Thursday, June 6, 2013

What If: Blizzard Lifted Various Restrictions?

I hear people asking for blizzard to remove certain things in the game like the valor cap and wonder what it would be like if they did.  Restrictions are there for a reason, limits do have some thought behind them.  But they don't always work for everyone.  What if some of those restrictions were removed.  I'll touch on a few that I think come up the most and give my opinion on them.

Time to enter the... what if zone.

What if they removed the weekly valor cap restriction?

Not the total cap, just the weekly cap.  Do you think that it would help the game?  I know that I would personally do everything I could on my main ASAP to get everything that I might ever need with valor.  Effectively over one week I would have every new piece of valor gear that was released and every single upgrade that I could upgrade.  Assuming those upgrade guys were there at the time of course.

I think that is the reason there is a cap.  Because people like me would do that.  Even if we retained the hard cap of 3000 if I could keep earning I would just collect and buy and collect and buy until there was nothing left to buy.  I believe this to be the reason blizzard does not do something like this.

However.  It might be a decent change.  Sure the people like me might burn ourselves out, but people that play like I do are an extremely small percentage.  How would it effect the masses, or would it even?

Lets say you have the guy that only logs on during the weekends and not every weekend.  Sometimes he has more time than others.  So he might be able to earn 1800 valor this weekend but only 300 the next and 400 the one after.  He would still be well under the 3000 that 1000 per week would limit him to over that three week period but he would have more being he was not limited by the 1000 cap that one week he was able to really get a lot of play in.  For people like that, who actually are the majority of the player base, it would be a fantastic change.

I might love and hate a change like this.  Love it so I can get things done faster but hate it because I know I would keep going until I did, which would eat up content, and burn me out.  But for the masses, I don't think removing the weekly cap would be a bad thing at all.  For them it would be a very good thing.  They most likely never, or rarely, reach the cap anyway, so that one week that they do they can earn a little more.  I see nothing wrong with that.

It would also work as the perfect catch up mechanic.  Of course assuming you have something to spend the valor on and aren't now gated by reputation.  If you are late out of the gate or just leveled up an alt, just grind as much valor as you are willing to grind and you are effectively caught up.

I am torn on if this what if would be a good idea or not.

What if they remove raid lock outs restrictions?

As in there is no such thing as a raid lock out any more.  Just boss loot table lock outs.  You are locked to the first boss in ToT but you can still do it again.  You just will not get loot.  The lock would be for loot only, not from doing it.  Something like that.

I would absolutely love this idea.  With that I can run my 10s and still bring my main along for the 25s.  So can all the other people from the more progressed 10 man group.  This, in turn, would help our 25 man group see more content, get more gear, get more experience, and get better as a team.

I think the removal of raid lock outs would be an excellent addition to the game.  Lock you to the bosses loot table.  You are only allowed to get loot off a boss once a week.  For the LFR it works nice and easy but for the real raid it would be harder to code into it as you could just have a loot master passing things out. 

But I do not think it would be anything beyond their capability.  You can not trade a piece of gear that dropped off the first boss to someone that only joined for the second because they are not eligible for it.  The system realizes that by a tag on the item and/or the person.  So all people that have already looted a boss would get that same flag, as if they were not there for it, so gear could not be awarded to them or traded to them.  See, really simple, in theory anyway.

So it can be done and I would fully and completely support this being done.  This is one what if I could really get behind and would love to see added to the game.  It not only would help in my situation as I mentioned above but it would, or could, help the pug situation on most servers like mine, where there are none at all.

What if you could raid the current tier cross realm?

I already know why you can't.  Money.  Simple as that.  Guilds would be posting to sell runs and people would buy them.  If there were the no raid lock out system like the last what if, and this, a really good guild with a lot of time could run it over and over carrying people through it for titles and achievements making gold hand over fist or real life money behind the scenes.

So I can not see this and the last what if existing in the same gaming world.  It would have to be one or the other in my opinion.  I think I would like the other better.  But that is not to say I do not like this idea.

