UPDATED - Alternative system at the bottom of the post!
* Posted on page 7 https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...-of-WoW!/page7
It is my opinion that we should have a better gear progression system in place for casual world content. Many people want to gear up their character but do not like participating in mandatory group content. I like to compare this to so many people who live in the suburbs; They like or don't mind living around other people, but do not want to consistently interact with their neighbors. Some people enjoy that balance of community and solitude. After playing since the beginning and doing everything this game offers over the years, I now fall into this category. I prefer solo content unless temporary convenience dictates the matter.
And then we have the many people who thrive on group content and playing the game with others. Nothing wrong with that. But, all current endgame content centers around this group of people. And that is my big problem. It makes zero sense to design any MMO exclusively around one group of players and force the other group to conform.
Next, we have the problem of people feeling forced into doing things they don't want to do in order to min/max what they do want to do. For example, some feel the need to run M+ or PvP to get the best gear they can even if they only really want to raid and vice-versa. People should be allowed to focus on one single form of content if they so choose OR dabble in multiple aspects of the game if that makes them happy.
So in an attempt to address all of these issues with one over-arcing design, I believe that the answer is specialized bonus gear. For example, I will refer to current gear numbers to explain how this system would work.
WORLD CONTENT
The biggest goal here is to extend the gearing process and further increase player power through world content but without stepping on the toes of other endgame progression.
World Quests
Gear rewarded from World Quests would scale from 148 to 220. Renown gates this system, allowing the gearing process to be done incrementally over time. This gear would offer outdoor bonuses similar to what was used with Covenant Gear.
Covenant Gear
This would be the endgame for those who focus on just world content. Covenant Gear would scale to 226. I think this gear should have offered bonuses related to the Maw and Torghast. And maybe the upgrade currency should have been Stygia or something similar that can also be attained through normal Torghast. This puts people into the more difficult outdoor areas of the current patch with a good reward system in place.
World Bosses
Gear drops here would scale just like World Quests within a patch cycle. Maybe valuable trinkets and weapons would be acquired here. It just needs a little something extra to differentiate it as being weekly content.
Faction Reputation
This is probably fine. It should serve as a temporary boost along your journey.
Profession Crafting
On one hand, I believe that the gear from crafting should just be transmog gear. Make it interesting and maybe more practical looking gear opposed to all of the crazy looks we get from gear elsewhere. Example being the vendor weapons we gain access to from the new starting area. Otherwise, I would just designate this gear as starter PvP gear or catch-up gear.
RAIDS
Gear from raids would now have a bonus system that would give a max bonus of 30% at 15 pieces. All raid encounters would obviously be tuned according. You would want raid gear to raid. Those progressing through say Heroic would probably want to also run Normal if gear upgrades exist there. This is in opposition to the current gearing scheme where people feel forced to run M+ or PvP to fill in the gaps in their gear.
5 Set Bonus: Increases your Primary stat and Stamina by 5% while in a raid.
10 Set Bonus: Increases your Primary stat and Stamina by an additional 10% (15%) while in a raid.
15 Set Bonus: Increases your Primary stat and Stamina by an additional 15% (30%) while in a raid.
DUNGEONS
Gear from Dungeons would have the exact same bonus system as Raid gear, except this bonus only works in dungeons. Once again, people who want to just run dungeons won't feel the need to do other things to succeed or cut corners. Additionally, gear rewards could be slightly increased across the board since you wouldn't be gaining gear from multiple sources.
5 Set Bonus: Increases your Primary stat and Stamina by 5% while in dungeons.
10 Set Bonus: Increases your Primary stat and Stamina by an additional 10% (15%) while in dungeons.
15 Set Bonus: Increases your Primary stat and Stamina by an additional 15% (30%) while in dungeons.
PVP
Gear from PvP needs to be simplified and have any rating requirement removed. Rated play should be all about fame, glory, and transmog gear. We only need one PvP currency with a weekly cap just like Conquest now. You buy the PvP gear with that currency and upgrade the gear with that currency. This process should be gated similar to how Honor gear was this patch. PvP gear would eventually upgrade to 226. There would now be a long path of progression through PvP even for casual players.
Versatility would be changed to a PvP stat that only comes on PvP gear. All pieces of PvP gear would have Versatility, even all trinkets. Versatility would increase damage and healing by X% and decrease damage taken from other players by X%. PvP gear would have a set bonus tied to Versatility.
5 Set Bonus: Increases your Versatility by 5% while in Arena and Battlegrounds.
10 Set Bonus: Increases your Versatility by an additional 10% (15%) while in Arenas and Battlegrounds.
15 Set Bonus: Increases your Versatility by an additional 15% (30%) while in Arenas and Battlegrounds.
GREAT VAULT
PvP rewards would work similar to the Raid and Dungeon rewards.
Reward 1 - Win 1 Battlegrounds or 3 Arena matches.
Reward 2 - Win 5 Battlegrounds or 10 Arena matches.
Reward 3 - Win 10 Battlegrounds or 20 Arena matches.
Using this example, I believe that a compromise can be had regarding how gear rewards work. Everyone would feel adequately rewarded for doing the content of their choosing. I really do believe everyone could be happy with this system but I would like to hear your feedback.
Additionally, I think it would be appropriate to rethink the color schemes of gear in accordance with this plan:
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NEW - Alternative Bonus Power System
After taking some feedback into consideration, here is an alternative to the bonus gear system that I proposed originally.
I believe that some sort of bonus system is the right move to solve the problem, but I now believe that this theoretical bonus system doesn't necessarily have to be attached to the actual gear. So here is the new idea: basically there would be a separate PvE and PvP power bonus that you would gain after completing different levels of content. This system would be evergreen and the bonus would reset with every season/patch cycle. We would require a new panel maybe with a toggle button accessible from our character panel. Below is a rough example showing how it might look for a player progressing through any certain patch cycle:
This creates a bonus reward system for players who participate in more "difficult" content that translates into other similar areas of the game. By adding power through accomplishments, it reduces the need for the actual gear to be the main focal point of the rewards structure. This in turn, creates an avenue for world content gear to scale to maximum ilvl just like all other gear within each patch cycle. Gear progression is the rock that WoW was founded upon. And with this new proposed system, all content would provide a long rewarding path that puts all players on equal footing within the outside World...of Warcraft.
* Note that I did not overthink what exactly the bonus should be or it's relative value.