the PTR for the moment everything is the same. If they keep these levels then AP rewards need to be multiplied by 10.

Technically it's requirements being divided by 10 under the new AK system, which it will likely do in time.

[pinelakias]

Indeed, levels 1-50 are completely useless. The 1-50 which you have to complete no matter what in order to advance to the fun part is a huge burden to the new artifact thing. They need to rethink the level requirements, since a lot of players dont give a flying f*ck for artifact thing and power as it is 50 levels of nothingness. If they dont fix it, my guess it that those players still wont care enough for the new and mostly improved part of the artifact thing.

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What are you talking about? Who is at 35? I have alts I don't even play that are well above 35. I have new-to-120 alts that are over 40 with a trivial amount of effort.

You may have some great points but don't exaggerate to make 50 sound like something difficult as things stand now. And every week it gets easier.

People that dont care about artifact power... I dont even know at what level my main is, I dont care the current system exists. And yes, I gave up on raiding this expansion. It's not like it matters anymore :P

[SirCowdog]

"Core issue with 8.2: grinding isn't fun"

Nice feedback, lol

He's not wrong though. Grinding is pretty bad, and is generally used as filler when the actual content doesn't hold up. The only surprising thing is that people still attempt to defend it.

[Trend]

People that dont care about artifact power... I dont even know at what level my main is, I dont care the current system exists. And yes, I gave up on raiding this expansion. It's not like it matters anymore :P

Getting to 50 doesn't matter for people who don't care. The context of the discussion was a hypothetical person who wants to get to 50 (thus they do care) and they are currently at 35. That's why I asked who this person is. It's not you, you don't care. You're not who we are talking about.

If someone actually plays the game and they're at 35 for more than a few minutes, they have to be going out of their way to avoid AP.

[EbaumsTipster]

He's not wrong though. Grinding is pretty bad, and is generally used as filler when the actual content doesn't hold up. The only surprising thing is that people still attempt to defend it.

Grinding isn't inherently bad, and there's no way to prove otherwise.

If you don't like grinding that's fine. But to say "___ sucks because it's not fun" is shit feedback, it explains nothing other than that the OP doesn't like it. Crap feedback in an expansion where people are screaming "WHY DONT YOU LISTEN TO FEEDBACK" is deserving to get mocked at because its the kind of stuff that makes Blizz ignore people.

[huth]

Technically it's requirements being divided by 10 under the new AK system, which it will likely do in time.

If the rate stays the same as now, about ever 6-7 weeks. So 20 weeks of AK mean the requirements are less than 1/1000th of the original, and the "terrible" level 56 will only need about 160 AP.

Indeed, levels 1-50 are completely useless. The 1-50 which you have to complete no matter what in order to advance to the fun part is a huge burden to the new artifact thing. They need to rethink the level requirements, since a lot of players dont give a flying f*ck for artifact thing and power as it is 50 levels of nothingness. If they dont fix it, my guess it that those players still wont care enough for the new and mostly improved part of the artifact thing.

Or you could inform yourself and realise they already have a system in place to deal with that. By 8.2.5 you will be able to reach 50 in under a week.

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People that dont care about artifact power... I dont even know at what level my main is, I dont care the current system exists. And yes, I gave up on raiding this expansion. It's not like it matters anymore :P

If you don't care, you're likely over 35. You pretty much have to actively avoid AP not to be.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Indeed, levels 1-50 are completely useless. The 1-50 which you have to complete no matter what in order to advance to the fun part is a huge burden to the new artifact thing. They need to rethink the level requirements, since a lot of players dont give a flying f*ck for artifact thing and power as it is 50 levels of nothingness. If they dont fix it, my guess it that those players still wont care enough for the new and mostly improved part of the artifact thing.

Odds are it'll be significantly easier to do when 8.2 drops. A similar thing happened in Legion, where by 7.3 you could complete an alt's initial artifact pathway with a single AP item from anywhere in the game once you'd capped.

[Puremallace]

"Core issue with 8.2: grinding isn't fun"

Nice feedback, lol

Look if you give me world quest rewarding 230...our mission boards with 460 after 8 hours then tell me to get from 55-56 will take 167k for just one level then I will tell you I will see you in 8.3 or even 9.0

Not arguing with a grind as it has never really bothered me but this is 10 times what we are seeing on live to get just one level. It needs to change or everything across the board needs to be severely buffed.

Estimating going from 50 to 55 just to unlock a minor power will be upwards of 700,000!! Azerite power. That is one hell of a major damn issue. Blizzard needs to communicate that this is some PTR random numbers they picked or address one hell of a grind they are inserting into this game.

[Trend]

Look if you give me world quest rewarding 230...our mission boards with 460 after 8 hours then tell me to get from 55-56 will take 167k for just one level then I will tell you I will see you in 8.3 or even 9.0

Not arguing with a grind as it has never really bothered me but this is 10 times what we are seeing on live to get just one level. It needs to change or everything across the board needs to be severely buffed.

Estimating going from 50 to 55 just to unlock a minor power will be upwards of 700,000!! Azerite power. That is one hell of a major damn issue. Blizzard needs to communicate that this is some PTR random numbers they picked or address one hell of a grind they are inserting into this game.

Not trying to be a dick here, but I'm really wondering if you understand how the system works. Every week level N takes less AP to complete than it did the prior week. So yeah, initially the higher levels are so "OMFG this is absurd" because Blizzard is protecting you from yourself. You don't need that level yet, just stay in your lane and you'll easily get there as Artifact Knowledge continues to kick in. Assuming that the amount of AP that is appropriate for the content you're doing would suddenly be exponentially higher seems pretty silly.

This does bring up a good point though: the AP system is an absolute nightmare for the obsessive players who think they need to have everything at max level right now. It's definitely very very bad for those people.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Indeed, levels 1-50 are completely useless. The 1-50 which you have to complete no matter what in order to advance to the fun part is a huge burden to the new artifact thing. They need to rethink the level requirements, since a lot of players dont give a flying f*ck for artifact thing and power as it is 50 levels of nothingness. If they dont fix it, my guess it that those players still wont care enough for the new and mostly improved part of the artifact thing.

Odds are it'll be significantly easier to do when 8.2 drops. A similar thing happened in Legion, where by 7.3 you could complete an alt's initial artifact with a single drop from anywhere in the game once you'd capped.

[Puremallace]

One would think after christ knows how many people have unsubbed at this point Blizzard would figure out how dumb this system is. Here is how this will work for me.

1. Unlock the major essence slot on day 1
2. Then about 200 days later after I have ignored Islands, Warfronts and World Quest I will bother to try and unlock the lvl 55 minor essence slot.

This system 100% encourages you to completely ignore the current content do it closer to the end of the season as completely arbitrary levels they pick are ridiculous. It is like they are trying to make a system work that their playerbase hates. There is a cold chance is hell I am farming this stuff with these ridiculously inflated levels for horrible rewards.

They are literally telling the playerbase you have no hope of seeing the minor traits unless you grind 16 hours a day in Islands for weeks for 5 levels or admit the minor traits are so obscenely boring and ineffective that they are pointless.

It will take you longer to go from 50 to 65 then it did to go from 1-50!

[Louz]

Public test realm was a mistake, when will blizzard learn...

They let people who lack the very basic knowledge of the game to "test" the new features and what happens is they completely misrepresent everything they're presented with, like OP, who is absolutely oblivious of how Artifact Power and Artifact Knowledge works and only starts spouting nonsense on the forums.