tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339212905511118412024-03-12T15:54:36.611-07:00A Blog of InterestWelcome to my blog that consists of a bunch of long, opinionated forum posts compiled into something visually palatable for your reading pleasure.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.comBlogger334125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-12949270698185113252021-03-16T23:24:00.001-07:002022-05-01T05:01:25.232-07:00My Thoughts on Diablo Immortal's Monetization Plans<div style="text-align: left;">
It has been over 2 years since the disastrous Diablo Immortal announcement
that
<a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/11/my-thoughts-on-diablo-immortal-and.html" target="_blank">in my opinion</a> resulted in a overreaction from the community, though it's an understandable reaction. Within that time
period, there's been little in the way of announcements for this game beyond
some trailers and other tidbits of info. However, near the end of 2020,
Blizzard made a
<a href="https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/diablo-immortal/23580185/our-free-to-play-approach-and-values" target="_blank">news post</a>
about how they were planning to monetize Diablo Immortal. Since I was busy
with other projects at the time, I wasn't able to give my thoughts on it
immediately and in fact, I only learned about this news post relatively
recently.
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Personally, I don't strongly like or dislike Blizzard's current monetization
strategy. This is probably better than what some others may think, if only
because they are unwilling to give the game a chance due to reasons such as the
platform the game is releasing on or the fact NetEase or Blizzard are
involved. However, the fact that I have a neutral opinion does mean I have some
concerns and critique to offer that may be useful for improving the release version of the game or at least giving those who are undecided about the game more information to consider. In this article, I will convey why I have a neutral reception to the
news post by highlighting certain parts of it and offering my opinion on them.
</div>
<span><a name='more'></a></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Reviewing the News Post</span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Blizzard starts with a brief introduction where they directly acknowledge that
this news post is meant to address a concern that many people probably have in
regards to how the game is monetized. After establishing that the game is
free-to-play and will generate profits through microtransactions, they then
explain their core values for designing a free-to-play game:
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"First and foremost of these values is gameplay first. Core mechanics are
designed to be fun first, and purchases should never circumvent Diablo’s
core gameplay – killing demons and getting gear! There should also be a
pathway to earn most things you can pay for. And critically important is
that the only way to acquire gear is by playing the game."
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The most important thing that I noticed from this first value is that they
seem adamant about not selling equipment for real life money. This is good and
indicates they have learned from their mistake with the Real Money Auction
House in Diablo 3. If this value is adopted in earnest, then one of the major
ways that Diablo Immortal could be pay to win (in one of the worst ways possible) is simply not an option. This
also contrasts with how Hearthstone is monetized since cards, which are
somewhat analogous to gear in a Diablo game, can be received by paying real
money. In fact spending real money is the best way to acquire cards for many
players.
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Second, we want to provide purchase options that feel worthwhile and deepen
your engagement and enjoyment of the game, and where possible the enjoyment
of other players as well. Purchases should not detract from your gameplay
experience."
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This second value seems really easy to take the wrong way. Worthwhile purchase
options may be good in the sense that they provide good value, but a deepened
engagement and enjoyment of the game literally means the game will be less
enjoyable if players don't spend money. This is concerning because many games
utilize a strategy of making the base experience so unenjoyable that players
are all but forced to spend money to have a meaningful experience in a
free-to-play game. To be fair, in-game purchases, no matter how innocuous, do
tend to serve to enhance the gameplay experience.
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div></div>
<blockquote>
<div>
"Third, purchases should feel like a bonus, and entirely optional to enjoy
Immortal. The core Diablo Immortal game experience will always be free,
and you should be able to enjoy the game for hours on end whether or not
you choose to spend money."
</div>
<div></div>
</blockquote>
<div>
I like this value because they outright state that players can play as much
as they want without needing to spend money. This immediately differentiates
it from any game with a stamina, energy, or lives system where players can
play the game for what usually amounts to a brief amount of time, but then have to wait a long time before
meaningfully engaging with the game again.
</div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>
However, it is worth mentioning that a game I recently discussed known as
Genshin Impact technically allows players to "enjoy" the game for hours on
end since the rewards are what are time-gated. I don't expect Diablo
Immortal to time-gate all of its rewards (though some will be), but I do
want to emphasize that part of what makes Diablo fun is that there are
always rewards that can be farmed for.</div>
<div><hr />
The news post then discusses examples of what can be bought with real money. From this point I will be breaking down paragraphs into shorter phrases and
addressing those, though I will still be considering the entire paragraph as
context. I strongly recommend reading the news post for context.
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"A good example of these values at work are <b>Crests</b> used with Elder
Rifts."
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This is the first example of a purchasable item that Blizzard is planning to
offer. Also, Blizzard mentions that Elder Rifts can be run as much as the
player wishes, which is encouraging from a gameplay perspective but I want to
focus on the Crests themselves.
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<blockquote>"...Crests can be earned or purchased."</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This is an encouraging phrase since this means players can receive Crests
through normal gameplay. This makes the act of purchasing Crests more of a
pay to skip option.
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Using Crests spices up the experience by adding random modifiers that enhance
gameplay..."
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I get the impression that these are meant to be like affixes for Mythic+
dungeons. Blizzard also mentions that they can make Elder Rifts harder or
easier. This is interesting, but I could see players getting frustrated about
getting an easier Elder Rift when they want a challenge and vice versa.
Perhaps there should be two types of Crests so that players can opt to make
the challenge easier or harder on their own much like how players can toggle
difficulty in Diablo 3.
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Using a Crest guarantees certain non-gear rewards such as Runes and
Legendary Gems."
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
If Crests could only be purchased, this would be an immediate red flag since
Runes and Legendary Gems are typically known to provide significant bonuses and that isn't changing in Diablo Immortal.
Instead, the fact that Crests can provide such great benefits in the way of
powers is more of a point of concern if Crests take too long to acquire from normal gameplay. <i>This is because if Crests take too long to
acquire through normal gameplay (much like with Hearthstone cards), then the
act of purchasing Crests is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v-teUHwEqM" target="_blank">such an extreme form of pay to skip that it becomes pay to win in a harmful way</a>.</i> I would normally be willing to tolerate this in a PvE
game, but Diablo Immortal will have an in-game economy and I think Blizzard is
better off with embracing the cosmetic-oriented monetization strategy that I'd
like to think they're known for.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
With that said, it is worth mentioning that Legendary Gems can supposedly be
acquired through crafting, though they would require Runes to craft them.
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Crests also provide Rift points when used by at least one member of the
party, and all players in the group will be rewarded with Rift points even
if they do not use their own Crest. Accumulated Rift points can then be used
to acquire items such as Legendary Gems."
</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I like that there is a social aspect to using Crests since it allows players
to share the wealth with others who may not have the time or money to acquire
Crests. This idea raises similar concerns as the previous point since
Legendary Gems seem to be very powerful based on Blizzard's other news posts.
However, the social aspect now makes me even less concerned about how pay to
win Crests may be for the same reason that
<a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2015/12/in-defense-of-wow-token-and-similar.html" target="_blank">I'm not bothered by the WoW Token</a>
- because they can benefit players who are small spenders or don't (or can't)
spend at all.<br />
</div>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"<b>Reforging</b> item properties requires special consumable materials that can be
earned through gameplay or purchased."
</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">I suspect that people will have mixed feelings about the ability to reroll an item's stats. On one hand, some may prefer this since all they really need to do is acquire certain pieces of equipment which they can then attempt to reforge. However, depending on how easy the reforging items in question are to acquire, it may make the process of acquiring optimal equipment much faster which in turn may shorten the entertainment value of the endgame. One way that Blizzard may attempt to address this is by making the gear itself very rare, which may frustrate players.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Personally, I am more favorable of having reforging since it gives players more options for dealing with unfavorable random outcomes. Also, there are ways to make the endgame interesting that don't involve relying on Skinner Box design and instead involve developing meaningful endgame challenges or other content.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"Players can earn <b>Reforge Stones</b> for extra re-rolls on an item property, or purchase <b>Specialized Reforge Stones</b>, which allow you to focus on the item properties you want most."</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">While I personally like both of these types of Reforge Stones since one allows players to reroll stats and the other allows players to have more control over exactly which stats are rerolled, I do not like that the latter is a premium option. This is because while Specialized Reforge Stones are really more of a pay to skip option since players can feasibly achieve what the item accomplishes with some grinding, it is an objective benefit that, as far as I can tell, can only be received by paying money. This sort of microtransaction could be a dealbreaker for some players and could potentially give Diablo Immortal an image of being an awful pay to win game, even if I personally believe this sort of microtransaction hardly qualifies as a truly terrible one.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I personally think this can be resolved by making it possible to earn Specialized Reforge Stones through gameplay, even if they're a bit rarer than their normal counterpart.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"Immortal also has a <b>Battle Pass progression system</b> that allows players to earn rewards by completing Seasonal Quests and other in-game activities."</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">While some may not like the Battle Pass because Fortnite popularized it or they don't want to pay to then have to play a bunch to unlock some extra stuff, I personally find most Battle Pass systems to be generous (both for free and paid versions) and they are admittedly a good, though simple and obnoxiously manipulative way to keep players engaged. Let's see what the Diablo Immortal Battle Pass will supposedly offer...</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"All players can claim rewards such as Reforge Stones and Crests through the free track, while players with the paid track will have access to exclusive cosmetics and even more rewards."</div></blockquote><p>The free track rewards seem promising since it does show that Reforge Stones and Crests can be acquired at a steady rate, though I hope the Battle Pass isn't the only way to earn these items since Battle Pass rewards typically refresh on longer timescales that range from 1-3 months. I'm not surprised players will get a few more of these items from the paid track and it's nice to see cosmetics finally get mentioned, even if this particular variety consists of time-limited exclusives. Path of Exile, incidentally, also offers time-limited exclusive cosmetics in the form of <a href="https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Supporter_pack" target="_blank">supporter packs</a>.</p><hr /><div style="text-align: left;">The news post then discusses game economy by mentioning the market and the various currencies the game will have.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"Before we get into the details, let’s be clear—<b>this is not the Diablo III real-money auction house."</b></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Well, it probably is a good idea to clarify this when discussing the game's economy. It's also worth mentioning that there's a reason it was removed. While the novelty of being able to literally make money by earning and selling items in Diablo 3 was interesting, it was definitely for the best to remove the real-money auction house.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote>"In Diablo Immortal we want players to have the ability to participate in a fair, healthy, player-driven economy that doesn’t circumvent gameplay."</blockquote></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is encouraging for a couple of reasons. First is that the lack of a player economy in Diablo 3 after the auction house removal kind of sucked since it reduced the usefulness of gold despite attempts to add huge sinks for it. The second is that having an uncontrolled player economy like in Diablo 2 led to a lot of shady third party sellers of various goods. Diablo Immortal appears to be trying to implement some version of a controlled economy and the details look somewhat promising.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"<b>The Market</b> connects anonymous buyers and sellers, with no ability to cash-out."</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">While this is a bit of a bummer since trading in in a face-to-face engagement and the social aspects that come with it are lost, it is probably for the best since the anonymity may make it more difficult for real world trading to take place.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"There are limits to what can and cannot be put on the Market. While it will be a possible source of certain materials, supplementary items, and Legendary Gems, it is not a place to acquire gear."</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">This part is a big deal. It does suck that gear can't be traded, but this does mean that players can't just easily game gear progression by using the market like in past Diablo games. It's also still possible to gain some power by using the market through the other purchasable options, so this sort of design choice comes off as a compromise.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"It’s also a way for all players, including those who choose to never make an in-game purchase, to exchange items they find for additional in-game currency, beyond what they’re able to earn through play."</div></blockquote><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"Platinum can be earned through daily gameplay activities or purchased with real money. Players can also obtain Platinum by selling items via the Market. Platinum is used for activities such as exchanging goods on the Market or crafting Charms." </div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">I grouped these two quotes together since Platinum appears to be the only way to buy items on the market. As the part on Platinum mentions, the acquisition of it through gameplay seems to be time-gated. This means that unless acquisition via real money is limited in some way (<i>which I would personally recommend - seriously, please do this or there may be serious in-game economic consequences</i>), players who buy Platinum using real money have a distinct advantage when it comes to having buying power on the market.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">With that info in mind, I think the approach to using real money on the in-game market this time is a little better because the currency cannot be used to purchase gear and can only truly be used in-game. I also noticed that items that seem to be available to trade on the market, especially Legendary Gems, can be gotten from normal gameplay or by using Crests, which are buyable in what I consider to be a pay to skip manner until more information is made available. This in turn makes the act of buying Platinum to buy items off the market something of a pay to skip since it reduces the amount a player has to farm certain items (and only certain items). Other players have to be willing to sell too, meaning that there has to be an active playerbase for Platinum to truly have value on the market.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">These details make it very clear to me that Blizzard is trying to take a middle ground approach where they attempt to combat real world trading using non-punitive measures and also reward players for playing the game by allowing them to earn premium currency much like how players can earn Battle.net balance by farming gold in WoW. I personally consider this an apt comparison since the players who would mostly be doing the buying on the market would be spending real money on Platinum to then buy in-game items that dedicated players farmed, much like how players buy WoW Tokens in order to receive gold often farmed by dedicated players.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">However, the usefulness of Platinum outside of the market is much more limited based on the current information since Charms are limited in their usefulness. Specifically, <i>players can only equip one</i> and they can increase the power of up to 5 of a player's skills depending on their luck. This strongly suggests that the benefits of earning the best Charms are fairly limited, making the act of buying a lot of Platinum to acquire an optimal Charm, which may also involve farming or buying materials, a mild form of pay to skip in my opinion.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"<b>Gold</b> drops from enemies, chests, and other lootables in the world of Sanctuary. It cannot be purchased or traded and must be earned through gameplay. Gold can be used for things like upgrading your items and purchasing randomized gear from NPC vendors."</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">The fact that players can upgrade items and buy gear with Gold is probably why Blizzard had to separate it from the Platinum currency that can be used to buy items. It is also why they have to specify it cannot be earned in any other way than through gameplay. I believe this is a prudent approach, even if it means Gold is not directly useful in the player economy and is largely relegated to being like the Diablo 3 iteration of the currency.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"<b>Eternal Orbs</b> are acquired with real money only, and can be used for purchasing Platinum, as well as other items such as the Battle Pass, Specialized Reforged Stones, Crests, and cosmetics."</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Critique of the Specialized Reforge Stones that I already made aside, I'm not surprised that there's an exclusive premium currency. While I personally think every currency should be earnable to a degree through gameplay, I suppose it's fine if many of the items that can be bought with the premium currency can be earned through gameplay instead. Cosmetics are an acceptable exception in this case due to their minimal effect on objective performance in gameplay, <i>though I think it's important that at least some cosmetics can be earned through gameplay</i> even if they're different from the buyable ones. Also, it is a little encouraging to see them mention cosmetics again here (and this time in a way separate from the Battle Pass).</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">
Closing Thoughts</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">The news post closes by mentioning the Technical Alpha and reiterating they want to ensure that the game is fun. The fact that the game is still in a relatively early stage of development and a release date still hasn't been announced suggests that Blizzard is being very careful in their approach to handling this game. It also means that criticism may have more impact, so I will summarize what I said above and offer additional points to consider that I couldn't bring up when reviewing the news post.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When considering my <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2019/01/how-to-not-screw-up-diablo-immortal-and.html" target="_blank">past article</a> on what Blizzard should not do with games like Diablo Immortal, they appear to have not violated either of my requests and seem especially insistent about not using hard time gating to prevent people from having fun. However, the current monetization plans could still stand to be improved since some pay to skip examples were mentioned and while I don't dislike such microtransactions, I may have strong opinions about specific types of pay to skip.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For example, Specialized Reforge Stones seem to be an exclusive <u>premium</u> item that provides a distinct advantage. While it's not an incredibly harmful form of pay to win since players will have many options for optimizing their equipment, the exclusivity of such a highly useful item may anger some. As I said above, <i>I believe the solution is to offer Specialized Reforge Stone as an occasional reward from normal gameplay</i>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The fact that there appears to be no purchase limit on Platinum is a point of concern as well. This is because while Charms may only require so much Platinum to make, the fact that players may be able to <b>directly</b> buy as much Platinum as they want for real money means that the price of goods on the market may be heavily inflated to the point that it's nearly impossible to buy items from the market without buying Platinum for real money. I think some sort of regulation needs to be put in place to allow all players to engage with the market as a buyer and seller. For example, limiting how much Platinum a player can buy in a given timeframe or fixing the price of items on the market to be within at least a certain range would suffice.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Another thing that bothers me is what the news post doesn't mention or rather, doesn't mention enough. While I didn't really expect Blizzard to take most of my ideas about what should be done with games like Diablo Immortal seriously (such as adding an offline mode), I did expect cosmetics to be mentioned more. I think it's important to emphasize the addition of cosmetic microtransactions since many, including myself, consider them to be an acceptable way to monetize the game since they're literally unnecessary for accomplishing any objective that a game will typically throw at the player. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As I also frequently mention, Blizzard is well-known for offering these types of microtransactions and considering their development practices among other actions, selling virtual toys is hardly a cause for outrage among those who critique in good faith. What I'm ultimately trying to convey is that when it comes to microtransactions, <i>Diablo Immortal should take a page from <a href="https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Microtransaction" target="_blank">the practices that games like Path of Exile employ</a> and put cosmetics at the forefront of what is offered instead of items like Crests and Reforge Stones</i>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Despite the aforementioned grievances, I can at least safely say that for the time being, Diablo Immortal doesn't seem like the blatant cash grab that some assumed it would be. Hopefully the release iteration and all future iterations remain that way, regardless of how seriously criticism, such as what this article offers, is considered.</div>
Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-44402530298593918722021-03-09T17:02:00.004-08:002022-06-20T04:36:26.844-07:00Improving Genshin Impact, Master's Thesis Edition<div style="text-align: left;">About a year and a half ago, an <a href="https://gamerant.com/genshin-impact-game-zelda/" target="_blank">upcoming game</a> caught my interest due to comparisons being made between it and Breath of the Wild. As someone who liked that game but recognized that it was far from perfect and could be improved upon in many ways, I wondered what this game would be like and how it would improve upon the game that clearly served as its source of inspiration. As I've already made clear in <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/11/my-thoughts-on-diablo-immortal-and.html" target="_blank">past</a> <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2019/01/how-to-not-screw-up-diablo-immortal-and.html" target="_blank">articles</a>, the fact that the game was releasing on mobile was not an issue for me. Such a concern was also dampened by the fact that the game was also going to be released on PC and as it turns out, the game eventually released on mobile, PC, and PS4.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">However, while the game made a solid first impression, I rapidly noticed potential content design issues that made the Warlords of Draenor expansion for World of Warcraft seem good by comparison. Unfortunately, as I progressed through the game, these concerns were sadly confirmed and I became annoyed that yet another game fell into the trap of using what I consider to be flawed game design philosophy since it tries to make player miserable to generate profit more than it tries to make players happy to generate profit. Such concerns, which I will go into more detail on below, were echoed by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2020/10/06/alright-i-feel-like-i-beat-genshin-impact-for-now/?sh=18cc458a72f0" target="_blank">critics</a> and <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/comments/j9eklw/original_resin_incompatible_design_in_genshin/" target="_blank">players</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/comments/j6kmoc/resin_in_genshin_impact_and_how_it_effects_the/" target="_blank">alike</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Many months and numerous arguments with fellow players later, it has become apparent that miHoYo, the company behind the game, seems more or less content with how their game is designed. While some meaningful content has been developed and released, much of it is rife with arbitrary limitations. In fact, the repeatable content that the game has to offer, especially for endgame players, has largely remained unchanged and still involves waiting for at least a few hours or the expenditure of money to meaningfully engage in. This factor among others has me worried about this game that I want to like, but clearly needs improvements. Therefore, in this article I will be providing an extensive list of suggestions to resolve what I believe to be problematic about the game.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">However, before getting into the meat of the article, I want to address why I'm suddenly writing a Genshin Impact article instead of writing more articles on World of Warcraft. To put it simply, I'm on a break from World of Warcraft and I'm unsure if I'll be playing the game again any time soon. The reasons why are largely similar to the ones I made in the <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2019/06/i-probably-wont-be-playing-classic-wow.html" target="_blank">article on why I wouldn't be playing Classic WoW</a>. However, I still have topics I want to write articles on and an article about a game that has content design issues similar to some past iterations of World of Warcraft seems like a good place to start, so without further ado...</div><p></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Issues</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Personally, I think there are four major issues with the game that could be resolved with suggestions. There are also some minor issues, but they would unnecessarily lengthen this section and will instead be directly addressed in the following section. Note that I will be doing a fairly detailed breakdown of the content Genshin Impact has available, so if you want to skip the walls of text in favor of reading the larger walls of text that offer suggestions to address the issues, feel free to scroll down to the next section.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/07/world-of-warcraft-problem-with-time.html" target="_blank">Too much time-gated or limited content</a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is a point that is often complained about especially when discussing <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Original_Resin" target="_blank">Original Resin</a> (a term I will shorten to Resin for the rest of the article), which serves as the game's stamina system. However, the time-gating of content goes beyond the fairly slow regeneration rate of this resource. To convey my point, let's review the content that the game has to offer and explain how it's time gated or limited.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Domains" target="_blank">Domains</a>, <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Ley_Line_Outcrops" target="_blank">Ley Lines</a>, and <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Bosses" target="_blank">Bosses</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">While these forms of content can be initiated without spending Resin, which is nice since failure isn't punished, rewards can only be earned from them by spending Original Resin. Most Domains and bosses can be defeated multiple times in quick succession, though earning rewards requires the usage of Resin in some way. Furthermore, Ley Lines, or Ley Line Outcrops, must have their rewards looted to spawn in a new location and there are three bosses that can only be completed once per week.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">180 Resin can be generated each day, which is the equivalent of 9 Domain or Ley Line runs or 4.5 normal Boss kills. These activities can typically be completed in 15-20 minutes total, meaning that for Resin-related content, a player has to wait 24 hours to do up to 20 minutes of activities that can provide significant rewards.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Commissions" target="_blank">Commissions</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://puregaming.net/genshin-impact/how-to-co-op/#Daily_commissions" target="_blank">Up to 4 Commissions can be completed each day for rewards</a>, <a href="https://www.hoyolab.com/genshin/article/28539" target="_blank">even if players go help another player</a> with their Commissions using the co-op feature. Completing four Commissions allows players to earn a greater daily reward that reminds me of Emissary quest rewards in WoW. The time required to complete 4 Commissions is similar to WoW's 3-4 world quest requirement for emissary quests in that it can easily be done in 10-15 minutes.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Overworld Exploration</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The overworld in Genshin Impact does not actually feature a boundless amount of content. While it has many puzzles and treasure chests to find, they can be found or completed only one time and <a href="https://www.hoyolab.com/genshin/article/56786" target="_blank">do not respawn or reset</a>. When it comes to things that do respawn, enemy camps and some gatherable items respawn once per day at 9 AM UTC, while other gatherable items may only respawn once every 2 to 3 days. This is all reflected in the infographic shown in the thread I linked above, but has also been confirmed by my own personal observation. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">On the off chance that a player somehow manages to strip their entire world (or at least the easily accessible areas) of resources before the next day rolls around, it is worth mentioning that the aforementioned respawn timers can be effectively ignored by joining another player's world to gather items and defeat enemies there. However, such a practice may be considered discourteous since one is basically stealing resources from another player. Furthermore, not all players are willing to allow others, especially random players, to join their world.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In addition, Random Events can show up in the overworld, but they can <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Random_Event#Rewards" target="_blank">only be completed up to 10 times per day for rewards</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Bounties" target="_blank">Bounties</a>, <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Reputation#Weekly_Requests" target="_blank">Requests</a>, and <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Crimson_Wish" target="_blank">Crimson Wish</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Up to 3 Bounties and 3 Requests can be completed each week for Mora and Reputation. Mora can continue to be earned even if the Reputation with a certain hub is maxed out. Bounties task players with finding tracks and hunting down an enemy with special traits in an area within 10 minutes. Requests task players with acquiring and delivering items to specific NPCs.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Crimson Wish is similar to Bounties and Requests because the content also refreshes on a longer timescale, with 5 being made available every half week. The objectives of Crimson Wishes are similar to that of Commissions, but only award Crimson Agate, which are offered to the Frostbearing Tree and effectively serve as the Dragonspine area's reputation system. However, unlike Bounties and Requests, maxing out the Frostbearing Tree's level renders Crimson Wish content completely inaccessible.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Spiral_Abyss" target="_blank">Spiral Abyss</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Spiral Abyss is an instanced area where players have to defeat 3 Chambers of enemies to clear a Floor and performing well provides great rewards. Players can choose benefits that empower them for a single Chamber or Floor in a manner similar to that of a rogue-like game mode such as Hearthstone's Dungeon Run. In addition, there's a passive beneficial effect in place that affects all areas of the Spiral Abyss that changes every half month.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The first 8 floors of the Spiral Abyss can only be completed once for rewards, but floors 9-12 can be completed once every half month for rewards. The enemy variety on floors 9-12 <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Spiral_Abyss/Floors" target="_blank">also change periodically</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Quests" target="_blank">Quests</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There are a few types of quests, such as Archon Quests, which cover the main story of the game. Excluding Commissions, which are considered a type of quest by the wiki, all other types of quests can only be completed once. Each quest chain will usually occupy a couple hours of a player's time and a new quest chain is released about once every few weeks. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Questing content in Genshin Impact is similar to questing content in many other games in that it's intended to be some of the most enjoyable content the game has to offer, but does not last long enough to keep players playing on a more regular basis. I don't expect this fact to change since developing quality questing content takes significantly more time than it will ultimately occupy a player's time. Because of this, I believe making suggestions involving the addition of more one-time questing content is unreasonable, so I won't be mentioning them much from this point on.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Events" target="_blank">Events</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Events are a core feature of Genshin Impact and much like events in many other (service-based) games, they serve to encourage players to play more during a specific period by providing some additional limited-time content. Such events occur on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and generally involve doing the same type of activity multiple times over many days. They sometimes require event-exclusive quests to fully access, so the work involved in developing them can be similarly demanding.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Unfortunately, all events share the same issue of lasting for only a limited amount of time. In addition, worthwhile rewards from events are often time-gated. This is usually because only some rewards can be earned from the event each day, but it may also be because access to content is intentionally limited and more content becomes available during later stages of the event.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The contents of events are highly subject to change and I will say that one thing I appreciate is that since patch 1.2, events do not seem to involve a player having to use Resin to earn rewards.<i> However, because events in almost every service-based game ever are intended to run for a limited time, they generally won't address fundamental content design issues with a game even if the event content itself is amazing</i>. Considering the events that have been made available so far, Genshin Impact is clearly not exempt from this observation.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">The current content is likely to cause boredom</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As the previous subsection established, all content in Genshin Impact is time-gated or limited in some significant way. However, it is possible to derive some enjoyment from the game because for much of the content, the limitations apply exclusively to the acquisition of the reward from the content. To put it another way, having fun in itself is a reward and one I personally find to be underrated. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Unfortunately, the content that Genshin Impact has to offer, especially the repeatable activities that players will be most likely to doing, is highly susceptible to becoming unenjoyable to the point <i>I would argue that giving players infinite Resin wouldn't even fix the potential issues</i>. To convey this point, I will review all the content I did before, but this time from a perspective of explaining how the content can become unenjoyable or is ineffective at providing significant enjoyment to the player.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Commissions and Events</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The objectives of Commissions are fairly varied and change every day. More are also being added with every content patch, so this content will be less liable to cause boredom through sheer repetition despite the fact that some have fairly similar objectives such as the many commissions that involve killing Hilichurl enemies. However, players will generally only do 4 Commissions each day and doing so will take roughly 10-15 minutes. Because of how little time is spent each day on Commissions, I would argue that even if the objectives of them were absurdly enjoyable (or far more than they currently are), they provide very little overall entertainment to players who want to spend more than 15 minutes a day playing the game.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Unfortunately, events so far often share the same problem as Commissions since <i>most events involve spending up to 10 minutes each day on a simple activity</i>. Some events disguise this by letting the player grind out the event, such as with the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/The_Chalk_Prince_and_the_Dragon" target="_blank">Chalk Prince and the Dragon event</a> associated with patch 1.2. However, players still only need to spend about an average of up to 10 minutes per day on the event. This means a player may spend an hour grinding event currency, but then have no reason to do event content for a whole week. While this flexibility is appreciated, the already limited-time event content provides only a little more daily entertainment and won't sufficiently entertain some players.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Domains, Ley Lines, Bosses, and Bounties</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">All of these forms of content involve killing specific enemies and share similar issues when it comes to being vulnerable to becoming unenjoyable. In general, they are subject to causing fatigue due to repetition because the content is too static.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For example, all Domains have a specific challenge that usually involves defeating enemies within a specific amount of time. Each domain also adheres to a specific theme that ultimately leads to elemental enemy variety not changing much for a specific domain. Furthermore, a specific level tier of a domain is entirely static and always has the same enemies and challenge, even if there's multiple rewards for that level tier that the player can choose from. Finally, many Domains award Artifacts and once players eventually earn fairly optimal variants of this equipment, they'll have little reason to revisit those Domains. On a related note, <i>the randomization of Artifact stats is also liable to cause players to be annoyed and enjoy the game less</i>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Ley Lines are like Domains in that a Ley Line in a specific location will always spawn the same enemies. While Ley Lines can spawn in many locations, they rotate through these locations as they are completed and will loop back to where they originally were. In addition, as far as I can tell, no new Ley Line locations have been added since launch.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Bosses have static locations and the fight with them is generally always the same. This is because bosses are so static in design that they don't become all that much more mechanically challenging if at all as the World Level increases. However, they also have to be fought many times because they are an important source of Character Ascension materials and this is not likely to change any time soon. One "non-event" boss has been added since launch, but its primary reward is a new Ascension material used by newly added characters.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Bounties also suffer from being too static because of the lack of enemy variety. While efforts were made to make them more interesting because of the randomization of tracks and the enemy's special traits, each tier features the same few enemies. Realistically, players will be taking bounties from the highest tier due to the fact they award the greatest reward, so players will constantly be hunting Stonehide Lawachurls, Ruin Guards, and Ruin Hunters. I don't expect this to change much once a new area with a new Reputation and Bounties such as Inazuma is inevitably added (which is rumored to come out with patch 1.6).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Overworld and Random Events</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Surprisingly little changes about the game's overworld beyond the weather and time of day. While I can understand that enemy camps and gathering points should be static to a degree so players have consistent routes for farming materials, it is a serious shame that there are so few Random Events that players can run into. This is because Random Events can be used to make the otherwise static world feel more lively because when players travel around, they occasionally run into something that differs from the norm that provides a little extra excitement.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Unfortunately, I count only 22 of these events on the wiki (many of which I have not personally run into despite making attempts to do so) and many of them have similar objectives that involve killing a number of enemies. A fair amount of them also have objectives that ultimately make them similar to simplified Commissions, which reinforces the impression that Random Events are a half-assed attempt to make the world feel more lively that ultimately fail miserably at accomplishing that objective.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Requests</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The fact only 3 Requests can done each week may be a saving grace since these are very simple fetch quests for items the player probably already has. It also doesn't help that the same few NPCs are used as item recipients. However, the most annoying part is that it's very easy to accidentally close the interface used to deliver items that the player clearly possesses. On top of all this, Requests barely take any time at all to complete.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Spiral Abyss</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Spiral Abyss has the potential to be the most interesting content in the game because of its rogue-like elements that change the enemy variety and the passive effects players are subject to on each floor of the Abyssal Moon Spire. However, enemy variety has only changed once since the release of the game and it's been a month since that was last changed. The overarching passive effects of the Spiral Abyss also change at a snail's pace of once every half month or so despite the fact that the Abyssal Moon Spire can easily be completed within a few hours or less.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Quests and Crimson Wish</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Quests and Crimson Wish are similar in the sense that they have a limited lifespan. In the case of quests, new quests will be released every few weeks only to be completed in a matter of hours. While they are usually highly entertaining because they involve a wide range of objectives and may tell a compelling story, they are also very demanding to develop and will ultimately not serve as a good source of entertainment for the more dedicated players who play regularly (some of whom are almost certainly whaling hard).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Crimson Wish, on the other hand, were basically another form of simplified Commissions but were somewhat interesting due to the fact that the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Climate" target="_blank">Sheer Cold</a> mechanic had some impact on how players should approach specific objectives. Because of this, I sometimes wish they could have been doable after maximizing the Frostbearing Tree for a different reward.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">The co-op experience is subpar</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Genshin Impact has a co-op feature that currently allows players to group with up to 3 other players to tackle some of the content that the game has to offer. Unfortunately, as I've already established in the previous subsections, much of the content is time-gated or limited in some sort of way and that same content is also liable to induce boredom in the player. Instead of breaking down each specific type of content and explaining why they contribute to a poor co-op experience, I will instead explain why the issues I mentioned before can impact the co-op experience.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When it comes to time-gating, even though only the rewards are time-gated, players are liable to join a party for only a brief time for content such as Domains. After players leave due to their Resin being exhausted or some other reason such as reaching a reward limit on Commissions, more time has to be wasted matching with other players. In addition, Resin (or perhaps lack of Resin) restricts the amount of players willing to group up for content that "requires" it, leading to situations where even endgame level tier domains are better to do alone because it takes too long to match with other players. This also applies to other forms of time-gating such as weekly time gates, which leads to an especially painful matchmaking experience if a player tries to do weekly bosses, Requests, or Bounties later in the week.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>The aforementioned issue is further exacerbated by the fact some players don't need to do specific content <i>because they're either bored of it or don't need rewards from it</i>. Some content such as the Spiral Abyss, which could be fun to do in co-op, are also not available to do with other players. Doing quests as a group can also be problematic due to potential differences in quest progress.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Matchmaking for co-op in Genshin Impact is also very bad because there's no good way to form a group for non-instanced content. While instanced content such as Domains and certain event content put players into a specific matchmaking queue, such an option does not exist for much of the available content such as Ley Lines, Commissions, or boss slaying. In fact, there's no good way to advertise the willingness to group up for non-instanced content outside of setting a broadcast message for players to hopefully see. For example, players who are willing to allow others to freely harvest their world's resources cannot easily show their generosity, which is a shame.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">The game's monetization needs improvement</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Genshin Impact is a free-to-play game, so its main method of making money involves selling various microtransactions. The most notable microtransaction revolves around its gacha (known as <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Wishes" target="_blank">Wishes</a>) that can award characters and weapons. This is technically pay to win, but hardly the epitome of cancerous gaming industry practices since unlike games such as anything published under the EA Sports branding, Genshin Impact lacks PvP gameplay or an in-game economy where the advantages one could earn from a gacha could be leveraged to hurt the experience of other players. In fact, because of the game's cooperative elements, it could be argued that the opposite is true and that players rolling characters and weapons from the gacha could serve to benefit any players they happen to play with (or maybe cheapen their experience, depending on one's perspective).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In addition to the gacha, Resin can also be purchased with real money since the currency bought with real money can be converted to <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Primogem" target="_blank">Primogems</a>. Various deals are also available ranging from <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Gift_Shop" target="_blank">bundles</a> offering some useful items and currencies to the premium benefits of the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_Pass" target="_blank">Battle Pass</a> (known as Gnostic Hymn).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">However, while the game has been a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genshin_Impact#Sales_and_downloads" target="_blank">massive financial success</a> so far, that may not be the case in the long term. For example, I have yet to spend any money on this game because beyond my annoyance with the content design issues, I have a couple reasons why that relate to how the game is monetized. Surprisingly, frustration related to bad gacha outcomes is not one of those reasons. Note that this subsection is much more subjective than the previous ones, though I would like to think others share my perspective and the criticism I have to make will be of some use to miHoYo.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Microtransaction value proposition is low, IMO</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As a disclaimer, I think microtransactions featured in many games have are terrible value because the price of the good is generally too high relative to the labor that went into the creation of the product. To put this statement another way, a lot of microtransactions come off as a blatant cash grab. In general, this is unfortunately also the case with Genshin Impact, though this mostly is in regard to the awful <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Genesis_Crystal" target="_blank">real life currency to Genesis Crystal conversion rate</a>. At best, one can get a little over 80 Genesis Crystals per USD and at worst, one can get a little over 60 Genesis Crystals per USD. Conversion rates are generally worse for other real life currencies, especially if you live somewhere in Europe.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Since Genesis Crystals convert into Primogems at a 1:1 ratio, a player can buy one roll in any of the available gachas for roughly $2 if they buy $100 worth of Genesis Crystals at once. However, due to the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/comments/jvomrx/genshin_impact_pity_system_and_other_wishrelated/" target="_blank">pity system</a> and gacha rates, about 10 rolls, or $20, are needed to earn one thing that is remotely worthwhile. This easily turns into hundreds of dollars worth of premium currency if a player wants to reliably receive a specific 5-star character or weapon from the respective event banner. The poor conversion rate of real life money to premium currency also affects the price of other goods such as Resin and will also make future microtransactions, which I will discuss in the next subsection, more expensive than they probably should be.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In fact, I would go as far as to say that only a couple things being sold in Genshin Impact are what I would personally consider to be good value. These would be the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Blessing_of_the_Welkin_Moon" target="_blank">Blessing of the Welkin Moon</a>, <i>which I consider an extremely good deal</i> because it's basically 3000 Primogems for $5, and the Gnostic Hymn, which I consider to be an <i>okay deal</i> because of its higher price for a wide range of useful in-game goods. I guess I should be happy with the fact there's some sort of microtransaction that appeals to more frugal players like myself, though I believe this can be expanded upon.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">There are almost no cosmetic microtransactions</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">However, the more serious issue with Genshin Impact's microtransactions is the lack of cosmetic microtransactions. I find this especially strange since there are a number of unlockable cosmetics, such as <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Dressing_Room" target="_blank">gliders</a> and <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Namecard" target="_blank">namecard styles</a>, in the game and a few have also been added since launch. The Gnostic Chorus, which is a more expensive version of the Gnostic Hymn, even offers namecards that can only be purchased with real money, so miHoYo is clearly not against the idea of selling cosmetics. This is further proven by the fact that their other game, Honkai Impact 3, offers <a href="https://honkaiimpact3.gamepedia.com/Costumes" target="_blank">cosmetic microtransactions</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">While some may object to having cosmetic microtransactions in their game, I am personally in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-MQMx-nH4Q" target="_blank">camp that they are usually fine to sell</a>. This is because they generally have a low level of impact on the development process and generally have little impact on gameplay, especially for other players. They also have little negative impact on a game's health when that is relevant, such as when a game has an active in-game economy. While a player may be bummed that they don't get to make their gaming experience look cool in some sort of way, there's usually other options available and such a cosmetic change doesn't have an objective effect on one's performance (as opposed to a subjective one due to emotional reasons). This is especially the case for Genshin Impact since there are a number of unlockable cosmetics available to acquire.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Ultimately, I do think miHoYo needs to offer cosmetic microtransactions as soon as possible and I will be making a number of suggestions on the kinds of cosmetics they could sell. Cosmetic microtransaction-focused models have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Legends#Revenue_model" target="_blank">proven to be quite successful</a>, even on <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/tech/how-does-fortnite-make-money/" target="_blank">mobile</a>. However, considering the game's current financial success that almost certainly can be attributed to its gacha, it's more likely that Genshin Impact will hybridize their monetization strategy like Honkai Impact and a number of other games. In any case, I do believe it's important to remind miHoYo to not squander a good opportunity. For example, Azur Lane is releasing a character with a very familiar likeness to Keqing who even has a <a href="https://i.imgur.com/XSb1PJf.jpg" target="_blank">skin</a> available on release.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-large;">Suggestions</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Now that the major issues I have with the game have been established, it's time to get into the meat of this article and make some suggestions on how to address these issues, plus some other minor issues I have yet to mention.</div><div><br /></div><div>By the way, I will be inventing many names for the sake of conveying ideas more easily, but they may not be ideal names to use. They can be changed at miHoYo's discretion on the off chance these suggestions are taken seriously.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Farmable Rewards Baseline</span></div><div><br /></div><div>At the moment, Genshin Impact generally limits the rewards player can earn. Since I will be making suggestions that involve relaxing or lifting limitations on content or adding new content with little to no restrictions in place, some rewards will need to <i>always be earnable</i> to ensure the content is worthwhile to do. Furthermore, while a player could technically farm for an endless amount of certain rewards, doing so at the moment is absurdly unfeasible. With that said, <i>here are the rewards that are currently available that I think players should be able to earn an infinite amount of at a reasonable rate without having to use Resin or deal with other annoying restrictions</i>:</div><div><blockquote>Mora</blockquote><div>Mora is the primary currency that's used for many things ranging from upgrading characters and equipment to buying useful items from vendors. Because of its wide variety of uses that could be broadened further with additional features, I believe it's appropriate to allow players to endlessly farm Mora from more of the game's content at more reasonable rates than the current endless farming method. This is because the current method for endlessly farming Mora is joining another player's worlds and going on a murder spree since enemies can drop a small amount of it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Increased access to Mora along with increased acquisition rates can also easily be counterbalanced by adding more, preferably optional, Mora sinks. Note that character and equipment upgrades are restricted by the limited acquisition of other items such as materials from Domains, so progression can still be controlled despite the fact players would have better ways to farm an endless amount of Mora.</div><blockquote>Character EXP</blockquote><div>Character EXP, which is normally earned from defeating enemies that players can have unlimited access to, is so pitifully low. For example, I gain 19 EXP per normal enemy at World Level 8, while characters need over 8 million EXP total to reach level 90. Because of this, it is nearly mandatory to use EXP books that are usually acquired from limited content to level characters. While I'm fine with limiting the acquisition of EXP books, I believe it should be possible to earn a decent amount of EXP for characters the player actively uses.<br /></div><div><blockquote>Companionship EXP</blockquote></div><div>Companionship EXP is used to increase Friendship with a character. The benefits for doing so are entirely cosmetic and as Friendship level increases with a character, more backstory and voice lines are unlocked. At the max Friendship level of 10, players earn a namecard style associated with the character. Because of these cosmetic benefits, I believe there's great potential when it comes to using Companionship EXP as an endlessly farmable reward. <i>Players could even be encouraged roll in the gacha more</i>, since I plan to suggest the addition of a new item that grants Companionship EXP to characters that the player doesn't actively use.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Reputation</div><div></div></blockquote><div>Paragon reputation in World of Warcraft was an idea I failed to think of, but is a good way to encourage players to continue farming reputation even after they reach the maximum amount with a faction. The same idea can be utilized in Genshin Impact with its Reputation system, especially since I will be making suggestions to improve Bounties and Requests. Because of this, I want Reputation to be a reward that players can endlessly farm.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Various common materials, such as food ingredients, other gatherable items, and common ascension materials and other items dropped by enemies.</div><div></div></blockquote><div>These items can technically already be farmed for endlessly by joining the worlds of other players, so they are a good reward to use for many of the content-related suggestions I plan to make. Doing so would also hopefully reduce friction within the community due to the reduced need to pilfer another player's world of materials.</div><div><blockquote>Various consumable items such as cooked foods.</blockquote></div></div><div><div>Many consumable items can technically be farmed for endlessly because they are made out of the common materials mentioned above. Because of this, I think it only makes sense to add consumable items as a potential reward. Furthermore, awarding some underutilized and under-rewarded consumable items such as resistance potions more often may encourage players to use them more liberally.</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Quick Fixes</span></div><div><div><br /></div><div>This first set of suggestions consists of what I will call quick fixes. Unlike the <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/01/leveling-quick-fixes-intro.html" target="_blank">Leveling Quick Fixes</a> I suggested for WoW a while ago, I personally believe these suggestions are even easier to implement since many consist of minor tweaks that can probably be done in little to no time at all. Some of these are quality of life fixes for minor issues I have with the game.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Improve Commission <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Commissions#Bonus_Rewards" target="_blank">bonus rewards</a> by doing the following:</div><div><ul><li>Increase Mora awarded by roughly 50%, starting at 8500 at the lower ranks and maximizing at 20000.</li><li>Award 1 additional <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Adventure_Treasure_Pack" target="_blank">Adventurer Treasure Pack</a> at AR 20, 30, 40, and 50.</li></ul></div></blockquote><div>I personally find these rewards incredibly underwhelming at higher Adventurer Ranks (or AR for short) and believe they should be improved to make Commissions more worthwhile to do. Since this reward is time-gated, I think it's fine to award more Ascension materials that are usually farmed from bosses.</div><div><blockquote>Add a small reward for completing Commissions beyond the daily limit of 4. Specifically, the reward would be 25% of the normal Mora reward and 10 Companionship EXP.</blockquote></div><div>The addition of a small reward to Commissions that would most likely be completed in a co-op should encourage players to help each other with Commissions more even after finishing with 4 of them. I personally find the rewards modest, but they are a nice bonus to earn and players can effectively use Commissions to (almost) endlessly farm Mora and Companionship EXP with this change.</div><div><blockquote>Increase the Resin cap to 200, up from 160.</blockquote></div><div>By increasing the Resin cap to 200, players can burn an entire day's Resin of 180 in a single play session. I'm certain that players who can only really play once per day would appreciate this change. This change also lines up well with <a href="https://screenrant.com/genshin-impact-1-4-update-condensed-resin-cap/" target="_blank">miHoYo's plan</a> to allow players to hold 5 <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Condensed_Resin" target="_blank">Condensed Resin</a>.</div><div><blockquote>Reduce the cooldown of the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Parametric_Transformer" target="_blank">Parametric Transformer</a> to 6 days, 12 hours.</blockquote></div><div>The Parametric Transformer is a new gadget added in patch 1.3 that converts materials into useful items such as Character EXP books. Using it incurs a 6 day, 22 hour cooldown that I believe should be shortened slightly so that players who play at slightly different times each day can more reliably use the item once per week. <i>Alternatively, having the cooldown reset at the start of every Monday is also fine</i>.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Reduce or remove the Resin cost for fighting the weekly bosses.</div><div></div></blockquote><div>Since weekly bosses such as <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Confront_Stormterror" target="_blank">Stormterror</a> can already only be completed for rewards once per week, I believe it may be reasonable to reduce or remove the Resin cost to fight them. Weekly bosses will be relevant for a long time due to the materials they award and new ones will likely be added in future content patches, so addressing the impact they have on the limited Resin players have each week is a good idea.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Add a small reward of up to 2500 Mora for completing a Domain and Ley Lines. In addition, completing any Domain also awards up to 200 Character EXP. These rewards can always be earned without using Resin.</div><div></div></blockquote><div>The addition of these rewards is to encourage players to continue to do Domains and Ley Lines despite running out of Resin. This can be helpful for completing Battle Pass requirements, assisting players while getting something in return, or just for farming Mora and Character EXP. This would also allow players to farm materials from enemies by activating Ley Lines. The Character EXP reward is added to Domains in particular since defeating enemies in Domains does not award EXP.</div><div><br /></div><div>These additional rewards scale based on the level of the enemies, so higher level Domains and Ley Lines at higher World Levels would yield closer to the maximum Mora and Character EXP rewards.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Increase Character EXP gain from defeating enemies by up to 100%.</div><div></div></blockquote><div>As I mentioned in the previous subsection, I believe Character EXP gain from defeating enemies is way too low. While I don't believe that even doubling the EXP gain from enemies is sufficient by itself, I will be suggesting other features that will make Character EXP farming more feasible. Because of this, I think increasing Character EXP gain from enemies by the suggested amount is fine and would also make farming Ley Lines, which the previous suggestion makes possible without Resin, a much more rewarding activity.</div><div><blockquote>Allow players to destroy any Artifact for Mora regardless of its rarity.</blockquote><div>For some reason, players cannot destroy Artifacts that are 4 or 5-star rarity. While these are usually better for feeding EXP to Artifacts the player plans to use, it is possible to accumulate a huge excess of Artifacts with no decent Artifacts to feed them to. Because of this, I believe players should be allowed to destroy Artifacts of any rarity for Mora since it's already possible with 3-star or below rarity Artifacts.</div><div><blockquote>Remove the 10 Random Event per day reward limit.</blockquote></div></div><div>While this won't fix the fact that there aren't enough Random Events to make them interesting for long, a good first step towards making them worthwhile to pursue is removing the arbitrary reward limit since completing Random Events awards items and goods that I want players to be able to endlessly farm with relative ease.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Remove the item turn-in interface for all item turn-in quests except for those that involve cooked items.</div><div></div></blockquote><div>When turning in items for Quests, Commissions, and Requests, an interface sometimes pop up that forces the player to choose an item and submit it to fulfill the objective. This interface is very easy to close on accident with a bad click and is often useless since there are objectives that allow players to immediately turn items in if they have them without having to use this interface. Because of this, I think removing the interface from most item turn-in quests would make for a better player experience.</div><div><br /></div><div>The reason I make an exception for cooked items in particular is because players can choose between a Delicious, normal, and Suspicious version of a food item. This is because there might be more of an incentive to deliver Delicious food in the future.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Allow players to automatically use the amount of Character EXP books needed to level a character one or more times.</div><div></div></blockquote><div>At the moment, players have to click or hold a + symbol for quite a bit of time to use the proper amount of EXP books required to level a character one or more time. The equipment leveling interface doesn't have this issue since items can be automatically chosen and consumed to level equipment. I believe there should be a small quality of life change that makes allocating Character EXP to a character by using EXP books a quick and painless process. Instead of choosing the type and number of EXP books to use, players can instead select what level they want their character to be and EXP books would automatically be chosen to grant the appropriate amount of EXP.</div></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Increase <i>out of combat</i> Stamina regeneration significantly (by at least 100%).</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Not to be confused with Resin, the Stamina system in the context of the action RPG gameplay Genshin Impact features limits how much players can climb, sprint, swim, and so on. While I think it's fair to prevent players from sprinting constantly in combat due to the insane amount of invincibility frames it grants, Stamina regeneration is really slow when it comes to overworld travel. The bar quickly drains even with all the upgrades, but it takes the better part of 10-15 seconds to refill. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is significantly slower than some other games, including Breath of the Wild, which has much faster Stamina regeneration and allows for the constant consumption of Stamina restoring food (doing so incurs a cooldown in Genshin).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Minor Additions</span></div><div><div><br /></div><div>The suggestions made in this subsection are more complex than the previous one, but simple enough that I believe they can be added when minor content additions such as Story Quests are. This is because these suggestions involve the addition of features and content, but are not so demanding to develop that they require a major patch to implement into the game. To put it another way, one or more of these additions can be made every few weeks.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Add a feature that allows the player to refresh the overworld content before a daily reset at an increasing Mora cost.</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The cost would start at 5000 Mora, increasing by 5000 Mora until it reaches a maximum cost of 25000 Mora per reset. This cost would reset each day.</li><li>Using this feature resets all enemy camps and item spawns. Chest spawns would <b><u>not</u></b> reset.</li><li>Using this feature also increases Character EXP gain by 50%, stacking up to 5 times. This effect is removed during the daily reset.</li></ul></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">This feature would allow players to farm their own world as much as they want, but it comes with an increasing Mora cost. Since Mora would be an endlessly farmable currency, which the quick fixes in the previous subsection help to ensure, players would only need to grind a little bit if they really want to reset their world.</div><div><br /></div><div>To encourage players to farm their world, I also added a beneficial effect that increases Character EXP gain. Players can reset their world 5 times in quick succession to maximize this benefit, though it would come at a cost of 75000 Mora total. This cost would help sink excess Mora that a player may have if they opt to use this feature for farming Character EXP.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is worth mentioning that this feature may accelerate how tired players get with overworld content since they may end up farming it more. However, I believe this is okay since more overworld content will be added in the future. Additional overworld content may also serve to greatly increase the value of this feature for players who somehow are able to farm items and enemies on an increasingly vast landscape.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Add a Domain for farming new consumable items that can reroll primary and secondary stats on an Artifact.</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>This domain have two levels available at Adventurer Rank 40 and 45, which feature enemies at level 80 and 90 respectively.</li><li>This Domain would be unique in that it uses scenarios from every Domain that awards Artifacts. One scenario from the level 80 or 90 tier would be randomly chosen each run.</li><li>New Domains that award Artifacts can have their scenarios added to the pool. Scenarios unique to this Domain can also be added.</li><li>These new items, which I will call the <b>Fatetwister</b> and <b>Fateshaper</b>, can reroll primary and (all) secondary stats on an item respectively. </li><ul><li>Players would generally be awarded Fateshapers more often.</li><li>1 of these new items would always be awarded from the Domain at level 80, and 2 at level 90. </li></ul></ul></div></blockquote><div><div>This suggestion features the addition of one of a few new reward ideas that I plan on making. In this case, I am suggesting the addition of two items that can reroll Artifact stats that are primarily awarded from a new Domain. These two items would allow players to focus on trying to make a more optimal Artifact by rerolling only primary or secondary stats. This would not be perfect since for rerolling secondary stats in particular, all of them would be rerolled, but it would allow players to retain either primary or secondary stats they consider ideal. Having the option to reroll Artifact stats instead of farming more would also allow players to not clog up their Artifact inventory. Fatetwisters and Fatechangers are also worth farming to stockpile in the event that new Domains with new Artifacts are added, giving players an incentive to farm this Domain even if they don't immediately need the items.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for the Domain, I want it to randomize which scenario players need to complete for rewards because it would help to make the content less repetitive. This is especially important for a Domain I believe all players would farm frequently due to the general desire for optimal Artifacts. While this won't necessarily prevent players from getting bored of how much of a chore the Domain is to complete, the experience should be relatively unique, especially with new Domain additions and the addition of scenarios unique to the Domain. Using existing scenarios also makes the Domain easier to implement.</div><div><br /></div><div>Because this Domain is meant for many types of players, it should also be easier to create a co-op group for. Finally, this Domain provides an opportunity for miHoYo to balance the various Domains that award Artifacts since people have <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/comments/kyzjwd/in_your_opinion_what_are_the_easiest_domains_to/" target="_blank">differing opinions</a> on which Domains are the hardest.</div><div></div></div><blockquote><div><div>Improve the co-op mode feature by adding a simple LFG system where players can advertise the desire to group up for various activities such as boss killing.</div></div><div></div></blockquote><div>When discussing issues I have with the game, I mentioned that there's no good way for players to group up for content such as Commissions and bosses. This is because outside of Domains and event content, there's no matchmaking system for this content. While I don't think there necessarily needs to be a matchmaking system for all content, many multiplayer games, including non-MMO ones such as the Monster Hunter series, have a feature that allows players to group with each other based on the activity they want to do.</div><div><br /></div><div>Specifically, the co-op interface should be reworked to allow players to make a listing that shows their desire to do the various activities that can be done in a group and don't already have a matchmaking system. Specifically, these activities would be the following, though more can be added:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Commissions</li><li>(Non-event) Bosses</li><li>Bounties</li><li>Ley Lines</li><li>Crimson Wish</li><li>Event content without a matchmaking system</li><li>Free-for-all (open to do any activity including overworld exploration)</li></ul></div><div>Players can then invite or join the world of the player who made the listing.</div><div><blockquote>Add significantly more Random Events. Add a feature that gives players hints on where Random Events might spawn. </blockquote></div><div>As I mentioned in the section above, there are far too few Random Events to make the world feel lively. This is why I think more Random Events need to be added, especially to regions without it such as Dragonspine and the various areas in Liyue. These Random Events do not need to be added all at once and a modest number can be added every few weeks. Within a few major patches, the Random Event pool would be much larger and the world would hopefully feel more lively as a result. I would also advise creating more unique Random Events that aren't just dumbed down versions of Commissions. For example, more non-combat puzzles involving the usage of Elemental Skills could be added.</div><div><br /></div><div>To accommodate the increasing amount of Random Events, I also believe a feature should be added that provides players with hints on where Random Events may be. Specifically, interacting with Katheryne would mark a large general area on the map where a Random Event can spawn. This would provide an exploration opportunity for players looking to earn a bit of extra Mora and Companionship EXP.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Upon reaching Reputation level 4 with a nation, allow players to complete an infinite amount of Bounties and Requests for that nation each week. In addition, add a reward cache for earning 500 Reputation after reaching level 8. This reward can be earned repeatedly.</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The first 3 Bounties and Requests each week award full Mora and Reputation. <i>Subsequent Bounties and Requests award 25% of the Mora and Reputation.</i></li><li>The reward cache from earning enough reputation after reaching level 8 would award some Local Specialties, consumable items, and a new reward: the <b>Companionship EXP Book</b>.</li><li>Companionship EXP Books would grant any character 10, 50, or 100 Companionship EXP for rarity 2, 3, and 4 respectively. The reward cache would award about 75 Companionship EXP worth of books on average.</li></ul></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">As I mentioned in the previous subsection, I want Reputation to be a reward that players can endlessly farm. By allowing players to eventually take on as many Bounties and Requests as they want beyond the weekly limitation of 3, players can grind both Reputation and Mora, though doing so would be a bit more time-consuming due to the diminishing return in rewards after the weekly limit is reached. I retained this limitation so that more casual players can earn significant rewards for doing a few Bounties and Requests each week and not feel strongly compelled to grind afterwards. I also added a Reputation level requirement of 4 since players can reach it fairly easily through quests and exploration, which helps to ensure players have finished a fair amount of the content the game has to offer or least completed a few weeks of Bounties and Requests.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The result of this change is that players have access to more content that they can do to their heart's content. While Requests are probably not that interesting, Bounties are at least somewhat interesting and because they can be done repeatedly, there's not as much of a need to do the highest tier Bounty especially after the weekly limit is reached, which provides an opportunity for players to vary their Bounty targets more.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I also mentioned a "Paragon reputation reward" that, much like its World of Warcraft iteration, involves farming for more Reputation after reaching the maximum level for additional rewards. Earning Reputation, which can easily be done passively through weekly Bounties and Requests if players don't wish to grind, would earn some practical rewards along with the new Companionship EXP Book reward. While there would be other ways to farm Companionship EXP Books, Reputation could be one of the first methods for doing so since it's the only minor content addition I am suggesting that would award it. This suggestion would provide players with another activity for a special reward that can be useful to have even if they don't immediately need it. In this case, the EXP Books could be retained and used on future character acquisitions.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Increase the maximum Friendship level to 25, up from 10. Add new namecard styles for each character that are unlocked at levels 15, 20, and 25 that are upgraded versions of the original namecard style.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Each Friendship level beyond the 10th requires the same amount of Companionship EXP that it takes to advance from Friendship level 9 to Friendship level 10.</li></ul></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">To complement the various new ways to endlessly farm Companionship EXP, I think the addition of more unlockable cosmetics at higher Friendship levels is a good reward for players to work towards. I believe these should be simple enough to add since I'm specifically suggesting modified versions of existing namecard styles, though adding a few for every existing character is demanding enough to justify needing at least a few weeks of work to implement.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This suggestion would also greatly increase the amount of Companionship EXP needed for players to truly unlock everything their character has to offer, making it even less likely that the Companionship EXP Books mentioned in my previous suggestion would be devalued since new characters would be constantly added. Note that doing so is far from mandatory though since most of the major Friendship level unlocks are gotten by level 6 and not everyone would be interested in having more namecard styles.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Major Additions</span></div><div><div><br /></div><div>The suggestions I make in this section are so significant and extensive that they'd usually warrant their own article if it weren't for the fact I want to minimize the amount of Genshin Impact articles I want to publish. These suggestions would require at least a month or more to develop and could likely only feasibly be implemented when a major patch is released. Because of how large and impactful these suggestions are, I believe that implementing even one of them would improve the enjoyment of the game considerably.</div><div><blockquote>Add a feature that allows Paimon to provide practical assistance in combat and other situations. She can gain EXP to increase her power and unlock various abilities.</blockquote></div><div>Paimon is the companion who accompanies the player on their journeys through Teyvat. While I personally enjoy her company, others may find her annoying for a wide variety of reasons. However, I will admit that I wish she were a more useful companion who provided practical help in addition to her colorful commentary. <i>Because of this, I want her to be a companion who can be leveled up to increase her usefulness in combat and other situations</i>. The devs have put such a <a href="https://honkaiimpact3.gamepedia.com/Sakura_Samsara#Higokumaru_Training" target="_blank">feature</a> into the "open world" part of their previous game, so I believe this is a reasonable request to make. However, given my obsession with proposing certain progression systems, what I have in mind is far more extensive than what Higokumaru has to offer.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Paimon Leveling System Basics</div><div><br /></div><div>Paimon's progression is split into two parts. The former part is the <i>core progression</i> and can be completed in a little over 1.5 months of regular play. This involves leveling Paimon from 0 to 50 and would unlock many important features such as various elemental attacks and utility effects that I will discuss later. The latter part is the <i>endless progression</i> and is what I and some others call a Paragon progression system since Paimon would be able to level endlessly from 51 onwards to improve herself in some way. Unlike with my <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-adventurers-rank-having-paragon.html" target="_blank">Paragon suggestion</a> for World of Warcraft, Paimon's power would objectively increase like with Diablo 3's Paragon system because I believe Genshin Impact's players won't obsess over marginal power increases in the same way as highly competitive WoW players.</div><div><br /></div><div>When it comes to leveling Paimon, Paimon can gain experience in the following ways from the non-event content that is currently available in the game:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>When the player earns Character or Companionship EXP, Paimon gains an equal amount of EXP. <i>EXP gained from EXP Books does not count</i>.</li><ul><li>Character EXP awards are based on the amount awarded to a single party member, not the total that all party members earn.</li></ul><li>When the player earns Adventurer EXP, Paimon gains double the amount of EXP.</li><li>Whenever the player gathers an item, Paimon gains 5 EXP.</li><li>When an Abyssal Star is earned in the Spiral Abyss, Paimon gains 150 EXP.</li><li>When a Bounty is completed, Paimon earns 150 EXP</li><li>When a Request is completed, Paimon earns 50 EXP.</li></ul><div>Based on these details, players would earn about 3340 Paimon EXP from the 4 daily Commissions (3000 Paimon EXP from Adventurer EXP plus up to 340 Paimon EXP from Companionship EXP). Without other suggestions in place, spending 160 Resin earns around 2580+ Paimon EXP from normal bosses (1600 Paimon EXP from Adventurer EXP, 800 Paimon EXP from Character EXP, and 180 Paimon EXP from Companionship EXP). By adding these two values together, players can expect to earn as much as ~6000 Paimon EXP per day from typical daily activities, though it's more likely that regular players would earn <i>~5000 Paimon EXP per day</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is worth mentioning that <b>Paimon EXP</b> is yet another type of reward that can be used to encourage players to do certain content in addition to what is currently available. Specifically, if a Paimon progression system is in place and future content, especially event content, does not award much Character, Companionship, or Adventurer EXP, it could award some Paimon EXP to encourage players interested in earning that reward.