The biggest influence Everquest had on WoW was the games item-centric philosophy. Only problem is Blizzard didn't learn how Everquest was able to keep gear relevant thru expansions ( aka a Breastplate of Eradication was still a good item even thru PoP - which btw was 2 expansions later ) .....
How could blizzard have missed the formula ? If you want to be an item-centric game, make sure your items value lasts a good while and don't negate them so quickly . If everquest was able to make gear that can still be decent 2 expansions later ( mind you i didn't say the best 2 expansions later i said decent ) .
In my opinion Blizzard should have kept the items on the same level/power and not bump them up with each expansion. The expansion should only have new areas to explore/alternate areas to level and different types of items, not higher level items. By the time Expansion IV comes out there will be no need to even goto the Outlands to level up and get items. Right now my characters dont even do Stockades, Gnomeregan, or BFD. Theres no point, it just slows you down.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
I think the main "problem" that people complain about post bc isn't about the level gap,but the gears that people can get after lvl 60 in outland.
let's face it. the peoplewho are complaining are raiders,and it's understandable. alot of raiders play pre bc like a full time job for months (or years) in order to get the gears. and then suddently after expansion come out the casual players can get green gears in outland that are on par or the purple in mc.
it is not that raise in level cap or better gears in expansion is bad. it is that thegame was really stupid before the expansion that force people to raid 24/7 to get gears. before BC there are ALOT of guilds and players who can never see mc or whatever after it. now at least a normal guild can enjoy those contents.
if you guys think it's unfair that all the time you spend pre tbc are wasted cos of the expansion gears,here is a lesson for you. don't raid too hard. you guys enjoy or worked in mc/zg/nex for afew years already,it's time to let players with a life to enjoy those contents
Originally posted by strykr619 How could blizzard have missed the formula ? If you want to be an item-centric game, make sure your items value lasts a good while and don't negate them so quickly . If everquest was able to make gear that can still be decent 2 expansions later ( mind you i didn't say the best 2 expansions later i said decent ) . How could they have missed that?
EQ Never got 9 million players and had a steadily declining playerbase, so they're hardly the holy grail of game design. The problem with having old gear not go obsolete is that it locks people out of your new content. They may have changed some of EQ now, but explain to me how a new player in that '2 expansions later' time would ever catch up to the new expansions? It sounds like a new player would be permanently locked back several steps behind everyone else.
Blizzard already has enough problems with wasting huge resources creating content for a tiny fraction of the player base and putting the lore advancement into that content, I can't see that they would want to reduce the number of people in their raid content so dramatically. Under 1% of the player base even finished (or attempted? I forget what they used for that number) Naxx, and people constantly leave raiding. If people still needed items from Naxx (last old raid) to be ready for SSC (first TBC raid), then only that 1% would be there as a starting pool, and over time some of them would leave. And if people don't need the items, then they're negated by the newer, easier-to-get stuff.
Plus people constantly exaggerate the gear jump. MC gear was replaced by early blues, BWL and AQ20 gear by the mid 60s, and Naxx gear mostly by level 70 blues. (This is obviously for same-type gear, obviously healing gear would be replaced by DPS gear if you're not planning to level as a healer). So you did get an advantage from the high-end gear for a while, just not a permanent one. If the MC/BWL gear didn't get replaced during leveling, then either non-raiders would not be able to level, or the MC/BWL people would just walk through everything without any real effort.
When I read threads like this it makes me wonder... well wtf do people expect!?
Blizzard is milking this fat cash cow for all it's worth, a drastic change to this game is impossible, it's too late now, they gotta stick with what they got and drag it out for all it's worth. Every expansion they release, every patch with added content is going to be the same crap wrapped differently. This is what WoW is. These guys are deadset brilliant:
Blizz: We are going to add another 10 levels in the coming expansion
Players: aww now I gotta grind again, my uber gear is useless.
Blizz: Hey dont worry we've added a class...
Players: ZOMFG!11oen11!1
Blizz: Now run along now and grind, it will take a good solid few months, but we'll add content to keep you satisfied till next expansion.
Players: Yes sir!
I've gotten a little off track here now, but my main point is this: As much as you'd love WoW to be different in it's own special way, it never will, it will always be the same, live with it. Blizz is making the big bucks.
