Did we need scenarios?

[Rosstafa]

Looking back at scenarios after their addition in MoP, did they fulfill a niche that was needed?

Presumably the main reason they were made was so that 3 friends could run an instance together regardless of roles, and not need to find 2 extra strangers to join their group.

My argument is this: scenarios feel too much like instanced questing. Dungeons are good because they introduce you into working as part of a team, fulfilling your role, understanding basic boss mechanics to practice for raiding. Due to the lack of role structure in scenarios, they do not prepare you for raiding as well and therefore are little more than instances questing. Not only that, but scenario bosses cannot be as interesting/complex due to the possible lack of a tank or healer. Scenarios are great as solo quests (like Isle of Thunder, which was brilliant), but not as group content.

As resources will be spent making new scenarios instead of dungeons, we will likely get less dungeons than in previous expansions. Do people think scenarios were a good addition and a balance between them and dungeons is good? Or should they be scrapped and the focus be on more dungeons?

Not ripping into scenarios here, just a personal opinion on them and I'm interested to see what other's think.

[Dukenukem]

We really did not need them

BUT

They just provide so much excuse for everything else it is worth it, You get Fast VP for doing HCS, the casuals have their sort of content when ever they want, Its extra lore for all who seeks it.

AND you can ignore them and not be harmed at all as raider (oposite to LFR)

[Stormspark]

I understand where they were coming from. They wanted a replacement for the old elite group questing areas like Jintha'alor in Hinterlands. But...scenarios were poorly implemented. They weren't implemented like group questing areas, they were implemented like dungeons. So they just ended up being watered down dungeons (there's very little you can do mechanics-wise without a tank and healer).

So I'd have to say that scenarios were "good idea, poor execution".

[Deleted]

Its nice for the people that dont have much time but yeah we didnt really need them

[zerocarbs]

I think scenarios make excellent solo content. Think about the scenarios used in the legendary quest chain or even the celestial pet battle. But as for group content where there are no defined player roles I have absolutely no desire to do them.

[Barnabas]

Not every part of the game needs to prepare you for raiding. You know how you become a better raider by participating in raids. Nothing can teach you more than actually doing said task itself. I think scenarios could be used more often than just as something to do at level cap. They should make them a part of the questing experience. Just because they don't rely on the trinity system doesn't make them a total fail. That is just your opinion.

[Frolk]

Too little to gain from em for em to replace 5mans and raiding for ppl with very limited time

[Kickbuttmario]

Yes. Scenarios require very little effort when making. In fact, I personally would prefer if some of the scenarios have more quests in them instead so it would flow better with the quest and theme of the zone.

Dungeons however are a different story. A lot of time and effort needs to go into those dungeons to make sure they aren't terrible dungeons.

[Fibh]

The idea was good. The implementation, not so much.

Scenarios are easy, give you JP, VP, AH/DE items, and sometimes some gear. But there is no reason to implement them, when they are easy, and normal dungeons are easy, and HC dungeons are still easy.

They give an extra layer of difficulty, which is nice, but then the others need to become gradually harder. It seems that they got it right in WOD though.

[Lucetia]

Looking back at scenarios after their addition in MoP, did they fulfill a niche that was needed?

Will say this one is a mixed bag of worms for many. I myself enjoyed scenarios to an extent. They were usually quick and easy way of earning things. I just wish the implementation was a bit better, but not sure how. It felt like they were doing what dungeons did, but quicker and wish they'd fill a different niche.

I just can't pin point what it is exactly that would make it better, but they could use some polishing.

[Aus Nate]

I still prefer running dungeons than doing scenarios, Solo scenarios are ok.

[Hammerfest]

I can't participate in the poll because I feel they are great for solo quest progression, but they are a lousy alternative to dungeons. If there was a poll option that read something like "Keep them for solo quest progression, but get rid of three-man Scenarios and bring back Dungeons in force" I'd vote for that one.

[Sinndra]

they missed the best use for them. we did not need them as lvl 90 content, they should have been used as leveling content. alternatives to questing/dungeon/bg's. Scenario's are better used in this manner, and would have been more popular.

[melodramocracy]

Solo scenarios are / were a great thing for story advancement. 3 man scenarios felt a bit like an excuse not to have more 5 man dungeons.

[Bandin]

I'm a pretty big fan of how they used scenarios as solo content in places like Isle of Thunder to show some story/lore as the island unlocked. I have a feeling we will see a lot of that during Warlords of Draenor. Perhaps not right at launch, but as the patches come in to further the story, I think they will be utilized a lot. The group scenarios are okay, some of them more fun than others. I wouldn't "miss" them per se if they didn't do any more of them, but a few of the later ones that used a bit of story to move you from stage to stage were rather fun.

[WanderingBreezes]

I was a fan of them by definition but in practice I've barely ever touched them outside of the 5.3 quest stuff. I can't imagine how fun it could possibly be to pop into a scenario at the appropriate ilvl (non-heroic mind you) and not know how to do it but being that I'm 1 of 3 the other two people are more likely than a dungeon group to stop and say "wtf why aren't you doing anything and your dps is bad" so I just don't see a reason to use them. If I wanted to be stressed out, I'd just DPS queue for LFRs.

Turn that around and have a super highly geared character and all I want is to solo queue for them.

Considering Blizzard's idea of the "content budget" is very limited for their monetary and manpower budget... I'd rather they not add anymore and add one or two more dungeons instead.

[Independent voter]

I'm always for more content. You don't have to do it if you don't want to.

[mber341]

they missed the best use for them. we did not need them as lvl 90 content, they should have been used as leveling content. alternatives to questing/dungeon/bg's. Scenario's are better used in this manner, and would have been more popular.

I couldn't agree more. Why they didn't use them for leveling content is beyond me.

[MoanaLisa]

My argument is this: scenarios feel too much like instanced questing.

Exactly what they were supposed to be; more like instanced versions of group quests.

FYI, dungeons share resources with raids, not with scenarios. They were designed and managed by the quest team, not the raid/dungeon team.

I liked them well enough for what they were. The main problem with them as I see it was that Blizzard took what was essentially a pretty open format for environments and group size and designed them with little in the way of imagination or creativity. They were cut-and-paste to a certain extent. This is one place where using the word lazy as applied to Blizzard development may actually apply. There was a ton of stuff they could do with them. They didn't with the notable exception of the solo scenarios. Alas, those were pretty much one-use.

You may not be ripping into scenarios but your poll options do suggest otherwise.

[Zenotetsuken]

I couldn't really stand scenarios personally. They always kind of had this feeling of being a really boring way of reusing content that we had already just done while leveling. I really wouldn't have minded them as much if they weren't almost all just in the area we were already in. If they would have made like a ton more (10-15 more per patch) and scattered them throughout the world it would have made them far more interesting IMO.

Edit: I really think that they could easily pump out a ton of them, since they are basically just a short instanced chain quest placed in an already made area of a zone. It is probably less work to make 1 scenario than it is to tune the trash groups between the beginning of an instance, and the first boss of the instance.