LFR is a superfluous, meaningless difficulty

[Dazlartist]

I just do a LFR to annoy the tryhards ( joke ) but no matter what prep I do - watch videos read wowhead etc- I’m only doing it for a quest and it will be the one and only time and it won’t be optimal and I don’t care - don’t join LFR if you can’t handle someone who is new to the fight.

[Jujudrood]

Anyone else enjoy the irony here?
The OP is the legit definition of superfluous and meaningless, just a ranting diatribe that essentially boils down to:
"This specific feature, which is completely optional and serves only to allow those who wouldn't otherwise see the raid do so, does not appeal to me, therefore it's a waste of time and should not exist"
Such original very insight

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Good lord, how many of the same talking points do you people need to recycle over and over and over and over? Do you honestly have nothing new to complain about? Is this mentality not about finding new things to whine about?


I mean I was half expecting to see threads complaining about the textures of trees and bushes and how they don't represent modern day vegetation. Nope... a LFR thread. Again.

[Wilfire]

Unpopular opinion but the real superfluous difficulty is Mythic. There's no need to have a "Torment" level difficulty that only a tiny percentage of people do. LFR fits the niche of people who don't want to commit to a schedule, which is still a big thing as raiding traditionally requires you to commit to set days/times like a job (or, more specifically like a hobby e.g. poker night with the guys). There are still loads of people who can't/won't commit but don't want to be excluded entirely. And it's not sometimes even not wanting, imagine someone who has a wonky schedule (like oh say medical workers during a pandemic...) who may not know if they'll be available every Tuesday and Thursday but want to see the content.

If it were up to me, there would be only two difficulties: a queueable normal mode with a slightly more difficult learning curve than current LFR, and a heroic mode with tuning similar to current heroic. 4 difficulties is massively bloated and completely unneeded. Trihards can play on a tournament-style realm with something that's similar to current mythic but completely separate from the main game apart from the prestige of clearing it.

The reason I'm advocating for a more difficult LFR rebranded as normal is because it would allow people to experience raiding as it's meant to be instead of poking a boss to death on first try. Actually progressing through LFR wouldn't be a dealbreaker. If anything, it would give casuals realistic goals to aspire to within the lifespan of a patch instead of knocking LFR out in a single evening.

[Hellobolis]

If it were up to me, there would be only two difficulties: a queueable normal mode with a slightly more difficult learning curve than current LFR, and a heroic mode with tuning similar to current heroic. 4 difficulties is massively bloated and completely unneeded.

but then you run into the problem that the backbone playerbase is done with the game in say a month. if those players quit or become periodic players (or plays on a different realm as you suggest) it's going to have all kinds of knock on effects on the game that might be more than you bargained for.

4 difficulties definitely causes it's fair share of problems, but it also doesn't exist for no reason.

[tmamass]

I completely understand why LFR exists
I would still remove it in a heartbeat. Players can search the Raid Finder tool for pug normal groups and achieve the same outcome.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. with how toxic people are? yeah no

[Hellobolis]

That is a rather insulting remark. You are basically suggesting the LFR-player is a bad simply because they are raiding LFR and not joining the oh-so-much-better-and-mighty-real-raiders?

it's not so much player skill that will cause a shitshow. it's the expected level of preparation. (and once the difficulty goes up, coordination matters more than individual skill.)

just look at something like n'zoth LFR, guaranteed shitshow if people don't know about the mind realm, but that specific mechanic is a complete non issue for any guild. has nothing to do with skill.

[Depakote]

dont get it wrong. it was a god awful expansion. the worst imo.

Legion and Battle for Azeorth exist. Honestly i had a lot of fun in WoD, maybe the last time i've truly had fun playing this game.

- - - Updated - - -

'LFR is a superfluous, meaningless difficulty'

..........Always has been.

Just like every other difficulty.

[Neumann77]

The reason I'm advocating for a more difficult LFR rebranded as normal is because it would allow people to experience raiding as it's meant to be instead of poking a boss to death on first try. Actually progressing through LFR wouldn't be a dealbreaker. If anything, it would give casuals realistic goals to aspire to within the lifespan of a patch instead of knocking LFR out in a single evening.

