Would you play wow with cosmetic only gear?

[Nite92]

You're right that it would be a big change to game experience. The difference though is that the numbers apply to everyone, whereas the experience is more personal and changes from one player to another. Yes, there are plenty of players who derive most of their enjoyment from seeing those stats and damage numbers increase. However, that's not the same for everyone. I mean, just look at similar threads that asked questions along the lines of "if mythic gear looked the same as LFR gear would you still want to do mythic". For some people it's all about the stats, for others it's about the looks, and for others it's just the fun of playing the game.

When I said it would be a small change, I meant just in terms of scaling difficulties without taking gear into account. That part is just about balancing numbers. I wouldn't say I'm purely on one side or the other. While I do prefer to chase cosmetic appearances rather than pure character power, I do also like gear that improves your character but through more than just pure stats. Things like trinkets and old set bonuses.

From my PoV, people rarely care about the actual dps numbers. When we went through the m+ progress, people did not really care about doing 4 or 5k dps, they liked how our "work" made dungeons easier. It just really is a discussion, what is Wow, what can change, and what should never change. And I at least, think that this gear progression is a core psychological thing, that makes you enjoy the endgame.
I am not even saying that changing this would make WoW worse, it might make it even a better game, who knows. But it would cause a significant player drop imo.

[NewportsDentarg]

It sounds like Overwatch.

[arkanon]

It sounds like Overwatch.

I mean.........it really doesnt. If you were going to pick something to compare it with, there are multiple examples within the genre of MMORPG - really no need to try and compare it to a FPS.

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From my PoV, people rarely care about the actual dps numbers. When we went through the m+ progress, people did not really care about doing 4 or 5k dps, they liked how our "work" made dungeons easier. It just really is a discussion, what is Wow, what can change, and what should never change. And I at least, think that this gear progression is a core psychological thing, that makes you enjoy the endgame.
I am not even saying that changing this would make WoW worse, it might make it even a better game, who knows. But it would cause a significant player drop imo.

Really good comment - And I happen to agree with everything you said, in particular the bold part. I find it quite strange that so many "fans" of wow absolutely hate it, and yet freak the flying fuck out at even a hypothetical discussion about how a change would impact the game. You on the other hand - level headed, logical, non-emotional - even if i disagreed i would find it hard to be mad - however i happen to agree.

[Echo of Soul]

Interesting - because i can go to KFC and buy something other than chicken. coleslore for example

I really hope you're not able to buy coleslores at KFC.

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It sounds like Overwatch.

Slap a load out system on top of it and..oh wait they already did that.

[Irian]

No, progression has to come from somewhere. If you meant zero ilvl increase then yes, I think there's plenty of ways through gem sockets, weapon procs and trinkets to make gear progression compelling without just a strict power increase.

In my opinion what I really want is just for things to get more interesting and even a bit more complicated as an expansion goes on. For example in the past I liked how a lot of the end-tier raid gear had 3 gem sockets on main pieces and 2 on smaller pieces, basically demanding you put in the time or gold to get the correct gems to really achieve a true BiS set. It made getting a new piece of gear genuinely interesting and made getting to the end of an expansion really feel like reaching the pinnacle of what your character could do at that level range, even with crazy stuff like soft capping on secondary stats.

[arkanon]

I really hope you're not able to buy coleslores at KFC.

Lets stick with coleslaw...............not entirely sure wtf "coleslores" is, but im confident i dont need to know........

[GnomeEU]

We had that.
It was called challenge mode.
I loved it, but you only did it once.
And I think it was not that popular
It would make WoW a game only for the elite, because weaker players can no longer progress in the game without gear upgrades.

Imagine pick up heroic raids without nerfed bosses where everyone has just ilvl 200.
Ppl would stop the game frustrated because they can't beat the content. And it would kill most pick up groups that depend on overgeared players.

I think it would be interesting to have challenge mode only servers. Where every raid and dungeon has a fixed ilvl.

[Echo of Soul]

Lets stick with coleslaw...............not entirely sure wtf "coleslores" is, but im confident i dont need to know........

