So 6.2 is coming out on the 23rd of June, as I said it would months ago, because if they did not release it on that day it was quite possible that FF14 could have passed wow in active subscriptions. With the addition of flying back into the game and 6.2 coming out, blizzard saved themselves from having a massive amount of egg on their face.
As much as we might complain about things they do and question if they are doing the right thing, one this is for sure, as a business, they know what to do. So instead of letting FF14 drop wow down to the #2 subscription MMO, they are fighting back. Actually, it seems more like they are in panic mode, but that is another topic all together.
With that said, I am not excited for 6.2. It adds nothing of exciting to me, nothing I would not be willing to wait longer for, nothing I really wanted now.. A bunch of reskined dungeons called timerwalkers and mythic, not exactly something I'd be rushing to do. A new zone that was supposed to be a level 99-100 zone on launch is being added, showing how horrible they did at launch that they could not even get all their zones done in time, so I am not exactly excited for something that should have been active 7 months ago, and honestly if it were there would have been a hell of a lot fewer complaints about the lack of content. Not sure how anyone could be excited about something being that late. "Woohoo, we are getting content 7 months later than intended." Sorry, but that is something no person has ever said.
Outside of that we are getting some new garrison missions. Sure they are part of a ship yard now but make no mistake, all they are is another set of missions and making us collect new followers (ships) from the beginning again. So this is just an addition, making things up to date, it is nothing new. Same goes for new gearing choices, new professions patterns, new materials to gather, etc. All things we take for granted. Stuff that by default should be updated whenever new content comes out but not content in and of itself.
According to blizzard however 6.2 is to be one of the biggest content patches ever. So what is this content they speak of? A raid. That is it, that is all 6.2 consists of. Nothing more.
Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a new raid, but if you take a look at sites that track this stuff like guildox or wow progress you will see that the vast majority of players have not even completed the current raids that are out. So while I would like a new raid it is not exactly needed for the majority of the player base just yet.
I personally would prefer to wait, to have them add some more content to 6.2, to wait until they can add flying in 6.2, before they actually release it. Add some five mans at the very least. I also would not mind a few story telling scenarios that we can queue up for because having some quick bite sized content that does not require an hour queue time is just what the doctor ordered for the game right about now. Forget this mythic dungeon idea and actually get off your butts and create something new. No one wanted to do the dungeons the first time for sub par gear, why would they want to do them a second time in a harder mode for more sub par gear? They will be great for alts at the get go but I see two problems, can you reach the level of ability needed to do them on an alt, and if you can, wouldn't they wear out their welcome just as fast as the original heroic dungeons did? Any dungeon would be quickly used up with valor to give us motivation to do them over and over and I know many would have preferred new ones instead of a reskin.
This is not going to happen of course, it is not going to be delayed and nothing else is going to be added, because as I mentioned for as much as we might question what blizzard does with the game there is one thing they do right, and that is being a business first. From a business standpoint 6.2 has to come out sooner than later. It has to fight off FF14. There is no time for them to create more content, there is no time for them to turn flying back on (not sure why that is) and there is no time to worry about their paying customers, as long as they keep paying.
To keep them paying they dangled the bait, flying, and people have already come back in droves.
Maybe this should show them something. People were leaving left and right. They were dropping like flies. The idea of 6.2 adding a new raid was not enough to keep them, but the idea that in 6.2.x was adding flying was enough to get a lot of them to come back. Perhaps they can turn some of that great business sense into great designing sense and realize, that a patch with just a new raid is not enough. People want more. Even if it is something as simple as flying.
So I am not excitedly waiting for 6.2. I couldn't care less about 6.2. I am waiting for 6.2.x because having flying is more important to me than having another raid when most people have not even finished the last one. Not to mention flying is something everyone can enjoy, raiding is for the select few.