What about the people like me who don't actually care about gear and usually just do LFR for quests. For example in BFA, one of the main story quests regarding Vol'Jin required you to kill G'hunn. I usually only play on weekends if I have time so its nice to just sign up for his wing and be done with it less than an hour later. I don't care about gear, I don't care about progression, just wanted to finish the quest to see more of the story. I don't need realistic "goals" for raiding this is all I want to do.

[Schizoide]

LFR is not going anywhere.
I really don't understand peoples fascination with removing LFR. It's a good feature for those who can't commit to an organized group, it allows people to see/finish the story. I don't have an issue with LFR because I just don't use it. LFR is not a raid per se, it's an exhibition of bosses.

It's a good feature in theory, but in reality it just isn't any fun. They really should fix that.

[Edward Wu]

Blizzard probably wants to phase out LFR as that's the least offensive way to remove it without terribads crying in pain so it should remain near-useless and become progressively less useful.

Maybe LFR quietly goes away in 2-3 years when it's at a state where it's basically useless anyway.

[Wries]

Sometimes LFR is harder than pug raiding normal/HC lol.

Its there, it has its use and place in the game now. Its been around for so long, it would make zero sense to remove it now.

If you dont like it, just dont do it at all. Its not like the gear from LFR is required in order to progress your character.

One prime example of not reading the original post but assuming they can discern the topic based on the title.

[Hellobolis]

Blizzard probably wants to phase out LFR as that's the least offensive way to remove it without terribads crying in pain so it should remain near-useless and become progressively less useful.

Maybe LFR quietly goes away in 2-3 years when it's at a state where it's basically useless anyway.

the only way LFR is ever going away is if blizzard let's you raid with AI robots instead. and i don't see any signs of that happening in 2-3 years.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

The reason I'm advocating for a more difficult LFR rebranded as normal is because it would allow people to experience raiding as it's meant to be instead of poking a boss to death on first try.

If people wanted to experience "real raiding" then they have the tools to do that. They don't want to so they do LFR. How does taking away their choice help anyone?

[willtron]

I play LFR, it works perfectly for me.

I don't want to do normal or heroic. I don't want to wait and find groups manually, I don't want to have to do anything like raider.io. I'm hyper casual these days and WoW is as low impact as I want, I don't need gear better than I have because I don't do content that justifies it. If I occasionally do want to challenge myself in game, I'll go do something like mythic+ or corridors. For the most part I play random BGs.

LFR is nice for the occasional gear drop, but I usually run it once or twice just to see the content first hand.

I have a feeling the way I approach the game is far more common than people want to admit.

[Twdft]

Blizzard probably wants to phase out LFR as that's the least offensive way to remove it without terribads crying in pain so it should remain near-useless and become progressively less useful.

Maybe LFR quietly goes away in 2-3 years when it's at a state where it's basically useless anyway.

LFR will go away when raiding does, not before.

However "useless" (in your opinion, also calling anyone enjoying it terribad is a little bit disgusting btw) lfr is, it has one deciding feature: people will get into the raid 100% absolutely sure for certain. It may take an hour, but they will get in if they want to without having to convince someone to take them. Just meet the ilvl requirement and you'll get to see the raid. Nothing you'll do to make organized raiding more appealing will be as good as that automatic "I get in" button.

[Wysmark]

I cant commit to raid schedules. I have an hour or 2 hours here and there to play.

LFR dont give me the experience (its too easy), but I get too see the raid.

Also theres Anima, Legendaries and Transmogs to get, so not a waste at all

[Nachtigal]

IDK why, but I think OP rates a game on it's systems and the inner workings behind them, rather than the actual enjoyment they get out from it. It doesn't matter if the systems don't make sense, it matters if it's fun, and it is.

[Eosia]

People miss the point. The purpose of LFR is not to gear up, it'a purpose is for everyone to see the raid and conclude the storylines without having to rely on youtube as not everyone can commit to a raid schedule .. and pugs ... well are just toxic to the causals.

Point of Fact though, in Legion/BoA, and maybe WoD as I do not recall off the top of my head, LFR also served as a catch-up for gear in the second/third raid tier as well.

[TheRevenantHero]

Blizzard probably wants to phase out LFR as that's the least offensive way to remove it without terribads crying in pain so it should remain near-useless and become progressively less useful.

Maybe LFR quietly goes away in 2-3 years when it's at a state where it's basically useless anyway.

No they don't. They have said that LFR justifies them spending time on constructing interesting raids because otherwise they wouldn't bother creating big content for a miniscule portion of the playerbase.