Level 80 you say? expect expansions at least to level 100, you heard it first here.
Comments
The biggest influence Everquest had on WoW was the games item-centric philosophy. Only problem is Blizzard didn't learn how Everquest was able to keep gear relevant thru expansions ( aka a Breastplate of Eradication was still a good item even thru PoP - which btw was 2 expansions later ) .....
How could blizzard have missed the formula ? If you want to be an item-centric game, make sure your items value lasts a good while and don't negate them so quickly . If everquest was able to make gear that can still be decent 2 expansions later ( mind you i didn't say the best 2 expansions later i said decent ) .
How could they have missed that?
In my opinion Blizzard should have kept the items on the same level/power and not bump them up with each expansion. The expansion should only have new areas to explore/alternate areas to level and different types of items, not higher level items. By the time Expansion IV comes out there will be no need to even goto the Outlands to level up and get items. Right now my characters dont even do Stockades, Gnomeregan, or BFD. Theres no point, it just slows you down.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
I think the main "problem" that people complain about post bc isn't about the level gap,but the gears that people can get after lvl 60 in outland.
let's face it. the peoplewho are complaining are raiders,and it's understandable. alot of raiders play pre bc like a full time job for months (or years) in order to get the gears. and then suddently after expansion come out the casual players can get green gears in outland that are on par or the purple in mc.
it is not that raise in level cap or better gears in expansion is bad. it is that thegame was really stupid before the expansion that force people to raid 24/7 to get gears. before BC there are ALOT of guilds and players who can never see mc or whatever after it. now at least a normal guild can enjoy those contents.
if you guys think it's unfair that all the time you spend pre tbc are wasted cos of the expansion gears,here is a lesson for you. don't raid too hard. you guys enjoy or worked in mc/zg/nex for afew years already,it's time to let players with a life to enjoy those contents
EQ Never got 9 million players and had a steadily declining playerbase, so they're hardly the holy grail of game design. The problem with having old gear not go obsolete is that it locks people out of your new content. They may have changed some of EQ now, but explain to me how a new player in that '2 expansions later' time would ever catch up to the new expansions? It sounds like a new player would be permanently locked back several steps behind everyone else.
Blizzard already has enough problems with wasting huge resources creating content for a tiny fraction of the player base and putting the lore advancement into that content, I can't see that they would want to reduce the number of people in their raid content so dramatically. Under 1% of the player base even finished (or attempted? I forget what they used for that number) Naxx, and people constantly leave raiding. If people still needed items from Naxx (last old raid) to be ready for SSC (first TBC raid), then only that 1% would be there as a starting pool, and over time some of them would leave. And if people don't need the items, then they're negated by the newer, easier-to-get stuff.
Plus people constantly exaggerate the gear jump. MC gear was replaced by early blues, BWL and AQ20 gear by the mid 60s, and Naxx gear mostly by level 70 blues. (This is obviously for same-type gear, obviously healing gear would be replaced by DPS gear if you're not planning to level as a healer). So you did get an advantage from the high-end gear for a while, just not a permanent one. If the MC/BWL gear didn't get replaced during leveling, then either non-raiders would not be able to level, or the MC/BWL people would just walk through everything without any real effort.
When I read threads like this it makes me wonder... well wtf do people expect!?
Blizzard is milking this fat cash cow for all it's worth, a drastic change to this game is impossible, it's too late now, they gotta stick with what they got and drag it out for all it's worth. Every expansion they release, every patch with added content is going to be the same crap wrapped differently. This is what WoW is. These guys are deadset brilliant:
Blizz: We are going to add another 10 levels in the coming expansion
Players:
aww now I gotta grind again, my uber gear is useless.
Blizz: Hey dont worry we've added a class...
Players: ZOMFG!11oen11!1
Blizz: Now run along now and grind, it will take a good solid few months, but we'll add content to keep you satisfied till next expansion.
Players: Yes sir!
I've gotten a little off track here now, but my main point is this: As much as you'd love WoW to be different in it's own special way, it never will, it will always be the same, live with it. Blizz is making the big bucks.
Level 80 you say? expect expansions at least to level 100, you heard it first here.
O_o o_O