LFR basically saved 25mans (which was on the decline before LFR), so it's not going away. It may also be the only way to save participation in normal/heroic raids too. That's because of the royal pain of manually getting a raid together.
If the population wants the gear their way -- even if it conflicts with Blizzard's loot philosophy -- Blizzard really only has two choices: adapt or live by the consequences (this is true with any feature in the game).
It's the gamers who decide in the end, so use the power well.
From the #1 Cata review on Amazon.com: "Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes.
They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community."
--- Want any of my Constitutional rights?, ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
I come from a time and a place where I judge people by the content of their character; I don't give a damn if you are tall or short; gay or straight; Jew or Gentile; White, Black, Brown or Green; Conservative or Liberal. -- Note to mods: if you are going to infract me have the decency to post the reason, and expect to hold everyone else to the same standard.
Won't matter. Because if that's the trend gamers want in WoW, it will be.
It's called the power of the pocket book, and businesses understand it very well.
---------- Post added 2012-12-05 at 10:03 PM ----------
That was the belief SOE had when EQ2 was the largest MMO, when players revolted.
25k subs today later, it's a lesson to not piss the individuals off.
Last edited by Kevyne-Shandris; 2012-12-06 at 03:04 AM.
From the #1 Cata review on Amazon.com: "Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes.
They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community."
People won't be happy until they can get all the gear they want instantly and for free from a vendor that appears in front of them when they log in and get the perfect stats from each item.
No I meant that I don't agree with your assumption that LFR may be the way to save participation in normal/heroic raids. This game will have raiders until the day it dies, even if they removed LFR today.
I agree that consumers can dictate the changes the game will go through to a certain extent, but not really on the scale you are implying. Otherwise there wouldn't be heroic modes since so few of the population gets to experience them.
Also, let's not bring SoE into this as if they are an intelligent company. Haven't they ruined like 4 mmos by now?
It can, but not at the rates that would justify spending the extra time and dime on.
Just like on my realm. One of the largest guilds on the server can't even get their team to login on raid night. All those players and they can't even fill a 10 man. They're not even listed on Wowprogress with one boss down, yet. Most of the guilds on Shandris aren't raiding at all, and it's been plenty of time to gear out in even rep gear.
So, yeah, even normal/heroic raids are having problems getting enough players.
The guild system killed the raid system in the end.
From the #1 Cata review on Amazon.com: "Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes.
They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community."
The system needs a way to remember what drops it rewarded the player, otherwise I am never going to stop winning the same ring and back every other week. Nothing worse then a Boss with 4 possible upgrades rewarding you withe the same one every other week. Cape of Three Lanterns x3 to date and Light of the Cosmos x3 is just a waste.
Want proof?
http://www.wowprogress.com/realms/rank/us
73 out of 246 servers are worse (1/3 of ALL WoW realms).
And Blackrock is only #14 these days, having fallen royally from WotLK days, where it's not even meets a top ten server anymore in raid progression.
And this is with ReadID and Battletags now, too.
From the #1 Cata review on Amazon.com: "Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes.
They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community."
I like this new system, getting loot in LFR now depends only on just you being there, no one else can steal your loot, although RNG can be a bitch sometimes I'd prefer random over Jeff who needs it for his off spec with full heroic gear stealing your gear or guilds entering LFR in a group to need on loot for others then trading it if they win it.