I have alts on other servers that I do not have guilds to run with.  So it would be nice to bring them along with my guild so I can get some gear on them.  That would be one of the good uses for it.  I can live without this what if however.  I don't really know enough people on other servers that I would care to run with to begin with, but that is just me.  I do not even use battle tag and won't until the ability to appear offline is added.  So cross server is not on my radar to begin with.

What if they remove the once a week loot restriction from the LFR?

What it if were like the LFD and every time you ran it you had a chance to win something.  It think this would be like the valor one.  People would just run it over and over until they got what they needed.  It could cause burn out for some but it might just have its place.

People that complain about not getting anything can do something about it themselves instead of having it be a wait until next week thing.  They can run it again and again.  Still at the mercy of the random number generator gods but at least they would feel that they had the power in their hands to get what they want without waiting even if the system doesn't give it to them.

I am not sure I would support this what if but I can surely see why many would.  Sure you can run something over and over again with coins for an additional chance but you can only get three coins a week and if you use them all in the LFR what would you have for the world bosses and real raid bosses?

What if they made the coin exchange a daily instead of a weekly?

Three coins per day instead of three coins per week.  Would that flood the players with gear?  Seeing the drop rates I would say no of course, but it could very well do that.  Stack up before raid night with a full 10 and you can roll on 10 bosses.  10 extra chances to win loot for the person that was willing to grind enough lesser charms to afford them.

But would that add more to the mandatory feeling that some people have?  I know for me it sure would.  As long as there was an upgrade to be had on the bosses that were accessible to me that week I would consider it mandatory to have a coin for the boss to increase my chances at getting loot.

I think 3 per week is a fair rate to get them at.  What about you?

What if blizzard removed the experience cap?

This is a very thinking forward idea.  As in you keep gaining experience, at a lesser pace of course, even after you hit level cap.  If you are active enough you can actually get to the point that when the next expansion comes out and you log in you instantly picked up two or three or even all five levels.

What if they did not stop the gain of experience and they let you bank it?  Would people keep playing even when there was nothing for them to play for because they just wanted to keep working on getting that leg up for the next expansion?  Being they would not know how much experience will be needed for the next expansion they would have to keep earning and earning all the time if they really wanted that leg up.

Would it hurt the game any for me to log in and be 95 the second I log in for the next expansion?  Lets face it, anyone as active as I am will surely have amassed enough experience by the time the next expansion comes out to hit the new cap instantly.  It wouldn't really save me much time.  I've always reached max level the day a new expansion was released anyway.  I would also still need to do the quests because I would need the gear.  Unless they also added a gear catch up knowing many active players would already be well on their way to max or at it.

I can't see this what if ever happening.  It would basically remove the leveling process for a great deal of the really active players that play at max level but there are also many of those players that would greatly welcome removing the leveling process.

The end for this is, blizzard wants us to see the new world they make, they will never release anything that allows you to completely skip it.  Speed it up maybe, not skip it.

Perhaps if all the experience you gained converted to rested for the next expansion.  That is something I could see happening in this what if world, if anything.  But not this.

What if they removed all class/race restrictions?

My Troll Paladin would say, thank you mon.  Seriously, outside of lore there are no reasons to now allow every race to be every class.  The reason for the restrictions is because they want to make it feel more reality based, if that makes sense.  Certain people can not do certain things.  Simple as that.  The lore decides who can do what.

Would it be good for the game play wise?  Absolutely.  People will get to play with the skin they want.  If you wanted to be a paladin horde side I have options but troll is no one of them.  What real difference is there for me as a player to use a troll instead of my tauren?  A skin only.  And I really like the way plate gear looks on a troll personally.

Lore wise I could see this having a down side but outside of that I see no reason why this is not a possible what if scenario that we might actually see some time in the future.

What if they removed single class restrictions?

What if dual spec had a sister ability of dual class.  My hunter would no longer be my hunter.  It would be my night elf who is main spec SV hunter and off spec disc priest.  Could you imagine that?  Being able to have your off spec be an spec from another class?

