Raiders, how much of BfA's content would you do if it weren't "required" for raiding?

[Toybox]

Let me first address the "NoThInG iS rEqUiReD" point that someone will doubtlessly bring up - Yes, we know, but going into higher level PvE content, there's an expectation that your character (or characters depending on the guild) are up to date & ready to go. While this has also been the case in previous expansions ('cept maybe WoD at some points), I think it's fair to say that BfA is by far one of the heaviest in terms of time commitment outside of raiding, much to the dismay of many.

So, let's look at everything that you had to do throughout BfA to keep your characters as relevant as possible as to not hold your friends & guildies back. Out of the following, which would/wouldn't you do? (If you'd do things once or twice to experience the content but not want to repeat it indefinitely, that's fair, too). I know Warfronts aren't required anymore, and whether Islands & PvP are required for you fully depends on the spec you play & the essences you're best of with, but it's best to include them.

Islands
Warfronts
Emissaries/WQs
Mythic+ Weekly
Mythic+ Farm
Visions
Professions
Rep/Currency Farm
Battlegrounds
Arena

I can only speak for myself, but outside of keeping on top of my professions, M+ (which I really enjoy thanks to having some good guys n gals to play with), the exalted faction count, & occasional PvP, I'd gladly sit out everything else after a try or two.

Visions are decent enough content, but farming world quests to get currency to farm 5 masks to get a socket for a drop I just got in a raid is not really my idea of a good time. All things considered, socketing an item is probably a good 3+ hours of repetitive gameplay, & if I could skip it, I gladly would.

Emissaries/WQs wouldn't even be considered upon hitting exalted. Thankfully there's not too much of a grind now compared to previous patches, but still, 3-4 quests for the emissary alongside Vale/Uldum (if not the rare/cache quests) is quite a bit all the same.

Islands & Warfronts have gladly faded in relevance, but they're exactly the kind of content, like world quests, I'd simply not consider after experiencing them once or twice. While I don't think islands are terrible by any means, there's definitely other stuff I'd rather do instead outside of the game, & honestly, I think that's fine.


So, what would you be doing outside of raids if everything was truly optional in the sense that it had absolutely zero impact on your performance as a raider? Would you be a raid-logger, or would you dabble in other content outside of raiding? Or maybe you just love how BfA rewarded the sheer amount of effort you could put into your character & don't see it as a negative at all - That's fine, too! Opinions are just that.

[Saltysquidoon]

A couple of M+ runs a day/the weekly
Have a muck around in 2s
Other than that raid log

WQs are acceptable for early gearing on an alts but not desirable.

Not BFA related but I like farming ore to relax and I run old content to farm mounts.

[Milfshaked]

Possibly a few arenas/bgs.

If Mythic+ didnt have the rewards it does, I would only do it if I had a solid 5 man group of friends that wanted to push deep. I dont think that I would actively try to put this together, but if it magically appeared, I would go for it.

[Weeps]

I wouldn't and don't do anything in BfA. I quit raiding after Uldir because I hate BFA.

I just hunt for transmogs on classes that need more mogs. That's it. That's all BFA was good for, for me.

[Popastique]

Raid logging pretty much, maybe some 5man dungeons if i feel like it, gathering transmog, leveling up alts.

[Trend]

Let me first address the "NoThInG iS rEqUiReD" point that someone will doubtlessly bring up - Yes, we know, but going into higher level PvE content, there's an expectation that your character (or characters depending on the guild) are up to date & ready to go.

<snip>

Islands
Warfronts
Emissaries/WQs
Mythic+ Weekly
Mythic+ Farm
Visions
Professions
Rep/Currency Farm
Battlegrounds
Arena

Your list is bullshit. These things are not required except for a tiny fraction of people doing WF race. Some of the things on your list are reasonably considered required for CE, fewer items on your list are required for Mythic raiding (say 4/12 - 9/12M) and none of the items on your list are required for anything below that level.

[Razecog]

non raid content in wow has always been trash so id raidlog

[Sithalos]

Weekly M+, then raid log. Kinda like what I'm doing now..

[Insatiable]

Couple of arenas (not anymore after I get r3 of C&S)
some bgs
Xmog runs
mount runs
get the 15 done for the week maybe a 17 or 18 depending on affixes
cloak upgrade on main

nothing much after that.

[Twdft]

Required... noone outside of a 1000 world first raiders is actually required to do anything other than playing the game normally. But of course peer pressure is real and I can see how the perception of not falling behind your peers makes farming stuff "required".