Take the risk blizzard, hold back 6.2 until flying is put into it. Hold back 6.2 until you can add more content to it. Hold back 6.2 until it is more than just a few reskined dungeons, a zone that you were too slow to have ready for launch and a new raid. Don't be afraid of FF14. Be afraid that these continued bad decisions are why FF14 is becoming bigger. Make the right decisions and maybe FF14 would become a non issue, but keep making the wrong decisions and you will be the #2 sub MMO before the end of the year. While most sub MMOs might love that, I am pretty sure your stockholders won't.
Doing the right thing goes a long way. Sometimes those small seemingly meaningless decisions mean more than an awesome new raid tier. Just look at all the people that left because of flying, or came back because of it. The small things matter to. More than you are giving them credit for. It is why I am more excited about 6.2.x for the small things than I am 6.2 for the big ones.
Christmas Is Coming!
4 hours ago
I like the "panic mode" - very fitting.
ReplyDeleteBut the problems are IMHO deeper. In their quest for easy access they went to far, and removed 2 pillars WoW was resting on - friendships and "hard work".
a) content is consumed too easily. Leveling does not take long anymore. Someone new to WoW can go from zero to killing the last LFR boss in 4 weeks easily. After that - why go on? In vanilla doing an UBRS was for most people a big thing even a year after they started.
b) the world at the same time became too big (6 continents) and too small at the same time because everything is focused on "endgame".
c) the journey 1-100 is a lonely game, because 99% of the players are focused on the "endgame".
d) the game once drove you into cooperative play. Being bound to a server made you either "be nice" or become an outcast.
But turning back the wheel a bit and find a "safe" middle ground to get WoW back on tracks will not be easy. Think about the outcry in Cata about hard dungeons ....
Rauxis, chosen of CAT
As weird as this might sound coming from me, a person whom is admittedly not very social, I really miss the friendship element. Also losing the work for things approach to random approach really is something I do not like.
DeleteI still say that wrath was the perfect middle ground. It seemed like they found a mix mix of both ease and hard work. More specifically around the Ulduar time with hard modes. It was such as well designed raid based around those and even latter in the expansion it still seemed balanced well. Just my opinion of course.
I disagree on not needing a new raid. Wow Progress has heroic BH sitting at just under 18% ( I cite this as this is the # that you yourself have cited before) completed. traditionally that # is about 20% when the next content patch comes out and that's close enough for government work IMO. If your guild hasn't cleared it yet it's very unlikely you will. Meanwhile the rest of us are bored. If your guild isn't clearing it time to assess why and have a come to jesus moment with them.
DeleteThere is a big advantage meeting someone in a game - you both know you have a common ground. And whenever you are running out of things to say you can whack MOBs.
DeleteThat lowers the social hurdle quite a bit, don't you think?
Rauxis, chosen of CAT
@Tiggi
DeleteI've said it before and I will say it again. My guild is average. So average that we are normally around where the 50% of guilds downed it number.
With that said, we have always killed every end boss on normal at least (heroic now) since wrath and we have not killed this one.
So, that means, being we are the average guild and always around the 50% marker and are always well in heroic (now mythic) and when the next tier comes out, your "only 20% normally" guess is extremely far off the mark because it is usually over 50%.
I agree that we should have downed it months ago. This was not a hard raid tier at all. But we have not and so have the vast majority of guilds.
Just because "you" have doesn't mean everyone has, or in this case, doesn't mean the majority that normally do have.
Not to mention, even if I love to raid, there is a lot more to the game than raiding and they have not put any of that in yet. Might as well wait until they do.
There's enough stuff to cooperate for. People just don't want to. Putting a group together for CMs was the hardest thing I have done in WoW. People love rewards, but not doing the work for them. Now they are buying them, avoiding cooperation alltogether. And it's not Blizz at fault except maybe because they allowed monetizing group content.
DeleteI've seen it in a lot of MMOs, challenging and group content while leveling simply do not have a place anymore. Not because wow taught them to be like this, but because this is a different playerbase. No longer the ones that were it inclined, but people less inclined, with less time, less used to old school quests and challenge overall.