What is really keeping someone from knowing two skill sets.  Who says that a priest can not also be a hunter?  There are a few lore characters that would like to have a word with you if you think that combo is far fetched.  Or a warlock can not also be a mage.  Or a rogue might want to moonlight as a warrior.

The possibilities of this what if are endless.  When you choose your class you can not ever change it, so it should be the same with your off class.  If you choose to be a main hunter and an off class of priest you can never change that.  You would be those two always.  While being those two you can of course choose between the 6 specs they can be as your two active specs.

I can actually see something like this being added to the game some time in the future.  One of those expansion where they are not adding a new race or a new class, just to give it some spice.  Sooner or later they will need to have to offer something character wise when they run out of race and class options to add.  This would fit nicely in that spot.

As far as what ifs go this is a huge what if and would need a lot of redesigning in some aspects of course but I think this is not as crazy of a what if as you might think it is.

What if they removed storage restrictions?

Either by making it so we can keep upgrading our storage space with gold, or just removing the need for it for a variety of items.  A tabard tab, an equipment tab where anything soulbound that you can equip appears as a drop down option and not in your bags, a toy box for all your fun things that is a menu like the titles of your toys, things like that.

The only thing that bags would be left for is quest items, junk, grays, BoEs, and crafting materials, which also would now stack to insane amounts.  Just all the little things to remove the restrictions on how much garbage we can collect.  Making it so we can be in charge of how much we want.

Our bank would have endless tabs for adding more bags, each costing more.  Our void storage would now become the place all our gear ends up in, and we equip it those one of those screens that are now in the transmog section where it is just a selection list.  When you are out of gear space, more tabs for your void storage open, for a fee of course.

All those little things and more added just to remove the storage restrictions.  What if that happened?

Well, I will tell you what if for me.  I would just end up with more junk and still somehow find a way to fill every available slot causing me to need more gold to open more and more spaces.

I think that is why there are limits and always will be limits.  No need to turn warcraft into an episode of hoarders.  It is bad enough as is already with all the junk we collect.  I want more space, but I don't see them ever making this what if a reality.  Damn my hoarding tendencies.

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There are a lot of restrictions in the game and some we might like and others we might hate but they are there for a reason.  Should some of them be lifted, that is a matter of opinion of course.  But of all the ones I listed here I would love to see the raid lock out lifting being we probably will never see the return of 10 and 25 mans on separate lock outs.  Locking us to loot once a week just seems like a much better idea.  But the idea that people could sell a carry service, for real money too, means I doubt we will see it.  But an elf can dream and of all the what ifs here that is the what if I would dream for most.

What are your ideas on these restriction what ifs being removed?  Or do you have a what if for removing another restriction?

32 comments:

  1. oh looky, a SOAPBOX! (roo jumps on)

    some nice observations and thoughts, but really, the reason why blizzard doesn't remove weekly caps on valor is because people will buy and buy, spending game gold? No, I don't believe that is the reason. I believe it is because people will get everything and then leave the game once it has been "gotten". These valor caps and lockouts and items is not because it will make someone uber, it is because Blizz want's one thing - our money. And to get our money it requires Bizzard to partition things out, not allowing one to get all then leaving the game because "there is no more stuff to get".

    While we at it, why not allow lvl 90's or anyone who has maxed a profession get extra darkmoon tickets for gear or pets when they do that profession at the fair? (like everything else, more money!)

    Or as a LW, I am trying to learn one class of LW gear (ilevel 458) for Hunters and Hunters only. Yet, so far I have 3 different chest for shaman, 2 for monks, 2 for druids, none for hunter! And thats not counting all the other non-wanted ilevel 458 LW crafting gear for monks, druids, rogues, shaman that I have wasted 20 e.leathers for each time (I think I am on my 38th piece, now. Out of the learning times, I have learned shoulders, finally leggings, share a wrist with shaman). It is suppose to be random, but I don't believe it is.