Let's just say it's a type of woman. I'm pretty sure that KFC would get in trouble if they started selling people across the counter

[rowaasr13]

Yes, I already play Overwatch a lot and that game only has cosmetic gear.

Did you just honestly bring game from another genre in discussion? Wow, cool! Why don't you also tell us that Tetris don't have gear? Or Chess?

[Gaidax]

Most likely not.

Been there done that with GW2. It really made me realize how, ultimately, I really like meaningful character power progression.

All in all this is a core of WoW, without it - it would just not hold me for so long.

[Varodoc]

Did you just honestly bring game from another genre in discussion? Wow, cool! Why don't you also tell us that Tetris don't have gear? Or Chess?

Because I couldn't care about those games even if I tried.

[Amerissis]

I feel power and looks should just be separated. I understand why the most powerful gear is in mythic raiding, but why does it also have to be the most beautiful? Obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the sets are more intricate, more detailed then lower levels.

So separate that. Have all looks be obtainable by tokens that you can earn in every content (you can get more in more difficult content so you can get them sooner) and keep power related to difficulty.

[Makorus]

Guild Wars 2 does just this (at least the last time I played). Everything is cosmetic in which many can be purchased from the store. Otherwise there are no power increases with gear.

Hasn't been true in a while now.

Every expansion introduced new affixes (i.e. stat sets for the the gear) which always changed the meta and made specs more powerful.

So yeah, you might be lucky and your character still uses an affix from the base game, but if you are any dot spec or any non-pure DPS, have fun shelling out hundreds of gold for a set.

[Christoffer1989]

Our characters DO perform exactly the same, all the time. We start dealing 10 damage against mobs with 100hp, then we start dealing 20damage on mobs with 200hp, and by the end of the expansion we are dealing 100damage.......against mobs with 1000hp.

I can see what you mean, but you missing 1 important thing here:
You missing the part in between. I can say that I do alot more damage in my heroic raids now then I did first time we did it.... So no we dont perform exactly the same.
And world first raiders, they dont clear the raid faster now then first kill they did?
If we only look on m+, then yes abit they do same % dmg all the time, but they do a +27key and not a +7key, thats the progression they want.
But if they would enter a +7 key they would clear it 10times faster then what ppl that have a +7 as the "roof"

[Mightytasty]

Of all of the bad ideas I’ve seen pitched on MMOC, this is one of the worst. I’d love to see Kevin Jordan’s reaction to this thread.

[Soon-TM]

because weaker players can no longer progress in the game without gear upgrades.

Even with gear upgrades, Blizzard has to significantly nerf HC and (to a lesser extent) mythic so that weaker players can progress.

[hulkgor]

snip

Probably not. I have no interest whatsoever in cosmetics, vanity items or overall customization.

WoW has been highly successful with their formula, anything that deviates from it would probably drive me away from the game.

New games should go for new ideas, not established ones going against their success formulas.

[arkanon]

Probably not. I have no interest whatsoever in cosmetics, vanity items or overall customization.

WoW has been highly successful with their formula, anything that deviates from it would probably drive me away from the game.

New games should go for new ideas, not established ones going against their success formulas.

I dont disagree with any of this. I am pretty amazed that 1/3 of people claim they would still play the game without any power gains at all. Im not saying they are "wrong", no problem with their opinion at all, but I am surprised its literally one third of the people on here.

[Huzzaa]

I honestly think that the folk who answered yes are lying to themselves.

EDIT: Actually as an hour a night casual login forget about work frustration stuff for the day thing, maybe... but.
Even then, in every case where nothing matters in the game, you will get bored of it almost instantly. So even if, making that argument, I still believe it to be BS.
Broken in the membrane excluded.

[Razion]

I dont disagree with any of this. I am pretty amazed that 1/3 of people claim they would still play the game without any power gains at all. Im not saying they are "wrong", no problem with their opinion at all, but I am surprised its literally one third of the people on here.

It probably makes more sense in context that mmoc is generally considered at least amongst itself as more competitive and less casual - and competitive pkayers usually aren't at a want for gear, or could make do with less. I think it makes sense to see more of the sentiment here, though it's likely less common around the rest of the game generally.