To me what would make sense would be returning to the semi-Cataclysm gearing model except having the ungated gear be LFR quality, not normal raid quality.
You run 5-mans for a lot of JP and a little VP. Remember how running normals in cataclysm would be good for a few hundred JP per run? I think something like 300-500 JP per run would be reasonable, with a daily or 7x/week valor bonus about the size it currently. Also, have bosses in all non-current LFR tiers drop, let's say, 100 JP on EVERY kill (so you can farm LFR for JP if you like).
With JP you can buy a reasonably complete set of 476 gear from an ordinary ungated vendor. If there are no set pieces on the vendor, that's fine, I have no problem making people grind a set bonus from the RNG boss.
With VP you can buy a reasonably but possibly less complete set of T15 LFR from an ordinary ungated vendor.
Vendors selling normal difficulty gear could be gated with reps and whatever as they are now.
The 20 ilevel gap between LFR and normal really should eliminate any need to gate LFR gear.
It's *not* as casual (or alt) friendly as Wrath. That being said, there are plenty of ways to gear up now. Just about everything rewards VP and it doesn't take much to start building up your gear, you can get into LFR within a week of being level 90 even if you don't play much if you put your mind to it, and before you know it you'll be raid ready. Yeah, they didn't make 5.0 gear cost JP instead of VP per usual, but they reduced the price and even if you don't do many dailies there are other ways in place to get the rep now so you can unlock pieces. You can also buy gear relatively cheap or have someone craft them for you.
You're right, JP is pretty useless after you get a good start, but they want you to see some of the older content before moving onto the new stuff. It's still a way better system than TBC and prior as far as catching-up, and if you can't wait 2 or 3 weeks to do so than it's a personal problem.
First, this was very sweet quote ripping.
Second. Being a most successful MMO in history sure has its cons. While a less populated MMO developers can please their customers with the things community really want from them, WoW devs just cant please one part of community because they automatically unplease more huge another part of it. Blizz can never win, you know.
Third. Any MMO nowadays relevant because its always comes to grind at the end. In SWTOR it was grind, and that grind was not only awful but also meaningless, because raid loots was better and much easier to obtain than items you could get by grinding dailies/instances. In Rift it was grind beyond all limits, close a million rifts to get badges to buy one item, then its rinse and repeat again and again. Do I need to continue my Big List of Examples? Its grind everywhere, because MMO = grind, its designed the way you must sit at your monitor and keep playing hours after hours to get loot so your character becomes stronger thus killing stronger opponents for getting better loot etc etc.
Fourth and final. But, unlike another MMOs, where endgame grind equals weeks of farming, in WoW anyone can get up and running from new leveled 90 up to raid prepared character basically in ten days. How? There were lots of advices in this topic, even the quoted part of my original message had some. But, looks like people nowadays don't want to actually play, achieve and develop, they tend to sit in towns and cry about how bad the game become, how it is hard to get anything and how this sucks. Well, if it's your way to have fun - you're very welcome to do that.
In 5.2 you can get geared enough for normal msv / hof pretty fast with the combination of doing 1-2 heriocs a day plus the daily scenario. That's a pretty easy 160 valor a day, add in doing lfr run+ a couple dailies and your at cap each week np. That means by the second week you have a 522 ilvl neck + all the gear from heroics, if your extremely unlucky then maybe it will take 3 weeks to gear up, but that's not that bad.
And really if your a tank you can spam heroics pretty easily to get more heroic gear. It really shouldn't take more then 3 weeks even if your only doing a heroic a day.
There was no "less mmo" in WoW than in other games, it was just more casual. (still hardcore judging by modern standards)
It was back then, since WoW there were plenty much more casual friendly mmos, most of them persihed really fast. Latest example Guild Wars 2, that game failed so hard in long term interest of the players, there was no progression, and did it beat WoW numbers or something? Yeah it sold well, but msot of the people left that game already
Or you can make LFR a social place.
We currently have 10 people strong that LFR on alts/mains/newbies every week...we vent up and [this might be a shocker] actually try in LFR.
We like to compete against each other and the other geared players...is it a "snooze"? I can be, but we don't let it.
THAT's the difference. We make the game social, if even for a bit of the LFR, and it becomes fun.
But I know, I know...social has no place in the LFR and we should be shot.
Do you even know what you're talking about? On my server there's always people playing in areas of any levels and looking for dungeon groups. GW2 is just very different than WoW, it's more about having fun and playing whenever you want than grinding to show off your ''awesome'' gear. I don't know why you're saying most people already left it, I'm sure many did but I still see people everywhere and I'm having more fun in GW2 than I had in 3 years of WoW.
Edit: If someone for some reason will say I'm starting a vs debate, no, 2 very different games for different kinds of players, no comparing, just saying the above poster has no idea.
Last edited by mmoc1448edff70; 2013-03-11 at 09:34 PM.
I stopped at "fresh 90 trying to raid". As a fresh 90, you are asking to be carried if you try to raid.
They only understand one thing. Loosing subs. So their not likely to wake up anytime soon, probably around the time of the next expansion when they MAGICALLY realize they had it all wrong in mists. Can't wait for it personally. Wanna guess how low the subs dip till then?
I geared up like so.
Get to 90 with 4000 honor 4000 justice. Buy 478 Malevelent. Spent what Valor I had on new 522 kneck. Its fast way to get your gear level up to reasonable level.
World of Dailies
I cant believe so many "blizz fans" support this style of gameplay.
Free-To-Play is the future.