    Yet, I keep doing it everyday as I (heck, WE) are in a skinner box, giving Blizz more and more of my (our) money each month just to learn hunter ilvel 458 gear (I will not do LFR or instances or raiding, so that is it for me unless I get real lucky and find 476 gear as a drop in the world).

    ok, tanks for the soapbox. Roo is off.

    stay frosty
    -roo

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    1. Very true. They want to extend the game as long as they can. That is the reason for caps, and lockouts, and bad drop rates. The longer we have to do something the more we have to pay to do it.

      I wonder if they went free to play if that would change?

      Oh, I would like that. All my professions are maxed, so why not 5 extra tickets instead of 5 skill points I haven't needed since the first week of the expansion.

      The leather working thing has done the same to me. I was trying to get the boots for my hunter forever because they are BiS early ToT and outside of heroic and finally gave up and looked for someone else that had the problem. I do not want PvP gear, do not want gear for other classes, I want what I want and being there are so many patterns it could take forever to get them.

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    2. isn't there something in the works to bring that real money AH to WOW from Diablo 3?

      I also wonder if that black market AH (which I have seen once, but honestly don't understand if it is NPC's in it or players or a mixture) with it's high prices is for real money or game gold.

      If the game was free to play, I would bet to unlock an instance or raid would cost $5 per instance/raid. To learn a profession $10. :D

      I got those iLevel 522 boots first off, but I don't know what those spirit orbs or spooky juice orbs or blood orbs are from or where they can me found (I know, I know, research, but by the time I remember that is what I doing, it is time for bed). I think I seen one in a the AH for about 20,000 gold. Yeah, right, like I got 20,000 gold (I don't).

      Now, I am not complaining. I enjoy the game and knowing that I dont raid, do instances or even LFR, understand the consequences of not doing them, but I would like crafting gear that would let me be able to take on the mobs in PVE world, just a little easier with mats I can find in the pve world outside of the said raids, LFR or instances.

      Thanks GE for the aritcle.

      -roo

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    3. I don't think they have mentioned anything about the real money AH coming to warcraft yet but if I were a betting man I would bet you it is coming. Just like I said when it was first announced in diablo. It will make it to wow.

      They come from disenchanting items that drop in the new raid.

      I agree that people like yourself that do not raid should have appropriate options that do not require materials gained in a raid. Sadly blizzard has this raid or die mentality. I personally think it is hurting the game a lot. People like you get screwed over by it.

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  2. As a tank, I would hate hate hate to lose the social protection that lockouts get me. As it is now, after my raid on Tuesday I won't get bothered to get off my alt and come on my main if the second raid group is having problems on a boss.

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    1. I guess for people that don't want to do it that could be a problem. But you could always say no. ;)

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    2. 'You could always say no' is just like saying that there is no mandatory content. What kind of a selfish prick says no?

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    3. Me, and not for selfish reasons either.

      If I am doing something else I am doing something else. Sure, sometimes I will help on my tank but if I would rather be doing something else then I can't. So no.

      There is absolutely nothing selfish about not wanting to do something.

      If you were part of a progression guild and they asked you to tank on a character you were already saved with and you said no, that is selfish. Because that is a team effort and you would not be playing like a team player. But it would not be selfish if someone whispered me to tank for them on friday when I was already saved and I said no.

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  3. Guilds already sell carries/items every expansion for obscene amounts of gold. None of those things you mentioned is going to enable that, and therefore it's not the reason those features aren't added.

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    1. Apparently you did not actually read the post if that is honestly your reply.

      If they could run it over and over they could sell runs over and over. 10, 20 even 50 times a week. That is completely different then me selling you 1 run a week.

      I do believe that to keep them from doing so many many times a week it is a reason why it would never be added.

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  4. The 'some players would otherwise burn themselves out' argument never convinced me, as, like you said, that kind of playstyle is confined to a minority anyway.

    For my friends and I, all time-gating does is, in case we miss the 'allowed' timeframe, is not really caring anymore, the more because of the 'hyper environment' Blizz creates with its Tier Resets and such (you either finish content before the next patch hits, or it's 'gone' and all the previous effort is worthless).

