Don't forget to bring your Raid! With the new content release of Ahn'Qiraj (bugs, bugs and more bugs, for all those who haven't been following the large scale war efforts!), players, both Casual and Raiders have been both anticipating and fearing it's release, along with a lot of the new patches, and eventually, the implementation of the Burning Crusade Expansion. High tensions on forums and in game play is very noticeable inside the world of Kalimdor and Azeroth, boiling down to the players in the game who; live to raid instances and conquer all new content and items, those who are there to enjoy themselves and have fun, those in small guilds who love smaller instances, and those average players who have great ambitions, but little time to play. In this new Ten Ton Hammer interview, we will take a look at the thoughts and concerns on Raiders and Casuals, the new Tier 0.5 armour quests and the new content of Ahn'Qiraj!

The (level 60) Tauren Shaman Bismark (Hector Pitt in real life) on the server Thunderhorn is one of the leading voices for the Horde about Raider and Casual gaming. He has been around for the last year and in no way can his fellow gamers deny that he is a veteran, with a lot of knowledge about this very touchy subject.

Bismark:

The terms "Casual" and "Raider" are generic labels people give unfortunately give to the toons and players within the Warcraft World. Neither side has a centralized opinion or view that no one diverts from, like calling a proud Iroquois man a "First Nation Canadian", and never specifying. The fact is, labeling like so is used nowadays in such a way as to turn sides against each other. People learn to hate "casuals" or distrust "raiders", and often are told only the extremist views of either side. The play-style is more like a parking lot than a two-lane road. Players each have an individual style, and have the option to change at any moment. Groups of people sharing some of the same thoughts stay together to try and get their opinion respected. Very few are exactly the same. There is not merely one-way of gaming, and the other. Players do not mindlessly follow the mind set of "Casual" or "Raider".

Throwing out any arguments of what "side" is right, we should move toward making less generalized statements directed at anyone. Just because someone wants more non-raid dungeons doesn't make them a "casual". Wanting more 40-man raids doesn't necessarily term someone as a "Raider" in the way it's currently used. As it stands "Raider" is used to classify someone who spends their lives inside a raid guild and doesn't want anyone else to get items any other way. I've raided MC before, does that qualify me as a "raider"? I don't think so.

If any ground is to be made, we have to move forward ourselves. It's clear we cant rely on Blizzard to make any decisions, or make them well. If we want a good outcome, we have to negotiate (and I mean negotiate, not argue and insult), and make a single piece of writing that caters toward both sides. To do this would be much more simple than people think. Discard the insults and bickering, move past the generic labels, and be willing to accept trade-offs. The way it's going now, there seem to be 2 possible outcomes. The first will be that Blizzard ignores all players who cannot participate in 40-man guild raids and caters toward those who do. (This seems like what's going on now, and it isn't good. Players needn't be discriminated against if they simply cannot make time to conform to guild raids. Those who simply choose not to make their own choice, and don't deserve special treatment.) The second being that Blizzard starts listening to more players that want less big-raid dungeons, and start making more 5-10 man instances with good gear tables. (It's not clear what would happen if this mind set took over. It wouldn't hurt anyone really, but it would if raid dungeons were halted in production.) What may in fact happen is that the player base of WoW come together and negotiate it out. Instead of one side or the other, we get a compromise. There are good 5-10 instances made with equal gear drops. Raid dungeons are still produced. (Everyone should be happy. Because if you like raiding, you'll raid for your gear. If you don't, you wont. All about play-style, not discriminating how someone must get their upgrades.)

Problems that arise at times are that some people don't like to raid. This is either because: it turns into farming and many people find it not-worthwhile once its at the farming stage and get burned out. People don't like the 40-man aspect because your role changes drastically and vastly prefer 5-10 man. Some find that raid dungeons just take too long/too many people and are therefore not convenient. Some people like this may actually play as much as a "raider" but have various scheduling issues or may not want to deal with the headache. This is a game after all. Not understanding the second is the single biggest failing of Blizz's pve game design. The pvp level 60 bracket is screwed up by the raid item progression, This should be obvious to most anyone who has looked at say DM eq versus AQ eq. Further is has been stated that raid eq will always be better. But the consequence is that you must raid to PvP effectively. Whereas people who are in the the second boat above are just lacking content and are getting bored. The pvp folks who don't like to raid are actually just plain screwed.

Some people like Faminequeen (level 60) Undead Warlock on Thunderhorn, feel that Blizzard may never actually even attempt to fix the gap between the Causal and Raider content, but merely provide players of all kinds with a new bit od entertainment/ content/ grind to keep our minds off and occupied over the real issues, a prime example being the new areas of Ahn'Qiraj.