</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Core Progression Details</div><div><br /></div><div>Paimon's core progression begins with a short quest that's available at Adventurer Rank 10 to explain how the feature works and ends with advancing Paimon's level to 1 by awarding 100 Paimon EXP. This provides immediate access to her basic attack, which can apply any one element of the player's choice (including Dendro). The element selection must be made in a new interface that, like the party setup interface, cannot be opened in combat.</div><div><br /></div><div>The amount of Paimon EXP needed to advance from level 0 to 50 is 250,000 EXP. This would initially be very fast since the EXP required starts at 100 and increases by 200 per level (so level 5 would require 900 Paimon EXP, for example). <i>This would top out at 9900 Paimon EXP to reach level 50 from level 49</i>. The amount of EXP required to reach level 50 may seem like a lot, but this requirement is balanced around the fact players that can gain 5000 Paimon EXP per day through what I consider regular play, which means players can feasibly reach level 50 in less than 2 months, possibly less than 1 if they grind.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since core progression involves unlocking a lot of useful effects that are later enhanced through endless progression, here's a detailed breakdown of what Paimon gains at each level from 1 to 50:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Level 1 (100 EXP required): Paimon learns her <b>Basic Attack</b>. Paimon will fire a ranged attack at the closest enemy within 12 meters of the player every 5 seconds that applies one of the seven elements of the player's choice. </li><ul><li>The base damage of all of Paimon's damaging attacks is determined by the average level of the party.</li></ul><li>Level 2 (300 EXP required): Basic Attack cooldown reduced to 4.8 seconds.</li><li>Level 3 (500 EXP required): Paimon learns her <b>Empowered Attack</b>. When the player critically strikes, Paimon will immediately unleash an empowered attack based on her element. This effect has a 15 second cooldown.</li><ul><li><b>Pyro:</b> A fire patch of 2 meters radius will appear under the critically struck enemy for 3 seconds, dealing minor Pyro damage every 0.5 seconds.</li><li><b>Hydro:</b> Traps the critically struck enemy in a bubble and deals Hydro damage to them for 1.5 seconds. This bubble then explodes and applies Wet to all enemies within 3 meters.</li><li><b>Dendro:</b> Roots the critically struck enemy and all enemies within a 2 meter radius for 1.5 seconds, applying Dendro. Pyro damage dealt to rooted enemies is increased by 50% in addition to applying Burning.</li><li><b>Electro:</b> Zaps the critically struck enemy, then chains to up to 3 enemies within 5 meters of each other, dealing Electro damage to all of them. Damage is increased based on distance between enemies.</li><li><b>Anemo:</b> Blows back the critically struck enemy and nearby enemies by approximately 5 meters. This can trigger a Swirl reaction if the affected enemies or area are affected by an applicable element.</li><li><b>Cryo:</b> Pierces the critically struck enemy with an ice spear that travels for up to 10 meters in a straight line, dealing Cryo damage to all enemies in a line.</li><li><b>Geo:</b> Pierces the critically struck enemy from below with a stalagmite, which then shatters and deals heavy Geo damage to all enemies within 2 meters. <i>This attack penetrates shields</i>.</li></ul><li>Level 4 (700 EXP required): Empowered Attack cooldown is reduced to 14.5 seconds.</li><li>Level 5 (900 EXP required): Paimon gains her first Utility Skill slot. Paimon learns the following <u>Utility Skills</u>, which can each occupy one Utility Skill slot:</li><ul><li><b>Benchwarmer:</b> Inactive characters are healed for 0.5% of their maximum health every second.</li><li><b>Celestial Dust:</b> When your active character is affected by a debuff, Paimon will remove it and heal the character for 3% of their maximum health. 15 second cooldown.</li><li><b>Let's Keep Moving!:</b> Increases out-of-combat Stamina regeneration by 20%.</li></ul><li>Level 6 (1100 EXP required): Basic Attack cooldown reduced to 4.6 seconds.</li><li>Level 7 (1300 EXP required): Empowered Attack cooldown reduced to 14 seconds.</li><li>Level 8 (1500 EXP required): Paimon learns the <b>Paimon's Protection </b>Utility Skill.</li><ul><li><b>Paimon's Protection</b>: When your character takes damage equal to or greater than 15% of their maximum HP, shields that character for 10% of their maximum HP for 5 seconds. 30 second cooldown.</li></ul><li>Level 9 (1700 EXP required): Basic Attack cooldown reduced to 4.4 seconds.</li><li>Level 10 (1900 EXP required): Paimon learns her Ultimate Attack. When the player uses an Elemental Burst, Paimon will use an Ultimate Attack based on her element to complement it. 45 second cooldown.</li><ul><li><b>Pyro:</b> Causes an explosion centered on the character, dealing heavy Pyro damage to all enemies within 8 meters and knocking them back.</li><li><b>Hydro:</b> Creates a vortex centered on the character that draws enemies within 10 meters in for 3 seconds. Any that are within 5 meters of the vortex suffer continuous Hydro damage.</li><li><b>Dendro:</b> Creates a thorny ground of 10 meters radius centered on the character for 8 seconds that deals Dendro damage to all enemies within. Enemies that move suffer additional Dendro damage.</li><li><b>Electro:</b> Calls a lightning storm of 5 meters radius that lasts for 8 seconds and is centered on the densest pack of enemies. Every 0.5 seconds, a lightning bolt will randomly strike within the area, dealing moderate Electro damage to enemies within 1 meter of the strike.</li><li><b>Anemo:</b> Creates a windy area of 12 meters radius centered on the character that increases allied movement speed by 15% and instantly Swirls any elements used within the area, applying the element to all enemies within. The Swirled element will be defused after 1 second so that another element can be affected by Swirl. Lasts for 8 seconds.</li><li><b>Cryo:</b> Rapidly fires spears of ice at the closest enemy, dealing Cryo damage every 0.25 seconds for 4 seconds.</li><li><b>Geo:</b> Unleashes a tremor that deals slight Geo damage and stuns all enemies within 15 meters radius for 3 seconds (reduced duration against stronger enemies). This attack also heavily damages enemy shields.</li></ul><li>Level 11 (2100 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 44 seconds.</li><li>Level 12 (2300 EXP required): Empowered Attack cooldown reduced to 13.5 seconds.</li><li>Level 13 (2500 EXP required): Basic Attack cooldown reduced to 4.2 seconds.</li><li>Level 14 (2700 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 43 seconds.</li><li>Level 15 (2900 EXP required): Paimon learns the <b>Passion for Cuisine</b> Utility Skill.</li><ul><li><b>Passion for Cuisine:</b> Increases the duration of all newly applied food buff effects by 50%. This benefit is cancelled if this Utility Skill is removed. </li></ul><li>Level 16 (3100 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 42 seconds.</li><li>Level 17 (3300 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 41 seconds.</li><li>Level 18 (3500 EXP required): Basic Attack cooldown reduced to 4 seconds.</li><li>Level 19 (3700 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 40 seconds.</li><li>Level 20 (3900 EXP required): Paimon gains her second Utility Skill slot.</li><li>Level 21 (4100 EXP required): Empowered Attack cooldown reduced to 13 seconds.</li><li>Level 22 (4300 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 39 seconds.</li><li>Level 23 (4500 EXP required): Empowered Attack cooldown reduced to 12.5 seconds.</li><li>Level 24 (4700 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 38 seconds.</li><li>Level 25 (4900 EXP required): Paimon learns the <b>Willful Ignorance</b> Utility Skill.</li><ul><li><b>Willful Ignorance</b>: When your character is affected by an Elemental Reaction, the effects are nullified and the character is healed for 5% of their maximum health. 20 second cooldown.</li></ul><li>Level 26 (5100 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 37 seconds.</li><li>Level 27 (5300 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 36 seconds.</li><li>Level 28 (5500 EXP required): Basic Attack cooldown reduced to 3.8 seconds.</li><li>Level 29 (5700 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 35 seconds.</li><li>Level 30 (5900 EXP required): Paimon learns the <b>Traveler's Swiftness</b> Utility Skill.</li><ul><li><b>Traveler's Swiftness</b>: After swimming, gliding, or sprinting, increase Movement Speed by 5% for 5 seconds. This effect stacks up to 3 times. Cannot benefit from this effect while in combat.</li></ul><li>Level 31 (6100 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 34 seconds.</li><li>Level 32 (6300 EXP required): Empowered Attack cooldown reduced to 12 seconds.</li><li>Level 33 (6500 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 33 seconds.</li><li>Level 34 (6700 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 32 seconds.</li><li>Level 35 (6900 EXP required): Paimon gains her third Utility Skill slot.</li><li>Level 36 (7100 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 31 seconds.</li><li>Level 37 (7300 EXP required): Basic Attack cooldown reduced to 3.6 seconds.</li><li>Level 38 (7500 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 30 seconds.</li><li>Level 39 (7700 EXP required): Empowered Attack cooldown reduced to 11.5 seconds.</li><li>Level 40 (7900 EXP required): Paimon learns the <b>Hunter's Instinct</b> Utility Skill.</li><ul><li><b>Hunter's Instinct</b>: Reduces the distance at which wildlife detects you by 50%. When fleeing, Wildlife will take 100% longer to disappear.</li></ul><li>Level 41 (8100 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 29 seconds.</li><li>Level 42 (8300 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 28 seconds. Basic Attack cooldown reduced to 3.4 seconds.</li><li>Level 43 (8500 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 27 seconds. Empowered Attack cooldown reduced to 11 seconds.</li><li>Level 44 (8700 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 26 seconds.</li><li>Level 45 (8900 EXP required): Paimon learns the <b>Second Stomach</b> Utility Skill.</li><ul><li><b>Second Stomach</b>: Doubles the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Food#Full_State" target="_blank">Fullness Gauge</a> of your characters and doubles the rate at which Fullness depletes.</li></ul><li>Level 46 (9100 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 25 seconds. </li><li>Level 47 (9300 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 24 seconds. Basic Attack cooldown reduced to 3.2 seconds.</li><li>Level 48 (9500 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 23 seconds. Empowered Attack cooldown reduced to 10.5 seconds.</li><li>Level 49 (9700 EXP required): Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 21 seconds.</li><li>Level 50 (9900 EXP required): Basic Attack cooldown reduced to 3 seconds. Empowered Attack cooldown reduced to 10 seconds. Ultimate Attack cooldown reduced to 20 seconds. Paimon learns the <b><b>Emboldening</b> Revival</b> Utility Skill.</li><ul><li><b>Emboldening Revival</b>: When a character is defeated, Paimon will revive them at 30% of their maximum health and increases their ATK and DEF by 25% for 30 seconds. This effect has a cooldown of 120 seconds.</li></ul></ul></div><div>Since this breakdown is rather lengthy, here's a summary of the abilities that Paimon would have by the time she reaches level 50.</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A Basic Attack that can apply an elemental effect of the player's choice that has a 3 second cooldown between activations.</li><li>An Empowered Attack that activates off the player's critical strikes with an effect based on Paimon's element with a 10 second cooldown between activations.</li><li>An Ultimate Attack that activates when the player uses an Elemental Burst with an effect based on Paimon's element with a 20 second cooldown between activations.</li><li>10 Utility Skills and the ability to have 3 of them active in Utility Skill Slots at any one time.</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: center;">Endless Progression Details</div><div><br /></div><div>Paimon's endless progression is much simpler than her core progression. As Paimon levels from 51 onward, her damage output would slightly increase. In addition, the level curve is entirely flat and each level requires 10,000 Paimon EXP to gain.</div><div><br /></div><div>Specifically, for the first 50 levels (51-100), Paimon's damage would increase by 25% (or +0.5% damage per level). To increase her damage by another 25%, she would then need to gain 100 levels (or 0.25% damage per level), or twice as many levels as before. <i>This doubling requirement would continue to apply for subsequent increases of 25% damage</i>. This damage bonus should be limited in certain content such as some Domains or the Spiral Abyss to keep players from steamrolling the content with an absurdly high leveled Paimon. However, other content such as overworld content and the next content suggestion I will be making would not limit Paimon's endless progression power in any way.</div><div><br /></div><div>To keep endless progression from only being about gradual power increases, I believe there should be some achievements and cosmetic rewards such as namecards for players who reach various level milestones with Paimon. For now, I'd add milestone rewards at levels 100, 250, 500, and 1000, with level 1000 awarding a special cosmetic outfit for Paimon and the other milestones awarding cosmetics such as namecard styles.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another idea I have considered for Paimon's endless progress is that <i>it could be made seasonal by resetting her level to 50 after the release of every major patch</i>. When this happens, players are awarded cosmetics based on how high of a level she reached and new cosmetics could be awarded each season for specific Paimon level milestones. While some players may be upset by this level reset, this implementation is optional and is specifically meant to keep a tighter rein on character power if such a form of control is required.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">What Paimon Leveling Accomplishes</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Adding a progression system for Paimon is intended to make all content a little more meaningful to do, which I consider to be an important aspect of designing a Paragon progression system. This is important for Genshin Impact since while it may not entirely fix how tired players get of doing the same activity constantly, the Paimon EXP that is earned would always be meaningful in some way. Players may also be encouraged to do a greater variety of activities since all of them would ideally award some EXP for Paimon. Other suggestions in this section will help to provide even more activities that would ideally be both interesting and resilient to causing repetition fatigue in players.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Paimon's practical benefits are also highly customizable. They can be fully unlocked fairly quickly and while there aren't many benefits, I would like to think that all of them are interesting and incomparable to the point that there's no options that are strictly the best. This especially applies to assigning Paimon's element since party compositions vary wildly for each player. The result is that a player may want Paimon to use certain elemental attacks based on the elements available to their current party composition.</div><hr /><div><blockquote>Add a rogue-lite dungeon called the <u>Fleeting Abyss</u> that is far more ambitious in design than the Spiral Abyss. This is because its contents would be heavily randomized, it could be done in co-op, and any player who meets the requirements could attempt it since characters start at level 1 with no equipment.</blockquote></div><div>Aside from generally being a very enjoyable game series, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon features an interesting concept where there are endgame dungeons that reset the party to level 1 and, in some cases, prevent players from bringing items in. While there may have been other games that utilized this concept in some form prior to this game series, it's where I drew inspiration from when making this particular suggestion. The series is also where I partially drew the inspiration for the various features that this dungeon would have, though I drew inspiration from other rogue-likes and rogue-lites such as the Dungeon Run feature in Hearthstone.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Getting Started</div><div><br /></div><div>Like the Spiral Abyss, the Fleeting Abyss would require Adventurer Rank 20 to access and to make implementation easier, the entrance would be shared with the Spiral Abyss. In addition, the quests to <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/A_Long_Shot" target="_blank">unlock Confront Stormterror</a> and Paimon as a combat companion must have been completed. Like with Domain content, players can opt to enter the Fleeting Abyss by themselves or with a group, including through matchmaking.</div><div><br /></div><div>After entering, the player would be prompted to select 4 characters to bring into the dungeon. These characters can be chosen from the characters that the player already owns or from a rotation of 7 characters that all players can use. These 7 characters, which I will call the "free rotation characters" would consist of two 5-star characters and five 4-star characters. On the weekdays, the 4-star characters would be individually rotated out by replacing them with another randomly selected character of the same rarity. On weekends, the 5-star characters would be rotated.</div><div><br /></div><div>Free rotation characters would be special in that they would always have 3 or more constellations unlocked. The exact number of constellations unlocked would be equal, meaning there's a 25% chance for a character to have 6 constellations unlocked. If a player happens to own a character that's available on the free rotation, the version of the character with more constellations unlocked would be available. This is because standard party forming rules are in place and duplicates of the same character cannot be taken into the dungeon.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once a party has been formed, the gameplay mode can be selected between Normal and Hardcore. The only major difference between these modes is that in Hardcore mode, any character that is defeated cannot be revived with consumables, effectively making them unusable for the rest of the run. Passive revival effects can still activate and bring a character back to life,<i> though the ability must be ready to activate since the character would be removed from the party shortly after their defeat</i>. In co-op, if a player dies in Hardcore mode and there are no spare characters to use, they would be able to spectate the other players until the party finds another character or the run ends.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Fleeting Abyss Mechanics</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The first thing that must be mentioned about the Fleeting Abyss is that <i>the characters used would have their level and talent levels set to 1</i>. In addition, all Artifacts are removed and weapons would be replaced with 1-star rarity weapons that are typically equipped by newly acquired characters. However, Constellations that are unlocked on a character would remain, which is why it's so important that the free rotation characters have some or all of their Constellations unlocked.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Fleeting Abyss itself is a <b>20-floor dungeon</b> that would feature the following content:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Each floor would advance the level interval of enemies that appear on it by 5, increasing to 90 by floor 18. Floor 19 would then feature a level 100 boss.</li><li>Floor progress is saved if the player decides to stop partway through and it would retain the floor reached, character data, and treasures found. Floor progress is tied to each individual player, so a co-op group can continue their run even if other players leave. In addition, players can join an existing run as long as they have no floor progress saved. A player can reset their personal floor progress at any time, making it easier to join a co-op run.</li><ul><li>Players who join a run in progress can simply take control of a character in the party.</li><li>A run ends if the entire party is defeated before the floor is completed, even if there's characters in reserve.</li></ul><li>Before starting a floor, players would be given the opportunity to prepare themselves by enhancing their characters and equipment or adjusting Paimon's abilities. <i>This is the only time such preparations can be done</i>. In co-op mode, all players have to indicate they are ready before advancing.</li><li>Every 3rd floor (Floors 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18) would feature a major encounter such as a normal boss, normal boss variants, or waves of elite enemies.</li><ul><li>Later floors may feature new gimmicks such as an Oceanid that can make the water on certain tiles poisonous for a time.</li><li><i>These challenges are never timed.</i> However, they may be abnormally lethal.</li><li>Completing the encounter immediately completes the floor.</li><li>These floors will henceforth be referred to as <b>major encounter floors</b>.</li></ul><li>All other floors except the 19th and 20th floors would have a semi-randomized layout by using level design from an existing <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Domains#One-Time_Domains" target="_blank">One-Time or Story Domain</a>.</li><ul><li>Specifically, the level design would be exactly the same (perhaps with some alterations), but the enemies, treasures, and puzzles (which would be optional) can be randomized to a degree.</li><li>A fairly simple way to do this is to take the existing level design and change the enemies and puzzles in such a way that there are 3 variations of that level. The treasure should always be randomized, however. <i>If this method is used, the same variation of a level should not be used more than once during the same Fleeting Abyss run</i>.</li><li>To help with varying the experience more, the same level design should not be used for consecutive floors, regardless of the type of randomization used.</li><li>Unique level designs that are exclusive to the Fleeting Abyss can be added over time. It also goes without saying that new One-Time and Story Domains can have their level designs utilized in this dungeon too.</li><li>Finally, some floors could have random beneficial or neutral effects. For example, one floor would permanently afflict everyone on the floor with an elemental debuff while another increases the amount of treasure found on the floor.</li><li>In co-op mode, players would have 30 seconds to do whatever they need to on a floor after someone in the party completes the floor.</li></ul><li>As mentioned before, the 19th floor would feature a level 100 boss. This would always be drawn from the available weekly bosses and the respective boss arena would be used. However, I strongly recommend the addition of new mechanics and other variation in the Fleeting Abyss version of the boss fight. </li><ul><li>For example, Fleeting Abyss Stormterror would start with all platforms already under the effects of Energy Rain. However, changing platforms would reset the increasing damage over time (assuming it doesn't already - I wouldn't know).</li><li>Only weekly bosses that the player has unlocked can appear on the 19th floor. This means players are at least guaranteed to fight Stormterror.</li></ul><li>Floor 20 would be where players loot the rewards that they earn from the run. This will be covered in the next part.</li><li>Finally, characters that the player owns that were used in the dungeon would be set to their original state upon leaving the dungeon.</li></ul><div>As the player advances through the Fleeting Abyss, they would find <b>treasure</b> that can be used to help the player complete their run. These can be found in chests, destructible items, and looted from enemies. They can also be earned as a special reward for completing a major encounter floor. These treasures, <i>which would disappear once the run ends</i>, are as follows:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Weapons of increasing rarity</b> based on how many floors the player has completed. Discovered weapons would always be one that a character in the party or on standby can equip. Note that in co-op mode, players can receive weapons that their own character cannot use, but it can be given to another player during the preparation period before the next floor.</li><ul><li>Players can even find 5-star weapons in this dungeon. However, they would be quite rare and it's unlikely that players would be able to completely Refine the weapon.</li></ul><li><b>Weapon enhancement materials</b>, which naturally can be used to increase a weapon's level.</li><li><b>Artifacts of increasing rarity</b> based on how many floors the player has completed. While looted Artifacts are entirely randomized, players would sometimes be given the opportunity to choose one Artifact out of a choice of three when completing a major encounter. This gives players a good chance of utilizing Artifact set bonuses.</li><ul><li>Players would generally find a lot of <i>additional</i> low rarity Artifacts even on higher floors since they are needed for enhancement purposes.</li></ul><li><b>Character EXP</b>, which is not technically a treasure but is extremely important for leveling characters in the Fleeting Abyss. Character EXP gain from killing enemies is initially multiplied by 10 in this dungeon. This multiplier is increased by 1 (additively) for each floor completed, meaning that by floor 17, players are earning 26 times the normal experience from enemies.</li><ul><li>In addition, completing a floor would also award (10000 * floor number completed) Character EXP to all characters in the current party.</li></ul><li><b>Character EXP books</b>, which would help to increase the level of certain characters faster. These would be made especially useful for helping characters catch up in level because they would give 10 times more experience as long as the character's level or projected level (from using EXP books) is below the highest leveled character.</li><li><b>A special type of talent leveling book</b> that increases any character's talent level by 1 for each book used. These books replace all the talent leveling materials that are normally required.</li><li><b>New characters</b>, which would generally be found by completing major encounter floors. They would always be a character that your party does not have. If on some off chance a party has every character available in the game, the party would receive a large number of Character EXP books instead.</li><ul><li>The new character's level would be equal to the upper end of the level bracket of the floor (so floor 3 would award a level 15 character, for example).</li></ul><li><b>An item that unlocks constellations for any character</b>, which would be a rare treasure found on any floor. These would unlock an additional constellation for a character of your choice for the rest of the run.</li><li><b>Consumable items such as food and elixirs.</b> Materials that can be used to create consumables can also be found in the dungeon very frequently. In addition, ingredient crafting is instantaneous.</li><li><b>Recipes for various consumable items.</b> The party would have no recipe knowledge whatsoever when entering the dungeon, so recipes must be found to create any sort of consumable item from raw materials.</li><li><b>Relics</b> that provide bonuses similar to Benedictions in the Spiral Abyss. These would last for the entire Fleeting Abyss run. Completing a major encounter floor allows players to choose a <b>Greater Relics</b> that provide bonuses similar to a Benediction that lasts for one chamber. On other floors, players have a chance to find a <b>Lesser Relic</b> that has an effect similar to a Benediction that lasts for one floor. In co-op mode, players would each receive their own relics and can only benefit from the effects of those relics. Here are some example effects:</li><ul><li>(Greater) <b>Durin's Hidden Blessing</b>: The player is subject to the effects of Sheer Cold. However, when using an Elemental Burst, the character is imbued with the effects of Scarlet Quartz for the next 5 normal attacks. </li><li>(Greater) <b>Fulfilled Vision of Grandeur</b>: Critical strikes reduce the remaining cooldown on the character's Elemental Skill by 20%. Using an Elemental Skill increases critical strike chance by 1% for 8 seconds, stacking up to 10 times.</li><li>(Greater) <b>Playful Seelie</b>: Every second, have an increasing chance to summon a Seelie that wanders around for 15 seconds. As long as the player touches the Seelie and for 2 seconds after, increase movement speed by 15% and grant a 25% chance to negate incoming damage.</li><li>(Greater) <b>Devil's Bargain</b>: Reduces Paimon's damage and the cooldown of her abilities by 50%.</li><li>(Greater) <b>Mirror of Attuned Reprisal</b>: When a character would suffer damage from an elemental attack that matches the character's element, the attacking enemy suffers the damage instead. Does not work on environmental damage.</li><li>(Lesser) <b>Treasure Magnet</b>: Increases the amount of treasure found in chests and destructible items by 25%.</li><li>(Lesser) <b>Charm of Endless Slaughter</b>: Each enemy defeated increases ATK by 2% and EXP gain by 5% for 20 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.</li><li>(Lesser) <b>Final Vengeance</b>: After suffering lethal damage, your character stays alive for 5 more seconds and gains the Energy needed to unleash an Elemental Burst. The player cannot switch characters during this time. On Hardcore mode, all damage dealt is also increased by 50% during this period.</li><li>(Lesser) <b>Regenerative Brooch</b>: Restores health equal to 3% max HP every 5 seconds to the active character. This effect instead occurs every second while out of combat.</li><li>(Lesser) <b>Lightning Rod</b>: Normal and charged attacks have an increasing chance to unleash a lightning strike on the enemy, dealing moderate Electro damage in a small area. Charged attacks have a higher base chance to activate this effect.</li></ul></ul><div>When it comes to treasures, the following should also be noted:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>There are no ascension materials to be found in the Fleeting Abyss. Instead, <i>maximum weapon and character levels are automatically set to 90 and ascension bonuses are unlocked by reaching the appropriate level threshold for a specific ascension</i>. </li><li>There is also no Mora to be found in the Fleeting Abyss, meaning that anything that normally has a Mora cost would not have one.</li><li>When a major encounter floor is completed, players would first choose one of three Greater Relics as a reward. They would then choose one of three of a random assortment of characters and Artifacts as a reward.</li><li>In co-op mode, players receive their own share of treasure that individually is less than what a player would receive when playing solo, but when combined is more than what a player would receive solo. The more players there are, the less individual treasure received and the more total treasure received. </li><li>As mentioned briefly above, players can give treasure to each other during the preparation phase that takes place prior to starting a floor, allowing them to pool their resources if desired. <i>However, Greater Relics cannot be given to other players</i> (though Lesser Relics can be).</li><ul><li>Players who join a run in progress would be able to choose Greater Relics based on the number of major encounters completed, but may need to be given treasure by the other players otherwise since the character's possessions may not be enough for the player to properly contribute.</li><li>If players leave a run, their possessions are evenly distributed between all remaining players where possible, then randomly distributed.</li></ul></ul><div>To summarize this part of the suggestion, players start with characters at level 1 and advance through an increasingly difficult 20 floor dungeon. The contents of the dungeon are partially randomized, especially in regards to the many treasures that can be found and used to improve the player's characters. Co-op is also taken into consideration since players would be allowed to give most treasures to each other and can even share floor progress with each other so that no one feels left out.</div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Rewards</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>While I personally think that enjoyment is a reward that players would find an abundance of from this content, I think it's important to add some rewards not just to provide an incentive for players to try the content. Doing so also helps to integrate a reward suggestion I previously made. Specifically, the Fleeting Abyss would be intended to be a good method for farming Paimon EXP to level up Paimon.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Fleeting Abyss provides the following rewards and benefits, minus the fun factor:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Paimon EXP</b> - The Fleeting Abyss would be one of the primary ways to grind Paimon EXP and because of this, there would be many EXP awards that can be specifically earned from doing this content.</li><ul><li>The first two floors would award 150 Paimon EXP when cleared.</li><li>All other normal floors would award 300 Paimon EXP when cleared.</li><li>Major encounter floors would award 500 Paimon EXP when cleared.</li><li>The final boss floor, or floor 19, would award no Paimon EXP. Instead, players would earn 2000 Paimon EXP for completing a run of the Fleeting Abyss when they earn their reward on the 20th floor.</li><li>Each piece of treasure gathered awards 1 Paimon EXP, excluding Relics. Lesser Relics award 10 EXP when found. Greater Relics are obtained from major encounter floors and award no EXP.</li><li>Paimon would gain EXP equal to the base Character EXP gain from enemies. This is the amount of EXP that would be awarded before it is multiplied by the floor bonus mentioned above.</li></ul><li><b>Mora</b> - Since Mora would likely always be useful and can also be farmed from other activities, I thought it was reasonable to always award it from this content, though it's not meant to be an efficient method for doing so.</li><ul><li>When the run ends, players would earn an amount of Mora equal to the ((highest Character level + highest Weapon level + highest Artifact level) * 40), or up to 10800. Ending a run prematurely <i>does</i> award Mora.</li><li>Reaching the 20th floor would award an additional 4200 Mora, which would add up to 15000 total if the player had a level 90 Character, Weapon, and Artifact.</li><li>The first 15000 Mora that a player earns from the Fleeting Abyss is doubled each week. This can be accomplished by simply completing the first run each week with a level 90 Character, Weapon, and Artifact or by doing multiple runs that award less Mora.</li><li>No Mora would be awarded until the 3rd floor is completed. This is mostly to combat potential cheese strategies that could be used to farm a lot of Mora in a rather unenjoyable way.</li></ul><li><b>Battle Pass Points</b> - I haven't really talked about using this as a reward much yet because many of the previous suggestions didn't feature major content additions of this sort of scale. With that said, I think it's reasonable to award some Battle Pass Points for trying to run the Fleeting Abyss each week. However, not every player would be able to complete a run, so <i>I would instead suggest adding a 450 Battle Pass Point award for completing 3 major encounter floors each week</i>.</li><li><b>Temporary access to high-powered characters</b> - This is technically an intangible reward, but I think it should not be understated that the Fleeting Abyss allows players to have a deep gameplay experience with under-developed characters and characters they do not own. In the case of the former, this is especially great for players who lack the resources to fully develop many characters. In the case of the latter, players may be unlucky or unwilling to spend so much trying to receive a certain character.</li></ul><div>By the way, while I think this should go without saying, I fear that miHoYo may try to bastardize this content by attempting to monetize it in undesirable ways. <i>Because of this, I want to make it very clear that it should not cost Resin to access this content or obtain any of its rewards.</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">What the Fleeting Abyss Accomplishes</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Adding new content is important and it's especially important for there to be non-limited content that is built to last since event content won't always be running or be considered interesting by players. The Fleeting Abyss is the most significant content addition suggestion I will be making and I believe it would hold the interest of players for a long time. This is because the dungeon is basically a game in itself due to the self-contained progression and the rogue-lite aspect that makes it unique compared to the rest of the game. The dungeon also adds another meaningful activity to do in co-op and many considerations have been made to accommodate that style of play.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The devs have already shown that they can implement content that's basically its own game since Patch 1.3 added a tower defense minigame using Genshin Impact's combat mechanics known as <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Theater_Mechanicus" target="_blank">Theater Mechanicus</a>, which I will discuss in greater detail later in the article. While what I am suggesting may be even more ambitious to implement than that minigame, I tried outlining the suggestion in such a way that aspects of its development are made easier through the usage of existing content. Furthermore, I would like to think that players would praise this sort of content greatly and the resulting positivity may pay off in the literal sense.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Once the content is released, it would be easy to improve it further afterwards to extend the lifespan of the content. For example, any new content added to the game such as new enemy varieties, level design, and so on can utilized to provide more options for what can be randomly generated within the Fleeting Abyss. New characters and items can also be added as treasures found in the dungeon, which would be a fantastic way to let players demo new characters <i>and</i> weapons in a way that the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Test_Run_-_Character_Trial_Event" target="_blank">Test Run</a> feature cannot.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Other additions can be also made to the Fleeting Abyss to further make it feel less repetitive to run. For example, a harder difficulty could add negative effects to every floor. These effects can be invented by clever developers and/or inspired by existing effects such as Ley Line Disorders (except the anti-fun one that increases ability cooldowns) and negative effects from event content such as the opt-in effects from <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Hypostatic_Symphony#Challenges" target="_blank">Hypostatic Symphony</a>. There could also be different versions of the dungeon with greater or fewer floors. The dungeon could also have themed random generation based on an existing region to make the experience feel more immersive. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>The point I'm ultimately trying to make in the previous two paragraphs is that a creative mind can do a lot with content like the Fleeting Abyss and the contents of this suggestion (i.e. everything before this concluding part where I discuss future possibilities) represent the bare minimum of what I believe should be added to the game.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In terms of practical benefits, the Fleeting Abyss is specifically intended to be the main content used to level Paimon quickly since it awards a high amount of Paimon EXP. This means that players would be encouraged to grind the content if they want to get Paimon to absurdly high levels. Because of this, I put a lot of effort into trying to make this content interesting for a long time while providing methods for improving it further whenever development resources allow for it.</div><hr /><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Add the <u>Creature Coliseum</u>, which would be an arena where players try to win over the crowd's favor and defeat enemies in a series of matches.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">There are many games that feature content where the player has to engage in a series of battles in order to please a crowd, but my inspiration for this content comes from the Glitz Pit in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. While there may have been issues with the pacing of the story surrounding this area, I did enjoy the gimmick that was used in the many fights there where the player has to fulfill some additional objective in order to truly be considered the victor.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">One activity that Genshin Impact pushes the player to engage in is fighting against enemies and in the case of content such as Domains, they are basically pit fights. However, as I mentioned before, many of these encounters are uninteresting because each specific fight is exactly the same and any gimmicks that are present never change. <i>Unfortunately, the addition of Contending Tides in Patch 1.4 doesn't offer much hope since while it's similar to what I will be suggesting, it is event content and will only be available for a limited time.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is why I ultimately devised this suggestion since in addition to randomizing the enemies players have to fight, players would also be encouraged to fulfill certain conditions to make the most of the encounter. However, it is worth mentioning that unlike the content I drew inspiration from, doing so is not mandatory to win. This content would also be permanent, meaning players would always have access to it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Getting Started</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Unlocking the Creature Coliseum is as simple as reaching Adventurer Rank 16 to be able to use the co-op feature. Once that requirement is met, the player would head to the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Thousand_Winds_Temple" target="_blank">Thousand Winds Temple</a>, which would serve as a good location for this content since it is literally the remnants of an amphitheater. Upon reaching this location, the player can then talk to a NPC in the rafters to participate in the content. They can choose to start a run by themselves or join as a group that's either premade or formed through matchmaking. Players would then be taken to an instanced version of the Thousand Winds Temple that is far more lively.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Creature Coliseum Mechanics</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Upon entering the instance, players would be able to tweak the difficulty of the content as they please, which is done by changing the following:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>World Level, which would determine the enemy level based on the level that enemies would normally appear at a given World Level.</li><ul><li>For example, at the maximum World Level of 8, enemies up to level 94 would show up as usual.</li><li>Players cannot choose a World Level higher than what their Adventurer Level allows. In co-op, this is determined by the player with the lowest Adventurer Level.</li></ul><li>Length, which would determine how many battles players have to finish. This would determine the enemies players have to face as well as the rewards earned.</li><ul><li>The <b>Short</b> length would be 3 battles long, featuring 2 sets with normal enemies, then 1 set with elite enemies.</li><ul><li>There would be an average of around 5 normal enemies for normal enemy sets, though this can vary wildly. This applies to all normal enemy sets in Creature Coliseum.</li><li>The elite enemy would be supported by up to 4 normal enemies.</li></ul><li>The <b>Medium</b> length would be 6 battles long, featuring 4 sets with normal enemies, 1 set with elite enemies, and a normal boss.</li><ul><li>There would be at least 2 elite enemies in the elite enemy set.</li><li>The normal boss would be a typical or modified version of a normal boss fight. However, Oceanid would not appear due to how that encounter works.</li></ul><li>The <b>Long</b> length would be 10 battles long, featuring 6 sets with normal enemies, 2 sets with elites, 1 normal boss, and 1 special encounter.</li><ul><li>The special encounter would be an encounter with a unique humanoid enemy that is about as challenging as a weekly boss. I would strongly recommend designing encounters based on notable characters throughout Teyvat, including ones that can be rolled from the gacha. At least 5 of these encounters should be available to provide decent variety and more can be added later. This may be very demanding to do, but this is part of why Creature Coliseum is considered a major addition.</li></ul></ul><li>Difficulty, which would determine how challenging the mechanics of the Creature Coliseum are. Difficulty would not directly modify enemy stats, though mechanics may indirectly do so.</li><ul><li>The <b>Easy</b> difficulty would feature more lenient Crowd Favor mechanics.</li><li>The <b>Normal</b> difficulty would feature standard Crowd Favor mechanics. In addition, encounters would have additional conditions associated with them that are independent of the Crowd Favor mechanic.</li><li>The <b>Hard</b> difficulty would feature more challenging Crowd Favor mechanics. In addition, harsher conditions that are independent of the Crowd Favor mechanic would be imposed.</li></ul></ul><div>As I just mentioned, Crowd Favor is a core mechanic of the Creature Coliseum. Here's how it works:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>During battle, Crowd Favor would be a value that's set between -100 and 100. It would start at 50/0/-50 on Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty respectively.</li><li>Crowd Favor decays at a rate of 1/2/4 per second on Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty respectively.</li><li>Crowd Favor would change based on the following actions:</li><ul><li>Deal critical damage: +1 Crowd Favor (cannot occur more often than once per 0.5 seconds)</li><li>Enemy attack successfully dodged: +2 Crowd Favor (cannot occur more often than once per 0.5 seconds)</li><li>Normal enemy defeated: +2 Crowd Favor</li><li>Elite enemy defeated: +5 Crowd Favor</li><li>Use Elemental Skill: +2 Crowd Favor</li><li>Trigger Elemental Reaction: +2 Crowd Favor</li><li>Use Elemental Burst: +5 Crowd Favor</li><li>Party member is defeated: -10 Crowd Favor (-25 on Hard difficulty)</li><li>Player is affected by Elemental Reaction: -2 Crowd Favor (-5 on Hard difficulty)</li></ul><li>Each round would have at least one special method for gaining Crowd Favor active. These increases stack with existing Crowd Favor increasing effects and consist of the following:</li><ul><li>Trigger a specific Elemental Reaction: +3 additional Crowd Favor (+5 total Crowd Favor)</li><li>Glide for at least 2 seconds: +3 Crowd Favor</li><li>Damage an enemy with a plunge attack: +1 Crowd Favor per enemy damaged</li><li>Defeat up to 3 enemies in a specific order: +2 additional Crowd Favor for each enemy defeated in the correct order.</li><li>Perform a charged attack with a specific weapon type: +2 Crowd Favor</li></ul><li>When Crowd Favor is negative, enemies receive 1% increased Crit Rate and take 1% less damage for each point below 0.</li><ul><li>On Hard difficulty, enemies would also heal for 0.05% of their maximum HP every second for each point of Crowd Favor below 0. This healing can never go above a 25% threshold of the enemy's health.</li><ul><li>For example, if an enemy has 70% HP when the healing activates, they can never heal above 75% HP.</li></ul></ul><li>When Crowd Favor is at -50 or below, one of the following effects, which is determined at the start of the round, would also occur. Two would occur on Hard difficulty:</li><ul><li>Enemy elemental damage dealt increased by 25%. Enemies gain an elemental infusion on their attacks if they didn't already have one.</li><li>When the player sprints, their damage taken is increased by 50% for 5 seconds.</li><li>Stamina regeneration is reduced by 50%.</li><li>The party's active character(s) begin to suffer increasing periodic damage, maximizing at 5% max HP per second.</li><li>Party member healing effectiveness is reduced by 75%.</li></ul><li>When Crowd Favor is positive, players receive 1% increased Crit Rate and deal 1% more damage for each point above 0.</li><li>When Crowd Favor is 50 or above, one of the following effects, which is determined at the start of the round, would also occur. Two would occur on Easy difficulty: </li><ul><li>All party members gain 25% Attack Speed.</li><li>All party members gain Energy at a rate of 1 per 2 seconds.</li><li>All party members are shielded for 15% of their maximum Health every 10 seconds.</li><li>The Stamina cost for sprinting is reduced by 50%.</li><li>Enemy movement speed is reduced by 50%.</li></ul><li>If a round is completed while the Crowd Favor is positive, additional round completion rewards may be earned. These rewards increase linearly, maximizing at 100 Crowd Favor.</li></ul></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">There are additional field conditions that are set every round. On Normal difficulty, the conditions have neutral effects and are as follows:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>The weather is rainy</b> - Much like in the overworld, rain would apply the Wet debuff to everyone, making Hydro-related Elemental Reactions easier to trigger.</li><li><b>A healing zone is present in the center</b> - The healing zone in question would heal anyone standing in it for 5% of their max HP every second.</li><li><b>All combatants suffer periodic damage</b> - Specifically, everyone would suffer 5% of their max HP as damage every 10 seconds. This damage cannot be lethal.</li><li><b>Flammable objects are scattered everywhere</b> - Objects such as barrels, crates, and piles of leaves would be scattered everywhere and can be ignited to more easily deal Pyro damage. In addition, there are explosive barrels.</li><li><b>Devices that zap nearby combatants will periodically appear</b> - These devices would attack the closest target within 15 meters, dealing moderate Electro Damage. Three would appear in random locations every 20 seconds, lasting for 20 seconds.</li></ul><div>On Hard difficulty, one of the following field condition would also be set in addition to the Normal difficulty condition each round. These are specifically detrimental to the players and are as follows:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Corruption slowly spreads across the arena</b> - This zone starts at a random location with a diameter of 3 meters and expands by 1 meter diameter each second. Players that stand in it suffer 10% max HP as damage every second. Enemies that stand in it become empowered and deal 50% increased damage</li><li><b>Enemy reinforcements will constantly appear</b> - 3 normal enemies would appear every 15 seconds. They can be any normal enemy, but if certain normal enemies are already present, the reinforcements would be identical to them. They do not need to be defeated to complete the round.</li><li><b>Ice towers guard the edge of the arena</b> - These are mechanically identical to the Cryo Mechanici in Theater Mechanicus. They would fire ice bolts at a range of 15 meters that deal area Cryo damage and slow damaged players.</li><li><b>Sprinting distance is halved</b> - This also halves the amount of invincibility frames, which effectively makes dodging significantly harder.</li><li><b>The usage of devices is disabled</b> - This is self-explanatory.</li></ul><div>Now that the mechanics of Creature Coliseum have been explained, let's explain how a run of Creature Coliseum would work:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Each round of Creature Coliseum is split into two phases, which are the Preparation Phase and Combat Phase.</li><li>During the Preparation Phase, players would be able to wander around the rafters to talk to NPCs.</li><ul><li>Some NPCs would offer simple quests that usually involve turning in an item. Up to two of these quests can be completed, with each increasing the base Crowd Favor for the next round by 10.</li><li>Rapport can also be built with the NPCs. For each NPC that is talked to during this phase, base Crowd Favor for the next round is increased by 1, up to a maximum of 5.</li><li>To put all this another way, up to 25 Crowd Favor can be earned just by interacting with NPCs during the Preparation Phase.</li><li>There would also be a Junior Overseer that players can bribe to release enemies of the player's choice. This would work on all encounters except for the special encounter and costs 2500 Mora each round.</li></ul><li>When players are ready to enter the Combat Phase, they can talk to the Creature Coliseum's host, who would be the same NPC that players talk to in order the enter the Creature Coliseum. They would then be taken to a screen that shows what to expect next round, which includes details on the following:</li><ul><li>The enemies players have to face, including specific quantities of enemies.</li><li>The value that Crowd Favor is set to at the start of the round.</li><li>The special Crowd Favor conditions that can be met to increase Crowd Favor. Up to 3 conditions can be in place each round.</li><li>If on Normal or higher difficulty, the field condition(s) for the round would also be listed.</li></ul><li>Players would then be able to set up their party as needed, since certain enemies and conditions may require certain characters to more effectively handle.</li><ul><li>While consumable cannot be used during the Combat Phase outside of what the NRE device allows, players can opt to use buff consumables when setting up their party.</li></ul><li>The Combat Phase is fairly self-explanatory and would feature all the aforementioned mechanics. In addition, party energy is set to 0 so players can't use Elemental Bursts at the start to gain a lot of Crowd Favor. Finally, completing the round would revive and fully heal the party.</li></ul><div>To summarize this part of the suggestion, players can optionally try to win support from the audience between rounds to build Crowd Favor. Having a high Crowd Favor allows players to benefit from highly useful effects that are randomly determined each round, but having a low Crowd Favor causes players to suffer from a randomly determined penalty instead. The enemies that appear in each round are somewhat randomized unless players opt to bribe and would always appear in a fixed quantity. Finally, there are randomized field conditions in effect each round that may change how players approach an encounter due to the effects that occur, which in turn provides more variety to the combat gameplay.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Rewards</div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The rewards earned from Creature Coliseum depend on a few factors. The first is determined by the length that is chosen and would primarily affect the end reward. The second is determined by the enemies that appear during a specific round and would determine the rewards earned from that round. Finally, the chosen difficulty and World Level would have some effect the quantity of the reward that is received.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The follow rewards are earned after completing a round:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul><li><b>Character and Paimon EXP</b>, which are determined by World Level and the type of enemy featured. The following values are the amount awarded at World Level 8 and lower World Levels would award a lower amount:</li><ul><li>150 Character and Paimon EXP is earned from normal enemy rounds.</li><li>300 Character and Paimon EXP is earned from elite enemy rounds.</li><li>500 Character and Paimon EXP is earned from normal boss rounds.</li><li>1000 Character and Paimon EXP is earned from special encounter rounds.</li></ul><li><b>Mora</b>, which is also determined by World Level and the type of enemy featured. The following values are the amount awarded at World Level 8. Lower World Levels would award a lower amount:</li><ul><li>250 Mora is earned from normal enemy rounds.</li><li>500 Mora is earned from elite enemy rounds.</li><li>750 Mora is earned from normal boss rounds.</li><li>1500 Mora is earned from special encounter rounds.</li></ul><li><b>Materials dropped from enemies</b>, which are determined by the enemies that appear during the round. For example, if Hilichurl Shooters show up in a normal enemy round, then an appropriate amount of Hilichurl Arrowheads would be awarded.</li><li>On Normal difficulty, 50% more rewards are received. On Hard difficulty, 100% more rewards are received.</li></ul><div>Upon completing a run of Creature Coliseum, players would earn rewards based on the length that was chosen. These rewards would be in addition to the rewards earned from completing the previous round and would be as follows:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>On Short, players would receive additional enemy drops based on all enemies that appeared. They would also receive 50 Companionship EXP and two <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Crystal_Core" target="_blank">Crystal Cores</a>.</li><ul><li>Enemy drop rewards are increased by 50% on Normal difficulty and 100% on Hard difficulty.</li></ul><li>On Medium, players would receive additional enemy drops based on all enemies that appeared. They would also receive 100 Companionship EXP and 500 Paimon EXP (this includes the Companionship EXP gain).</li><ul><li>Enemy drop rewards are increased by 50% on Normal difficulty and 100% on Hard difficulty.</li><li>In addition, 40 Resin can be spent to earn additional loot based on what the normal boss would typically drop. Reward quantity would not be increased by higher difficulty levels.</li></ul><li>On Long, players would receive additional enemy drops based on all enemies that appeared. They would also receive 150 Companionship EXP <u>and one Fatetwister or Fateshaper</u>.</li><ul><li>Enemy drop rewards are increased by 50% on Normal difficulty and 100% on Hard difficulty.</li><li>In addition, 20 Resin can be spent to earn one additional Fatetwister or Fateshaper. 40 Resin or one Condensed Resin can be spent to earn two additional Fatetwisters or Fateshapers. If the World Level of the run is set to 8, the amount of Fatetwisters and Fateshapers earned from spending Resin is doubled.</li></ul></ul><div style="text-align: center;">What the Creature Coliseum Accomplishes</div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Creature Coliseum allows players to fight enemies in a new format that should make it more exciting than completing a time trial or wiping out an enemy camp. It should also provide players with a challenge that encourages them to develop their characters along with their personal skill to overcome it. This is because I have opted to introduce more mechanical challenges since that's my preferred game design philosophy. For example, leveraging the Crowd Favor mechanic properly would allow players to avoid penalties and benefit from bonuses more often, which especially matters on Hard difficulty.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Creature Coliseum is a great place for farming enemy drops, especially if players opt to bribe the Junior Overseer to control the items dropped. In addition, each length would offer useful rewards specific to it that should appeal to certain types of players. The Short length allows players to farm Crystal Cores, which are useful for creating Condensed Resin among other items. The Medium length allows players to farm normal bosses at lower World Levels (which will also be possible in Patch 1.4, but more options are nice) and provides another good way to farm Paimon EXP outside of the Fleeting Abyss. The Long length allows players to farm Fatetwisters and Fateshapers to reroll Artifact stats without needing to spend Resin, though Resin can be used to earn more at a time.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Creature Coliseum is also a good co-op activity since players would generally be able to earn Crowd Favor more easily. Completing tasks during the Preparation Phase would also be faster with more players around.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Finally, the Creature Coliseum serves as a form of <b>permanent</b> endgame content that should not only be able to stand the test of time, but indirectly benefit from new updates. This is because the addition of new enemies means that more types of enemies can show up in Creature Coliseum. New areas also provide an opportunity to add new settings for the Creature Coliseum. New special encounters and conditions, whether they are ones that affect the field or are meant to manipulate Crowd Favor, can also be added over time to make the content feel fresh. This is especially important to do since endgame players would generally want to try the Creature Coliseum at the maximum World Level on Long length and Hard difficulty to farm Artifact stat reroll items, which should always be relevant.</div><hr /><div></div><blockquote><div>Add permanent versions of minigames that give players some fun side activities to do that doesn't involve waiting for event that may occur infrequently.</div><div></div></blockquote><div>If this article hasn't made it clear already, I don't like how some events have really enjoyable content, but it's only around for relatively brief time after which it is gone for a long time if not forever. While I don't think all event content needs to return, if only because some events such as the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/While_It%27s_Warm" target="_blank">While It's Warm</a> food delivery event were absurdly unenjoyable, I think it's important to keep content that players clearly enjoyed. At the moment, I think bringing back a permanent version of <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Theater_Mechanicus" target="_blank">Theater Mechanicus</a> and <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Gliding_Challenge" target="_blank">Gliding Challenge</a> would address the issue I just brought up.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">How Permanent Gliding Challenge Would Work</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Adding a permanent version of the Gliding Challenge is as simple as adding back all 7 courses that were temporarily available and allowing players to attempt them at their leisure. In addition, because there's a lot of score attack videos despite an apparent lack of positive feedback for the event, emphasizing the score attack element may encourage friendly competition between players. This can be done by making the following additions:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Add a way for players to race each other in co-op. The player with the highest score, followed by the fastest time in the event of a tie, is considered the winner.</li><li>Add a leaderboard that shows how well friends did in terms of score and time for each course.</li><li>Optionally add a region-wide leaderboard that shows the same.</li><li>To encourage players to attempt courses again on a regular basis, reset the leaderboard(s) with every major patch. This would not reset personal best data, even if it doesn't show up on the leaderboard anymore.</li></ul><div>In addition, I think it is important to add more courses over time. Adding at least one more course with each major patch shouldn't be too demanding and would help to prevent the content from feeling stale. Introducing new mechanics such as aerial enemies that try to trigger the Overload reaction on players or effects that drain Stamina would also make the courses more interesting.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">How Permanent Theater Mechanicus Would Work</div><div><br /></div><div>Adding a permanent version of Theater Mechanicus, which received a fair amount of <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/comments/lh8ivf/theater_mechanicus_is_the_best_event_so_far/" target="_blank">positive reception</a>, is a little more complicated since there was a progression system that involved farming Veneficus Sigils to upgrade towers. This then allowed players to completed more difficult stages. In addition, the main purpose of Theater Mechanicus was to acquire <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Peace_Talisman" target="_blank">event currency</a> to buy goods from the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Lantern_Rite#Xiao_Market" target="_blank">Xiao Market</a>. This obviously wouldn't exist in a permanent version of the minigame.</div><div><br /></div><div>With these points in mind, I believe the following changes would need to be made to Theater Mechanicus:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Remove the Xiao Lantern cost to start, since it's no longer possible to obtain the crafting materials for it.</li><li>All mechanici would start at their maximum level. It would be fairly quick to finish Theater Mechanicus progression, so I reasoned it's better to eliminate it so that all players can start on an even playing field to more easily co-op with each other.</li><li>All stages would have a Difficulty 7 version of them. Since all mechanici are at their maximum level, players would run this difficulty very often. Because of this, it's important to ensure there are a wide variety of stages available since each requires a different strategy to do well in.</li><li>Veneficus Sigils would still exist, but their purpose would be reworked:</li><ul><li>Spending 1000 would allow the player to select one Mystic Art of their choice prior to entering the stage. This can only be done once per attempt. Fearless and Fickle Mystic Arts cannot be chosen.</li><li>Spending 2500 would unlock one attempt at the Blink of an Eye difficulty. This would offer increased rewards but award no Veneficus Sigils, making it an effective sink for Veneficus Sigils and encouraging players to farm them.</li></ul></ul><div>I also think it's important to add the following at some point after a permanent version of the minigame is made available:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>New mechanici</b> - Adding more types of mechanici would allow for more diverse strategies in this minigame. For example, a mechanici that can remove elemental debuffs from enemies may have a useful niche application.</li><li><b>New stages</b> - These would add more level design variety while potentially altering the kinds of strategies players employ since enemy waves and maximum constructible mechanici allowance can also be adjusted. Adding new Blink of an Eye stages in particular would allow players to have more high difficulty stages to try.</li><li><b>Higher difficulty levels</b> - I personally don't think the difficulty can be increased much further, but one more difficulty level that has greater rewards and an even higher Veneficus Sigil cost to attempt would make it easier to sink Veneficus Sigils while providing what to many players would be an absurd challenge.</li><li><b>More enemy varieties</b> - Since enemy AI is adjusted for this minigame, newly added enemies would require additional work to make them suitable for use in this minigame. However, I believe the payoff would be worth it since new enemies can offer new kinds of challenges.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;">Rewards</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In addition to the entertainment and other intangible value that minigames would provide, I think all permanent minigames should at least award Companionship EXP Books. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the case of the Gliding Challenge, players would earn about 10 Companionship EXP in books on average. However, repeating the same course would reduce this reward by half until another course is completed, which would encourage players to try multiple courses.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For Theater Mechanicus, there is a base average reward of 7 Companionship EXP in books for completing any stage. This increases by 3 Companionship EXP for each difficulty level above 1, maximizing at 25 for completing a Difficulty 7 stage. Players would earn 50 Companionship EXP in books on average for completing a stage on Blink of an Eye difficulty. In addition, players would earn 5 Companionship EXP for their active party for each Fearless challenge they complete.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">What Permanent Minigames Accomplish</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Permanent minigames would provide an additional fun activity that allows players to earn a little bit of Companionship EXP in the process. More importantly, adding permanent versions of minigames would show players that minigames that are liked may stay around, which would be a great way to respond to positive player feedback. In fact, <a href="https://genshin.mihoyo.com/en/news/detail/9138" target="_blank">patch 1.4</a> is adding more minigames and there's a possibility that some of them might be good enough to keep as permanent content.</div><hr /><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote>Add a <u>Treasure Hunt</u> feature that functions like <a href="https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Treasure_Trails" target="_blank">Treasure Trails</a> in Runescape. Players would have to complete puzzles, talk to NPCs, and overcome combat trials to earn a significant reward.</blockquote></div><div style="text-align: left;">Treasure Trails, also known as clue scrolls, are an interesting piece of content in Runescape because they encourage players to drop what they're currently doing and complete a series of steps around the world to earn what could potentially be very valuable treasure. Genshin Impact has recently implemented some event content that reminded me of how this feature worked. Specifically, the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Lost_Riches" target="_blank">Lost Riches event</a> and the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/The_Illumiscreen:_I" target="_blank">Illumiscreen event quests</a> involve going on a treasure hunt that involves a fair amount of exploration with steps that are similar to what clue scrolls sometimes give.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Genshin Impact features a number of objectives that would make for great clue scroll steps if a feature like it were implemented. For example, players have to interact with NPCs quite often to help resolve their troubles in a number of ways. They also have to solve many puzzles and complete minor encounters on a regular basis. Furthermore, one of the strongest aspects of Genshin Impact is that there's a large overworld to explore with some great movement options that are inspired by Breath of the Wild. Because of all these reasons, a feature similar to Treasure Trails would work well in this game.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Getting Started</div><div><br /></div><div><div>To start a Treasure Hunt, players would need to receive an <b>Unread Treasure Map</b>. They can be obtained from the following sources:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Daily bonus Commission reward - Players would always receive one Unread Treasure Map from their bonus Commission reward.</li><li>Spending Original Resin - Players have a 1.25% chance per Resin spent to receive an Unread Treasure Map, up to 75% for spending 60 Resin (assuming my previous suggestion to reduce weekly boss Resin cost isn't implemented).</li><li>Completing rounds in the Creature Coliseum - Once a Creature Coliseum run ends, players have a 10% chance per round completed to receive an Unread Treasure Map. This means completing a run on the Long length guarantees an Unread Treasure Map.</li><li>Completing a Fleeting Abyss run - Once a Fleeting Abyss run ends, players have a 5% chance per floor completed to receive an Unread Treasure Map. Completing all 20 floors in a run guarantees an Unread Treasure Map.</li><li>Opening a Reputation reward cache - The reward cache from earning reputation beyond level 8 would always award one Unread Treasure Map.</li><li>Quest and event reward - Unread Treasure Maps can be awarded at miHoYo's discretion from quest and event content.</li></ul></div><div>Players can possess up to 5 Unread Treasure Maps. They can use one to receive a Read Treasure Map, which would start the Treasure Hunt by giving players the first step.</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Treasure Hunt Mechanics</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Players can only have one Read Treasure Map in their inventory at a time. The objective of the Treasure Map's current step, <i>which is completely randomized</i>, would show up as a World Quest in the Quest interface, allowing for easy navigation to it. The objective can be reset by talking to Katheryne, but all step progress on the Treasure Map would also be reset. To find the treasure associated with the Treasure Map, 3-5 steps must be completed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Each step would have one of the following types of objectives:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Puzzle objectives, which involve completing a simple puzzle that usually requires the usage of some elemental skill. To easily add many puzzles to the puzzle objective pool, one-time puzzles that spawn chests can be reused.</li><li>Combat objectives, which would be similar in scope to a Random Event objective and involve defeating a small pack of enemies or the like.</li><li>NPC objectives, which involve talking to an NPC and completing their task. This task would either involve answering a trivia question such as one on regional history or delivering an easily obtained item.</li></ul><div>Much like with Treasure Trails, there would be a fixed pool of each type of objective (similar to how Commissions work) and the objective assignment is what is randomized. More objectives should also be added over time to make the content feel less repetitive.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once all steps are completed, the player would be presented with a treasure chest that contains their reward and they can use another Unread Treasure Map.</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Rewards</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Completing a Treasure Hunt would award some gatherable materials and 3-5 Anemo or Geo Sigils based on the number of steps that needed to be completed. The Sigil type that is obtained depends on the region that the Treasure Hunt is completed in. Since Sigils can always be traded in for Mora, players can consistently earn as much as 4000 Mora from completing a Treasure Hunt once all other items are bought.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In addition, cosmetics that were awarded in the past such as the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Mini_Seelie:_Dayflower" target="_blank">Mini-Seelie</a> from the Lost Riches event and the many namecard style rewards could be made purchasable for the type of Sigil that the devs deem appropriate. Not all limited-time cosmetics need to be made available again in this way, but I do believe it's important to give players more of a reason to do Treasure Hunts than to farm materials and Mora or buy out what the <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Souvenir_Shop" target="_blank">Souvenir Shops</a> currently have available to sell.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">What Treasure Hunts Accomplish</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Treasure Hunts would be a useful bonus reward for much of the content available in Genshin Impact and encourages players to try all of the content that is available. Players are then rewarded for extensively traveling around the overworld to earn their reward, which may encourage further exploration.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">By offering Sigils as the reward, players would have a renewable source of the currency that allows them to more easily buy goods that require the currency. Adding cosmetics to the Souvenir Shops would allow players to buy items they may have missed and in order to do so, they would have to engage with the game's content fairly extensively or at least scour the overworld for chests since they also drop Sigils. Players interested in earning a little extra Mora may also see value in doing every Treasure Hunt they can, though there are plenty of other activities that one can earn Mora from.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monetization-related Tweaks</span></div><div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, I wanted to make some suggestions that relate more directly to how Genshin Impact is monetized. I've already outright stated what I think should be done about the monetization of the game, so this subsection should be short compared to the insanity that is the previous subsection.</div><div><blockquote>Add items that can unlock constellations for any 4-star and 5-star character as well as items that can upgrade the refinement level on any 4-star and 5-star weapon. These would be very demanding to receive and some can also be purchased with <a href="https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Masterless_Starglitter" target="_blank">Masterless Starglitter</a>.</blockquote></div><div>While I don't mind how characters and weapons themselves are acquired thanks to the pity system, I do think that having to receive 6 more dupes of a character or 4 more dupes of a weapon to get the most out of a character or weapon is absurdly demanding. In fact, I would go as far as to say it serves to make most people disinterested in rolling, especially considering how expensive rolling in the gacha is. This is why I'm borrowing an idea from Azur Lane and suggesting the addition of items that can unlock any character's constellations and can be used to increase the refinement level of any weapon. For context, Azur Lane has units called the Universal Bulin, Prototype Bulin, and Specialized Bulin Custom that can be used to increase the level cap of a unit without needing a duplicate of that unit.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the case of constellation unlocks, I would suggest the additions of two items called the <b>Celestial Fragment</b> and <b>Celestial Core</b> (<i>or they can be named whatever, much like any other item name I invented in this article</i>), which would unlock one constellation for a 4-star character and 5-star character respectively. The Celestial Fragment would be added as a reward for reaching Battle Pass Level 50 and can also be purchased for 40 Masterless Starglitter up to 3 times each month. I also strongly recommend that one is made purchasable from event shops. The Celestial Core would be a reward for reaching Battle Pass Level 50 with Gnostic Hymn active and can also be purchased for 100 Masterless Starglitter once each month. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the case of refinement upgrades, I would suggest the addition of two items called the <b>Refined Starsilver</b> and <b>Enchanted Starsilver</b>. Refined Starsilver would be added as a reward for reaching Battle Pass Level 30 and can also be received as a reward for earning 27 stars in the Abyssal Moon Spire twice per month. It should also be made purchasable from event shops periodically. Enchanted Starsilver would be a reward for reaching Battle Pass 30 with Gnostic Hymn active and can also be purchased for 100 Masterless Starglitter once each month.</div><div><br /></div><div>As you can see, players will be limited in terms of how many constellations and refinement levels they receive from normal gameplay. In fact, earning 5-star constellations and refinements would require an absurd amount of patience or the expenditure of money to at least buy Gnostic Hymn (or even Gnostic Chorus), which increases the value of that particular microtransaction. Meanwhile, 4-star characters and weapons are fairly common to get from the gacha while earning additional constellations and refinements for them by using the suggested items would require a fair amount of dedicated play. Because of all these reasons, I don't think miHoYo's income from Genshin Impact's gacha would be affected much and the good faith effort to provide players with a more consistent way to unlock constellations and refinement levels may result in financial benefits as players are more inclined to buy other things the game has to offer.</div><blockquote><div>Add paid character skins</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">As I established when discussing issues with Genshin Impact, a lack of cosmetic microtransactions is my biggest gripe with the monetization of this game. I'm genuinely surprised that the game is approaching 6 months in age and there have somehow been no paid character skins. Considering that the game is praised for its art style, I suspect people would be willing to spend a lot of money on eye candy using the same art style. In fact, I would go as far as to say the money miHoYo would make from this suggestion would more than make back any "loss" incurred from every other suggestion I made, including the previous one in this subsection.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote>Add paid skins for Paimon</blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">But when it comes to making money off cosmetics, why not go even further beyond? There may not currently be a great reason to add cosmetics for Paimon, but if she becomes a core part of the gameplay, giving her a few purchasable outfits makes more sense since she'll be visible more often.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote>Add paid cosmetic weapon overrides.</blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">While character skins would account for how their non-existent armor looks, weapons would probably remain unchanged. This provides an opportunity for the addition of purchasable cosmetics that change how a character's weapon looks.<br /><blockquote>Add paid cosmetic gadget overrides/effects.</blockquote></div><div style="text-align: left;">Finally, while I personally don't use gadgets much, I could see a few, such as the Wind Catcher, having some optional cosmetic flair added that could be made purchasable for money. Considering that the Mini-Seelie pet is considered a gadget, adding more purchasable gadget pets is an option too.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Incidentally, when it comes to all of these cosmetic suggestions, I think it's important to also add some cosmetics of each type that can be acquired through normal gameplay rather than real life money</i>. The quality and quantity of these cosmetics is otherwise subject to miHoYo's discretion, though it would be nice to be able to earn more than what is often going to be a namecard style as a cosmetic reward.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Closing Thoughts</span></div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">As I said near the start of this ridiculously long article, I want to like Genshin Impact. It has an interesting party-based combat system, the overworld is quite vibrant, and the stories it tells are entertaining. However, the game clearly needs improvement before I would consider dedicating myself to the game by spending money on it or giving a good faith recommendation of it. I would like to think that this article has shown that I have a good grasp on at least some of the issues plaguing the game and the suggestions I made would sufficiently address those issues. However, much like with past suggestions, I don't expect the developers to take any of these ideas seriously, even if the criticism is not being made towards a Blizzard game this time.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It is also worth mentioning that there are many games, especially on PC, that don't resort to offering insanely short-lasting ephemeral experiences while having little else that is meaningful to do to the point that even good traditional mobile games may offer a better gameplay experience. There are also others working on games inspired by Breath of the Wild that show promise such as Craftopia, meaning there will be competition and it will grow more fierce over time.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In any case, if miHoYo wishes to maintain a bastardized version of Breath of the Wild that's often only worthwhile to play for a relatively brief amount of time each day, I will approach the game in that manner. In such a case, I will derive whatever enjoyment I can, then engage in other activities I find enjoyable. This in turn reduces the likelihood that I will spend money on Genshin Impact, which I already mentioned above but since miHoYo probably cares a lot about money, it's worth mentioning again. I would like to think that there are a number of F2P players and low spenders who share this line of thinking.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We can just wait for a better game, after all...</div><div><div><div><div><div><span></span></div><span></span></div><span></span></div><span></span></div><span></span></div><span></span>Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-19133879235384776172020-08-06T19:54:00.003-07:002020-08-06T19:54:58.300-07:00My Thoughts on Azerite and its FutureAzerite is one of the few features for Battle for Azeroth that I have yet to formally give my thoughts on. Considering my <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/09/legions-gameplay-loop-artifacts.html">past</a> <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/05/artifacts-and-paragon-systems-do-not.html">thoughts</a> on Artifacts and, more importantly, what I believed should have been done with them in <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-future-of-artifacts.html">future</a> <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/10/a-possible-future-artifact-system.html">iterations</a>, one might expect me to think poorly of the Azerite system. To a degree, this expectation is correct but much like with Artifacts, <i>Azerite has changed greatly throughout the expansion to the point I believe it would be a mistake to ruthlessly discard many aspects of the feature during the transition to Shadowlands. This was more or less stated in the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/news=296022/blizzcon-2019-world-of-warcraft-q-a-liveblog">Blizzcon interview late last year</a> since Azerite as a system will remain as a leveling feature but will be unusable in Shadowlands content</i>.<br />
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Because I think Azerite should have more of a future than planned and also because this article is being published at the conclusion of the Battle for Azeroth expansion, I will be approaching the topic in a different manner. Specifically, I will deconstruct the Azerite system and review its components, such as Azerite gear and Essences, then determine if and how they can be adapted to work with changes made in the Shadowlands expansion so that they are available for Shadowlands content. I will also determine if it's worth keeping various components of the Azerite system at all. Much like previous articles on Battle for Azeroth features, this one will also be rife with (pretentious) suggestions regarding theoretical future iterations that will likely not be considered by the development team, let alone implemented on test or live realms. I hope my musings are enjoyable to read despite this.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Future of Artifact Power</span></div>
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Azerite, which is the resource gathered to empower the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=158075/heart-of-azeroth">Heart of Azeroth</a> and unlock the many features of the Azerite system, is essentially just Artifact Power. In fact, the terms seem to be used interchangeably, so I will do the same.<br />
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Much like the past Artifact system, Artifact Power can be gathered from much of the expansion's content, especially endgame content. This in turn is used to increase the Heart of Azeroth level, which in this case provides three distinct benefits. The first is that Azerite traits on armor become available at specific Heart levels, with higher requirements for stronger equipment. The second is that major and minor Azerite Essence slots and modest stamina bonuses can be unlocked. These additional benefits unlock starting at level 52 up to level 80. Finally, the Heart of Azeroth's stats increase slightly with each Heart level, which can happen endlessly and serves as a form of power-based Paragon progression.<br />
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In addition, there is also an <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/heart-of-azeroth-overview#artifact-knowledge">Artifact Knowledge</a> system that allows players to reach higher Heart levels over time without grinding an unreasonable amount. Unlike the previous expansion, Artifact Knowledge occurs automatically by decreasing the amount of Artifact Power needed to level the Heart of Azeroth. The decrease is done in such a way that the Heart of Azeroth levels roughly 30% faster each week, much like Artifact Knowledge in the previous expansion but without the insane numerical inflation.<br />
