The Gaming Den

Leveling in WoW is the least grindy part of the game. Anyone who says otherwise needs to play it. Since its a pay to play most of you won't do so. Scenery changes, abilities change, monsters change. If you want a level based game its actually pretty decent.

The grind really starts when you've been max level for a bit. Thats when there is very little you haven't seen multiple times. Thats where you need to farm gold to repair your gear. Thats where the only way to new content is grinding gear in old content.

Prior to that you don't need gold or equipment other than what you'll get from leveling. If they stripped out the get five bear asses quests it'd be near perfect. This is the good point people play for. The game is accessible without playing massive hours up to the level cap.

The trouble with subscription games is that making content is slower than playing it. This is why the end game is a grind. The irony* is that the grind in WoW keeps most of the playerbase from getting to the end of the content before an expansion. Blizzard has set the bar up to stop hardcore players from finishing the game too soon. Thing is most people don't play that much.

I predict the WoW killer will do to the end game what WoW did to levelling. Make it something that a normal person with a job and family can see. I also bet that there will still be gold sellers even when there isn't an artificial repair money grind.


*Actually there is a second: by making people play more hours they put higher load on their hardware and need to waste more money on it. They'd probably have just as many subscriptions with no repair costs on gear but less hours logged.

Personally, I don't get the high repair cost thing. The only times I've ever been decked out in all purples was when I was winning. I never come out a day with a net loss. And with Dailies at max level, along with salable goods from the 70+ content being awesome... And anyone in end-game content should be Exalted with a faction or three (and get cheap repairs) I don't know why anyone would ever need gold in that game except for gems and playthings.

The repair costs don't increase time online - they slow down attempts at content. If you win, you get gold. If you fail, you lose gold. (PvP doesn't incur the same cost.)

Blizzard won't (can't) do anything that no one has tried before. So taking away a major penalty won't be soon.

Draco, your points are spot on. Once the hardcore leave, a game is no longer 'popular' and the fairweathers start dissing it and maybe leaving as well. It's these friend of friends who are the real coin of the realm, and yes, they don't play as much.

Why do you think there's rested XP and bonus honor weekends and friend's codes and now the triple-XP-for-your-buddy? Anything to hold onto those players who aren't core.

-Crissa

Repair costs used to be pretty steep back in the day.

They fixed this long ago, but when the game first started, gear was not only more expensive based on level and commonality, but also on type.

Plate was more expensive than chain, which was more expensive than leather, which was more expensive than cloth.

I remember early on, my guild actually had to pay warriors to raid, because even on mid-level instanced like Zul Farrak, a warrior was literally out 30 or 40 gold for repair costs, assuming about level 40ish and in blues.

Luckily, blizzard figured out that was ass, and fixed it.

The problem is, Crissa, if you win [raid instance 1] you're wearing expensive to repair gear. Then you go to [raid instance 2] and suck down 50g bills each night that you spend learning the instance. Now 50g is simple enough to get but its a grind. If you took it out people wouldn't stay logged on after a raid to go grind up repair cash, they'd go do something else.

Or would they use that extra time to attack the instance more?

I doubt they'd just magically decide to hang around less because they didn't need to do the dailies or sell a nether vortex to make some coin to repair with.

Really, really doubt that.

-Crissa

(Personally, I find raiders lazy enough as is.)

The hardcore players would attack it more. I just don't care what they do. Its not possible to create static content fast enough to keep up with them and trying to slow them down just makes it grindy for everyone else.