In WoW people do not want to be challenged. They are used to farming things. Gear score helps them make sure that whatever they are fighting, it will be easy. Because easy is all they want, and all they know.
The expectation is that you will go and consume even easier content and use it to raise your gear score. Then people will let you participate in their easy content.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
While, in my heart, I agree with the OP, my brain knows that this was inevitable in a game where most of your power is drawn from your gear (skill is important, yes, but it doesn't matter how well you can drive a car if all you have is a bike). For PUGs, there has to be a way to grade people based on their potential peformance without really knowing them. Otherwise, you take the risk of failing over and over, which few people want to do. Just as a college looks at your GPA as a factor to decide whether they'll accept you or not, these people look at your gearscore.
Do grades alone determine how good of a student someone is? No. Same thing with gearscore. The difference is that gearscore is more strictly enforced since it is the main entry barrier, whereas colleges also look at things like extracurricular activities and community contribution. The way around this is finding a good guild that will help you to get geared. There's plenty of them out there, believe it or not, even with WoW's community.
As for not allowing third-party addons and UI modifications, I disagree. For every bad idea there are 10 good ones, and plenty of the additions Blizzard has made to the standard UI have been from player-created addons. No, Blizzard truly can't be creative at all and they must copy everyone else's ideas. Yet this makes them successful, so why stop now? Integrating players' creations into the standard UI is actually a good idea, so I let Blizzard slide on this one. Still, there are the negatives, as with everything. Gearscore is one of them. Again, I agree with you in principle, but I also recognize that it's inevitable in a game where performance (in raiding, especially) is essential and gear is critical to performance. Some people adhere to it too strictly, others are more lax.
Find a guild! Unless they're extremely hardcore, they probably won't be above helping you get geared (so you can, in turn, help them get what they want by filling that future raid spot). My guild didn't care about gearscore, and I only wanted to see it high as a vanity thing. Now, actual DPS monitoring on the other hand, that was a different story altogether... some bosses you really had to pump it out, and it was hard. "Must beat that Warlock... need buffs, I want to get 11k... AHHHH EXPLOSIVE SHOT EXPLOSIVE SHOT EXPLOSIVE SHOT KILL SHOT! BOOM! You're dead, Twin Valkyr!"
Oh, yeah. To discredit everything I said above, I once read an article about a guild who did ToC in all blue gear. Might have even been level 70 blues, too, though I think they were level 80. Can't link it because I don't remember which guild exactly, but it goes to show that some people are just incredibly beast at WoW and play way too much.
As repulsive as this gear score thing sounds to me is it really much different from levels? Let's say there is a group of level 60 players wanting to run a level 60 dungeon and they need one more person. Would they be likely to take a level 20 player with them?
Gear or levels, they are both symptoms of the same disease and the disease is progression. Base a game entirely on character progression and this sort of thing will happen. If a game is based on progression and nothing but progression then the progression has to be endless. With endless progression there will always be wide variations in the power of different player characters. And then you get...well, this sort of thing you're talking about.
I for one, hope that newer mmorpgs and current existing ones do not adapt this gear score mechanic at all because it ruins all factors of the qualities of true mmorpg aspects. Futhurmore, gearscore is just mortor to the corner stone of gear which should be not be used to it's degree. Gear in mmorpgs should be only about 25% advantage for players whether it is PVE or PVP. In my own personal opinion to shy away from gear being completely dependent for players “skill level”; is to design a diverse combat system which complements a deep structure class system where players can develop skill by strategy rather than gear. Gear should be a perk to help you progress easier which will balance out most other mechanics later on not a major contributing factor for all progression. Remember, mmorpgs are suppose to be for, community and adventure.
Note* Edited post because I had disinformation
That would be nice, but to the devs - MMOs are about massive subscription rates, and most players don't want a game which requires skill to succeed.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
So that's what's going on these days in WoW huh. I quit way back in early 2007 when I could see things changing for the worse, it was such an amazing experience when it was first released, probably why so many people signed up. The game world was actually pretty fun to run around and explore, and open world mass pvp was basically all I tried to do, when the arenas showed up and everyone started grinding both arenas and instances the awsomeness of WoW died. Kind of sad when you think about it, an awsome game was butchered in the the name of a streamlined token reward system that keeps zombies addicted.
Izork, I dont know what you were playing but random heroics in WOW, none quit a group because someone has low GS. YES you will be kicked of a raid because of low GS but no such nonesence on random heroics. Also if your were forced to play WOW with your friends why were they not grouping with you ?
