What can keep players subscribed...longer?

[Big Thanks]

In my expertise opinion (lol)

The only way to keep players subscribed in this version of WoW (current WoW) is by giving players many "journeys" that can take weeks or months.

We all know THAT one group of WoW players with OCD about mounts, pets, toys, transmogs and achievement points.
Basically the most famous group in WoW in my opinion.
Preyed upon by the Blizzard's ingame Shop (no big problem whatsoever)

Basically this players follow a path to a journey in WoW.
We all do, even though everyones "journey" in WoW is different.

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There isnt much a MMORPG can do to keep players subscribed
IMO the only thing Blizzard can do is give us many more journeys for us to achieve.

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My opinion on how this journeys must reward you is extremely flawed...because im most of the time a minority and can only speak for myself.
I want Transmogs and single player world pvp quests. But thats just me.

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You guys think any of this is true?
If you were to embark on a journey WHAT would you want to do and what REWARD would you want?

[Zarithras]

The first game I played was Mega Man X. Aside from the badass controls, the motif of always getting better and getting stronger hooked me. Pokemon stands out as a series from my childhood that hooked me for the same reason. Leveling up and evolving was just so damn addicting. Final Fantasy, Zelda, Diablo... progression is the game mechanic that sinks its claws in deep.

WoW used to share this motif, but on steroids. Good Lord. From level 1-60 in vanilla, every single level and every single dungeon run was a power progression. After that grind, you had research and dungeons and PvP and all that to get BiS so you could engage with the ultimate group progression scheme - raiding. When starting WoW, you may not have been thinking of being a raider, but once you leveled to 60 and started down that path, you ended up as one.

This same exact feeling carried through, all the way to Legion I'd argue. WoD was the last expansion where I personally felt a good power progression as I played the game. Everything I did made me relatively and deterministically stronger within the world. Rotations were still pretty skill based, so by nature of playing and researching, you could perform better.

That progression scheme has hit a brick wall. I want to say this is a personal gripe, but it's been shared by many people on social medias. The feeling of progression and power that made WoW the ultimate game has just dried up.

I want that journey back.

[Big Thanks]

The first game I played was Mega Man X. Aside from the badass controls, the motif of always getting better and getting stronger hooked me. Pokemon stands out as a series from my childhood that hooked me for the same reason. Leveling up and evolving was just so damn addicting. Final Fantasy, Zelda, Diablo... progression is the game mechanic that sinks its claws in deep.

WoW used to share this motif, but on steroids. Good Lord. From level 1-60 in vanilla, every single level and every single dungeon run was a power progression. After that grind, you had research and dungeons and PvP and all that to get BiS so you could engage with the ultimate group progression scheme - raiding. When starting WoW, you may not have been thinking of being a raider, but once you leveled to 60 and started down that path, you ended up as one.

This same exact feeling carried through, all the way to Legion I'd argue. WoD was the last expansion where I personally felt a good power progression as I played the game. Everything I did made me relatively and deterministically stronger within the world. Rotations were still pretty skill based, so by nature of playing and researching, you could perform better.

That progression scheme has hit a brick wall. I want to say this is a personal gripe, but it's been shared by many people on social medias. The feeling of progression and power that made WoW the ultimate game has just dried up.

I want that journey back.

I dont really understand by your post (could be my bad english) exactly what kept you entertained longer in previous expansions.
Was the "power progression" (as you say it) in older expansions better? How so?

[Adamas102]

That progression scheme has hit a brick wall. I want to say this is a personal gripe, but it's been shared by many people on social medias. The feeling of progression and power that made WoW the ultimate game has just dried up.

I want that journey back.

Nothing really has changed. Maybe you’ve just gotten tired of repeating the same “progression” after so many years.

Level, gear grind, level, gear grind, level, gear grind...

[XDurionX]

Horizontal progression.

[Zyrinx]

What worked (i mean, REALLY worked) in Legion, was the Mage Tower.