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I personally didn't have as much of an issue with how Artifact Power worked this time around compared to in Legion. While there is a Paragon progression system, the benefits are even weaker than traits such as <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/spell=239042/concordance-of-the-legionfall">Concordance of the Legionfall</a>. Artifact Knowledge is also more refined because players don't have to grind for currency to upgrade it and the numerical inflation issue from last expansion is addressed in a way even better than what I suggested in my article discussing the future of Artifacts.<br />
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With that said, the system was and is far from perfect. I personally never felt compelled to grind for Heart levels, but some of the Heart requirements to unlock gear traits prior to patch 8.2 were a bit high and absurd to grind for without Artifact Knowledge. I also was not a fan of the addition of the unlockable Stamina bonuses since they cause a stat inflation problem similar to Legion's Artifacts where player health ballooned because of similar Stamina bonuses. Finally,<i> I continue to wish that endless Paragon progression which directly increases character power was entirely abolished in favor of cosmetic or utility Paragon progression</i> (which some other Blizzard games have!). I would go as far as to say I think Heart level should be capped at 80 immediately and players earn another reward instead of Artifact Power if their Heart of Azeroth is capped (such as more <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1803/echoes-of-nyalotha">Echoes of Ny'alotha</a>).<br />
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When it comes to the future of Artifact Power, I see no reason to keep it around since <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/news=295991/wow-shadowlands-anima-power-soulbinding-no-infinite-grind-of-anima">Anima</a> appears to be the new version of it in Shadowlands and other suggestions I plan to make will remove the need for it during leveling. When it comes to Anima, it seems to be more like a currency such as Valor Points since acquisition is said to have a daily (or other time-gated) cap and Anima can be spent on multiple things. One of these things is Soulbinding, which seems to serve as Artifact-style progression since players gradually unlock a set of benefits, though there appears to be a distinct end to this progression. <i>In any case, considering I already suggested Artifact Power should be treated as a currency before Battle for Azeroth even came out, I approve of the possibility of that happening.</i> In fact, I would specify that it would be nice if bonus roll currency could be purchased with Anima if that's not already the case.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Future of Heart of Azeroth</span></div>
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As mentioned above, the Heart of Azeroth serves as the gear piece used to unlock various features such as traits on Azerite equipment and slots to use Azerite Essences. The necklace itself also increases in power with level, though it can also be upgraded through certain quests.<br />
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I personally think there's no need to tie any Artifact-like system to equipment and it's easy enough to use an interface for choosing benefits such as traits instead. This will come into play in a greater way in later sections, but what I'm basically trying to say is the Heart of Azeroth as a piece of equipment is entirely unnecessary and has served its purpose so it's fair game to remove entirely.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Future of Azerite Equipment</span></div>
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Azerite equipment covers the head, shoulder, and chest equipment slots and provides a significant boost to Stamina and primary stats while featuring Azerite traits that provide major passive benefits. I find they serve a role similar to the now defunct tier sets except instead of relying on having a specific amount of equipment pieces in the set, players need a sufficient Heart level to unlock Azerite traits on the equipment.<br />
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Equipment itself didn't change much over the course of the expansion, but acquisition methods improved because of the addition of <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1718/titan-residuum">Titan Residuum</a>, Benthic armor pieces, and Horrific Visions. The former addition primarily helped to address an issue with being unable to acquire Azerite equipment from Mythic+ while also making scrapping and disenchanting unneeded Azerite equipment more worthwhile. The latter two additions made solo content a better source of decent Azerite equipment, though not at the level of the ever-vaunted content known as raiding.<br />
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I will talk about the traits themselves in the next section, but when it comes to the equipment itself, I think there's no need to have it even if there were plans to keep Azerite traits in a major way. This is because it's possible to reimplement them in a different way that is not reliant on equipment. Furthermore, I think this would be better for leveling from 10-50 since it would encourage players to try a greater variety of gear for the equipment slots associated with Azerite gear, which does not appear to be the case at the moment.<br />
<br />
Considering I want Azerite equipment gone, one may wonder what I think about bringing tier sets back. In regards to that, I agree with Watcher's <a href="https://blizzardwatch.com/2017/11/15/battle-azeroth-will-not-traditional-raid-tier-sets/">remark</a> that tier sets basically "locked" equipment slots and basically limited options in terms of the equipment one may put into specific slots. However, <i>I do think having more cosmetic gear sets for each class would be nice</i> since the lack of tier gear sets appears to have resulted in what mostly consisted of cosmetic gear sets based on armor type rather than class. I also do not oppose the idea of adding more equipment with fairly generic set effects like the few that have been added in Legion and Battle for Azeroth. To put all of what I said another way, as long as class armor sets don't have set effects that are basically mandatory to have, I'm all for having more class tier sets or something similar to it.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Future of Azerite Traits</span></div>
<br />
Azerite traits are passive effects that are available on Azerite equipment. They consist of multiple categories that are grouped into rings based on power level. The outer ring traits are the most powerful and provide at least one specialization-specific benefit along with some generic benefits usually based on the tier the Azerite equipment itself is from. Middle ring traits increase power to a generally lesser degree and consist of a set of generic benefits to choose from. Inner ring traits provide a modest level of utility such as healing and damage reduction and while there may be some class-specific benefits, these traits are generally quite weak. Finally, there is a center trait that increases the item level of the Azerite equipment by 5. Each piece of Azerite equipment has its own specific set of traits, meaning the acquisition of Azerite traits do not have an additional layer of randomness.<br />
<br />
Initially, there were only up to 4 rings, which includes the center. The Heart level needed to fully unlock all Azerite traits on higher item level gear pieces was fairly demanding and mostly reserved for the more hardcore players who would need them most. A 5th ring was added in patch 8.1, which made it so each piece of new gear had two sets of outer ring traits. The center trait was also updated to empower all other chosen Azerite traits, which made it more important to unlock and therefore increased the demand to grind for Azerite. This ultimately caused frustration for certain players. This was then addressed in 8.2 by shifting the Azerite grind away from unlocking Azerite traits on gear to unlocking Azerite Essence slots. Heart level requirements were generally low as a result and this design choice has remained since then.<br />
<br />
Personally, I find Azerite traits to be something of a tier gear set effect replacement with more choice involved. It also appears to draw inspiration from past systems such as glyphs, Artifact traits, and Legion legendary equipment effects due to the varying power level of traits along with the specific effects they have. While each ring didn't provide an abundance of choice, I believe they provided enough to encourage players to think critically about their choice without overwhelming them (assuming they are not using a guide). Furthermore, some traits, especially outer ring traits, could significantly alter playstyle and the value of certain talents, which allows for more diverse character customization.<br />
<br />
Because of the aforementioned factors, I think it would be a huge mistake to obsolete Azerite traits and a major mistake to retain the trait effects but remove the ability to customize which Azerite traits a character has. However, the current Azerite equipment and trait system is too unwieldy and as I've mentioned, I don't want Azerite equipment to stay. <i>To that end, I propose a new interface is implemented within the talent interface where players can choose outer ring, middle ring, and inner ring traits directly without the need for gear or Heart level.</i><br />
<br />
When it comes to how this new Azerite trait system could work, the general idea is players gradually unlock outer, middle, and inner ring slots as they level up, which is a concept similar to how glyph slots in the now-defunct <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Glyph#Patch_changes">glyph system</a> were unlocked. These level thresholds would be as follows:<br />
<ul>
<li>Inner Ring slot unlocks: 3, 13, 23, 33, 43, 53</li>
<li>Middle Ring slot unlocks: 6, 16, 26, 36, 46, 56</li>
<li>Outer Ring slot unlocks: 10, 19, 29, 39, 49, 59</li>
</ul>
As one may have noticed, the level requirements end near the level cap of 60. This helps to make players feel like they're gaining more out of each level. This is also why the last digit of each level threshold is a multiple of 3 since based on currently available Shadowlands leveling progression information, players are less likely to unlock anything else such as abilities and talents at such levels. It is worth mentioning this system can be expanded on further with additional expansions, adding one or more slots for traits every time the level cap is increased. It is also worth mentioning that Azerite traits would need to scale in a new way since they would be available at a wide range of character levels and the previous scaling with equipment item level would not work. To accomplish this, any previously flat values that scaled with equipment item level would scale with stats such as Attack Power or Spell Power.<br />
<br />
When it comes to choosing traits, players can choose from <u>all</u> traits available to their specific specialization for each respective slot. The same trait can be chosen as many times as desired, but the effect will suffer diminishing returns based on how many times it is chosen. Specifically, <i>the numerical effects that normally stack will diminish by 20% for each additional instance of that trait, dropping to a minimum of 60%</i>. This would mean three stacks of a single trait would only provide 240% and the maximum benefit of 6 stacks of a single trait are chosen is 420%. My reasoning for adding this diminishing return is to discourage players from exclusively choosing the same trait. This is because while traits should ideally be somewhat balanced, without diminishing returns it would likely be optimal to simply choose a trait multiple times, which reduces or eliminates any semblance of choice.<br />
<br />
My proposed system would also attempt to address issues with the previous Azerite system. Specifically, while Azerite equipment and traits were more friendly to multiple specializations than Artifacts, players still ideally needed multiple pieces of gear for the same slot with specific sets of traits since respeccing Azerite traits can get costly. In my system, chosen traits would be tied to specialization, which would eliminate this issue. Players would still have to spend gold to reset their chosen traits for a single specialization, but the cost would be low and cap at a fairly low amount such as 50 gold. Much like with talents, this would encourage players to think about the choices they make before leaving town.<br />
<br />
Finally, I think it's important to keep adding new traits and rotate old traits out in addition to making appropriate balance changes. This keeps the feature fresh since the same choices may not always be the best depending on the player. Adding new traits also allows for the addition of traits themed to a specific tier much like during Battle for Azeroth, which helps to make each major (or even minor) content patch more distinct.<br />
<br />
To conclude this section, <i>I believe the Azerite trait system has potential to add another layer of character customization that increases the depth of the game without overwhelming the player too much</i>. Having up to 6 unlocks for each of the three types of traits and balancing accordingly would allow for a very high level of customization. A rework like the one I proposed would also be beneficial to players who dabble in multiple specializations. Finally, tying unlocks to character level would eliminate a lot of the bloat of the existing system and serve to proactively resolve an issue with later leveling progression being underwhelming, which has been an issue since Warlords of Draenor and I predict it will happen again during or after Shadowlands due to the continued use of features that appear to be known as "borrowed power" being tied to later leveling progression.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Future of Essences</span></div>
<br />
Azerite Essences are something I have mentioned a few times throughout the article already and, in my opinion, are the most notable part of the Azerite system. They can be found in the form of items that can then be added to the Heart of Azeroth and upgraded with other items that are typically more demanding to get. The Azerite Essence can then be used by placing it into an essence slot. Each Azerite Essence has a major active or passive effect and a minor passive effect. When an Azerite Essence is slotted into the only major essence slot, both effects will be active, while only the minor effect will activate if it's placed into one of up to three minor essence slots. This is similar to PvP talents in that players get a pool of abilities to choose from but can only have a limited number of them active at any given time. However, unlike PvP talents, Azerite Essences are active regardless of the situation.<br />
<br />
While the many Azerite Essence effects are fairly generic, I believe they generally differentiate themselves enough from a mechanical standpoint to allow for significant customization. I also generally liked Azerite Essence progression since each one is unlocked and upgraded by doing a specific type of content, which encourages players to try a wide variety of content. However, rank 3 essences, while not as demanding as the cosmetic rank 4 essences, can be obnoxious to have to grind for repeatedly on multiple characters. Thankfully the addition of Echoes of Ny'alotha addressed this issue by making rank 3 essences buyable if a character on the account already has it.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, I believe the concept of Azerite Essences should be preserved as a feature because I like the level of control players are given when it comes to customizing a set of active and passive abilities. The generic aspect may be advantageous since it can serve to make transitioning from playing one class or spec to another a bit easier regardless of how wildly different the gameplay otherwise might be. This in turn may encourage the design of more heterogeneous class and spec abilities without worrying about confusing or overwhelming players who want to try many classes and specs.<br />
<br />
When it comes to making Azerite Essences a permanent feature, I would suggest a series of major changes that are as follows:<br />
<ul>
<li>Make Azerite Essences available at a low level such as level 15.</li>
<ul>
<li>Specifically, I would suggest the major essence slot would be available at level 15 and the 3 minor essence slots are earned at levels 25, 35, and 45. I'd consider adding a 4th minor essence slot at level 55 and an additional minor essence slot every 10 levels after for future expansions.</li>
<li><i>New characters</i> that reach level 15 will also automatically be given <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/azerite-essence-power/the-crucible-of-flame-47">The Crucible of Flame</a>, since that's the starting essence players received.</li>
</ul>
<li>Azerite Essences can be acquired from a variety of different activities that can be done while leveling that are more simplified compared to existing requirements. For example, Azerite Essences tied to certain factions or specific content such as Horrific Visions may need their acquisition requirements adjusted.</li>
<ul>
<li>This would be a good opportunity to add other leveling content where essences can be unlocked.</li>
<li>Another alternative would be to use Echoes of Ny'alotha or another currency (such as <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/03/please-bring-back-justice-points.html">Justice Points</a>) as an acquirable currency from leveling activities that can then be used to purchase essences.</li>
</ul>
<li>Azerite Essences are available only in their rank 3 and 4 forms. Any acquired lower rank essences will be upgraded to rank 3.</li>
<li>While the rank 3 version of the essence shouldn't be too demanding to acquire so that new and returning players can have access to it, the rank 4 version will be roughly as demanding as it previously was as it is an unlockable cosmetic upgrade. This allows players who unlocked rank 4 essences to continue to bask in their prestige.</li>
<ul>
<li>Specifically, I think it's fair that players get about 1 essence every 5 levels after level 15 on average.</li>
</ul>
<li>If necessary, rename the feature to something that's not associated with the Azerite system, such as Essences (the same can also apply to Azerite traits).</li>
<li>Consider adding more essences in the future with more interesting unlock requirements. Such a reward may encourage players into trying certain types of content or the like, much like how unlocking essences currently does.</li>
<ul>
<li>For example, Torghast could feature a few unlockable essences.</li>
<li>Many rank 4 essences could be added for all existing essences to provide players with many cosmetic options!</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
To summarize, I think Azerite Essences were a great addition that made a lot of the endgame activities more rewarding to do. They also provided a form of customization that outcompeted anything the Artifact or previous iterations of the Azerite system had. If there's any one part of the Azerite system I want to see remain as a form of character progression until the end of WoW, it is this feature. In addition to making it a more prominent part of the leveling experience, I believe the feature also has great potential to make endgame content more exciting or at least rewarding. This is because of the effects essences can provide, but also because more essences or cosmetic essence effects can always be added as rewards for certain types of endgame content. However, I must note that such a feature should not be a replacement for adding more content especially for leveling players that I have enjoyed plenty of in rival MMORPGs such as Final Fantasy 14.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Conclusion</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
While it improved upon the Artifact system in some ways, Azerite was far from a perfect feature at the start of the expansion. Fortunately, much like with the quality of the expansion (or any expansion, really), significant improvements were made over time that addressed some player concerns. Additions were also made that made the feature more interesting than it did frustrating and the power creep was also less absurd than what was ultimately added to the Artifact system in 7.2 and 7.3.<i> I'd go as far as to say the changes convinced me that Azerite traits and especially Azerite Essences need to stay in the game in a big way that doesn't involve shoving them into the talent tree somewhere or relegating them to a temporary leveling feature.</i><br />
<br />
Unfortunately, Blizzard seems rigid in executing the plan they stated at Blizzcon and <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/news=316854/corruption-will-be-removed-in-the-shadowlands-prepatch">Azerite-related features will indeed be unusable in Shadowlands content</a>. I am not particularly surprised by this since Blizzard seems obsessed with the idea of "borrowed power" and to a degree, I can understand why since such a feature can help to make each expansion more distinct from a gameplay perspective. However, <i>I think both Battle for Azeroth and Legion had other forms of borrowed power that are better suited to expiring</i>. Specifically, I am referring to <b>Legion legendaries</b> and <b>corrupted gear</b> (the removal of which is mentioned in that article I linked) since both are types of equipment that have already been featured numerous times throughout WoW's history, so they're easier to part with in my opinion. In fact, players were sometimes encouraged to do so because they found a better piece of equipment, proving the power gains from such equipment were temporary.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Artifacts and Azerite were baked into character progression before players even reached level cap and were completely irreplaceable over the course of the respective expansions they featured in. They also typically provided more significant mechanical alterations or additions compared to what Legion legendaries and corrupted gear had. Finally, in the case of Azerite specifically, there is a massive amount of character customization that, if retained and re-implemented properly, may even address concerns over the removal of talent trees and the level of "customization" they provided (even if it largely consisted of "fake depth" and illusion of choice in my opinion). While it's nice that Azerite progression to a degree remains and has <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/news=296012/new-shadowlands-leveling-path-exiles-path-starting-zone-choose-your-expansion">some relevance while leveling</a>, showing Blizzard realized their mistake of removing Artifacts, it could absolutely be expanded upon in my opinion and should not suffer the obsolescence it's planned to bear.<br />
<br />
The point I'm trying to make it that sometimes borrowed power should not always be so staunchly treated as a temporary feature and adaptations should be made accordingly. As I've already mentioned a few times throughout the article, it would be a mistake to discard so much of a feature that has great potential to remain and enrich the gameplay experience. Doing so is reminiscent of how some players reacted to their abilities being pruned, which is a decision I understood but didn't entirely agree with. Incidentally, this is why I'm glad there's apparently some "unpruning" happening in Shadowlands. Furthermore, unlike the early stages of the Warlords of Draenor expansion, the changes being made are fairly modest, which in my opinion is a better approach to addressing what could be vocal minority complaints.<br />
<br />
In any case, since Azerite is sticking around to a degree, Blizzard could potentially backpedal on how they handled the feature in the future. It would require a significant amount of work to rework the feature into something players may consider more acceptable for endgame though, so I'm not expecting anything major soon assuming the developers have a change of heart.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-29422464449188898682020-03-31T18:09:00.001-07:002022-06-26T16:23:50.375-07:00Buying Time for Shadowlands<span style="font-size: x-small;">This is a polite reminder that this article was published on the 31st of March. This is a serious article and not an April Fools' joke. I don't intend to publish a joke article this year anyways.</span><br />
<br />
Ever since the Wrath of the Lich King, the period between the last major patch and the next expansion has consisted of a lack of significant updates that lasted about a year. After Mists of Pandaria, attempts were made to address the issue in Warlords of Draenor, when a <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2006/08/24/blizzard-planning-new-wow-expansions-every-year/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANrt0h5Ep1pxEbGDuVjuWaxF08Bx31R_8wYmmbgXH75IRqWJOU3pxDIOG6Jbs5G_mov3tC92i3v-ID4eRvskq2JKPj9Wc2pNXoWmSJMf4YvAdLQEfL9T5p5xz5JrkY4e_HmzRNpCfM6A3vAcbNVeyoChYNXZZ6hPm78h_BTGlJlB">plan to release expansions yearly</a> <a href="https://gamerant.com/world-of-warcraft-annual-expansions/">was revived and put into action,</a> only to fail miserably almost immediately due to content design problems in the aforementioned expansion. This in turn led to the same lengthy content drought that happened during the previous three expansions though <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Patch_6.2.2"><span id="goog_161450622"></span>patch 6.2.2<span id="goog_161450623"></span></a> and <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Patch_6.2.3">6.2.3</a> were implemented to try to remedy the issue and much like <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Patch_3.3.5">patch 3.3.5</a>, such patches were somewhat effective at best in terms of addressing the content drought.<br />
<br />
Legion, much like Mists of Pandaria, staggered content additions with major patches adding story quests and other zone content, then raid availability coming a few months later, usually alongside a minor balance patch. This resulted in the final raid, <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Antorus,_the_Burning_Throne">Antorus</a>, becoming available during late 2017. Patch 7.3.5 came out less than two months later and featured the level scaling mechanic in low level zones, improving the leveling experience somewhat, though <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/01/leveling-quick-fixes-intro.html">I personally considered the addition insufficient</a> for truly improving the leveling experience. The period between the end of Legion and the beginning of Battle for Azeroth was noticeably shorter with a content drought of 7 months at most, though it is worth mentioning the period between the major 7.3 and 8.0 patches was about 10 months.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, this came at the cost of the release iteration of Battle for Azeroth not being received too well. While the release iteration definitely had problems, <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/11/my-brief-thoughts-on-bfa.html">I personally went on record</a> saying it's not as bad as vocal players, some of whom <a href="https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/is-bfa-really-worse-than-wod/212159">claimed</a> <a href="https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/now-that-the-dust-has-settled-is-bfa-worse-than-wod/174483">the expansion was worse</a> <a href="https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/wod-was-so-much-better-than-bfa-legion/27794/6">than Warlords of Draenor</a>, thought it was. I considered <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2019/05/my-thoughts-on-island-expeditions.html">Island Expeditions</a> a decent addition to the game even in its initial iteration because of its application as complementary content especially for leveling, <i>which I believe should be expanded upon by making it available as early as level 10 after the Shadowlands level squish</i>. While I have yet to post an article on Azerite, the initial iteration seemed to fix <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-future-of-artifacts.html">some</a> <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/05/artifacts-and-paragon-systems-do-not.html">problems</a> I had with the Artifact system such as by dampening power-based Paragon progression further and not having Artifact Knowledge cause major numerical inflation.<br />
<br />
The biggest problem with the release iteration of Battle for Azeroth in my opinion was Warfronts, which I mentioned in my <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2019/09/my-thoughts-on-warfronts.html">article</a> reviewing the content. I specifically mentioned a second Warfront being available on release would have helped to address issues with content accessibility since multiple Warfronts would help to reduce the possibility of downtime caused by the unexciting contribution phase. Control phase content could have also been improved to feature content that was added later such as World Quests. <i>Ultimately, delaying Battle for Azeroth by a couple of months to add this second Warfront and refine other content additions</i>, such as by fleshing out Island Expeditions into something similar to its 8.1 iteration, <i>would have made the release iteration of the expansion much more enjoyable</i>.<br />
<br />
At the time of this writing, the only thing that is known about the release date of Shadowlands is that it will happen sometime in 2020. Considering patch 8.3 came out at the beginning of this year and the legendary cloak's Corruption Resistance upgrades <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/obtain-legendary-cloak-overview-upgrading-stats-procs#weekly-gated">cap out at 125 by early September</a>, <i>it is likely that the expansion will release around early fall of this year</i>. However, <i>I believe it would be more prudent to release later than that</i> if only to refine content such as Torghast, the roguelike dungeon I am personally looking forward to, further.<br />
<br />
Regardless, unless the highly unlikely possibility of the next expansion releasing in the next two or three months occurs, there will likely be a content drought that, while not as long as some previous expansions, is still quite lengthy. While this period should be strongly devoted to developing the next expansion, I believe there should also be more of an effort at keeping players entertained. Therefore, I have a number of suggestions to make for a theoretical minor patch that could be implemented a few months from now, <i>preferably around early summer</i>, to accomplish the goal that the title of this article states: <b>buy time for Shadowlands</b>.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Major Suggestions</span></div>
<br />
I have split the suggestions that I wish to make into two parts. This part involves the more significant additions that I believe would be appropriate for a minor content patch that's intended to be more ambitious than most past minor content patches. With that said, I tried my best to give players plenty of worthwhile activities to do until Shadowlands prepatch with as little effort as what I consider reasonably possible. This is accomplished by reworking past content, improving the lifespan of current content, improving the leveling experience, and adding new content for endgame players that shouldn't be too demanding to implement.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Rejuvenate the Proving Grounds</span></div>
<br />
I've already written an <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/04/leveling-quick-fixes-proving-grounds.html">article</a> about rejuvenating the Proving Grounds, so I'll make this somewhat brief by summarizing parts of the suggestion that I believe could make it into a minor content patch along with some personal refinements since the suggestion is about two years old.<br />
<br />
I think the Proving Grounds are a good example of the content obsolescence that happens with games like WoW as they constantly march onward with new content updates to keep players pleased. To be fair, there have been attempts to address this obsolescence by making old content relevant at level cap or introducing features to encourage players to experience low level content again, such as Timewalking and raid boss pet drops for the former and level scaling, Allied Races, and <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Party_Sync">Party Sync</a> for the latter. However, I believe much more can be done considering the sheer amount of low level content there is available and the fact some of that content, such as the aforementioned Proving Grounds, languishes without much attention for years.<br />
<br />
To that end, <i>a minor content patch could add a reward structure to the Proving Grounds, feature other aesthetic themes such as one related to the upcoming Shadowlands expansion, and introduce mechanical enhancements similar to Horrific Vision madnesses</i>.<br />
<br />
<i>When it comes to rewards, experience is a must</i> and should be awarded from mobs in addition to completing trials or defeating sufficient amounts of waves in Endless mode. Completing trials and defeating waves in Endless mode should also feature at least some rewards suggested in my article such as consumables, reagent, money, and gear. Endless mode rewards should also scale based on the number of waves completed, with my suggestion stating each wave completed awards 15% of the base reward, plus 30% for completing 10 waves. Gear rewards at level cap should also improve based on how many waves are completed in Endless as I suggested in my article. In this case, item level 470 gear could be awarded by completing wave 30, with additional gear pieces being awarded by completing higher level waves. One addition I would make that I didn't mention in my article is that players are required to complete at least 10 waves in Endless to earn rewards at all.<br />
<br />
When it comes to aesthetics, Proving Grounds would be more pleasant to do if it featured more than a single arena and Pandaria-related enemy varieties. I personally think the logical choice for a cosmetic addition is a theme centered around the upcoming expansion to give players an idea of what to expect visually from Shadowlands.<br />
<br />
Introducing madness-like mechanics is an easy way to increase the mechanical challenge of Proving Grounds that doesn't involve the more time-consuming act of adjusting or adding more mobs with new spawn patterns, mechanics, and behavior. These additive mechanics could change every 10 waves in Endless mode, much like it does in <a href="https://grimdawn.gamepedia.com/The_Crucible">The Crucible</a> in Grim Dawn. In the future, it would be nice to see mob adjustments and additions especially for the sake of making Endless mode less repetitive.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, a few changes that help to make the Proving Grounds more relevant would accomplish much. Newer players would be more motivated to try to earn the title rewards from completing wave 30 in Endless mode. Experienced players would have a sandbox that provides rewards which scale strongly with personal performance. The Proving Grounds would also be an additional form of leveling content, proving more much-needed leveling activities and allowing less confident players to learn to play the game in a group-like environment without being harshly judged by others.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Add Raid Scenarios</span></div>
<div>
<br />
When I reviewed Warfronts, one suggestion I made when discussing future iterations of the content was to implement more raid scenarios. While Warfronts seem to have been so poorly received they were largely abandoned after patch 8.1, I don't see why raid scenarios as a whole should be excluded as a form of content since other iterations of raid scenarios don't appear to have upset players. In fact, I would go as far as to say assault content and especially <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/09/legions-gameplay-loop-invasion-points.html">invasion points</a> have elements of what raid scenarios would have since large groups of players can group up to complete objectives and defeat a boss with no regard for role.<br />
<br />
<i>When it comes to a minor content patch addition, multiple one-boss raid scenarios can be added</i>. I believe these would be less demanding to make if a specific approach is used. For example, raid scenarios can be designed like the aforementioned invasion points or <a href="https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Trials">Final Fantasy 14's trials</a>, which generally feature fairly small arenas with a boss and minimal trash mobs. This means more time can be spent on encounter mechanics rather than elaborate environments, trash mob spawns, and minibosses like Ruby Sanctum, the patch 3.3.5 raid, had. Encounter mechanics can also be simplified to a degree because of a lack of a role requirement. Using mechanics that generally affect all players such as those featured in Horrific Visions, Island Expeditions, or even <i>Heroic Battle for Darkshore</i> should suffice in terms of providing players with a challenge. I would particularly approve of the addition of a few raid scenarios with brutal difficulty or the potential for it as long as insanely hard raid scenarios are not the only raid scenario content available.<br />
<br />
Some raid scenarios could be also be intended for leveling players. This would provide them with a taste of the raiding environment with relevant challenge and reward, which is a privilege often reserved for level cap players. This would also provide yet another leveling activity to do and because it is a scenario, the queue for it should be fast. Raid scenarios could also be useful for providing some notable quest enemies with an encounter more worthy of their status.<br />
<br />
Rewards would be pretty similar to what I suggested in my Proving Grounds suggestion. This means for lower level players there would be an experience reward and other rewards could include gear, money, reagents, and consumables. Raid scenarios could have additional rewards depending on its theme. For example, a raid scenario that is based off plot from a specific expansion could award currencies and reputation related to that expansion.<br />
<br />
Raid scenarios, especially the one-boss ones I strongly suggest making several of, do not suffice as a replacement for an entire raid tier's worth of content that players seem to hunger for. However, I believe they are a good addition as part of what a minor content patch has to offer. They should be quick to add because the design parameters for scenarios are generally simpler, but it's still possible to provide a decent level of immersion and challenge for players. There's plenty of quests and other sources to draw inspiration from, which serves the dual purpose of making it even easier to design raid scenarios and using them to flesh out existing content. Finally, given how I suggest it, there could be raid scenarios for all players from those who are leveling to inexperienced and veteran level cap players.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Add World Quests and Events to Leveling Zones</span></div>
<br />
A few years ago, I <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/10/legions-gameplay-loop-world-quests.html">briefly mentioned</a> that there should be World Quests in older zones so that lower level players have more activities they can do while leveling up. I personally thought this idea was a no-brainer and while I was not explicit in suggesting it again later on, my strong opinions regarding the need for more leveling activities was clear especially in my Leveling Quick Fixes article series.<br />
<br />
While this has not happened yet, events, which were featured in some form in Warlords of Draenor leveling zones, have become a major part of the assault content in 8.3 if only because of how much faster they make completing the assault quest. Events in their current form feature fairly simple objectives with completion credit being shared with all players who participate. This is great since as I mentioned in my <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2020/02/my-thoughts-on-patch-83-solo-content.html">previous article</a>, events are similar to <a href="https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/FATEs">FATEs</a> which were a form of content I was planning to suggest for WoW. In any case, <i>both World Quests and events would make for excellent leveling content if added to older zones</i>.<br />
<br />
Adding World Quests to leveling zones would at the very least allow players to relive old quests they may find enjoyable. They could also be used as a way to easily create new questing content without overhauling old zones, though there would be storytelling limitations since quest chains would not be available. Finally, World Quests generally make zones feel more lively since the quests that are available would change every 6 hours or so, which in turn change what's happening in parts of the zone.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the addition of events would serve as a point of interest for players due to the various minor objectives that cause small changes throughout the zone which players can choose to address. Events would be simpler than World Quests in terms of the objectives the player has to complete, but teamwork would be strongly encouraged since credit for completing the objective is more easily shared. <i>Unlike 8.3's events, I believe events should be available more frequently like FATEs are, which is generally how I would like to see events be implemented in the future</i>. Specifically, when an event is finished, another event would spawn in a different part of the zone. Furthermore, players can complete as many events as they want without being time-gated out of a specific event. One thing I would like to see kept from the 8.3 iteration of events is the fact players have to find them using the minimap instead of the map. This would encourage players to explore in a way that treasures and rare spawns, which also only show up on the minimap if at all, do.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the logistics of adding World Quests and events to <b>all</b> leveling zones would be demanding for a minor content patch. Therefore, I would prioritize modernizing the zones that desperately need it the most. <i>This means that Northrend and Outland zones should be the first two sets of zones to receive World Quests and events</i>. There does not need to be too many World Quests and events and I think a few of each for each zone would be more than enough to make the experience of leveling through these highly outdated zones a little more interesting. I would also consider adding World Quests and events to Draenor zones because while they are considered to have a good questing experience, the quests are very linear and repetitive to do on multiple characters.<br />
<br />
When it comes to rewards, experience would be the primary reward along with money and maybe gear. Other rewards such as reputation and various items would depend on the zone the World Quest or event is in. There could also be more creative rewards such as consumables that directly help to improve leveling such as a potion that grants a little rested experience, which took the form of an <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=118267/ravenmother-offering">actual consumable</a> in the past. In fact, s<i>uch rewards may not be a bad idea to award from any content a leveling player is capable of doing</i>.<br />
<br />
There's no questioning this suggestion in particular is explicitly one that is meant to add leveling content. While changes have been made to leveling and, at the time of this writing, there's even an event running in response to an ongoing real life crisis that <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/news=311697/blizzard-adds-100-player-experience-buff-through-april-20th-winds-of-wisdom">increases experience gain by 100%</a>, what I am suggesting in this section (and other parts of this article) would be directly improve the leveling experience to a greater degree like patch 7.3.5 did. However, unlike patch 7.3.5, this suggestion not only does more to fix issues I have with the current state of leveling, but it's only a small part of the theoretical minor content patch I would like to see. <i>I believe it's important to make improving the leveling experience a part of every minor content patch at the very least</i>. To be fair, patch 8.2.5 did accomplish this goal to a degree since features such as Party Sync were only part of what that patch had to offer.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Add new Corruption-related Heirlooms</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
During the concluding parts of the Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor expansion, heirlooms that scaled up to the maximum level of the following expansion were a major reward to encourage players to continue playing. In Mists of Pandaria, the final boss of the Siege of Orgrimmar raid dropped weapon heirlooms of varying strength based on difficulty. Warlords of Draenor, on the other hand, added a new Mythic difficulty to dungeons and added trinket heirlooms as a reward. I liked the addition of these heirlooms and while their addition as a reward doesn't justify a lengthy content drought, it makes the experience more tolerable at the very least.<br />
<br />
As my previous suggestions show, I want to see the addition of raid scenarios and Proving Grounds as content for endgame players to enjoy. Much like with Mythic Dungeons in Warlords of Draenor, adding an heirloom reward in addition to all the other rewards I suggested would encourage players to try the content. These heirlooms could then be used for leveling, which would be improved by the Proving Grounds rejuvenation and the addition of World Quests and events in some leveling zones.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Acquiring Heirlooms</div>
<br />
However, I also do not wish to make some of the same mistakes as the Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor iteration. To that end, <i>I am suggesting that the acquisition of these heirlooms is made entirely consistent and can be earned through existing current endgame content</i>. To accomplish this, a new currency should be added that can be gradually acquired to purchase the heirlooms in question, with boosted currency awards from the theoretical raid scenarios and rejuvenated Proving Grounds.<br />
<br />
I believe it's also important to balance heirloom acquisition around having multiple characters since due to weekly lockouts on raids and Mythic Dungeons, it was far too advantageous to have multiple characters when it came to farming heirlooms. At the same time, I do not wish to punish players for playing multiple characters or force them to play on a single character. With these two points considered, <i>I think it's important to make the currency an account-bound item that stacks very high</i> (possibly 9999) for the time being. Furthermore, there should be some account-wide currency reward restrictions for the more lucrative time-gated rewards.<br />
<br />
This is ultimately how I believe the currency system should work:<br />
<ul>
<li>An heirloom costs 300 currency.</li>
<li>The following involves time-gated and account-bound limited currency rewards:</li>
<ul>
<li>Each specific emissary quest awards 50 currency to the first character on the account to complete it.</li>
<ul>
<li>Emissary quest completions on subsequent characters awards 20 currency.</li>
</ul>
<li>Each specific assault quest awards 50 (minor) or 75 (major) currency to the first character on the account to complete it.</li>
<ul>
<li>Assault quest completions on subsequent characters awards 20 (minor) or 30 (major) currency.</li>
</ul>
<li>The Mythic+ weekly chest awards (50 + 10 * highest key level completed that week up to 10) currency, up to a maximum of 150 currency on the whole account each week.</li>
<li>The Conquest weekly chest awards (50 + 10 * ((highest seasonal rating - 1000)/100 or 0, whichever is greater) currency, up to a maximum of 150 currency on the whole account each week.</li>
<li>The weekly Island Expedition reward for earning 36000 Azerite awards 50 currency for the first character on the account each week.</li>
<ul>
<li>Earning the weekly Island Expedition reward on subsequent characters awards 25 currency.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>The following are currency rewards that are not time-gated or limited at all:</li>
<ul>
<li>Completing a Horrific Vision awards up to 60 currency.</li>
<ul>
<li>Defeating the boss awards 15 currency, plus 5 for each side objective. For a successful run, an additional 5 currency is awarded for each Faceless Mask used.</li>
</ul>
<li>Completing a trial in the Proving Grounds awards a variant amount of currency.</li>
<ul>
<li>Completing the Bronze trial awards 10 currency.</li>
<li>Completing the Silver trial awards 15 currency.</li>
<li>Completing the Gold trial awards 20 currency.</li>
<li>At the end of an Endless Mode run, the player earns 3 currency for each wave completed, plus an additional 10 currency for every ten waves completed. Currency can only be earned if the player completes at least ten waves.</li>
</ul>
<li>Killing raid bosses in any Battle for Azeroth raid awards a variant amount of currency based on difficulty. Currency can be awarded for bosses the player has already defeated during a given week.</li>
<ul>
<li>Normal bosses award 10 currency each.</li>
<li>Heroic bosses award 15 currency each.</li>
<li>Mythic bosses award 20 currency each, or 25 for Mythic Ny'alotha bosses.</li>
</ul>
<li>Completing an LFR wing awards 30 currency, even if it's been completed before during a given week.</li>
<li>Completing a raid scenario awards currency based on length and difficulty</li>
<ul>
<li>Normal Warfronts award 25 currency upon completion.</li>
<li>Heroic Warfronts award 40 currency upon completion.</li>
<li>One-boss raid scenarios award 15 currency or more upon completion depending on difficulty.</li>
</ul>
<li>Completing a Mythic+ dungeon awards currency based on key level and performance.</li>
<ul>
<li>The player earns (5 + (1 * key level)) currency for completing the Mythic+ dungeon.</li>
<li>The reward is increased by 1 currency per key level if the dungeon is completed in time.</li>
<li>The player earns an additional 2 currency for each level the key gains from completion.</li>
</ul>
<li>Completing a random heroic dungeon at level cap awards 10 currency.</li>
<li>Battlegrounds and Brawls award 10 currency for winning and 5 for losing.</li>
<li>Arena skirmishes award 5 currency for winning.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
As I mentioned before, I attempted to cover much of the endgame content available when it comes to earning currency to buy the heirlooms I'm suggesting. As promised, rewards from level cap content added in the theoretical minor patch are given a bit of a boost, though it's still reasonable to earn heirlooms through other endgame activities. Account-bound restrictions have been placed on the more lucrative time-gated rewards, but as a compromise a reduced reward that falls in line with grindable reward amounts can be earned on subsequent characters. Note that Horrific Visions is listed as being an activity that is not time-gated, which will be addressed later in the article.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Heirloom Details</div>
<br />
When it comes to the heirloom details, they would be usable but not overwhelmingly powerful in the hands of endgame players, <i>with an item level of 415 at least</i>. These heirlooms would scale from level 1 level 120, or level 60 when Shadowlands comes out, without any need for upgrades. More importantly, I want to make these heirlooms special much like their Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor counterparts. Mists of Pandaria weapon heirlooms were incredibly strong and had sockets. Warlords of Draenor trinket heirlooms had equip effects that were more effective when fighting the many Demon enemies the Legion expansion would offer. For Battle for Azeroth heirlooms, I went with using the recently added Corruption mechanic. <i>This means all heirlooms added by this suggestion would either have a specific corrupted equip effect or Corruption Resistance.</i><br />
<br />
I have a few reasons for adding heirlooms using the Corruption mechanic:<br />
<br />
The first is that I find the beneficial and detrimental equip effects interesting. Many of the beneficial effects consist of procs that provide trinket-like or somewhat unique effects such as increased cooldown reduction rate or damaging effects that scale off maximum health. With that said, some beneficial effects would need to be reworked to scale properly at lower levels, such as the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/corrupted-items-overview-titan-purification-corruption-resistance#procced-stat-affixes">flat stat procs</a>, <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/spell=318489/infinite-stars">Infinite Star</a>, and <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/spell=318481/twisted-appendage">Twisted Appendage</a>. Detrimental effects would serve as an inherent risk for using corrupted gear as I mentioned in my previous article. While they would need to scale properly with lower level characters to prevent unfair instant deaths, being able to modulate the difficulty of leveling content by opting into increasingly dangerous mechanics is a great option to provide for players who want to make leveling more challenging.<br />
<br />
The second is that Corruption Resistance is lacking at level cap until the player gets their legendary cloak. This is a problem since the legendary cloak is required to cleanse corrupted gear, but players can earn many pieces of corrupted gear beforehand. This means players can be awarded otherwise great gear upgrades that are too risky to use. The fact players need to earn the legendary cloak to properly handle corrupted gear, which might require a bit of gear to accomplish, feels like an oversight. One way to address this is by providing players with a way to increase Corruption Resistance on their alts, which would be nice to have for managing Corruption they get from corrupted heirlooms anyways. In addition, having access to more Corruption Resistance beyond upgrading the legendary cloak would allow players to control their Corruption level better, which would be a nice benefit to have to experiment with more corrupted gear.<br />
<br />
Third, there is a lot of room for creative heirloom design due to the amount of equip effects corrupted gear has. This is because there are 53 possibilities for corrupted equip effects when not counting unique equip effects on Ny'alotha weapons. This is further increased by adding heirlooms with Corruption Resistance and inventing new equip effects. However, adding 53+ versions of an heirloom for a specific equipment slot would be excessive. Instead, each equipment slot should be dedicated to every rank of one or two specific corrupted equip effects or Corruption Resistance. Ultimately, it is up to the WoW team to determine what kinds of Corruption-related heirlooms are added assuming this suggestion is taken seriously. However, it is important to add corrupted heirlooms for multiple equipment slots that allow players to access every possible positive and negative Corruption effect.<br />
<br />
Finally, assuming there are many heirlooms featuring most if not all of the corrupted equip effects, level capped players can utilize a specific equip effect without dealing with randomness. This is because normally most corrupted equipment is granted a random equip effect and as the previous paragraph points out, there are many to choose from. Players looking for corrupted gear with specific effects may be frustrated as a result. Corrupted heirlooms with specific equip effects would provide a consistent, though often weaker, alternative so that players can finally get their cooldown reduction proc or the like.<br />
<br />
Overall, the addition of Corruption-related heirlooms would serve as the reward system that complements the other major suggestions in this article. It would serve as motivation for players to try the new or reworked content that is available or at least encourage them to participate more in endgame content. Leveling would be made more interesting because players can challenge themselves with Corruption mechanics. I would like to think this suggestion is not a cheap ploy intended to keep players playing since there are other suggested additions and I attempted to address issues with how the weapon and trinket heirlooms were awarded in Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor respectively. <i>By the way, adding an experience gain bonus to the heirlooms I am suggesting is entirely optional, but appreciated</i>.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Minor Suggestions</span></div>
<br />
I have some minor suggestions that largely consist of tweaks to 8.3 content that haven't been addressed in a hotfix already. These suggestions, aside from being something of an extended criticism of patch 8.3 content, are intended to improve the endgame experience without trivializing it excessively in my personal opinion.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Remove the requirement to enter Horrific Visions</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
By the time a theoretical minor patch comes out, which I would personally release around early summer, the need to time gate access to Horrific Visions will be unnecessary since any reasons to time gate the content such as gear and cloak upgrades would have long since fallen out of relevance. To that end, giving new and returning players an opportunity to upgrade their cloaks to the maximum rank at their own pace would be a good change to make a few months from now. I also wouldn't be against removing or relaxing the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/horrific-visions-of-nzoth-overview-objectives-sanity-masks#gear-rewards">time gating restriction of gear rewards</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
This change also has other benefits. To start, there would be no need to farm Coalescing Visions from assaults in order to do Horrific Visions. There would also be significantly more room for error, which means players would be more willing to do group runs, explore the scenario, or experiment. Thanks to my suggestion to add Heirlooms and a currency to purchase them, Horrific Visions would be more worthwhile to farm especially in the most challenging way possible. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
To conclude, I believe removing the requirement to enter Horrific Visions, especially in combination with other suggestions, would encourage players to do more than a single weekly Horrific Vision run to increase the Corruption Resistance on their cloak.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Make Coalescing Visions more useful</span></div>
<br />
<a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1755/coalescing-visions">Coalescing Visions</a> have a single use at the moment and that is to purchase <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=173363/vessel-of-horrific-visions">Vessels of Horrific Vision</a>, which are used to access Horrific Visions. However, because of my previous suggestion, Coalescing Visions are effectively useless, which is a quality about currencies <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2013/11/wow-analysis-lesser-charms-of-excessive.html">I dislike</a>. This issue can be resolved with a couple of small changes.<br />
<br />
To start, Vessels of Horrific Vision can be reworked to be consumed to double Corrupted Memento gain for a single Horrific Vision run. This allows the item and the currency used to purchase it to continue to be useful without being necessary. A new vendor can also be added that exchanges Coalescing Visions for useful consumable items that are only usable in Horrific Visions. These consumables would only be half as effective as a typical Battle for Azeroth consumable so that those consumables would still be useful.<br />
<br />
With this suggestion, Coalescing Visions would ultimately have their role shifted by making them optional to farm to enhance Horrific Vision runs instead of making them mandatory to farm to do Horrific Vision runs at all.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Make all applicable gear drops corrupted</span></div>
<br />
One advantage that the corrupted gear system has over Titanforging is that gear always corrupting does a lot less to undermine gear-based progression compared to the massive item level increases guaranteed Titanforging may cause. I also think players should be able experiment with corrupted gear more as their Corruption Resistance increases. To be fair, changes have already been made to make Horrific Vision and Mythic+ weekly chest gear drops always corrupted (unless it's Azerite gear).<br />
<br />
However, I don't see any issue with simply removing the random chance to corrupt entirely at some point in the near future... except for one I will address in the next suggestion. Guaranteed gear corruption wouldn't eliminate all the frustration of receiving corrupted gear since players might not get the equip effects they want, but such a change would at least remove an entire layer of randomness.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Remove the cost to cleanse corrupted gear</span></div>
<br />
The cost to cleanse corrupted gear is a meager 5 <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1719/corrupted-mementos">Corrupted Mementos</a> and largely serves to gate players out of the feature until they have gotten their legendary cloak. However, I believe locking players out of the feature, especially when they are guaranteed to earn corrupted gear that might be an upgrade for them even when cleansed, causes unnecessary grief that should be addressed as soon as possible.</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Allow players to earn more than 2 <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=175062/malefic-core">Malefic Cores</a> per week when catching up</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Malefic Cores are the item used to increase the legendary cloak's Corruption Resistance. Players can normally only acquire and use one per week by completing a full clear of Horrific Visions or defeating N'Zoth in the Ny'alotha raid on Normal difficulty or higher. However, for players who miss out on Corruption Resistance upgrades, they can earn 2 Malefic Cores each week instead until they have caught up on those upgrades. This may suffice for now but will be an annoyance for new or returning players since depending on when they start playing (again), they might not be able to maximize the Corruption Resistance on their cloak before the prepatch or next expansion releases. This would be exacerbated further if access to Horrific Visions continues to be time-gated.<br />
<br />
Therefore, I personally think players should be able to upgrade the Corruption Resistance on their cloak up to cap for a specific week regardless of how behind they are and believe a hotfix should be implemented immediately to make that possible.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>4/2 Update:</b> I didn't read the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/news=311540/malefic-cores-improve-your-legendary-cloak-past-rank-15">blue post</a> thoroughly enough when writing this section and forgot to add a player needs to defeat N'Zoth <b>and</b> fully clear Horrific Visions to get both the Malefic Cores they can earn each week (they can't do Horrific Visions twice, for example). This can be a bit of an annoyance for people who don't raid, don't want to do any more Horrific Visions, or have alts that may not be considered qualified to raid. It goes without saying this suggestion would remove the requirement since players can earn as many Malefic Cores as they want up to the Corruption Resistance upgrade limit for a given week.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Closing Thoughts</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I think it would be great to implement even half of what I suggested here over the next few months because while I doubt the suggestions I'm making would sufficiently satisfy all players, there would at least be more to do on WoW during the summer and part of fall, after which the Shadowlands prepatch can be released. The result would be a good release rate of content that reduces the need to release the next expansion sooner. However, it's important to temper expectations and consider various possibilities.<br />
<br />
First of all is that the Shadowlands beta opt-in started about a month prior to the publish date of this article and while the closed beta itself has not started yet, it will likely start soon. According to <a href="https://blizzardwatch.com/2020/02/21/sign-up-wow-shadowlands-beta/">Blizzard Watch</a>, beta tests for the previous two expansions lasted for around 4 months. They go on to predict that Shadowlands will release in August. This would be before the Corruption Resistance cap on the legendary cloak is reached, but it's very possible that Corruption Resistance upgrade acquisition may be accelerated to the point that the cap is reached by the time the expansion prepatch is implemented.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, at the start of this year, <a href="https://blizzardwatch.com/2020/01/14/no-patch-8-3-5-wow/">there was no plan for a minor content patch</a> such as 8.3.5. This may change and I hope Watcher and the rest of the team do change their mind because I believe not implementing a minor content patch, which would help to allow for a more thorough testing of Shadowlands, would be a mistake. One joke I often saw being made about Battle for Azeroth was that it felt like a beta version of the expansion and it would be bad if that happened over two consecutive expansions.<br />
<br />
With the previous points taken into consideration, it is likely Blizzard has a roadmap prepared for WoW for this year that thankfully won't involve distractions such as working on releasing Classic WoW, which <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman/2019/05/14/blizzard-entertainment-ceo-interview-on-priorities-wow-classic-and-diablo/#33dd37705bf3">based on an interview with Blizzard's CEO</a> <abbr title="In the interview it is mentioned Classic WoW uses the live WoW game engine. Accomplishing this task, among others such as ensuring the game works with modern features like present server infrastructure, would require the help of experienced people who are involved with the development or operation of live WoW."><u class="dotted">may have detracted from live development</u></abbr>. It is therefore likely that this article, much like many other articles where I have made suggestions or discussed future possibilities, will end up being a personal musing about what could've been. To be fair, my ideas or perception of current and future issues with WoW are far from flawless. On the other hand, <i>I would like to think an article like this can be utilized to a degree as a general guide on how to improve player retention during a content drought by maintaining a steady flow of content releases without seriously hampering the development of major content or using cheap promotional tricks that encourage players to subscribe for long periods of time</i>.<br />
<br />
To conclude, I don't really expect Blizzard to do much with live WoW in its current state beyond some more hotfixes while their development team focuses on Shadowlands. <i>It seems contradictory to not keep players engaged in one of the many serviced-based games the company now runs</i>, but I would like to think efforts are being redoubled to ensure the next expansion is not perceived as a flop on release. While I would strongly prefer the addition of significant amounts of minor content between now and the prepatch, I'm content with spending the summer and possibly the fall focusing more on other activities. <i>I would like to think I'm not the only one accustomed to lengthy content droughts and are willing to be patient, considering how often Blizzard releases major content for their service-based games in general.</i></div>
Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-20403579342350485172020-02-26T17:14:00.001-08:002020-03-11T23:35:54.533-07:00My Thoughts on Patch 8.3 Solo ContentAs of this writing, others have been busy getting outraged over Warcraft 3 Reforged. Whether it's due to the definitively subpar rerelease of a game that was in a glitchy state that desperately needed fixing or the <a href="https://www.blizzard.com/en-us/legal/2749df07-2b53-4990-b75e-a7cb3610318b/custom-game-acceptable-use-policy">legalese</a> that, while questionable in my eyes, has little power considering <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_and_video_games#United_States">the current state of copyright law and previous court decisions regarding game ideas</a>. Meanwhile, other aspects such as provisions that are intended to improve the Custom Game experience for both players and map makers are casually ignored, further proving that there are people out there trying to discover or manufacture controversy relating to Blizzard to fuel a cycle of hatred that seems to have no end.<br />
<br />
In the face of what I consider to be yet another overblown outrage that overshadows legitimate criticism, I believe it's important to properly critique Blizzard's development practices. This is because in my eyes said practices are a major source of many issues relating to their operation including some of the issues relating to Warcraft 3 Reforged. As the title of this article states, I believe the recent patch for WoW is a good place to determine what can be improved.<br />
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Patch 8.3 is the last major content patch for the Battle for Azeroth expansion and with the faction conflict story concluded in the previous patch series, what is left is to address the threat of N'Zoth, which has been hinted at constantly throughout the expansion. In fact, I personally anticipated this possibility even before the expansion was announced considering the high presence of the Void in 7.3 along with what transpired story-wise during that patch series.<br />
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In any case, the <i>battle to save Azeroth</i> from N'Zoth has resulted in the addition of a significant amount of solo content and features related to it. Much of this has built upon previous iterations of content, including solo content introduced in 8.2 that I thought of reviewing in article form but decided against doing. After spending the better part of the last several weeks experiencing what patch 8.3 has to offer for a solo player and because I am so obsessed with solo content, this article will be devoted to reviewing said solo content and some related features.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Introductory Questline</span></div>
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I don't usually talk about one-time quests aside from mentioning that players are not going to spend much of their time doing it unless they are constantly implemented at a rate that may be unreasonable to develop. However, I do have a couple remarks to make on this particular iteration.<br />
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First is that I like that scenario skipping, a feature I recall being added in Legion, continues to be utilized since that wasn't the case during the introductory quests for the Battle for Azeroth expansion. There are several scenarios that need to be done and <i>the first two can be skipped if a player has done them already on another character</i>. I definitely would like to see this done more often especially with introductory expansion quests that are otherwise repetitive to do.<br />
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The second thing I want to mention is that the quest line integrates nicely with the solo content available. After completing the first scenario, players are tasked to complete an assault in both Uldum and the Vale of Eternal Blossom, with a few brief quests in between. After completing the second scenario, players are then given quests to obtain their <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=169223/ashjrakamas-shroud-of-resolve">legendary cloak</a> and unlock the Horrific Visions content, which involves completing a couple more scenarios (that cannot be skipped). The zone content, which features daily quests in addition to other content, is something that players will want to complete sooner, so it's nice that it's accessible after only a couple introductory quests. I'd argue it's even better than the 8.2 introductory quest lines.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Zone Content</span></div>
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As part of the story for patch 8.3, Uldum and Vale of Eternal Blossoms, two zones from previous expansions, have undergone changes and received major additions that serve as a huge portion of the solo content that has been added. These additions are extensive and I have broken down what's available into sections to hopefully make my thoughts more coherent. There will also be one final section reviewing miscellaneous parts of the zone content that I didn't think were worthy of their own section.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Assaults</span></div>
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Assaults, also known as invasions, have returned as a major feature for the two zones. However, things have changed from previous iterations of assault and invasion content. Assaults are now always active in both zones and there are two types: major and minor. Major assaults last a whole week and give significantly greater rewards when completed, while minor assaults last for half a week. Assaults affect specific sections of the zone, with each zone having two specific sections dedicated to minor assaults and one section dedicated to major assaults.<br />
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Assaults, much like previous iterations, consist of two phases. The first phase is similar to pre-expansion version of <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-legion-invasions-are-pretty-good.html">Legion invasions</a> since it involves going throughout the zone and taking actions that add contribution until it reaches 100%. This involves defeating enemies, destroying interactable objects, and the like. Much like later iterations of invasion content, progress is personally tracked. Upon reaching the second phase, the player has to defeat a boss (that can be surprisingly challenging depending on the assault) and is then given their reward for that specific assault. Rewards consist of reputation with the faction associated with the zone (500 for minor, 1500 for major), Azerite, gold, <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1744/corrupted-memento">Corrupted Mementos</a>, <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1755/coalescing-visions">Coalescing Visions</a> (minor assaults) or a <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=173363/vessel-of-horrific-visions">Vessel of Horrific Visions</a> (major assaults), and gear up to item level 445.<br />
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I personally consider assaults to be 8.3's emissary quest equivalent since they give rewards that are similarly as great as BfA emissary quests (including 2000 gold) and a significant amount of reputation with the new factions added this patch. They can also only be completed once every few days or once every week, depending on the assault that's completed. Progress is also a little slow, though possible to gain in a reasonable amount of time. This particular detail suggests to me that one can passively complete an assault by doing the daily quests available, which reminds me of how emissary quests can be completed slowly over a few days. It also makes it more reasonable to complete assaults on many characters without missing out on the reward, though it's still demanding to do so.<br />
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<i>Overall, I like this iteration of assaults/invasions</i>. It's a suitable replacement for emissary quests that may make visiting the two zones every few days worthwhile long after reaching Exalted with the factions if only for the gold reward. I also generally like objectives that allow for great flexibility in how they can be progressed since bugs or other issues that affect specific content or features, which one should always expect a few instances of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoL1NRh8JOI">even from the best developers</a>, aren't as problematic. Finally, the aesthetic of the major assaults, which are themed around the <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Black_Empire">Black Empire</a>, are wonderfully surreal and dark. Minor assaults make the zones more lively as well, though in a grim sort of way. I usually don't point cosmetic details like this out, but in this case I find myself doing so because it adds to the immersion.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dailies</span></div>
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When patch 8.2 added Nazjatar and Mechagon, daily quests made a significant return as an additional method for farming reputation. In the case of Nazjatar, the zone featured both daily quests and world quests. Mechagon, on the other hand, had daily quests and an overarching daily emissary quest-like objective that awarded a whopping 850 reputation. Zone content appears to be modeled more after Mechagon since dailies are back once again and are largely meant to accompany the zone assaults.<br />
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Each day, both zones will have 3-4 daily quests available to complete. The daily quests featured are drawn from a pool based on the active assault, meaning there's a decent variety of specific quests available. Quest objectives are about what one might expect from WoW with a fair amount of generic kill and gather quests along with those that involve vandalizing something that belongs to the enemy.<br />
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A few objectives can be especially frustrating to complete such as the ones that involve killing rare spawns or looting chests, which can take quite a while to do depending on spawn patterns. There were quests like this in the previous patch, particularly the overarching Mechagon daily "emissary" quest and I believe these continue to be offered in order to encourage players to communicate. From my observation, this actually works and the social experience of calling rare spawns and chest locations is reminiscent of the teamwork that occurred on the Timeless Isle in the past.<br />
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The rewards for normal daily quests are fairly meager but still significant enough to consider doing especially after the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/news=309575/assault-daily-quests-now-award-more-reputation-and-coalescing-visions">hotfixes</a>. They award 125 reputation with the faction associated with the zone along with at least 250 Coalescing Visions. A small amount of gold, Azerite, and/or War Resources are also awarded, though some daily quests can award over 200 gold.<br />
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<i>Overall, I don't particularly mind the way daily quests have been implemented in their current form</i>. Some objectives are a little too demanding to do in a reasonable amount of time or may be riskier to do than players like, but I like that they can encourage cooperation. Furthermore, there are plenty of other ways to earn all the rewards daily quests have to offer such as assaults, which are consistently possible to complete within a reasonable time frame. This is a departure from previous daily quest systems where daily quests were basically the only way to gain reputation or certain rewards, such as the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=32602/crystalforged-darkrune">Crystalforged Darkrune</a>, at all. However, I definitely approve of adjusting quest objectives that are too demanding like 8.2 hotfixes eventually did. Designing more daily quests that don't feature generic kill, gather, or destroy objectives would also be nice. <i>Finally, I strongly urge Blizzard to make map coordinates available by default like in Final Fantasy 14, which allows you to link a map location in chat using coordinates, since it would make informing players of key locations easier.</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lesser Visions</span></div>
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Lesser Visions are a subzone that is available for access after the player obtains their legendary cloak. This area can be accessed in the zone where a major assault is taking place and features enemies corrupted by N'Zoth. There is a highly rewarding daily quest that involves completing an objective within the Lesser Vision. However, with this great reward comes great risk since players can only enter a Lesser Vision once per day and are subject to the Sanity mechanic, which kills players if they run out.<br />
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The most notable reward for completing the daily is 3000 Coalescing Visions for the first completion each week, or 1500 for subsequent completions. Players also earn a small amount of Corrupted Mementos. Mobs in the Lesser Vision can also drop both currencies, making it a potentially good place to farm for more dedicated players especially since there are ways to replenish Sanity within a Lesser Vision.<br />
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<i>Overall, I like some of the ideas presented by Lesser Visions since there are mechanics within that keep players on their toes.</i> However, I believe failing is too punishing especially if a player's internet or the servers don't play nice and a disconnection happens. I think it would be more reasonable if players get more than one chance to enter a Lesser Vision each day and would at least suggest a way for players to make additional attempts while maintaining the increased risk, such as by adding an increasing Coalescing Visions cost to re-enter a Lesser Vision on a specific day.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Events</span></div>
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Events, or event set pieces as I like to call them, are a new feature in both assault zones that can be completed daily for a minor reward, change in terms of availability daily in what appears to be a rotation format, and involve completing world quest-like objectives, some of which are equally unorthodox. Events replace world quests in both assault zones and are available only in the area under attack, where they are marked on the minimap much like chests and rare spawns are. Events operate similar to <a href="https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/FATEs">FATEs</a> in Final Fantasy 14 in that completing the objective of the event awards completion credit to every player who adequately participated in it. However, missing out on completing an event is not too penalizing since it respawns a few minutes later.<br />
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Completing an event awards 50 or more reputation with the faction associated with the zone along with a small amount of gold, Azerite, or Coalescing visions. It also increases assault progress by at least 15%, depending on whether the event features elite mobs (which also improve the event reward in general) or mobs that contribute to assault progress at all.<br />
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<i>Overall, I really like events and believe they are a solid improvement upon other iterations of solo content design that could be utilized much more</i>. They reward cooperative effort and encourage exploration since much like treasures and rare spawns, these events have to be found by the player. Also, much like some world quests, events make the world feel more alive because an otherwise static area can occasionally be altered by the event. I would hope there is more variety in the events that occur, however, since event availability appears to rotate between a few static sets and the objective of some events are literally identical. Both of these factors make the content feel more repetitive even though events change based on the area under attack. <i>Also, I think completing events should progress the weekly quest that requires 20 World Quest completions</i>. Incidentally, if events stay around, I won't need to make a suggestion that involves adding something like FATEs to WoW.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rare Spawns</span></div>
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Rare spawns have long since become a mainstay of solo content and a source of personal enjoyment in my eyes due to the many hours of entertainment and bountiful rewards it brought me in Mists of Pandaria. No iteration of rare spawns since Warlords of Draenor has succeeded in holding my interest but they are at least functional in regards to encouraging players to look around and the rare spawns this patch are no exception.<br />
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Rare spawns this patch are similar to some previous iterations in that they can only drop their rewards once per day, which in this case consists primarily of Azerite, Coalescing Visions, and <abbr title="That are inferior to Benthic gear in some ways"><u class="dotted">item level 410-415 account-bound gear piece tokens</u></abbr>. Some rare spawns <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/nzoth-assaults-rare-spawns-locations-loot">also have cosmetic drops</a>, with mount drops in particular being exceptionally abundant. The availability of many rare spawns, along with their potentially desirable drops, are limited to specific assaults.<br />
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Rare spawns, much like in patch 8.2, may also be the target of a quest objective. As I mentioned before, this can be annoying but with good communication, completing this objective is fairly fast and I highly recommend players do so. It's a good idea to communicate locations of rare spawns anyways since the rare elites in particular are incredibly powerful and generally not feasible to defeat alone. A decent number of them also offer what I consider a good level of mechanical challenge.<br />
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<i>Overall, rare spawns are still not as interesting or rewarding as their Mists of Pandaria iteration. </i>However, I do like that that some of them are challenging to defeat due to their mechanics rather than because of their high autoattack damage (though there are a few rare elites like this). Rares are also worthwhile to hunt whether it's for their typical rewards, the daily quest, or to gain 10-15% progress on an assault. I consider this iteration of rare spawns satisfactory and am at least thankful that Blizzard continues to show they have learned from the atrocious initial iteration of Warlords of Draenor rare spawns.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Treasures</span></div>
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Treasures are another recurring feature that are present in the two zones under assault and they take the form of chests, much like they did in Mechagon in patch 8.2. They are like many past iterations of treasures in that they can randomly spawn in fixed locations throughout the zone. Much like modern iterations of treasures, anyone can loot the chest that spawns for a limited time, after which it will despawn. In addition, there are special chests tied to a specific attacking faction that are only available during their respective assault. If 6 parts of a key are gathered from mobs and reformed, this chest can be looted for greater rewards. Each specific chest can be looted once per day and the act of looting chests may be tied to daily quest objectives.<br />
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The rewards from the chests are fairly consistent as they award about 15 Coalescing Visions and 60 War Resources along with a piece of vendor trash. The special chests award 250 (non-Black Empire) or 500 Coalescing Visions (Black Empire) and around 100 War Resources along with some vendor trash. These chests do not award a lot of Coalescing Visions considering 250 can be obtained from each daily quest, but they can add up. The real prize here is the War Resources since the act of looting even a few of these chests can pay for some <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1580/seal-of-wartorn-fate">bonus roll currency</a>, which is really useful for players who have many alts and not a lot of time to do all the available daily quests.<br />
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<i>Overall, treasures aren't amazingly compelling this patch but do fulfill a practical role of providing War Resources to help players catch up on research and buy Seals of Wartorn Fate more easily</i>. While I personally wouldn't recommend excessively grinding for Coalescing Visions to the point of farming chests, they are a good source of the currency along with rare spawns. This, along with the fact chests can be an objective for a daily quest, may make hunting for chests frustrating, though much like with rares, I believe players are also meant to communicate chest locations and I have observed and participated in the act.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Miscellaneous Thoughts</span></div>
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There are various aspects of zone content that I thought were worth addressing but didn't consider worthy of devoting a section to. This final section will acknowledge all of these details.<br />
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On Recycling Old Zones</div>
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The first is that both assault zones are zones from previous expansions that have been given a bit of a facelift depending on the active assault. While some may not be a fan of recycling content, I personally approve of it for a few reasons.<br />