They were ,but we were only 3 people :=)
Yes, people left in heroics.
The only time people leave a heroic group is if it's Occulus or if the tank/healer is sucking wind. The only time people will even look at your GS is if you're tanking like a wet paper bag or if you're a DPS and your damage is really low.
Gearscore is just a mathematical summation of your gear and it's nothing but a byproduct of the same gear-centric system all RPGs have always used. Just like levels. WIthout the importance of level and gear upgrades most RPGs would fall flat.
In the end everybody knows a high gearscore doesn't guarantee a good player and vice versa. If you were just looking for something about WoW to get butt hurt over, there's more legit issues in the game to complain about.
Gearscore is just a mathematical summation of your gear and it's nothing but a byproduct of the same gear-centric system all RPGs have always used. Just like levels. WIthout the importance of level and gear upgrades most RPGs would fall flat.
This seems to be a big game breaker for returning players who need to catch up. With that in mind I would think Blizzard takes the logical approach and renders this mod useless in the game, making it a baned mod. Then everyone wins and nobody can say the game is not playable cause of it, they can then direct them to look at WOW before gearscore came out and ask how was our game unplayable again?
These stupid mods people make ultimately ruin the fun for most people.
im really not sure why gearscore seems to get so much QQ.
I know it kind of depends on what server you play on, but most servers have a modest 5k to 5.5k gearscore for ToC/ICC. It isnt hard at all to reach that.
Yes, you have to do heroics for like a day or 2, but its not a big deal. You arent supposed to just jump into raids right when u start anyway.
Also gearscore is the only way for a pug to build a relatively decent group. Even before the addon, people would group up in a town and inspect your gear to make sure you werent undergeared. Anyone remember looking people up on the armory when it came out to make a raid? Ya its the same concept.
This mod has nothing to do with game design, and everything to do with the community. Gear in wow makes a huge difference on your performance, and poor gear/gear choices is a pretty good way to determine a players skill.
You dont have to pug, play with your friends, or join a guild that is on your level. It isnt that hard. Pugs are a pretty horrible way to experience content anyway.
Considering you can have a 4500-5k gear score in less than 2 weeks playing very casually, gear score is more or less just a joke. Most people have no idea how to truely play their class exceptional or even good for that matter. So you end up with the same morons that can't play and probably play with the efficiency of someone with a 3k gear score.
All that aside, the main problem is the people who take gear score as gospel. These people push the requirements to be in raid to the extreme. But on the flip side it takes very little time to have a high gear score , so actually getting turned down for raids should be minimal at most. Gearscore or not, some scjmuck is going to end up lookign at your gear any way to determine if it is good enough to be in the raid , and most of the time they have no idea If it is really good or not ..... "oh it's not tier 10, your gear blows" ... *you have been kicked from the raid* And I guess what gets me most , is the same people making these requirments normally can't back there own play up with skill and get out performed with people in inferior gear.
im really not sure why gearscore seems to get so much QQ.
I know it kind of depends on what server you play on, but most servers have a modest 5k to 5.5k gearscore for ToC/ICC. It isnt hard at all to reach that.
Yes, you have to do heroics for like a day or 2, but its not a big deal. You arent supposed to just jump into raids right when u start anyway.
Also gearscore is the only way for a pug to build a relatively decent group. Even before the addon, people would group up in a town and inspect your gear to make sure you werent undergeared. Anyone remember looking people up on the armory when it came out to make a raid? Ya its the same concept.
This mod has nothing to do with game design, and everything to do with the community. Gear in wow makes a huge difference on your performance, and poor gear/gear choices is a pretty good way to determine a players skill.
You dont have to pug, play with your friends, or join a guild that is on your level. It isnt that hard. Pugs are a pretty horrible way to experience content anyway.
I agree that 5k is easy to get, 2 days like you said ...but it is also overgeared for the instance, at least for ToC anyway. I think that is the main problem people have with it. People who are actualy skilled and can do more with alot less are perturbed seeing scrubs with a 5.5k gear score get in raids that aren't worth a shit.
But like you said, the irritation goes away after a day when your in full epics from all the charity loot Blizz has given out. I mean you are dead on, I was a 5k gs easy in less than 2 days. And the day I hit 80 on 2 different characters they were in full epics.
No matter how "easy or difficult" game developers make it min/maxers will always have their ways of judging who they will allow or not allow into their parties, raids, or guilds. Its just the way it works for them. I just see it as their way of enjoying the game. Everyone has their own ways of enjoying these games so to each their own I say. Plenty of other types of players out there for those that aren't into that playstyle.
