Patch 8.3 Cutscenes, Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of Resolve in the Weeks to Come

[Stoy]

Patch 8.3 - Visions of N'Zoth Live This Week!

Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of Resolve in the Weeks to Come

In Visions of N’Zoth, the Legendary cloak Ashjra’kamas awaits you, and it brings with it a very valuable aspect: Corruption Resistance. Increasing the cloak’s level allows you to endure a greater amount of Corruption from your other gear, in addition to providing significant statistical increases and other benefits. Those upgrades to the cloak will come with time and effort in Horrific Visions, and upgrading the cloak beyond level 5 will require retrieving powerful items from the deeper (and more challenging) portions of Horrific Visions.

After your cloak has reached level 5, you can upgrade it to level 6 and beyond (all the way to level 15) as quests unlock to provide this, with a new step becoming available each week after the first. The quests to further upgrade the cloak will be sequentially available to you once they’re unlocked. If you’re still working on the quest from two weeks ago, as soon as you complete it, you’ll be able to immediately start on the quest from last week, and then the current week.

If you’re not caught up with the maximum available level of the cloak, whether that’s due to missing a few Horrific Visions at some point, or switching characters, or joining Visions of N’Zoth much later than most players, you’ll be able to complete all of the prior weeks’ quests in sequence, until you’re fully caught up.

[Jwco]

So... time gated

[skynet1990]

So basically this means if I take a week off I could do like 6 of the Visions. Is this also true for messed up Visions?

[THEORACLE64]

So... time gated

Obviously.

[Edlarel]

So... time gated

if you want to wait 9 weeks, it won't be time gated then

[Nnyco]

Inb4 people still complain because they want lvl15 on alts instantly.

[Lora]

if you want to wait 9 weeks, it won't be time gated then

Except it will be time gated still because you can only do so many visions per week.

[Sanguinerd]

Oh boy! Jolly fun getting a legendary piece of paper on my back with corruption resistance! Thanks Blizzard is what I always wanted. It doesn't even look special or anything ;/

Would've preffered something like the MoP cloak or WoD ring over this shit and be done with it once it's done instead of mandatorily having to upgrade the damn thing.

[vitor210]

oh wow nice, more time gated content!

[rokjinu]

Oh boy! Jolly fun getting a legendary piece of paper on my back with corruption resistance! Thanks Blizzard is what I always wanted. It doesn't even look special or anything ;/

Would've preffered something like the MoP cloak or WoD ring over this shit and be done with it once it's done instead of continuously having to upgrade the damn thing.

...No one tell him that you could also upgrade the WoD rings once a week, or the trinkets from Argus either.

[Sanguinerd]

...No one tell him that you could also upgrade the WoD rings once a week, or the trinkets from Argus either.

edit: My mistake, just the MoP cloak then!

[Rotted]

TO LEVEL 5 THEN 6 AND BEYOND! (level 15) I laughed.

[Loveliest]

I swear, people who come to this forum go "Hmm... let's read this... what can I complain about?". We've had dailies and weeklies since forever. We had weekly caps on currency. Gating stuff is nothing new, why is it such a big deal now?

[Schmilblick]

So I'll stay out of this game until everything is available few months later.

[Ange]

I swear, people who come to this forum go "Hmm... let's read this... what can I complain about?". We've had dailies and weeklies since forever. We had weekly caps on currency. Gating stuff is nothing new, why is it such a big deal now?

Bored with classic players that realizing they went with the wrong version of the game and need reasons to justify their choice. We had this before too, but instead of classic it was some other dead MMO.

[Suggs]

if you want to wait 9 weeks, it won't be time gated then

wot? you should get your posts proof read in future

[Lurker1]

So I'll stay out of this game until everything is available few months later.

There is zero plans for a mini patch i doubt that will happen

[Boo Radley]

Despite the obligatory complaints that come from the comments section on anything, this is actually what the community has begged for. A game that wants you to play it the same way no matter when you play it and doesnt hurt you for being a person that exists outside of the game. You miss a week because life happens? No big deal, you're not behind for the next few weeks until everyone caps out. Its a mix of catchup and active mechanics perfectly- it doesnt give you less work to do later, make it easier when you do get to it, make you more powerful sooner, or make anyone else's work more or less worthwhile. It neither emphasizes waiting nor staying up to pace, the only intrinsic benefit is that if you enjoy playing, doing it early gives you more game to experience. So the games reward is the experience of playing the game, an old concept we've missed for some time. Regardless it does its job without punishing people for attendance- as previously both being there early and coming in late had their own pronounced disadvantages. This is the metric we wanted- that skill and a reasonable amount of commitment are what make the player. So you cant just jump in and in two days be one of the world's top players, but you also dont have to quit your job and abandon your family to get rank 14.

I know a lot of people are going out of their way to try to tie other arguments into this. Yes its time gated, and yes that's become a common practice. But its not the point of this blue post and I am not going to conflate what i'm talking about in regards to the way the catch-up is done being contrasted with the way entire game systems are laid out to keep player investment high. Muddling an argument like that is counterproductive and obstinate, which unfortunately are pretty much the two words I'd use to describe forum posts about video games to begin with.

In my opinion and based on looking at this through the lens of what i've gathered from most well-thought out commentaries on the catch-up systems I've seen, I think the response will be pretty unified and strong: This is exactly how it should work. I encourage people to give positive feedback to this so that hopefully they carry it into Shadowlands and we have a great expansion forthcoming. If you do have criticism of it, give it in a measured and explicit manner that says exactly what part is wrong, why and what you would do about it. Now more than ever its clear they need help actually formulating the ideas of how to handle the game mechanics, so the less times we can tell them "this sucks" the better. Instead, for example, we should tell them "this sucks because X doesnt fit with the nature of Y and I suggest incorporating Z as part of a more gradual system." They have said they tend to take those posts much more seriously as feedback.

Bonus points: If you really want your feedback to be taken seriously be sure to praise the Chinese government, denounce human rights as Western propaganda and exclaim your love of the dynasty of Xi, Emperor of the Yellow River. This lets them know you're trustworthy, a fellow PRC member and/or a shareholder.

[brbshower]

Technically, you're still going to be behind. Just due to the simple fact that you can only farm so many Vessels to enter the vision per week, 3 for most players, 4 for the nut jobs who farm 24/7. So, you wait say 3 weeks to come back...you can't just immediately catch up to level 9 with everyone else since you're unable to farm 9 vessels in a single week.

[Soluna]

I know this was possible but not mandatory. But the cloak will be.

Lol you are delusional if you think that the ring from WoD or the trinkets from Argus weren't needed. Try joining a guild back then without them. Oh wait, bet you are a 1/8 mythic hero who doesn't even know what the guilds usually require you to even raid a bit of mythic.