Comments on Ixobelle: Expansion Tuning

Actually Blizzard is going exactly the opposite wa...

2009-04-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

Actually Blizzard is going exactly the opposite way by reducing the experience needed to get through the old content to the point that most people couldn't tell you where whole zones are in the old world.

Your idea could work if you did the expansion in 2 parts. Part one raise the level cap and add new stuff to the old content. Part 2 introduce the new content that requires level 75 to

Of course Pierre's got it:I agree with your ideas ...

2009-04-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

Of course Pierre's got it:
I agree with your ideas but blizzard decided a long time ago that if you pay $15 a month, you are entitled to everything with only a minimal effort on your part.

WoW is not designed to be challenging for the majority of players. A relatively small amount of players see some content which requires a disproportionately large amount of effort to produce

The best scenario would be to have dungeon levels ...

2009-04-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

The best scenario would be to have dungeon levels scale. Add up the levels of all players involved, divide by number of players, and base it on that. Then people could choose content they enjoyed, rather than 'whatever this level bracket demands'. It's stupid to completely bypass all of those dungeons, though.

You're not supposed to be doing the content you enjoy. You're

the biggest problem is that so much of the content...

2009-04-04T18:31:00.000-07:00

the biggest problem is that so much of the content (which is what the art and design teams work on) get COMPLETELY skipped over.

Your nephew is the perfect example. He started WoW in BC, he will NEVER see any of the level 60 content, unless he wants xbox live points. There's a LOT of content he's missing. People want to see new content, but to many people, that IS new content. It would

Also what you're suggesting means that the new que...

2009-04-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

Also what you're suggesting means that the new quests in future expansions would mean 7 levels or so of actual content for new/under geared players as opposed to 12. Assuming gaining 3 lvls xp farming old world content just to see the new shinies. This would be a ripoff big time.

Expansions are bought to look at new areas and shinies, not farm the old crap while the other people in

I respect you Ixo, but this is the stupidest idea ...

2009-04-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

I respect you Ixo, but this is the stupidest idea you've ever proposed. The reason that Blizz allows people to go to WotLK at level 68 is because people are EXCITED to see new content. Not buy the expansion and farm old gear just to see the new shinies. Leveling an alt for fun wouldn't be so. It would be another pointless grind and no one would bother doing so.

With new expansions

brohuld, awesome compilation. I've been meaning to...

2009-04-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

brohuld, awesome compilation. I've been meaning to actually suss that out for a while after seeing a post over at esc-hatch comparing naxx 10 and 25 man loot disparities.

Gotta paste that into notepad and save it somewhere easily accessible.

;)

EQ 1 was a bit like what your talking about. The n...

2009-04-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

EQ 1 was a bit like what your talking about.

The new expansion would come out with new level caps.

We would rush to explore, but for leveling purposes we would stick to certain old zones where the xp per hour was the best still for our level and a few levels afterwards.

Then we would move on into the new expansion when the xp per hour was too low.

Did the calculation once on "Mudflation" throughou...

2009-03-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

Did the calculation once on "Mudflation" throughout WoW extensions (using iLevels as a proxy for gear evaluation):

Vanilla Wow (level 60):
Green iLvl 65
Blue iLvl 68
T1 iLvl 66
T2 iLvl 76
T3 iLvl 89

BC (Level 70):
Green iLvl 114
Blue iLvl 115
T4 iLvl 120
T5 iLvl 133
T6 iLvl 150

WOTLK
Green iLvl 142 at

...and is "Pierre" a certain "NON-wow tourist" in ...

2009-03-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

...and is "Pierre" a certain "NON-wow tourist" in disguise?

Oh, the intrigue!

At first, I was like "but I just paid $40 for the ...

2009-03-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

At first, I was like "but I just paid $40 for the box, I want to at least see Hellfire!", but then I was like "hey wait new quests in plaguelands and such?" and it sounded a lot better. Maybe smooth it over a bit more by adding new zones or areas in the "old world" (a la the silithus revamp and sunwell island) so I'm not seeing exactly the same stuff I just saw for 2-3 years at level cap.
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Damnit, when Ixobelle finally snaps out of the war...