Not my cup of tea but then again I sometimes get a good laugh more out of a pug that is an absolute fiasco than a group of known players that can run a dungeon like a well oiled machine. Especially considering how minimal death penalties are in most mmos anymore.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
There is more things wrong with WoW now than just Gearscore. The playerbase being the it's biggest fault. I long for the days of the more mature EQ1 and AC1 populations.
Gearscore is also VERY dependent on server and faction.
On my server Alliance requires Gearscore for pretty much any PUG raid. However, on Horde only a couple PUG raid organizers use Gearscore and only for Icecrown 25.
I play on Horde so I hardly ever hear about Gearscore. Doesnt hurt that I also have a good friendly guild.
Lastly, Gearcsore is just a tool that has become abused by lazy elitists. People are using it as a means to discriminate quickly and easily. You may find this hard to believe but people are lazy and discriminatory. You will find this in any gathering of humans whether it be a game or in real life.
Oh, yeah. To discredit everything I said above, I once read an article about a guild who did ToC in all blue gear. Might have even been level 70 blues, too, though I think they were level 80. Can't link it because I don't remember which guild exactly, but it goes to show that some people are just incredibly beast at WoW and play way too much.
That was organized by Gevlon from the Greedy Goblin blog. His current Undergeared guild has managed to kill Marrowgar in ICC with only blue gear and have cleared ToC easily.
5k gs is definitely good enough to raid ICC, but thats not the point. Why would someone want to make it needlessly hard on themselves and the rest of the group.
I have organized plenty of pugs, and usually there are way more players than necessary available. I take friends and people i know first, and then fill out the rest of the group with the people I can find with the highest gearscores. If I need a hunter, and the only one i can find for a few minutes is at 4800, I will usually take them.
Gearscore is great for people you dont know. I dont think there is a better way to judge someone when you havent played them before. If blizzard added like a reputation system for players, or like a rating system, that might help some. But we have to work with what we have.
I can remember the days when you could just try and bluff your way into a group. I did that on my resto shaman back in BC to get into a Karazhan group and went from like greens and blues to mostly epics very quickly. But if you have friends you can gear an alt that way.
I just think its funny that people complain about gearscore when gear is being handed out so easily to everyone. Heroics are easy, quick, and relatively fun for your first few characters.
Oh, yeah. To discredit everything I said above, I once read an article about a guild who did ToC in all blue gear. Might have even been level 70 blues, too, though I think they were level 80. Can't link it because I don't remember which guild exactly, but it goes to show that some people are just incredibly beast at WoW and play way too much.
Izork, I dont know what you were playing but random heroics in WOW, none quit a group because someone has low GS. YES you will be kicked of a raid because of low GS but no such nonesence on random heroics. Also if your were forced to play WOW with your friends why were they not grouping with you ?
They were ,but we were only 3 people :=)
Yes, people left in heroics.
- About raids is enough for me to see this game isn't working. Don't try to defend it. I'm not a hater either. The game was EPIC in vanilla, it was ok in tbc..
but now.. I don't have worth for how fail it is. Mainstream=Fail
I've seen that myself. Some frosty(only there for the frost emblems) with high level raid gear tank, bailed because one of the party members(dps)had just made 80 the day before and was gearing up. I've seen that happen more than once. Some tanks and healers have become prima donna's. There is no excuse for this attitude in random heroics.
Ha. There have always been prima donna healers and tanks.
Some people choose healer/tank classes because they enjoy the playstyle, but some definately choose them because they can get away with being arrogant because: what are you gonna do without a healer or a tank?
Gearscore sucks, but it's not new. It's just a new iteration of an old situation. In the past, people were excluded from raids because their gear was green. Or blue. Or unenchanted. Now it's Gearscore.
The OP wanted to believe that April Fools Joke soooooo much that he bit hook, line and sinker. . Oftentimes you can carry someone with a low gear score. That way they can gear up. . But if you and your guild are having trouble on a raid encounter and you need some help, you can't carry someone. That's where gear score comes in handy. . Some people use gear score because they don't want to be bothered carrying poorly geared people, they want to get done in 5 minutes. I don't agree with this. Me and my guildies carry people all the time. .
Each tier will comprise all players within a certain number range, and players will only be able to group with, talk to, or see other players in the same tier as themselves. --Blizzard
5k gs is definitely good enough to raid ICC, but thats not the point. Why would someone want to make it needlessly hard on themselves and the rest of the group.
