Or maybe BFA wasn't fairing well and they needed a good reception at 2019 Blizzcon and covid threw a wrench into their 2020 plans so they're actually being smart instead of trying to rush things when they're not ready?
Or maybe BFA wasn't fairing well and they needed a good reception at 2019 Blizzcon and covid threw a wrench into their 2020 plans so they're actually being smart instead of trying to rush things when they're not ready?
we wont see any major shift in philosophy after sl or the next expansion either, they didnt postpone bcs they suddenly changed their mind about their philosophy, but most likely bcs corona and leveling overhaul cost them way too much time to balance SL in time (to reasonable level)
there is nothing in blue posts indicating they in any way doubt their philosophy or that they even think about it, "systems" are there to stay for long time
It's because blizzard realized sometime through WoD that they can't not have something to do in the game or else... you get WoD. This is the point where they realized that putting out content takes too much resources, and not putting out anything kills the game. Legion is where these complicated systems began, in an effort to provide repeatable, somewhat "meaningful" content with minimal design and resource time.
I assure you, it was not a mistake that legiondaries were random drop throughout the entire expansion and then put onto a vendor towards the end. You can't do the same shit twice (corruptions) and not expect people to catch on to their bullshit. Covenants and soulbinds and whatever else kind of system in SL is being designed to do the same thing as before, grind-able, repeatable content that doesn't need much attention from the devs.
Unfortunately i don't see a future for this game where they will move away from this design philosophy, it pains me to say.
You do realize that's exactly why I'm asking for this to be discussed, right? I don't think that they're delaying it because they want to change design philosophies. I'm asking whether the design philosophies which presumably caused the delay are something which Blizzard may decide to curb in the future to prevent additional delays.
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At some point, however, you have to wonder whether the playerbase will simply stop supporting these design decisions. BfA's relationship with players seemed tenuous at best and SL is, in many ways, supposed to be a redemption arc for Blizzard. I get that there's only so many ways they can serve us the same bullshit on a different platter but I don't think it's nearly as bleak a picture as you're painting here. The delay is unquestionably a good thing but I'm hoping that it's also a teachable moment for Blizzard internally.
Problem is they've raised the expectations tremendously now and anything short of greatness will leave a really bitter and sour impression that will taint the whole expansion and probably be the final straw for a lot of people. 5 years and 3 expansions worth of shit? Yeh, people will move on.
and i answered it, that we dont know what caused delay, and that they wont change the philosophy bcs they dont seem to doubt it...
or you didnt ask for answers but rather echo chamber of people saying you are right and they surely turn around in next patch despite there being no evidence suggesting it?
Last edited by Lolites; 2020-10-10 at 04:23 PM.
Vanilla, TBC, Wotlk, Cata, MoP
None of them had these extra curricular systems. The routine was essentially the same: leveling, farming (whatever you want to allocate here), dungeons, raids and PvP.
And you know what? Pulling it out of my ass, players were largely happy about it. Oh, you've done your daily routine and now there's nothing to do? There's always something to do, you (we players) just don't want to or like to do them. Adding more systems doesn't change the fact. And if there's actually nothing to do, then go do smth else with your life.
Yeah, I've been saying for months that the state of beta has always been at least a month behind where previous expansion betas have been in relation to their proposed release dates. When they originally announced the Oct 27 date, I was kind of in shock as I felt they were being super ambitious considering the amount of bug reports I had been submitting up to that announcement. The internal builds are ahead of what beta testers typically see, but the massive amount of changes/fixes/correction was way too high for a normal release time table.
While I think Covenants may have been part of the reason for the delay, I don't think it was the only reason by a long shot, nor was it the 'design direction' the issue. My $0.02 is that covid played a large role in the delay and current state of beta, especially considering California's response and how prohibitive to normal business that state tends to be in general... so delays were expected. As such, there was a trickle effect that slowed down the creation and feedback loop when it came to the expansion. I still surmise the Oct 27 release date was a corporate decision, as the devs probably wanted to release the content much later (late Nov or early Dec at the earliest, especially considering the state of beta).
I've been doing some leveling dry runs this past week, and it's fairly obvious that there's still a bunch of things wrong with the questing/leveling experience, and it was quoted as being mostly good. Just this week we're getting blue posts addressing the XP issues and fixes on the way, which is good but only one piece of the puzzle. The amount of bugged/broken quests and random DC's when doing certain aspects of quests is still decently high, and it will cause massive issues if there's one campaign quest that's broken on release and can't be completed. Keep in mind: this leveling experience, imo, is the most ambitious experience Blizz has undertaken. Why? Both Alliance and Horde have to do the exact same quests at the exact same time the entire way. There's no split starting zones, there's no separate faction questing hubs, it's all the same for everyone... and that comes with a LOT of risk that needs to be right before launch.
“Society is endangered not by the great profligacy of a few, but by the laxity of morals amongst all.”
“It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights — the 'right' to education, the 'right' to health care, the 'right' to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery — hay and a barn for human cattle.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville
how can this " It's made me wonder whether the SL delay will finally begin a push for Blizzard to finally move away from these kinds of systems"
be understood in any way different than you asking if there will be change in design philosophy?
please, enlighten me then, bcs it seems you either dont know what you ask yourself or your question is so "inteligent" that it means something different than what you actualy say...
If Blizz didn't think this was the right way forward they wouldn't have delayed the game. They'd have burned the parachute entirely, cut these features outright.
The delay is proof they think this is right and want to make it work, but needed more time.
FFXIV - Maduin (Dynamis DC)
Well, duh.
It is widely agreed upon that the sole purpose of these intricated systems on top of each other is to force us to play more in order to reach power level 9001.
If anything the heated discussions are with Activision about whether that is a sustainable approach or not, and judging by the amount of complaints regarding burnout these last years; it is not.
They said they listened. They said they heard. Let's hope they understood.
Brother, the question is whether this delay is enough of a reason for them to finally start reconsidering. Obviously nobody knows for sure but I felt the possibility was large enough to warrant a discussion topic. You're free to think otherwise but it's pretty silly for you to say I'm "looking for an echo chamber" simply because I corrected you implying I said something I didn't.
Wasn't it Blizzard who used to say "we never release anything until it's ready"? And people used to respect them for that. We've just become such an instant gratification society now that most people can't fathom why taking a little more time on something to get it right. That may not be what you want to hear, but it's the truth.
How joyous to be in such a place! Where phishing is not only allowed, it is encouraged!
You compared it to tbc. Tbc had content unfinished and bugs to work out
Shadowlands content works. Its content complete what is delaying it classes are doing triple the damage of other classes and the same spec same talents are doing upwards of 30% of damage of the same spec and talents.
Comparing it to tbc isn't an apt comparison it's more like final fantasy a realm reborn.
Edit my bad didn't see I responded to this twice.
What you said was not correct and added zero value to the discussion. The discussion is about more precise reasons of delay instead of "it's not finished", which everyone probably already knows..
Edit: to clarify, you said "reasons" when you probably ment "reason", which wouldve made you correct.
Last edited by facefist; 2020-10-10 at 07:20 PM.