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The first is that I dislike how new content additions, especially new expansions, tend to obsolete all content that comes before it. Implementing features that effectively revitalize older content such as Timewalking and level scaling is a good way to address this problem as long as content updates remain compelling.<br />
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The second is that the two zones that are affected deserved the attention they got. The Vale of Eternal Blossoms was left in an unchanging wreck at the conclusion of the Mists of Pandaria expansion and Uldum was very underutilized as an endgame zone despite its massive size because it had a sparse amount of daily quests or other compelling content. The addition of new content helped to revitalize the former zone (sort of) and give the latter zone some much needed content that properly utilizes its size.<br />
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Finally, the assaults themselves change how at least parts of the zone look at any given time. Threats throughout the zone are different even when an area is not being assaulted. Landscape, which is less subject to change, may also become altered especially during a major assault. This provides a stark difference to more blatant instances of recycling older content such as the aforementioned Timewalking, which players seem to dislike out of an understandable desire for new, original content updates, which the current patch's zone content accomplishes to a greater degree.<br />
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On Anti-Flight Mechanics</div>
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Blizzard has recently been experimenting with ways to make players pay attention while they are flying. This is intended to combat the fact flight trivializes most quest objectives, discourages World PvP, and generally makes travel too fast and convenient. In patch 8.2, flying enemy mobs were added in Mechagon <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/npc=154442/hk-8-aerial-oppression-unit">including one</a> that eventually blasts the player with constant heavy damage unless they land. While some may find this annoying, I personally liked this addition since it improves the likelihood that flight continues to be available, which is especially important to keep in mind since removing it was a possibility in Warlords of Draenor. In addition, said feature is also not wrought with highly obnoxious inconveniences such as a dragon that fires dismounting breath at players.<br />
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Patch 8.3 builds on this idea by making flying slightly more inconvenient with the addition of <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/npc=152550/great-worm-from-beyond">Great Worm From Beyond</a>. Several of these patrol by flying over the area being assaulted and will periodically damage and debuff players who fly too close, reducing their flying mount speed by 30%. This effect can stack very high and lasts for 3 minutes, but if the player is paying attention they'll usually never get more than a couple stacks of the debuff. They can also usually be avoided by flying low enough to be out of range of them. <i>The exception to this is that some worms may flying a little too low during the Aqir version of the Uldum assault, which I think should be adjusted.</i><br />
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Overall, while some players may find the Great Worms From Beyond highly annoying, I believe they serve their purpose at encouraging players to pay more attention while flying. <i>I would also urge players to be happy with what they have since we could've gotten another <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/11/why-argus-isnt-flyable.html">Argus-like zone</a> without flying, been grounded until we unlocked another Pathfinder achievement, or had lethal flight-related obstacles instead</i>. With these points in mind, I believe the current iteration of how flight is being handled is reasonable.<br />
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Gnomebliteration Returns, Sort of...</div>
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There was a quest in Uldum called <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/quest=27779/gnomebliteration">Gnomebliteration</a> where the player is tasked with running over numerous gnomes with a giant fireball. It was one of a few vehicle quests that I wish were available as dailies during the Cataclysm expansion if only because I personally found them very fun especially compared to many of the daily quests available at the time. This quest makes a return of sorts in the form of a <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=174837/decaying-fusion-core">rare item</a> that lets players do the same thing, but the objective is to run over Amathet mobs instead. Apparently, killing enemies while using this item can significantly progress the Amathet version of the Uldum assault (I personally got as much as 42%), so it's a nice bonus that players can occasionally earn.<br />
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Interactive Buffs/Debuffs</div>
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Interactive buffs and debuffs have been utilized for quite a while in various forms. Examples include positioning in a specific manner to benefit from an effect or intentionally gaining a harmful debuff to avoid a more detrimental mechanic. Solo content occasionally does this, though I find that buffs and debuffs tend to be more straightforward since players are usually meant to avoid harmful ground effects and consume objects for buffs. The latter concept has been utilized more since Blizzard has adopted developing endgame solo zone content and 8.3 has a fair amount of interactable objects of these kinds. I approve of having these interactable objects, but this is not the concept I believe deserves acknowledgement.<br />
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Instead, I have also noticed Blizzard has been playing more with buffs and debuffs that utilize both risk and reward. Specifically, they require the player to sacrifice something in exchange for an effect that is beneficial and sometimes also detrimental. Furthermore, the buffs and debuffs in question are related to specific assaults. While there may be more I have missed, these are the ones I have found and made use of:<br />
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<li><a href="https://www.wowhead.com/spell=312677/hysteria">Hysteria</a>: This stacking debuff is applied by many mobs during Black Empire assaults. It increases attack and casting speeds, but also increases resource costs. This is usually beneficial but can make some abilities unusable if stacked too high. Furthermore, at 20 stacks of the debuff, the player is horrified for a few seconds.</li>
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<li>I personally like to intentionally have a few stacks of this debuff when possible and some enemies leave behind harmful damaging effects that apply the debuff, making it easy to stack and refresh the effect if a player wishes to.</li>
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<li><a href="https://www.wowhead.com/spell=312973/might-of-the-sun">Might of the Sun</a>: Some mobs during the Amathet assault apply this stacking debuff, which damages the player over time but also causes them to sometimes deal a burst of damage upon using an ability.</li>
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<li>This debuff can be a little painful without sustain, but can provide some much needed additional damage that is useful for defeating large packs of mobs. Leech, which is much easier to get than some players claim due to spec mechanics and, more recently, Corrupted gear, can help to heal any damage taken.</li>
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<li><a href="https://www.wowhead.com/spell=312243/amber-casing">Amber Casing</a>: During the Mantid assault, players can interact with an object that grants a stack of this effect. Some mobs can also apply it. At 10 stacks, the player gains an ability that allows them to restore huge amounts of health, but doing so briefly incapacitates the player. This effect is stopped if damage is taken.</li>
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<li>This debuff is the least significant of the ones I've discovered, but being able to basically heal to full on demand can be highly useful, even if with the drawback.</li>
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<li><a href="https://www.wowhead.com/spell=311249/lightning-rod">Lightning Rod</a>: Within Lesser Visions, lightning will occasionally strike the ground. Being damaged by this will drain a fair amount of Sanity but also provide a buff that damages nearby enemies for 30 seconds.</li>
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<li>This is a really nice buff to get for those who have a good grasp on Sanity control. It helps cleave through mobs in the area, making it easier to farm them.</li>
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Overall I think these buffs and debuffs are a neat idea since they challenge a player's decision-making abilities. They are prominently featured for anyone doing patch 8.3's zone content, who will have to make the decision of getting into harm's way or refraining from doing so depending on the situation, gear, experience, and personal preference. Players may also have to consider how much they are willing to harm themselves due to risks associated with Sanity and debuff effects stacking too high. I would like to think the result of such a mental exercise encourages players to think more for themselves and rely on online resources less (even if it's only a little less).</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Horrific Visions</span></div>
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Horrific Visions are a new form of scenario content that is meant to make use of the Coalescing Visions players collect since 10,000 of them can be traded in for a <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=173363/vessel-of-horrific-visions">Vessel of Horrific Visions</a>. This item can also be obtained from the major assault reward cache. Because the scenario can be done solo, has rogue-like elements, and the acquisition of this item is somewhat hard time-gated, I find this content comparable to <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/12/legions-gameplay-loop-withered-army.html">Withered Army Training</a>, though there are elements of the <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/07/legions-gameplay-loop-deaths-of-chromie.html">Many Deaths of Chromie scenario</a> that are present here as well. Horrific Visions may also offer a glimpse of what the future rogue-like dungeon Torghast, which can also be progressed through solo, has to offer.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">How Horrific Visions Work</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">For more detailed info, check out <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/horrific-visions-of-nzoth-overview-objectives-sanity-masks">this guide</a>. I am only providing a summary of what to expect from the scenario content.</span><br />
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After obtaining the legendary cloak, Horrific Visions will become available. There are two different scenarios based on the capital cities of Orgrimmar and Stormwind that rotate weekly. Each has similar objectives in that the player needs to defeat an easily accessible boss to complete the scenario and rescue or defeat major NPCs as side objectives in areas known as Corrupted Areas and Lost Areas. Completing side objectives increases the difficulty of the final boss, increasing their health and granting them an ability from one of the elites encountered in the side objective. One to five players can enter the scenario, but all players must have a Vessel of Horrific Visions to do so.<br />
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Players have a limited amount of time to complete the scenario, much like in the Many Deaths of Chromie. This time limit takes the form of Sanity, which constantly drains and lasts for a variant amount of time depending on a number of factors. The following are some of the factors that come to mind:<br />
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<li>Cloak level - Higher cloak levels decrease the rate Sanity drains within Horrific Visions.</li>
<li>Research - Research improves damage output, provides Sanity boosting effects, and other benefits that improve performance within Horrific Visions</li>
<li>Mechanical Skill - Some enemy abilities can drain Sanity. These usually can be avoided by dodging the attack, using interrupts, and so on.</li>
<li>Location - Different areas within the scenario drain Sanity at different rates, with the boss area, or Twisted Area, having the lowest Sanity drain.</li>
<li>Faceless Masks - Faceless Masks can be used to increase the difficulty of the scenario for increased rewards. Some of the difficulty-increasing effects directly affect Sanity and all Faceless Masks increase enemy health and damage.</li>
<li>Potions - These are objects that can be found within the scenario that may either restore or deplete Sanity. They can cause other effects as well, all of which are randomized each run. The location of one of the "bad" potions is <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/f0akwc/tip_horrific_visions_how_to_identify_the_bad/">consistent</a>.</li>
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As one can see, there are many elements that affect how much time a player has within the scenario. One of the more uncontrollable ones is cloak level, <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/news=305514/patch-8-3-legendary-cloak-stats-and-overview-no-capes-from-nyalotha-and-weekly-c">since cloak progression is time-gated</a>, which in turn affects how many side objectives a player may be able to do within Horrific Visions due to a lack of Sanity drain reduction. At the same time it is possible to complete many side objectives by being both skilled and knowledgeable because avoiding mechanics and understanding where to go and what to do reduces Sanity loss.<br />
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In addition to the randomness of potions, the scenario can have different Madness effects each week depending on the area. The ones in the Twisted Areas provide an effect that is often both beneficial and detrimental. Madness effects in other areas are generally detrimental and require counterplay from the player to ensure they do not suffer severely from the negative effects. These effects are similar to Mythic+ affixes, but focus more on providing additional mechanical challenge rather than directly making enemies more deadly and/or durable.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Horrific Vision Rewards</span></div>
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Horrific Vision rewards are a fair bit more substantial than rewards from Withered Army Training and The Many Deaths of Chromie. Many rewards scale based on whether the player completed the scenario or not as well as the number of completed side objectives and the number of active Faceless Masks.<br />
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In terms of the more notable rewards, players can <a href="https://ptr.wowhead.com/azerite-essence-power/spark-of-inspiration-139">earn</a> <a href="https://ptr.wowhead.com/azerite-essence-power/unwavering-ward-63">Azerite</a> <a href="https://ptr.wowhead.com/azerite-essence-power/strength-of-the-warden-131">essences</a> and essence upgrades. Players can also complete quests to upgrade their legendary cloak, though as I mentioned above these upgrades are time-gated and players will have more Vessels than they need to earn most of the cloak upgrades. After the cloak reaches max rank, Horrific Visions can award an item that increases the cloak's Corruption Resistance, which will be discussed in an upcoming section.<br />
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When it comes to more mundane rewards, players earn Corrupted Mementos based on mobs killed, objectives completed, and number of Faceless Masks used. This currency is used for <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/titanic-research-archive-recommended-order">Titanic Research</a>, which can provide beneficial effects within Horrific Visions. It can also be used to purchase a few items from 8.3 faction reputation vendors. Once Titanic Research is completed, players can purchase a <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/npc=155496/wrathion">few items from Wrathion</a>, which specifically consists of a couple of cosmetics <i>and a <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=174876/gouged-eye-of-nzoth">consumable item</a> that adds a socket to gear without one</i>.<br />
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Players can also earn gear from Horrific Visions, though unlike any solo content before it the gear reward from this scenario can award equipment up to item level 470, which is 5 less than typical Mythic raiding gear. Gear strength depends on the number of side objectives completed as well as the number of Faceless Masks used, so players will have to face a significant challenge to earn equipment of such power. Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/rewards-horrific-visions-of-nzoth#gear-rewards">gear rewards seem to be limited</a>, with rewards of specific item levels only being awarded once per week.<br />
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Finally, players can be awarded pets and consumable contracts that can recruit troops used in missions. The contracts are unbound, meaning they can be sold or sent to other characters who may find them more useful since they save on a small amount of War Resources.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thoughts on Horrific Visions</span></div>
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Horrific Visions are a great form of scenario content that improves upon Withered Army Training and gives me some hope for what Torghast will be like. It can be done in a solo or group environment, the difficulty is highly configurable because of the bonus objectives and Faceless Masks, and there is a decent sense of progression specific to the content as players upgrade their cloaks and unlock research. I also generally like the reward system since it's a form of challenging solo content that rewards appropriately great gear, which is something I fondly remembered the long since defunct <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Shartuul%27s_Transporter_(event)">Shartuul's Transporter event</a> for. It even addresses the issue of dealing with random sockets on gear, though I personally believe <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/02/addressing-random-sockets-this-time.html">my suggestion</a> on handling it is still superior while the current iteration of being able to add sockets to unsocketed gear seems more like a temporary stopgap (if the item was sold under a <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/03/please-bring-back-justice-points.html">universal Justice Point system</a>, on the other hand...).<br />
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However, as that previous statement implies, Horrific Visions are far from perfect and while any suggestions I make won't provide an immediate improvement to the content, it could be considered and utilized for future iterations of the content. Specifically, <i>any critique and suggestions I make regarding Horrific Visions is intended to improve Torghast</i>, though I wouldn't object to Horrific Visions themselves being improved in a future minor content patch. This critique is divided into three specific sections, which are as follows:<br />
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Scenario Balance</div>
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First of all, while I understand the two Horrific Vision scenarios are supposed to be different, I<i> personally find the Orgrimmar version to be a lot easier</i>. Part of this likely has to do with the fact I am a Horde player, but I also believe the objectives are easier and there's a lot less running between the various areas of the scenario. Specifically, the Corrupted and Lost Areas of Orgrimmar are significantly more straightforward, with three of the four areas being incredibly linear and the fourth having minimal backtracking. Meanwhile there is more significant backtracking in at least two of the Stormwind Corrupted and Lost Areas. There are also not <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/npc=158478/corruption-tumor">Corruption Tumors</a> everywhere in Orgrimmar that may slow the player down. Finally, Thrall is a much easier boss to deal with than Alleria, especially for melee.<br />
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This brings me to my second point where I believe <i>the scenarios are significantly more unfair to melee in general</i>. Many bosses have mechanics that force melee players to be out of range of the boss or risk losing a significant amount of Sanity to encounter mechanics. This is worsened by Madness effects that force the player to position themselves, which also is likely to put them out of range of enemies. Finally, bosses can parry melee attacks, which is especially awful for players trying to solo the scenario as melee.<br />
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Aside from <i>making bosses unable to parry melee attacks</i>, there's not much I can suggest to improve Horrific Visions that doesn't involve significant change. I would however implore that Blizzard is more mindful of ensuring the solo challenge experience isn't disproportionately hellish towards melee or ranged players if possible; moderate imbalances that are unlike what melee have to experience in Horrific Visions at the moment are not ideal, but tolerable by comparison. As for future scenario design, having a wide variety of scenarios to choose from and rebalancing them based on what scenarios players choose to enter may suffice in terms of addressing imbalance between specific scenarios.<br />
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On a side note, I am thankful Torghast, which seems similar to <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/02/some-thoughts-on-hearthstones-dungeon.html">Hearthstone's Dungeon Runs</a> in a lot of ways, <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/news=296014/torghast-the-tower-of-the-damned-shadowlands-content-overview">doesn't seem like it'll have a time limit feature</a>. Therefore, I don't have state my preference to have scenario content that doesn't require the player to rush through it like I did in my <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2019/05/my-thoughts-on-island-expeditions.html">Island Expedition</a> article. While the time limit mechanic in Horrific Visions is interesting, it would be nice to have additional challenging solo content I can do at my own pace too.<br />
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Time Gating</div>
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As I mentioned before, there are time-gated elements for Horrific Visions. To start, there are <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-concept-of-soft-time-gating.html">soft time gates</a> in the form of gear reward limitations, which I linked above, and cloak upgrades. I personally never really noticed the gear reward limitations, but I disapprove of it since Mythic+ dungeons are a readily available source of gear that isn't subject to such limitations. In fact, <i>I would suggest that Horrific Visions always have a chance to award lower item level gear rewards to make the reward system similar to Mythic+</i>.<br />
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On the other hand, I think the time gating of cloak upgrades is quite reasonable. The initial rank cap was 6, which is high enough for the on-use ability that temporarily disables Corruption effects. Sanity loss in Horrific Visions is also reduced by 40% at rank 5, which is significant enough to make a full clear of the scenario possible. It's also not too bad to catch up on cloak rank up to a certain point since every rank up to 9 requires one or two clears while players can easily earn at least 3 Vessels of Horrific Vision each week.<br />
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Unfortunately, as that last statement points out, there is something of a hard time gate on the amount of Horrific Vision runs a player can do on a single character each week. While it's possible to farm Coalescing Visions, the overwhelming majority of Coalescing Visions for most players will come from time-gated content such as assaults, dailies, rare spawns, and chests. This limits how much players can farm for rewards from Horrific Visions, <i>which is likely why the content was hard time-gated to begin with since it otherwise may encroach upon raiding content</i>, a form of hard time-gated content that the developers and some players seem to treat as sacrosanct since it continues to consistently award the best equipment available. More importantly, players are limited in the amount of attempts they can make on Horrific Visions, which discourages exploration of the scenario, makes failure feel more punishing, and prevents players from engaging with content they may find highly enjoyable.<br />
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Personally, I have numerous level capped characters, which means I have more Vessels than I know what to do with, giving me many more opportunities to experience Horrific Visions. I also find that ranking up the cloak every week, even when it requires multiple runs to do so, is surprisingly not as demanding as I expected. In fact, as of this writing I have a few extra runs on my main that I can use for practice while still maintaining the cap of 5 Vessels for future weeks when new cloak upgrade quests are available; I even failed a run on the first week due to inexperience.<br />
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However, I have a<a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/07/world-of-warcraft-problem-with-time.html"> personal problem with hard time gating content</a> and access to Horrific Visions is no exception<i>. Therefore, I believe there should at least be a practice mode that has no Vessel cost but also has no rewards where players can explore, experiment, and enjoy themselves</i>. This would allow players to fail as much as they want and experience the gameplay the content has to offer without upsetting players who may benefit from the time-gating, whether they are incredibly competitive or casual.<br />
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<i>I would also add that Torghast should not have a time-gated form of access like Horrific Visions, Withered Army Training, and Shartuul's Transporter do or did</i>. This would be seriously detrimental to the success of the content since Torghast competes to a degree with rogue-like games as well as features from other games such as <a href="https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Deep_dungeon">Deep dungeons</a> in Final Fantasy 14, both of which are readily accessible and not time-gated. Some players have also <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/eqjl8w/please_dont_limit_torghast_in_shadowlands_the/">expressed concerns</a> over Torghast because of the time gating of Horrific Visions.<i> Ultimately, my point is that if access to Torghast is time-gated or soft time gating on aspects of the content such as its rewards is too aggressive, players may go play other games instead</i>, which I doubt is something Blizzard wants especially in their subscription-based game.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">3/1/2020 Update: Coalescing Vision rewards have been increased due to a <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/news=311377/february-25th-hotfixes-for-visions-of-nzoth-coalescing-visions-from-dailies-incr">hotfix</a> the previous Tuesday. Furthermore, legendary cloak rank increase requirements have also been lowered at higher ranks and players can hold more than 5 Vessels of Horrific Visions. This should allow players to run more Horrific Visions and have more freedom over when they run it, which I think are reasonable changes to make. I suspect Coalescing Vision rewards will continue to be increased over time as something of a catch-up mechanic or something else will be implemented to accomplish a similar goal.</span><br />
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Progression and Rewards</div>
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I personally think the progression system for Horrific Visions is designed fairly well, but it is also simplistic. Cloak levels effectively increase the time a player can spend in the scenario in addition to allowing them to fail mechanics a little more. Research, on the other hand, provides far more robust benefits including some fantastic Haste buffs and the ability to find lootable chests. However, there are so few types of research available that I can count them using my hands.<br />
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Meanwhile, the rewards from Horrific Visions are decent, but for some reason certain rewards are missing. For example, Azerite doesn't seem to be awarded from Horrific Visions and considering that Heart Level 80 is effectively the end of significant Heart of Azeroth progression, I don't see why Horrific Visions shouldn't have awarded some Azerite to help players get closer to that goal. There also doesn't seem to be much to spend Corrupted Mementos on, which is a big deal since Horrific Visions are a great source of the currency. Once players finish all the research and purchase the available cosmetics, there is only a single consumable item available that may be of limited use especially after players socket all of their gear.<br />
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I don't think much should be done to improve the progression aspect of Horrific Visions since while I do have problems with the simplicity, I also believe the available research and cloak progression will suffice. On the other hand, adding an Azerite reward along with more items to purchase with Corrupted Mementos, such as moderately useful consumables, gear (for a steep price), account-bound gear tokens, and so on would make Horrific Visions a little more tempting to do for players who finished their research, fully upgraded their cloak, and don't need to add sockets to their gear.<br />
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More importantly, <i>I am hoping for substantial progression and rewards from Torghast</i>. It should absolutely have some typical rewards that are useful outside of the instance such as gear, money, and certain currencies that will likely be more Justice Point analogues. At the same time, a significant amount of the rewards should be exclusive to Torghast, which should prevent the need to time gate access to the content. This is because the rewards could largely serve to benefit a Torghast-exclusive progression system that could feature an extensive skill tree system and the like with many useful effects beyond what Titanic Research currently offers. Having this closed system of progression would keep Torghast progression from strongly affecting performance in other competitive content, which should at least prevent players from feeling like they're forced to do Torghast to gain a general advantage. I would go as far as to say power-related Paragon progression in such a closed system would be okay, which provides a lot of breathing room in terms of the rewards and progression content such as Torghast could offer.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Corrupted Gear and Corruption</span></div>
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When patch 8.2 came out, <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/benthic-gear-effects-nazjatar">Benthic gear</a> was introduced and instead of randomly Titanforging to increase item level, the equipment had to be upgraded using <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1721/prismatic-manapearl">Prismatic Manapearls</a> instead. While this only affected Benthic gear, I approved of the idea since it was <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-quest-to-fix-titanforging.html">similar to what I suggested</a> to address the annoyance of not acquiring gear that randomly upgrades itself through the Titanforging system, even though the result of this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwI5b-wRLic">randomness</a> is strictly beneficial and in most other games would likely be appreciated by players.<br />
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Patch 8.3 built on this by abolishing Titanforging for the time being in favor of granting most level 120 gear rewards a chance to become corrupted. When gear becomes corrupted, item level doesn't increase, but instead equipping the gear provides a <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/corrupted-items-overview-titan-purification-corruption-resistance#random-corruption-affixes">randomly determined beneficial effect</a> at the expense of increasing Corruption. Beneficial effects have three levels of strength, with stronger effects increasing Corruption by a greater amount. Some gear is also corrupted by default, specifically weapons from the Ny'alotha raid that have unique equip effects. Corrupted gear can be cleansed at the Chamber of Heart for a small fee of 5 Corrupted Mementos.<br />
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Corruption is a mechanic that causes <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/corrupted-items-overview-titan-purification-corruption-resistance#negative-effects-of-corruption">negative effects</a> based on the player's Corruption rating. Players will be subject to additional effects every 20 points up to 80. The severity of all effects increases with rating, generally scaling in a linear manner. There is also an Azerite trait that increases all secondary stats if Corruption is 25 or higher that is considered strong. Personally, I try to keep my Corruption below 60 when possible because Thing From Beyond becomes very dangerous at 60 Corruption or higher, though I've heard the recommendation is to stay below 80 since reaching that threshold increases damage taken and decreases healing taken.<br />
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Corruption can be reduced through Corruption Resistance. This will primarily be provided by the legendary cloak, which starts at 5 Corruption Resistance and reaches 50 at the maximum rank. Corruption Resistance on the cloak can be increased further after it has reached rank 15 by using a consumable item obtained from Horrific Visions or the Ny'alotha raid. Azerite essences added in patch 8.3 also grant 10 Corruption Resistance, but this benefit is unique and cannot be stacked.<br />
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While I still believe that Titanforging has a purpose to serve in the reward system and believe it would be much less frustrating for players if upgrading equipment was an option, corrupted gear is a suitable alternative for now since high item level gear can be earned from solo content. In fact, challenging solo content awards gear that is nearly as good as what can be gotten from raiding and Mythic+. I also like how corrupted gear has a risk-reward system that is similar to some iterations of cursed items in other RPGs. This is because cursed items in some other games provide significant benefits but also come with a serious drawback, which is captured well by the fact corrupted gear provides a useful equip effect but increases Corruption, which can be lethal to the player.<br />
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I especially like that unlike other randomized gear effects such as tertiary stats, bonus sockets, and Titanforging, corrupted gear is not always a good thing to have. I have personally run into situations where my alts ended up with too much corrupted gear to the point that despite the equipment providing better stats, I would risk reaching dangerous levels of Corruption (sometimes as high as 200) if I equipped everything. Thankfully some gear, such as the equipment produced by BoA gear tokens, cannot ever become corrupted. Corrupted gear can also be cleansed after the legendary cloak is acquired, so if players get "unlucky" and end up with a lot of corrupted gear, they can cleanse gear until they have a comfortable level of Corruption.<br />
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I also like that there seems to be many options when it comes to utilizing corrupted gear. I expect players to set personal limits on how much Corruption they believe is reasonable like I mentioned above. To that end, it's worth considering that weaker equip effects tend to increase Corruption by a lesser amount, meaning that players may have to make decisions about whether they want a strong equip effect or a few weaker equip effects. Furthermore, some equip effects have situational benefits or are better for specific classes and specs, meaning that a universal corrupted gear effect tier list seems implausible.<br />
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With that said, players will still value some corrupted gear effects over others if only because of how competitive they may be. This in turn may lead to frustration when players don't get the effects they want because RNG hates them. <i>Alleviating this frustration may be important much like with the Titanforging system, such as by greatly increasing the amount of gear that becomes corrupted since it can be cleansed if the effect is undesirable anyways</i>. However, I believe corrupted gear as a random equipment effect is more reasonable since as I mentioned above, the random effects are not entirely beneficial. Furthermore, I am personally satisfied as long as I can maintain a level of Corruption between 25 and 59 and I would like to think there are other players who share this opinion.<br />
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Finally, I want to highlight the immersive aspect of corrupted gear. It makes sense that an Old God-themed patch would include such a feature, so that's a good start. What I especially like is that the various Corruption effects, while not amazingly compelling mechanically, do force the player to position themselves and move around. Since players can only see their own Corruption effects, they will look insane in the eyes of other players as they attempt to avoid the Corruption mechanics.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Closing Thoughts</span></div>
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Patch 8.3 has brought some decent additions. It has an interesting overarching theme involving risk and reward that promotes good decision-making. The solo content, while not entirely original, improves upon previous iterations in numerous ways that I have mentioned throughout the article. Group content has also become a bit more tolerable to do, with Battlegrounds and Island Expeditions being especially lively from my personal experience. The Auction House was also given an update that generally improves its functionality and makes it impossible to post hundreds of stacks of a single item.<br />
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However, that doesn't mean this patch isn't without its problems, some of which I brought up in the previous sections. It's slightly annoying, though understandable, that the legendary cloak-related scenarios cannot be skipped. It's also annoying, but understandable that Engineering modifications cannot be applied to the legendary cloak since it already has a use effect. There have also been bugs with this patch and while I have personally run into nothing seriously gamebreaking, some bugs such as broken events have negatively affected my playing experience. There are also occasional lag problems primarily caused by too many players doing too many things at once in a shard, which I find weird since Legion also had sharding yet this issue wasn't present as often (though the world server did crash a fair amount).<br />
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As I mentioned at the start of this article, the focus of community vitriol towards Blizzard seems to be centered around Warcraft 3 Reforged. That is understandable considering the remaster appears to be more of a downgrade and I certainly wasn't happy with the hard drive space that was eaten up because of the update to my normal version of Warcraft 3. I also think there's some cause to be concerned about the revision to the Custom Game Acceptable Use Policy, though I think people are making too big of a deal out of provisions that might not even be enforceable.<br />
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However, as I also said, <i>I think it's important to be constructive and civil with feedback whether it's positive, negative, or a bit of both</i>. Mindlessly praising or complaining, at best, provides a general idea of how some part of the community might feel. Meanwhile, manufacturing controversy using falsehoods or misrepresentations is an act of intellectual dishonesty that I have witnessed and strongly disapprove of. As for those who hate Blizzard and wish to see them burn with an intensity greater than a thousand suns, I think it's better not to give them any money or attention. In any case, I should practice what I preach and put an end to this absurdly long article with what I think of patch 8.3, the concluding major patch of the Battle for Azeroth expansion:<br />
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<i>Overall, I'm very much enjoying myself this patch even if the featured content is far from perfect</i> and, in my eyes, further proof that a major objective of the Battle for Azeroth expansion is to address stray plot threads left by Cataclysm. The patch has added solo content that interests me and while there are some chore-like aspects, I have found ways to make them fun. I have felt motivated to invest time into many of my characters this time around and don't intend to take any sort of major "break" any time soon. This is important to note, since over the years there have been times I have gotten tired of the game, especially because I managed multiple characters, and taken something resembling a break as a result (like I did before patch 8.3 came out). To put all this another way, <i>I am having fun and it seems like World of Warcraft is in a good spot thanks to this patch, which easily could have been made subpar </i><i>intentionally</i><i> for the sake of putting an end to a poorly received expansion</i>.<br />
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I can only hope that Blizzard considers the many points I have made throughout this article along with any constructive criticism others have made to further improve the game and continue this trend of positive actions, even if some would prefer to exclusively focus on their negative actions.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-86408289381343857662020-01-05T19:08:00.008-08:002021-10-01T02:24:47.436-07:00My Ratings for Every Vanilla Rimworld Trait<div><span style="font-size: xx-small;">10/1/21 - Really late on adding this note, but this article is for the 1.0 version of Rimworld. While some points still hold true even in later versions such as 1.1 and 1.3, I have updated the article to reflect this (and fixed some grammar issues).</span></div><div><br /></div>Rimworld is a game I've been playing on and off for about a year, often bingeing for days at a time before getting bored of the colony I'm managing and moving on. I especially enjoy the game for the numerous details that encourage strategic thinking, though new players may find themselves overwhelmed even after playing through the tutorial. One aspect of the numerous details within the game are the traits that colonists may have up to three of. Traits can provide a wide variety of effects that are beneficial or detrimental, though often they have both. Furthermore, specific situations may determine how useful or harmful the effects are.<br />
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Having played Rimworld for a fair amount of time and also because I feel like it, in this article <i>I will rate all the traits available in the <strike>latest version</strike> <u>1.0 version of unmodded Rimworld</u> while playing one of the preset scenarios with explanations for my ratings.</i> A higher rating generally indicates that in my opinion, assuming all other factors are equal, a colonist with this trait is more desirable to have in my colony. Traits will be ordered from the highest rated to the lowest.<br />
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Cannibal - 10/10</div>
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I consider Cannibal the best trait in Rimworld for a few reasons. While some of these benefits are shared with the Psychopath and Bloodlust trait, Cannibal is especially helpful because every event that produces fresh human corpses suddenly becomes a beneficial food source for a colonist with this trait. This improves survivability in biomes where food sources are scarce such as Ice Sheet and Sea Ice.</div>
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Specifically, the act of eating human meat by a Cannibal grants excellent, easily accessible mood bonuses in the form of Raw Cannibalism and Cooked Cannibalism. These would normally cause a mood penalty of 20 and 15 respectively, but they instead grant a mood bonus of 20 and 15 respectively to a Cannibal and the two bonuses can be stacked. Wearing human leather clothing also grants a small mood bonus for a Cannibal, much like it does for a colonist with Bloodlust. Both of these factors make mood management incredibly easy and can lead to consistent <a href="https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Mental_inspiration">inspirations</a> for the colonist.</div>
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As for the benefits shared by the other aforementioned traits, Cannibals can butcher humans without consequence and they don't mind seeing fresh corpses or leaving colonists unburied. All of these normally would also cause a fairly serious mood penalty. Human butchering is especially useful when it comes to what a Cannibal can do since it produces Human Meat and Human Leather. Human Meat, in addition to being good for feeding to a Cannibal, is also good for feeding to animals as is or in the form of Pemmican or Kibble. Human Leather has a high market value and while it may be a liability to keep it for an extended period since raids will become more threatening, they make for an excellent gift to other factions especially in later stages of the game when raids become enormous.</div>
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However, while I may give the Cannibal trait a perfect score, it has a minor downside in that other colonists without the Cannibal, Bloodlust, or Psychopath trait will have a reduced opinion if the Cannibal butchers humans (-10) or eats raw human meat (-5). This can easily be overcome with a deep talk or some chitchat, but some caution is advised to ensure a rivalry doesn't develop due to the potential for social fights. Personally, I advise only feeding cooked human meat to a Cannibal when possible to avoid that opinion reduction.</div>
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Industrious - 9.5/10</div>
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Industrious is a fantastic trait because it increases the colonist's global work speed by 35% with minimal downside. This results in a significant increase in productivity that allows the colonist to work faster than colonists typically can even in complete darkness, where their global work speed is 108%. The small downside is that colonists with Industrious slightly dislike other colonists without the Industrious or Hard Worker trait. This results in a -5 opinion by default, but is worsened if a colonist has the Lazy (-20) or Slothful (-30) trait. With that said, I consider Lazy and Slothful colonists undesirable due to their global work speed penalty, so the inevitable enmity an Industrious colonist has towards them results in a nice mood boost upon the entirely "unintentional" death of a Lazy or Slothful colonist.<br />
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Jogger - 9.5/10</div>
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Jogger is an excellent trait that increases a colonist's movement speed by approximately 8.7%, or from 4.6 cells per second to 5 cells per second. Colonists tend to move around a lot even if they are assigned to tasks such as research, meaning this trait benefits even in such situations. This trait particularly shines in situations where a colonist needs to outrun an enemy to survive. This includes other humans without this trait as well as any animals that move at up to 5 cells per second themselves.<br />
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Furthermore, this trait scales well with effects that augment movement speed such as bionics. In fact, a colonist with Jogger who has a Bionic Leg and an Archotech Leg (which grants 137.5% movement, or 6.875 cells per second) is nearly as fast as a normal colonist with two Archotech Legs (which grants 150% movement, or 6.9 cells per second).<br />
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Fast Learner - 9/10</div>
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Fast Learner is a strong trait that increases experience gain rate by 75%. <i>This bonus is multiplicative</i>, meaning skills with no passion are learned at 61.25% of the normal rate, skills with minor passion are learned at 175% of the normal rate, and skills with a burning passion are learned 262.5% of the normal rate. Because of this, the Fast Learner trait especially thrives if a colonist has some skills with flames of passion, which will then cause them to excel at a rate even normal colonists with burning passion in the skill cannot match. The ultimate result with a bit of time investment is a colonist that is incredibly exceptional at skills they are passionate about and maintaining skill levels against experience decay will be easier because of the higher experience gain rate.<br />
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However, this trait requires a bit of a time investment to yield great results unlike some others, especially the traits I rated higher than this one. This means colonists without Fast Learner, but with some high skill levels, may be more useful overall. A Fast Learner with few flames of passion is also not too great because while they may learn all their skills a little faster, gaining experience at 61.25% of the normal rate is still quite slow. This means becoming exceptional in a skill with no passion will still be time-consuming and higher skill levels will be laborious to maintain.<br />
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Bloodlust - 9/10</div>
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Much like <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/adduub/turn_your_bed_into_a_chair_and_vice_versa_some/">this post</a> says, Bloodlust is an excellent trait that provides a variety of benefits along with a small downside. It shares benefits with the Cannibal trait in that a colonist with Bloodlust can observe or butcher human corpses with no personal mood penalties. Benefits are also shared with Psychopaths in that a colonist with either trait largely does not mind tragedies such as the death of allies. Colonists with Bloodlust also have a unique benefit that allows them to observe rotting human corpses with no personal mood penalty, which makes them good candidates for the disposal or burial of rotting human corpses.<br />
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Colonists with Bloodlust can gain mood bonuses from wearing clothing made out of Human Leather. However, in my opinion they are more suited to wearing tainted clothing with superior stats because they suffer no mood penalty for doing so. Considering how often I've had a raider with useful equipment die instead of going into pain shock, it's nice to have a colonist who can wear the gear without penalty.<br />
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Bloodlust also enables a colonist to gain substantial mood bonuses when killing humans or observing the death of other humans. These mood bonuses are so great that it should easily result in inspirations or at least provide effective immunity to mental breaks while they are active. However, the mood benefits for both cases lasts for a few days and humans are not always readily available to kill without some consequence. Because of this, I usually find other mood benefits such as those a Cannibal has access to superior by comparison.<br />
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Finally, Bloodlust <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/9pzf0f/semiuseless_information_1_contributions_to_social/">multiplies the chance of a social fight occurring by 4</a>. I personally really dislike social fights because the outcome of them can result in a colonist's death or permanent loss of body parts. Therefore, this is a liability to consider if a colonist with Bloodlust isn't friendly with another colonist. This is a distinct possibility if the colonist with Bloodlust butchers humans regularly among other reasons, but it can also happen if compatibility is poor.<br />
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Overall, Bloodlust is a fantastic trait despite the downside and I will usually welcome a colonist with it with open arms as long they're not wrought with numerous other flaws, especially those that negatively affect social interactions.<br />
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Kind - 8.5/10</div>
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Contrasting with the social fight-happy Bloodlust trait is the Kind trait that helps to reduce the chance of social fights. Considering how often colonists like to slight or insult each other even with positive compatibility, having a colonist who is not a social liability is incredibly convenient. A Kind colonist will not start a social fight or cause mood penalties through insults, but instead can boost the mood of other colonists with kind words, though this happens very rarely. Kind colonists can ultimately cause a positive feedback loop where they become everyone's friend since the inevitable deep talks and kind words they share with others decreases the chance they will be slighted or insulted in return.</div>
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Unfortunately, much like in real life, kindness can only get so far and in this case the Kind trait provides nothing direct in the way of other benefits such as an increase in productivity or combat potential.</div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Too Smart - 8/10</span></div>
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Being too smart is to a colonist's benefit because even if they are somehow incapable of using the Intellectual skill, this trait provides the benefits of Fast Learner, except it has a fairly significant downside of increasing the mental break threshold by 12%. This means a colonist with this trait and no other mental break threshold modifying traits must have their mood maintained at 47% to avoid risking a mental break. By default, this means the colonist must have some mood bonuses since the base mood level will not typically be enough (it's not 50% by default, despite the wiki saying so). This usually won't be too difficult to do but some events that reduce mood such as Psychic Drones may require extra attention.<br />
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Beyond that, this trait is basically another Fast Learner in terms of the benefits it provides and will stack with it if a colonist somehow has both traits, which is something I have very rarely run into but is worth considering.<br />
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Very Neurotic - 8/10</div>
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This trait increases global work speed by 40%, which is better than the Industrious trait. Considering Fast Learner was rated lower by comparison, Very Neurotic should have a higher rating than Too Smart since it is better than Industrious, but has a similar downside of increasing the mental break threshold like Too Smart does. However, Very Neurotic increases the mental break threshold by 14% instead of 12%, which may make mood management a little more difficult in situations where mood is reduced. Ultimately, this means the benefits of Very Neurotic are stronger but so is the downside, earning it a similar rating as Too Smart.</div>
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With that said, it is worth mentioning Very Neurotic colonists don't look down upon others who are not hard workers, which would normally slightly reduce the colonist's opinion of them.</div>
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Transhumanist - 8/10</div>
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At first glance, this trait seems like a detriment because of the mood penalty of 4. Fortunately, this is a fairly easy penalty to combat because any sort of artificial body modification counts towards making a colonist with this trait happy. Referring once again to a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/adduub/turn_your_bed_into_a_chair_and_vice_versa_some/">post</a> I linked above, the most practical way to go about doing this is to install Cochlear Implants onto the colonist since other lower grade artificial body parts such as Peg Legs and various prosthetics can reduce productivity greatly. In any case, once a colonist with this trait has even a single artificial body part, they gain a modest boost to their mood that stacks to the point of being slightly better than the Sanguine trait (+13 vs +12). This is somewhat daunting to do since it requires the colonist to have 6 artificial body parts, but this is reasonable to achieve at later stages in the game.<br />
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This trait also provides another benefit which I like even more. Since a Transhumanist colonist has a reduced chance of having other beneficial traits that scale well with bionics because of the fact colonists can only have up to three traits, it may be more practical to install bionics onto other, more productive colonists. Since a Transhumanist colonist likes artificial body parts so much, they have an improved opinion of other colonists with them up to a whopping 40. This in turn leads to them slighting and insulting those colonists less if at all. Ironically, Cochlear Implants are once again a pretty good way to help improve social interactions involving Transhumanist colonists before bionics are easily available.<br />
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Overall, this trait is great because it effectively rewards the installation of the strongly beneficial bionic body parts and the detriment is not too difficult to counteract even in the relatively early stages of a colony's development.<br />
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Tough - 8/10</div>
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This is the first of a few combat-oriented traits in Rimworld and in my opinion it is by far the best. The Tough trait reduces damage taken by 50%. This not only provides the colonist with more staying power in a combat situation, it also helps to prevent them from losing organs and body parts, especially more fragile ones that tend to get lost such as eyes. The destruction of some organs or body parts, such as the brain or the torso, leads to death. This is also useful in the rare case a social fight happens, since less damage will be dealt overall.<br />
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Another benefit to consider is that <a href="https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Injury">all injuries recover at a set rate</a> and a Tough colonist is less likely to have severe injuries that take multiple days to heal. To put this another way, a Tough colonist effectively heals from their injuries twice as fast since they took half the damage to begin with.<br />
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Overall this is a great trait to have especially on a melee combatant. I personally try not to have my colonists get injured if possible and do not specifically seek a colonist with this trait. However, if I happen to get one, I typically put such a colonist in more risky situations since they can afford to suffer more injuries than usual.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">Sanguine - 8/10</span></div>
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This simple trait provides a permanent, unconditional mood boost of 12 to the colonist with it. This is great for helping to avoid mental breaks and makes it much easier to trigger inspirations. However, it's not as powerful as some other mood boosting effects such as the ones provided by Cannibal and Bloodlust. Furthermore, a moderate mood boost is only one of many benefits I would prefer to see a colonist have, which limits how powerful this trait is compared to many I have rated higher. With that said, it's still a welcome sight to see on randomly generated colonists.<br />
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Hard Worker - 7.5/10</div>
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Hard Worker is a weaker version of the Industrious trait, increasing global work speed by 20%. This gives colonists with it an edge compared to normal colonists in terms of getting things done, but not at the level I'd consider it stronger than any trait I have rated higher than it. This trait also has the same downside as Industrious where they'll see any colonist without the Industrious or Hard Worker trait as lazy and have -5 opinion of them.<br />
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Fast Walker - 7/10</div>
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Fast Walker is a weaker version of Jogger, with the bonus being half as strong by increasing movement of the colonist by 0.2 cells per second instead of 0.4. While the point of improved productivity applies since colonists tend to move around a fair amount so getting places faster helps with that, I cannot say the same about the benefits this trait provides in combat. This relatively minor increase in movement speed helps much less with kiting since stopping to shoot incurs a fairly significant delay that this trait is much less capable of compensating for. The result is colonists will have a much harder time inflicting much-needed injuries that would slow the foe's movement speed on their own, which ultimately demonstrates how much less powerful this trait is despite providing an entirely positive effect.<br />
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Quick Sleeper - 7/10</div>
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Quick Sleeper increases the rate at which rest is gained by 50%, which is a major boon to productivity due to the reduction in time spent sleeping. I personally do not seek this trait because I favor utilizing other ways to improve rest effectiveness. Specifically, I try to build higher quality beds and eventually Royal Beds and I also install Bionic Stomachs, which provides so much rest effectiveness I actually have colonists resting before their scheduled time to rest because they wake up so early. Adding the Quick Sleeper trait would make this happen sooner, which would not be optimal for a colony I want to be completely resting at night so that they have a sleep schedule similar to the many animals I keep in addition to reducing the chance of sleep disturbance.</div>
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With that said, I cannot argue against the objective benefit of being able to simply do more over an extended period of time because a colonist with this trait sleeps less. I would personally give such a colonist a completely open schedule and have them sleep at any time they desire to maximize this benefit and would be happy with the productivity increase even if it comes at the expense of some minor mood debuffs.</div>
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Beautiful - 7/10</div>
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A colonist with this trait will be strongly liked by other colonists due to the +40 opinion they will have of said colonist. This greatly reduces the chance of the colonist being insulted or slighted and can lead to positive social interactions, but it is worth keeping in mind the colonist themselves may initiate negative social interactions especially if they become a target for unwanted romance. There's not much benefit otherwise much like the Kind trait, but this benefit is powerful enough in terms of improving the social aspect of running a colony that I believe it's worth the 7/10 rating. Just try not to get the colonist killed due to the long duration mood penalties for losing a friend.</div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Optimist - 7/10</span></div>
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Optimist is a weaker version of the Sanguine trait, increasing mood by 6 permanently. This provides much of the same benefits that Sanguine does, but to a lesser degree, which leads to a lower rating. However, I personally am not rating it all that much lower because I believe it's nice to have an easy mood boost to the point I would consider that quality itself well above average.</div>
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Iron-willed - 7/10</div>
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On paper, Iron-willed is a stronger trait than even Sanguine because it technically equates to an 18 point boost in mood because it reduces mental break thresholds by that amount. However, on a normal colonist it will actually only reduce the mental break threshold by 4%. This is because there are minimums for each mental break threshold. These thresholds are 1% for Extreme (down from 5%), 16% for Major (down from 20%), and 31% for Minor (down from 35%). The result is that this trait is technically worse than even the Optimist trait in terms of effective mood gain.</div>
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However, I gave it an equal rating as Optimist because it synergizes with other traits that increase the mental break threshold but provide a beneficial effect such as Too Smart or Very Neurotic. If a colonist has either trait and Iron-willed, they will have the minimum possible break thresholds as well as the benefit of either aforementioned trait. While this is not an optimal set of traits for a colonist, I believe this combination is strong enough to warrant giving Iron-willed a higher rating than expected.</div>
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Undergrounder - 6.5/10</div>
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Undergrounder is another trait I do not specifically look for in my colonists but I cannot deny its benefits. These benefits primarily allow a colonist with the trait to thrive in a mountain base because they will never be afflicted by mood debuffs due to failing to go outside enough or being in an area that's too dark or cramped. This also benefits sedentary colonists such as researchers and crafters who I often find may end up needing to go outside periodically at the risk of suffering mood penalties.</div>
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However, it is worth mentioning all of these benefits specifically apply to nullifying some negative effects on mood. A colonist with this trait will still suffer work penalties from darkness, which means this is surprisingly not a great trait for miners.</div>
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Trigger-Happy - 6.5/10</div>
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While I personally prefer that colonists with no effect to their shooting ability, I think Trigger-Happy has more potential to be good compared to Careful Shooter. While <a href="https://imgur.com/a/fsWJ0">their accuracy is fairly poor at longer ranges</a>, the ability to shoot up to twice as fast is handy. This not only provides more chances to land a shot, but it means less time is spent standing still to shoot, which helps with kiting enemies. Being able to shoot faster also makes weapons with a noticeably longer wind-up time to shoot such as miniguns and LMGs, which already have horrible accuracy anyways, better to use.<br />
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By the way, after some experimentation, a colonist with this trait shoots about 66% faster using an Assault Rifle, which is my favored weapon of choice.<br />
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Night Owl - 6.5/10</div>
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Night Owl increases a colonist's mood by 16 at night and decreases it by 10 during the day. They also do not suffer a mood decrease in darkness. Based on information from the wiki, this means it is undesirable for a colonist to be awake in between 11:00 and 18:00, which is when the colonist will consider it to be daytime. However, this can cause problems because events that require the colonist to be awake may happen during that time period. Furthermore, colonists sleeping during that time period may have their sleep disturbed and miss out on potentially beneficial social interactions. Finally, once it's possible to increase rest effectiveness by a massive amount, a colonist will only need a few hours of sleep each day, meaning they will be awake when they don't want to be.</div>
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With that said, the huge mood boost is something that cannot be overlooked and it's possible to account for some of the drawbacks such as the one relating to social interaction and sleep disturbance by adjusting the schedules of other colonists. Because of this, I at least consider the trait above average.</div>
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Super-immune - 6/10</div>
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The Super-immune trait increases the rate of immunity gain while sick by 30%. While this is not relevant often, death from a disease or infection is a very real threat especially early on and this trait heavily trivializes a colonist's ability to survive it even if everyone is a terrible doctor. In fact, it may be possible to survive diseases without tending to the sickness at all, though I still recommend doing so to reduce the rate of disease progression.</div>
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With that said, this trait does not affect non-lethal conditions such as <a href="https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Fibrous_mechanites">mechanite</a> <a href="https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Sensory_mechanites">diseases</a>, <a href="https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Gut_worms">gut worms</a>, and <a href="https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Muscle_parasites">muscle parasites</a>. Diseases and infections also have a variety of counterplay to deal with them. A good doctor and/or good medicine can help to ensure survival with high tend quality. Furthermore, preventative measures can be taken since some diseases can be stopped by regularly taking Penoxycyline and infection chance can be reduced by using a clean room when tending to wounds.</div>
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Pretty - 6/10</div>
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This trait is a weaker version of Beautiful, increasing opinions of the colonist by 20. This helps to improve social interactions, but it won't help as much to reduce to chance of negative interactions. Much like the Beautiful trait, a colonist with this trait has the same chance of negative interactions with other colonists.<br />
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Masochist - 6/10</div>
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The Masochist trait provides the benefit of increasing a colonist's mood instead of decreasing it when they are in pain. This is good for any situation when the colonist may be in pain, such as after receiving some wounds fighting off a raid. The most notable benefit, however, is when the colonist is afflicted with a non-lethal condition that will last a fairly long time such as the aforementioned mechanite diseases. These conditions by default cause at least the Moderate Pain thought, which would normally decrease mood by 10, but for a Masochist it increases it by 10 instead. This factor alone makes me believe the trait is at least above average.</div>
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However, it is generally undesirable for a colonist to be in pain. Even with fairly minor pain, consciousness can be affected, which in turn reduces the colonist's ability to do many activities especially those that are strongly affected by Manipulation and Moving. This is severe enough to the point I prefer to use Painstopper when I see a colonist get afflicted with one of the mechanite diseases since it negates the productivity reduction due to pain and turns the condition almost entirely into a beneficial effect due to the inherent bonuses it provides.</div>
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Furthermore, it is not easy to intentionally get desirable scars to permanently benefit from the Masochist trait. Aside from the fact scars have a fairly low chance of happening even with untended wounds, only a few body parts are worth having scars on due to the serious detriments that can be caused if body parts such as limbs are scarred. Specifically, the best area to scar is the Torso since it has a lot of health and only causes pain if scarred.</div>
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Overall, I can't say I think highly of the Masochist trait but because it has no apparent downsides, I believe it deserves the rating I have given it.<br />
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Neurotic - 6/10</div>
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This is a weaker version of the Very Neurotic trait, increasing global work speed by 20% but also increasing the mental break threshold by 8%. This trait is largely a worse version of Hard Worker, which is a trait I only consider to be fairly good. While it's nice that colonists with this trait won't dislike other colonists that aren't hard workers less by default, the increase in mental break threshold doesn't justify the overall moderate benefit in my eyes.</div>
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Nimble - 6/10</div>
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Nimble increases a colonist's melee dodge by 15.0, which translates into a substantial increase in percentage chance to dodge melee attacks (+8% chance at 20 melee skill, far more at lower melee), allowing them to escape threats more often and improving their ability in melee combat. This is quite useful even for colonists who prefer to shoot from a distance since it helps to account for human error. For example, one may underestimate how fast a manhunting animal is approaching and a colonist may take a couple of hits, which Nimble will improve the chances of dodging. One situation I often make mistakes on is that I take unnecessary damage when an enemy raid is leaving. This is because while enemies are relatively harmless while retreating, they will still occasionally melee valid targets if they are too close and will always do so if their way out is being blocked.<br />
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With that said, colonists ideally shouldn't be taking melee damage unless they are a dedicated melee combatant, so this trait has fairly narrow benefits outside of that niche and serving as training wheels for less experienced players.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">Steadfast - 6/10</span></div>
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Steadfast is a weaker version of the Iron-willed trait, decreasing mental break thresholds by 9%. This means there is less wasted benefit due to the minimum break thresholds I mentioned when discussing Iron-willed. However, the mental break threshold reduction doesn't nullify the detrimental effects of beneficial traits such as Very Neurotic and Fast Learner, meaning there is less synergy with those traits. This trait is entirely beneficial though, which is why I believe it deserves a 6/10 rating.<br />
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Ascetic - 5.5/10</div>
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Ascetic provides a slew of benefits and detriments that culminate into me judging it as a slightly above average trait. When it comes to benefits, an Ascetic is actually happy with an awful bedroom, increasing mood by 5 instead of decreasing it by 4. They can also eat raw foods and nutrient paste meals without a mood penalty, though the 2% chance of food poisoning for eating the former still applies.<br />
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However, they dislike sleeping in a bedroom that is slightly impressive or better, which not only nullifies the mood benefits for doing so but also decreases mood by 5. They also cannot gain mood benefits from meals that improve mood such as Fine and Lavish Meals. Despite this outlook, a colonist with Ascetic does thankfully gain mood bonuses from an impressive recreation and dining room.<br />
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I personally tend to make bedrooms as impressive as reasonably possible and run colonies with few colonists who I can then feed Fine or Lavish Meals, which makes the trait almost entirely a downside when paired with my playstyle. This can be played around by giving a colonist with this trait an awful bedroom on purpose. The benefits provided by this trait also work well in the early game when room impressiveness is low and mood-boosting food is unavailable.<br />
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However, problems could arise if a colonist with this trait romances a colonist without the trait, which is exactly what happened during one of my playthroughs. The mood boost from being with their partner far outweighed the detrimental effects of the Ascetic trait, but kept the benefits from being as great as they could have been and reduced the chance of inspirations.<br />
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In any case, the trait modulates mood in fairly minor ways, so it's not going to be fantastic by any means.<br />
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Great Memory - 5.5/10</div>
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Personally, I use the <a href="https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=731111514">Mad Skills mod</a> to change how experience decay works so that level decay cannot happen, but the decay rate is normal otherwise. However, in an unmodded version of Rimworld, experience decay is a very real problem to consider especially at higher skill levels and Great Memory cuts the decay rate in half. This makes it much easier to maintain useful skills such as those that affect the quality of produced objects like Crafting, Artistic, and Construction.<br />
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However, I personally do not consider this trait that powerful for a few reasons. First is because traits that increase experience gain such as Fast Learner will maintain a skill's level almost as easily and allow the colonist to raise other skills faster. Second is because skill decay <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/92x7wf/10_skill_decay_rates_and_average_quality_per/">becomes more severe the closer the skill level gets to 20</a>, making it reasonably easy to maintain a skill level up to about 17, after which the experience loss per day increases by 600 per skill level normally. Finally, level 10 in most skills, which is how high a skill can go without suffering experience decay, is usually enough to make the colonist proficient at activities associated with the skill. For example, Construction work stops failing at level 8 and 10 in Plants is all that's needed to plant anything in the game.<br />
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Overall, much like Steadfast, this trait purely provides a benefit, but the effects are weaker and more niche by comparison. Other, stronger traits can also provide a similar benefit and more, so a slightly above average score is what I believe the Great Memory trait deserves.<br />
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Psychically Deaf - 5.5/10</div>
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I do not like any of the traits that modify psychic sensitivity since they largely affects how beneficial and detrimental a few mood-altering events are. However, being able to entirely ignore the negative effects of Psychic Drones and Psychic Ships is considered a benefit in my eyes even if that means a colonist does not benefit from the rare Psychic Emanator structure, Psychic Soothe Pulser, or Psychic Soothe events. The 100% psychic sensitivity reduction is also stronger than the Psychic Foil Helmet, which reduces psychic sensitivity by 90%. Because of these factors, this is the only psychic sensitivity trait that earns a score above a 5.<br />
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Psychically Dull - 5/10</div>
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This trait is similar to Psychically Deaf, but instead reduces psychic sensitivity by 80% instead of 100%. This is good enough to massively reduce the effects of negative psychic effects and make the usage of a Psychic Foil Helmet unnecessary. I would still rather have other traits on my colonists, but this one is far from the worst to have.</div>
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Teetotaler - 5/10</div>
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A colonist with Teetotaler dislikes drugs and those who enjoy using them. The fact a colonist with this trait refuses to use drugs at all can be both a benefit and detriment. I usually try to keep my colonists from using drugs, so it's convenient to have one fewer colonist where I have to manually set their drug policy. However, some drugs are very beneficial (such as <a href="https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Luciferium">Luciferium</a>) or low-risk to use (<a href="https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Ambrosia">Ambrosia</a> and <a href="https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Psychite_tea">Psychite Tea</a>) and I may find myself using them if I have a surplus of such drugs. This especially applies to low-risk drugs since it's possible to avoid addiction entirely while reaping the benefits.<br />
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Speaking of addiction, a colonist with Teetotaler dislike drug addicts and any colonist with the Chemical Interest or Chemical Fascination traits. I consider all of these factors detrimental to have on a colonist, so while there are negative social interactions that could be problematic, I usually avoid them by sacrificing the offending colonist to give a free mood boost to any who loathe the idea of taking drugs. Incidentally, the act of taking drugs itself is not seen as abhorrent, so other colonists can safely take drugs without upsetting someone with Teetotaler as long as they do not become addicted.<br />
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Overall, I consider this trait remarkably average because it has a slight downside along with a slight upside. While I would dislike the sort of intolerance practiced by one with this trait in real life and have choice words to say about how government policy has been shaped around such a mentality instead of something more concrete such as evidence, in Rimworld this trait is okay.<br />
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Psychopath - 5/10</div>
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The rating for this trait may be controversial to some because Psychopath has a slew of unique benefits that effectively allow the player to commit various atrocities without consequence. Like colonists with Bloodlust and Cannibal, a Psychopath colonist can butcher humans and look upon human corpses without penalties to their mood. In addition, they do not care about the lucrative act of organ harvesting, which normally harms colonist mood significantly, or selling other humans into slavery. Finally, they do not mind death much like a colonist with Bloodlust, but their lack of caring is so extreme they don't even mind seeing the execution or euthanizing of fellow colonists.</div>
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However, I give this trait an average rating because there are numerous social and mood-based detriments that I believe cannot be ignored. For a start, animal bonding and nuzzling do not provide a mood boost to a Psychopath. However, the more significant issue is that Psychopaths do not gain increased opinion of other colonists through Chitchat and Deep Talk, which are the primary ways to improve opinion. To make things worse, opinion of other colonists still decrease if they are insulted or slighted. The result is that it's almost impossible for a Psychopath colonist to have positive relations with anyone including family and lovers because a Psychopath almost always has a chance to start a negative interaction and the opinion loss from negative interactions other colonists have with them are more likely to eventually cause an eternal rivalry. This in turn leads to social fights, breakups, and other unpleasant social outcomes.</div>
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Overall, I can't say I view the Psychopath trait all that highly. It's great when multiple colonists have the trait because it opens up more options for what the player can do especially with their prisoners with none of the drawbacks. However, having a critical mass of Psychopath colonists also may lead to a lot of social fighting and general unpleasantness and even having one can be a liability due to the permanent risk factor they pose as a cause of negative social interaction. These factors culminate into an entirely average score from me.</div>
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Careful Shooter - 4.5/10</div>
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A colonist with this trait takes 25% longer to shoot, but shoots with 25% increased accuracy, making it the opposite in effect compared to Trigger-Happy. While the improved accuracy is welcomed, especially when considering the accuracy values on the graph I linked above, taking a little longer to shoot is problematic in my eyes. It reduces the amount of projectiles shot which have the potential to inflict damage even if they miss, making the trait potentially worse in a firefight involving many raiders. It also makes kiting harder since more time to line up a shot gives more time for an enemy to catch up to the colonist, meaning they may sustain injuries even though they are more capable of consistently inflicting injuries.</div>
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Overall, while I don't think the trait is entirely bad, I do consider the increased shooting time a significant detriment that the benefit cannot make up for. It gives enemies too much extra time to close the distance and get extra attacks in compared to a normal shooter.<br />
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Psychically Sensitive - 4.5/10</div>
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This is the third trait that affects psychic sensitivity and it increases the stat by 40%. As I've established above, I prefer reduced psychic sensitivity, but don't think the effects of these traits are significant enough to cause the rating to deviate all that far from the average because psychic effects happen from events or rare items. With that said, stronger psychic drones may make it more necessary to wear a Psychic Foil Helmet than usual for a colonist with this trait.<br />
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Brawler - 4/10</div>
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The Brawler trait increases the Melee skill of a colonist by 4 and increases melee hit chance by 4.0, but reduces Shooting skill by 4 and decreases mood by 20 if they equip a ranged weapon. This looks great on a colonist who likes to melee, but the increased hit chance is largely the only benefit that matters because of how quickly combat skills can be raised (even if melee can be risky). The increase in hit chance doesn't seem that great from my limited testing, especially when the Nimble trait can provide a much more useful +15.0 to melee dodge. </div>
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The mood loss downside can be an annoyance because being unable to use ranged weaponry without having a good chance of experiencing a mental break can be problematic in combat situations where one needs all their colonists helping in a firefight. I personally very much dislike the lack of flexibility even if it's not as bad as an incapability provided by a background.</div>
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Overall, I don't think this trait is too bad on a melee colonist, but I rarely have a dedicated melee combatant since my colony is often filled with bears ready to fight in melee for me. Also, it would be better to have Nimble, Tough, and Jogger in my opinion.</div>
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Psychically Hypersensitive - 4/10</div>
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This trait is the last of the ones that affect psychic sensitivity and it is by far the most polarizing because it increases psychic sensitivity by 100%. Negative psychic events will be an extreme detriment to colonists with this trait, potentially decreasing mood by as much as 60 (instead of 30). A Psychic Foil Helmet is basically mandatory to wear at all times when negative psychic events occur in a typical situation. This can be problematic if combat occurs during the event, such as if a Psychic Ship lands and is attacked. In my opinion, these facts alone make this trait below average even if positive psychic events and effects are amplified greatly.<br />
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Nudist - 4/10</div>
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A colonist with this trait dislikes wearing clothes, reducing their mood by 3 if they do so. On the other hand, if they wear only headgear or belts, they will gain 20 mood. While the benefit of this trait is great, it is also situational. What immediately comes to mind is that extreme temperatures will make it unreasonable to wear next to nothing without suffering detrimental effects. Having nothing to protect the body during combat is also problematic because while the colonist won't necessarily have to worry about getting their head blown off, they will be easy to damage everywhere else.</div>