I have organized plenty of pugs, and usually there are way more players than necessary available. I take friends and people i know first, and then fill out the rest of the group with the people I can find with the highest gearscores. If I need a hunter, and the only one i can find for a few minutes is at 4800, I will usually take them.
Gearscore is great for people you dont know. I dont think there is a better way to judge someone when you havent played them before. If blizzard added like a reputation system for players, or like a rating system, that might help some. But we have to work with what we have.
I can remember the days when you could just try and bluff your way into a group. I did that on my resto shaman back in BC to get into a Karazhan group and went from like greens and blues to mostly epics very quickly. But if you have friends you can gear an alt that way.
I just think its funny that people complain about gearscore when gear is being handed out so easily to everyone. Heroics are easy, quick, and relatively fun for your first few characters.
There is a better way, how about giving people the benefit of the doubt and if they suck then kick them? It seems that WoW is all about maximizing these days and not just about having fun. A lot of people want all reward no risk thus using GS so they make sure they don't waste time and money on a wipe. I understand that, those things aren't fun but you can't always win and the bitter things make the sweet things that much sweeter.
FFXI as you probably know is a group based game and not once did anyone ever say your gear sucks you can't join us. I'd say 90% of the parties I joined were PUG's and most of the time things went well. If someone sucked ass at playing then we kicked them and tried another person.
Gear shouldn't make the player, and like others said WoW has always been like that. You could actually be a kickass player that is under geared and they won't give you the benefit of the doubt and give you that chance.The thing is that GS is some random persons Opinion on what gear you should have to do things. Can these raids be done with a lower gear score? I'm guessing yes they can if your actually a good player. Maybe people just stopped liking challenges or something or the element of surprise..
IDK about all of you guys but it makes me feel good when Im in a party and we pull off something when the odds are against us. It gets the whole parties morale going and it feels nice to be playing with people who are actually good players. To me GS is used to make sure everything will go as smooth as possible, which to me sounds boring.
Comments
Gearscore is a necessity because MMO's is serious business.111111oneone123
/scarsam off
The following statement is false
The previous statement is true
Gearscore pretty much ruined WoW.
In WoW people do not want to be challenged. They are used to farming things. Gear score helps them make sure that whatever they are fighting, it will be easy. Because easy is all they want, and all they know.
The expectation is that you will go and consume even easier content and use it to raise your gear score. Then people will let you participate in their easy content.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
True, but it was ruined when wotlk released.
I just quit cause of gearscore pretty much I am now playing Warhammer online where you are pretty much just you as a player.
While, in my heart, I agree with the OP, my brain knows that this was inevitable in a game where most of your power is drawn from your gear (skill is important, yes, but it doesn't matter how well you can drive a car if all you have is a bike). For PUGs, there has to be a way to grade people based on their potential peformance without really knowing them. Otherwise, you take the risk of failing over and over, which few people want to do. Just as a college looks at your GPA as a factor to decide whether they'll accept you or not, these people look at your gearscore.
Do grades alone determine how good of a student someone is? No. Same thing with gearscore. The difference is that gearscore is more strictly enforced since it is the main entry barrier, whereas colleges also look at things like extracurricular activities and community contribution. The way around this is finding a good guild that will help you to get geared. There's plenty of them out there, believe it or not, even with WoW's community.
As for not allowing third-party addons and UI modifications, I disagree. For every bad idea there are 10 good ones, and plenty of the additions Blizzard has made to the standard UI have been from player-created addons. No, Blizzard truly can't be creative at all and they must copy everyone else's ideas. Yet this makes them successful, so why stop now? Integrating players' creations into the standard UI is actually a good idea, so I let Blizzard slide on this one. Still, there are the negatives, as with everything. Gearscore is one of them. Again, I agree with you in principle, but I also recognize that it's inevitable in a game where performance (in raiding, especially) is essential and gear is critical to performance. Some people adhere to it too strictly, others are more lax.
Find a guild! Unless they're extremely hardcore, they probably won't be above helping you get geared (so you can, in turn, help them get what they want by filling that future raid spot). My guild didn't care about gearscore, and I only wanted to see it high as a vanity thing. Now, actual DPS monitoring on the other hand, that was a different story altogether... some bosses you really had to pump it out, and it was hard. "Must beat that Warlock... need buffs, I want to get 11k... AHHHH EXPLOSIVE SHOT EXPLOSIVE SHOT EXPLOSIVE SHOT KILL SHOT! BOOM! You're dead, Twin Valkyr!"