What I mean to say, the whole gaming industry leans toward easier games that appeal to a larger audience. Back in the days, presenting yourself as a gamer at a workplace meant you were seen like you were a time waster and not a good fit, now gamers are everywhere, everybody plays something and people talk about it in every circle. Back in the days, the gaming industry was not so much an industry, but groups of people who did stuff people enjoyed and people supported them when possible. People often pirated games because they had less access, spending money on games was a bit unacceptable. But people had time to go through the loops, even with less money.
DeletePeople that played games were seen as nerds. Were usually more anti social (go figure) in real life. They liked spending hours trying to figure out the solution to a puzzle instead of being outside with friends.
Now things have switched over. People buy games, they have more money, games are more accessible, the industry has developed a lot. It's more profitable. I buy games off steam I already own just for the convenience of not going through the CDs to install them.
But these people buying the games have less time overall than the 'back then' players. My 'beauty queen' sister plays some games now. She wouldn't have hours upon hours to waste to tackle 'challenge'.
The player base is different. It's bigger. More varied. More money. Less time. The industry is different. Opening up for a bigger player base is key. Key to money. Sure, there are niches out there. But they're niches, not the norm.
@James
DeleteI gave up completely on putting together a CM group. I would rather spend real cash to pay someone to assemble a group for me on one of those sites. I spent so many hours trying to get groups for them I just gave up. The reward is most definitely not worth the effort.
As for "allowing" it. They did not allow it, so to speak, they just do not action against it. Selling and buying were bound to happen because of the nightmare it was to create a group for them.
When design becomes about money first and foremost they need to design things to be easier. Easier means more people can do it and if more people can do it that means there are more people you can charge to do it and it is all about making money.
You always need to create for the lowest common denominator. Think of it from as food in a restaurant. Ever order something and it was so bland? Needed salt or pepper or hot sauce or something because it was so bland? It is made like that on purpose. If you make something spicy then there will be people that do not like it, but if you make something bland and let people add their own spice, then everyone can enjoy it. That is how things need to be designed if they want to success on the largest level they can.
You do mention all this thing about ease and such, which is all 100% true and I agree, but the thing I think you are missing is that the only thing 6.2 offers is the raid, which is not "ease". It is too hard for the vast majority of players. So rushing 6.2 to release a new raid that the vast majority will never be able to do anyway is not about getting more "easy" content in the hands of the people. Nope. That is content for the people that can spend some time playing the game. Billy Joe who only logs in on weekends for 2 or 3 hours at most will not benefit from the raid being released and Bob would does play more but kind of sucks will not benefit from the raid being release and sadly 90% of the wow player base is either Billy Joe or Bob or somewhere between them. So there should be no rush to release 6.2 because 6.2 isn't for them. Yet. They should wait until the add content for the 90%.
I'm not sure that holding back 6.2 would do anything useful. I grant you, it sucks that I will get my Pathfinder achievement and will not be able to fly. That will really suck.
ReplyDeleteI remember hitting 90 in Dread Wastes - now that's a place that makes you appreciate flying! - and being so thrilled to HS to Shrine and plonk my gold down and take to the skies. And when I get Pathfinder, I'm not going to be able to celebrate it. And that indeed sucks.
I've changed my mind... Blizz, hold back 6.2 until you have flying! :D
The feeling of getting flight is a great thing. It makes it feel like your worked your way there and this is your reward.
DeleteThat is one of the reasons I wanted flight back. It is a reward for hitting the new level cap. Raids, dungeons, etc, they all mean nothing. They could have been at the old level cap and it would make no difference to me, but flying is the reward for leveling.
But hey, you need 3 reputations to fly :)
ReplyDeleteIon said yesterday in the interview that it's somehow 3 weeks of dailies, so... Don't waste your time to saddle the beast when 6.2.x. comes :)
The reputations are more of an F U from the developers because they were forced to put flight back in after they decided to remove it.
DeleteIn the future it will probably just be linked to the loremaster and exploration achievements, as it should have been since the start of this expansion.
Also for me, flying or no, I would be grinding the reputations from day one. After all, there is nothing else to do in 6.2.