    So (eg) the Molten Front requires me at least 30 days before it unlocks something worthwhile? FT, by the time our schedules allows it to reach that point while still being able to do stuf we actually want to do we're knee-deep in the next patch anyway and it's all for naught where the Gear is concerned and argueably for Vanity stuff as well (in the sense that everybody and his dog will have the mounts etc. as a by effect of grinding the gear).

    Old example, but the original Wintersabers were the best, not that daily-crap.

    To add some extra's:

    -Dropping level requirements on Vanity Items, up to and including the level restrictions on Archeology Profession Levels

    This would bring (back, considering the damage Accountwide Achievements did) ) the incentive to do content with a character of a level you find these pursuits interesting, instead of doing it the most convenient way ie on a capped character.

    One of the reasons Archeoogy is so boring for many people is that you basically just fly from point A to point B in a region with mobs that can't possibly hurt you, this would help.

    Simlarly, with the titles being Accountwide now, you have nothing to show for doing content on a character that might get actually hurt, and the one thing that could alleviate this - Tabards and such - carry level requirments that serve no game balance issue.

    I have yet to hear why e.g it would be bad if subscribers would spend their time and effort on getting their bank alt a nifty TBC Faction Tabard (most of those have a level 70 requirement, while, due to all the changes, getting it on a 70+ is boring and uneventful).

    Similarly:

    - lowering level requirements on Quests and entry-by-world of Instances

    Dropping them altogether would of course result in balance issues (if we entertain the notion that Blizz actually cares about balance before cap) but being able again to do Quest content at a level it isn't yawn-inducing (they essentialy removed 'Red' Quests with Cata) would both be more stimulating and more varied (also because in effect you'd have more Zones/level range to choose from).

    With the Vanilla Quest model this might have caused (imaginary, imo) issues as Quests of different difficulty and level were in the same Zone (as you were supposed to go back to Zones over the course of levelling, one of the reasons the world felt more alive and the game more as a MMORPG), but with the current 'play and forget' Zones therw wouldn't be any 'danger' of newcomers stumbling on a fiery-red Quest and then quiting over not being able to finish it (something I highly doubt ever happened, as the remedy - level up - was clear).

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    1. I would burn myself out. I admit it, I am that style of player. I doubt many would. But that is why blizzard said they gated SP and AC behind the GL, they did not want people to burn themselves out doing all of the reputations at once. So that is an actual concern of theirs.

      If it is warranted or not is a discussion in its own. I think if they did allow us to do everything that everything would now get to have a mandatory tag. It is no win for them really.

      I don't think there have been many, or any, repeatable quest since vanilla. Outside of turn in quests in BC what else was there?

      Dropping quest level requirements is an interesting one. I could easily do level 50 quests on a level 30 hunter. It would be much more rewarding and offer a more fun challenge to do them. I think I would like that. Bring back the red quests. I like it.

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  5. I think a lot these changes would be bad for the game and for a lot of player’s health. I think you way underestimate the amount of people that would burn themselves out without the caps. I actually kinda enjoy the cap as it gives me a nice sense of accomplishment each week. (I’m like you I would grind and grind until I had it all) I think the removal of bag space would be a real good for the game tho and it does seem like they are open to this idea but technical issues maybe holding it back. I dream of a transmog function like DCUO and btw we are getting closer to that it seems the transmog pull out tab is neat now just to find a way to store all the things in my bank so I don’t have too.

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    1. I know some of these would surely be bad for my health. It is possible I am under estimating somewhat but I don't think I am underestimating by a lot if I am. I've known a lot of player through the years and not one of them would go and do everything ASAP like I do. So I would have to say based on that small test field that most wouldn't.

      The need to add more tabs to void storage people can buy. I know lots of people that really love transmog and they were out of space the second thransmog and void storage were introduced because they went out and collected stuff. Not saying that should go out of their way to cater to those people but I honestly do not see what would be so hard about adding another tab for void storage.