Oh, yeah. To discredit everything I said above, I once read an article about a guild who did ToC in all blue gear. Might have even been level 70 blues, too, though I think they were level 80. Can't link it because I don't remember which guild exactly, but it goes to show that some people are just incredibly beast at WoW and play way too much.
As repulsive as this gear score thing sounds to me is it really much different from levels? Let's say there is a group of level 60 players wanting to run a level 60 dungeon and they need one more person. Would they be likely to take a level 20 player with them?
Gear or levels, they are both symptoms of the same disease and the disease is progression. Base a game entirely on character progression and this sort of thing will happen. If a game is based on progression and nothing but progression then the progression has to be endless. With endless progression there will always be wide variations in the power of different player characters. And then you get...well, this sort of thing you're talking about.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
So that's what's going on these days in WoW huh. I quit way back in early 2007 when I could see things changing for the worse, it was such an amazing experience when it was first released, probably why so many people signed up. The game world was actually pretty fun to run around and explore, and open world mass pvp was basically all I tried to do, when the arenas showed up and everyone started grinding both arenas and instances the awsomeness of WoW died. Kind of sad when you think about it, an awsome game was butchered in the the name of a streamlined token reward system that keeps zombies addicted.
The only time people leave a heroic group is if it's Occulus or if the tank/healer is sucking wind. The only time people will even look at your GS is if you're tanking like a wet paper bag or if you're a DPS and your damage is really low.
Gearscore is just a mathematical summation of your gear and it's nothing but a byproduct of the same gear-centric system all RPGs have always used. Just like levels. WIthout the importance of level and gear upgrades most RPGs would fall flat.
In the end everybody knows a high gearscore doesn't guarantee a good player and vice versa. If you were just looking for something about WoW to get butt hurt over, there's more legit issues in the game to complain about.
My youtube MMO gaming channel
Not always. What a sad state this genre is in.
This seems to be a big game breaker for returning players who need to catch up. With that in mind I would think Blizzard takes the logical approach and renders this mod useless in the game, making it a baned mod. Then everyone wins and nobody can say the game is not playable cause of it, they can then direct them to look at WOW before gearscore came out and ask how was our game unplayable again?
These stupid mods people make ultimately ruin the fun for most people.
im really not sure why gearscore seems to get so much QQ.
I know it kind of depends on what server you play on, but most servers have a modest 5k to 5.5k gearscore for ToC/ICC. It isnt hard at all to reach that.
Yes, you have to do heroics for like a day or 2, but its not a big deal. You arent supposed to just jump into raids right when u start anyway.
Also gearscore is the only way for a pug to build a relatively decent group. Even before the addon, people would group up in a town and inspect your gear to make sure you werent undergeared. Anyone remember looking people up on the armory when it came out to make a raid? Ya its the same concept.
This mod has nothing to do with game design, and everything to do with the community. Gear in wow makes a huge difference on your performance, and poor gear/gear choices is a pretty good way to determine a players skill.
You dont have to pug, play with your friends, or join a guild that is on your level. It isnt that hard. Pugs are a pretty horrible way to experience content anyway.
Considering you can have a 4500-5k gear score in less than 2 weeks playing very casually, gear score is more or less just a joke. Most people have no idea how to truely play their class exceptional or even good for that matter. So you end up with the same morons that can't play and probably play with the efficiency of someone with a 3k gear score.
All that aside, the main problem is the people who take gear score as gospel. These people push the requirements to be in raid to the extreme. But on the flip side it takes very little time to have a high gear score , so actually getting turned down for raids should be minimal at most. Gearscore or not, some scjmuck is going to end up lookign at your gear any way to determine if it is good enough to be in the raid , and most of the time they have no idea If it is really good or not ..... "oh it's not tier 10, your gear blows" ... *you have been kicked from the raid* And I guess what gets me most , is the same people making these requirments normally can't back there own play up with skill and get out performed with people in inferior gear.
I agree that 5k is easy to get, 2 days like you said ...but it is also overgeared for the instance, at least for ToC anyway. I think that is the main problem people have with it. People who are actualy skilled and can do more with alot less are perturbed seeing scrubs with a 5.5k gear score get in raids that aren't worth a shit.
But like you said, the irritation goes away after a day when your in full epics from all the charity loot Blizz has given out. I mean you are dead on, I was a 5k gs easy in less than 2 days. And the day I hit 80 on 2 different characters they were in full epics.