2009-03-31T09:30:00.000-07:00

Damnit, when Ixobelle finally snaps out of the warm fluffy WoW delusion and thinks outside the box. You guys come and smother him with sales propaganda again.

I agree with Tal, though I think Iso's plan would ...

2009-03-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

I agree with Tal, though I think Iso's plan would be ideal, in that the whole game content would be available to everyone, because people are grouping in the old world. Sales of an expansion are important only in the release period reports for any entertainment enterprise, since these reports are the ones that determine if the dev team gets to keep their jobs. While I appreciate the idealism

The thing is, releasing a new expansion but tellin...

2009-03-31T07:06:00.000-07:00

The thing is, releasing a new expansion but telling your player base that even if they buy it they're likely to have to keep grinding quests/mobs in the the old content (assuming they actually have any quests left there other than dailies) simply won't work. And no, not everyone who was 60 was decked out in the best epics in the game back then - not even close.

I understand what you are saying, but my experienc...

2009-03-31T05:25:00.000-07:00

I understand what you are saying, but my experiences are telling me 'no thanks'.
I played vanilla WoW, and was level 60 for maybe 6 months before BC came out.
I did Scholo, Strat, BRD, UBRS, Onyxia etc. It was brilliant.

I hated BC for making my gear redundant overnight, but that was soon forgotten because I replaced all that loot with new shineys.

Now, recently I

you guys are missing a huge point, that I explicit...

2009-03-31T01:44:00.000-07:00

you guys are missing a huge point, that I explicitly laid out.

You can continue to solo, or just quest, and you will eventually make it to Hellfire. You just 'got thru the portal' at 65, not 58.

58 is before you even REACH 60. That's the problem. Make the first pig you attack either need a five man group to take down, or soloable by a 65, *OR* soloable by someone in t3.

This would make a weird problem of needing to raid...

2009-03-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

This would make a weird problem of needing to raid to solo. Want to see Hellfire? Go clear Naxx.

It would also create some boredom and make expansions boring at first. Currently you buy an expansion and bam, new content. Waiting to 65 means that you're stuck in old content for a while before you can see the world you just paid $40 for.

I do think it's silly that so much

It will never happen. People can't clear all conte...

2009-03-30T19:09:00.000-07:00

It will never happen. People can't clear all content at end game level, thus the reason everything was nerfed until bosses fell over and spit forth epics with no effort. This is the reason I quit.

The game is too easy and I think you're slowly realizing how much shit is just being handed to every 14 year old who should be playing Xbox instead.

I do not think your proposed plan would have the d...

2009-03-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

I do not think your proposed plan would have the desired effect.

I think what people would do is just group up with say, 1 other person, to do the initial easy Thrallmar quests rather than trying to get 10 to 15 people to run the level 60 dungeons.

I'm not sure it's a good idea to encourage low lev...

2009-03-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure it's a good idea to encourage low level grouping without some way to increase the number of players genuinely interested in doing those old dungeons.

A couple of ideas:

1.) Cross server LFG, just like in BG's.

2.) Blatantly steal EQ2's mentoring feature, and give rewards to the level 80's who actually choose to use it.

By "rewards" I mean things

and by hated i mean disliked

2009-03-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

and by hated i mean disliked

I should add this:I hoped that with BC they would ...

2009-03-30T17:42:00.000-07:00

I should add this:

I hoped that with BC they would add more 60 content than another 10 hollow levels, and effectively scrap all the dungeons at 60. I would have loved to see a "gear progression" through dungeons rather than restarting the game when BC came out - because it felt like a player wipe almost.

Another cool thing they could have done is to add "dungeon experience" that

I agree with your ideas but blizzard decided a lon...

2009-03-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

I agree with your ideas but blizzard decided a long time ago that if you pay $15 a month, you are entitled to everything with only a minimal effort on your part.