#0 - July 23, 2009, 8:27 p.m.
Bliz, you have me and many of my fellow raiding patrons worried and more than a little disappointed lately. We love this game. The camaraderie. The challenges. The variety. But you are removing one of the most important aspects of the game, and one that I expect has been a big contributor to your MMO success. You are throwing away the carrot at the end of the stick.
I understand that the developers didn't like how only 5% of players saw the late end-game in BC. So you made the instances more accessible in LK. Even the more casual players could now work their way to the final bosses in this new set-up. BUT, to counter-balance this, you introduced hard modes to keep challenges and elite loot tables as goals for people to reach for. You still retained a carrot on the end of the stick, even in this new raiding philosophy. And that's how you explained it away to the masses – that hard modes would be there for the end-gamers. For those still seeking a challenge. Maybe you have seen Boss X on regular mode, but if you really want a challenge, try Boss X on hard mode. And get rewarded with rare, elite gear.
As a raider, we need the carrot on the stick. It keeps driving us to push through the content we are currently on if we see Bigger and Shinier down the road. To date, the most fun I've had in WoW, and in many ways the best accomplishment I've had in WoW, was when we watched our first Amani War Bear drop in ZA. And retiring the mount once new abilities/gear were introduced into the game was what made it special. It made having the mount mean something. We never made it to Sunwell in my guild. But knowing it was there, a goal to work toward, still gave it immense psychological value.
Now, the carrot is starting to rot. Every week there are announcements of how this boss and that boss are being nerfed. The hard modes are becoming less and less hard as you open them up to the general public. And you are shooting yourselves in the foot. Oh sure, you read the forums and the QQ about how hard stuff is and how people don't want to have to work for their phat lootz. But the reality is, having those difficult-to-attain parts of the game is a key ingredient for what keeps so many of us going, EVEN IF WE NEVER ATTAIN THEM. And once people reach their goals, the interest and drive to continue playing start to dwindle.
Turning hard modes into soft modes is a mistake. Allowing people to still get the rusted protodrake after 3.2 hits is a mistake. Removing the carrot is a mistake. I've already seen people in my guild lose interest and stop playing because the content is losing this crucial element. And I know more will follow.
Let me put it another way: give a man a (WoW) fish, he'll eat for a day...teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime.