No matter how "easy or difficult" game developers make it min/maxers will always have their ways of judging who they will allow or not allow into their parties, raids, or guilds. Its just the way it works for them. I just see it as their way of enjoying the game. Everyone has their own ways of enjoying these games so to each their own I say. Plenty of other types of players out there for those that aren't into that playstyle.
Not my cup of tea but then again I sometimes get a good laugh more out of a pug that is an absolute fiasco than a group of known players that can run a dungeon like a well oiled machine. Especially considering how minimal death penalties are in most mmos anymore.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
There is more things wrong with WoW now than just Gearscore. The playerbase being the it's biggest fault. I long for the days of the more mature EQ1 and AC1 populations.
Gearscore is also VERY dependent on server and faction.
On my server Alliance requires Gearscore for pretty much any PUG raid. However, on Horde only a couple PUG raid organizers use Gearscore and only for Icecrown 25.
I play on Horde so I hardly ever hear about Gearscore. Doesnt hurt that I also have a good friendly guild.
Lastly, Gearcsore is just a tool that has become abused by lazy elitists. People are using it as a means to discriminate quickly and easily. You may find this hard to believe but people are lazy and discriminatory. You will find this in any gathering of humans whether it be a game or in real life.
That was organized by Gevlon from the Greedy Goblin blog. His current Undergeared guild has managed to kill Marrowgar in ICC with only blue gear and have cleared ToC easily.
5k gs is definitely good enough to raid ICC, but thats not the point. Why would someone want to make it needlessly hard on themselves and the rest of the group.
I have organized plenty of pugs, and usually there are way more players than necessary available. I take friends and people i know first, and then fill out the rest of the group with the people I can find with the highest gearscores. If I need a hunter, and the only one i can find for a few minutes is at 4800, I will usually take them.
Gearscore is great for people you dont know. I dont think there is a better way to judge someone when you havent played them before. If blizzard added like a reputation system for players, or like a rating system, that might help some. But we have to work with what we have.
I can remember the days when you could just try and bluff your way into a group. I did that on my resto shaman back in BC to get into a Karazhan group and went from like greens and blues to mostly epics very quickly. But if you have friends you can gear an alt that way.
I just think its funny that people complain about gearscore when gear is being handed out so easily to everyone. Heroics are easy, quick, and relatively fun for your first few characters.
Here is the article I read about it.
I've seen that myself. Some frosty(only there for the frost emblems) with high level raid gear tank, bailed because one of the party members(dps)had just made 80 the day before and was gearing up. I've seen that happen more than once. Some tanks and healers have become prima donna's. There is no excuse for this attitude in random heroics.
Ha. There have always been prima donna healers and tanks.
Some people choose healer/tank classes because they enjoy the playstyle, but some definately choose them because they can get away with being arrogant because: what are you gonna do without a healer or a tank?
Gearscore sucks, but it's not new. It's just a new iteration of an old situation. In the past, people were excluded from raids because their gear was green. Or blue. Or unenchanted. Now it's Gearscore.
Same old, same old.
The OP wanted to believe that April Fools Joke soooooo much that he bit hook, line and sinker.
.
Oftentimes you can carry someone with a low gear score. That way they can gear up.
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But if you and your guild are having trouble on a raid encounter and you need some help, you can't carry someone. That's where gear score comes in handy.
.
Some people use gear score because they don't want to be bothered carrying poorly geared people, they want to get done in 5 minutes. I don't agree with this. Me and my guildies carry people all the time.
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Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
There is a better way, how about giving people the benefit of the doubt and if they suck then kick them? It seems that WoW is all about maximizing these days and not just about having fun. A lot of people want all reward no risk thus using GS so they make sure they don't waste time and money on a wipe. I understand that, those things aren't fun but you can't always win and the bitter things make the sweet things that much sweeter.
FFXI as you probably know is a group based game and not once did anyone ever say your gear sucks you can't join us. I'd say 90% of the parties I joined were PUG's and most of the time things went well. If someone sucked ass at playing then we kicked them and tried another person.
Gear shouldn't make the player, and like others said WoW has always been like that. You could actually be a kickass player that is under geared and they won't give you the benefit of the doubt and give you that chance.The thing is that GS is some random persons Opinion on what gear you should have to do things. Can these raids be done with a lower gear score? I'm guessing yes they can if your actually a good player. Maybe people just stopped liking challenges or something or the element of surprise..
IDK about all of you guys but it makes me feel good when Im in a party and we pull off something when the odds are against us. It gets the whole parties morale going and it feels nice to be playing with people who are actually good players. To me GS is used to make sure everything will go as smooth as possible, which to me sounds boring.