Patches are seasons now

[Gaidax]

This is 99% of wows problems, after 5/10/15/17 years of playing the game NO MATTER WHAT blizzard does it won't feel "fresh" to people.

True, but then for many it's exactly what we want.

I play WoW for it's raid content in decent raiding guilds for many years. I, personally, don't need Blizzard to reinvent WoW every expansion, good raids is all I want, even if 80% of stuff that goes into raid is something I already seen.

It's really like Simpsons, at some point you can't really wow me anymore with raid mechanics, because over 16 years I play this game, I have seen it all.

So I get to see those 2-3 new things per tier in raids, but I am fine with it because I like MMO raiding as a whole as a game mode and WoW is really the best game there is for that.

[Skirdus]

How does 9.1 actually differ from your average patch from years ago?

It differs because we should have been at Patch 9.2 by now, with Patch 9.3 on the horizon.

[kiramon]

I give everyone the right to complain - but I would also like a hint as to what people actually expect...beyond a wishy-washy "Well, erm..something fresh and new"

Which might be a different game....or MMO where raids, dungeons, professions, lore etc feel fresh...because they never did them and they work in different systems.



Whatever "improve the core game" means. One of the few times they changed what might be "core" - like old talent trees...ppl still bitch about THAT

So an example of "improve the core game or its systems" beyond the general "just make xyz better" without telling us what "better" means would be appreciated. Put out your ideas (preferable in a new thread) and get ready to be picked apart by other hobby devs on this forum

Not our jobs to design enjoyable content - it’s theirs. If they miss the mark, we get the lovely duty of informing them.

[Azzurri]

These are some slow ass seasons if that's the case.

[Usernameforforums]

What do you mean "now" ?

Ever since MoP or so, every single new raid release invalidated all previous raids.

Wrath

/10char

[arkanon]

Wrath

/10char

People continued to run pugs for all raids, from sarth, to the WG bosses, and all other raids. Yes, previous raids were far less attractive, and i dont remember people clamoring to run Naxx late in the game, so i think its fair to say it was the foundations for the modern progressions system, but it was still quite different in a lot of ways too.

[Toybox]

It differs because we should have been at Patch 9.2 by now, with Patch 9.3 on the horizon.

That's true - the wait for 9.1 was absolutely ridiculous.

The patch content itself though seems to be pretty much on par with every average patch the expansion has seen since TBC. It's not one of the best, it's definitely not one of the worst... Just your typical, normal patch, with a bit of busy work, bit of story, & a dungeon/raid tied to it.

[C20]

Major patches have been the start of a new seasons since when... TBC? This is nothing new, and you're about 14 years late to make a point about it.

[Usernameforforums]

People continued to run pugs for all raids, from sarth, to the WG bosses, and all other raids. Yes, previous raids were far less attractive, and i dont remember people clamoring to run Naxx late in the game, so i think its fair to say it was the foundations for the modern progressions system, but it was still quite different in a lot of ways too.

Your point? People ran pugs for EN when the agrus raid was out... and people will be running cn when whatever comes next. People do shit for the heck of it believe it or not. Invalidation of content is invalid.

My post was on when it started.

[anon5123]

Wrath

No. With hardmodes, you could still get some pretty good gear that was on par with the current raid.

[arkanon]

Your point? People ran pugs for EN when the agrus raid was out... and people will be running cn when whatever comes next. People do shit for the heck of it believe it or not. Invalidation of content is invalid.

My post was on when it started.

And as my post explains, although some raids were less attractive, people were still running the older raids frequently for the entire expansion, so it really didnt start there.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

It is up to S31, if you decide to count by Arena seasons (which started two weeks after TBC went live).

[Caerrona]

True, but then for many it's exactly what we want.

I play WoW for it's raid content in decent raiding guilds for many years. I, personally, don't need Blizzard to reinvent WoW every expansion, good raids is all I want, even if 80% of stuff that goes into raid is something I already seen.

It's really like Simpsons, at some point you can't really wow me anymore with raid mechanics, because over 16 years I play this game, I have seen it all.

So I get to see those 2-3 new things per tier in raids, but I am fine with it because I like MMO raiding as a whole as a game mode and WoW is really the best game there is for that.