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  6. The race/ faction requirement. There are NPCs every ten feet who break that rule lore-wise. You could make new combos: Human horde evil mercenaries. Redeemed blood elves. Gnome air pirates. Evil night elf assasins for hire. Ex-horde orc gladiators who moved to alliance for a new start. So many possibilities.

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    1. Oh and for gods sake make ALL races undead for that faction with appropriate models! Tauren skeletons FTW!

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    2. I agree with that. Had a post about a year ago wonder if the pandas would open the door for other races to switch sides. I think that will come some day.

      That is the one thing that gets me about undead. They are all one race when people of all races die. When you choose undead you should also get to choose which race you are an undead of.

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    3. (unrelated Anon)

      See? You're feeding right into my prediction of a Forsaken faction next expansion that has undead versions of most/all of the normal races. It just makes too much sense. ;)

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    4. It does make too much sense to not be in the game. The every race being undead part. Not sure why they never ran with it.

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  7. What if they removed the weekly valor cap restriction?
    -Bad idea. Instant burn out for the serious players.

    What if they remove raid lock outs restrictions?
    -Awesome idea. They'd need to make all loot drops work like LFR loot though to prevent exploits.

    What if you could raid the current tier cross realm?
    -As long as they made all loot work like LFR loot, this would be fine as well. Who cares if people sell runs? They do it already anyways; they'll just be able to do it more.

    What if they remove the once a week loot restriction from the LFR?
    -Same as valor cap... would cause burnout.

    What if they made the coin exchange a daily instead of a weekly?
    -People would burn out trying to get lesser charms to turn in for the quest. It's fine with 3 I guess.

    What if blizzard removed the experience cap?
    -We get the same basic benefit by being well geared at the end of the expansion. My Heroic Cata gear lasted me through lvl 88-89 in MoP.

    What if they removed all class/race restrictions?
    -This would be cool. Most of the restrictions don't make sense anyway.

    What if they removed single class restrictions?
    -A lot of people have asked to make all classes into hybrids, but that'd require a lot of 4th specs. This would solve that problem. My main could be a BM hunter/Blood DK or something. It requires totally different gear but most hybrids require that anyway.

    What if they removed storage restrictions?
    -The best ways would be to remove certain things from the storage like you mentioned: Tabard closet, Gear closet, Toy chest, etc.

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    1. I agree with many of these causing burn out. I would be one of the first ones that would be burnt out. I would call off work the day new valor gear is released and cap out that first day. lol

      The selling runs issue would not be selling runs for gold. Blizzard could care less about that. It is the selling runs for cash that they would want to stop and that would happen a lot more often. The gold sellers would be dancing if they could sell runs like that.

      Just search the net, you will find some of the top guilds in the world already offering to see clears and get in runs for real life cash. If they added that it would happen even more. That is what I mean by not. Not sell runs for gold, sell for cash, that is what would keep it from happening.

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  8. What if they removed the weekly valor cap restriction?
    -For the really hardcore players, it wouldn't actually make that much difference except on the release of new tiers. If I could get as much valor as I wanted...I'd grind a few k out this week, upgrade every item I have and be ready to upgrade anything new. Nothing else to do with it if you play hard since you'll have no use for the vendor gear.

    What if they remove raid lock outs restrictions?
    -I'd LOVE that. I could do heroic progression with my guild, then pug normal runs just to do achievements!

    What if you could raid the current tier cross realm?
    -This would pretty much destroy the guild system imo.

    What if they remove the once a week loot restriction from the LFR?
    -It's basically for alts anyway, who's really going to spend that much time running LFR over and over to gear an alt, unless they really needed that alt geared, such as switching class to fill a niche in their raid group? In which case it'd be great!

    What if they made the coin exchange a daily instead of a weekly?
    -12 bosses, Nalak and Oon, 14 runes assuming every boss actually has upgrades for you, so even if that was the case, 5 days of turn-ins and you're done, as you get gear your need for coins grows less and less.

    What if blizzard removed the experience cap?
    -Horror. lvl 95's running around in lvl 90 gear in dungeons, with no clue what to do with any new abilities they've gotten, plus some of us would have to do all the new quests no matter what for the achievements!