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Overall, as powerful and accessible as the mood benefit is, it also comes with the downsides of not wearing clothes that makes it unreasonable to benefit from in some situations which, to be fair, can be micromanaged. Thankfully, the small mood loss from wearing clothes is not all that severe since it is half as bad as the negative mood loss from the Pessimist trait.</div>
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Chemical Interest - 4/10</div>
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This is the first of a number of traits that is definitively meant to be bad since it only grants negative effects. In this case, the detriment is relatively minor since the social drugs a colonist with this trait may binge on occasionally are not as deadly or addictive, though <a href="https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Beer">Beer</a> can be problematic due to the permanent damage it can cause. It is also possible to prevent a binge by walling off a drug stockpile (forbidden doors will not work) or disposing of the drugs. I personally recommend either of these measures since going on a drug binge is the equivalent of a mental break and makes the colonist impossible to control for some time, making them unproductive in the meantime.</div>
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Greedy - 4/10</div>
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The Greedy trait is an annoying inconvenience that decreases mood by up to 8 if a colonist with this trait does not have at least a Slightly Impressive bedroom. This is not as easy to do in the early game and can make a colonist with this trait a hindrance due to the moderate mood loss. It's not too difficult to make an impressive enough bedroom afterwards though, which means in this situation the worst thing this trait does is take up a valuable trait slot.</div>
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Gay - 3.5/10</div>
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Despite what some may say to the contrary, being gay (or any other sexual orientation) in real life is entirely okay and not something people should be persecuted for. </div>
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Unfortunately, in Rimworld, this trait can be a hindrance in social situations because due to random generation, recruiting multiple colonists of the same sex with this trait who have high compatibility and attraction with each other is unlikely. This means that a colonist with this trait may attempt to romance other colonists who won't return their feelings and be approached by colonists of the opposite sex. This leads to a lot of failed romances, which in turn causes reduced opinions and mood loss. I won't go as far as to say a colony would be destroyed socially though since attraction between colonists varies and romancing requires a high opinion to begin with, which means the chance of social fights is fairly low. However, a potential source of endless mood reduction due to rebuffing is without a doubt problematic.</div>
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Incidentally, the <a href="https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1552507180">Psychology mod</a> completely removes this trait in favor of assigning all colonists a rating on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsey_scale">Kinsey scale</a>, which allows for a more realistic variety in sexual orientation and frees up a trait slot that is otherwise occupied by a largely detrimental trait.<br />
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Pessimist - 3/10</div>
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This trait is the complete opposite of the Optimist trait, decreasing mood by 6 permanently. This is not one of the worst effects possible, but definitely still something I would rather not see on a colonist due to the increased risk of mental breaks and reduced chance of inspirations.<br />
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Wimp - 3/10</div>
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The Wimp trait reduces a colonist's pain shock threshold all the way down to 20%. In some situations, this is actually beneficial since downed colonists are not subject to being targeted for attacks by raiders or manhunting animals, reducing the chance of further injuries. In others, it may help to seal their fate such as when they are being hunted by an animal or when the raiders want to kidnap someone. What makes this trait problematic for me is that something as trivial as Food Poisoning can down a colonist with this trait for a moderate period of time. Contracting a mechanite disease is also a major issue, since it inflicts exactly enough pain to down a colonist with this trait, incapacitating them for an extended period of time.</div>
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Overall, the trait is manageable and can save a colonist in some situations, but is seriously detrimental to the point of making a colonist unusable in others.</div>
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Sickly - 3/10</div>
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The Sickly trait increases the probability of the colonist contracting a disease and they can independently catch diseases other colonists didn't contract. They also gain a bonus of 4 to their Medicine skill. This trait is clearly detrimental but manageable to a degree since Penoxycyline can negate some of the diseases that can be caught. However, from my understanding a colonist with this trait is also vulnerable to the non-lethal diseases, meaning they may be inflicted with the problematic Gut Worms and Muscle Parasites among other diseases.</div>
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Overall, I usually don't see this trait causing too many problems for the colonist with it, but that's also because I don't tend to keep them long.</div>
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Jealous - 3/10</div>
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The Jealous trait is similar to Greedy in that it revolves around room impressiveness. In this case, a colonist with Jealous must have the most impressive bedroom or they will suffer a penalty of 8 to their mood. This is manageable, but highly annoying especially if the colony has couples who would benefit from sleeping in the most impressive bedroom. Room impressiveness can also change due to various factors such as the destruction of property or rooms becoming filthy due to dirt or blood. Ultimately, this trait causes additional annoying micromanagement for a colonist who may not even be that great especially since one of their trait slots is filled by this obviously detrimental trait.</div>
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Body Purist - 2.5/10</div>
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The Body Purist trait is the opposite of the Transhumanist trait because instead of liking artificial body parts, they hate them. This means that a colonist with this trait will suffer a severe mood penalty of up to 35 if they have artificial body parts and their opinion of other colonists with body parts can go as low as -40. The worst part is there is no benefit for having no artificial body parts on any colonist, making this trait entirely detrimental. The only nice thing I can say about this trait is that it's easy to avoid the mood penalty.</div>
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Nervous - 2.5/10</div>
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Nervous increases the mental break threshold of a colonist by 8%. This makes them a little more likely to suffer a mental break, especially a minor one, which is a liability I would rather not have. This detriment is manageable compared to worse traits though.</div>
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Ugly - 2.5/10</div>
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A colonist with the Ugly trait is disliked by other colonists, who will have -20 opinion of this specific colonist. This will increase the chance of negative social interactions, which in turn may lead to social fights involving this colonist. There is some slight hope in that the colonist with this trait doesn't have an increased chance of initiating negative social interactions themselves, meaning they have a small chance of being able to sway the opinions of their peers.<br />
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One positive effect of the Ugly trait that was not considered strongly due to rating criteria is the death of a colonist with this trait may cause a mood increase to other colonists due to reduced opinion. This can be useful for those okay with using one of their colonists as a sacrificial lamb.</div>
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Chemical Fascination - 2.5/10</div>
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Like Chemical Interest, a colonist with this trait will occasionally binge on drugs. In this case, they will binge on the more dangerous hard drugs, including ones that are lethal on their own such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zzr8JBXHEY">Flake</a>. All of the hard drugs are also highly addictive, though Psychite addiction is at least manageable with Psychite Tea. Hard drugs also have a tendency to cause seriously detrimental long-term side effects such as brain damage. Managing a colonist with this trait is the same as one with Chemical Interest in that a walled-off drug stash should be made or all drugs should be destroyed.<br />
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Annoying Voice/Creepy Breathing - 2/10</div>
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These traits provide a near-identical effect in that other colonists will have -25 opinion of a colonist with either of these traits. This is slightly worse than the Ugly trait, meaning that these traits accordingly get a slightly lower rating.<br />
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Misandrist/Misogynist - 2/10</div>
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Misandrist and Misogynist are another pair of traits with similar detriments. In this case, a colonist with the former trait will hate men and the latter trait will hate women. This will cause them to have -25 opinion of all colonists they hate. This is a major social liability unless one is highly selective with their colonist choices since colonies will usually have roughly the same amount of men and women. This means a colonist with one of these traits will have a much higher chance to initiate negative social interactions with about half of the colony.<br />
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One could argue that these two traits are technically not as bad as Annoying Voice or Creepy Breathing since there are fewer instances of reduced opinion. This is true to a degree, but the intensity of the reduced opinion alone is cause for concern since that can lead to a negative feedback loop that then results in a social fight. Also, I would rather have a new colonist suffer from mood reductions due to poor social interaction than established colonists. Finally. it's less beneficial to dispose of a colonist with this trait, which as I mentioned before is not something I consider strongly, but at least a colonist considered ugly dying technically may provide some benefit.<br />
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Lazy - 2/10</div>
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The Lazy trait reduces a colonist's global work speed by 20%, not only earning the ire of colonists with the Hard Worker or Industrious trait but also generally being less productive at any activity affected by the global work speed. There are some uses for a reduced work speed that relate to gaining experience as mentioned <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/9svi9m/optimizing_experience_gain_with_lazy_crafters_and/">here</a>. However, I personally think it's better to modulate a colonist's stats, such as their Manipulation or Consciousness, to alter work speed instead of relying on having a colonist with this trait who I may need to be productive at some other point in time. I guess it's not too bad to have on a hauler or dedicated combatant.<br />
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Slowpoke - 2/10</div>
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The Slowpoke trait reduces movement for a colonist by 0.2 cells per second, reducing their effectiveness in combat especially when kiting. Productivity is also slightly reduced especially if a lot of movement is involved. This trait is sort of the opposite of Lazy in that it would be okay to have on a more sedentary colonist such as a researcher or crafter, though it goes without saying I'd rather not have a colonist with this trait at all.<br />
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Gourmand - 1.5/10</div>
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Gourmand is an annoying trait that can be very problematic in the early game in particular. This is because a colonist with this trait has 50% increased hunger rate, causing them to lose so much hunger they may end up eating three meals per day instead of two. Furthermore, they can randomly go on food binges regardless of their mental state much like a colonist with the Chemical Interest or Chemical Fascination trait can go on a drug binge. Food binges are not as detrimental usually, but will effectively incapacitate the colonist for some time. The bonus of 4 to the Cooking skill does next to nothing to offset both of these detriments especially in colonies that rely on a diet of Nutrient Paste.<br />
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Overall, a colonist with this trait is a liability who can end up causing food shortages or worsening them. They're not as bad to have in a colony with an abundance of food, though the chance of a food binge will reduce productivity.<br />
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Depressive - 1.5/10</div>
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Depressive grants a permanent mood penalty of 12 to the colonist, further increasing the chance of mental breaks and denying inspirations compared to the Pessimist trait. In fact, one should expect minor mental breaks to be a common possibility for a colonist with this trait even with good mood management. This becomes more apparent at higher difficulty levels.<br />
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Volatile - 1/10</div>
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...However, Volatile is an even worse trait when it comes to making mood management for a colonist miserable. While it doesn't reduce the chance for inspirations like Depressive does since this trait doesn't incur a mood loss, increasing mental break thresholds by a whopping 15% means minor mental breaks happen at 50% mood. This is normally a fairly neutral point for mood and a good threshold to maintain regardless of the situation. A colonist with this trait might suffer a mental break though and while minor mental breaks aren't the worst thing in the world, they at the very least make the colonist unproductive and in the worst case it might kill them and other colonists.<br />
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Staggeringly Ugly - 1/10</div>
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A colonist with this trait will be greatly hated by other colonists, who will have -40 opinion of them. This is more than enough to make social fights an issue and it is unlikely that a colonist with this trait will establish many positive relationships. There is a slim chance, however, if compatibility between colonists is high.<br />
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Slothful - 0.5/10</div>
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Slothful is a terrible trait that reduces global work speed for the colonist by 35%. This greatly reduces productivity and even makes the act of cleaning a laborious task. Much like with Lazy, a few tasks are thankfully not affected by this trait, but most colonists in general will do at least one activity that is governed by the global work speed, so that's not much solace. This especially applies to my playstyle, which involves using a few colonists who each have multiple sets of tasks.<br />
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Abrasive - 0.5/10</div>
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I consider Abrasive to be one of the worst traits in the game. While this is likely an overestimation, having over double the chance to insult and slight other colonists can be a serious problem even if the colonists have high compatibility with each other. This in turn leads to social fights and mood losses from repeated insults that are liable to happen unless the colonist has deep talks for however long they remain in the colony to maintain high opinion and eliminate negative social interactions. The mood loss from insults is especially notable to keep in mind since unlike its polar opposite, the Kind trait, insults are generally far more likely to happen than kind words when it comes to social interactions.</div>
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Overall, it is best not to risk having a colonist with this trait in the colony. As I said above, it's possible to get lucky and have a colonist with this trait somehow be on good enough terms with every other colonist to the point slighting and insulting will not happen, but this is so extremely unlikely that it's not worth the downsides that come with this trait.</div>
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Pyromaniac - 0/10</div>
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Pyromaniac is the trait that seems to be considered the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/7etx7k/trait_tier_list/">worst</a> among Rimworld players and despite trying to find a reason why that might not be the case, I am inclined to agree with the popular opinion here.<br />
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To start, this trait surprisingly has a small upside where a colonist with this trait gains 5 mood by equipping a weapon capable of causing fires such as the Molotov Cocktail.<br />
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However, this cannot make up for the fact that a colonist with this trait is incapable of firefighting and can randomly enter a mental state where they try to start fires. Much like the Chemical Interest and Chemical Fascination trait, this mental state can happen regardless of mood. Unfortunately, much like with the food binges caused by Gourmand, there is no way of stopping a colonist from entering the mental state of going on a fire-starting spree. It is possible to reduce the damage dealt by the fires started by constructing things out of stone and dedicating a colonist to putting out fires immediately. The problem is that in the case of the former, there are always flammable objects in the base such as stockpiled Chemfuel and in the case of the latter, a Pyromaniac colonist not only renders themselves unproductive during their mental state, but also renders another colonist unproductive.<br />
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Overall, this trait is exceptionally bad. It might not be bad to the point of turning the colonist into a hat, but having a random chance to be unproductive and forcing another colonist to be unproductive to stop the fires they start is enough of a detriment in itself. Add in the possible chance of setting fire to an object that will spark and explode, which is a very real possibility in colonies from the mid-game onward, and it's time to consider banishing the colonist at the very least.</div>
Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-79173006948702052332019-10-09T19:53:00.001-07:002019-10-13T22:14:22.651-07:00My Thoughts on Blizzard Punishing Blitzchung<b>10/12 Update</b>: Blizzard has issued an <a href="https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/23185888/regarding-last-weekend-s-hearthstone-grandmasters-tournament">official statement</a> on the matter. Here are my updated thoughts on the situation, which might save reading through the paragraphs of text below:<br />
<ul>
<li>I do not think the punishment on Blitzchung and the casters were fair to begin with and believe the revised punishments are still too harsh. I can respect Blizzard trying to keep politics out of their broadcasts, however.</li>
<li>Like various past outrages, there is a lot of misinformation going around and a lot of malformed assumptions being made based on circumstantial evidence and the like. For example, a<a href="https://www.weibo.com/playhearthstone?is_hot=1"> statement from NetEase</a>, while concerning because of their partnership with Blizzard, does not necessarily represent the Blizzard official opinion.</li>
<li>Needless to say, harassment, especially of Blizzard employees who may be in support of opposing Blizzard's official actions, is also unacceptable. Insulting people for what sounds like a dissenting opinion is also unacceptable.</li>
<li>Based on the above two points among other observations, <i>I am having increasing difficulty believing that some of the people participating in the outrage care about what's happening in Hong Kong and instead want an excuse to be angry with Blizzard</i>. Spreading misinformation and harassing people is detrimental to winning support for the protests.</li>
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<li>The latest <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg-qVqjUN_w">WAN</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfkBHJeMx2Y">Show</a> is a good example of this problem in action as the hosts Linus and Luke end up arguing with those participating in the outrage in their stream chat, some of whom claim the two are pro-China for the opinions they expressed. Incidentally, I largely agree with what the two of them said. In particular, "Lawful Evil" is a good way to describe what Blizzard did.</li>
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Less than a year ago, Blizzard made an announcement that was considered to be highly controversial and sparked major outrage within the gaming community. At that time, <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/11/my-thoughts-on-diablo-immortal-and.html">I personally considered the outrage to be understandable but also extreme in its negativity and lack of reasoning</a>. Since then, I was expecting any sort of major controversy relating to Blizzard to happen about a month from now at the next Blizzcon assuming they failed to meet customer expectations again despite the optimism in their<a href="https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/activision-blizzard-announces-second-quarter-2019-financial"> recent earnings report</a>. However,<a href="https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/23179289"> recent actions by Blizzard against Blitzchung</a>, a pro Hearthstone player who expressed opinions in favor of the protests in Hong Kong (which is an opinion I share, for the record) have caused another immense outrage among many people even outside of the gaming community and this time, <a href="https://twitter.com/Interest____/status/1181809151128686592"><i>I find myself in agreement with decrying Blizzard's actions</i></a>. In this article, I will briefly explain my thoughts on the situation as it's unfolded so far.<br />
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One of the first things that I noticed when I read through <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/blizzard-pulls-blitzchung-from-hearthstone-esports-tournament-over-support-for-hong-kong-protests/">initial news articles</a> is that <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/blizzard-employees-staged-a-walkout-to-protest-banned-pro-hong-kong-gamer">not everyone at Blizzard supports this action</a>. This is not only something that's great to hear but some seem to be well aware of this internal conflict. However, others have once again lost themselves to their outrage and are lashing out against anyone who remotely involved with Blizzard's actions, whether they are fellow forum users, Blizzard employees, or the like. <i>I do not approve of this incivility because it willfully harms other people and in my opinion makes the message of decrying Blizzard's actions easier to dismiss as toxic commentary from a vocal minority</i>.</div>
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What I considered next was how Blizzard could have handled the situation. While I may be a critic of how they <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-importance-of-report-transparency.html">enforce the rules and empower their customers to do so</a>, I can understand that Blitzchung did indeed break the rule that was cited in Blizzard's official statement. However, I am <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Blizzard/comments/df6v8i/megathread_recent_blitzchung_situation_discussion/f32pf06/?context=3">entirely in agreement</a> with comments like <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/dfn3yi/blizzard_employees_staged_a_walkout_after_the/f34mb13/">this</a> and <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/brian-kibler-says-he-will-not-take-part-in-future-hearthstone-grandmasters-streams/">remarks from Brian Kibler</a> stating that the punishment issued to Blitzchung was far too heavy-handed. <i>Furthermore, I do not believe Blizzard is utilizing some highly intelligent strategy by drawing more attention to the Hong Kong protests while sacrificing their reputation</i>. This is because while their earnings from the Asia Pacific region are only 12% of their total as of last quarter, of which a fraction is actually China (because of countries such as South Korea and Australia contributing substantially to those earnings), there is great potential to grow that and Blizzard would almost certainly want to beyond supposedly releasing mobile games. Therefore, Blizzard has a motive for not upsetting the ruling Chinese Communist Party.<br />
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<i>I conclude by saying that I wholly disapprove of Blizzard's actions here due to the severity of the implications, especially in regards to supporting major human rights violations. </i>Ending my support of them is as easy as not buying another 6 months of WoW subscription since I purchase game time manually. At the same time, I also disapprove of the more negative aspects of those who are outraged because while some may actually care about what's happening in Hong Kong as opposed to hate circlejerking, such individuals don't express themselves in anything resembling a civil or reasonable manner.<br />
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Despite my condemnation, I am patiently waiting for an official statement in response to the outrage. This is because I believe there are ways for Blizzard to redeem themselves in this situation, even if others casually dismiss it as a pathetic attempt at damage control. For example, issuing a humble public apology that makes their disapproval of the CCP known while revising Blitzchung's punishment to a slap on the wrist or removing it entirely would make me a little more content. However, <abbr title="Which is saying a lot since I've been critical of Blizzard's actions for a while."><u class="dotted">I would be more wary than I was previously</u></abbr> and would expect continued action that does not actively support <i>any</i> authoritarian regime or the like.<br />
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Finally, when it comes to this blog and its articles, many Blizzard-related articles I post tend to be critique or theoretical discussion that often take the form of a suggestion that I know is unlikely to be considered, so it's fairly likely I will continue to publish such articles. I have also considered branching out into articles on other games for a while and may pursue that path more strongly.</div>
Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-20363873453676803902019-09-24T18:20:00.003-07:002020-02-20T00:44:24.138-08:00My Thoughts on WarfrontsMuch like Island Expeditions, <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Warfront">Warfronts</a> are another feature that was added in Battle for Azeroth as a new form of content. Also much like Island Expeditions, it offers scenarios that can be queued for with no regard for role. While I wasn't as excited about them as I was with Island Expeditions, I was interested in the idea of what appeared to be raid scenarios and zones that would change faction control much like Wintergrasp and Tol Barad did.<br />
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When they finally became available, I personally found some of the content highly enjoyable but had mixed feelings because of other aspects. This opinion improved as Warfronts were added to and improved upon, though some flaws remain and I wish to see various related additions in the near and distant future. In this article, I will summarize my experience with Warfronts up to the 8.2 patch series iteration, then give my thoughts on the current state of Warfronts and what in future iterations that relates to them.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Content Summary</span></div>
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There is a lot more to talk about compared to my <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2019/05/my-thoughts-on-island-expeditions.html">Island Expedition article</a> this time around, so I have split it into three subsections for each patch series in this expansion.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">8.0 Patch Series</span></div>
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The release iteration of Warfronts introduced players to how they would work, with the content being split into three distinct phases that would be rotated through over the course of about a month.<br />
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The first phase is what I call the "Contribution Phase." During this time, players can complete quests to contribute various goods such as gold, profession items, and War Resources to earn some Azerite and increase the level of contribution, which allows their faction to enter the next phase. This is reminiscent to gathering war supplies during the <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Gates_of_Ahn%27Qiraj">Gates of Ahn'Qiraj event</a>, but on a smaller scale. While contribution progress is region-wide, each quest can only be completed one time per character every time this phase is available. Contribution progress at the time typically increased at such a rate that the next phase would begin about a week after this phase does.<br />
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The second phase is what I call the "Battle Phase" and it allows players of the same faction to access the Warfront scenario content for a week. The scenario consists of a 20-man raid that awards some Azerite and a piece of gear every time it is completed. In addition, each time this phase is available, players can complete a one-time quest to earn a stronger piece of gear. The Battle for Stromgarde is the Warfront scenario that was made available during this patch series and it awarded a piece of item level 340 gear upon completion (equivalent to LFR Uldir) and a piece of item level 370 gear from the quest. The scenario's objectives are similar to the objectives of the older Warcraft games because players are encouraged to gather resources early on to upgrade and build up a huge base, then go on the offensive to ultimately defeat the enemy commander with the help of allied forces, especially by constructing siege weapons. There are also optional objectives that can help to bolster allied forces, though from my experience these were rarely done.<br />
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The third phase is what I call the "Control Phase" and is available after the Battle Phase for a faction ends. The faction will gain control over the contested zone, which in this patch series granted players access to a World Boss, which could only be looted once each time this phase is available, and some one-time generic kill quests to earn a high amount of War Resources. Players could also hunt and defeat rare spawns to <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/arathi-highlights-outdoor-warfronts-rewards">earn item level 340 gear, cosmetics, and other rewards</a>. Since the Arathi Highlands itself is an older zone, players who <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/spell=90267/flight-masters-license">purchased the ability to fly in it</a> may do so. The Control Phase would last until the Battle Phase ends for the opposing faction, making this the longest of the three phases.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">8.1 Patch Series</span></div>
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When patch 8.1 was released, the Darkshore Warfront became available along with some updates intended to improve upon the feature as a whole.<br />
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The Battle for Darkshore Warfront scenario has a similar reward system but with different gear rewards. The gear itself consists of new sets for transmog purposes. The item level reward for completing the scenario was 340 when patch 8.1 came out, with a one-time quest for an item level 385 piece each time the Battle Phase became available. The item levels for these gear rewards were increased to 355 and 400 respectively after the Battle for Dazar'alor raid was released.<br />
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The scenario's objectives are somewhat similar to the Battle for Stromgarde, but with a more prolonged first part that involves cutting a path through numerous enemies of the opposing faction to take control of the base. After this part, the objectives become more familiar, though I personally found that resources tended to be scarcer to find and it was better to prioritize taking control of enemy bases. Furthermore, unlike in Battle for Stromgarde, siege weaponry is entirely unnecessary and the entire scenario can be won without them, though it does take a while. Allied assistance also seems a lot more limited since from my experience, far fewer and smaller waves of allies push forth from the base. The penultimate phase of destroying the last of the enemy's defenses has been improved upon by giving players the ability to use vehicles, turrets, and interactable objects to help speed up the siege instead of only having the option to repel enemy forces from the siege weapons like in the Battle for Stromgarde.<br />
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When it comes to improvements made to Warfronts in general in Patch 8.1, the Control Phase got the most major changes. The most notable change is that World Quest content was added to the Arathi Highlands and Darkshore when they are under the faction's control. These World Quests otherwise have the same frequency of availability as other World Quests and feature typical objectives and rewards in addition to awarding <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1717/7th-legion-service-medal">Service</a> <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1716/honorbound-service-medal">Medals</a>, a currency that could be used to purchase some cosmetics, a useful ring, and heirlooms. They also count towards the Honorbound or 7th Legion emissary quest. These quests were more advantageous to do at the time because flying mounts were available to use in the Warfront zones.<br />
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Other changes include the addition of Service Medals as a reward for completing Warfronts and Contribution Phase quests being made available daily, though there are fewer quests available at any given time.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">8.2 Patch Series</span></div>
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While the 8.2 patch series so far hasn't added much in the way of changes to existing content, it did introduce a Heroic difficulty for the Battle for Stromgarde Warfront scenario that requires a premade group of 10-30 players to join, much like a non-Mythic raid. It was initially unavailable, most likely because it was meant to be made available around the time when the Eternal Palace raid. Once it was made available to join and bugs relating to being unable to join it were fixed, the rewards made it apparent as to why. While players are only awarded Azerite and Service Medals upon completing the Heroic difficulty, they can complete a one-time quest each Battle Phase for a piece of item level 430 gear.<br />
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I personally found the scenario to be significantly more challenging, though it seems to be more time-consuming to complete than anything since players largely seem to understand what to do even with additions such as the enemy commander attacks. Said commander attack, incidentally, only happened once near the beginning for my group over the course of a 45 minute battle. Fighting against mobs that were intended to be soloed to begin with was probably the biggest annoyance since their health, especially with larger groups, is scaled up to the point they can soak up a lot of damage, even though they're not that dangerous otherwise.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Thoughts on the Present Iteration</span></div>
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When it comes to the content design in general, I would have had more negative things to say were this article written shortly after the expansion's release. I would specifically say that while I enjoyed some aspects of Warfronts such as the scenario itself, other parts needed serious improvement. I would have noted that the Control Phase had underwhelming content and a second release day Warfront would have helped to reduce the downtime caused by the even more underwhelming Contribution Phase since it would be unlikely both Warfronts would be stuck in the Contribution Phase for the same faction for long. However, patch 8.1 in particular ended up fixing a lot of the problems I had with Warfronts from a general perspective by adding a second Warfront and greatly improving the content available during Control Phase. The addition of the Heroic difficulty in patch 8.2 seems reasonable considering the patch was focusing on implementing new zones and a new dungeon (in addition to the obligatory raid) instead of converting an old zone into a Warfront with an accompanying scenario.<br />
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One criticism I see when it comes to the Warfront scenarios is that they are too easy and to a degree, I agree with this. However, I don't believe the normal difficulty versions were made with the intent of being punitive in the sense that the player, at best, gets a consolation prize for losing a Warfront that currently doesn't seem to exist anyways. Players are still fundamentally punished for failing short of actually losing a Warfront scenario because every accumulated mistake means the scenario takes longer to complete. However, while Warfront scenarios have many variables that can result in these accumulated mistakes, they are easy to minimize after players learn what to do, which will be likely to happen within a couple of runs at most. To that end, <i>making enemies more lethal especially in later stages of the scenario would be reasonable</i> since losing is much less likely to happen at that point anyways.<br />
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When it comes to Warfront rewards, I only have strong opinions on Warfront scenarios. The gear rewards from Warfront scenarios are equal to or a bit better than what one might expect from a LFR run of the any raid besides Eternal Palace. I don't think they need to be improved at this point in time since the difficulty of the Warfront scenarios themselves haven't been increased. Heroic Battle for Stromgarde's gear reward is also somewhat reasonable and is useful despite the existence of Benthic gear. However, I believe non-gear rewards were and continue to be lacking despite changes that were made. <i>Much like with my suggestion regarding Island Expedition rewards, I believe Warfront scenarios should award a small amount of War Resources when completed.</i><br />
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Overall, I think Warfronts are in a good spot despite the desire for some improvements. It's nice to have some content that isn't tied to a traditional daily or weekly lockout, since while each scenario in particular may be available only about once a month, players can queue for it as many times as they wish when it is available. Furthermore, there's a decent amount of content to do about 75% of the time for each Warfront, which again is why it's good there are two of them.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Thoughts on Future Iterations</span></div>
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Much like with Island Expeditions, I see a lot of potential with Warfronts and a fair amount of that potential has to do with the future of raid scenario content than the future of Warfronts as a feature themselves. This is because much like with Island Expeditions, I expect the narrative purpose of Warfronts to diminish once the game's story changes its focal point, in this case away from faction conflict like the 8.2 story quests have already shown. However, I believe it is more likely that Warfronts will continue to be added after this expansion is over since faction conflict is more of an overarching theme of Warcraft in general compared to Azerite, as past overworld battlegrounds such as the aforementioned Wintergrasp and Tol Barad have shown.<br />
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The potential I see because of the addition of Warfronts has led me to devise three suggestions involving it and they are as follows:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Make New Warfront Objectives More Different</span></div>
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At the moment, the two Warfronts are more focused on building up for an offensive in a manner similar to melee scenarios in the Warcraft RTS games. However, there are more scenario ideas that can be drawn from such as defense scenarios where the goal is to simply survive waves of enemy assault. <i>Assuming more Warfronts are added in the future, I believe the next one should play more like said defense maps</i>, with players focusing on keeping the opposition from taking outlying bases and ultimately repelling a final assault led by the enemy commander. Some side objectives could also be added that would encourage players to not simply turtle but put their defenses at risk for potentially useful rewards and other benefits.<br />
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Adding at least one defense scenario would help to vary up the gameplay Warfronts offer. In addition, such a scenario may be considered harder because players have to focus on playing defensively to avoid losing instead of leading countless reckless assaults that are typically penalized by up to a 30 second wait at the graveyard.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Add A Solo Version of Warfront Scenarios</span></div>
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When the Battle for Stromgarde scenario was made available, I played around with trying to take objectives on my own and found I was successful a surprising amount of the time. Part of this has to do with my Hunter class choice but it's highly likely players will be more capable of such accomplishments due to better gear and the option to coordinate attacks with waves of allied units. While some tuning may be required to ensure players don't spend an eternity trying to complete the scenario, or at least a suitable reward is given for spending an extended period of time, I otherwise believe the current Warfront scenarios could have solo versions of them made available without the need for much work.<br />
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I make this suggestion for a few reasons:<br />
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The first is that while scenario groups are easier to fill, there may be a fair amount of dead time where not enough players are queuing, especially if said scenarios strongly emphasize outdated gear rewards that are undesirable to players.<br />
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The second is that I believe there is an appeal in having solo versions of existing group content, which I briefly mentioned in <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2019/06/i-probably-wont-be-playing-classic-wow.html">my previous article</a>. Warfronts, which already involve NPC units doing a fair amount of the work towards completing the objective, serve as a good starting point that could eventually lead to other solo content. For example, solo dungeon content with NPC party members, such as the champions that are used for mission content or combat allies, has already been <a href="https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Command_Missions">done to a degree in other games</a> and could be enjoyable.<br />
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Finally, if Blizzard were to take the time to do so, solo Warfronts and possibly all solo instance content in general could be tuned by at a player's behest to offer a greater challenge and is more customizable, accessible, and interesting than wading through countless waves of enemies in Proving Grounds Endless or overcoming static, temporary challenges such as the Mage Tower solo scenarios in Legion. This could be accomplished by using a system similar to how players can choose game difficulty in Diablo 3.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Consider Adding More Raid Scenarios</span></div>
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Unlike group scenarios, raid scenarios in general are a relatively new thing with the most notable addition aside from Warfront scenarios being the Assault on Broken Shore scenario. Since then, more permanent additions such as the Rumble Card encounters in the Brawler's Guild and Warfront scenarios have been added. This tells me Blizzard may be willing to implement more raid scenarios in the future.<br />
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My reasoning behind making this suggestion is that I believe raid scenarios are easier to implement than raids due to the looser constraints on encounter design. This could allow several raid scenarios to be added every major content patch without affecting the addition of other content or be added later on in the patch series when players start to become bored of the currently available content. I also believe they could be added as leveling content to provide another leveling activity while giving players a taste of what raiding content, even if raid scenarios have no role requirements. Accomplishing both goals can be as simple as adding many raid scenarios with a single boss similar to that of <a href="https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Trials">Final Fantasy 14's trials</a>.<br />
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Assuming raid scenarios as content are meant to have no role requirement to join and are for more than 5 players, I think raid scenarios should also have the following qualities:<br />
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Raid scenarios should be split into two difficulties. The lower difficulty would generally provide a moderate challenge based on the level and average item level requirements, with level cap content at most being slightly harder than LFR. The higher difficulty can be used to experiment with unorthodox and possibly brutal encounter design even harder than Mythic raiding, such as enemies that exclusively have lethal mechanics, but players can resurrect nearby on a timer. Ideally, raid scenario difficulty progression would be linear to provide a learning environment for varying levels of player skill. To further accomplish this objective...<br />
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Raid scenarios should have a level scaling system with no upper limit. This not only would make it easier to form a group for lower level raid scenarios, but also provide players with the ability to run content that has a difficulty level they are more comfortable with if they find higher level raid scenarios too challenging.<br />
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Raid scenarios should typically be less rewarding than dungeons and LFR versions of raids of their level at the lower difficulty and entirely at Blizzard's discretion for the higher difficulty. This is because raid scenarios should have no lockout and can accessed as much as the player wishes as long as any one-time requirements such as level or quest chain completion are met, assuming such requirements are set. This would be an expansion on how Warfront scenarios work since they already appear to have a similar reward structure and accessibility, but there would be no specific phase requirement for the scenario itself to be accessible.<br />
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Finally, much like I mentioned in my Island Expeditions article, improving replayability by altering mobs spawns, events and other variables could help to make the experience more enjoyable because the content can be accessed at any time by players. It wouldn't completely prevent players from getting bored of specific raid scenarios, but it may help to slow how quickly that boredom occurs. With that said, it's possible to justify having some static raid scenarios due to storytelling purposes or the like.<br />
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Ultimately, this suggestion to add more raid scenarios is the one I would most like to grace future iterations of WoW. Warfronts are yet another step towards that reality and I really hope Blizzard takes the idea of implementing many of them as an additional form of content seriously. I strongly believe raid content of this kind would further help with keeping players engaged with the game in a way that doesn't have them crawling back every Tuesday for their weekly few hours of current raid content or the like. I would like to think what I'm suggesting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbzGO_Qonu0">isn't evil</a>.</div>
Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-81176569551333177832019-06-24T16:41:00.001-07:002020-01-15T19:09:51.909-08:00I Probably Won't Be Playing Classic WoWClassic WoW is coming soon and there's a fair amount of hype going into it. Those eager to play may be doing so out of nostalgia, curiosity, community, because they believe the overall experience to be superior to live WoW, and so on. Among those looking forward to Classic WoW are a few of my friends who have also asked me if I was going to play. While I was tentative at first, I have thought more about why I would want to play Classic WoW by taking external factors and information regarding the release into account. This has led me to a more definitive answer in line with this article's title: <i>It is highly unlikely I will play</i>.<br />
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This doesn't necessarily I will never play Classic WoW ever, but I have come up with many reasons as to why I'm not that interested. If the game, by some slim chance, were to change like Old School Runescape has over the years, then my opinion may also change. At the same time, I may also question why such theoretical changes weren't applied to the live version of WoW since I stand by my stance that all versions of WoW are surprisingly similar to each other and, at the very least, not horrendously blemished by fundamental gameplay overhauls or detrimental pay-to-win microtransactions.<br />
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In any case, this article will at least serve as a way to respond to my friends looking to get me into Classic WoW by explaining why I personally won't find the game all that enjoyable. <i>This article is not meant to drive other players away from Classic WoW.</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Reasons</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Issue of Community</span></div>
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As I've pointed out in previous articles, I currently have a low opinion of the gaming community. Fortunately, this opinion has been gradually improving lately since I've recently had increasingly positive experiences in multiplayer games. However, a major exception to this positive trend is that my opinion of the World of Warcraft community, if not the Blizzard fandom itself, remains exceptionally low.<br />
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In regards to WoW's community, the primary reason for my low opinion for this is because negative player behavior has had a history of going unchecked and festering as time goes on and such behavior tends to worsen significantly when the state of the game and/or Blizzard itself is at least perceived to be poor. The period of worsened behavior ranges in duration, lasting for the duration of a content patch series to the duration of an expansion. Such a phenomenon has happened at least a few times throughout history so far depending on who you ask and each time it does, my patience has expended a little further. The behavior I am specifically referring to consists of elitism, player abuse, hostile and destructive dialogue, a general tendency of being impossible to please, fickleness, and other similar behavior. Furthermore, I have observed this behavior to be so pervasive that it goes beyond players still playing the live game. Because of this and more, I find it difficult to believe a version of the game that supposedly encourages more social interaction will somehow stop players from behaving in such ways.<br />
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While it may be true that Blizzard appealing to instant gratification, along with similar criticism, played a part in reinforcing such negative behavior, I believe they are given too much of the blame because the negative behavior in question is something I observed before I even played WoW, which was during a time well before many of the features and services that are considered socially detrimental were implemented in a major way. I also personally experienced and observed many instances of this negative behavior when playing the game early on. Furthermore, I believe there are other reasons as to why negative player behavior was allowed to fester. For example, the Gearscore addon was a player creation that ultimately made it easier for players to act as gatekeepers who rapidly began setting absurdly excessive requirements to join raid groups, which in turn is a tradition <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/07/this-article-is-about-item-level.html">that has stuck around</a> and will likely continue to do so. The point I'm trying to make is issues of negative player behavior and it worsening are not that strongly tied to whether socially detrimental features and services were available or not. To be fair, Blizzard could stand to better <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-importance-of-report-transparency.html">manage</a> <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/07/thoughts-on-silence-penalty-for-wow.html">player behavior</a> in their games in general though.<br />
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Even if everything I said in the previous paragraph is untrue, Classic WoW in itself may also not do much in terms of encouraging more healthy socializing. For instance, the game is very old, meaning there are already resources, such as online databases and guides, available that help to trivialize the game and reduce the need for players to seek help or be helpful to each other. Additional resources will likely be added to approximate features that Classic WoW does not and likely will not have, such as an equivalent to Openraid that would allow players to form dungeon and raid groups with relatively greater convenience. Player mentality may also shift towards a more efficient mindset like in Old School Runescape and live WoW due to factors such as the accessibility of knowledge and <abbr title="By telling people to Google/Wowhead/Thottbot/Icy Veins/etc it."><u class="dotted">"encouragement"</u></abbr> by other players to utilize said knowledge. This in turn may decrease social interaction further or increase unhealthy social interaction as players behave with only themselves and maybe their close friends in mind. All of this isn't to say healthy socializing can't happen in Classic WoW, but in my mind it seems unlikely that there will be a significant increase.<br />
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With all this said, I am normally willing to tolerate the negative player behavior that may occur when interacting with others in the WoW community because there are plenty of neutral and positive interactions to be had. However, as I mentioned above, players seem to perceive the current state of the live game and Blizzard's state as a whole to be poor, which means the prevalence and intensity of this behavior appears to have increased. Furthermore, there are some fairly vocal fans of legacy WoW that have a tendency to preach rhetoric on live WoW that, much like the Nostalrius staff when they <a href="https://forum.nostalrius.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44399">issued their ultimatum</a>, seems more interested in showing contempt towards live WoW and those who play it rather than conveying anything remotely constructive. This rhetoric is similar to how some vocal Old School Runescape players treat Runescape 3 and its players (along with Jagex at times) and I'm grateful that these vocal legacy WoW fans will spend more time playing a version of the game they like instead of slightly worsening the live WoW experience and likely making themselves miserable as well.<br />
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To conclude,<i> I do not like the current state of the WoW community right now because issues of negative player behavior have always been present and, in my opinion, became problematic for a wide variety of reasons</i>. Said behavior tends to worsen when the game (and/or Blizzard itself) is perceived to be or actually is in poor shape. This circumstance has happened in some form with a great enough intensity enough times at this point that I tire of it and wish to minimize my interactions with the WoW community for the time being. I also believe the WoW community benefits from this decision since it minimizes how problematic my own negativity is for other players. Also, <i>I do not expect Classic WoW to be a significant remedy to the aforementioned issue and fear player behavior has the potential to be worse in that game without some form of intervention.</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Emphasis on Group Content</span></div>
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Now that I have established how much I dislike the World of Warcraft community in all of its forms, this brings me to my next issue: WoW's emphasis on group content. Group content tends to not only be the most prominently featured type of content when it comes to WoW, but it, especially when it comes to raids, tend to be the most rewarding types of content even in the present-day iteration of WoW. There are also many features that emphasize group content such as the Dungeon Finder (previously <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Dungeon_Finder#Patch_changes">LFG</a>, which was added in the Burning Crusade), Raid Finder, and Premade Group Finder, Mythic+, and so on. For the record, I am considering matchmade content such as Battlegrounds, Dungeon Finder, and so on as group content since it forces interaction with other players and by extension, the community that I have lost my patience with.<br />
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To be fair, WoW has also added much solo content and during Mists of Pandaria in particular, there were so many solo activities to do that it caused me to burn out. However, despite these strides in providing some sort of solo experience in WoW beyond quests that can only be completed once, I consistently find development focus on solo gameplay to be seriously lacking especially when it comes to the poorly designed reward systems. Specifically, solo activity variety is lacking and poorly maintained compared to other MMORPGs and rewards scale poorly with challenge, with the few instances of challenging solo content having a tendency to <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Deaths_of_Chromie">feature</a> <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Mage_Tower_(Broken_Shore)#Challenges">cosmetic</a> <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/The_Codex_of_Xerrath_(ability)">rewards</a> and <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Proving_Grounds">lacking replayability</a> instead of consistently awarding other rewards such as gear, which are often inconsistently awarded by other, less challenging solo content instead. This is why many of my posts emphasize suggestions involving evergreen content and features that at least benefits solo players while sometimes adding a bit of a <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/04/leveling-quick-fixes-proving-grounds.html">challenge</a> and/or <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-quest-to-fix-titanforging.html">consistency</a>.<br />
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While some may object to having solo content in their multiplayer game, I have two reasons to offer as to why a game like WoW needs solo content:<br />
<ul>
<li>The first is that solo content is capable of appealing to both solo players and group players simultaneously. This doesn't apply to every possible type of solo content since instanced content and other content that forces players into a solo environment such as the Brawler's Guild inherently prevent group play. However, solo content, especially in the overworld such as World Quests or the <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/05/leveling-quick-fixes-elite-subzones.html">Elite Subzone</a> suggestion I made a while ago would allow and encourage grouping while still being feasible for solo players to complete.</li>
<li>The second is that solo content allows for significantly more personal freedom within a game they generally enjoy playing. For example, players may want to take a break from social interactions in the game without having to play something else such as a single player game. Players may also wish to relieve themselves of the pressure that group content can cause, such as having to make specific time commitments. Players may also have free time where they can't do group content because other players in their guild, friend group, or the like aren't able to do so, but they still want something to do without joining or making a <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Pickup_group">pug</a> or doing matchmade group content.</li>
</ul>
Up to this point, all of this criticism is largely being made of the live version of WoW, which I have an unfavorable view of in terms of the solo content being offered. This is especially apparent compared to other MMORPGs I have been playing such as Old School Runescape, which strongly emphasizes solo content in general, or Final Fantasy XIV, which offers a wider variety of better maintained solo content that is even available for a trial account. When it comes to Classic WoW, I have an even less favorable view compared to live WoW in regards to how much solo content is available.<br />
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The reason for this is fairly simple: I have done most of the solo content that Classic WoW has to offer and the replayability of it is lacking. This is because most of said solo content is in the form of one-time quests, most of which aren't worth doing again especially since a high amount of them feature generic kill or gather objectives. In fact, the few quests that would be interesting to do again involve having to do a significant amount of group content such as the Hunter-exclusive quests that are provided by the <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Ancient_Petrified_Leaf">Ancient Petrified Leaf</a>. To be fair, this is nothing new since every iteration of WoW has featured one-time quests as a significant form of (leveling) content.<br />
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However, for Classic WoW's there's not a lot for a solo player to do beyond those one-time quests since even features such as daily quests weren't available until BC. If I had to consider activities I would consider doing once my curiosity has worn off even when taking group content into consideration, Battlegrounds may be an option, especially when it comes to Alterac Valley. After all, I often joined Battlegrounds after exhausting the solo content available in BC and Wrath. Unfortunately, I doubt the experience on Classic WoW would be comparable to my forays into Battlegrounds in the past because of the aforementioned issue regarding player behavior, especially in regards to how the mentality of players may be shaped by knowledge of the Battlegrounds. For example, I foresee Alterac Valley turning into a zergfest for faster Honor and especially <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Alterac_Valley_Mark_of_Honor">Alterac Valley Marks of Honor</a> despite the battles inherently being slower <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Alterac_Valley#Patches_and_hotfixes">because Patch 2.3's changes, at the very least, would not be implemented</a>.<br />
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Finally, <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/world-of-warcraft-classic-roadmap-unvieled-ahnqiraj-crashes/">Classic WoW's roadmap has been revealed</a> and the plan appears to be an attempt to recreate the Vanilla experience by releasing all of the content it had to offer in phases. The major content listed for each phase further reinforces my point on how little solo content there is in Vanilla WoW that would interest me since the overwhelming majority of the listed content are <abbr title="I have done the AQ questline already, by the way."><u class="dotted">dungeons and especially raids</u></abbr>. With that said, it is possible Classic WoW may eventually follow the same path as Old School Runescape and feature new content additions that include more solo content, though I find this unlikely because I believe the situation Runescape is in is different from WoW, <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/01/what-classic-wow-can-learn-from.html">as I explained in a previous article</a>. Also, as I mentioned near the beginning, I would rather that the live version of the game gets some attention in regards to the addition of solo content even if <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman/2019/05/14/blizzard-entertainment-ceo-interview-on-priorities-wow-classic-and-diablo/#67be4e55bf3f">Classic WoW is considered a priority</a>.<br />
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To conclude, I generally favor solo content in the games I play and this especially applies in a situation where I want to avoid interacting with a specific game's community. However, World of Warcraft in all of its iterations except maybe Mists of Pandaria fails to satisfy my desire for solo content. In the case of the live version of the game, while the expansion's major features consisted of group content in the form of scenarios and the focus on group content remains strong, a fair amount of solo content is also featured with more to come soon in patch 8.2. These updates will maintain my interest in WoW somewhat, but other games such as Old School Runescape, Final Fantasy XIV, Monster Hunter World, and so on will be where I will spend more of my time gaming for the time being. Classic WoW is far less promising because the little solo content it features holds little interest for me and doesn't seem that worthwhile. Furthermore, future content additions through phases fail at grabbing my attention because the overwhelming majority of it is group content.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A "Minor" Problem of the WoW Token</span></div>
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As I stated in a <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/06/demotivation-and-future-articles.html">previous article</a>, one reason I continue to play World of Warcraft is because of the ability to buy WoW Tokens for gold and converting them into subscription time and Battle.net balance. I would go as far as to say the WoW Token feature saved the game from complete ruin because of its introduction during the Warlords of Draenor expansion, which had serious gameplay issues that drove players away. While I do not believe Battle for Azeroth is as bad as Warlords of Draenor and I am willing to support that point with evidence and reasoning if someone wishes to dispute it, I <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/11/my-brief-thoughts-on-bfa.html">also stated that the expansion is in need of serious improvement</a>. The point I am trying to make here is that if WoW doesn't interest me much at some point in time, I can at least maintain a subscription to the game without paying my own money and potentially "profit" a bit by doing gold-making activities that maximize enjoyment, require little effort, or have a balance of those two qualities.<br />
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On the other hand, it is unlikely Classic WoW will get its own WoW Token any time soon. <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/classicwow/comments/8ajdgp/wow_classic_tokens/dx0vhub/">Not only are some players resistant to the idea</a>, but potential issues may arise that contradict what players seem to want from Classic WoW. For example, the WoW Token has the potential to cause issues between realms. If the WoW Token gold price is region-wide, then gold can effectively be transferred between realms. If the gold price is tied to each realm, players may flock to realms with cheaper WoW Tokens and potentially make some realms far too crowded and others too sparse, much like live WoW's realms are. Finally, while in-game currency still isn't as important compared to a game like Old School Runescape, there are a few major benefits that can be unlocked with gold that I doubt players would appreciate being trivialized by the addition of the WoW Token.<br />
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To conclude, while this may not be a big deal to some, paying for a subscription adds up especially when other monthly upkeep is taken into account. It's also nice to be rewarded for my knowledge and dedication to a game by not having to pay for the game subscription fee myself. Classic WoW, and other games such as Final Fantasy XIV by extension, lack such a feature and because of how frugal I am, such a factor plays a significant role in determining which games I choose to actively play.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Closing Thoughts</span></div>
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To restate what I said above, this article is meant to convey my own personal reasons for not playing Classic WoW at the current time with the intent to share it with friends who ask me whether I'm playing or not. While I have tried to include factual statements to support my reasoning, such as WoW having a strong emphasis on group content, I hope I properly distinguished them from my opinions. I also recognize other people have different, equally valid opinions such as having a preference for group content or believing Classic WoW will have a healthier community.<br />
<br />
...I only hope others will respect these opinions, if only because I would like to think they aren't harmful to anyone else in any way.</div>
</div>
Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-45480174028197226752019-05-21T21:32:00.003-07:002020-02-20T00:44:24.408-08:00My Thoughts on Island Expeditions<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XojQnSMkq-k">Island Expeditions</a> were one of the features added in Battle for Azeroth that I thought had great potential. After years of the game being free of group scenarios after the Mists of Pandaria expansion, Blizzard saw fit to experiment with the idea again in the form of exploring to gather more Azerite than an opposing force. It also appeared to feature some form of procedural generation since NPC and object spawns were said to be different every time the player entered the scenario. While I was concerned about the strong ties the content had to gathering Azerite, which I anticipated would end up lasting for only the Battle for Azeroth expansion much like Artifacts did in Legion, I at least had hope Island Expeditions may inspire some similar interesting content in the future.<br />
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However, one quick Google search shows that there are some <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/9f9yap/a_month_into_its_release_world_of_warcrafts/">fairly negative</a> opinions among players who take the time to post on a forum regarding Island Expeditions. While I can understand where these opinions are coming from, I personally think Island Expeditions are much better than players give it credit for, especially considering it delivered fairly well on how it was described in the Developer Insights video. There were also some unexpected details that give me some hope for the future of group scenarios, which <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2015/05/world-of-warcraft-massive-suggestions-list-warlords6.1.html">I have believed for a while should be utilized more</a>.<br />
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In this article I will briefly summarize my personal experience with Island Expeditions on release and after the 8.1 patch series changes, then offer my own thoughts on the release, current, and possible future iterations of this content.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Content Summary</span></div>
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Island Expeditions <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/island-expeditions-guide">require level 116 on one character to unlock</a>. This is because one has to complete at least two foothold quests, after which the tutorial quest for Island Expeditions becomes available. Once unlocked, it can be done on any character of level 110 or below on the account.</div>
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As mentioned before, Island Expeditions are a scenario, meaning there are no specific role requirements needed to fill the groups of three needed to run the content. As the name suggests, players explore an island, defeating enemies and gathering items that have been placed somewhat randomly primarily to earn Azerite. Players race against a team from the opposing faction to acquire enough Azerite after which the scenario is completed is players earn a reward. There are multiple difficulty levels that dictate how much Azerite need to be collected along with a PvP mode where players of opposing factions race against each other instead of teams of NPCs.</div>
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When it comes to rewards, Azerite and experience serve as the primary rewards, making it an option for leveling up to 120 while providing an option for Azerite farming at level cap. There is also a large weekly Azerite reward if a player earns enough Azerite during Island Expeditions during that week. Players can also earn various cosmetics such as uncommon BoE gear that supposedly sells well to other players, pets, and mounts. Finally, <a href="https://ptr.wowhead.com/currency=1710/seafarers-dubloon">Seafarer's Dubloons</a> are a currency exclusive to Island Expeditions that at the time of release was primarily used to buy consumable items that can only be used on Island Expeditions.</div>
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In 8.1, Island Expeditions were updated to be more procedural through the addition of more enemy types, static event spawns, and random invasions from one of many hostile factions. Vendors that primarily sell cosmetics in exchange for the Seafarer's Dubloon currency were also added. An additional reward was also added in the form of a <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=166999/treasure-map">treasure map</a> that unlocks a lucrative mission for followers to be sent on. Finally, various quality of life changes were made to improve the playability of the content such as an adjustment of the Azerite needed for the weekly reward, an adjustment of how additional rewards are awarded, and mob placement.</div>
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8.1.5 didn't add much to Island Expeditions themselves, but it improved upon its reward system once more by adding uncommon quality <a href="https://ptr.wowhead.com/item=167848/island-expedition-bracers">Account-bound gear</a> that can be purchased with Seafarer's Dubloons. Personally, I think this helps to account for a distinct weakness relating to Island Expeditions in that they lack gear rewards. These gear rewards are not that strong since they top out at item level 282 at level 120 (though they can randomly upgrade further), but arguably suffice as leveling gear and starting gear for fresh level 120 characters.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Thoughts on the Present Iteration</span></div>
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I personally think of Island Expeditions to be side content for players to do at level cap, though it isn't without rewards to grind for. It's also a decent way to level from 110 to 120 on alts because of the fast queue times and fairly good experience rates from the mobs and completing a run. I personally appreciate that the developers tried very hard to dampen the monotony of doing the same objectives repeatedly without resorting to lockouts by varying the experience with many different islands to explore, each of which will be a bit different every visit. Furthermore, the enemies players face during an Island Expedition feature a variety of mechanics of varying strengths depending on the power level of the mobs compared to most other leveling content, providing an opportunity for players to hone their skills.</div>
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With that said, I think the objective of Island Expeditions is one of its biggest issues because of how exclusive to the expansion's theme it is, not to mention it gives little room for players to immerse themselves by exploring the entire island. I believe this detracts from the Island Expedition experience and encourages players to rush and otherwise try to optimize their play instead of finding other ways to have fun. These are detriments I was hoping to escape when it comes to WoW's group content.</div>
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The reward system for Island Expeditions is not too bad, especially for leveling players who benefit from the experience reward. The Azerite reward may either lead players to grind the content or ignore the content if they are interested in increasing the power of their Heart of Azeroth depending on how much is awarded. Seafarer's Dubloons in their current state are a decent reward currency for players who are interested in the cosmetic rewards or need to fill gear slots that heirlooms won't on their alts. However, I think Seafarer's Dubloons need to be more consistently awarded from completing an Island Expedition.</div>
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The additional cosmetic rewards all add a bit more reason to do Island Expeditions, though they are a bit rare to get and if one desires a specific randomly earned reward, they're probably going to have a bad time. For players who aren't as interested in them, some of the cosmetics can be sold to other players for money, which makes Island Expeditions somewhat profitable, though not a great way to earn gold from my experience especially if you're on a quiet realm. Finally, I have mixed feelings about the Treasure Maps. I think they're a great way to do mission content since players have to actively play the game before doing a highly rewarding mission, not to mention such lucrative rewards can only be earned once a week per character. However, I am also a little disappointed since I was hoping the player would be doing the treasure hunt in a manner similar to Runescape's <a href="https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Clue_scroll">clue scrolls</a>, even if such an idea is unreasonable to ask for so soon.</div>
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Overall, while Island Expeditions may lack in appeal, I think it's a decent enough addition to the game that at least doesn't particularly hurt the state of the game and at best provides yet another activity for players to do while waiting for lockouts to expire. Also, changes related to it helped to improve the experience along with the reward system.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Thoughts On Future Iterations</span></div>
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In the short term, I think Island Expeditions need additional consistent rewards to make it worthwhile content beyond farming experience and Azerite, both of which become much less meaningful as players progress further. To that end, as I mentioned before, Seafarer's Dubloons should always be awarded upon completing an Island Expedition <i>and it should be made clear this is the case</i>, with at least one awarded at Normal difficulty and scaling up from that. I also think <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1560/war-resources">War Resources</a> should be always awarded in small amounts for completing an Island Expedition, though this has more to do with the fact War Resources can only be acquired in a few ways much like <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1220/order-resources">Order Resources</a> were and I would like to see that issue addressed this time around, even if missions, the primary War Resource sink, are less impactful this expansion.<br />
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While there are plans for Island Expeditions in the upcoming patch and there will probably be further additions throughout the expansion, I have doubts about the long-term health of Island Expeditions. Much like Artifacts before it, I don't see the Azerite system lasting all that long in its current state and, more importantly, it seems like the game's story will move on from its emphasis on how impactful Azerite is as a resource.<br />
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Personally, as someone who <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-current-state-of-leveling-in-wow.html">supports a more robust</a> <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/01/leveling-quick-fixes-intro.html">leveling experience</a> with a variety of content to make the adventure of progressing more enjoyable, the seemingly inevitable loss of Island Expeditions would be tragic without some sort of equivalent to replace it. I also think it would be nice to expand upon ideas introduced by Island Expeditions anyways since I believe it would improve how enjoyable the game is especially when leveling. To that end, I think it's a good idea to retain the concept of Island Expeditions primarily in the form of leveling content. Specifically, I think Island Expeditions bring three ideas to the table in regards to leveling content:<br />
<ul>
<li><i>Firstly, There could be more group scenarios available while leveling</i>. This would provide a more accessible alternative to dungeon content especially for players of the damage dealing role and, with the right objectives, may even provide a less competitive, toxic environment.</li>
<ul>
<li>For example, I think it would be better to implement more scenarios with objectives that don't come at the expense of immersion or a player's ability to pace themselves, such as racing to earn enough points like one currently has to do in Island Expeditions.</li>
</ul>
<li><i>Secondly, there could be more content that has significant variance to improve upon its replayability such as by altering mob spawns and the types of events that can occur.</i> This would help address how repetitive leveling can feel especially for players who create many characters. The idea can also be applied to level cap content for the purpose of reducing the tedium of repetition.</li>
<li><i>Thirdly, there could be more content that provides a wide variety of mechanical challenge that is suitable for players of a wide range of skill levels.</i> Needless to say, having content that both tutors and challenges players, such as my <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/04/leveling-quick-fixes-proving-grounds.html">Proving Grounds rejuvenation</a> suggestion, at the same time is something I strongly approve of and this especially is needed for leveling players.</li>
</ul>
I hope that group scenarios will at least be kept around in some form. It's one of the features that was abandoned after Mists of Pandaria and in my opinion, doing so detracted from the game's content design. It's good to see group scenarios back and being expound upon in ways that make the Mists of Pandaria scenarios look simplistic by comparison. <i>Now I have to hope that the negative remarks made about the feature(s) in question and the expansion it's a part of don't lead to another bout of reckless abandonment of features as shown by the transition from Mists of Pandaria to Warlords of Draenor</i>.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-66174749129566698432019-01-10T19:34:00.005-08:002022-06-08T21:14:03.210-07:00How to Not Screw Up Diablo Immortal (and Future Mobile Titles)<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Update (12/20/19): I really should have mentioned this when writing the article, but many other high-profile gaming industry companies such as Nintendo have gotten away with releasing mobile games with far less outrage than Blizzard got, even though some of these games feature many of the problems mobile games have. Hope this adds some further perspective.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Update (3/9/19): Because I am very behind on the times, it has come to my attention that Nintendo ended their Creators Program, which is a large part of why I disliked them as a company even though that program didn't personally affect me. I have revised one of the closing paragraphs to reflect this. Also, I added a cut because I forgot. Oops.</span><br />
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With reactions to Diablo Immortal dying down, along with <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/11/my-thoughts-on-diablo-immortal-and.html">my desire to condemn the vocal minority of the gaming community</a>, I think it is fair to say that while the outcry was extreme, there is some wisdom to be gleaned from it. Specifically, mobile gaming has a negative reputation and considering <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobilewaronline.wwr">some</a> <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hotheadgames.google.free.survivors">of</a> <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.droidhen.dungeon">the</a> <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=leyi.blazeofbattle">awful</a> <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.igg.android.lordsmobile">games</a> <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moonactive.coinmaster">I discover</a> through TapJoy, some of which seem to gross very well, that reputation is entirely justified. At the same time, I can understand why Blizzard would want to get into the mobile market due to the high amount of potential customers and revenue so therefore I'm not surprised they're planning <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/news=288504/more-mobile-titles-in-development-at-blizzard-entertainment">more mobile games beyond Diablo Immortal</a>.<br />
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However, instead of getting angry about it, and also because Diablo Immortal has yet to be released, I find this to be a good time to offer some meaningful suggestions regarding what can be done when it comes to Blizzard releasing mobile games that don't end up angering their fans, as well as the gaming community, even further. This is something I already briefly mentioned in the previous article, but I think it's important to go in-depth on the off chance a Blizzard employee discovers this article and forwards its contents to their superiors or the article somehow gains widespread visibility.<br />
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I would go as far as to say if these suggestions are followed, that it would redeem Blizzard's error of announcing Diablo Immortal at Blizzcon and make people a little more comfortable about the idea of Blizzard releasing mobile games. Note that these suggestions are intended to improve reputation and fandom security and won't necessarily result in a financial success. This also won't fix Blizzard's reputation in regards to other issues, whether they are <abbr title="e.g. people complaining about a lack of content in BfA"><u class="dotted">erroneous</u></abbr> or <abbr title="e.g. Overwatch competitive play imbalance and killing off HotS esports with little warning"><u class="dotted">not</u></abbr>.<br />
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I want to stress this advice applies to all future mobile releases by Blizzard even though I will often be referring specifically to Diablo Immortal. I wouldn't mind if other developers considered these suggestions too if for some reason they happen to come across this article because I would like more options for good gaming experiences.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Things That Should Be Done</span></div>
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The following are steps I think should be taken to make Blizzard's mobile game releases the best they can be, especially the first subsection.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sell cosmetics and some convenience</span></div>
