Patch 2.4 Notes

[Bolty]

When it comes down to it, loot is the driving force in the game once you reach the level cap.

See, this is still the point that irks me. I'm not saying that you're a loot whore or anything, nor is this post focused at you, Icebird. I'm going to jump on a soapbox here and I'm not aiming anything at you, just speaking in general.

Loot is not the driving force in the game for everyone. The prevailing attitude always seems to be that loot is "king" and it's what upsets hardcore raiders when casuals get "free loot."

I couldn't give two craps about it. Loot is what it's always been: a means to an end, an enabler. Better loot makes you stronger, yes, but why? Each expansion is going to reset your precious loots and make them fairly irrelevant (except for items like the Rejuvenating Gem...wtf?). Why go crazy over loot? Why run heroic Mechanar every day for weeks on end to get badges? Why do people do things that are un-fun to chase the mysterious goal of uber loot? God, a few patches ago it was so hard to find a heroic run of anything BUT Mechanar. Made me want to puke; thank goodness for dailies to bring in some variety.

Do I want better loot? Of course! Why? Because it will help me do what I want to do: see everything the game has to offer. Get all the stupid mounts so I can ride an elephant as a Dwarf. See Medivh summon a dragon and kill it with one spell, turning it into the terror that is Nightbane. Gasp as the ceiling caves in over Magtheridon (and reassemble itself after a wipe, that's a neat trick). Battle my inner demon. Throw a Tainted Core at a teammate. Dodge Void Reaver's orbs. Witness the controlled chaos of fighting all four of Kael'thas' advisors at once. Watch Akama give his speech to the Deathsworn inside Black Temple. Wreck constructs before they own your raid. Get bubbled when Archimonde hits 10% and listen to the cacophony of screaming victory over vent as your heart pounds out of your chest. Queue up for Arena in the last week of a season and be practically shaking as the next game could possibly get you a Gladiator title. And hopefully someday soon, watching Illidan Stormrage hit the deck, defeated, conquering the game and freeing Outland.

You need loot for all these things. When casuals can use badges to get loot, well, good for them. If it gives them a chance to do those things above, great. But since the majority of players are focused on loot for the sake of loot, they'll just run Kara every week as Skandranon says - even if they hate it - just to get loot! For what, to stand around Shattrath with it? Ohhhkaayy....

See, "casuals" can get all the "free epics" they want. They're still missing out of what makes WoW fun. If it enables them to move forward with it, awesome.

Or, to put it in the way I do whenever this kind of conversation comes up:
Think back to some major victory of yours in this game, whether it be the first kill of Nefarian, your first 45-minute Baron run victory, or hell, your first run through UBRS. Remember that? Remember how you felt when you achieved it, surrounded by others who had been through it all with you? Think back and bring up that happy memory.

Okay. Now, do you remember what dropped at the time?

Oh, can't remember, can you? What does that tell you?

So Skandranon is saying plainly that Blizzard's system doesn't encourage players to enjoy these experiences, these victories. Instead, it does just the opposite: it compels you to run old, wasted, beaten-down content over and over to get upgrades to your character. It makes the game one-dimensional and ultimately NOT FUN. Players may THINK they're having fun getting phat epix, but loot for the sake of loot doesn't provide any long-term happiness. Sure, you may think it's great when you get those items, but that wears off fast and all you'll have in the end are memories of spending most of The Burning Crusade running...Karazhan.

Ew.

I recently did a Zul'Aman run for no reason other than to hang out and have fun with people I know. There's no upgrades for me there, no phat lewts, no "progression" (I've beaten the place many times). Unlike with most Kara runs people put together nowadays, it wasn't done to gear up peoples' alts and they need a healer along, putting a guilt trip on me for not coming. It wasn't a run set up for the sole sake of loot - it was a run to try to kill some bosses with players' mains and have fun doing it. It was the most fun I'd had in ZA since PTR. It's what playing WoW is all about. People forget that too easily, and it's a damn shame.

I'll run Kara, of course - I'll need the badge loot for Sunwell since I'm terribly undergeared for BT as it is - but only in smash-and-grab groups that want to get in, push to see how fast they can clear it, and get out. That at least keeps it interesting as an exercise of trying to beat your previous time. But spending 4 hours in an instance that you "completed" a year ago is just not fun. Not in the slightest. And I'm with Skan; Blizzard botched it by telling players, who aren't stupid, that the best way to upgrade your character is to spend time in old instances that have been beaten to death already instead of trying to push forward, see and do new things, and enjoy new experiences.

End soapbox.

-Bolty