A high difficulty solo challenge (aka do it in your own time) that DOESNT scale (aka gets easier, but slowly) for neat <somethings> that are highly visible and cannot be had any other way.

[justandulas]

I dont really understand by your post (could be my bad english) exactly what kept you entertained longer in previous expansions.
Was the "power progression" (as you say it) in older expansions better? How so?

the longer it takes to get, the more it means. When they throw epic gear at you that's raid quality, like you're playing borderlands or diablo; then the gear means less and less.

The gear comes from more sources than ever, raid quality, adn with less time invested than ever so players feel no sense of achievement or progression, and get bored faster. It ironically has the opposite affect as intended.

[Pooti]

What worked (i mean, REALLY worked) in Legion, was the Mage Tower.

A high difficulty solo challenge (aka do it in your own time) that DOESNT scale (aka gets easier, but slowly) for neat <somethings> that are highly visible and cannot be had any other way.

I really REALLY wish BfA had something akin to the Legion mage tower challenge.

[Katchii]

Having entertaining or fulfilling actions to do whenever I log in, that don't hinge on me being able to get into a group pushing the higher difficulties.

I don't care about having the best gear, since that changes every few months. I care about having decent enough gear that makes what I do all the time easier, which is currently just world quests for reputation or whatever War Campaign/story quests I haven't done at this point, which are few.

If there were a way for me to play and work towards gear upgrades on a consistent basis, like the tokens/ badges of old, I'd likely farm those and do dungeons more often which means I'd log in more often and play longer each time. As it stands, I don't do dungeons that often because it's just not worth it to me when World Quests have a guaranteed drop chance (when the reward is a piece of gear) and at this point provide rewards on par or better than the dungeons I care to do (Heroic).

So, I log in, do my World Quests for reputation and then log out, unless I hit a reputation level that unlocks a new campaign quest or new allied race and then (time allowing) I go and do those quests. I sometimes level an Allied Race alt to work towards the Heritage Armor, but that's not very often. The slog from 60-80 is awful.

[Big Thanks]

I don't care about having the best gear, since that changes every few months. I care about having decent enough gear that makes what I do all the time easier, which is currently just world quests for reputation or whatever War Campaign/story quests I haven't done at this point, which are few.

That is my main complaint about WoW.
Unlocking gear doesnt open up a new world of fun to be had...it just makes World Quests easier.

But lets forget about "wow problems"

Because changing the game just seems to come with the price of negative effects.

"New journeys" wouldnt effect anyone negatively...i think.
Maybe if "something to do" is wrong for some people.

[Akka]

WoW used to share this motif, but on steroids. Good Lord. From level 1-60 in vanilla, every single level and every single dungeon run was a power progression. After that grind, you had research and dungeons and PvP and all that to get BiS so you could engage with the ultimate group progression scheme - raiding. When starting WoW, you may not have been thinking of being a raider, but once you leveled to 60 and started down that path, you ended up as one.

This same exact feeling carried through, all the way to Legion I'd argue.

Mid to late TBC was the last time I felt this. Power progression is only gripping if it's meaningful and if it has significance in the whole context.
When all but the topmost content is faceroll like in WotLK onward, then the whole power increase is pointless for 95 % of the game.
And when said power increase is so ridiculous that you double your output every patch, it just feels you're carried by the gear and not that you're actually progressing.

The concept is good. The tuning is completely off, and it hides the concept itself, making it the irrelevant.

[Echocho]

More importantly I think they need to make these journies worthwhile. A feeling of making your character permanently grown. If it'll be given to you for free later on or made redundant people won't care.

[justandulas]

That is my main complaint about WoW.
Unlocking gear doesnt open up a new world of fun to be had...it just makes World Quests easier.

But lets forget about "wow problems"

Because changing the game just seems to come with the price of negative effects.

