Originally Posted by
ippollite
The playerbase is optimised to shit. The only way you can stop them looking for every advantage they have over everyone else is...
And i know this is gonna hurt...
...
Make the game much easier.
Now dont get me wrong, im not necessarily advocating this, just stating how you might go about 'destroying the meta'. If I wanted to destroy the meta, id probably just do the following: scythe off mythic raiding into its own vanity/flex leaderboard system. The end of the game progression would be heroic. Mythic raiding would be the equivalent of +16-+23 keys. I'd give them all a title, some iconic cosmetic weapon/mount affix, some cool pets, and maybe some mogs. I'd even give them a leaderboard which id make accessible through the calendar or something (so no player in game could escape from). I'd also give them all the mythic raiding they could ever dream of with as many mythic plus affixes, timers, damage increases, and challenge modes (good job on your mythic zero, now do it with 17 people... now lets do it with a timer, now lets have storming, now lets have tyrann... i mean er... nah, screw it, lets have tyrannical!). The race to world first will never end for them! What joy they will have!... in their semi-caged mini game mostly away from the general playerbase (cosmetics, titles, etc, not withstanding). Actually, id make those rewards seasonal like PVP and give them an honor system style pve rating (top 3 - 2800, top 10 - 2400, top 100 - 2100, top 200 - 2000, top 500 - 1800, top 1000 - 1500). Yeah, thats what id do. No extra drops from the heroic loot table. Just raiding to their hearts content.
Of course they get a special (and super awesome) mount for finishing above 2100. Im not a monster! But as a player, you BEAT THE GAME at ahead of the curve, everything else is 'dressing'.
You also beat mythic plus at plus 15... you can go as high as you dream, but youre done at plus 15. Oh, and the first 5 levels are now on LFD. And im going to make them MUCH easier. Because what the hell is the point of a skill curve if you dont utilise it. As a token of conciliation though, you can only queue for the exact key level you have on LFD (you can still apply for any group you like on LFG and any dungeon you like - though of course can only list your own key for that dungeon on LFG), and only players WITH that key can join you. And if you mess up, you all get dumped down a rank.
Okay... you can queue with ANYONE with a +4 key, rng decides on which of the dungeons your key is now bound to (temporarily until the keystone slot is activated), and if you leave before the dungeon finishes, you are dropped a level (no cheesing for the right group with the right rng key - though im sure there'll be an exploit somewhere the playerbase would figure out). Anyways, im overthinking it. Point is, you are in LFD, you cannot jump up a key level without completing the dungeon (except through LFG). If you bail because everyone sucks, your key downranks (now you can only apply on lfd to rank 3), and if you want to boost it, well, you're either doing it through the tortuous LFD way (1 rank upon completion), or making and vetting your own group in LFG. At no point can you leapfrog through LFD. Your key determines what m+ level you can do. You cant just blag your way into a +9 with your +2 key. Thats LFG (which remains perfectly in tact and has NO CHANGES even in the 0 to 5 range - lfd is just an alternative option with MORE punishments (all your keys are on the line)).
Now lets pop over to pvp. I have ALWAYS loved the idea of RBGs. Im a team player. I make calls. I sit at flags! I do all the stuff no one else wants to do. But i hate discord/teamspeak/vent. I just like chat? I just wanna play some RBGs and get a rating, without having to organise myself into a premade (inc vetting/judgement), yeah? You know... kinda how the world worked back in 2006? Now i get my rating would be shot to fuck by this, but i reckons theres plenty of folks out there who'd want to do the same... just let me group for this with auto queue. I know, i know, its complicated and they'd need to really busily work on solo queue or something to make it happen... but just let my rag tag crew of anti social players (whom ive just now met) get through this RBG without being GY camped (bonus, why GY camp us in 2021? Honor is irrelevant in RBGs, all that matters is conquest and ranks. This is progress!). If you played vanilla at any level you were GY camped at some point by a premade (well, if you were alliance). The only difference now is that they'll three cap us in 5 minutes instead of farming us for honor on top of it. As my rank slides, i literally help my team mates out through our collective match making rank! At some point im going to have not only the experience in these BGs, but also the pride to say NO MORE!!! (and blast it on the wall with a dead daleks eye stalk), and just join a premade RBG group (with extra conquest gear making me more useful).
So anyways, thats how im breaki... i mean, er making the game less meta. Progression dies (in terms of power) at Heroic raiding/Mythic +15. Mythic 1-5 are also on LFD. RBGs are solo queued out the whazoo and on group finder if youre a masochist and just want a rating in pvp... ANY rating (RBGs and arena are on group finder (if you're insane)). LFR... i kinda want to boot. I dont think it fulfils any purpose in game. Its too challenging to be truly touristy, and too easy to be a bridge. Lets turn it into a scenario!
Two raid tiers. Normal can be buffed, heroic can be buffed, but not current mythic buffed (just... 'appropriately difficult' for the moderately hardcore leaning player). Mythic gets put in its own little play pen universe. Mythic+ 10-15 is EXPONENTIAL. Its the literal cliff face of dungeon progression (1-4 is basically a very slight hike, whilst 5-9 is a proper korean ajjuma sunday hike). 10 to 15 for the mountain climbers (and the difference between 10-15 in terms of gear is SMALLER (get this, geniuses!) than 1-5 v 6-10. As we climb the mountain, the rewards DECREASE!!! because the game should cap out at the average player (10). But we need to give the 11-15 something, so have another 5 ilvls. You'll note, no one actually complains that 16-infinity gives you NADA. And they dont because progression shuts down at some arbitrary number... its 15? Why? Who knows! Why not make it ten? Who knows!
So thats how you break the meta. You make the game MUCH EASIER to complete. Then you give players all the flex bs they could ever want on top of it.