    What if they removed all class/race restrictions?
    -Yes. Let people be the class they want to be as the race they want to be. Tauren rogues go! ;p

    What if they removed single class restrictions?
    -With the new roll system to let you choose which spec you get gear from, this would be a disaster. People would turn their off spec into whatever gets the fastest queue in order to get gear for their main spec and be trying to fulfil roles they don't know how to.

    What if they removed storage restrictions?
    -Oh god please, please, or make tabards/shirts/vanity gear a selection tab, even just put in special vendors that allow you to restore any items like that so we could delete them without their being gone forever, there's already some functionality for that with tabards.

    Katzbalger-Arthas (US)

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    1. I am one of those people that would do all the quests anyway for the achievements. And gear of course as I would need it being an instant 95.

      I don't think that people would change to their offsepc for quick queue as much as you think. Look at all the warriors, paladin, druids, priest, shaman, death knights, monks, you still see running as DPS even if they could queue up as a healer or tank and get their DPS gear.

      Don't underestimate the player base and the lengths they will go through to avoid any actual sense of responsibility that comes with those roles. We will never see a damage dealer shortage. Now a "quality" damage dealer shortage already exists but that is another story all together.

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  9. So here I was needing on that cloth piece and that mage was pissed off. Hell, I need to gear up my priest offspec, what's his problem? And btw druid, you're finding your paladin spec or you're not coming with us. And your bags are full so I can't give you that piece to DE, what do you even have in there? Gear for 10 specs?
    If i have to do one more LFR to gear up my DK spec I swear to god... Can I just stay warrior for this one? I don't want to go reforge my plate gear again just for a boss.
    5 more Primordials for monk spec, 5 more for... oi, I fforgot ebout puttin jade Spirit on this weapon and why is the AH so dead? no freaking scopes on and still missing some gems. Huh, I could've sworn I had more gold.
    My raid leader tells me I have to go priest for this one because class stacking is awesome.
    So what if I worship the light. It's not like I can't also be a dead death knight when I want.
    So. I'm a brand new 90 warlock. What now? I thought they weren't giving us brand new 90s.

    All in all, sure. It would be fun. I'd pick something for pvp I think. The one class that I hear is the most OP for that tier. Then again, I can already be a Holy paladain.

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    1. I see what you are getting at but that is why I suggested that whatever your off class was would also be locked and could never change like your main class.

      It would stop some of those problems, like switching for class stacking. It they were not it before hand, they couldn't be it now.

      Would I run my hunter as a disc priest, my mage as a resto shaman, my rogue as a guardian druid and my lock as a blood DK for a faster queue? Most likely. But I have people in my guild that have healing or tanking specs and only go as DPS even if the wait is longer. Actually most would rather go as DPS now that they can get their healing and tanking gear while in DPS spec.

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    2. By the way, on picking the one class that is the most OP for PVP for the current tier.

      I once had the - I thought - brilliant idea of having one of each class at max level so I can pick and choose a new main for each season. The reality kicked in pretty early when I found out that if I want to play a class well (as in, 1700 well, at the very least), that takes more than a season.

      Gigs like getting gladiator-level with double-BM hunters pressing one button with a macro each (plus applying class-neutral knowledge about arenas, too, of course) are fun, but... they are gigs, they don't last. :-)

      So, I stick to one main and only focus on maybe one PVP alt a season to mix things up.

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    3. You would dig this.

      I PvPed on my rogue for the first time ever last night. Up to that part of the legendary quest line. I was ripping people to shreds. The speed, the stuns, the interrupts, the movement, the shadowsteps, it was madness. I am sure it is only because it is new to me but I loved it. I was destroying anyone I caught one on one. Mage. No problem. DK, not gonna happen. Hunter, they are free kills to begin with. Monks, free kills too. Healer. Forget about it, you have no chance. My only bane was elemental shaman. Died only twice in controlled setting in three battlegrounds, both to an elemental shaman. Died a couple more times when I was overwhelmed of course, but when one on one or two on one even, only an elemental shaman could take me.