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As I mentioned in my previous article, Blizzard already has a tendency to do this since while I may object to the price tag of many of the microtransactions, it's difficult to say anything else negative about a $25 mount or the like without potentially sounding unreasonable. The same cannot be said about services, but while some may be <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/05/wow-analysis-decay-of-realm-communities.html">completely detrimental to their respective game</a>, very few if any can be considered something as derogatory as a harmful pay to win microtransaction.<br />
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This brings me to my point that I don't see why Diablo Immortal and future mobile games from Blizzard, or any developer for that matter, should feature microtransactions that are cosmetic or emphasize convenience. They exist in some form in many existing mobile games already, whether it's increased storage space or some sort of eye candy such as a skin.<br />
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When it comes to Diablo Immortal, I was initially going to list a few examples of the sort of cosmetic and convenience microtransactions such a game could have. However, <a href="https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Microtransaction">Path of Exile</a> <abbr title="To address possible semantics arguments."><u class="dotted">is similar to Diablo</u></abbr> and conveniently features exactly the types of microtransactions I mentioned. Outside of "custom content," everything in Path of Exile appears to be a cosmetic or convenience microtransaction that can be practically added to a mobile ARPG. I strongly urge Blizzard to pressure their partner NetEase to ensure these sorts of microtransactions make it into Diablo Immortal.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Start simple and encourage experimentation</span></div>
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On one hand, some mobile games like <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moonactive.coinmaster&hl=en_US">this one</a> can be painfully simple and so utterly lacking in depth that it's arguably insulting to the player. On the other hand, depth can easily be done wrong such as by adding a skill tree with so many skills that it's more confusing than it is interesting and thought-provoking. Some mobile games such as <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.gungho.padEN&hl=en_US">this one</a> manage to break the mold and help to encourage critical thinking through its systems that are gradually introduced and have a high level of customizability to appeal to theorycrafters and the like. The latter game I linked also features a high skill cap in terms of execution since fast movement and quick thinking are required to play optimally.<br />
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Assuming Diablo Immortal is anything like other Diablo games, giving out attribute points to spend as a player progresses gives them an opportunity to experiment with various builds while not being too overwhelmed on what to spend those points on since there's only a few attributes available. Making it possible to reset it at a small in-game currency cost helps to further encourage experimentation or at least give players an opportunity to undo mistakes. Gear progression can then serve as another form of depth by allowing players to experiment with mechanics that are a bit more difficult to compare. For example, it would be nice to see legendary equipment effects similar to the ones in Diablo 3 making their way into Diablo Immortal.<br />
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It's probable that Diablo 3's skill system is more likely to be used for Diablo Immortal if only because it's the most recently developed one. I only ask that Elective Mode is a thing and that there is some sort of tutorial that points players towards Elective Mode to encourage experimentation with skill loadouts.<br />
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Ultimately I do not believe that having a bunch of buttons to press along with many generic effects is as interesting as some claim even from an execution standpoint, so I chose a different approach that features gameplay variation. It would be difficult to implement a high amount of inputs into a mobile ARPG in any case anyways.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Consider making the game pay to play</span></div>
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Considering the high amount of free-to-play games on the mobile market, this might not necessarily be the best tactic for pulling in the most players. However, the money made from selling the game itself could supposedly help to fund ongoing development, reducing the need for microtransactions. I have no illusions that the game would be entirely without microtransactions however, especially since Blizzard is known for making pay-to-play games with microtransactions such as Overwatch. Therefore, I believe many people may take comfort in the idea of having a pay-to-play game free of incredibly unethical microtransactions such as the ones mentioned in the first subsection.<br />
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It goes without saying this tactic should not be used deceptively. It's also important to mention the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwI0u9L4R8U">price tag of the game should have no bearing on how consumer-friendly the microtransactions are</a>, or at least I don't believe it should be.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Treat the game like it's a handheld console game</span></div>
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I think all games should have at least one activity (but preferably more) that can be done in a short burst such as a single quest in World of Warcraft. This should especially apply to any game on a handheld device since they can be played on the go, meaning play sessions may end up lasting minutes, if not less time than that. At the same time, offering some way to keep players engaged for longer periods of time is good too not just to maintain a player's interest with the game longer but also to appeal to players who have longer periods of free time available in their schedule.<br />
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The recently released Super Smash Bros. Ultimate exemplifies this concept well with its event match-style Spirit Board and World of Light encounters. Its Classic Mode is also relatively brief as well and can be completed in a matter of minutes. However, all these activities can be grinded for longer periods to earn more rewards such as currency and challenge completion. There's also a lot of flexibility in terms of what the player can do to maintain longevity of the game even outside of online play such as trying out every fighter, playing under a wide variety of rulesets, or running <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTLUMH8Aa1M">silly computer</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfzYk4Yl2Xg">player tournaments</a>.<br />
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Fortunately, in the case of Diablo Immortal, a number of features from Diablo 3 can be added that work as good short-term activities. Adventure Mode's <a href="http://diablo.wikia.com/wiki/Bounties">bounties</a> were the successor to World of Warcraft's daily quest and a likely source of inspiration for world quests in that game. They are objectives that can be completed in minutes, if not seconds, often for a relatively meager reward. The cache reward for completing multiple bounties is fine to implement too for slightly longer play sessions. An equivalent to Nephalem Rifts can help to fill even longer play sessions. These features will serve as a good base to build upon. However, some players may not enjoy these activities even if they are reworked a little, so I recommend considering the addition of more activities that work well with Diablo's base gameplay.<br />
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One more reason I think this strategy is reasonable to employ is because <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/diablo-3-switch">Diablo 3 recently released for the Nintendo Switch</a>, which is technically considered a handheld device similar to a tablet (which is annoying when trying to fly with one, by the way). While the game is priced like a console game on that platform, that doesn't change the fact that Diablo Immortal on other handheld devices cannot enjoy being similar to the Switch version of Diablo 3.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Have an offline mode</span></div>
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A lot of mobile games demand that you have an active internet connection in order to play. However, while a phone has the luxury of having a somewhat decent internet connection so accessible that I wish other devices could experience it as easily, there are situations where usage of that internet connection is limited. For example, people have limited data plans and while gaming is generally <a href="https://www.whistleout.com.au/Broadband/Guides/how-much-data-do-I-need-for-online-gaming">not as data-intensive</a> as other activities like <a href="https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87">streaming</a> <a href="https://www.androidcentral.com/how-much-data-does-streaming-media-use">video</a>, it's still demanding enough to use more than <a href="https://www.att.com/plans/wireless.html">some</a> <a href="https://www.verizonwireless.com/plans/">monthly plans</a> allow for. People may also (effectively) have no access to the internet, with one of the most common situations being <abbr title="Not everyone has a specific service provider or are willing to shell out money to pay for airplane internet"><u class="dotted">because they're on an airplane</u></abbr>.<br />
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Because of this, I think now is a good time to depart from the "always online" philosophy of PC Diablo 3 and allow both an online and offline mode much like Diablo 2. This would further set the game apart from the many always online titles, making the game even more marketable as a "mobile gaming experience unlike any other." It would especially be appealing to players who dislike dealing with lag issues especially in various ARPGs or want an uninterrupted single player experience that mobile games from my experience distinctly seem to lack. It is worth mentioning that <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/diablo-3-on-ps3-and-ps4-will-allow-offline-play/">Diablo 3 on console already employs this mix of offline and online mode</a> (sadly PC still doesn't and it should since <abbr title="Not going to provide links - sorry."><u class="dotted">there's ways to do it</u></abbr>), so I believe this is a reasonable demand to make.<br />
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It is worth mentioning other mobile titles beyond Diablo Immortal released by Blizzard may require an internet connection to even function. For example, a multiplayer-only game would require an internet connection to play. That is why I only ask for mobile games beyond Diablo Immortal to have an offline mode if it's possible to have a single player offline gaming experience.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Things That Should <u>Not</u> Be Done</span><br />
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Unlike the previous section, I think Diablo Immortal and other mobile games from Blizzard should follow these subsections to the letter or risk facing the wrath of many of their fans. Those who have read my <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/07/world-of-warcraft-problem-with-time.html">previous</a> <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/09/thoughts-on-some-types-of-monetization.html">articles</a> may know what's coming but for those who don't, I think the following subsections could be applied to all mobile games where applicable and the gameplay experience would be improved.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Do not hard time gate the majority of the game</span></div>
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When it comes to time gating, I define hard time gating as a method of completely preventing players from doing a certain gameplay activity for a period of time. These may be used to definitively control how often players can participate in the activity in an attempt to reduce burnout from repetition and shrink the disparity between more and less dedicated players in terms of personal progression. However, I believe <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-concept-of-soft-time-gating.html">soft time gating</a> to be an effective enough solution for resolving such issues. In addition, liberal usage of hard time gating can leave players unable to play the game, which artificially reduces the amount of time the player is engaging with and becoming immersed in the game, which in turn seriously harms player retention. The point is this: <i>hard time gating isn't fun</i>.<br />
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Assuming Diablo Immortal remotely resembles other Diablo games, it'll involve going on a monster murdering spree for loot with a nice dose of power tripping. When implemented well, this can be considered so fun that grinding for specific loot won't feel as much like a boring chore even if the game is inherently using a Skinner box system. Arbitrarily cutting the player off from their fun and possibly asking them for money to continue is liable to upset them to the point of being disinterested in the game, assuming they weren't already disinterested because they're not engaging with the game as much as they would like and choose to do some other activity.<br />
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While I've seen some counter-arguments in favor of hard time gating, such as to curb addictive behavior, most hard time gates in mobile games are tied to some sort of numeric stamina or lives system that can be refilled by paying money, meaning a player can spend money as if they're inserting more quarters in an arcade machine to continue playing and feed their addiction anyways. Also, as I mentioned earlier, I believe soft time gates can address addictive behavior, effectively using a lesser form of <span id="goog_629751357"></span><a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-negative-punishment-2795409">negative punishmen<span id="goog_629751358"></span>t</a>.<br />
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Using hard time gating sparingly and not tying microtransactions to bypassing them would also make a game less like a typical mobile game, further feeding into the idea of making a mobile game unlike any other that may appeal to existing fans.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Do not add (harmful) pay to win</span></div>
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While Blizzard is far from the most egregious offenders when adding harmful pay to win systems to their games, it has still been done in the past such as with release Diablo 3's RMAH and Hearthstone in general (in my opinion, the WoW Token doesn't count, see <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2015/12/in-defense-of-wow-token-and-similar.html">here</a> for why). It is also easy to follow in the footsteps of other highly successful mobile games that utilize the sort of pay to win microtransactions that cause a strong correlation between real life wealth with in-game performance. Gachas certainly don't help the matter either, though <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/11/my-thoughts-on-loot-box-issue.html">as I've said before</a>, I consider such a system one that can be used well or poorly and that harmful pay to win is the more serious issue, especially as behavior in literally any competitive setting has shown.<br />
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I wish I didn't have to add this subsection at all because Blizzard's history has shown they rarely dabble in it even after Activision supposedly began influencing them, but some people have strong opinions on what they consider a mobile game because of the systems and microtransactions they feature and I believe such fears are justified even if the way that fear is expressed sometimes comes off as fallacious. The last thing that needs to be done is to confirm what players fear will end up in a mobile game from a company they still might have some respect for.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Closing Thoughts</span></div>
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I personally approach the situation of Blizzard entering the mobile gaming space with skepticism. I have played enough mobile games to know there are some terrible games that, at best, make for fun F2P challenges. However, not only are there good gaming experiences that can be had at the moment, but there's no rule stating a mobile game has to be riddled with unethical microtransactions and subpar game design. Because of this, I have some hope for Blizzard to apply some innovation like they have previously and bring something new to the platform. As I mentioned at the beginning, this article is a laundry list of suggestions for how Blizzard can avoid alienating their fanbase or other consumers by bringing such innovations to mobile gaming. While <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/9z54d7/a_bit_late_but_heres_my_take_on_the_golden/ea6g6pg/">some people may never be swayed to try mobile gaming</a>, that's fine since Blizzard is trying and should continue to try to maintain a presence on the platform that has brought them much success: PC.<br />
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However, their presence could easily crumble if the fears regarding what Diablo Immortal or other future mobile titles Blizzard releases come to fruition. While I personally find myself at odds with Blizzard's fans (and anti-fans) sometimes, especially during trying times like early WoW Cataclysm or now, that doesn't mean they should be treated with contempt (intentional or not). Producing a game with unethical microtransactions and subpar game design would be perceived as a form of contempt well beyond a poorly timed announcement and I am highly certain the level of outrage sent Blizzard's way would not only be immense but a more understandable reaction by comparison.<br />
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To put all this another way, I ask this: "Is it worth abandoning a large portion of the existing fanbase for a chance bring in new fans from another platform while having to <i>directly</i> compete with other highly popular games that are a huge success?" Personally, I do not think so and while what I suggest may sound risky and possibly even too demanding for NetEase and too unreasonable for the executives at Activision Blizzard, I think it's actually less risky since it minimizes the bad press Blizzard receives, reduces the loss of existing fans, and avoids direct competition with other mobile games. All of these detriments potentially reduce the amount of money made.<br />
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I may not be a massive fan of Blizzard, but I do enjoy the company's games enough that I and try to help them through articles such as this one, which involve offering suggestions and being strongly critical of some of their actions. However, I won't particularly have a difficult time moving on because I am aware of the other options I have for how to spend my free time, including critiquing some other game that I may happen to enjoy. I do not think I'm alone in this, considering there are many at least discussing Blizzard and their games, even if a fair amount of it is negative and destructively critical.<br />
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If Diablo Immortal releases in the state people fear where it is riddled with terrible microtransactions and subpar gameplay (but especially the former), then I will end up treating Blizzard like I once treated <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yX4io2O4EI">Nintendo</a>. I will <i>occasionally</i> buy their games if they happen to be good, but care far less about the fate of the company. I can't even say I would remember Blizzard all that fondly because I'm not all that nostalgic and my ability to become so deeply invested emotionally in anything faded long ago. I would like to see mobile gaming be in a better state though.<br />
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So I close with this: Blizzard, NetEase, and maybe Activision. There is a good opportunity here, so do not screw this up.</div>
Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-51110002312346274602018-11-05T21:47:00.003-08:002021-03-16T17:55:47.896-07:00My Thoughts on Diablo Immortal (and the Reactions to it)The Diablo Immortal announcement at Blizzcon has caused a significant stir, mostly of ire, within the gaming community. Controversy of this magnitude compares to the ongoing discussion regarding loot boxes, <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/11/my-thoughts-on-loot-box-issue.html">which I weighed in on a while ago</a>. After seeing what others have to say on the game's announcement and what came after, I thought I might weigh in a bit sooner this time especially since I would like to think I've learned a bit about mobile gaming since I <abbr class="dotted" title="No link here. I think those articles that I wrote were poor quality." u="">last wrote articles regarding that medium in particular</abbr>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">On the Announcement Itself</span></div>
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I personally found the announcement to be obligatory. With Diablo for Switch already announced in mid-August, something else would have to fill the void to ensure Diablo fans weren't left out to dry. A few weeks prior to Blizzcon, there was a <a href="https://us.diablo3.com/en/blog/22549433">blog post</a> that implied that certain major projects such as a Diablo 2 remaster or Diablo 4 were not likely to be announced. This deduction seems to have been confirmed with the announcement of the mobile game <a href="https://diabloimmortal.com/en-us/">Diablo Immortal</a>, which is a new entry in the series taking place between Diablo 2 and 3.<br />
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Mobile gaming doesn't particularly have the best reputation and it doesn't take more than a few seconds on the Play Store or App Store to realize why since many of the top games have incredibly questionable monetization and are sometimes lacking in gameplay as well. Needless to say, there was a significant negative backlash in response to this announcement since it was featured at Blizzcon to an audience that is more receptive of the PC platform. What followed, while understandable, was a remark from one of the developers that has since been incorporated into memedom <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly10r6m_-n8">where he asked people whether they actually had phones or not</a>. I personally believe he was attempting to be humorous, but I can see why his remark comes off as incredibly tone-deaf, even though having a smartphone is almost necessary nowadays.<br />
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Before I move on, I have some food for thought regarding the announcements themselves. Since it's <a href="https://gamerant.com/diablo-blizzcon-announce-123/">very clear</a> there's more projects than Diablo Immortal when it comes to the franchise, it's likely that any of the other projects are years away from seeing a release. These projects may never reach full fruition much like the cancelled project Titan. In fact, it seems that nowadays, major projects are teased about two years in advance and then there's a working demo about a year or less before the full release. Classic WoW fits pretty well into this timeframe, as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcZyiYOzsSw">it was announced during Blizzcon 2017</a> and a demo was only recently made available at this year's Blizzcon. Overwatch also fits since it was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqnKB22pOC0">announced in 2014</a> and was made playable in 2015.<br />
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While the lack of an announcement for a different Diablo game is disheartening, it doesn't means the franchise isn't exactly dead, at least not yet. This might just be me, but I would rather wait until a game is in a more complete state before an announcement is made rather than be even more disheartened as it gets cancelled after I was teased. There's also some solace to be had since there's dedicated teams for those hypothetical games due to the fact Diablo Immortal is not being developed in-house. Instead, it is being developed by NetEase, which may sound terrible given the <a href="https://netease-na.com/games/">games they're created</a> (there's some controversy surrounding some such as Crusaders of Light), but they have <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2016/09/26/blizzard-and-netease-renew-their-lucrative-online-gaming-partnership-in-china/">also been in a partnership with Blizzard for over a decade</a> and <a href="https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/diablo-immortal-clone-reskin-1203019345/">the game itself is said be to built from the ground up</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A Word on Mobile Gaming</span></div>
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Mobile gaming is a bit of a mixed bag that has earned it a negative reputation. On one hand, there <i>are</i> a lot of games that nickel and dime the hell out of players in the worst ways imaginable. From harmful pay to win to gating players by forcing them to wait hours for structures to build or for their stamina or lives to regenerate, which they can pay to skip, there's no question numerous predatory practices are in play. <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/09/thoughts-on-some-types-of-monetization.html">I've made some fairly strong stances against these practices</a> in the past and emphasized how detrimental they are to gameplay.<br />
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However, while there are an overwhelming amount of bad examples like Lords Mobile, I have also managed to find good games that employ good monetization strategy and genuinely feel like full games to boot. The recent releases of <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stardew-valley/id1406710800?mt=8">Stardew Valley</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jagex.oldscape.android">Old School Runescape</a> to the mobile platform do a lot to improve player expectations and may help raise standards on consumer friendliness on the platform. Less recent releases such as <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fortnite/id1261357853?mt=8">Fortnite</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.miniclip.plagueinc&hl=en">Plague Inc</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.and.games505.TerrariaPaid&hl=en">Terraria</a>, and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mojang.minecraftpe&hl=en">Minecraft</a> all come to mind as well. While most of these are admittedly ported from another platform and the popularity of the games helped, that doesn't change the fact they seem to be at least doing well for themselves if download numbers and amount of reviews mean anything. In fact, some are more comparable to games available on handheld consoles and when it comes to handheld console games, I think many could easily transition to mobile without any changes whatsoever (aside from porting the game) and do well.<br />
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I bring all these games up because they prove that consumer-friendly monetization models, whether it's a subscription, cosmetic microtransactions, or the game itself is being sold as a product, can be successful on the mobile platform. Furthermore, most of them share similarity to Diablo because they all have name recognition and a fairly large following. Diablo Immortal, on the other hand, doesn't appear to be a port of an existing game (which to be fair, kind of makes sense due to system requirements especially in the case of Diablo 3).<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">My Predictions for Diablo Immortal</span></div>
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First, the issue of NetEase developing the game needs to be considered. I personally consider the fact that Blizzard is working jointly with NetEase to be a good thing since Blizzard is generally known to monetize in ways that aren't wildly predatory outside of Hearthstone. In fact, I personally consider their greatest sin in regards to microtransactions to be that they overprice their cosmetics and services so much that not as many people are going to buy them, which is a point I've made a <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-discussion-on-blizzards-selling-of-in.html">few times</a> <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/05/some-thoughts-on-blizzard-selling.html">before</a>. Even when considering the fact a few of their games have loot box systems, one of which is pay to win (I will ignore the fact Hearthstone is a CCG to increase Blizzard's "unfavorability"), this is still significantly better than the practices that seem to be in NetEase's games. Add to the fact Blizzard does at least tend to make decent games relative to the entire industry and I have to imagine NetEase will be under pressure to meet Blizzard's standards both in terms of monetization and game design or risk destroying their long standing partnership.<br />
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Second, this game was apparently playable at Blizzcon and while what was featured may not represent the final product, I did get some information on what people <abbr title="I recommend reading this whole article btw."><a href="https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-11-03-diablo-immortal-is-surprisingly-good-what-little-consolation-that-may-be">experienced</a></abbr>, including the author of this <a href="https://mashable.com/article/diablo-immortal-hands-on/">rather heated article</a> that sounds about as irate as the commenters responding to the Diablo Immortal announcement. Overall, I have to agree the game sounds very promising in that it doesn't seem like it'll arbitrarily lock players out after they die too much or play too much like most stamina and lives systems do. However, I can't say I'm a fan of a virtual joystick control considering Diablo as a whole is click to move like (Old School) Runescape, which doesn't feature a virtual joystick for its mobile port. I'm also concerned by the lack of depth brought up by Robert Purchese, but I'm sadly also not surprised. At least the ARPG experience sounds largely intact, which is what I expected since that's one of a few genres that appear to work fairly well on mobile (unlike RTS or FPS, for example).<br />
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Based on all this information and more, I have the following to say about Diablo Immortal:<br />
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<li>I do not think the game will feature a stamina system or other way that locks the player out of playing the game that forces them to spend real money to continue.</li>
<li>The game might be pay to win because of Hearthstone's history, Blizzard's partnership with NetEase, and Blizzard's unwillingness to disclose the nature of their monetization.</li>
<li>The game will probably be fun but won't necessarily be fulfilling for players who enjoy the depth of Diablo 3 and especially Diablo 1 and 2.</li>
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This brings me to my advice for Blizzard, even though I know it likely won't be read:</div>
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Do not add pay to win. Do not add a stamina system or otherwise force the player to pay to continue like an arcade machine. Remove them if they're already there. Don't even try to market convenience that might even remotely seem pay to win such as faster leveling. Lean towards cosmetic microtransactions instead such as name changes, character skins, and statless outfits. The game could also be sold instead of being free to play, which when paired with cosmetic microtransactions makes it similar to other games developed by Blizzard such as Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Starcraft 2. If possible, try to address the lack of depth by adding features from other games in the Diablo series such as skill trees, attribute point allocation, and so on. </div>
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Basically, I want Blizzard to subvert what players are expecting from what they seem to perceive as "yet another mobile cash grab." If there's one company that can do it, it's Blizzard, because they already do it on a daily basis and, as I mentioned before, they can lean on their partner to ensure the game meets exactly the standard they follow.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And Now For Some Perspective...</span></div>
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Given the reaction to the announcement, one would think Blizzard has become one of the worst companies in the gaming industry. However, I think it's also important to take the following points into consideration.<br />
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For a start, Blizzcon has announced quite a few things for their other games. While some may not like the other announcements, between WoW Classic, Warcraft 3 Reforged, and new content for WoW (Patch 8.2), Heroes of the Storm (new hero), Hearthstone (new expansion), and Overwatch (new hero as well), there's definitely a lot to look forward to. I personally find myself liking most of the upcoming stuff especially Warcraft 3 Reforged and my interest in WoW Classic increased when they <a href="https://twitter.com/Warcraft/status/1058430660266749952">mentioned a shared subscription</a>, which <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/01/what-classic-wow-can-learn-from.html">I recommended Blizzard adopt a while ago</a>.<br />
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This of course isn't much solace for Diablo fans in particular. However, as I mentioned before, there are more <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/08/blizzard-confirms-multiple-diablo-projects-in-production-news-by-end-of-2018/">Diablo projects on the horizon</a> and because Blizzcon doesn't seem to announce or tease new games until fairly shortly before release when it's less liable to be cancelled and cause even more outrage from fans, they may not necessarily be that far away. Whether there's any patience to wait for even longer for a new (or remastered) PC Diablo game is up to the people themselves. At least there's other options like Path of Exile in the meantime.<br />
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This brings me to the outrage surrounding the announcement. It doesn't take more than <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/9u3fwv/blizzard_cofounder_you_can_expect_to_see_more/e91ni51/">reading</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/9u8dti/blizzard_is_shadily_deleting_dislikes_comments_on/">a</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/9uctts/diablo_immortal_netease_provides_more_details_to/">few</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/9ugs2v/sources_blizzard_pulled_diablo_4_announcement/">comment</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/2007scape/comments/9u4pot/thank_you_jagex_for_releasing_a_mobile_game_that/">threads</a> to see that there's a lot of assumptions being made about Diablo Immortal and a lot of admittedly justified anger. This disappoints me, especially when it comes to committing the genetics fallacy. The derisive remarks about a Chinese company working on a game targeted towards the Chinese market is one thing, <i>but one thing that particularly irks me is crucifying a game we know very little about because of the platform it's releasing on</i>.<br />
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For instance, people think the game will be full of the aforementioned pay to win and forced gating. While this may end up being the case, <i>and I will make strong statements against the game if it does</i>, there appears to be no information on how the game will be monetized except for the fact there will be some monetization. As I've mentioned before, Blizzard tends to prefer towards monetizing cosmetics, though I'm unsure if the Diablo team will fight tooth and nail to ensure that happens <a href="https://twitter.com/totalbiscuit/status/951142790523650050?lang=en">like the Overwatch team</a>, especially since Diablo 3 launched with the Real Money Auction House and Hearthstone has a reputation for being pay to win which I consider to be legitimate to a degree.<br />
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Blizzard's announcement and how they handled it after the fact was awful and stupid. I can understand their want to announce a new game that expands upon the Diablo lore, but mobile gaming doesn't have the best reputation and the reactions have made that clear. At the same time, I think it's better to be skeptical of the monetization that makes it into Diablo Immortal instead of <a href="https://gfycat.com/PoshUltimateAnophelesmosquito">assuming the game will feature detestable types of monetization</a> that is common on the mobile platform. In fact, I'm hopeful that this will be yet another game that improves the standards of mobile gaming like the ones I mentioned above.<br />
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To that end, <i>I think it is important to remind Blizzard how successful cosmetic microtransaction models and selling the game itself have been for them and pressure them to continue adopting it regardless of the platform they release their games on</i>. I think it is a lot better than the unrefined negative reaction the vocal part of the community is expressing right now that makes me more disappointed in the gaming community than in Blizzard. Perhaps it's fair to say people shouldn't lose their senses when outraged rather than not losing their sense of outrage in situations like this.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-22123498577954339902018-11-03T15:06:00.002-07:002020-02-20T00:44:24.273-08:00My Brief Thoughts on Battle For Azeroth<span style="font-size: x-small;">TL;DR version of this article: Perceptibly underwhelming != Bad</span><br />
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Several months ago, I <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/06/demotivation-and-future-articles.html">took a hiatus</a> from writing articles, citing reasons such as moving on to other projects and being critical of the state of World of Warcraft. Now that Battle for Azeroth is here and people have had plenty of time to form thoughts on the expansion, I can't say I'm surprised to see a lot of negativity. However, I'm also disappointed in how wildly negative some views and it doesn't help that there's meme phrases going around like "Beta for Azeroth" that convey such viewpoints. While I could go and address some of the longer posts, particularly on the subreddit, that's time I could be spending writing other articles or, more importantly, working on other projects. Therefore, I'll summarize my thoughts briefly in this article and follow up later with my thoughts on some of the game's content and suggestions regarding reward systems. Take it for what you will and for the double digit amount of viewers who read this article, feel free to ask me for more nuanced thoughts on various aspects of the state of the game.<br />
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To start, I largely stand by what I said regarding the expansion in the aforementioned article. I find myself in disagreement with some of Blizzard's design philosophy and believe they didn't address certain issues like the consequences of removing Legion's Artifacts or improving the game's leveling gameplay sufficiently. However, as I also anticipated, Battle for Azeroth turned out to not be a bad idea to play rather casually, which to me translates to focusing on solo content to make gold rather than doing group content.<br />
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Battle for Azeroth's start feels remarkably like Legion's in many ways, especially in terms of the content available. There's plenty of World Quests to do and as before they're fairly hit or miss. There's Mythic+ dungeons for players who want to do group content without the potential stress of raiding with many other players. There's a medium-sized raid with a new, larger raid on the horizon. There's a fairly lengthy, reputation-gated questline at level cap for players who wanted some story they can experience solo (and it's not as ridiculous as the Nightfallen questline in terms of reputation requirements or gated by missions, which are big plusses in my book). Other extraneous activities, such as Pet Battles and cosmetic hunting, also got some new content with this expansion, though it never hurts to have more.<br />
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In addition to this, there's some new things to do that were introduced with this expansion. Island Expeditions could use polish (shrine buffs seem kind of rare, etc) but are quick to group for and a nice way to blow off some steam. Warfronts can be fun and rewarding especially during the Battle Phase, but only when that phase is available. War Mode seems to have brought back a lot of world PvP and I also enjoy the risk-reward aspect because of the strength of many of the PvP Talents that would probably destroy competitive PvE. All of these activities are also rather extraneous and in the case of Island Expeditions and Warfronts, could use some improvement. I have plans to write articles on both of those features in the future.<br />
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However, much like in Legion, the reward systems need serious improvement. Titanforging and other random elements of gearing outside of getting gear to drop are still criticized heavily and I have <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-quest-to-fix-titanforging.html">suggested</a> <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/02/addressing-random-sockets-this-time.html">improvements</a> to address player feedback. The currencies introduced in this expansion (<a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1560/war-resources">War Resources</a> and <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1710">Seafarer's Dubloons</a>) are about as useful as Legion's introductory currencies, making me wish once again <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/03/please-bring-back-justice-points.html">the game had Justice Points</a>. Character progression especially in later stages of the game could use improvement, not just in regards to the Azerite system, but I find myself in agreement with critique that players don't gain much character power outside of equipment after about level 90 or so. Furthermore, I find myself in strong want of more rewards that are eternally relevant, such as a <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-adventurers-rank-having-paragon.html">Paragon Level system</a>. If there's one thing of interest so far in this expansion though, it is Scrapping since it provides an alternative to vendoring useless gear since players can salvage raw materials instead.<br />
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To conclude, despite some treating Battle for Azeroth like it's a dumpster fire (un)worthy of comparing to expansions such as Warlords of Draenor or Cataclysm, I think the expansion is better than both and overall okay, but in need serious improvement. Patch 8.1 and 8.2 look fairly promising and assuming Blizzard doesn't do what they did in Cataclysm and cut content or downsize upcoming patch content (e.g. Abyssal Maw and War of the Ancient raids), what players are currently perceiving as an underwhelming start to an expansion may make the expansion more enjoyable.<br />
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...In the worst case, Classic WoW is coming soon and there's always similar options available (now if only Final Fantasy 14 actually had a WoW Token equivalent).Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-69668175996115090962018-10-27T23:07:00.002-07:002022-06-10T18:22:34.149-07:00If Survival Hunter Was Ranged AgainSurvival is the Hunter specialization that has probably seen the most change out of the three specializations for that class. It started as an underwhelming melee spec, but eventually developed its own identity as a ranged specialization that liked to use traps and deal elemental damage, especially in the form of damage-over-time effects. After many expansions of this, it was abandoned in Legion in favor of trying to make it a melee spec again. Personally, I am in disagreement with how readily Blizzard abandoned much of their old design as they shoddily attempted to push its remnants into Marksmanship.<br />
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Instead, I thought Survival could've gone much further with the aforementioned thematic of elemental damage and trap usage and it helped that there were some concepts in Warlords of Draenor that could've served as inspiration. Specifically, I am referring to Exotic Munitions. While it wasn't a great talent in terms of sheer power, it did explore the idea of enhancing ammunition much like with Rogue Poisons and Paladin Seals. Unfortunately, Exotic Munitions was also discarded in Legion and the source of inspiration was largely lost.<br />
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This article will attempt to portray how ammo enhancements could've been expounded upon alongside the previous ranged version of Survival that emphasized traps usage and elemental damage. What I ultimately came up with is a survivalist that uses innovation, whether it be technology or strategy, to make the most of the situations they may find themselves in.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Thematic</span></div>
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Surviving in the wilds is a difficult affair and in order to do so, one must adapt. Other creatures do so by developing new traits through evolution or similar processes. More intelligent beings such as the many humanoid races do so by developing technology or otherwise putting their mind to good use. Survival Hunters are the ultimate expression of this adaptation through the use of both their cunning and wits. While some may go on to become engineers, one thing remains consistent - all Survival Hunter develop their advantages based on what the world provides them with. As a result, many develop traps and specialized munitions to complement the naturally sharp reflexes and tactical mastery they acquire.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Things to Know</span></div>
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As with all the other times I've made a theoretical version of a class or specialization, I should make it clear I'm not good at math. This means that while damage values are based on the damage value of existing abilities, they will probably be imbalanced and abilities should instead be considered relative to each other. This article is also something of an infodump since while I will explain how each ability works along with some interactions with other abilities, I leave it up to the reader to figure out how the specialization as a whole plays. With that said, the intended secondary stat priority for this spec is as follows:<br />
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Haste => Mastery > Crit => Versatility<br />
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Finally, the iteration of Hunter used for this theoretical version of Survival is the 8.0 patch series version.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Spec Abilities</span></div>
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The following are abilities associated with this theoretical Survival specialization.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Specialized Munition - Passive - You gain access to a variety of ammunition that applies a specific effect on ranged attacks. Ammunition is limited and will only apply for up to 12 of your attacks before requiring you to Reload. While in combat, Specialized Munition changes can be queued without incurring a global cooldown and occur when Reload is cast. The ammunition types are as follows:<br />
<ul>
<li>Poisoned Ammo (Nature) - Deal (0.07 * RAP) Nature damage per second per stack, stacking up to 3 times and lasting for 8 seconds.</li>
<li>Incendiary Ammo (Fire) - Deals (0.1 * RAP) Fire damage to all enemies within 8 yards of the target.</li>
<li>Chilling Ammo (Frost) - Deals (0.15 * RAP) Frost damage and reduces the target's movement speed by 30% for 4 seconds. The slowing effect diminishes linearly over time.</li>
<li>Shocking Ammo (Nature) - Deals (0.15 * RAP) Nature damage to the enemy, then damages up to two additional targets for half damage.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
This is my attempt to revive the ammo feature that Hunters once had before it was removed as a quality of life change. While ammo was not explored too much beyond its damage boosting capabilities, there was a weapon enhancing effect in Warlords of Draenor in the form of <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Exotic_Munitions">Exotic Munitions</a>. This was a fairly weak talent but I liked the idea so much and thought it worked so well with the elemental damage-oriented Survival Hunter that existed prior to Legion that I brought it back as a specialization-exclusive feature. Each ammo type is intended to be used in a specific situation, as described below:<br />
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Poisoned Ammo is intended to be a single target-oriented Specialized Munition, but isn't too bad in other situations, such as when it's not possible to deal sustained damage for a short period.<br />
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Incendiary Ammo, also much like its Warlords of Draenor iteration, is meant to be the AoE damage dealing Specialized Munition. It scales with ranged attack power instead of weapon damage this time so that players can compare ammo types more easily.<br />
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Chilling Ammo is a damage and slowing effect that's useful for kiting and is mostly useful in solo situations, but can have some practical application in PvP too.<br />
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Shocking Ammo is a new type of ammo and is specifically designed for situations where the player is constantly attacking 2-3 targets.<br />
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Finally, it's worth mentioning this ability is a little different from Exotic Munitions. For a start, abilities will also apply Specialized Munitions. Furthermore, the general power level of Specialized Munitions should be higher but is counterbalanced by its ammunition system. This means that once 12 shots are used up, the effects can no longer be applied. Ammunition is reloaded automatically while out of combat, but also when the player uses...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Reload - Instant, 2 charges, 15 second recharge - Refreshes your ammunition and generates 15 Focus. This ability is off the global cooldown.<br />
Reload (Rank 2) - Now also reduces the cooldown of Chimaera Shot and Wildfire Bomb by 1 second when cast.</blockquote>
Reload is a bread and butter skill in that it refreshes ammunition and is the primary source of Focus generation. Since it's off the global cooldown, it can be used at the exact moment a player needs it. Its rank 2 effect is meant to reduce the effective cooldown of two core Survival Hunter abilities. One may note that the cooldown of Reload seems a little long though, especially since 12 shots can be done in a matter of seconds. This is where the following passive effect comes into play.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Lock and Load - Passive - Your damaging abilities have an increasing chance to grant a charge of Reload, starting at 5% and resetting upon activation. This chance is doubled when you are out of ammunition.</blockquote>
There was no way I was going to keep the Lock and Load passive away from Survival, even though it has been moved to Marksmanship. I personally found this to be one of the most enjoyable procs in older iterations of Survival but I think it was also flawed since for most of its life, the activation was a flat chance tied to a DoT that was applied on cooldown. I personally believe it to be even more flawed now since it procs off of autoattacks, which makes the proc feel even less under the player's control.<br />
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To this end, I made it so the effect procs off of every damaging ability, immediately providing more player agency than every other iteration of Lock and Load. Furthermore, I made it so the chance increases significantly with each subsequent damaging ability since it makes sense that as the player uses more abilities, they're more likely to be out of ammunition. Finally, being out of ammunition massively increases the chance, almost guaranteeing a Reload charge after a couple more damaging shots.<br />
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In terms of specifics when it comes to how much the proc chance increases per shot, the chance is cumulative. This means the first shot has a base 5% chance and the second has a base 10% chance and so on. The increased base chance is maintained even in a situation where the player runs out of ammunition after already having used a few damaging abilities. So for example, if the player has used four damaging abilities, then runs out of ammunition before using the 5th, their 5th ability has a 50% chance to activate Lock and Load.<br />
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Ultimately, this passive is a large part of why Haste should be a highly useful stat for this spec since more Haste translates to more abilities that can be cast due to greater Focus regeneration and shorter global cooldowns. It also helps prevents the player from being punished for stacking Haste since normally they'd run out of ammunition faster.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Quick Shot - 1.5 second cast - 40 yard range - A quick shot that deals (0.55 * RAP) Physical.<br />
Quick Shot (Rank 2) - Has a 50% increased chance to activate Lock and Load.<br />
Quick Shot (Rank 3) - Can be cast while moving and no longer cancels Auto Shot.</blockquote>
Quick Shot serves as the filler ability for Survival much like Steady Shot and Cobra Shot did in the past. However, while this ability shares the role of being a filler ability when Focus is low, no Focus is generated. It's also slightly different since it allows players to continue to rapidly apply ammunition effects. At the second rank, it becomes important for ensuring Reload is available due to its increased chance to activate Lock and Load. At the third rank, it gains an upgrade that provides functionality similar to Steady Shot in the past, allowing the player to enjoy an almost entirely mobile damage dealing playstyle.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Frontload - 40 Focus, Instant - 40 yard range - Deals (0.2 * RAP) Physical damage and (0.25 * RAP) Elemental damage. The elemental damage type is based on your current Specialized Munition and ignores armor.</blockquote>
This is the primary Focus dump for Survival. It's largely there to deal a burst of damage much like other Focus dumps, but it has some small differences in that the damage type is mixed and part of the damage ignores armor, making it potentially a little stronger against armored targets. Being able to apply ammunition effects faster is nice too.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Chimaera Shot - 30 Focus, Instant, 10 second cooldown - A two-headed shot that deals (1.5 * RAP) Nature damage to one target and (1.5 * RAP) Frost damage to a target within 12 yards, applying Specialized Munition effects once to each. If this attack damages only a single target, Specialized Munition effects are applied twice to that target. Only uses one unit of ammunition.</blockquote>
Once a Marksmanship signature ability and currently a Beast Mastery talent, I think it works best in this iteration of Survival Hunter. Not only does it deal elemental damage, but I think the fact it strikes two targets gives it potential for an interesting interaction with ammunition effects. In this case, I opted to make it so the shot "splits" the ammunition effect over two targets efficiently, applying full effects at the cost of one unit of ammunition. I also increased the cleave range of the shot to ensure it'll find a secondary target more often.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Wildfire Bomb - Instant, 18 second cooldown - 40 yard range - Throws a fire bomb at the target, damaging all enemies within 5 yards for (0.45 * RAP) Fire Damage and an additional (0.9 * RAP) Fire damage over 6 seconds.</blockquote>
This is an ability that is part of the current Survival specialization and effectively replaces Explosive Trap. I think it fits well with a ranged elemental damage dealing Survival Hunter as well, so I don't see why it shouldn't be retained. The player also won't have to toss or place a trap to deal some decent area damage. I did, however, change the ability to target a circular area instead of a cone.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Wildfire Bomb (Rank 2): The damage over time effect has 10% of the current chance to activate Lock and Load each time it deals damage, but doesn't increment the chance.</blockquote>
I also wanted Wildfire Bomb to interact with other specialization abilities in a meaningful way. To that end, I added a throwback to an older iteration of Lock and Load that could be activated by Explosive Trap damage. The chance in this case is fairly small but scales with how many other damaging abilities are used. In addition, Wildfire Bomb's damage over time will have a very high chance to activate Lock and Load against many targets, allowing the player to have more Focus to use on the following ability to sustain their AoE damage...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Multi-Shot - 40 Focus, Instant - 40 yard range - Fires a shot that hits multiple targets for (0.21 * RAP) Physical. Consumes one unit of ammunition, but only critical strikes apply Specialized Munition effects.</blockquote>
This is a fairly basic AoE damage ability, but it also does less damage compared to the Marksmanship version. This is intentional since ammunition effects will deal a fairly significant amount of damage when applied by Multi-Shot.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Empowered Arsenal - Instant, 2 minute cooldown - You unleash the full power of your arsenal, causing your Specialized Munition effectiveness, Lock and Load activation chance, and cooldown reduction rate of your Wildfire Bomb and traps to be increased by 100% for 15 seconds.</blockquote>
This is the major cooldown for Survival Hunter and is meant to greatly improve the thematic abilities of the specialization. To that end, ammunition effects are greatly enhanced, and many abilities can be used more often.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Trap Launcher - Instant, 1 minute cooldown - When used, your next trap will fire at your target instead of a target location.</blockquote>
I toyed with a lot of ideas on how to make traps more usable at range since currently they need to be fired at a specific location. While I like the skillshot aspect of this, it can also be frustrating to miss. To that end, I added a fairly long cooldown ability so that occasionally, the player can opt to have their trap not miss. This helps less skilled players who are learning to play but can also be useful in a pinch when a trap needs to be activated sooner.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Mastery: Survival Tactics - Your Specialized Munitions are X% more effective. When one of your traps triggers or Wildfire Bomb is cast, you deal Y% more damage and suffer Y% less area damage for 6 seconds.</blockquote>
One of the weakest points of the older iterations of Survival was its rather generic Mastery bonus that increased elemental damage. I created a new Mastery in a previous article, but opted to simplify it this time to include what I consider to be the highlights of the spec: its ammunition types and traps. To that end, I made it so the Mastery increased the effectiveness of ammunition effects, which means secondary effects such as slows benefit, and made it so using traps and Wildfire Bomb provide a short duration buff that can be strategically refreshed for offensive or defensive purposes.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Expert Survivalist - Passive - Whenever you suffer direct damage, the remaining cooldown on your Exhilaration is reduced by 2 seconds. This effect cannot activate more often than once every 2 seconds.</blockquote>
Natural Mending is not going to be a talent in my theoretical Hunter class, though there will be a talent related to Exhilaration. While I'm not sure if the other two specializations would get passives that improve their survivability, I definitely wanted to give one to Survival, which I find doesn't always live up to its name. In an ideal situation, the Hunter shouldn't be taking any direct damage, but there are many situations where this passive will effectively cut the cooldown of Exhilaration in half due to normal gameplay, such as in PvP.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Full Spell List</span></div>
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This is a full spell list with the levels they are learned at. Specialization abilities are marked with an asterisk. Note that abilities learned by other specs are also included and are entirely unchanged. Pet abilities are not listed but are also unchanged.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Call Pet (Level 1)<br />
Revive Pet (Level 1)<br />
Critical Strikes (Level 1)<br />
Quick Shot (Level 1)*<br />
Concussive Shot (Level 4)<br />
Disengage (Level 8)<br />
Control Pet (Level 10)<br />
Dismiss Pet (Level 10)<br />
Poisoned Ammo (Level 10)*<br />
Reload (Level 10)*<br />
Frontload (Level 10)*<br />
Chimaera Shot (Level 12)*<br />
Beast Lore (Level 13)<br />
Feed Pet (Level 13)<br />
Mend Pet (Level 13)<br />
Tame Beast (Level 13)<br />
Multishot (Level 14)*<br />
Eagle Eye (Level 16)<br />
Freezing Trap (Level 18)<br />
Incendiary Ammo (Level 20)*<br />
Wildfire Bomb (Level 20)*<br />
Aspect of the Cheetah (Level 22)<br />
Exhilaration (Level 24)<br />
Lock and Load (Level 24)*<br />
Quick Shot, Rank 2 (Level 24)*<br />
Feign Death (Level 28)<br />
Chilling Ammo (Level 30)*<br />
Counter Shot (Level 32)<br />
Play Dead (Level 32)<br />
Wildfire Bomb, Rank 2 (Level 34)*<br />
Expert Survivalist (Level 36)*<br />
Tar Trap (Level 36)<br />
Command Pet (Level 38)<br />
Flare (Level 38)<br />
Aspect of the Chameleon (Level 40)<br />
Fetch (Level 40)<br />
Fireworks (Level 40)<br />
Empowered Arsenal (Level 40)*<br />
Misdirection (Level 42)<br />
Reload, Rank 2 (Level 44)*<br />
Shocking Ammo (Level 46)*<br />
Exhilaration, Rank 2 (Level 48)<br />
Trap Launcher (Level 56)*<br />
Quick Shot, Rank 3 (Level 64)*<br />
Aspect of the Turtle (Level 70)<br />
Mastery: Survival Tactics (Level 78)*<br />
Disengage, Rank 2 (Level 85)</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Elite Traits</span></div>
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As you may have noticed, there are no abilities that are learned after level 85. This appears to be intentional design on Blizzard's part for the last few expansions and other character progression was added to enrich the experience beyond level 90 or so, such as Artifacts (Legion) and randomly learned passive effects (Warlords).<br />
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However, both of these features were removed, leaving a lack of character progression for all classes from level 90 onward. To address this, I invented a concept I call "Elite Traits," which will be integrated with this theoretical version of Survival Hunter. While I may write an article suggesting the addition of Elite Traits to the game that describes the idea in further detail, I will also summarize it here.<br />
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This idea is inspired by Elite Traits on Artifacts, plus some other one-rank traits with unique effects. Unlike the more generic performance boosting Artifact traits, these special traits introduced interesting mechanics that have largely disappeared with the removal of Artifacts. If they happened to be added back, I believe many of them wouldn't be compatible with the Azerite system due to a lack of numerical scaling with Azerite gear among other reasons. Therefore, this feature brings back ability-modifying effects similar to Elite Traits on Artifacts in a manner of progression similar to the Artifact in that the player chooses what they get initially, but they'll eventually learn everything.<br />
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At level 90, the player chooses the first Elite Trait to learn. There are two types of traits: Throughput Traits and Utility Traits. Every 5 levels after until level 115, the player can choose a new trait to learn. However, they must choose a trait type that is not the same as the previously learned one. This means Throughput Traits must be learned after a Utility Trait is learned and vice versa. The player's choices can be redone for a small cost at the class trainer, which will be especially useful for players who only have the Legion expansion or want to twink between level 90 and 114.<br />
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The following are the Elite Traits for my theoretical version of Survival Hunter with the usual explanations:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Primed Shot (Throughput) - Passive - When you run out of ammo, your next Quick Shot within the next 10 seconds is instant cast.</blockquote>
This throughput trait is intended to improve the feel of playing Survival Hunter by providing some momentum towards activating Lock and Load when ammunition has run out. This is especially useful since Quick Shot should have a massive, if not guaranteed, chance to activate Lock and Load by the time one runs out of ammunition.<br />
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Furthermore, my intention of this trait is to encourage clever management of ammunition and Reload charges to maximize the amount of instant Quick Shots the player gets.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Deep Freeze (Utility) - Passive - Your damage over time effects no longer break your Freezing Trap.</blockquote>
This is largely a quality of life trait meant to prevent the Hunter from being punished for using abilities they may naturally use to deal damage over time such as Wildfire Bomb and Poisoned Ammo. Note that direct damage needs to be done to apply either effect, so the Hunter can't get cheap damage in by trying to apply more damage over time effects.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Master Trapper (Throughput) - Passive - Your traps now have additional effects:<br />
<ul>
<li>Freezing Trap - The enemy will also take (0.6 * RAP) Frost damage over 6 seconds after the incapacitation effect expires or is nullified.</li>
<li>Tar Trap - Also splashes all targets in the area of effect with tar, increasing the direct damage of the next Wildfire Bomb on them by 50%. In addition, when the trap triggers, the cooldown of Wildfire Bomb is reset.</li>
<li>Nullifying Trap - Also briefly knocks all targets in the air, dealing the lesser amount of 20% current health or (0.45 * RAP) as Arcane damage.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
This trait adds damage dealing components to all of the Hunter's traps, which gives them a bit of a punch when used. They will already be used to activate the Mastery effect, but the additional effects allow for some strategic use to make the most of them. For example, Tar Trap should ideally be used shortly after Wildfire Bomb.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Careful Planning (Utility) - Passive - Your traps now last for 2 minutes and up to 2 of each can be active at once.</blockquote>
Careful Planning is intended to be a strategic trait that fits well with the kind of cunning a Survival Hunter is expected to possess. Whether they'll have enough time to set up 2 of each trap before combat begins is another question but if a player has an opportunity to and takes it, they may be rewarded.<br />
<br />
Note that Freezing Trap can still only affect a single target at a time.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Backload (Throughput) - When your Frontload critically strikes, the cooldown of Wildfire Bomb is reduced by 1 second.</blockquote>
This increases the value of Critical Strike slightly more for the Survival Hunter's Focus dump. It should be nearly impossible to reach a point where Wildfire Bomb's cooldown is lower than the duration of its damage over time effect even with this trait outside of Empowered Arsenal.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Secondary Launcher (Utility) - Passive - Your Trap Launcher now has two charges and its cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds.</blockquote>
This allows the Hunter to launch traps a bit more often if they so desire, striking a balance between players who can use traps skillfully without Trap Launcher and those who cannot. It's also useful for providing consistent trap usage in more intensive situations.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Talents</span></div>
<br />
The talents for Survival Hunter have largely been reworked to match the new abilities they have received. They are as follows, with explanations of the effects:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Level 15</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Lone Wolf - Passive - Increases all damage done by 10% when your pet is not active.</blockquote>
Unlike Marksmanship, I didn't want Survival to have Lone Wolf as a baseline effect since I preferred the idea of them being able to use pets. I did, however, want to give players the option to play without a pet. Ideally, this talent is only a slight damage boost similar to that of the other two talents.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Imbued Claws - Passive - Your pet's Basic Attack applies the effect of your current Specialized Munition up to 3 times. Reload refreshes the amount of applications.</blockquote>
Meanwhile, players who opt to keep their pets can use them to apply more of their Specialized Munition effect if they so desire. It won't be applied that fast due to the cooldown of Basic Attacks, but it's a good addition that makes the pet a little more useful beyond the utility they provide, especially in Battle for Azeroth.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Catalyze - 10 Focus, Instant - 40 yard range - Hurls a non-lethal vial that applies a catalyzing substance to the target, increasing your elemental damage against them by 15% for 8 seconds.</blockquote>
The third talent on this tier emphasizes elemental damage, especially single target. Catalyze adds a little more active management that ideally is more of a damage increase than the other two talents.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Level 30</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Greased Mechanism - Passive - Your Quick Shot now casts 15% faster and its global cooldown is reduced by 15%.</blockquote>
As the description makes clear, this talent makes Quick Shot faster to use. This means the player doesn't have to cast as much and can activate Lock and Load a little faster and more often.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ballista Turret - Instant, 45 second cooldown - You place an automated ballista that fires at your target every second for 20 seconds, dealing (0.1 * RAP) Physical and applying your current Specialized Munition. The ballista can hold up to 6 units of ammunition and Reload refreshes it.</blockquote>
This is a throughput talent that emphasizes Specialized Munition usage further, this time in the form of a summoned minion. It doesn't deal a lot of damage but with good ammunition management, it can easily apply Specialized Munition effects on all 20 of its shots. This is intended to be ideal for players who are good at managing Reload charges.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Momentum - Passive - Your Reload generates an additional 15 Focus over 5 seconds.</blockquote>
Momentum also encourages good Reload management, but more in the context of managing Focus at the same time. It's largely an extra benefit as long as the player is fast enough to use abilities after or while using Reload though.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Level 45</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Guerilla - Passive - When one of your traps triggers, the cooldown of your Disengage is reduced by 6 seconds.</blockquote>
This is a Survival-exclusive mobility talent intended to encourage strategic trap usage when the player also wants to effectively use Disengage. However, maximizing its power requires later talents.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Posthaste - Passive - Disengage also frees you from movement-impairing effects and increases your movement speed by 50% for 4 seconds.</blockquote>
This is one of my favorite talents available to all three Hunter specializations. I see no reason to replace it due to the mobility and utility it provides.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Relentless Pursuit - Passive - For every 10 yards you move, the remaining cooldown on Aspect of the Cheetah is reduced by 1 second.</blockquote>
I personally dislike the Trailblazer talent as a mobility talent since it feels like a trap talent where the usefulness of the talent is a little narrower than I would like. To that end, I added a new talent suitable for all three Hunter specializations that applies to Aspect of the Cheetah using a creative mechanic that I believe fits the talent name well. This talent encourages the largely mobile Hunter to be on the move when they can and it even performs well in situations where players move for an extended amount of time out of combat like with Trailblazer. By the way, mounted movement and Disengage would reduce the cooldown of Aspect of the Cheetah with this talent.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Level 60</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Specialized Munitions: Tracer Rounds (Arcane) - While active, you gain 5% Haste and your single target attacks apply a magical trace, increasing all your damage dealt to the target by 3% per stack and allowing allies to see them on the minimap for 6 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times, but can only affect a single target at a time.</blockquote>
This is an ammo type intended to replace Poisoned Ammo in single target situations. The Haste bonus also makes it generally strong and the ability to track the enemy can be helpful utility. Finally, if spell damage types become relevant like on non-Mythic Argus, Tracer Rounds allow Survival Hunters to capitalize on Arcane damage vulnerabilities.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Exotic Munitions - Passive - Improves the effects of all your ammo substantially:<br />
<ul>
<li>Venomous Ammo - Replaces Poisoned Ammo - Deal (0.07 * RAP) Nature damage per second per stack, stacking up to 3 times and lasting for 8 seconds. When the ammunition is applied at maximum stacks, the target suffers (0.07 * RAP) additional Nature damage instantly.</li>
<li>Shrapnel Ammo - Replaces Incendiary Ammo - Deals (0.1 * RAP) Fire damage to all enemies within 8 yards of the target. Enemies affected by the initial explosion also explode, dealing (0.05 * RAP) Fire damage to enemies within 8 yards. Enemies can only be damaged by this secondary effect once.</li>
<li>Frostbite Ammo - Replaces Chilling Ammo - Deals (0.15 * RAP) Frost damage and slows the target by 50% for 3 seconds with the effect diminishing linearly over time. Affected targets suffer 50% bonus damage from Frigid Ammo.</li>
<li>Storm Ammo - Replaces Shocking Ammo - Deals (0.15 * RAP) Nature damage to the enemy, then strikes up to four additional enemies for half damage. This effect can damage the same enemy twice if it hits an additional enemy first.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Exotic Munitions now takes the form of a talent that enhances every ammunition type normally available to Survival Hunter. In general, the effectiveness of each type of ammunition is increased by up to 50% and are even more powerful in the situations where they were already excellent. This is intended to emphasize the niche usage of some of the ammunition types, such as the new Storm Ammo which is excellent in scenarios with 2-3 targets.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Chimeric Casings - Passive - You can now have a second Specialized Munition active at 50% effectiveness. The first can now also be changed instantly in combat without having to Reload, but the second cannot be changed in combat at all.</blockquote>
Chimeric Casings rounds off this talent tier by providing players with flexibility in terms of the Specialized Munitions they use. Not only can they change their primary Specialized Munition at will without having to use Reload, but they can have a second Specialized Munition active as well. This is a great throughput increase, but the second Specialized Munition may not necessarily be suitable for a specific scenario. In addition, the player will have to think about which one they want to have at reduced effectiveness since they may want to be able to switch to a version with full effectiveness during combat.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Level 75</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Flare Gun - Instant, Replaces Flare, 1 minute cooldown - 40 yard range - Fires a flare at the target, revealing all stealthed enemies in the path and stunning the target for 3 seconds. If this ability is cast without a target, the flare will instead travel forward for up to 40 yards or until it hits the first enemy, stunning them.</blockquote>
If I recall correctly, Blizzard once played with the idea of making Flare an ability that was intended to be regularly used to improve damage dealing. This never made it into the game but I thought it would be fun to play with a similar idea by giving Survival Hunters a more robust piece of utility in the form of a Flare Gun. The stealth-revealing functionality is based on two existing abilities: Piercing Shot and Explosive Shot (the Marksmanship talent version). When cast at a target, Flare Gun effectively behaves like Piercing Shot in terms of revealing stealth. When cast without one, it behaves more like Explosive Shot instead. Because of this, I think it would be possible for Blizzard to implement an ambitious piece of utility like this somehow.<br />
<br />
With that said, its primary function will be to stun an enemy.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Nullifying Trap - Instant, 30 second cooldown - 40 yard range - Places a trap that, when triggered, pacifies all enemies within an 8 yard radius for 4 seconds. Leaving the area removes the pacifying effect.</blockquote>
Instead of giving Survival Hunters Binding Shot, I opted to give them a new trap that provides crowd controlling utility that forces enemies to move away rather than forcing them to stay in place. Because pacified targets can still move, this should allow for some counterplay in PvP situations. The trap will be significantly more useful in PvE situations however, so I reduced the duration a little bit. Furthermore, targets are guaranteed to be pacified for a short time once the Hunter receives the Master Trapper Elite Trait due to the trap knocking affected targets up.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Lasting Exhilaration - Passive - Your Exhilaration heals for an additional 50% of the amount healed over 10 seconds.</blockquote>
While I like the cooldown reduction aspect of Natural Mending, Survival has another way to reduce Exhilaration's cooldown. I also didn't want to copy and paste more talents, so I opted to create a new talent that improves Exhilaration for all Hunter specializations in this theoretical situation. In this case, the healing is greatly increased, providing some additional sustain for the Hunter and especially their pet (if they opt to use one).<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Level 90</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Potent Volley - Passive - Your Multi-Shot will always apply Specialized Munition effects.</blockquote>
This talent is a fairly simple one that reduces the value of Critical Strike in favor of improving the consistency of Survival Hunter's AoE damage dealing using Specialized Munitions. This is especially useful against a large number of targets and has some great utility potential with Chilling Ammo.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Hydra Shot - Passive - Chimaera Shot will now hit two additional targets for (1.5 * RAP) Fire. In addition, Multi-Shot reduces the cooldown of Chimaera Shot by 0.25 seconds for each target hit, up to a maximum of 1 second per cast.</blockquote>
Hydra Shot makes Chimaera Shot more useful in situations with 3 or 4 targets and allows the Hunter to consistency apply Specialized Munition effects to all of them. It's also not too bad in situations with more targets to the point it may be usable against many more enemy targets.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Carpet Bomb - Instant, Replaces Wildfire Bomb - 18 second cooldown - Incinerates a huge area of 10 yards radius, dealing (0.45 * RAP) Fire damage instantly and an additional (1.8 * RAP) Fire to all enemies in the area over 12 seconds.</blockquote>
For players who prefer to use Wildfire Bomb and wish to make it an even more potent AoE ability, this talent is the go-to option. In addition, this is the only one that directly increases single target damage since it doubles the duration and damage of the damage over time effect. The drawback is the player has to target the ground with the ability and may potentially attack targets they didn't intend to due to its radius.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Level 100</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Rapid Reload - Passive - Lock and Load has a 20% increased chance to activate. In addition, Reload gains 1 additional charge and also reduces the cooldown of Empowered Arsenal by 2 seconds when used.</blockquote>
While Rapid Reload is already being used as an Azerite trait that affects Multi-Shot, I think it is far more appropriately used here. In this case, this talent helps to trivialize ammunition management and increase the amount of times Empowered Arsenal can be used.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Deadly Shot - 3 Ammunition, 2 second cast, 20 second cooldown - 40 yard range - Fires a shot laced with an especially potent amount of Specialized Munition, applying the effect 3 times and dealing (2.4 * RAP) Elemental damage based on the Specialized Munition used.</blockquote>
Meanwhile, Deadly Shot encourages more careful ammunition management, especially when it comes to using the Reload ability, because the intention of this ability is for it to be cast on cooldown. In order to do this, it is desirable to have Reload ready in case the Hunter runs low on ammunition. Deadly Shot is also a talent that reduces mobility, so it may be even more of a strategic choice.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Complex Design - Passive - When your trap is triggered, a secondary trap will trigger centered on the target that initially triggered it after 2 seconds at half of the duration. Secondary effects do not progress diminishing returns.</blockquote>
Closing out the level 100 talent tier is a talent that massively increases the power of traps. It effectively increases the duration of the Mastery by 2 seconds with each trap used and has major synergy with other effects such as the Master Trapper Elite Trait and the Guerilla talent. It also makes traps harder slightly more difficult to play around in PvP.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Azerite Traits</span></div>
<br />
Finally, we have the Azerite traits. I have only added 6 since as of this writing, there seem to be only 6 specialization-specific Azerite traits. They are as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Chimaera Breath - Chimaera Shot now also applies one additional random Specialized Munition effect to each target it damages.</blockquote>
This allows players to effectively use Specialized Munitions that are not active, which may give them an idea of how useful other ammunition types are. It can also be used strategically especially with the Chimeric Casings talent since it allows instantaneous ammunition type changes. Incidentally, when this trait is stacked, the same random ammunition type can be chosen multiple times on the same Chimaera Shot, which could lead to some interesting applications of certain types of ammunition such as Poisoned Ammo.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Azerite Munitions - When your ammunition is refilled, your next single target shot is also imbued with Azerite Munitions, causing an explosion that deals X damage to all enemies, and Y healing to all allies within 8 yards of the target.</blockquote>
This effect is admittedly a little bland since it basically just causes a Holy Nova-like effect on the next shot the Hunter uses after casting Reload, but on the other hand, I believe it thematically fits since Azerite seems to have restorative properties in addition its destructive potential.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Controlled Burn - Wildfire Bomb initially deals an additional X damage split over all damaged targets.</blockquote>
This Azerite Trait is geared towards making Wildfire Bomb more powerful when there are fewer targets. This may allow for some strategic usage of both Wildfire Bomb and especially Carpet Bomb if the player wants to focus their damage on specific targets. Note that this will generally be inefficient though and it's probably better to try to stack this trait for specific encounters instead.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Exploitation - After launching a trap with Trap Launcher, your Haste is increased by X for 8 seconds.</blockquote>
This makes Trap Launcher more of an offensive cooldown since in addition to guaranteeing a Mastery proc, it will also give the Hunter an even greater throughput boost while the Mastery effect is active, especially if they have taken the Complex Design talent.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Overload - Your Frontload will consume an additional unit of ammunition to deal an additional X damage.</blockquote>
This trait may arguably be a negative one since it could potentially incur a damage loss in situations where the Hunter doesn't have as much ammunition or manages it poorly, such as if their Haste is low. This is instead meant to appeal to those who manage ammunition well, have taken talents that provide a huge surplus of ammunition, and may even have the stats to support taking such a trait. With that said, stacking this trait won't cause it to consume more than one additional unit of ammunition.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Keen Focus - Every second, your next Quick Shot deals an additional X damage.</blockquote>
There are a few Azerite traits that empower a specific ability based on how long it hasn't been cast. I think this is suitable for Quick Shot, which is a filler ability the player ideally uses rather infrequently. Certain talents such as Momentum and Rapid Reload may help to make the most of this trait.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Closing Thoughts</span></div>
<br />
This concludes my theoretical ranged Survival Hunter idea. Aside from almost certainly being an imbalanced, incomprehensible mess, it also serves to show off an idea that I may expand on further later on to address a lack of character progression after level 90 or so. Beyond that, I hope this article pleases at least one fan of the ranged version of Survival that existed before Legion.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-90084758216134603922018-06-29T18:33:00.002-07:002018-06-29T18:33:40.419-07:00Demotivation and Future ArticlesFor several years, I've been publishing articles at a relatively consistent rate. While it's slowed over time in favor of attempting to improve quality, I've at least tried to get out something every week or two weeks. Given my view count and general lack of regular readers over the entire lifespan of this blog (feel free to comment and prove me wrong if you are a regular reader), I'm not sure if there's anyone who particularly cares that out of seeming nowhere, I haven't published anything for nearly a month. Despite that, I think I owe an explanation for the sudden, extreme decline and this article will provide that explanation.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Reduced Interest in WoW</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
This phenomenon is rather familiar to me at this point since I've played World of Warcraft long enough to know that even despite how far content design has come, there's going to be points where I'm bored enough of the game to take the closest thing to what I can call a break from the game. What this basically translates to is that I end up playing other games more and focusing on other hobbies. However, I think there might be a little more to the story this time around too in regards to my waning interest in WoW.<br />
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Back in Wrath of the Lich King, someone I occasionally played with quit at the conclusion of that expansion because he felt like he "finished" Warcraft. This was understandable considering that the defeat of the Lich King marked the end of the Warcraft 3 story arc that focused largely on Arthas and how he eventually became the Lich King. As someone who was drawn to the Warcraft universe by the same game, I was more interested in the defeat of the Burning Legion that was strongly prevalent in the base game and with that faction largely beaten in the Legion expansion, I'm starting to feel like I might have "finished" Warcraft myself. At the same time, I might be able to console with this idea by telling myself there's more out there and despite Battle for Azeroth not interesting me too greatly, I do see some story potential in that expansion and beyond. Unfortunately, there is more to the story.<br />