Faminequeen:

(please note while giving and agreeing to this interview, I will give my complete opinions, whether or not they are to be liked, though I ask you to listen to what I have to say and take it with a grain of salt)

Blizzard has abandoned what made them a great game company, demonstrating a complete and utter lack of care for the player base that made this game a success to begin with. MMORPG's were not the most successful of genres before WoW came around. WoW's release put all previous games to shame, and the two most common reasons I heard for this were as follows. The first, previous MMORPG's had a horrible track record for creating grinds that very few people enjoyed and no one could recommend. Blizzard created an MMORPG that was easy to learn, quick to level, and difficult to master, very smart and much like their RTS games. The second is that Blizzard built up a lot of credit with their previous games. Their ability to design a fun RPG like Diablo, and amazing RTS games like WCIII and SC, brought in lots of people that trusted Blizzard to look out for their fan base above profits. After all, Blizzard was known for being late on release dates because they wanted to come out with as perfect a product as they could by the time of release.

But there was always the looming problem of the endgame. I remember in the first month of the game seeing people race to 60. These people instantly complained about the lack of content at endgame. I don't think they were correct, there was content at the endgame. But it wasn't reasonable to expect that Blizzard could design new content super-fast. Still, I think anyone could see that the difficulty and time constraints of designing new content would be a problem for people in the endgame. I had always assumed, maybe due to the nature of RTS games that had been the realm of Blizzard before, that between content patches the endgame would be saved by PvP. That there would always be something to do, and a fun way to compete, via PvP.

But this is where Blizzard failed. I don't begrudge them making raid dungeons. I think they have their place in the world. I don't even begrudge them giving raiders better weapons. It's not the mere idea of it that ruined PvP, it was the scale. Raid itemization wasn't just a slight advantage, it was a huge advantage. Casual players that couldn't raid were pretty much left with PvP if they wanted to not run identical fights over and over again in the 5-man instances. But PvP, what should've been the savior of the endgame for casuals (and raiders) between new content patches, was scaled to favor raiders so heavily that there is little desire to PvP for fun anymore in any of the BG's. Itemization has scaled to make PvP for fun a moot issue. Casuals look around them, and they see only three options: Grind a raid dungeon, Grind PvP, Grind reputation. In short, the game ceases to be fun. But, casuals won't quit. Why? Because these games are addictive too. They've put a lot of time into their character. And they remember how great the game was, so they assume it can be that great again. This isn't anything new, MMORPG's have always had a track record for getting people addicted. This one has netted more than any other because the casual friendly nature of it, before level 60, grabbed a lot of people that wouldn't have given it a chance otherwise. So Blizzard knows they have addicts. They have to know, that tons of people both hate where the game is but continue to pay for it.

Dungeons in this game were made into a grind. Yes, MC and BWL and AQ and ZG all take skill to beat. The first time. But people's focus on these dungeons is on their itemizations. And to get what they feel the need out of the dungeon - real character progression - requires farming it. Week after week. PvP is just a grind. Reputation is just another grind. It came as no surprise to me when I saw Blizzard bragging on their front page on the site about the Brood of Nozdormu rewards - just another grind. Nothing to see here folks. Blizzard doesn't trust that if people didn't have to grind they would maintain their accounts. I think people would maintain their accounts, log in a little less, PvP more for fun, occasionally visit a dungeon for a slightly better weapon that might drop.

The solutions: First, make the raid dungeons more about challenge than items. I'm not saying that they aren't already very challenging, I just mean that items seem to be the focus of everything in there. Give guaranteed progression for beating the dungeon, and slightly better items for farming it. As it is now, you have to farm to get any progression out of these dungeons. Second, scale back itemization so that the difference between a Tier 2 and a Tier 0 person in PvP is slight. That doesn't mean it has to disappear, people will play those dungeons and work for those items that set them apart and give them an advantage. Whether the advantage is a little or a lot, they'll still do it. And they'll still enjoy having that small advantage. Maybe they could direct PvE itemization to add some benefit, needed for progression, that is very purely PvE in nature. (Adding resistance's to specific spells and abilities only raid bosses can use, for instance). Blizzard just needs to realize that PvP is the natural solution for a fun end-game atmosphere, to give something fun to do between PvE content patches. And the natural solution to PvP is to scale back raid itemization. It's all connected. But if Blizzard doesn't do that, then casuals' only shot in PvP will be items, items they can only get by joining the grind. Grind + Addiction = Success? Yeah, so far it does. Doesn't mean they're treating their customers well. Blizzard is not the company they once were.

Both very different opinions on 2 very touchy subjects, from veteran players. I want to take the time to thank both Bismark and Faminequeen for taking the time to talk to me and to help you guys, the gamers, try and get a better feel for what is going on, both inside and out, of the World of Warcraft.

Have comments or suggestions? Thought of something that has been missed? Found an error? We would love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected]


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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Byron has been playing and writing about World of Warcraft for the past ten years. He also plays pretty much ever other Blizzard game, currently focusing on Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone, while still finding time to jump into Diablo III with his son.

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