"New journeys" wouldnt effect anyone negatively...i think.
Maybe if "something to do" is wrong for some people.

It's the lack of progression that gets me too. I don't consider 4 different difficulties of dungeons new content, and i say that as a mythic MT.

To me, i'd like them to adopt a more BC progression style of A to B, B to C, C to D, etc... but expand upon it into dungeons, open world, professions, character unlocks like long quest chains for hidden talents, hidden areas, and so much more.

There's enough WoW for all of us, and i want everyone to get their slice of the pie... i just want more of RPG progression in every way of the game and less ARPG

- - - Updated - - -

More importantly I think they need to make these journies worthwhile. A feeling of making your character permanently grown. If it'll be given to you for free later on or made redundant people won't care.

yeah. currently your only growth at 120 is your ilvl, and that's pretty boring IMHO. RPG's can be so much more than just spreadsheet simulators

[crono14]

Make the game an actual RPG again:

- Deep customization talent trees
- Better class design, you can't balance every spec but try your best. At least make specs fun to play and thematically different.
- No flying mounts
- Horizontal progression
- Longer and more challenging dungeons
- Remove RNG gear and WF/TF
- All servers are PvP and towns/cities can be taken
- Class quest lines
- One raid difficulty
- Story driven leveling and quest content
- No more dungeon queue unless you have a full party already(though if the one server idea was taken, I am fine with a dungeon queue)
- No more cross server shit, every server is now individual community. It's 2019 and servers can be spread across many different servers to handle load and capacity. Condense the number of servers we already have to accommodate this.
- No server xfers or race change

I'm sure I could think of many many more ideas. Mostly meaningful character progression, community restored, and we play an RPG again.

[Big Thanks]

Make the game an actual RPG again:

- Deep customization talent trees
- Better class design, you can't balance every spec but try your best. At least make specs fun to play and thematically different.
- No flying mounts
- Horizontal progression
- Longer and more challenging dungeons
- Remove RNG gear and WF/TF
- All servers are PvP and towns/cities can be taken
- Class quest lines
- One raid difficulty
- Story driven leveling and quest content
- No more dungeon queue unless you have a full party already
- No more cross server shit, every server is now individual community. It's 2019 and servers can be spread across many different servers to handle load and capacity.
- No server xfers or race change

I'm sure I could think of many many more ideas. Mostly meaningful character progression, community restored, and we play an RPG again.

Im pretty sure all your changes would both have a positive and negative effect on people.
Im trying to be positive today so trying to provide "changes" that can only bring positives

[Katchii]

That is my main complaint about WoW.
Unlocking gear doesnt open up a new world of fun to be had...it just makes World Quests easier.

But lets forget about "wow problems"

Because changing the game just seems to come with the price of negative effects.

"New journeys" wouldnt effect anyone negatively...i think.
Maybe if "something to do" is wrong for some people.

New journey's are fine, I'd be up for those, I just don't think they'd happen. Based on your description they'd be these epic quest chains, and quest chains take a LONG time to create or develop. But, yes, long epic quest chains with decent rewards or unlock cool stuff, I'd totally be up for.

[Frostbang]

Easy answer for this. A Classic Summer

[Big Thanks]

Easy answer for this. A Classic Summer

Im a classic fanboy myself but Moanalisa is right...all threads have people on them talking about classic.
Is too much at this point

[crono14]

Im pretty sure all your changes would both have a positive and negative effect on people.
Im trying to be positive today so trying to provide "changes" that can only bring positives

Oh I agree it would piss off a lot of people hell even myself included on some of them. I don't have the time to raid so I likely wouldn't see that one difficulty, but it would be healthy for the game overall. I wasn't meaning to be negative, just things I could see that would improve the game as an experience in an MMO genre and as an RPG.

[Martymark]

The BFA plan seems to be to make the game as boring as possible and time gate anything players want like Zandalari as long as possible.

I wonder how this bold new MAU farming plan is working out for them.