<br />
While I enjoyed playing the Legion expansion, I also recognized many problems and wrote articles on <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/05/artifacts-and-paragon-systems-do-not.html">a</a> <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-quest-to-fix-titanforging.html">few</a> with possible solutions. This in turn has led me to disagree with some solutions or lack thereof. For example, Artifact retirement has recently started but it feels pretty bad to have the high amount of progress put into the Artifact devalued. I'd argue this issue would've been negated by not implementing traits like <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/spell=239042/concordance-of-the-legionfall">Concordance of the Legionfall</a> in the face of seeing the negative effects of the first set of "Paragon traits" on player behavior. That would leave many Artifact traits that could be added as baseline abilities and effects, meaning the sense of loss can be more easily rationalized. The point I'm trying to is that I (and from what I can tell, some others) find myself in disagreement with some of the design philosophy driving the game at the moment and the impact of said philosophy is much greater than the something fluid like class (im)balance.<br />
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This brings me to why the next expansion doesn't interest me that much. There's some interesting content such as Island Expeditions, but there also appears to be a lack of renewal such as with the <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/07/world-of-warcraft-problem-with-time.html">time-gated raiding gameplay</a> or the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/forums&topic=284843#p4201654">apparent forced obsolescence</a>, which in this case, is part of the Warfronts feature. Also, given my recent article series, I also think leveling still needs to be improved because if comments on various WoW-related news are anything to judge, there needs to be more new blood to help wash out the <abbr title="I admit some of this salt comes from me, considering the tone of this article and others."><u class="dotted">salt produced by more experienced, knowledgeable players</u></abbr>. Ultimately, the gameplay of Battle for Azeroth doesn't seem to grab me all that much and the design philosophy being employed, while not terrible and capable of <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/The_Reputable">strokes of genius</a>, is questionable in some aspects and what I'm most concerned about is Blizzard may fix some of their mistakes too late if at all.<br />
<br />
With all of that said, I'll at least be playing Battle for Azeroth because farming gold shouldn't be too bad to do and it's nice to remain at the Battle.net balance cap so that I can buy any Blizzard games I want. Therefore, the most likely outcome is that I'll play less and in turn have fewer ideas and even less passion to publish what I primarily have done on this blog for the last few years, which is WoW-related articles about relatively recent topics and suggestions to improve the game.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Filling the Void</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
In a sense it's fortunate I was already aware of this waning interest since it led to me to quit raiding Antorus much earlier than I normally would quit raiding any tier since it's allowed me to consider what other articles I could write. Personally, I preferred gravitating to writing articles about other games rather than going in the direction of politics or real life stuff in general and because of my experience with handling "breaks" from WoW, I found myself playing or replaying many games. I even found a few that I was remotely passionate about, so that means I can write some articles about those, right?<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, that is not the case since the games in question are meant for audiences aged 18 or above as I've implied in a <a href="https://twitter.com/Interest____/status/1006706270869471232">relatively recent tweet</a>. Since I would like to think this blog is family friendly in some sense, which in turn allows me to freely link it on forums or other public discussion platforms, I don't think it would be a good idea to publish any articles related to those games. To compensate for this fact, I've been making contributions related to these games in other ways, which is where a fair amount of my free time lately has been going.<br />
<br />
As for other games, I only have a few article ideas relating to them, meaning inspiration is lacking there. However, I do have an idea and that leads me to my closing thoughts.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Closing Thoughts</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Without divulging too much about my personal information, I haven't ever been particularly good at being passionate about something. What this means is even if I focus my efforts on some activity, it is unlikely that the outcome will be that great, which would explain a lot of things why many of my Youtube videos and articles seem half-assed. Maybe I'm being a little too harsh on myself and admittedly, lack of confidence is another issue to consider among many others. The only exception to this lacking passion has ever been gaming, though even then, I've rarely made a serious attempt at trying to make a living off of that activity and I think I have good reason to avoid doing so.<br />
<br />
I bring this up because aside from needing to sort out some overarching issues somehow, I'm surprised that writing what amounts to forum posts about a game I enjoy was something I could do consistently for years before my desire to do so faded and part of why is because of disinterest in the game in question. Since as I mentioned above, I have limited inspiration for article ideas regarding other games at the moment, what I considered was an idea to get around my waning interest in WoW.<br />
<br />
While this won't do a lot to increase the rate at which I publish articles, I've entertained the idea of focusing more on major projects about theoretical concepts in WoW such as reworking an entire specialization or class that, unlike my smaller suggestion articles, would have no chance whatsoever of existing in any version of the game. I reason that if I'm not going to be seen, let alone heard, I might as well try to let loose some unrestrained creativity for fun. To put it another way, expect more articles like <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2015/02/world-of-warcraft-comprehensive-list-of.html">this one</a>, but a tad shorter. Going in this direction may also provide some relief from my increasingly cynical view of the ongoing development of the game.<br />
<br />
To summarize this article: My diminished rate of publishing articles is no accident and is largely a product of personal issues and decreased interest in my primary publishing topic of WoW in addition to other reasons. I may write articles about other games but for now my plans for the next article, if not the next few, will involve grandiose theoretical concepts for a fictitious version of WoW that will never happen but is fun to imagine the possibility of anyways.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-4838296263135855352018-05-31T18:21:00.001-07:002018-05-31T18:21:04.389-07:00Leveling Quick Fixes: Elite Subzones<span style="font-size: x-small;">This article is part of a series. Click </span><a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/01/leveling-quick-fixes-intro.html" style="font-size: small;">here</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> to go to the intro article where a table of contents is available.</span><br />
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Some of my early experiences of playing World of Warcraft involved wandering into <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Elite_area">areas crawling with elite mobs</a> that more often than not were beyond what I was able to defeat. They often congregated around the entrance to instances but there were also subzones dedicated entirely to them such as <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Pyrewood_Village">Pyrewood Village</a> and <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Jintha%27Alor">Jintha'Alor</a>. The novelty of them was nerfed shortly after I started playing the game however since in <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Patch_2.3.0#Leveling_Improvements">patch 2.3</a>, elites in many of these areas were changed to non-elites in an attempt to improve the game's leveling experience. I can understand the reasoning of the nerf since grouping up to quest in one or more of the areas was often necessary to ensure a smooth leveling experience due to a lack of non-grindy leveling content.<br />
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Elite areas were then rarely utilized in a meaningful way for a few expansions until <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/isle-of-giants">Isle of Giants</a> was released in 5.2, which was a zone full of elite mobs that were able to be <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=94288/giant-dinosaur-bone">farmed</a> solo or in a group. <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/timeless-isle">Timeless Isle</a> expounded on the idea and featured elite mobs that could be farmed for benefits such as <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/faction=1492/emperor-shaohao">Emperor Shaohao</a> reputation and <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=738/lesser-charm-of-good-fortune">Lesser Charms of</a> <strike><a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2013/11/wow-analysis-lesser-charms-of-excessive.html">Excessive</a></strike> <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=738/lesser-charm-of-good-fortune">Good Fortune</a>. Warlords of Draenor also featured some elite zones that the player entered as part of <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/quest=36699/assault-on-the-heart-of-shattrath">daily</a> <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/quest=36701/assault-on-the-pit">quests</a>. Finally, Legion had a quest chain for the Nightfallen that involved entering an <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Gilded_Market">area full of elites</a> and featured many elite World Quests that players could attempt solo if they wanted a bit of a challenge.<br />
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The reason I bring this all up is because it seems Blizzard is comfortable with making their overworld dangerous to players again by making use of elite areas or what I'll call what I consider to be the more appropriate term of "subzones." In fact, I think it's possible to return elite subzones to lower level zones while maintaining the idea behind the leveling improvements made in patch 2.3. If done well, such areas will provide a place for players to challenge themselves without disrupting other leveling content such as questing like elite subzones in the past did.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Elite Subzones as Leveling Content</span></div>
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To accomplish the aforementioned objective of implementing elite subzones without disrupting other content, it's best to utilize areas that don't have much content to begin with such as the following:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLXBkTjfuvZpEzYcQEQvF1SNo1h4PgDGiYCTzycvsdIy7exVuuXp8CVgmCMDx3XVtsRFyK7RSeISHI9yNH_rZXV1bjiSbZLqgFnWm0qFXmYhXJPPeGj1zX_MYeKMMCQabse6uRujKM5w/s1600/gAlI6DY.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="232" data-original-width="499" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLXBkTjfuvZpEzYcQEQvF1SNo1h4PgDGiYCTzycvsdIy7exVuuXp8CVgmCMDx3XVtsRFyK7RSeISHI9yNH_rZXV1bjiSbZLqgFnWm0qFXmYhXJPPeGj1zX_MYeKMMCQabse6uRujKM5w/s320/gAlI6DY.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The entrances to the Ahn'Qiraj raids (heck, many instance entrances in general)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEPSJ1SzYAV9r5Utgewt56SHg6tPDp2wD5CjhESINakYtZGKZWTlqeQ-nrrNYLX1ciNEIjVZbM3E__9LN7JqCCts0keUEbpXnO_mPqDJJVCvkqwkug1ZoxHMzkbSvGthMcpgKodhC0w/s1600/IebYN3p.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="235" data-original-width="343" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEPSJ1SzYAV9r5Utgewt56SHg6tPDp2wD5CjhESINakYtZGKZWTlqeQ-nrrNYLX1ciNEIjVZbM3E__9LN7JqCCts0keUEbpXnO_mPqDJJVCvkqwkug1ZoxHMzkbSvGthMcpgKodhC0w/s320/IebYN3p.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Ruins of Feathermoon</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitCvhmzuRN_lAv7NGUHxSJaqQOtoECTd2D2FrOeRvXrThxnlonGHv0sT-eyEak87GqzQnX5ldq-P15fvmVjKVrT_s453M4pChI_A0ULxRlGTU8yzVVRjIBPNPuPo7Qzdis_UJEo3yv0Q/s1600/qbLf1Ty.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="443" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitCvhmzuRN_lAv7NGUHxSJaqQOtoECTd2D2FrOeRvXrThxnlonGHv0sT-eyEak87GqzQnX5ldq-P15fvmVjKVrT_s453M4pChI_A0ULxRlGTU8yzVVRjIBPNPuPo7Qzdis_UJEo3yv0Q/s320/qbLf1Ty.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Uplands and possibly the Ruins of Alterac</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCTtpk7izLmsP3sJrQCQppRj7pzChbz7BGBdNlW0LCurdUnoJpyhyphenhypheneFNltFuDohVmOzgDFx7LQhfL_lD-Bsyeia2r79p83Faod0H33jVyi-C8UVuEQ7-JMi9X2dD01bQLLvVwsoNZXuA/s1600/W5aa1z8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="527" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCTtpk7izLmsP3sJrQCQppRj7pzChbz7BGBdNlW0LCurdUnoJpyhyphenhypheneFNltFuDohVmOzgDFx7LQhfL_lD-Bsyeia2r79p83Faod0H33jVyi-C8UVuEQ7-JMi9X2dD01bQLLvVwsoNZXuA/s320/W5aa1z8.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seradane</td></tr>
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As one many have noticed, some of the mentioned areas are the ones from the <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Elite_area">elite areas list</a> and it's a pretty good resource to use in general for determining good elite subzone candidates.<br />
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However, more areas can be used as long as they're somewhat out of the way and phasing is used. This is because even if the area happens to be one used for questing, players would enter the questing version of the area if they happen to have the quest. In fact, some elite subzones could be locked behind quests and change to a phase full of elite mobs once specific quest chains are completed as a sort of reward.<br />
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To further ensure players don't unnecessarily fall victim to the elite subzones, there could be some significant telegraphing prior to entering such areas such as danger signs, skeletons, dead NPCs, and so on. Elite subzones could also be marked with World Quests or <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Quest#Bonus_Objectives">bonus objective</a> area marker which serve as both as a danger symbol and issue a challenge for players who wish to partake in it.<br />
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As for the difficulty of enemies in elite subzones, "trash mob" health should be at around 4 to 5 times greater than non-elite counterparts to make them longer to kill, but without turning mobs into enormous damage sponges. Autoattack damage should only be increased by up to twice as much compared to non-elite mobs since the challenge of elites should emphasize mechanics. To this end, the guidelines listed in the <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/05/leveling-quick-fixes-appendix.html">mechanical learning expectations article</a> can be violated as long as the challenge remains reasonable. Specifically, it would help if abilities still had some sort of counterplay even if it's not traditional counterplay such as interrupts and crowd control.<br />
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There should also be boss enemies with even greater stats, mostly in the form of health, that spawn periodically and show up on map to further encourage leveling players to seek out a challenge. These are meant to be a step up from <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/02/leveling-quick-fixes-rare-spawns.html">rare spawns</a> and are intended to be fought with a group. However, depending on the abilities the boss has, a clever player may find ways to solo them and I would strongly encourage meticulously designing bosses to be on the cutting edge of challenging potential solo players.<br />
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Finally, the area should be littered with chests that contain some of the loot-based rewards found in elite subzones. This helps to mitigate excessive group farming for loot and potentially allows for a stealth minigame to loot the chests if the player desires.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rewards</span></div>
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Grinding on mobs in elite subzones should provide experience rates that are close to that of questing, with the difference being that the rates are more consistent and require the player be skilled enough to take on challenging content. Mobs would also drop a greater amount of Justice Points (if they exist), specifically up to double the amount dropped by normal mobs as stated in <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/03/please-bring-back-justice-points.html">my article on the topic</a>. They would also occasionally drop gear tokens that can be used to produce suitable BoP gear of the player's level. Beyond that, the mobs themselves would have a relatively standard drop table compared to non-elite counterparts.<br />
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Chests found in elite subzones may contain a significant amount of Justice Points and money. They also have quadruple the chance to award <span style="color: #1eff00;">uncommon</span> or higher quality BoE gear, which makes them a good source of world drops. Finally, chests contain a several consumable items suitable for the level range of the elite subzone, which is meant to encourage liberal consumable usage to make encounters in the area slightly easier.<br />
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Completing the bonus objective or World Quest would provide experience comparable to that of about <i>two</i> quests at the player's level. They would also award a little money and Justice Points (again, if they exist). Note that these benefits are greatly limited since it can either be completed once or players have to wait hours for the World Quest to respawn. This means the rewards from completion would only have a significant impact on rates if the player spends a little time in the area.<br />
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Bosses in elite subzones would award roughly the same amount of experience as the other mobs, but their loot would be the equivalent of looting up to three chests in the area. The loot is diminished to the equivalent of looting a single chest in the area <abbr title="i.e. the player is at least 9 levels greater than the upper level scaling of the area"><u class="dotted">if the player significantly outlevels the boss</u></abbr>. This is to give leveling players an opportunity to build wealth without making every elite subzone in existence a good money-making method for higher level or level-capped players.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Implementation Logistics</span></div>
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This suggestion initially confused others when I pitched it since they thought it wasn't a "quick fix" at all. Therefore, I'll start by saying it is <i>because adding an elite subzone is as simple as placing mob and object spawns in relatively unused areas like the ones I mentioned above</i>. Even when accounting for designing the mobs themselves and setting up drop tables, the amount of work required shouldn't be all that much and comparable to adding multiple rare spawns to existing areas. As I mentioned previously, <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/forums&topic=209297">this is something Blizzard has already done before</a> as a side addition for a major patch.<br />
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More elaborately designed elite subzones can be added over time. For example, areas could have new terrain and structures to improve immersion. Mobs could also be given more appropriate abilities and new movement patterns such as enemies that patrol to add to the aforementioned stealth minigame. Tuning passes would likely be needed as players give feedback. Finally, entirely new areas can be added to existing zones if elite subzones as content are in high demand for some reason.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Goals This Feature Accomplishes</span></div>
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Elite subzones are primarily meant to accomplish one of the three goals, but can accomplish all three goals to a degree.<br />
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In terms of tutoring, some newer players may want a harsher environment to learn in than others. While some options are already in the game such as dungeons and certain suggestions arguably may be a better fit, having more overworld options doesn't hurt. Note that this would likely satisfy a small number of players though.<br />
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Elite subzones would not serve as immersive content initially but over time each area could potentially become another exciting place to explore with its own subtextual lore and the like. This is aided by the addition of treasure in the areas, meaning players who don't want to fight the mobs may find the areas rewarding to explore.<br />
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The primary goal accomplished by this feature is that with the right balancing of experience gain rates, it helps leveling feel less like a chore. This is largely because elite subzones offer an environment comparable to dungeon soloing since the 7.3.5 patch, but with potentially greater accessibility. Much like with soloing dungeons, I could see this challenge appealing to players who need it most: veterans leveling up alts who might be a little tired of the other leveling content. It also helps that elite subzones are not quite as structured as some of my other suggestions, which allows for more strategic options. Finally, if implemented ideally, elite subzones are likely the one place where even with heirlooms, an experienced player may find themselves dying or near death. Personally, I find that prospect to be exciting.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-79981107626660033222018-05-09T00:39:00.005-07:002020-02-20T00:44:24.544-08:00Some Thoughts on (Blizzard) Selling Cosmetics for CharityDepending on how well the charity uses the money it receives, supporting charities that have goals that align with your own can be a great thing. One such goal that can generally be agreed to be great is putting an end to cancer, even if it's a specific one such as breast cancer. Personally, I would like to think funding research for curing one type of cancer will ultimately contribute to curing them all. This is also why I think holding events to fundraise without being incredibly wasteful in the process can be great and one way to do so is to partner up and sell a product for charity.<br />
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Blizzard is a company that has done this many times over the years such as when they <a href="https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/21037559/new-pet-adopt-shadow-the-fox-and-help-support-disaster-relief-efforts">sold a pet to support disaster relief efforts</a> relatively recently. This time Blizzard is supporting the <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=5001">Breast Cancer Research Foundation</a> and to do so, they have ventured into new territory since in addition to selling a cosmetic in Overwatch for charity, the cosmetic in question is planned to have a limited run.<br />
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Personally, I've felt rather mixed on these promotions since while all the profits made are going towards a good cause, it comes at the expense of continuing to justify Blizzard's pricing model. Since <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-discussion-on-blizzards-selling-of-in.html">I criticized Blizzard's pricing of cosmetics in the past</a>, I was thinking of posting a follow-up article on the specific topic of selling arguably overpriced cosmetics to raise money for charity. Instead, I contented myself with <a href="https://twitter.com/Interest____/status/907874036436234240">occasionally expressing my mixed feelings</a>.<br />
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What has prompted me to post an article on the topic is that discussion on the sale of the Pink Mercy skin personally bothered me a little more than usual. When I browse a Blizzard subreddit, there's often <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/72kvic/daily_reminder_that_character_services_are/">posts</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/3ab09s/any_one_else_think_paid_services_are_too_expensive/">regarding Blizzard's</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/7g3l10/the_reason_hearthstone_feels_so_expensive_is_not/">overpricing</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/2jsdaw/why_are_people_defending_the_prices_in_this_game/">practices</a> but also ones expressing <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/7p9n0u/youre_not_meant_to_buy_every_owl_skin_for_every/">opposing opinions</a> too. Therefore, I wasn't too annoyed by a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/8hzwm6/for_everyone_complaining_about_pink_mercys_price/?utm_content=title&utm_medium=hot&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=Overwatch">recent post defending Blizzard's pricing of the Pink Mercy skin</a>. What did irk me though was how questionable the poster's logic seemed. This detail bothered me so much that I reasoned now's a good time to express my thoughts regarding the topic of selling cosmetics for charity, however awful some may find them.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Addressing Some Points</span></div>
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Before giving my thoughts on the pricing of the Pink Mercy skin, I think it's best to address some points I've seen being made on the topic. This should give a general idea of what my opinion is going to be. Apologies in advance if I accidentally commit the strawman fallacy in the process.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"The skin is overpriced"</span></div>
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I think it's best to start with a point I'm often aligned with since I can open by advising anyone who takes this line of arguing support their point with some evidence. For example, I try to add some objectivity by comparing the price of one cosmetic to another and determining the value of each by factoring in details such as the amount of work that probably went into development of the cosmetic in question.</div>
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Pointing out willingness to buy is also important if relevant since without doing so, change may not happen and if it does, said change may not always be favorable. For example, one may notice that <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Alternate_hero#Patch_changes%20(Hearthstone%20skins%20aren't%20being%20sold%20for%20money%20as%20much%20nowadays)">alternate hero skins in Hearthstone are mostly unlocked through promotions rather than purchases</a>. It's not difficult to imagine that this shift in hero skin acquisition was due to the negative feedback players gave in response to the first few hero skins since they were priced at $10. This pricing in turn led to some posts including a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/38jvne/totalbiscuits_opinion_on_the_pricing_of_new_hero/">tweet that I frequently reference</a> when discussing Blizzard's pricing practices. However, I also think it's a shame Blizzard didn't attempt to explore some happy medium instead since selling cosmetics at a reduced price may be a great source of money.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Blizzard gets a tax write-off"</span></div>
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This goes a step further than the position I argue from but some claim Blizzard isn't quite as altruistic as they look since they can write off all the revenue produced during the charity period on their taxes. However, since this is only a deduction (<a href="https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/charitable-contribution-deductions">and a limited one at that</a>) on income that was donated away anyways, it makes sense that one doesn't have to pay taxes on it. To put it another way, based on my understanding of deductions in general which would include charitable donations, if one were to make $100,000, but donated $20,000 to charity, then only $80,000 would be subject to being taxed. This makes sense since the entity's income is effectively $80,000 anyways.</div>
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To put all this another way, Blizzard doesn't directly profit from the sale of cosmetics for charity assuming they donate all of the profit to charity, which they do. They may benefit in other ways though and whether these benefits are good or bad is for people to decide on their own.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Charities are good, so doing this action is fine."</span></div>
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This point strongly reeks of the <a href="https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/genetic">genetic fallacy</a> since it implies that doing good justifies methods that one may find questionable.<br />
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For a start, implying charities are all for good is wrong and one quick look at a <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4509">charity watchdog site</a> will quickly dispel that notion. Even charities that are <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=5435">considered very good</a> aren't necessarily perfect either. This in turn means that there's some room to improve how charities are run through constructive criticism, which ideally has the ultimate result of really making charities as good as some may believe. This also applies to charitable events such as the one being run by Blizzard.<br />
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Note that this doesn't mean every charity is bad either, so it's important to do research and consider the finer details when possible. In this case, since the charity itself is fairly sound but there's clearly some negative feedback regarding how Blizzard is running the event, this brings me to my next point...</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"It's for charity, so pricing it this way is fine"</span></div>
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This is a more specific version of the above and to it I counter with the question: "But does the pricing really make the charity better off?"<br />
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As I've already established above, criticizing how a good is priced is fair game and is in fact not all that different from criticizing how they price their goods when the proceeds aren't going to charity. This is because in the case of both, maximizing revenue is important. While one may not explicitly make this observation when criticizing prices, those who do express negative feelings may count as a <i>lost sale</i> due to their unwillingness to pay a higher price for a product. Since <i>overhead per unit sold</i> doesn't seem to be much of a problem in the case of digital goods, I'd argue it's important to consider these criticisms more since there's less of a limit for how low one can price their goods.<br />
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What I'm ultimately trying to say is that just because the money happens to be going to a (good) charity, that doesn't mean profitability shouldn't be considered and if anything, it's more important. Put another way, I am trying to advise in favor of Blizzard's interests and, in this case, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. I would like to think other critics are also trying to help a company they like. I consider this criticism justified because Blizzard doesn't exactly have a great track record for pricing cosmetics or <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-pricing-practice-of-wow-token.html">other microtransactions</a> and arguably thrive off of the bandwagon fallacy thanks to their large fandom.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"People should just donate directly"</span></div>
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I've seen this argument come from multiple sides since I find there's many reasons to encourage one to donate directly.<br />
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For example, one argument may be that donating directly is better since it can be written off as a deduction when filing taxes rather than Blizzard gaining that benefit. I personally find this to be a trade-off subject to individual judgement since buying a product for charity provides a benefit in return so in an ideal situation, a consumer, merchant, and charity all benefit. This is also why I can't strongly fault fundraising events such as Summer Games Done Quick, which provides <abbr title="With ads unless one blocks them"><u class="dotted">free entertainment</u></abbr> and raffle prizes as its product.<br />
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In the case of the post on r/overwatch I linked above that prompted me to write this article, the poster argues that directly donating even a little to charity helps. If every little bit helps, then I'd have to ask why the pricing of the skin directly contradicts that point. This is especially worth keeping in mind since <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/8hzwm6/for_everyone_complaining_about_pink_mercys_price/dynv9ji/">as someone in the thread pointed out</a>, <i>entities such as <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/about">Humble Bundle</a> run charity events where people can pay as much as they want for something in return</i>, admittedly with some bonus incentives to encourage more spending.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">My Thoughts on the Price of Pink Mercy</span></div>
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The Pink Mercy skin is the first legendary skin to be sold at a static price and hopefully starts a trend where Blizzard offers skins at a static price to give players an option for acquiring cosmetics besides loot boxes. However, since there are no other comparable skins in the game at the $15 price point, I have to use information related to loot boxes to get an idea of how much legendary skins currently "cost" in order to best practice what I preach regarding finding an objective comparison.<br />
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According to the <a href="http://ow.blizzard.cn/article/news/486">officially reported rates</a> for earning a legendary skin from a loot box, one should expect one every 13.5 loot boxes. When attempting to buy exactly that many loot boxes in the most efficient way possible, one spends $10 on 11 loot boxes and $2.50 for the remaining 2.5 loot boxes since the lowest price tier equates to $1 per loot box. <i>This equates to a total of $12.50 for 13.5 loot boxes which is slightly less than the $15 price tag of Pink Mercy.</i><br />
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One could argue that buying a specific skin should come at a premium pricing to compensate for the randomness and while I provided similar advice when <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/10/randomness-in-rewards-some-additional.html">discussing randomized rewards</a>, <i>I'd argue that not earning the other 53 items (or 385 credits minimum if all are duplicates) from the 13.5 loot boxes while trying to earn a legendary should be considered in the pricing of specific cosmetics</i>. I think based on that fact alone a specific legendary skin should be priced at $12.50 or possibly even lower rather than $15.<br />
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So ultimately, I do think the Pink Mercy skin is somewhat overpriced even if it's not as overpriced as some of the other cosmetics Blizzard is trying to sell such as $25 mounts and $10 pets and hero skins. Therefore, I still think that Blizzard should reconsider their pricing practice and <i>in the case of selling for charity, adopt the Humble Bundle pricing model of paying whatever one wants to</i>. This is especially the case since I expect if Blizzard begins to sell specific cosmetics to address potential loot box regulation, people will complain about the $15 legendary price again and there will be no charity to (fallaciously) protect that pricing practice from criticism.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Final Statements</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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This concludes my thoughts on Blizzard selling cosmetics for charity and if there's one thing to take away from this, it's that when someone talks about how overpriced a product intended to produce revenue is, it might help to take that criticism seriously. That's free information on how (un)comfortable one may be paying a certain price, which can be useful for maximizing profits or, in this case, donations to support a charity. <i>Shaming people for criticizing a price or talking about how they're unwilling to pay so much is detrimental and in this case does little to help the charity that's being championed, especially since they're being unwittingly used as a shield against criticism.</i> Note that this doesn't mean the criticism can't be engaged with a rebuttal, but it would help to not lord over others on a tenuous moral high ground supported by the genetics fallacy and flimsy evidence such as the price of Fortnite's legendary skins, which one could just argue is overpriced as well.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-33018250623859100862018-05-01T00:53:00.005-07:002018-05-01T19:09:17.054-07:00Leveling Quick Fixes Appendix - Mechanical Learning Expectations<span style="font-size: x-small;">This article is part of a series. Click </span><a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/01/leveling-quick-fixes-intro.html" style="font-size: small;">here</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> to go to the intro article where a table of contents is available.</span><br />
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This article, as the title states, is meant to provide information on the mechanics I expect players to learn as they level to complement suggestions I make in the Leveling Quick Fixes article series and possibly more. The general idea of these learning expectations are that as the player's level increases, they are gradually introduced to additional mechanics and the overall difficulty of existing mechanics increases. However, the 7.3.5 changes to leveling have forced me to alter my original plans of having carefully designed leveling zones since it's easier for players to (unintentionally) avoid them by leveling in lower level zones.<br />
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Therefore, I have instead created four distinct leveling brackets from 1-90 and assigned each a pool of mechanical categories to learn and the level of challenge each type of mechanic provides. The level brackets are as follows, with an explanation for why I set each specific interval:<br />
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<a name='more'></a><ul>
<li>Level 1-10</li>
<ul>
<li>I reasoned that levels 1-10 will consistently involve leveling through a starting zone. Not only does this make the experience a bit easier to design, but it also allows me to provide new players with some breathing room to learn basic gameplay like controlling one's character. To complement this, the expected mechanics to learn are fairly rudimentary.</li>
</ul>
<li>Level 10-60</li>
<ul>
<li>This level bracket covers the Vanilla WoW zone levels where players are introduced to a wider array of mechanics while maintaining challenge at roughly the beginner level.</li>
</ul>
<li>Level 60-80</li>
<ul>
<li>This level bracket covers the Burning Crusade and Northrend zone levels since all zones in these expansions were scaled to match this level bracket in 7.3.5. Mechanical challenge increases to the intermediate level.</li>
</ul>
<li>Level 80-90</li>
<ul>
<li>This level bracket covers the Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria zones since all zones in these expansions were scaled to this level bracket. Mechanical challenge increases to the advanced level to be consistent with Pandaria rare spawns.</li>
</ul>
<li>Level 90+</li>
<ul>
<li>I will not be covering any level beyond 90 in this article since by this point, I expect players to be adequately prepared for reaching level cap where they will face a new difficulty curve. If I had to summarize how leveling beyond 90 should be like, it should at least feature some semblance of mechanical challenge, preferably with some, but not all, content at the level of the 80-90 bracket</li>
</ul>
</ul>
Each leveling bracket will list the mechanics one is expected to learn. This will take the form of categories and a description of the category along with a few examples. Categories will also be tiered to show when progression of a mechanical category starts and ends.<br />
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In addition, since I don't expect players to end up learning everything listed within a leveling bracket thoroughly, I will list the mechanical categories in each section in order of priority from highest to lowest. Doing so should give one an idea of how often players experience mechanics from each category within that leveling bracket. Higher tier categories should also occasionally feature mechanics from a lower tier of the same category to serve as a review.<br />
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Finally, it's unlikely I'll be able to accurately cover every type of mechanic that I would like a player to learn. This means that over time the article may see several revisions as I determine more appropriate level brackets to learn certain mechanics along with possible new mechanics. One revision I am thinking of doing in the future is to add some example mobs for each level bracket to provide an idea of expected mechanical complexity and power level.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Level 1-10</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mechanics to Learn</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Ground Effects I</b>: Low damage over time "fire" and beneficial effects. (<i>Highest priority learning category</i>)</blockquote>
One of the mechanics I would like to see players dealing with is the highly commonplace "fire" that should not be stood in. To this end, the visual effect of negative ground effects should be conveyed clearly with a colored circle that Blizzard has been utilizing more frequently recently since game settings do not always show other particle effects well. I also believe it's a good idea to differentiate harmful and beneficial ground effects early by showing which circular color corresponds to each effect. For example, reds and oranges would indicate harmful effects while blues and greens would indicate beneficial effects.<br />
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In terms of how powerful the effects are, harmful ground effects should be somewhat dangerous, but not rapidly lethal. I'd say <i>8 seconds</i> before the player is put at critical health (<b>or about 1-20% health</b>) from full health is reasonable considering how new players at this level are. However, other detrimental effects can be used with fewer limitations such as slows and other crowd control. In fact, I strongly recommend using non-damaging harmful ground effects since they still convey to the player that standing in specific areas is a bad idea.<br />
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Beneficial effects, on the other hand, don't really need much in the way of limitation of power as long as the effects don't severely imbalance leveling content.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Debuffs I:</b> The player can be afflicted with minor detrimental temporary effects. Debuffs are also shown to be a means to telegraph.</blockquote>
Players should be introduced to debuffs in the form of extremely minor negative effects. These should generally not be lethal since the player won't have the tools available to counteract debuff effects but should instead serve as a tutorial to tell the player the effect exists and as they level, negative effects will become more powerful. This means it's likely best to use non-damaging effects that don't hamper a player's fun too much such as by having a debuff decrease stats instead of slowing or periodically stunning the player.<br />
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Debuffs meant to telegraph can be used more as a tool that has no negative effect on its own but the player is expected to react accordingly. For example, the player may get a debuff indicating they are about to get hit by a powerful ranged attack unless they leave the enemy's line of sight. Players should be given ample time to respond so they can mouse over and read the debuff, though it doesn't hurt to use other visual cues as well. At this level, I'd say <i>5 seconds to react</i> is about appropriate assuming that failing to react isn't lethal.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Casting I</b>: Telegraphed usage of abilities, including channeled abilities.</blockquote>
In addition to enabling casting bars for targeted units in the Interface options by default, I think it's important for players to have a grasp on the concept of cast abilities early since they are quite common. This should be easy enough to do since some enemies already use spells with a fairly lengthy cast time even at lower levels. To further improve the tutoring aspect, cast abilities can be combined it with other mechanics such as something in the Ground Effects category. Doing so will give players even more room to avoid harm.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Buffs I</b>: Provides enemies with minor beneficial effects or serves as a means to telegraph.</blockquote>
While players won't have the tools needed to deal with some buff effects, showing the enemy can have buff effects provides an indication of another area on the screen for players to keep an eye on and mouse over for information. To this end, buffs on enemies at this level should generally provide relatively minor effects such as small stat buffs or flavor text. In addition, buffs could also have text indicating an incoming mechanic that shows up some time prior so players can get ready.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Target Switch I</b>: Low priority target switching such as to adds that would typically die to incidental damage or apply non-lethal effects.</blockquote>
In my opinion, target switching is more of an advanced mechanic that should become important to master later on during leveling. To prepare players for that point, it's not a bad idea to introduce add spawn mechanics that as are non-lethal as possible. For example, adds that provide a shielding effect to the summoning enemy like in the Troll starting zone would be one useful way to show players the importance of switching targets<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Level 10-60</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mechanics to Learn</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Ground Effects II</b>: Fire that deals moderate damage over time.</blockquote>
Building upon the foundation learned from the previous level bracket, harmful ground effects should now be more powerful but not so much that it's overbearing since players are still in the early stages of the game. To this end, players should still have a long window of time to react. Specifically, players have at least <i>6 seconds</i> to leave the area before they end up at critical health from full health.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Casting II</b>: Some abilities can now be interrupted with a low priority.</blockquote>
Since most specializations gain the ability to interrupt within this level bracket or at least use hard crowd control to stop a cast, they should have some opportunities to try to practice interrupting abilities. To build on the previous tier, cast times for abilities should remain fairly slow but the power level of abilities can be increased to make them more dangerous. However, <i>no fewer than four successful 3-second casts should put the player at critical health from full health</i>, if not more.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Target Switch II</b>: A new target spawns that may require up to a moderate kill priority.</blockquote>
To put it simply, this tierof target switching is the equivalent of accidentally pulling additional normal mobs while in the middle of killing some. This means that creative methods can be used to spawn adds including the usage of abilities that call a couple nearby wandering mobs to join the fight. Note that a couple adds of this power level should be the maximum for a single encounter since due to recent leveling changes, players within this level bracket can easily be overwhelmed by multiple enemies.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Debuffs II</b>: Some debuffs can be dispelled with a low priority.</blockquote>
This category is like Casting II except it's targeted at healers, who will be learning dispel abilities within this level bracket. However, since not every class has a method to dispel themselves or counteract the effects of the debuff at this point, the negative effects should remain fairly minor. In some cases, this just means using debuffs appropriate for the Debuffs I category and making them a Magic, Curse, Disease, or Poison effect if they aren't already.<br />
<br />
An alternative to having enemies throw dispellable debuffs at players is to produce encounters where allied NPCs are afflicted with debuffs instead. In this case, debuffs can be much harsher and potentially kill off or severely cripple allies if left unchecked. This in turn helps to test a player's ability to assist allies in more ways than using dispels such as by using healing.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Buffs II</b>: Some enemy buffs can be dispelled or removed.</blockquote>
While I'm not sure if anything beyond Magic buffs will become dispellable again, it never hurts to provide players with the ability to do so with the opportunity to practice much like with dispellable debuffs. Also much like dispellable debuffs, these effects shouldn't be too punishing if left unchecked since some players will have absolutely no way to deal with them especially at this level range.<br />
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At a broader level, introducing additional unconventional ways to remove buffs, such as by moving the enemy to a specific area or fulfilling another special condition, could also be added sparingly here to give players a taste of more complex mechanics.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Gauntlet I</b>: A series of fights against enemies with timed breaks in between every fight.</blockquote>
While later iterations of gauntlets are meant to be more of an endurance test, the first tier is intended to highlight the usefulness of consumables by pitting players against waves of enemies with small breaks in between. This gives players time to eat and drink to restore resources while also resetting potion cooldowns. Providing breaks also allows for longer encounters overall without being unfair since in-combat self-sustenance is limited at this level range, but out of combat sustenance is highly accessible at all levels.<br />
<br />
I prioritized this category lowest because these types of encounters should be used sparingly so that players don't feel like they have to commit large blocks of time to progress, especially since dungeons are already an option.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Level 60-80</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mechanics to Learn</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Ground Effects III</b>: Variant levels of damage over time within a specific area.</blockquote>
Before increasing the damage of harmful ground effects further, I think it's important to introduce various other ways that ground effects can damage the player over time. This includes but is not limited to damage being done in a single burst after a short time, damaging attacks being done to random smaller locations within the area, and so on. By introducing more types of ground effects now, players won't be as surprised when attacks at higher levels suddenly put them at critical health or don't seem to do much damage at all. Variant damage also coincides pretty nicely with another mechanical category in this level bracket.<br />
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Aside from that, damage levels should still be about the same as with Ground Effects II, so those sudden bursts of damage and the like can't put the player at critical health unless they fail to react in <i>at least 6 seconds</i>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Casting III</b>: Abilities that can be interrupted now have a moderate priority.</blockquote>
<div>
By this level bracket, every specialization has an interrupt or a crowd control ability to stop an enemy from fully casting an ability. Therefore, the power level of such abilities should increase and no fewer than <i>three successful 3-second casts</i> should put a player at critical health.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Defensives I</b>: Enemies feature attacks that may require the use of defensive abilities to prevent the player from losing more than half their health.</blockquote>
<div>
By this point most players should have at least some defensive ability that'll help to reduce incoming damage. Some enemies from this level bracket should have the ability to deal <i>unavoidable damage </i>that is intended to be mitigated. While some of the damage sources can be burst, it is recommended to use damage-over-time effects too since sustain, while not a form of literal defensive utility, is important for personal survivability. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Note that this mechanical category needs to be done carefully since fighting multiple enemies with abilities in this category is an unfair death sentence for leveling players. To that end, the damage shouldn't be too high and some should be combined with other mechanical categories such as the previous two. </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Offensives I</b>: The player has to do more than a specific amount of damage within a set amount of time or a moderately detrimental effect will occur.</blockquote>
Most players in this level bracket should have some offensive cooldown and many of their offensive abilities. This means it's a good time to introduce mechanics that test how optimal the player's damage output is. These should not be stringent by any means to account for players leveling as non-Damage Dealer roles, but should require the player to specifically target and focus fire an enemy with several abilities to prevent the detrimental effect from occurring.<br />
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As for detrimental effects themselves, they can range but should clearly fit the thematic of failing to beat a timer in some way. For example, an explosion that deals damage in an area after failing to beat an enemy before it self-destructs is a fitting detrimental effect.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Target Switch III</b>: The player may need to exclusively focus on defeating an enemy or stopping their attacks on an enemy. </blockquote>
This level of the Target Switch category complements the Offensives category since an add could be given an effect that is moderately detrimental that goes off if left unchecked. For example, a miniboss-style enemy could spawn adds that are eaten after a short time and heal the miniboss.<br />
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More advanced methods of encouraging target switching can also be employed such as effects that deter a player from attacking a specific enemy. For example, enemies could put up a shielding effect that converts all damage taken for a short time into healing.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Death Effects I</b>: Enemies can cause a relatively non-lethal effect when they die.</blockquote>
On-death effects have become standardized in a sense in WoW in the form of <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/affix=11/bursting">certain</a> <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/affix=7/bolstering">affixes</a> in Mythic+. While they were around prior to this, it never seemed to be all that common and I think that's a shame since death is a common occurrence for enemies, making it a great place to put various mechanics. Since these effects are being introduced to the player at this point, I think it's better to telegraph that the effect exists so that they can be prepared at higher levels for when on-death mechanics are more lethal. Examples could include crowd control, such as an area stun, or displacement, such as players getting pulled to the area of the dying enemy.<br />
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It's also worth mentioning that Death Effects are useful since they provide a challenge to players without having to make enemies damage sponges to ensure abilities go off.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Debuffs III</b>: Debuffs have a moderate priority and "judgement call" dispels are introduced.</blockquote>
Debuffing effects get an upgrade here and while some have overlap with the Defensives category since they'll be damage over time effects that are meant to be countered with survivability abilities, others will continue to be targeted towards healers. In this case, dispellable debuffs will have harsher effects such as ones that reduce healing taken significantly. The power level of debuffs will also vary to emphasize the fact dispels are expensive to use, so players may want to counteract some debuffs with other methods instead of using dispels. Furthermore, some effects, when dispelled, will cause a moderately detrimental effect to the healer such as a burst of damage to make players wary of what they dispel.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Gauntlet II</b>: A series of fights against enemies with timed breaks in between every few fights. Breaks also tend to be shorter.</blockquote>
Gauntlets will continue to be rare at this level bracket but still something players will run into at least once. The previous tier taught players to use their consumables aggressively and this tier reinforces that by providing fewer and shorter breaks. This in turn also shows that drinking regenerates Mana while in combat, but food typically does not restore Health in the same situation, which is especially useful for healers. In addition, the reduction in breaks may encourage players to use cooldowns to sustain themselves and/or attempt to reach the next break sooner.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Level 80-90</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Mechanics to Learn </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Ground Effects IV</b>: Fire that deals high damage over time.</blockquote>
At this point players should be well prepared to take on harsher ground effects and one that'll put the player at critical health within just <i>4 seconds</i> seems reasonable. With that said, variable damage should give players more leeway since some, such as burst damage after a short period, are almost unfairly lethal even for this level bracket.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Casting IV</b>: Abilities that can be interrupted have a high priority.</blockquote>
While some would say that by this point failing any interrupt should result in a player's demise, I personally find such a viewpoint unreasonable. Instead, the power level of cast abilities that can be interrupted should be high, but still allow for at least <i>two 3-second casts</i> before the player reaches critical health.<br />
<br />
It's also strongly recommended to utilize other punishing methods that don't involve the player dying such as an enemy healing themselves for a huge amount of health or the like if a specific ability is not interrupted.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Death Effects II</b>: Enemies can cause a harmful effect when they die.</blockquote>
In addition to making Death Effects more common, at this point they should also be capable of inflicting harm. By doing so, even more mechanics can be creatively used. Effects include but are not limited to add spawns, corpse explosion, and flinging the player into the air to deal some fall damage.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Offensives II</b>: The player has to do more than a specific amount of damage within a set amount of time or an effect will occur based on how strict the requirement is.</blockquote>
For this tier of the Offensives mechanical category, players are tested in a variety of ways by implementing harsher and laxer requirements. To ensure all roles have a fair chance of being able to deal with the mechanical category in some way, the effects are weaker if the damage requirement is greater. Detrimental effects in themselves probably won't change all that much at this point since players should have become accustomed to a variety of effects by the previous level bracket.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Defensives II</b>: Enemies feature attacks that may require the use of defensive abilities to prevent the player from reaching critical health.</blockquote>
This is much like the previous tier and the same rules apply. For instance, damaging attacks that require a defensive cooldown should not be particularly abundant on mobs especially if the damage is very burst-oriented. Avoidable attacks that can be mitigated are as always strongly recommended as well. The same also applies to damage-over-time effects that can be countered by more survival abilities.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Debuffs IV</b>: Dispellable debuffs now have a high priority.</blockquote>
This is a simple power level bump to dispellable debuffs and while failing to dispel a debuff shouldn't result in instant death or something equally unfair, everything else should be fair game by this point.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Gauntlet III</b>: Players fight a series of enemies with no breaks at all.</blockquote>
This tier of the Gauntlet is meant to serve as a form of preparation for Proving Grounds Endless and similar challenges such as those at the Mage Tower. Players have to endure for a fairly long time and make the most of all their abilities, especially ones that improve survivability, to make up for the inability to use consumables. Note that iteration time for gauntlets shouldn't be quite as demanding as the content itself and I think <i>challenging players for up to 5 minutes will prepare them sufficiently</i>.</div>
Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-63608395297342866812018-04-12T13:54:00.001-07:002018-04-12T13:54:29.180-07:00How Interesting Are The Mechanics of Witchwood Cards?A new year means a new expansion and Standard rotation for Hearthstone. In this case, the <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/The_Witchwood">Witchwood expansion</a> is the newest one to welcome the <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Standard_format#Year_of_the_Raven">Year of the Raven</a> and it features the <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Rush">Rush</a> and <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Echo">Echo</a> keywords. With this expansion I'm also going to try something new since as the title states, I'm opting to analyze mechanics instead of attempting to evaluate the competitive viability of cards. The reasoning is simple: I'm really bad at evaluating the competitive viability of cards and might do a better job of expressing my opinions on which mechanics are interesting.<br />
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With a new type of evaluation comes a new rating system. The rating system is as follows and is meant to apply to all formats:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Boring</b> - This rating is assigned to vanilla minions, frequently used effects that I consider unexciting, and blatant pack filler. These cards may have keywords such as Taunt that I generally consider uninteresting.<br />
<b>Meh</b> - These are basically just a cut above being Boring and more often than not attempt to try something creative but don't really intrigue me.<br />
<b>Okay</b> - Cards with this rating have mechanics that are somewhat intriguing, but not enough for me to consider them Interesting.<br />
<b>Interesting</b> - These cards have mechanics that are quite intriguing and often make me think of its influence on deckbuilding and matches.<br />
<b>Rapturous</b> - These cards are utterly engrossing in terms of their mechanics because they are incredibly unique, have great influence on deckbuilding and matches, and/or are otherwise very thought-provoking.</blockquote>
It is worth noting that while I'm not evaluating competitive viability, I may need to take the power level of a card into account when considering how interesting its mechanics are. This is because the power level may directly benefit from the mechanic or vice versa, such as with the Rush keyword this expansion. In addition, synergies with other cards will be taken into account though I will prefer towards cards that enable synergies being the more mechanically interesting ones since they make cards that may be uninteresting more interesting.<br />
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Before moving on to the cards themselves, the ordering will be based on the order shown on <a href="https://disguisedtoast.com/articles/299-visual-guide-of-all-cards-from-the-witchwood">this site</a>, which should make navigation to the cards you want to see me be most wrong about easier.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #ff7d0a; font-size: x-large;">Druid</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Witchwood_Apple"><i>Witchwood Apple</i></a></div>
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Witchwood Apple is one of the cards that attempts to make a new archetype for Druid in the form of "Hand Druid." The treants themselves are 2 Mana meaning power level certainly isn't up there. I also don't find it that interesting as a whole since there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of synergy beyond holding the treants in your hand. Meanwhile, Paladin would've loved to have a card like this, especially in Standard last year before their <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Smuggler%27s_Run">handbuff</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Grimestreet_Outfitter">cards</a> rotated out. Speaking of, Paladin recently got a <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Drygulch_Jailor">card that produces minions</a> in a similar manner and to a degree, the concept is nothing new.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Druid_of_the_Scythe"><i>Druid of the Scythe</i></a></div>
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Much like other Choose One cards, I rather like the flexibility that they provide. This one utilizes an offensive and defensive choice and excels reasonably well in the former since its effectiveness is similar to that of <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Shadow_Bolt">Shadow Bolt</a>. The difference is that details such as the fact the minion is a Beast may allow for some synergies if Blizzard decides to try to push Beast Druid again. With all that said, the card is hardly special in terms of its mechanics - just interesting enough due to its utilization of Choose One and the new Rush keyword along with statlines that accentuate each choice.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Ferocious_Howl"><i>Ferocious Howl</i></a></div>
<br />
This card is meant to further push the Hand Druid archetype but I can't help but to feel the power level is underwhelming. It seems like a lousy, inflexible replacement for <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Feral_Rage">Feral Rage</a> at best even with the possible <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Jasper_Spellstone">armor</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Ironwood_Golem">synergies</a> considered. The reward for holding many cards also feels a little boring as well, though it's certainly a cut above actually earning the rating of Boring.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Forest_Guide">Forest Guide</a></i></div>
<br />
This card can potentially put the player at a disadvantage unlike with cards like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Grove_Tender">Grove Tender</a> since draw effect happens at the end of the turn. This in turn means the opponent will be have the opportunity to utilize the card they drew first, which makes this a good example of an unfavorable symmetrical effect. This is further soured by the minion's stats that might make it hard to kill off if the Druid doesn't want their opponent drawing any more extra cards. With that said, the fact it's hard to kill off may make it fun to use for milling out the opponent alongside other cards with similar effects.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Witching_Hour"><i>Witching Hour</i></a></div>
<br />
<br />
While Beast Druid is losing some of its <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Menagerie_Warden">support</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mark_of_Y%27Shaarj">cards</a> due to rotation, it is at least getting one too. A <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Resurrect">Resurrect</a> for Beasts that costs a little bit more is not too bad, but nothing amazing either even if a new class is getting it.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Bewitched_Guardian">Bewitched Guardian</a></i></div>
<br />
This card is similar to <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Twilight_Drake">Twilight Drake</a> but for one additional Mana, it gains Taunt and loses its Dragon designation (which might be a good thing for Druid). It's certainly likely to be bulky enough to help with the Hand Druid archetype and is likely one of the most rewarding cards to use in terms of having an effect that benefits from it. The fact it's so similar to a Classic card, however, goes to show how mechanically (un)interesting it is.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Gloom_Stag">Gloom Stag</a></i></div>
<br />
This is the first of quite a few cards that encourage deckbuilding based on the usage of certain costed cards. I was grossly wrong about the power level of the <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Prince_Keleseth">three</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Prince_Taldaram">Prince</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Prince_Valanar">cards</a> in Knights of the Frozen Throne, but I also believed they could encourage some interesting deckbuilding. Fortunately, I'm not judging based on competitive viability this time so I don't have to determine if cards like Gloom Stag will be in a tier 1 deck. However, the benefit for building the deck to only have even-costed cards for Gloom Stag doesn't particularly seem exciting since it's in the form of some bonus stats. Therefore...<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Wispering_Woods"><i>Wispering Woods</i></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Aside from being <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Dark_Wispers">another card with a naming pun</a>, this one has the potential to fill the board with <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Wisp">Wisps</a>. While its power may be questionable, I like this card the most out of the Hand Druid cards since the effect allows for some synergies like with <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Power_of_the_Wild">Power of the Wild</a> and summoning a bunch of minions is a bit more exciting than gaining some stats to me. I'm also amused by the idea of swarming the board with 7/7 of stats on turn 4, even if it does abruptly die to a board clear afterwards.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Duskfallen_Aviana">Duskfallen Aviana</a></i></div>
<br />
From what I can understand, the opponent benefits first from this minion's effect, after which they'll probably kill it so that the player can't benefit. However, much like with <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Temporus">Temporus</a>, I rather enjoy the effect because of the idea of putting an extremely powerful effect on a card then giving it to both players. Not only does it allow for some interesting Tavern Brawls in the future, but it also opens up some potential for experimentation and fun.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Splintergraft"><i>Splintergraft</i></a></div>
<br />
This card has been the source of some memeing lately involving <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Stonetusk_Boar">Stonetusk Boar</a> but I think applications can go well beyond that. Sure, the card copied is expensive, but the potential stat increase may be beneficial to more than just Charge minions. At the very least, I like cards that allows a card to be "reused" like this since it allows the player to effectively use more than two copies of a card while also telegraphing to the opponent and potentially allowing for counterplay options.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #abd473; font-size: x-large;">Hunter</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Hunting_Mastiff"><i>Hunting Mastiff</i></a></div>
<br />
As simple as this minion is with its two keywords, cheap cost, and a 2/1 statline, there's a lot of interesting options available for it. Due to the fact it's a cheap Beast with Echo, it can synergize well with cards that like summoning a lot of Beasts like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Stampede">Stampede</a> and <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Starving_Buzzard">Starving Buzzard</a>. Since it's also likely to die in minion combat due to Rush, cards like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Scavenging_Hyena">Scavenging Hyena</a>, <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Cult_Master">Cult Master</a>, and <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Necrotic_Geist">Necrotic Geist</a> can also be considered. This minion ultimately reminds me of <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Unleash_the_Hounds">Unleash the Hounds</a> due to the synergies but the combo potential is better against smaller boards and the design seems a lot healthier. Overall, I'm impressed at how simple yet interesting this card is and I like how well the two new keywords seem to work together here.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Dire_Frenzy">Dire Frenzy</a></i></div>
<br />
While the initial effect is a bit costly, I like the <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Gang_Up">Gang Up</a>-like effect added to the card that allows for even more copies of strong Beasts like Savannah Highmane to be played more. The copies are also buffed to boot, making it decent even on cheaper Beasts, which improves the flexibility of the card a bit more. Normally, I'm not a fan of stat buffs like this, but the dynamic of copying the buff and creating more copies of a card makes for a fascinating change of pace.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Vilebrood_Skitterer"><i>Vilebrood Skitterer</i></a></div>
<br />
This card will almost certainly die to whatever it attacks, but it's a pretty clever form of hard removal due to the combination of Rush and Poisonous. The two keywords certainly make for some great synergy to say the least, even if it's for a fairly specific application.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Duskhaven_Hunter"><i>Duskhaven Hunter</i></a></div>
<br />
This is the first of a few cards in this set that swap their stats every turn the card is in hand. The statline in this case is not too bad in either case, but it feels like a minion that could've been in the neutral set. It also almost feels like a vanilla minion if it weren't for the Stealth that admittedly allows for some strategic play, though not as much as certain other minions with the same stat swapping effect.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Wing_Blast"><i>Wing Blast</i></a></div>
<br />
Cost reduction effects leave a bad taste in my mouth because they can potentially be <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Corridor_Creeper">too strong</a> or <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Dragon%27s_Breath">underwhelming</a>. However, I rather like this one because it becomes incredibly efficient with just one minion death, but not too insanely powerful. This would've been even more amusing if it refunded Mana Crystals, but I guess that could lead to some sort of insane interaction.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Carrion_Drake"><i>Carrion Drake</i></a></div>
<br />
Carrion Drake is another example of a card that doesn't have too strong of a benefit from minion death. Poisonous is certainly pretty nice to have with the 3/7 statline, but since it's (usually) a slow card, the opponent has an opportunity to deal with it.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Toxmonger"><i>Toxmonger</i></a></div>
<br />
Aside from its potential synergy with the <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/The_Marsh_Queen">Hunter quest</a>, the effect of this card is designed to work well with cheap minions. This is because Poisonous works best on cheaper, often weaker minions so that it can get the maximum value out of the effect. It can also force the opponent to use removal on these cheap, weak minions. While this card might not be competitively viable, I do like the idea of making these cheap minions threatening with this kind of effect.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Rat_Trap"><i>Rat Trap</i></a></div>
<br />
This is one of the few cards that has an effect when three cards are played by the opponent. I like the requirement because it prevents comboing but isn't completely oppressive with its requirement to the point of preventing the opponent from doing anything. The effect also seems just harsh enough to make players think twice about playing a bunch of cards in a single turn, especially early in the match.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Houndmaster_Shaw"><i>Houndmaster Shaw</i></a></div>
<br />
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Tundra_Rhino">Tundra Rhino</a> gets a control-oriented upgrade in the form of this legendary. I like this one a bit more because it's cheaper and affects all other minions which allows for more combo potential. Also, I think giving minions Rush instead of Charge is healthier because it can't be used to push a ton of face damage, potentially ending games really quickly. Overall, I like the idea of this card and would enjoy using it if I happen to pull it out of a pack.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Emeriss"><i>Emeriss</i></a></div>
<br />
Emeriss is the ultimate handbuff card and I wish it came a few expansions sooner to fit with the theme of Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. As it is, it feels a little unsupported and uninspired even if there is some synergy potential with Houndmaster Shaw and higher stat minions. It also doesn't help that there's a 10 Mana cost for an effect that doesn't do much for the board state immediately, which is something I've grown to expect from cards of that cost, especially when <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Yogg-Saron,_Hope%27s_End">Old</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/N%27Zoth,_the_Corruptor">Gods</a> are considered. That last point alone brings my evaluation of how interesting this card's mechanics are down significantly since normally out of all the buffing effects, I like mass hand buffing most.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #69ccf0; font-size: x-large;">Mage</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Black_Cat">Black Cat</a></i></div>
<br />
A Beast version of <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Soot_Spewer">Soot Spewer</a> isn't exactly amazing so to amp up the mechanical complexity, this minion also encourages building a deck with odd-costed cards. However, I feel like the benefit for doing so falls a little flat much like with Gloom Stag. I understand these cards shouldn't all have incredible effects and to be fair drawing a card or gaining some stats is quite powerful. However, the effects are also rather bland in my eyes.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Vex_Crow"><i>Vex Crow</i></a></div>
<br />
Mages get to go to the casino and try to cash in on this minion that encourages a lot of spell casting. Thankfully, Mages can also <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Ruby_Spellstone">generate a lot of random spells</a> to help fuel it. RNG jokes aside, I do enjoy effects like this because while the outcome can go horribly wrong sometimes (like with <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Doomsayer">Doomsayer</a> in this case), comboing with this card is usually well-rewarded. With that said, the fact there's <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Summoning_Stone">cards with similar effects</a> (arguably a better one in this case) makes Vex Crow a little less exciting than usual.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Snap_Freeze"><i>Snap Freeze</i></a></div>
<br />
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Shatter">Shatter</a> gets a much-needed upgrade in the form of this spell. I like this spell because it can combo with itself and potentially enable other combos involving Freeze. This even includes some cards that'll still be available in standard such as <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Coldwraith">Coldwraith</a>. With that said, this is probably more useful for the same application as Shatter and thus it'll likely end up seeing little competitive use. The versatility is nice though!<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Bonfire_Elemental"><i>Bonfire Elemental</i></a></div>
<br />
I rather enjoy Elemental synergy and think that what the Journey to Un'goro expansion brought in that regard wasn't too unhealthy for the game since while there were some <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Blazecaller">fast</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Kalimos,_Primal_Lord">effects</a>, they usually weren't game-ending. Bonfire Elemental continues this theme but provides a rather generic benefit that makes the effects of <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Servant_of_Kalimos">Elemental Discovery</a> and the like look incredible.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Curio_Collector"><i>Curio Collector</i></a></div>
<br />
A <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Daring_Reporter">Daily Reporter</a> that benefits from the player's card draws instead is a lot more interesting in my opinion. Not only does it help to make the aforementioned Bonfire Elemental and Black Cat more useful but it also synergizes with <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Aluneth">other card</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Arcane_Intellect">draw cards</a> to provide players with some combo potential that makes this guy a statistical beast. While the effect is a little generic, there's no denying how well-rewarded strategic play and deckbuilding is here, especially since drawing too many cards at once can be punishing.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Cinderstorm">Cinderstorm</a></i></div>
<br />
This spell seems like a stronger, more costly <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Arcane_Missiles">Arcane Missiles</a> (with inconsistent text to boot). It can trigger some on damage effects which could potentially punish the opponent, but it's otherwise not that exciting.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Book_of_Specters"><i>Book of Specters</i></a></div>
<br />
The effect of this spell is absolutely insane considering it can draw 3 cards for 2 Mana. That is more than enough to encourage the building of a minion-oriented Mage deck. In addition, it might even be worth using in decks that want to be thinned out quickly, which could encourage yet another type of deck possibly involving cards like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Hemet,_Jungle_Hunter">Hemet</a>. Either way, I rather like what this simple spell does in terms of being thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Arcane_Keysmith"><i>Arcane Keysmith</i></a></div>
<br />
While this is a bit more costly than its <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Hydrologist">Murloc cousin</a>, the cost is compensated for by playing the Secret for free. This can lead to some interesting clutch moments especially considering there's a few <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Counterspell">Mage</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Ice_Block">secrets</a> that are excellent for providing that opportunity. At the same time, there's a bit more risk because all the Secrets discovered may not be all that useful. At least this card will make both players think when it's played.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Toki,_Time-Tinker"><i>Toki, Time-Tinker</i></a></div>
<br />
I really like the idea of this card since it effectively makes every Legendary minion up until last year's expansions relevant in some way. Not only is this flavorful, but it has also led to some <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/89rll7/is_toki_timetinker_playable_we_did_the_math/">detailed statistical analysis</a> about how good this card actually is. Furthermore, since the minion is added to the hand, Battlecries matter too which means the mechanic of this card may help players appreciate the mechanics of other (underplayed) cards. I'm actually wondering if the developers thought this card through, but I appreciate its existence if only for the meta value.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Archmage_Arugal"><i>Archmage Arugal</i></a></div>
<br />
Arugal provides more draw synergy for Mage and it even provides a fairly interesting effect compared to Curio Collector. It also synergizes with Book of Specters which helps to provide what appears to be a good argument for running a "Minion Mage" deck. Arugal's cost helps the argument further since it can easily be comboed with draw effects especially the aforementioned Book of Specters. Overall, I like how well this minion weaves together the thematic being presented for Mage this expansion and I'm also wondering what minions such a deck would want to see copied.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Rapturous</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #f58cba; font-size: x-large;">Paladin</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Rebuke"><i>Rebuke</i></a></div>
<br />
I like this card because unlike its predecessor <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Loatheb">Loatheb</a>, it doesn't come with a decent body that helps to make it a strong addition to nearly any deck. That means the effect of increasing spell costs to hamper spell usage, especially combos, has to stand alone in its usefulness. As to whether it'll be useful to the point of being used in any upcoming meta, I'm unsure. However, a pure tech card like this, especially since it's not quite as swingy as <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Hungry_Crab">crabs</a> or the like, is appreciated.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Sound_the_Bells!"><i>Sound the Bells!</i></a></div>
<br />
If I were to go back and rate <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Divine_Strength">Divine Strength</a>, I'd say it's a Boring card not only because it's a rather cheap and weak buffing effect, but also because I've seen similar effects in other card games. Sound the Bells! helps to make this effect less boring by adding an Echo effect and balancing that keyword out with an increased Mana cost. This is understandable since without the Mana cost increase, completing the <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/The_Last_Kaleidosaur">Paladin quest</a>, which this spell is already going to be good for, would be a breeze. There's also other synergies to consider like with <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Lynessa_Sunsorrow">Lynessa</a>, but overall adding the keyword and some Mana cost just does more to save me from rating this card as Boring.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Ghostly_Charger"><i>Ghastly Charger</i></a></div>
<br />
This card reminds me of a cheaper <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Argent_Commander">Argent Commander</a> with a slightly better general statline, though one that's not quite as well suited for making use of the two keywords it has. This minion is one of those examples of why I have to consider power level because if it was more aggressively statted, I'd consider the card more interesting due to its potential applications. Instead...<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Silver_Sword"><i>Silver Sword</i></a></div>
<br />