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    4. Hunters, free kills for rogues?! Other way around friend, I eat rogues like candy..sweet sweet candy. Now warlocks and spriest I fd, camo and run away.

      Besides class though, there's also skill and experience in the mix. Now I have been pvping as a hunter since I bought wow, it's my main, my love, it's how I roll. With 5.1 making BM seriously unbalanced, we got a lot of FOTM rerollers jumping into hunters and once their 1 button cast sequence macros stopped doing the trink or got countered by an experienced player, they're done for. In 5.2, the same thing happened with rogues, they became unbalanced, lots of people jumped onto them and now they've been nerfed they're finding it hard.

      The long term skilled hunters can now destroy rogues again. The long term skilled rogues can still destroy most other things. The FOTM rerollers of both classes are all switching to locks and spriests ;p

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    5. They were FOTM against bad PvPers. Any good PvPer, or even myself that sucks at PvP, would just counter the opening burst and then destroy the hunter.

      They nerfed the hell out of hunters because of bad players that did not realize that these FOTM hunters were a one trick pony and once you countered their burst they were done for.

      I've been playing a hunter my whole WoW life too and rogues have always been my bane. But as I said, I was never a good PvPers. They were the only melee class I always had trouble with. Give me a warrior or a DK and I could stomp them. A ret paladin, don't make me laugh. Even as unskilled at PvP as I am there is no way a ret paladin could ever beat a hunter in a million years.

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  10. Great post, definitely some food for thought.

    I have a very strong opinion on this "what if" -- What if they removed the weekly valor cap restriction?

    This is a bad idea. Both for valor points and for conquest points.

    You know how we have this catch up system for conquest points where if you, say, level an alt mid-season, your cap is the default 2200 for the current week plus 1000 for each of the week you couldn't play? This is a good system, mind you, and I am glad they added it. But observe how this huge pool works, by design:

    (a) if you don't play at all in the week after you level, you have just lost 1200 points - you could have got 2200, but you didn't play, so you only get 1000 potential points from catchup (and this is good and understandable, read on),

    (b) if in the first week after you level you cap your default 2200 points, like you'd normally do (ignore additional points from ratings now), you have still lost 1200 points - your regular points will stay the same, but your catchup points decreased for 2200 you just got and got only 1000 for the next week, (!)

    (c) the only way not to "lose" anything is to get your entire huge cap of 13k points in the first week. (!)

    That's it. People are *FORCED* to play a huge number of games as soon as possible. This means without gear, without practice. Frequently with similar teammates. I just did this on my alt, and, trust me, it's exhausting. We are talking about about 70 arena wins here, that's... quite a lot, even if you aren't exactly new to arenas.

    Now, I have some ideas on how they could lower the pressure to play right now, this very moment, or you'll lose points, aaaaaaaah. I tweeted some to the devs, maybe they will implement something.

    But regardless, the answer to the question - what will if you give people a huge cap? - is, beyond any shadow of doubt: people WILL try to cap it right away, and many will burn themselves out (god, I wasn't sure whether I really wanted to cap in the middle of the arena march, I wasn't sure if I wanted to even play my alt after all these games, I was so tired and numb).

    So, bad idea. Caps are there for a reason.

    Now, one more what if: what if they made arenas cross-realm?!

    And I tell you the answer - things would be great! Really. ) Hope they do this.

    Have a nice day.

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    1. Damn, lots of typos, sorry... Hopefully, the post is still readable.

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    2. 70 arena wins is more than I have in my lifetime most likely. lol I was never better than a .500 player to begin with however. I probably only have a total of 70 games under my belt. So that is a lot.

      I think the argument for cross realm arena might be the same as the people posed for cross realm current raids. It would hurt guilds. And my reason of selling (for real life money) would be another reason against that. It would open a much larger customer base for people selling rating and even if it seems blizzard doesn't care, I don't think they would do something they would make it easier for others to make money off their game. At least not intentionally. But they have made huge mistakes before, so you never know.

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