BfA Patch Speculation thread (8.3 and later).

[FelPlague]

True but the problem they are facing now is that world content has degraded to such a point every player is a demi god who can not be challenged by the mortal npcs that challenge them.

End of the day people only count the dungeons and raids. BFA has taken a terrible wounding and I doubt it is going to recover.

if people only count dungeons and raids then... sure thats good cause we are about to get more.
also yes tons of people are strong.
which is funny because you still see people on these very forums crying that fighting stuff out in the world takes to long.

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When you see the background downloader triggers on the launcher, it's coming in 2 weeks, it's been like that since TBC, and always will do, it's a 2 week warning.

cept its not.
legion and expansions before that shook it up.
7.2 we only had 5 day warnings
7.3 we only had 6 days.

[Has lost its way]

if people only count dungeons and raids then... sure thats good cause we are about to get more.
also yes tons of people are strong.
which is funny because you still see people on these very forums crying that fighting stuff out in the world takes to long.

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cept its not.
legion and expansions before that shook it up.
7.2 we only had 5 day warnings
7.3 we only had 6 days.

I can understand why they think that... Nothing in the world can hurt you but it has a lot of hp or at least feels like it compared to other expansions. We have the rpg equivalent of bullet sponges on live.

[allegrian]

8.1 has been going on for waaaay too long, and didn’t add much content.

[FelPlague]

8.1 has been going on for waaaay too long, and didn’t add much content.

i mean 8.1 added a fair bit, but yeah not enoguh for 6 months.

[Hilaw]

My guess would be first week of july

[huth]

True but the problem they are facing now is that world content has degraded to such a point every player is a demi god who can not be challenged by the mortal npcs that challenge them.

And that's different from previous expansions how?

[Has lost its way]

And that's different from previous expansions how?

Artifact power. In a effort to get raiders to log in more they created a meaningless grindy taste that people get burned out with. They stopped making wow for wow players and made it for facebook gamers.

[dacoolist]

Considering FF14 is launching their expansion in a few weeks, I'd all but guarantee that is when we will see 8.2

Blizzard 100% does this shit: They LOVE to release patches and expansions on the same DATE other games come out to minimize casualties. They've done this as far back as I can remember (Mid TBC is when I've been playing 100% nonstop from until now)

[FlubberPuddy]

WoD had a fundamental issue with world zones being useless aside from leveling and story - another zone would not change it one bit.

This is why I believe Blizzard needs to iterate more on their world zones content. They've got their instanced content down pat. Raids, Dungeons, PvP (BGs and Arenas). World zones should be their own form of end-game content as well. We have rep grinds but those get useless once the instanced tiers/content begins opening up.

World quests aren't on-going, yeah sure it takes a lot of time, but you can clear all of them out from all the zones and aren't left with anything in the open world to do which limits open world progress. Quests are finite. Reputation gain is time-locked since it's tied to quests or world quests/emissaries.

I don't know how exactly how Mechagon (the zone) works but I heard it's not time-gated at all, there's just a lot of grinding to do within the zone itself (someone correct me if this incorrect info).

I truly believe open world content should allow you to progress your character in terms of power just as much as raids/dungeons/pvp can. Except since it would mainly be either a solo or "don't necessarily need a group" it should require heavy grinding (not a hard time lock like raids) so that the incentives to do instanced content such as raids/dungeons/pvp etc are still highly sought after.

Like imagine if it takes triple the time (just from open world content alone) to get fully mythic geared than it would take from doing raiding/elite pvp/m+ content. + or - a few kinks or time tables to work out but I think that progress rate would be pretty justified.

This way, all the pros still get their power much faster, can revel in that glory, and will be up to date on tiers/seasons while the solely open world players still lag behind but can continue to make meaningful progression in open world content.

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WoW in general also needs more different forms of content in its open world zones imo. Quests, World Quests, profession gathering, and killing rare enemies for drops isn't enough imo. Add more different forms of content.

Add jumping puzzles! It would be interesting for them to come out with some that are either standardized or allow you to utilize your class skills.

Include lower tier secret treasure hunts where you can exercise that brain if you want to, but that doesn't require a community wide effort like the current type of high tier secrets in place that require the whole community to figure out.

These are all I can muster off the top of my head, I'm not super creative but I feel like there's more that Blizzard could add to the open world content to make it a contender for standing with the various instanced content activities instead of it being just a stepping stone.

[THEORACLE64]

They've always planned stuff around other games coming out. Meh or not, FF14 is WoWs biggest competition right now.

If it was a bigger game/expansion, sure, they'd probably work around it. Content stuff though? No. WoW is still the biggest, they don't need to cater.

I also snorted with laughter at that last bit. Every MMO has been WoWs competition since it launched, yet here it still is outdoing them all.

[Dakhath]

If it was a bigger game/expansion, sure, they'd probably work around it. Content stuff though? No. WoW is still the biggest, they don't need to cater.

