Originally Posted by
thottstation
It seems like we're watching robust game mechanics get stripped again and again, as if time was going backwards.
Look at the Mission Table. Imagine if time went backwards:
First came BFA: Random missions, generic disposable followers given at random via lottery. Two or three "Lore" followers who stand near the table, and some nobodies. Limited, generic equipment slots.
Then we got LEGION: Followers now disappear from the area when you send them on missions, and you can even select them as bodyguards that accompany you in the world! More equipment slots, with more varied equipment. Lore Followers are pivotal characters in the story, plus hidden unlockable lore Followers from multiple ingame content! You can now select which type of disposable followers to purchase!
Then we got WoD: All the features of Legion! PLUS expanded level Weapons and Armor! Followers now bumped to 30 with almost a hundred to recruit! And a vast grid of traits and sub-traits to select to match them to specific missions! And you even have 20 or so active followers walking around your garrison, interacting with each other, living their lives, and talking to each other and you if you come near them! And when you send them on missions, you can watch your followers literally walk out the garrison! Look, there they go!
And then we come to RARES.
They used to be.... well, rare. And they would drop some very nice piece of gear that would likely be an upgrade to you.
Then came Wotlk, where each zone had a rare or two, but you got an achievement for getting them all. One even dropped a (guaranteed) mount!
Then came Isle of Thunder, where Blizzard littered the one zone with about 10 or so rares that would spawn often, and you would get an achievement for getting them all!
Then came Timeless Isle, and the number of rares doubled, but now each would rarely drop a toy, or even a mount! And you got an achievement for killing them all AND ANOTHER achievement for getting all the extremely rare toys from them all.
And so on. New expansion, even more rares, even more toys, and mounts...
But look at BFA:
8.0. Arathi Highlands: 20 or so rares, constantly up, most drop a toy or pet or mount. Achievement for killing them all!
8.1. Darkshore: 20 or so rares, constantly up, most drop a toy or pet or mount. Achievement for killing them all!
8.2: Mechagon & Nazjatar: 20 or so rares, sometimes up, most drop a toy or pet or mount. Achievement for killing them all!
8.3:
Uldum has 60 rares. Only 20 up at a time (Black Empire/Aqir/Athir). 18 rares drop NOTHING. 3 or so have a toy or mount.
Vale has 60 rares. Only 20 up at a time (Black Empire/Mogu/Mantid). 18 rares drop NOTHING. 3 or so have a toy or mount.
It just seems like BFA has de-evolutionized the entire concept of rares. Every patch Blizzard has basically added a zone, dumped 20 or so rares, added 5 mounts and 5 toys, and repeated it again and again and again... until 8.3, where they added about 60 to a zone, most of which drop NOTHING so the stars flooding your map is literally trash, but they did sprinkle a mount or toy here and there.
And the only achievement for rares in 8.3... is killing a total of 250 of them. It's as if Blizzard just... gave up and said "Whatever, just kill a whole bunch of them. We're not even gonna give them all unique names."
The "rare" mechanic in World of Warcraft seems to have gone through a de-evolution, and I'm fearful for Shadowlands. Is this "checkbox" method of solo content going to be repeated? Will every zone in Shadowlands have 20 rares with a sprinkling of recolored mounts and toys, and 50 more rares added in 9.1, and 50 more rares added in 9.2, and 50 more... you get the idea.