That said, as a heroic only raider I:

Islands - did fewer than 20 islands over all chars combined, not fun, refuse to do them
Warfronts - did fewer than 20 warfronts over all chars combined, not fun, refuse to do them
Emissaries/WQs - kinda fun since most of the time you can pick what you want, still do them for the rewards
Mythic+ Weekly - I love mythic+ and do it every week
Mythic+ Farm - I love mythic+ and do about 7 per week, not really farming
Visions - more fun than emissaries, I do two 5 masks per week, entry fee sucks though
Professions - I always have two non gathering profession maxed on my main
Rep/Currency Farm - not fun, I only do the bare minimum for pathfinder
Battlegrounds - I never pvp
Arena - I never pvp

[Tziva]

I don't think most of those things really gave much of a leg up for raiding so I wouldn't consider them obligatory. I guess maybe if your best essence came from those sources, but mine didn't. Some of those things I still would have done anyway at least a few times for other reasons, like for specific rewards or to gear up alts, etc. I like keeping up my professions and getting exalted rep on one toon. What I don't really like is having to do it on multiple characters.

As far as something I basically only did because of raiding that I would have done a lot less of: the AP grind that's for sure. While I never really went ham on neck leveling (because I hate that kind of thing), I definitely did more than I would have if keeping my neck at least somewhat up to par wasn't beneficial to raiding. If I didn't have that to consider, my neck would have been whatever level I got incidentally from doing things I was working on for other reasons.

What I enjoy in this game is raiding and M+ so that is the stuff I intentionally seek out for fun and will do just for its own sake. I hate visions on my shaman but I do actually like them on my rogue, so would probably still do them sometimes on her. Everything else, like islands and warfronts, I would never do if there wasn't some exterior motivation (pets/mounts/cosmetics/whatever).

[Relapses]

I fucking hate dailies so unless I feel compelled to them (new toon grinding AP for example), I generally avoid them like the plague. In fact, I still don't have flying in BfA unlocked despite having the first part of Pathfinder unlocked (and have had it unlocked for over a year at this point). I simply refuse to do Mechagon dailies. Even when there was a 100% rep bonus I just couldn't do them. I fucking hate dailies in this game. They feel like chores. They feel pointless. There's no Skinner box positive feedback loop for me and I personally hope the reliance on WQs is diminished even further in SL.

[apustus]

I play to raid and I do (almost) everything that helps me raid, and not much else. So I guess not much.

[Toybox]

Your list is bullshit. These things are not required except for a tiny fraction of people doing WF race. Some of the things on your list are reasonably considered required for CE, fewer items on your list are required for Mythic raiding (say 4/12 - 9/12M) and none of the items on your list are required for anything below that level.

Islands were definitely required early on when AP was needed to unlock armour traits. Now? Not so much.
Warfronts were worth doing early on, but as mentioned, thankfully not so important anymore.
WQs/Emissaries similar as above, but are still needed for echoes/coalescing.
Weekly M+ is needed at the very least.
Visions are needed for sockets.
Professions aren't as important, but it's nice to have them. It's definitely an advantage to have crafted gear.
BG/Arena/Rep/currency needed for essences.

What is bullshit, exactly?

[Twdft]

definitely required

Yeah, for a 1000 world first raiders. For noone else.

[Toybox]

Yeah, for a 1000 world first raiders. For noone else.

Do you mean 1000 guilds or 1000 players? Because for top 1000 guilds, you'd at the very least be expected to have the correct essences & a reasonable neck level throughout, which means doing pretty much all of the content I listed at one point or another.

[razorpax]

i would have done all of it anyways except pvp

i wouldnt have farmed islands as much though

[Saltysquidoon]

Yeah, for a 1000 world first raiders. For noone else.

Right and?

I remember my buddy (GM/RL/MT prot warrior main from the dawn of time, he's that kinda guy) forcing me to run island expeditions and warfronts with even though I had less than 0 interest in doing it because getting extra rings unlocked for uldir was prio.

I also had to do 14,000 Maw carries for AP in legion.

I find this constant restatement that my and my compatriots experiences are somehow invalid because we like to push prog silly. Like yes its my 'fault' we 'had' to run island expeditions but does that make being able to do that ok? Is it good game design that was the most efficient way to grind the neck?

[A Chozo]

Islands were definitely required early on when AP was needed to unlock armour traits. Now? Not so much.
Warfronts were worth doing early on, but as mentioned, thankfully not so important anymore.
WQs/Emissaries similar as above, but are still needed for echoes/coalescing.
Weekly M+ is needed at the very least.
Visions are needed for sockets.
Professions aren't as important, but it's nice to have them. It's definitely an advantage to have crafted gear.
BG/Arena/Rep/currency needed for essences.

What is bullshit, exactly?

Warfronts were worth doing but not required.
WQs/Emissarias? Same.
Weekly M+ is not required either. Loot from the raids is enough to clear the raids unless you are in a race (which you aren't).
Visions' sockets aren't needed either.
Professions' aren't required either.
BiS essences also aren't required.

You don't need to reach your character's maximum potential to clear hard content. You can, it's recommended, but never needed.

[stresskiller]

anything pvp related is a no go