I also snorted with laughter at that last bit. Every MMO has been WoWs competition since it launched, yet here it still is outdoing them all.

You realize that competition doesn't mean they're beating them right? It means they are competing for customers. If some dude stops playing WoW for Aion, it's still a competing game.

[Sondrelk]

Artifact power. In a effort to get raiders to log in more they created a meaningless grindy taste that people get burned out with. They stopped making wow for wow players and made it for facebook gamers.

Artifact power, made in an effort to create the ever sought-after infinite grind that forumgoers argued they wanted for years.

Also, why are you saying this was a problem for BfA specifically, AP was a way worse problem in Legion, yet people seemed to accept it just fine then.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Artifact weapon system was alternate character progression and thats something we got and well it was wanted. World content being super finite is an issue which apparently people...miss...a lot.

[Has lost its way]

Artifact power, made in an effort to create the ever sought-after infinite grind that forumgoers argued they wanted for years.

Also, why are you saying this was a problem for BfA specifically, AP was a way worse problem in Legion, yet people seemed to accept it just fine then.

It was a major problem in legion as well but at least harder content rewarded more of it drastically reducing the grind. Forum goers are also mostly lfr players wanting to be better then someone else to justify their sixty hours a week.

[Sondrelk]

It was a major problem in legion as well but at least harder content rewarded more of it drastically reducing the grind. Forum goers are also mostly lfr players wanting to be better then someone else to justify their sixty hours a week.

So you are the sole bastion of Forum sanity then?

Forums are filled to the brim with people who consider their opinion to be the one true way forward. People wanted infinite grind to prevent a feeling of being done with a patch, and wanted to be able to feel like they could become just that tiny bit more powerful while waiting for hte next patch.
After that they wanted desperately to be able to feel "done" with a patch, because clearly everyone has an addivtive personality like them, and making players feel forced to grind is terrible beyond belief.

People on the forums have different opinions, if you cannot see that, then i cannot help you.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Artifact power. In a effort to get raiders to log in more they created a meaningless grindy taste that people get burned out with. They stopped making wow for wow players and made it for facebook gamers.

The systems added are added as a response to player feedback and behaviour.

Making the game for facebook gamers makes zero sense, so you could refrain from such silly statements. Every single fucking iteration has seen people like yourself lay claim to knowing the inner workings of the company and their motivations. Apparently they've been making the game for every demographic but MMORPG players since what, TBC? Hell, even Classic seeing as how it was far more casual than any other title at the time.

How odd.

[Has lost its way]

So you are the sole bastion of Forum sanity then?

Forums are filled to the brim with people who consider their opinion to be the one true way forward. People wanted infinite grind to prevent a feeling of being done with a patch, and wanted to be able to feel like they could become just that tiny bit more powerful while waiting for hte next patch.
After that they wanted desperately to be able to feel "done" with a patch, because clearly everyone has an addivtive personality like them, and making players feel forced to grind is terrible beyond belief.

People on the forums have different opinions, if you cannot see that, then i cannot help you.

Right but their opinions are objectively wrong and hurt the game as we have seen. Artifact power is a terrible system for everyone but terrible no life players and this is opinion alone as I can easily point out who it negatively effects.

Casuals can never catch up with lfr no lifers till the end of patch.
raiders have to grind afkable content to use their gear once it drops from raids.
Pvpers just despise the pve grind in their pvp.

There isn't a section beyond terrible gamers who would enjoy facebook games more then wow that like artifact power.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Right but their opinions are objectively wrong and hurt the game as we have seen. Artifact power is a terrible system for everyone but terrible no life players and this is opinion alone as I can easily point out who it negatively effects.

Casuals can never catch up with lfr no lifers till the end of patch.
raiders have to grind afkable content to use their gear once it drops from raids.
Pvpers just despise the pve grind in their pvp.

There isn't a section beyond terrible gamers who would enjoy facebook games more then wow that like artifact power.

People who only do LFR are casuals by default, for one, even if they "no-life", they're playing the content aimed at the lowest common denominator which requires no commitment.
And you don't have a grasp on what constitutes objectivity here, you have no insight as far as data on player activity and feedback goes.

This has also derailed the thread quite a bit, I'm sure there are numerous other threads where people whine to no end about how their ideas would tots fix the game.

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cept its not.
legion and expansions before that shook it up.
7.2 we only had 5 day warnings
7.3 we only had 6 days.

Huh, I forgot about that fact. Guess there's nothing definitive about us not having a heads up yet then!

[FelPlague]

Huh, I forgot about that fact. Guess there's nothing definitive about us not having a heads up yet then!

tey did give us our pvp season ending warning i think...
but there has been no release candidate yet, but that could come out tomorow, and then literally the next day "oh yeah 7 days from now 8.2"

[Aeluron Lightsong]

The artifact system wasn't horrible, it just wasn't perfect or what some people hoped for. Even if you had it now it still wouldn't be THE issue, just an issue that isn't as bad as you put it(Not Felplague)