Looking at a Stat Squish Soon.

Because it is out of control!!!!

     Let's be honest, there is no feeling like watching big numbers fly across your screen while you are killing the big beasty in front of you.  The feeling your character is getting more powerful is awesome and fun, and we love that feeling that we are this martial or magical juggernauts that are nigh unstoppable as we slam our way through foes.  In a game there is a cost to that.

    We are looking at the same situation now that we were in Cataclysm where the numbers our characters were putting out were hitting close to the ceiling of what the game can handle.  Add on the many new ways to get and improve armor, and that number is climbing higher even more quickly than before.  I am fairly certain we will have another stat squish at the end of this expansion.

    And that is not a bad thing.  Last time the players showed they were supportive of such a thing.  We managed to accept the feeling that we were still hitting hard with lower numbers because Blizzard did a great job of evening things out.  I imagine it will work that same way again.  I do have my normal advice to Blizzard to go with that, and yes you have all heard me say it multiple times.

    Let's do a level squish as well.

    Seriously, use the leveling experience in Legion, apply it to the rest of the world, and then squish it.  Make it so mobs level with you to the level spread of that expansion.  For example, if we make original WoW 1-30, make the mobs stop adjusting to your character after 30.  That way we can go back and still feel invincible when running older content.

    Make it, Original 1-30.  Burning Crusaide 30-35.  Wrath of the Lich king 35-40.  Calaclysm 40-45, Pandaria, 45-50.  Warlords 50-55, and Legion after this expansion 55-60.

    Do we need this you might ask?  Well, yes and no.  I mean when a new player starts, they get a character that just has to level through current content.  So, they get one main who gets the head start so they can play with their friends and become part of the end game.  That is great.  What happens though if they hit 110, and don't like the class they picked.  They are then reduced to two options.

    Pay $60 bucks, then level the last ten again, or level through 110 levels for another alt who may or may not be as enjoyable as the character they are playing.  If you are a new player and have never leveled through all the beginning areas, that is completely discouraging.  Us old hat players know that you can level through all that content quickly enough, but if you are new to the game, that looks like a daunting trip.

    I think this is partially a matter of accessibility.  When you do your stat/level squish you could throw ilevel on the pile too.  If we can pull back and lower the ilevels with the squish that could give us even more room to develop and grow.  If they do it right it like last time, the feel of the game won't even be very different.  Just the numbers our characters are throwing up when they fight.

How does everyone else feel though?  Are these opinions completely off base, or would this lengthen the longevity of the game.  Am I wrong to think there is a mental hurdle for new players to level up to 110, or am I just postulating an opinion that has no bearing in actuality? How would you all feel about a level squish?

Lag.

As always, if you would like to support Ben Marble and his carnivorous plant wrangling consider purchasing one of his short stories at Amazon.com.

7.1 and Gearing Concerns.

So, I am questioning the gear this time around.

      But first, let's glory in the fact we already have 7.1 up and running.  What you say? Too soon? Too gated?  Yeah, those opinions have been loud and clear.  People are frustrated that there is an attunement quest line before Karazhan.  I honestly haven't started it myself yet, so I'm not going to give an open opinion on it being hard or too long or anything like that.  I don't know.  I just know people hopped on exited to revisit their old favorite raid, and were not able to right away.  I have seen some groups getting together to run it since, so maybe it's not too bad.

      Halls of Valor is out as well, needing to be attuned for as well.  Once again, I think it's a little early for opinions other than, well you have to attune for it.

      This expansion has been rife with ways to get geared up.  Daily quests, dungeons, raids, class hall quests, etc…  There has been no shortage of methods to get gear.  If you are willing to put in the time and effort that is.  My question is, with all the levels of gear, between world quests dungeons (normal, heroic, mythic to mythic+ 10) Raids (LFR, normal, Heroic, Mythic) and World Quests, (I have seen gear up to 840+ on these, but they might go higher I haven’t looked deeply into it.) and PVP

      My question is this, is this too big a spread of gear to be healthy for the game?  When we had a gear squish just an expansion ago, to be pushing numbers like they are now.  If the numbers jump like this, from 800-895 for legendary, per raid tier How out of hand might the gear get by the end of the expansion.  Let's be honest, we haven't even released the end of the first tier, which is coming after the beginning of the year by all accounts.

     I have already seen Mythic dungeon groups asking for gear levels of 860+ which is a little crazy unless you are running Mythic + some crazy number.  If we are looking at a span of almost 100 ilevels a tier, and we go three raid tiers this expansion, that could see us up to ilevel 1000ish.  That is a little wild and out of control.

     Now, on counterpoint, last expansion from my memory, jumped about 50 ilevels a tier, per 2 tiers, which ended up with high end folks being a bit above ilevel 700 at the end of expansion.  Even at 50 ilevels a tier, with thee that would put us at about ilevel 900 at the end of this expansion after this first gear boom.  Honestly it’s hard to say because we have not seen this spread of options before.  Either way, that is a lot of ilevels we are tossing into this expansion.

     And what will come next? Are we going to have another item squish before too long?  If the numbers keep clicking up as high as they are can that be maintained for the rest of the expansion?  What is the long term benefit or damage to the game with all this gear?  How should we keep it better in line if we need to keep the numbers smaller?  Would it be better if they evened things out. so, LFR=reg dungeon, normal raid = Heroic dungeon,  Heroic raid= Mythic dungeon and then have Mythic raid = Mythic plus dungeon somewhere along the line?  (I don't have PVP on this list, because I'm not sure how the gear system works there off the top of my head.)  it would also make dungeons feel more relevant and make 5 man content as rewarding as raids.  

     Of course, there is the hold our part of me that says that 5 man contents should not be as rewarding as raids.  I mean, raids take more work to get together.  They are intrinsically more difficult and are a larger investment of time.  If I am not going to be doing raiding why should I get the rewards of regular raiders?  My answer to that, give them some different rewards.

    Even out gear, and give raiders some cool mounts, unique armor sets, and other such things that set them apart.  I mean, that is what raiders want. To be able to say, look at me!  I have accomplished this.  If you give them other side rewards, I'm not sure they would cry as loud at evening out the gear.  But, there will be some folks crying.  There are always some folks crying.

     The other option, I'm still a fan of doing a level squish.  I don't think it's crazy hard to level a character from 1 to 110, it is a bit of a time investment, but a manageable one.  However, walking in new the the game and seeing there is 110 levels is kind of daunting.  It doesn't manage if you can do it in a quicker time than you used to or not.  People just see that 110.  I say squish the levels down so 0-60 is now 0-30, and make each expansion 5 levels or so.  Put in the scaling technology, so it doesn't feel weird to level through, but make the content stop at the top level so folks can still go back and just destroy stuff if needed.  (i.e. 0-30 content stops at 30)  You could do a gear level squish with this as well.  This would ensure some more longevity in the game and make things feel more attainable to those coming in.  That would be a new level cap of 60 again at the end of this expansion, if that was when they squished it, giving a nice lower number. 

     Once again, I can hear your screams at this idea, but take a breath and think about it.  Do you really want to be leveling characters from 1-140 three expansions from now.  If we take steps like this now, that makes life easier later.  For starting players as well as folks who are leveling things up.

      But what do you think?  Is the gear kind of out of control, or is this just par for the course?  When do you think the next item squish will be, because we know it will happen eventually.  How about a level squish?  How would you feel about it?  Not initially, because no one wants to feel like they have lost years of work, but in the long run?

What points did I miss?

Lag.

If you want to support Ben Marble (Lag) in his dancing the night away, consider to buying one of his short stories on Amazon.com .