Yeah that was my point. Since day 1 wow has been the "raid and dungeon mmo". Only since they have added more content for casuals (legion, which is funny because everyone shits on Ion as the raid guy but he has done more for casuals then ever before) people have cried about "content for casuals"

I only play wow FOR the instanced content, nothing else matters and it does that 1000x better than any other mmo. It's the same 17 years ago as it was now.

No other mmo offers challenge like mythic/m+

[cparle87]

Blizzard has started referring to patches as seasons now, and they are not wrong.
After the releease of the new mega dungeon of a whopping 8 bosses! and the new raid, there's nothing that new besides a small zone in our favorite zone; the maw.

And you know, it actually makes sense to refer to patches as seasons now. Since every bit of outdoors content gets its item level upped, aswell in Normal, Heroic and Mythic dungeons.

We are one step closer towards a Diablo MMORPG. We already bothered a lot from the gear process from that game, aswell as some systems such as M+

And that's....... bad?? /Kuzco

Not sure why people keep acting like bringing ideas from other games and genres is a bad thing.

[Razion]

btw Diablo Immortal is happening. So there'll be not just one but two Diablo-like MMOs! /s

The language of Seasons isn't exclusive to Diablo. It's used across the greater game-sphere to refer to such content releases. If anything the use of such language makes the game more approachable and understandable to people outside of the WoW sphere. WoW was already using the language to refer specifically to PvP releases, so compounding releases under the same terminology and release schedules would just streamline things to make them easier to understand for people on the outside. As WoW predominantly is meant to appeal to a mass market, greater casual appeal by having language like this that's more accessible just stands to reason to work better for them in the long run, doesn't it?

Also, why would being similar to Diablo as a game be a bad thing? Isn't Diablo as a game far less criticized than WoW? We would be so lucky to have more similarities, wouldn't we?

[Devilyaki]

Why make a bunch of new stuff when you can be lazy and cheap and just change the numbers on the old stuff (m+)…

[munkeyinorbit]

Major patches have been the start of a new seasons since when... TBC? This is nothing new, and you're about 14 years late to make a point about it.

TBH that's a bit of a stretch. I would say from WotLK. But for true seasonal play it's def Legion.

[Dracullus]

It differs because we should have been at Patch 9.2 by now, with Patch 9.3 on the horizon.

9.1 is late 3-4 months, but also it is bigger. 9.1 by Legion/BfA standards would be updates in Maw (assaults, tormentors, Torghast etc.), campaign and season 2; Korthia, Tazavesh and flying would be part of 9.2.

I know Korthia is smaller than Mechagon+Nazjatar - but they came 11 months after BfA launch. In Legion 7.2 came out 7 months after launch - but it was just Broken Shore (for open world content); Argus came - surprise, surprise - 12 months after launch. Seriously you think Broken Shore is better than Korthia?

If we add up 7.1+7.2 content and compare it with 9.1, still Legion is bigger of course, but gap isn't that drastic. Comparing to BfA we wouldn't be even in 8.2 PTR right now or just starting it.

And for sure we shouldn't be on season 3 by now, actually first time first raid wasn't too short like many previous ones (only 2 months for Highmaul, 4 months for EN+ToV - and ToV came halfway through that time, 4.5 months for Uldir). Imo perfect raid length is 22 weeks = 5.5 months, exactly like Nighthold and ToS during Legion. Castle Nathria is ~1.5-2 month late.

[Mojo03]

I mean, they basically have been for 10+ years.

I guess its a good or bad thing depending on what you want from the game.

I personally don't like it. Makes the vast majority of progress I do feel like a waste of time, since everything essentially resets the next patch. That's why I mostly did achievements, transmog, and mounts. Stuff that actually stays.

I also don't like that it means they focus their energy on the season, rather than stuff to improve the overall game. This will eventually come back to hurt them.

Oh wait, it did... Half of their former player base is playing FF14 now.

- - - Updated - - -

Seriously you think Broken Shore is better than Korthia?

Mage tower is the best thing they've ever done in this game.

[Dracullus]

Mage tower is the best thing they've ever done in this game.

Cool, cool, but I directly asked about Broken Shore (open world zone) vs Korthia. We don't have equivalent of Mage Tower yet in SL, like Visions in BfA.