Silver Sword seems a little unwieldy to use much like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Vinecleaver">Vinecleaver</a>. Unfortunately, while the effect is probably stronger, it's a lot less exciting because as I've mentioned, I'm not a fan of these sort of generic board buffs.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Bellringer_Sentry">Bellringer Sentry</a></i></div>
<br />
I like the name of this card since the sound played when playing a secret is similar to that of a chime. Flavor aside, I do rather like the effect too since it's not quite as ridiculous as <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mysterious_Challenger">Mysterious Challenger</a> and because it's a Paladin card, it's not necessarily as ridiculous as cards like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mad_Scientist">Mad Scientist</a> either. It's worth noting that the lack of uniqueness does reduce my evaluation a little though.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Paragon_of_Light">Paragon of Light</a></i></div>
<br />
Paladin buffs get a bit more support in the form of this minion and it's certainly a potent one that enjoys a plethora of Paladin and neutral buffing effects. I'd go as far as to say it elevates every buffing effect to the point of being more interesting, but since this card itself enables that, I believe it deserves a solid rating.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Cathedral_Gargoyle"><i>Cathedral Gargoyle</i></a></div>
<br />
Dragon activator cards are always at least somewhat interesting due to the deckbuilding requirement that often is required to make them work. This card, which is pretty potent when activated, might be more suitable for Wild where Paladins have a bit more support for this sort of deck though. I'd praise this card a bit more if there weren't a fair amount of other (<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Righteous_Protector">cheap</a>) Divine Shield and Taunt minions already.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Hidden_Wisdom"><i>Hidden Wisdom</i></a></div>
<br />
As I mentioned with Rat Trap, I like the mechanic of deterring opponents from playing 3 cards. Much like with Rat Trap, the punishment potential for Hidden Wisdom isn't so bad that it's utterly game losing for the opponent, but it's more than enough to make them think twice about activating the Secret. The opponent could potentially punish the play of such a secret in this case too, though clever deckbuilding will help to negate that outcome.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/The_Glass_Knight">The Glass Knight</a></i></div>
<br />
While The Glass Knight is a little bit slow to get going, I can see a few cards that could work well with keeping Divine Shield active including some that provide <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Benevolent_Djinn">periodic</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Friendly_Bartender">healing</a>. Lifesteal effects should also work fairly well with The Glass Knight. With that said, there's so many ways this strategy can go wrong and it's unlikely to be competitively viable, even if there are some cards out there that support the "Healadin" archetype. Also, a <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Cobalt_Guardian">constantly refreshing Divine Shield</a> isn't exactly anything new either, even if it seems more consistent this time.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Prince_Liam"><i>Prince Liam</i></a></div>
<br />
I rarely played <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Elise_Starseeker">Elise Starseeker</a> even though I got her from the adventure without much difficulty since I often had trouble getting to the point of playing the <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Golden_Monkey">Golden Monkey</a>. However, I liked the idea of playing around with random Legendaries even if it can go horribly wrong. Not only is it great for the wallet, but Legendary minions tend to have pretty cool effects. Prince Liam is similar in this sense except this time the deckbuilding strategy is similar to that of the Princes from Knights of the Frozen Throne.<br />
<br />
Unlike the other Princes though, Liam actually likes having cards of a certain cost in the deck and the player gets to choose just how much of the deck they want to be transformed while choosing other cards to support the parade of random Legendaries. This is especially nice for transforming Paladin Secrets that the player may not want to draw and play later in the game, which makes for some fantastic synergy. Overall, I really like this card and while it's not the cutting edge of mechanics, it does have that deckbuilding twist that makes it a pretty interesting card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Priest</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Squashling">Squashling</a></i></div>
<br />
I'm a bit torn on this card since I want to like it but feel like the Mana cost ends up prohibiting how useful repeated heals can be. At the same time, I also know that if it was 1 Mana with Echo, I'm almost certain it would be insanely strong, especially since Priest has some fun things they can do with healing. This card therefore serves as an interesting commentary of how difficult Echo is to balance around. Unfortunately, the card is rather bland beyond that keyword though.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Quartz_Elemental">Quartz Elemental</a></i></div>
<br />
Quartz Elemental has some fairly decent stats for its Mana cost, but I'm not sure if it justifies making it unable to attack when damaged. Priest can certainly handle that problem fairly well and the possible Elemental synergy is worth considering too, but I feel like the drawback could've been more interesting or the power level adjusted a bit more to get the attention of both the player and their opponent.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Divine_Hymn">Divine Hymn</a></i></div>
<br />
Continuing the theme of Priests having even more healing and healing synergy with this set, they also get a mass healing spell to potentially support their board and their own health. This in turn might activate some healing synergy cards, but there's already a <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Circle_of_Healing">card</a> that can do this a bit better if only because of the cost. Another class also has a <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Healing_Rain">similar card</a>, which means Divine Hymn doesn't get any points for being an original mechanic. On the plus side, the card is another that the Priest can add to their increasingly varied healing repertoire.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Coffin_Crasher"><i>Coffin Crasher</i></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I don't really have much to say on this card aside from the fact it has potential for enabling Deathrattle synergy, making it good for completing the <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Awaken_the_Makers">quest</a> much like a <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Twilight%27s_Call">number of</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Eternal_Servitude">other cards</a> Priests have gotten.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Holy_Water">Holy Water</a></i></div>
<br />
While this spell seems a little overcosted and Priests have a few ways to <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mind_Control">steal</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Shadow_Madness">minions</a> from their opponent, this one is reminiscent of <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Entomb">Entomb</a> without being quite as oppressive since the affected minion at least dies. It also helps that Holy Water isn't exactly hard removal either. Ultimately, I could see strategies where the Priest tries to steal a weak Battlecry minion or the like, which could be somewhat interesting.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Nightscale_Matriarch"><i>Nightscale Matriarch</i></a></div>
<br />
Nightscale Matriarch is a healing synergy card much like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mana_Geode">Mana Geode</a> where it summons minions when healed. Unlike Mana Geode, it's a bit more expensive and has stats that better support the effect since outside of hard removal, its 9 Health makes it fairly durable and great for soaking damage then taking some repeated healing to activate its effect multiple times. This also makes it a good recipient for various buffs related to health such as <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Inner_Fire">Inner Fire</a> and certain cards in this set. While it is costly, it's also a Dragon so it's not even that bad to have around in the hand to potentially activate Dragon synergy cards. Ultimately, I really like this card since it can enable a variety of strategies or possibly all of them at once.<br />
<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Glitter_Moth"><i>Glitter Moth</i></a></div>
<br />
Glitter Moth is one of the cards I was referring to when I was mentioning buffs related to health. It's also a fairly interesting card since it encourages deck building and the buffing effect isn't quite as generic but rather the equivalent of casting <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Divine_Spirit">Divine Spirit</a> on every friendly minion. What makes this more interesting is that Divine Spirit might not work too well in a deck with Glitter Moth because it's evenly costed. This means the player will have to make a choice when building their deck as to whether they want the cheaper spell or the more expensive body that can efficiently provide the effect to more targets. I like that this choice exists.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Vivid_Nightmare"><i>Vivid Nightmare</i></a></div>
<br />
When I initially looked at this card, I thought it was largely going to be used for Deathrattle synergy but then I realized the minion starts damaged instead of being set to have 1 Health as their maximum. This means there's some potential for healing synergy and while Vivid Nightmare may be a little expensive in some cases, this opens up a lot more entertaining possibilities.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Lady_in_White">Lady in White</a></i></div>
<br />
Lady in White encourages clever deckbuilding and may even make minions with high health but awful stats overall a bit better. I'm not sure if that justifies the usage of minions such as <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mogu%27shan_Warden">Mogu'shan Warden</a>, but it's certainly very fun to think about. I also like the potential efficiency that this minion's effect provides.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Chameleos"><i>Chameleos</i></a></div>
<br />
Chameleos is an excellent recon tool that effectively provides information to the player as long as it's held. However, there may be times when Chameleos has to be played not only in times of desperation but also when Chameleos transforms into a very powerful card that's worth sacrificing further scouting information for. The opponent can also play around the effect to a degree by emptying their hand or keeping many cards to reduce the chance of having their plan discovered. All of these details are highly thought-provoking and I expect there will be those who appreciate this seemingly weak card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Rapturous</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fff569; font-size: x-large;">Rogue</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Cheap_Shot"><i>Cheap Shot</i></a></div>
<br />
This is probably the least exciting Echo card in the set. It's not bad for control and it can be useful for drawing a bunch of cards with the Gadgetzan Auctioneer. On the other hand, Rogues have a bunch of cheap spells to feed for draws as it is. Said cards are also better for enabling Combo effects.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Blink_Fox"><i>Blink Fox</i></a></div>
<br />
I'm actually kind of surprised this minion didn't get Echo. Having Echo on a Burgle-like effect would've been interesting especially considering some of the possible <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Ethereal_Peddler">Rogue</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Obsidian_Shard">synergy</a> with it. Instead it's just a more expensive, stronger <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Swashburglar">Swashburglar</a>. I guess it has a Beast tag that might matter sometimes too, though more for non-Rogues.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Cutthroat_Buccaneer"><i>Cutthroat Buccaneer</i></a></div>
<br />
This minion generally seems pretty underwhelming. It's not that the effect is necessarily bad but I was kind of hoping for more weapon enhancement than 1 additional Attack especially from a Combo effect. I guess something had to provide a weapon buff for Rogues though.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Cursed_Castaway"><i>Cursed Castaway</i></a></div>
<br />
Cursed Castaway is a fairly expensive Rush card but in exchange it has a fairly decent aggressive statline that will likely ensure its death shortly after it's played. This is where its Deathrattle comes in and I rather like it because it encourages the usage of good Combo cards to increase the potency of this card. Overall, it seems like a pretty neat Rush card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mistwraith"><i>Mistwraith</i></a></div>
<br />
This minion helps to push a possible "Echo Rogue" as an archetype and it certainly does it in an interesting way. While the benefit is somewhat generic, the requirement to activate it is fascinating due to the fact Echo cards are meant to be played repetitively which in turn activates the effect many times. In addition, consideration has to be given to whether it's worth playing Mistwraith and limiting how many Echo cards are played in the same turn. It also may be worth the gamble to try and keep Mistwraith around to set up a huge chain of Echo card usage in the follow turn. The potentially reduced value of Echo cards may also need to be considered. Overall, I really like the idea of this card due to the keyword it synergizes with.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Pick_Pocket">Pick Pocket</a></i></div>
<br />
Unlike Cheap Shot, Pick Pocket is a much more interesting Echo card. While it's less efficient than spells like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Burgle">Burgle</a>, it has the potential to produce much more card advantage if the player is patient enough, making it an interesting strategic card to use. I'm also amused by the mental image of constantly pick pocketing someone in quick succession even if it doesn't make a lot of sense to do in real life or even in World of Warcraft.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/WANTED!">WANTED!</a></i></div>
<br />
I understand that Rogues like having <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/The_Coin">Coins</a> to combo with and the like, but after seeing Holy Water, I can't help but to be underwhelmed by the power level of the card. It does have some decent flavor though.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Spectral_Cutlass"><i>Spectral Cutlass</i></a></div>
<br />
Thief Rogue has been a thematic that's been pushed for a while and this weapon is yet another addition to help synergize with it. In addition to packing Lifesteal, this weapon has the potential to last for a very long time. However, it feels like Kingsbane fills a similar niche as this weapon and it does it better since weapons can't have their buffs silenced off. It's certainly nice to have options though and this weapon benefits from different "support" cards too.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Face_Collector"><i>Face Collector</i></a></div>
<br />
As I've already established, I like the ability to produce random legendaries. While Face Collector didn't quite grab me at first since it doesn't give a deck filled with legendaries to play with, I did start thinking of ways to maximize the usage of this card. This led me to thinking of ways to constantly play it in a manner similar to <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Crystal_Core">Quest</a> Rogue but in a less oppressive manner (hopefully). It didn't take me long to realize there's a lot of ways to bounce a copy of the card to keep making use of the Battlecry and Echo effects. Overall, I think I'd find myself having a lot of fun if I unpacked it and the fact it made me think of a deck list to support it at least makes it a mechanically interesting card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Tess_Greymane">Tess Greymane</a></div>
<br />
Yogg-Saron and Lynessa have a child that takes the form of this Rogue card. Much like with Yogg, there's a high chance of a clown fiesta because the cards that the Rogue uses before playing Tess will likely be randomly generated. Targeting is random too, which is even more chaotic since effects such as minion Battlecries are included in this case.<br />
<br />
Lynessa's contribution to the design of this card comes in the form of the player having some control over the cards that are played and the order they are played in. This means the Rogue can hold on to the eligible cards and strategically use them to get an optimal Tess Greymane play later on.<br />
<br />
Overall, I really like what was done with the design of this card and it's a good example of building on other mechanics to come up with something that is in a sense unique and in this case, something that looks incredibly fun to try out.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Rapturous</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0070de; font-size: x-large;">Shaman</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Witch%27s_Apprentice"><i>Witch's Apprentice</i></a></div>
<br />
The first thing that came to mind when I saw this card is that the flavor of it is hilarious because the Shaman's <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Hex">Hex</a> spell produces a <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Frog">Frog</a> with identical stats. This means that the witch, who is likely a Shaman, basically uses her apprentice as a target dummy. Unfortunately, it's about as mechanically exciting as <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Babbling_Book">Babbling Book</a>, which is to say it's not too exciting in my eyes.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Ghost_Light_Angler"><i>Ghost Light Angler</i></a></div>
<br />
It's good for finishing the <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Unite_the_Murlocs">Shaman quest</a> and it has some decent synergy with a certain other card in the set in addition to having a potentially useful Murloc tribe tag. It's not too exciting otherwise especially when compared to some of the other Echo cards.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Zap!">Zap!</a></i></div>
<br />
Zap! is a fairly cheap damage spell that's properly costed in a sense, though there is the slight drawback of being unable to hit the opponent's face with it. Seems more like a practical card than one that's intended to mechanically wow players and it certainly doesn't excite me at all despite literally being a shocking card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Murkspark_Eel"><i>Murkspark Eel</i></a></div>
<br />
This minion on the other hand is a little more exciting and requires some strategic deckbuilding to make use of its fairly potent Battlecry considering it costs 2 Mana. I don't think it's enough to make the card worthy of a high rating, but it's certainly better than the previous card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Blazing_Invocation">Blazing Invocation</a></i></div>
<br />
Discover effects are always nice to have to a degree but I have to admit at this point seeing <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Hallucination">yet</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/I_Know_a_Guy">another</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Choose_Your_Path">1-cost</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Journey_Below">spell</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Finders_Keepers">that allows the player to Discover</a> something isn't that exciting even if it's intended to help push a certain thematic.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Earthen_Might"><i>Earthen Might</i></a></div>
<br />
Earthen Might is reminiscent of Mark of Y'shaarj but this time instead of drawing a card, a random Elemental is produced. While this is probably not as good as drawing a card, the Elemental will at least help to enable and potentially benefit from Elemental synergy. This in turn makes Earthen Might good in Elemental decks at least though it may not be too bad to use in general since there's a couple good general purpose Elemental cards.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Bogshaper"><i>Bogshaper</i></a></div>
<br />
The effect of this one seems rather interesting in that it encourages the building of a deck with spells and minions at first glance. However, since there's cards in this set that help to produce spells when minions are played, this effect also has a synergy with that too. Either way, there's certainly some solid deckbuilding strategy needed to make this card work but when it does, the effect seems pretty rewarding in the form of a fairly specific draw effect.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Totem_Cruncher">Totem Cruncher</a></i></div>
<br />
It would've been much more amusing if this minion was meant to be a tech against Totems since it would've come very long after Shaman was last dominant and even had a <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Totem_Golem">Totem minion</a> worth eating. Instead, it seems to be intended to be a synergy effect with various effects that <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Primal_Talismans">summon Totems</a> and while making a big minion can be kind of fun, it doesn't seem too interesting to do it in this way. Heck, <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Void_Terror">Void Terror</a> is a bit more interesting than this if only due to the strategic applications of that card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Hagatha_the_Witch">Hagatha the Witch</a></i></div>
<br />
Shaman gets the first Hero card since Knights of the Frozen Throne and it's quite an interesting one. The Battlecry effect isn't anything particularly spectacular but it's certainly nice for control applications. While this may run counter to the minion-oriented deck that the Passive Hero Power benefits from, I like to think it helps to ensure the player lives for a few more turns to actually make use of that Hero Power.<br />
<br />
Speaking of, I actually like the Hero Power even if it's basically the effect of Witch's Apprentice since it encourages a deckbuilding strategy to make the most of it. In this case, I could see strategies involving cheap minions that potentially have strong Battlecries, which in turn will benefit the other legendary Shaman is getting in this expansion. It also has the potential to make for a great card engine alongside Bogshaper. At the least, I enjoy the potential clown fiesta that'll result from this Hero even if it's not quite as interesting as a Hero like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Deathstalker_Rexxar">Deathstalker Rexxar</a>.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Shudderwock"><i>Shudderwock</i></a></div>
<br />
This card is somewhat like Tess Greymane but in the case of this legendary, deckbuilding has even more impact on how awesome the effect can be. Shaman even has some decent Battlecries to support the effect. There's also great combo potential with <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Grumble,_Worldshaker">Grumble, Worldshaker</a> that allows Shudderwock to be played multiple times. I'm looking forward to the hilarity that ensues from players trying to make decks that try to make the most use of Shudderwock in any case and I might join the fun myself.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Rapturous</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #9482c9; font-size: x-large;">Warlock</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Witchwood_Imp"><i>Witchwood Imp</i></a></div>
<br />
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Blood_Imp">Blood Imp</a> gets a cousin in the form of this card that is a bit more interesting since the buff is bigger and the player gets a bit more control over where it goes, but the trigger effect is a Deathrattle. What makes me like this card a bit more than other Deathrattle buffers is the Stealth allows for an opportunity to control where the buff goes. The fact this minion was given Stealth makes it a bit more interesting as a stat buffer.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Fiendish_Circle"><i>Fiendish Circle</i></a></div>
<br />
This spell honestly just feels like a more limited version of <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Forbidden_Ritual">Forbidden Ritual</a>. I'm sure it has decent synergy potential especially since the summoned minions are Demons, but it doesn't quite hold a candle that card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Duskbat"><i>Duskbat</i></a></div>
<br />
I rather like the thematic of Warlocks benefitting a bit from damaging themselves to the point I'd at least say cards like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Floating_Watcher">Floating Watcher</a> are somewhat interesting. To that end, I think Duskbat does an okay job of helping to push that thematic.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Blood_Witch">Blood Witch</a></i></div>
<br />
I find it interesting that this card doesn't have superior stats for its cost since the effect is arguably a benefit in some cases. This minion is definitely meant to help push the thematic of Warlocks damaging themselves to earn benefits and since that damage is minimal, it helps to minimize the risk of such a strategy. It's also nice for situations where the Warlock may not want to use <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Life_Tap">Life Tap</a> or can't.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Curse_of_Weakness">Curse of Weakness</a></i></div>
<br />
This is a pretty fun Echo card that can help to make minion combat a lot easier to the point of turning them into free kills or at least pacifying them temporarily. It's probably for the best that Priests don't get this spell even if they benefit the most from it.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Dark_Possession">Dark Possession</a></i></div>
<br />
While this spell has a bit of a flavorful twist for Warlocks, it's yet another 1 Mana "Discover something" spell that I consider to be rather unexciting.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Deathweb_Spider">Deathweb Spider</a></i></div>
<br />
Helping to round out the thematic of Warlocks damaging themselves is a minion that gives itself Lifesteal if the player was damaged on the turn it's played. While Lifesteal isn't that exciting in itself, what I like about this is that the situation increases the effectiveness which in turn may allow for more room to activate beneficial effects related to taking damage. I can appreciate this kind of clever design...to a point.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Ratcatcher">Ratcatcher</a></div>
<br />
I mentioned earlier that <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Void_Terror">Void Terror</a> is an interesting card because of its strategic application. While Ratcatcher doesn't care as much about positioning, it does have Rush to compensate. This means that the player can strategically use the card to kill a <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Possessed_Lackey">Deathrattle minion</a>, but sometimes it may just need to kill a minion for just enough stats to control the board. The ideal situation is when these goals align and I expect a smart player will be able to set this up consistently. I rather like that such intelligent play is rewarded, even if it ends up making an already powerful deck more powerful.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Glinda_Crowskin"><i>Glinda Crowskin</i></a></div>
<br />
I kind of wish this was a neutral Legendary so that all the classes can get in on the fun, but at the same time, I could see how that might be a little broken. I can't particularly think of any specific way for Warlocks to utilize this effect, but I expect people will think of something especially since Echo seems to be budgeted at around 1 Mana and removing that could allow for some potent combos involving cheap minions.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Lord_Godfrey"><i>Lord Godfrey</i></a></div>
<br />
I really like Defile mechanically and that doesn't change by tacking it onto a minion. I especially like it in this case since it's not quite as broken to potentially clear the board at 7 Mana even if it comes with a body. The fact the effect does 2 damage instead might make it a little easier to get that successful board clear without as much thought though.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Rapturous</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #c79c6e; font-size: x-large;">Warrior</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Warpath"><i>Warpath</i></a></div>
<br />
Warpath, much like with Squashling, is a good example of why adding Echo to a card justifies increasing its Mana cost. However, in this case I think there's more potential since even just being able to have a couple extra <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Whirlwind">Whirlwind</a> effects can help to activate a number of synergies related to <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Grim_Patron">minions</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Frothing_Berserker">suffering</a> <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Acolyte_of_Pain">damage</a>. The fact the card can be played repeatedly in a turn may allow for some more strategic play involving activating such effects repeatedly, which I think makes for a nice addition to the already strategic play involving this effect.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Woodcutter%27s_Axe"><i>Woodcutter's Axe</i></a></div>
<br />
Woodcutter's Axe is a good example of how a generic stat boost can be made more interesting. In this case, it combines the strategic play of timing a Deathrattle activation with the usage of a Rush minion. Furthermore, the stat boost is offensive-oriented, helping to enhance what I think a Rush minion does best, which is killing an enemy minion shortly after it's played. While it doesn't make the card very interesting, it keeps the card from being boring either..<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Rabid_Worgen">Rabid Worgen</a></i></div>
<br />
This is a rather boring statline for a Rush minion that doesn't have an awful lot going for it. While it does synergize with the Woodcutter's Axe, I think that has more to do with how interesting Woodcutter's Axe is instead of this card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Militia_Commander"><i>Militia Commander</i></a></div>
<br />
This was one of the first cards in the set I saw and I thought it was boring at first. After thinking on it further, I realized the card is pretty cleverly designed since its Battlecry works really well with the Rush mechanic. Also, since the Attack boost is restricted to only the turn when Rush is beneficial, it prevents the card from having too strong of a statline for its cost if it survives until later turns.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Redband_Wasp"><i>Redband Wasp</i></a></div>
<br />
I feel like Rush and Enrage (I know that keyword is being removed but I prefer to use it) don't work too well together. It can be used strategically to a degree by attacking an enemy minion with low Attack to create a fairly strong early game threat or used with a damaging effect, but I'm not really sold on either idea.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Festeroot_Hulk"><i>Festeroot Hulk</i></a></div>
<br />
The most obvious application of this card for Warriors is to use this alongside Rush minions since they seem to be getting a few of those this expansion. It's also not too bad to use when minions are already on the board and able to attack. However, I feel like the potential for this card isn't quite being reached since there's some interesting synergy with Windfury and while there are ways for Warriors to get Windfury minions, I would've liked if a class like Shaman got this card instead. Maybe it was too powerful?<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Deadly_Arsenal"><i>Deadly Arsenal</i></a></div>
<br />
This could be another very expensive Whirlwind or a decent board clear. While this ironically may restrict what weapons a Warrior uses (RIP <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Bladed_Gauntlet">Bladed Gauntlet</a>), it also encourages smart deckbuilding to make the most of this card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Town_Crier"><i>Town Crier</i></a></div>
<br />
Town Crier has a simple draw effect that actually works quite well considering how cheap it is. Because it's so cheap, it enables combos related to Rush that allow for control of the board without spending much Mana. It's also not quite as ridiculous as summoning pre-nerf <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Patches_the_Pirate">Patches</a> since the card has to be played and can't hit the enemy's face.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Darius_Crowley"><i>Darius Crowley</i></a></div>
<br />
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/The_Boogeymonster">The Boogeymonster</a> gets another iteration in the form of this Rush minion and because of that keyword, the stat boosting effect when killing minions is a lot more effective. It's also rather interesting in my opinion since the player can strategically use Darius Crowley to control the board and maximize his chances of survival until the next turn by making use of the stat boost and other tools to eliminate potential checks. Still wish this minion had Windfury or something though, but I guess that would be very overpowered.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Blackhowl_Gunspire"><i>Blackhowl Gunspire</i></a></div>
<br />
The art for this is hilarious as are the potential applications. I kind of wish this had Taunt if only to make it like a Wall like in Magic, but I guess the enemy is going to try to find some way to hard remove it in any case. Otherwise, the Warrior can use their many tools to activate its effect repeatedly and unleash a bombardment on their opponent. Overall, I rather like it especially since it can't also attack to potentially maximize the use of some activators like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Inner_Rage">Inner Rage</a>, meaning not all activators may be worth using.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Neutral</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #ff8000; font-size: large;">Legendaries</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Azalina_Soulthief"><i>Azalina Soulthief</i></a></div>
<br />
This legendary reminds me of <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Archbishop_Benedictus">Benedictus</a> but I think it could see more practical use since it replaces one's hand. That means that the effect works best when the opponent has a larger hand than yours which could happen for a number of reasons and rewards strategic play. It's also less unhealthy compared to <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Divine_Favor">Divine Favor</a> since it doesn't thin out one's own deck substantially and the cost to get this effect is far more expensive. I also wouldn't necessarily rely on the effect in place of other methods of maintaining card advantage such as draw, but the idea of using the opponent to refill in a way that is somewhat memey seems pretty neat.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Baku_the_Mooneater">Baku the Mooneater</a></i></div>
<br />
While the card itself doesn't have great stats, the start of game effect seems like it might be worth building a deck around for classes that enjoyed using <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Justicar_Trueheart">Justicar Trueheart</a> and are okay using only odd costed cards. As a bonus, one starts with the Hero Power instead of having to wait until turn 6 so one could find useful ways to make use of the upgraded Hero Power much sooner and potentially overpower their opponent.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Genn_Greymane"><i>Genn Greymane</i></a></div>
<br />
Dungeon Run made me appreciate how strong a 1 Mana Hero Power can be and it might also encourage players to build a deck like with Baku the Mooneater just for the effect. Unfortunately, much like with Baku the Mooneater, one probably doesn't want to use any cards that changes their Hero Power, which is a much bigger deal in this case since it might not be quite as intuitive for a Hero Power change to also reset its cost. I expect someone will make exactly that sort of mistake when using this card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Dollmaster_Dorian"><i>Dollmaster Dorian</i></a></div>
<br />
The flavor of this card is wonderful and while it isn't exactly like Archmage Arugal, the effect this minion has is cut from the same cloth. However, what benefits most from it might be a little different since while Arugal's copying effect works best on Battlecries, Dorian's works best on cards with persistent effects or Deathrattles. Also, since this legendary is neutral, there's more synergy potential though one has to be wary of the fact this card costs 5 Mana. Overall, I really like it for reasons similar to Arugal.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Rapturous</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Countess_Ashmore"><i>Countess Ashmore</i></a></div>
<br />
Countess Ashmore is a <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/The_Curator">Curator</a>-like card in that it draws up to three cards based on how one's deck is built. In the case of Curator, one has to add different minion types to make the most of it and it can be difficult to do so if only because it's not that often that a deck wants a Beast, Dragon, and Murloc. Countess Ashmore is a lot more practical in that it allows one to draw <u>cards</u> with three keywords I expect to be fairly common. This to me is a little bit more boring since the practicality makes building a deck to make the most of the effect a little less thought-provoking due to the high chance that decks contain cards with at least two of these keywords, if not all three. I do appreciate Rush cards are one of the three card types though.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #a335ee; font-size: large;">Epics</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Nightmare_Amalgam">Nightmare Amalgam</a></i></div>
<br />
Normally, I'd instantly give a minion like this the "Boring" rating and call it a day since it just has vanilla states. However, a minion with every single possible tribe tag is interesting since it activates a number of synergies but is also subject to detrimental effects such as being eaten by a <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Hungry_Crab">crab</a>. I'm interested in seeing how people end up using it though maybe it'll be slept on in some regards. Also, <a href="https://i.imgur.com/a5fXYW4">ALL minions</a>.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Muck_Hunter"><i>Muck Hunter</i></a></div>
<br />
I rather enjoy how the flavor of this card ensures it'll always be able to make use of its Rush effect which helps to give it a consistent level of usefulness. It's also technically statted fairly aggressively considering it needs the extra health to survive the Mucklings it summons, so it can take out a bigger threat if needed.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Witch%27s_Cauldron"><i>Witch's Cauldron</i></a></div>
<br />
While it's likely this minion will die shortly after being played, it's certainly got a nice effect for when the player is about to trade in a lot of their minions. Probably not as practical as cards like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Cult_Master">Cult Master</a> even with the lower cost considered, but at least the effect isn't completely boring.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Voodoo_Doll">Voodoo Doll</a></i></div>
<br />
There's almost certainly some silly way to abuse this minion's effect but I really like the flavor of it. It's also rather weak so it's basically used solely for the targeted removal effect that'll almost certainly end up costing more than 3 Mana. The removal effect can even be delayed if the player needs to do so for some reason though the opponent will likely try to employ some counterplay. Overall, I really like the card even if it's a roundabout removal effect because much like with an actual voodoo doll, one will likely think of some creative way to torment their opponent with it.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Worgen_Abomination">Worgen Abomination</a></i></div>
<br />
Synergizes pretty well with AoE effects though it's expensive to combo with. Might also be nice in other situations like after many minions are injured due to constant trading. Overall there's certainly some strategic potential to consider with this card.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mossy_Horror">Mossy Horror</a></i></div>
<br />
This thing is basically a fairly bulky minion with Shadow Word: Horror tacked onto it, which has some potential synergy now with non-Priests. That's about all I really have to say.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Splitting_Festeroot"><i>Splitting Festeroot</i></a></div>
<br />
I initially thought this was a horrible minion because it ended up with 8/8 of stats for 8. Instead, the minion is more like that one boss that keeps splitting into smaller enemies, which ultimately makes it a total of 12/12 stats without having more than 4 Attack of minions on the board at any given time. Overall, I really like this minion compared to other Deathrattle minions that summon something.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Baleful_Banker"><i>Baleful Banker</i></a></div>
<br />
This effect has been printed before in the form of <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Manic_Soulcaster">Manic Soulcaster</a>, but I think it'll be much more interesting as a neutral card if only because there's more potential options for cards to copy.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Sandbinder"><i>Sandbinder</i></a></div>
<br />
Sandbinder has a fairly simple, functional effect that might work well in Elemental decks. Might not be too bad for drawing useful Elemental decks that don't rely on the synergy either, which might be something to think about especially if it's part of a combo of some sort.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay.</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0070dd; font-size: large;">Rares</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Phantom_Militia">Phantom Militia</a></i></div>
<br />
I rather enjoy the idea of summoning a legion of Taunt minions but in this case, the Mana cost might be a little too high to do that. Beyond that, the minion seems pretty typical and the <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Squirming_Tentacle">statline has even been printed before</a>.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Scaleworm"><i>Scaleworm</i></a></div>
<br />
This'll basically always be played with Dragon synergy and it's another good example of how I think Rush minions should be statted. Not only is it aggressively statted, but it even has enough Health that it might live to tell the tale, which is a nice bonus.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Witchwood_Grizzly">Witchwood Grizzly</a></i></div>
<br />
I really like this card because it seems to be printed to deal with aggressive decks but it isn't so aggressively statted itself that it could potentially be used by aggressive decks or to beat an opponent's face in without some support cards. It can also be countered to a degree especially by more control-oriented decks since it gets pretty weak if the player has even a hand half full of cards.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Interesting</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Gilnean_Royal_Guard">Gilnean Royal Guard</a></i></div>
<br />
The Cost for this seems a little high but I really like the idea of this card. Both statlines may actually be useful because the 8/3 statline can easily kill even fairly durable minions, but the 3/8 statline is more likely to stick around and kill multiple smaller minions.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Witchwood_Piper">Witchwood Piper</a></i></div>
<br />
The effect this minion encourages the player to build a deck with it in mind if it's used. There's not even necessarily a wrong way to use it since sometimes, a cheap 1 Mana minion with a good effect is all the player needs. Easily could be used to draw combo pieces for certain decks at the very least.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Chief_Inspector"><i>Chief Inspector</i></a></div>
<br />
Eater of Secrets gets a bigger brother with a vanilla statline, making it a tech card that could be used passably in situations where it'll never get its effect off. I can't particularly say it's that exciting though.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Lifedrinker"><i>Lifedrinker</i></a></div>
<br />
I wish this minion had Lifesteal instead. I think it would be much more elegant than the Battlecry they gave it and it probably wouldn't be too broken either.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mad_Hatter"><i>Mad Hatter</i></a></div>
<br />
This card looks amusing and while it probably won't be played in many situations, it at least makes the player think about when it's optimal to play it. Unfortunately, that's all I've got to make this card sound cool.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Night_Prowler"><i>Night Prowler</i></a></div>
<br />
On one hand, I like the idea behind this minion's effect a little bit especially since it only needs to be played on an empty board. On the other hand, there have been <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Eerie_Statue">similar effects</a> the base stats are so weak that it's basically only useful in the situation where the effect goes off. That feels rather restrictive, unfun, and uninteresting to me.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Common</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Pumpkin_Peasant">Pumpkin Peasant</a></div>
<br />
I feel like this is Duskhaven Hunter's cousin or something and unfortunately, it's about as uninteresting since the two statlines it gets aren't particularly spectacular and in this case, the Lifesteal doesn't even seem to be doing it many favors.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Rotten_Applebaum">Rotten Applebaum</a></div>
<br />
This minion's not actually too bad from an anti-aggro viewpoint. It has Taunt and is statted fairly well but what really makes this minion not so boring is the Deathrattle that provides healing that might help to recover some of the damage the player sustained. Certainly a functional card at least.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Clockwork_Automaton"><i>Clockwork Automaton</i></a></div>
<br />
The effect of this card is pretty cool since while it doesn't work on every Hero Power, it certainly makes a few more effective. It also works on upgraded Hero Powers and the Hero Powers of Hero cards, which means there's a lot to take into consideration when using this card. The most amusing result of this effect is that I'm pretty sure it doubles the damage of Life Tap.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Blackwald_Pixie">Blackwald Pixie</a></i></div>
<br />
Meanwhile, refreshing one's Hero Power through a Battlecry isn't quite as exciting. It's certainly functional, but it doesn't hold a candle to the effect of a card like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Auctionmaster_Beardo">Auctioneer Beardo</a>.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Ravencaller"><i>Ravencaller</i></a></div>
<br />
Really good with the Hunter quest and being able to generate two cheap minions in general isn't that bad. It might be useful for other situations too even if they're terrible minions. They can feed Hagatha's Hero Power for example.<br />
<br />
My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Swift_Messenger"><i>Swift Messenger</i></a></div>
<br />
<br />
This minion is pretty similar to Gilnean Royal Guard but it might be even more effective since one of its forms is basically the equivalent of casting a <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Fireball">Fireball</a> on a minion. That's pretty potent for a Neutral card and the other statline isn't too bad either even if it's just <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Stormwind_Knight">Stormwind Knight</a> with more health and the inability to hit the opponent's face. Either way, Swift Messenger is a great example of what I want out of a Rush minion.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
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<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Spellshifter">Spellshifter</a></i></div>
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I feel really bad for <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Dalaran_Mage">Dalaran Mage</a>. Also, the stat swapping effect doesn't really suit this minion either and almost feels like it doesn't need to be there.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Wyrmguard"><i>Wyrmguard</i></a></div>
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This minion basically has Witchwood Grizzly's stats for two more Mana as long as one has a Dragon. I can't help but to feel like this minion drops a little too late though, especially when Dragon decks had cards like <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Twilight_Guardian">Twilight Guardian</a> before. I wish it was at least a Dragon itself because then it could have the mechanical intrigue of activating other Dragon synergy cards.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
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<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Vicious_Scalehide">Vicious Scalehide</a></i></div>
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What is that statline and how does it synergize well with either of those keywords? I guess it wouldn't be too bad with buffing effects.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Swamp_Dragon_Egg"><i>Swamp Dragon Egg</i></a></div>
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I like the flavor of this minion even if it might be a little difficult to activate its Deathrattle sometimes. I generally like these sorts of "egg" cards since they risk tempo in the form of playing a potentially useless minion in return for a decent reward. They also work well with strategic support. For example one can buff the egg cards to great effect because the opponent may not want to activate the Deathrattle which in turn may protect the buff effects.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Okay</b>.<br />
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<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Marsh_Drake">Marsh Drake</a></i></div>
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I'm not sure if it's the best plan to willingly give your opponent a Poisonous minion but if it can be dealt with quickly, the payoff could be pretty huge. There's certainly a bit of strategic play to consider when trying to make this work.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
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<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Darkmire_Moonkin">Darkmire Moonkin</a></i></div>
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It's a durable, expensive Spell Damage minion that somehow doesn't have a Beast tag.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Tanglefur_Mystic">Tanglefur Mystic</a></div>
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This card reminds me of <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Spellslinger">Spellslinger</a> but each player is more likely to get cards similar in power to each other. Not too bad for a symmetrical effect, but nothing incredibly exciting though. With that, I expect some sort of silly <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Doomsayer">Doomsayer</a>-related play or the like to result from this card.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
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<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Hench-Clan_Thug">Hench-Clan Thug</a></i></div>
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This card would actually be interesting if it had Rush. Since it doesn't, it's probably less interesting than Gruul is, especially since it'll often just be a vanilla 3/3.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Walnut_Sprite"><i>Walnut Sprite</i></a></div>
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Summoning vanilla 3/3s for 3 multiple times in a single turn isn't exactly what I call exciting.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Unpowered_Steambot"><i>Unpowered Steambot</i></a></div>
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I'm tempted to raise the rating for this card because it's a reference to <a href="https://overwatch.gamepedia.com/Bastion">Bastion</a> from Overwatch and also because of potential synergy with cards like Lady in White, but it's not like there aren't exactly other options.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Lost_Spirit"><i>Lost Spirit</i></a></div>
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What in the heck is even that statline? The effect isn't exactly exciting either especially since it can be negated rather easily and it's not even that great compared to <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Spawn_of_N%27Zoth">similar Deathrattles</a>.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
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<i><a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Furious_Ettin">Furious Ettin</a></i></div>
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It's a pretty big Taunt minion with respectable stats that might make it useful in Arena. That doesn't change the fact it's mechanically uninteresting.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Cauldron_Elemental"><i>Cauldron Elemental</i></a></div>
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While this is very costly, it is nice to have an aura effect for Elementals even if <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Stormwind_Champion">Stormwind Champion</a> is arguably better. If it ever was used in a deck, said deck would likely utilize Elemental synergy though so at least this card can serve as an activator.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Deranged_Doctor"><i>Deranged Doctor</i></a></div>
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This comes out pretty late due to its Mana cost and there's probably better, more interesting healing options.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Boring</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Felsoul_Inquisitor"><i>Felsoul Inquisitor</i></a></div>
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This minion is actually somewhat interesting since while it has a poor Attack stat, it does combine Lifesteal and Taunt. Might not be too bad with a buffing effect, though it'll at least help sustain the player a little bit against aggression even without it.<br />
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My verdict for this card is <b>Meh</b>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Final Statements</span></div>
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<i>This set has 135 cards and out of them I rated 15 cards as <b>Boring</b>, 38 as <b>Meh</b>, 44 as <b>Okay</b>, 32 as <b>Interesting</b>, and 6 as <b>Rapturous</b>.</i> I'm not sure if those ratings are because I was hedging with many of my ratings or because there's a bunch of cards that fell more in the middle of my rating system. What is clear is there are at least a handful of cards in the set that I found mechanically interesting. There's even some I want to craft after thinking about how mechanically interesting they are. If only I felt more motivated to disenchant cards to make the decks I'm thinking of.<br />
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In the meantime, unless there's strong opposition to me reviewing how mechanically interesting cards are or something happens that prevents me from publishing a review, I'll be back for the next Hearthstone expansion with a similar review format.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-48366444365515140552018-04-02T03:47:00.001-07:002020-03-25T20:19:45.049-07:00Leveling Quick Fixes: Proving Grounds Rejuvenation<span style="font-size: x-small;">This article is part of a series. Click </span><a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/01/leveling-quick-fixes-intro.html" style="font-size: small;">here</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> to go to the intro article where a table of contents is available.</span><br />
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The <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Proving_Grounds">Proving Grounds</a> were added in patch 5.4 as a feature intended to test a player's ability to perform in one of the three roles in the game. When it was added, it came with some achievements, including <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/achievement=9589/proving-yourself-endless-healer-wave-30">one with a title reward</a> for completing a fairly challenging 30 waves in Endless Mode. In addition to the plethora of other content was added in that patch such as everything involving the Timeless Isle, the Proving Grounds made for a nice distraction where one can practice without judgement. Even if in-game rewards were limited, the content was new and therefore it could at least last for the 5.4 patch series. Later on, the Proving Grounds became more about performing exceptionally well, which entitled a player to <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/3vyfew/proving_grounds_endless_damage_wave_289_world/">bragging rights</a>.<br />
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The Proving Grounds saw a little more use going into Warlords of Draenor and while the idea sounded great on paper, in practice it was poorly implemented. This is because in order to do Heroic dungeons, one had to complete the Silver trial in the Proving Grounds for the role they wished to queue as. In addition to failing to respect class and spec balance, this relatively stringent requirement that encouraged players to improve their skills fell apart the moment LFR Highmaul came out since it had no Proving Grounds-related requirements whatsoever. In fact, only Heroic dungeons ever had a requirement that was eventually dropped later on.<br />
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In Legion, the Proving Grounds may as well not exist since it's gotten <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Proving_Grounds#Patches_and_hotfixes">no notable updates</a>. While it's possible to enter them from one's Order Hall, there's other challenging solo content that better test one's ability and have more up to date rewards. For example, the Mage Tower challenges offer a fairly prestigious reward and are tuned based on a player's specialization and better test a player's ability to handle various mechanics even if said mechanics can be a little punishing sometimes. Add in various Elite World Quests, an updated Brawler's Guild, and some unforgiving, yet lucrative overworld zones and it becomes increasingly apparent that the Proving Grounds is simply outdated.<br />
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I find the current state of the Proving Grounds to be a shame since it could provide an endless amount of content through the mode that shares that name. Given that it can be entered as low as level 15, it can also serve as a practical self-help tool for newer players with the proper exposure. The content is also not that rewarding which means it can't stand up to other content that does reward players for their time and effort. Therefore, this article will propose suggestions to improve the Proving Grounds in an attempt to make it exemplary evergreen content in addition to making it a useful feature for leveling players.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Proving Grounds As (Leveling) Content</span></div>
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As I mentioned, the Proving Grounds can be entered at a low level which means that it already has level scaling implemented. While this may need to be tweaked a bit to account for more recent changes to leveling content, refinement isn't entirely necessary for the Proving Grounds to fulfill its purpose. That is because, as I also mentioned, exposure of the feature needs to be increased more to lower level players.</div>
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Initially, I'd strongly recommend pushing Proving Grounds when a player reaches level 15. To this end, there should be a breadcrumb quest to the class trainer who already provides easy access to the Proving Grounds. In addition, since the Proving Grounds is meant to represent a dungeon environment, players would be recommended to finish the Bronze trial the first time they attempt to queue for a dungeon. Much like with the current implementation of the Proving Grounds, Bronze would be the only accessible trial for lower level players and the mechanics would be fairly simple but enough to provide a challenge. For example, if mechanics were reworked, Bronze trials could have some harmful ground effect mechanics that occur periodically (aka "the fire") since it's commonly seen at all levels of play.</div>
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As the player level increases to higher brackets, more levels of the Proving Grounds would open. Specifically, players can attempt Silver trials at level 60, Gold trials at level 80, and Endless at level 90. Based on scaling mechanics, I consider these levels the best points to expose players to more mechanics and other forms of enhanced challenge. However, reworking mechanics to suit what I consider to be a good learning curve would take a lot of time unlike with Bronze trials, so the current iteration of the Proving Grounds will have to do in terms of these tiers. Listing the mechanics to learn at each level bracket would also likely be too extensive for this article, though I may publish an article on such expectations in the future.</div>
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For players seeking a challenge, rapid advancement to higher tiers of the Proving Grounds could also be made available. For example, players with achievements for completing the Proving Grounds at higher tier levels for a specific role could allow players to do the trials on any character. Players who excel could also be rewarded with early tier unlocks. For example, someone who only uses half the time allotted for a Damage Dealing trial could advance to the next tier. Note that higher tier trials may be nearly impossible due to a lack of abilities, but that might be part of the fun for some players, so it doesn't hurt to provide the option if they're experienced enough.</div>
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Finally, while the Pandaria theme is nice and this would need to be implemented much later, the Proving Grounds could use a reskin. NPC variety, for example, could stand to be increased beyond Sha, Pandaren, etc. There could also be more settings such as various capital city arenas and the like.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rewards</span></div>
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Aside from titles and bragging rights, there's not a lot in the way of rewards from Proving Grounds. One thing that immediately comes to mind as a possible reward is the Justice Points I suggested in my <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/03/please-bring-back-justice-points.html">previous (serious) article</a>. Another, since Proving Grounds are a feature for players of all levels, is experience points since time spent in the Proving Grounds is time that could've been spent doing other leveling content. I'd also argue players are likely to learn more doing the Proving Grounds than doing other content like questing, which further justifies an appropriate experience reward.<br />
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In terms of Justice Point and experience rewards, they should directly scale with the difficulty level of the trial itself outside of Endless. To this end, I would set a base reward with some aspects, such as experience, scaling with level. I would then assign a multiplier bonus to each trial tier with Bronze set at 1.0, Silver set at 1.25, and Gold set at 1.5. For example, completing a Bronze trial at level 80 could award 20,000 experience and 100 Justice Points, but doing so at Gold would award 30,000 experience and 150 Justice Points. For Endless, each wave could provide up to 15% of the base reward when completed, scaling infinitely. Furthermore, there could be a bonus reward at specific milestones. For example, completing 10 waves earns an additional 30% of the base reward.<br />
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It is also worth mentioning that the mobs themselves would award experience. I consider this reward appropriate since experience is earned from killing mobs for other content such as quests and dungeons. To balance the fact the Proving Grounds is a highly accessible source of mobs, experience gain should be reduced by as much as 25% compared to equivalent mobs.<br />
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Furthermore, since Justice Point (or whatever analogue(s) Blizzard implements in Battle For Azeroth) rewards may not necessarily be possible but I want Proving Grounds to be relevant for endgame play, completing any trial in the Proving Grounds should also reward a satchel of various useful goods. It would always have some money and consumables and would also have a chance to contain gear and reagents. Quantity, quality, and chance of reward would all scale with player level and the difficulty of the trial or progression into Endless. For example, a level 80 player could earn 8 gold and 4 consumables from a Bronze trial along with a 40% chance for a piece of level 80 <span style="color: #0070dd;">rare</span> gear and a separate 40% chance to earn a stack of Cataclysm or Pandaria reagents. To further entice max level players to do Proving Grounds, gear rewards at max level would be based on item level rewards of other entry level content. In addition, every 10 waves completed in an Endless run would upgrade the item level of the first gear piece rewarded as if it Warforged, stacking to the item level cap.<br />
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Speaking of consumables, the Proving Grounds could allow for the usage of exclusive consumables that can either be <abbr title="For gold, Justice Points, etc."><u class="dotted">purchased</u></abbr>, much like with buff foods from the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/npc=73327/furnisher-echoroot">vendor</a> inside, or earned from aforementioned satchels <i>in such a way they are at most half of the satchel's consumable-based rewards</i>. Some could save money by providing low to moderate quality food and flask buffs. Others could be advantageous and take the form of items such as a potion that provide significant damage reduction to all friendly characters for a short time.<br />
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Finally, while this is not a tangible reward, the Endless Proving Grounds should have a leaderboard so that a player's accomplishment is visible for everyone in the region to see. It might encourage friendly competition as players fight through hundreds of waves to best each other. These leaderboards would be split between max level players and lower level players to account for balance to a degree. In the case of the latter, character level would also be listed to provide players and Blizzard with information of potential low level imbalance.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Implementation Logistics</span></div>
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Initially I thought implementation would be a little difficult because the Proving Grounds would need level scaling tech added to it. It's not particularly demanding to do considering Blizzard has been adding it to other instanced content such as holiday events, but it would be a bit more time-consuming considering tuning would need to be more carefully done and more NPC stats would need to be adjusted. Fortunately, Proving Grounds already has level scaling tech in place, which goes to show how much I've done the Proving Grounds since early Warlords of Draenor.<br />
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The first step would be to add rewards. They could be rudimentary at first and primarily consist of experience to appeal to lower level players. Other rewards could be added shortly after to appeal to higher level players. The leaderboard would be the last reward-based feature to be added since that's the feature I'm least certain about in terms of the time it would take to implement especially since I want it to be region-wide.<br />
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The second step of increasing exposure of the Proving Grounds should be a fairly simple task. Aside from advertising a rejuvenation of the Proving Grounds on the client, adding a breadcrumb quest should not take much time at all. Easy entry into the Proving Grounds has already been integrated into the game through class trainers, so there's not much that needs to be added there.<br />
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Finally, major tweaks could happen over a series of patches. This takes the form of reskinning the setting and NPCs, reworking mechanics, and so on. Reskinning is a fairly simple affair to explain since new additions could be added gradually without being all that disruptive. Reworking the Proving Grounds from a gameplay standpoint to be more suitable to today's standards would be a major untaking split into two stages. The first stage would rework all difficulties besides Endless to provide a cohesive experience from the three more standard difficulties. Endless, which I believe may hold up a bit better for the time being, can be reworked afterwards to feature an even wider array of mechanics than before and the mode can even draw inspiration from similar "endless modes" such as affixes from Mythic+.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Goals This Feature Accomplishes</span></div>
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Aside from providing more endgame content for players, rejuvenating the Proving Grounds primarily serves one role for leveling players and that is to help tutor them. It is a feature designed to test a player's skills by having them experience the meat of WoW's gameplay. In a way the time limits and other forms of adversity make for a merciless environment but in truth it's merciful since there's no other players around to berate one's failures and the player can always try again. It is ultimately because of the solo accessibility without judgement and the rewards that I think players will be more willing to give the Proving Grounds a shot if they're given the opportunity.</div>
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To close, if there's one point this article is trying to make, it's that the Proving Grounds shouldn't be allowed to languish in its current state. Adding consistently useful rewards instantly turns the Proving Grounds into somewhat worthwhile evergreen content, so the least that could be done is to make that change.</div>
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Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-81136956722861400092018-04-01T00:37:00.005-07:002018-04-01T00:37:54.082-07:00Loot Boxes are Literally Worse Than Pay-To-Win<div>
Some time has passed since I wrote <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/11/my-thoughts-on-loot-box-issue.html">my article about loot boxes</a> and since then, much has happened. While there have been fewer controversies, discussion on the topic still happens fairly often and there has been some <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/02/no-video-game-loot-boxes-for-buyers-under-21-says-proposed-hawaii-bills/">relatively recent news regarding regulating them</a>. By constantly exposing myself to this discussion, I have developed a new perspective on the issue and in this article, I wish to share my enlightenment.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Worst Kind of Microtransaction</span></div>
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While microtransactions in themselves are a revenue stream the gaming industry shouldn't have since they should be able to make do with game sales alone, there's no questioning that loot boxes are the worst type of microtransaction invented. The randomized rewards are solely meant to cause frustration and artificially lengthen grinds so that companies can line their pockets. In fact, I can't think of a single time I got something good out of a loot box this week since I've only gotten pointless common sprays and rare recolor skins after opening three in Overwatch. It doesn't matter that I got five legendaries last week from just my Arcade loot boxes since life and its experiences is about the here and now. <i>The fact is that right now I'm upset.</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kids Don't Care About Winning Anymore</span></div>
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Once upon a time I used to play soccer and other sports as a kid. It was exhilarating to try to win by accomplishing whatever objective was set before me and collaborating with my team that was usually a circle of friends I never talk to anymore. These bygone days do not exist in 2018 though. Heck, I haven't seen kids doing anything competitive for a solid decade in fact. They're more content with tapping away on their phones or tablets and anyone with half a brain knows there's games for both of those devices that have loot boxes in them. In fact, these games are especially devious since they try to disassociate themselves from their loot box brethren by using other labels like "gacha."<br />
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All this matters because of two reasons. The first is that kids do not have the same competitive mindset that I grew up with. The second is that kids are a vulnerable demographic and the games they're playing are luring them into spending their allowance (and possibly more) on these virtual pachinko machines. In fact, I have a colleague whose kids have blown $20 last month on some Fate mobile game just for a chance at some virtual characters that look nice to them. That may not sound like a lot but over a year that's a whopping $240 blown on what sounds awfully like gambling. There's no question this needs to be banned and especially made inaccessible to these young minds.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Games Shouldn't Have Randomized Elements At All</span></div>
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At this point I realized there was something fundamentally wrong with games in general and it goes right back to tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons. I remembered that those games use dice a lot to determine random results that can ultimately result in a highly frustrating experience. I thought games were supposed to be about having nonstop fun and dealing with adversity is objectively not fun at all.<br />
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So why not just remove randomized elements entirely? Any time you could get a critical hit you also might not. I don't remember there being any sense of wonder when opening a treasure chest with a randomly generated reward. The same goes for procedurally generated games that seem to use their systems to produce randomized worlds not to entertain the player but to waste their time as they explore nonstop to find what they want. The truth is there is comfort in consistency.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Final Statements</span></div>
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At the end of the day the title of the article really says it all. I have never felt such frustration from microtransactions than I have when it comes to randomizing my rewards even if I get double my money's worth. Getting stomped by someone with better equipment in a game seems so minor by comparison. <abbr title="First of all, April Fools'. Second of all, the opinion expressed here is meant to be hyperbolic to a degree even if I have seen people unironically expressing similar opinions. There are valid points to make against loot boxes and as my more serious article stated, I do think they need to be regulated."><u class="dotted">Therefore, on the day that this article is published, I announce that I have had a change of heart regarding loot boxes.</u></abbr></div>
Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-55373689926308680092018-03-23T14:08:00.003-07:002022-04-21T14:34:37.203-07:00Please Bring Back Justice Points<a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Justice_Points">Justice Points</a>, which were removed at the start of Warlords of Draenor, was a currency rewarded from endgame PvE content that was primarily used to purchase gear. It initially took the form of Badges of Justice in the Burning Crusade but within two expansions it took on a different name by Cataclysm. At that time, it served as a lesser version of <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Valor_Points">Valor Points</a>, which were a more limited PvE reward used to buy higher end gear. This changed over time as Valor Points eventually became known as the currency used for upgrading gear and was eventually shortened to <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1191/valor">Valor</a> when it made its return in the later stages of Warlords of Draenor.<br />
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Since its removal, other currencies have been added that are suspiciously similar to Justice Points such as Apexis Crystals, which were used to buy endgame gear throughout the Warlords of Draenor expansion but was awarded more from solo PvE endgame content instead. In the Legion expansion, Order Resources, Nethershards, and Veiled Argunite also filled a similar role. Timewarped Badges have also filled a similar role since they were added and their existence has spanned multiple expansions.<br />
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<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/3jdg4w/so_they_get_rid_of_justice_points_and_give_us/">While others questioned this,</a> I didn't mind it too much until I realized how wasteful it seemed to keep adding Justice Point analogues while drafting articles for my <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/01/leveling-quick-fixes-intro.html">recent series</a>. While I've kept the details vague about the Justice Point-like system I would like to see in those articles, I have since brainstormed more specific details. Based on what I've devised, I believe the game can comfortably have a Justice Point system in place that is more universal and eternal than ever without being remotely as imposing on players as the current analogues do. In this article I will analyze the Justice Point system and its analogues, then describe the system I wish to see implemented based on that analysis.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Justice Point System Summarized</span></div>
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As I mentioned above, the Justice Point system can be easily described as one where players earned a currency mainly for doing endgame PvE content, which in turn was used to buy gear. Since Justice Points are based on currencies primarily awarded in Dungeons and Raids, they were also acquired from the same sources. In addition, an option to convert Honor into Justice Points was <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Patch_4.1.0#General">added shortly after Cataclysm released</a>, meaning PvP activities were an option for farming Justice Points.<br />
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However, this almost wasn't necessary since the demand for Justice Points wasn't too high especially once a player was geared enough. This wasn't too difficult to do since Justice Point gear was comparable to gear from entry-level content. Blizzard responded to this by adding a currency sink that allowed players to <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Talric_Forthright">buy reagents for Justice Points</a>. In addition, gear that was available for Valor Points often became purchasable with Justice Points in later patches to account for the release of new raid tiers and higher item level requirements.<br />
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To encourage players to spend Justice Points, it was capped at 4000, which was just enough to buy a few pieces of gear at most. This allowed players to store the currency to buy a few pieces of gear when new raid tiers release since unlike Valor Points, the currency wasn't taken away upon such releases. It is reasonable to restrict the accumulation of Justice Points to this degree since one of the purposes of releasing a new raid tier is to renew the gear hunt and while Justice Point gear isn't incredible, making it too accessible too soon may trivialize the gearing process. At the same time, punishing preparation too much may discourage such forward thinking.<br />
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Based on this summary, I have made the following observations that are worth keeping in mind when analyzing its analogues and suggesting my own system:<br />
<ul>
<li>The source for Justice Points is relatively limited and focused more on group content.</li>
<li>The usage of Justice Points was similarly limited but plays an important role in providing players with a way to gear that don't involve relying on the random chance of acquiring desired gear as a drop.</li>
<li>Dedicated players generally ended up with a huge surplus of Justice Points.</li>
<li>Justice Points had a decent, albeit expensive, currency sink that allowed players to maintain this surplus since the cap was relatively low.</li>
<li>Accumulating Justice Points in preparation for new content releases was moderately rewarding striking a good balance of rewarding dedicated play.</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">A Look At Justice Point Analogues</span></div>
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After the removal of Justice Points, many analogues were gradually made available. Almost all of them were listed in the opening paragraphs and in this section I will briefly summarize my thoughts on how comparable each currency was to Justice Points and also explain what it did better and worse.<br />
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<a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=777/timeless-coin"><b>Timeless Coins</b></a> were the unofficial replacement for Justice Points during the Siege of Orgrimmar raid tier. While it was possible to get some gear for Justice Points at the time, Timeless Coins could buy superior gear, were fairly quick to farm, and more accessible because its source is <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/timeless-isle">Timeless Isle's</a> solo content. Furthermore, players could earn similar gear tokens and the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=103982">Burden of Eternity</a> upgrade item while farming Timeless Coins which allowed players to shift their expenditure of the currency to other items such as <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=105920">weapons</a> or <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=103685">cosmetics</a>.<br />
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Because Valor Points primarily became a gear upgrade currency when Timeless Isle was made available, <i>Timeless Coins also serves as a weird conjoining of the roles of both Justice Points and Valor Points</i> due to the great variance in item level between the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=104013">less expensive gear</a> and <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=103989">more expensive gear</a> from the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/npc=73305">Timeless Coin vendor</a>. I believe Timeless Coins may have served as the inspiration for removing Justice Points in favor of using a different currency for players to earn and gear themselves with.<br />
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<a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=823/apexis-crystal"><b>Apexis Crystals</b></a> were initially very underwhelming since they dropped in miniscule amounts relative to the amount needed to purchase gear. Because one of the only major sources of Apexis Crystals was a single <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/achievement=9564/securing-draenor">rotating daily quest</a>, Apexis Crystal income was insufficient to buy the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=116953/windcrystal-hood">gear</a> that cost thousands of Apexis Crystals initially and many thousands more to upgrade. It was faster to acquire <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=109971/frost-touched-hood&bonus=4202">similar</a> or <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=113596/vilebreath-mask&bonus=0">better versions</a> of such gear from content such as Heroic Dungeons and LFR Highmaul even if it relied on dealing with random chance.<br />
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Patch 6.2 greatly improved Apexis Crystals by increasing their abundance from <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/quests/completing-6-2-tanaan-assault-dailies-and-bonus-objectives#apexis-crystals-from-tanaan-dailies-and-bonus-events">solo content</a> and improving upon the previous iteration of Timeless Coins. Also much like with Timeless Coins, one could purchase a fairly high item level <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/miscellaneous-armor/name:baleful">gear token</a> that could be <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=128225">upgraded</a> and both could also be found randomly while farming Apexis Crystals. While Apexis Crystals started out poorly, they closed out the Warlords of Draenor expansion spectacularly and are still worth acquiring for the many <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=123974">cosmetics</a> and <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=118666">useful items</a> that can be purchased.<br />
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<a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1220/order-resources"><b>Order Resources</b></a> are much like how Apexis Crystals initially were: they didn't do much to improve the rate at which players developed in the endgame. However, unlike Apexis Crystals, Order Resources have another primary use in the form of funding missions, so it could be argued that being able to upgrade the Order Hall armor set is an afterthought in a sense. It probably didn't help that the upgrade requirements got <span id="goog_2082052945"></span><a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=140967">so demanding<span id="goog_2082052946"></span> and time-consuming</a> that the player would likely be more geared from other content by the time those requirements were met. Ultimately, Order Resources are the most tenuous analogue to Justice Points in any case and Legion effectively might as well have shipped without one.<br />
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<a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1226/nethershard"><b>Nethershards</b></a> are very similar to Apexis Crystals in the sense that they are mostly earned from solo content and are mainly used for gearing purposes. Instead of using an upgrade system, Blizzard opted to add two different types of gear tokens instead since while <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=147213">Dauntless gear tokens</a> awarded generic gear and could be found as a random drop, <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=147801">Relinquished gear tokens</a> could award any gear available from the expansion's endgame and could not be found as a random drop. This means players could earn many appearances and had a wider selection of trinkets they could acquire but they had to earn enough Nethershards to buy the gear tokens. Nethershards, much like Apexis Crystals and Timeless Coins, could also be spent on various <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=147708">cosmetics</a> and <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=147707">useful items</a>.<br />
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While I think the idea for how Nethershards is spent is pretty solid, acquisition is another story. I've already <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/07/a-review-of-two-legion-currencies.html">explained in a bit more detail</a> on why I think the acquisition methods are poor and it basically boils down to there not being enough accessible sources. I also found acquisition to be especially poor because there was some evergreen (or almost evergreen) content such as World Quests and Mythic+ Dungeons that could've served as an excellent source of Nethershards.<br />
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<a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1508/veiled-argunite"><b>Veiled Argunite</b></a> improved upon Nethershards somewhat by providing more accessible sources but not where I mentioned. Argus Rare spawns, <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/09/legions-gameplay-loop-invasion-points.html">Invasion Points</a>, and randomly spawned loot serve as sources of the currency and fortunately all of them are fairly lucrative. Veiled Argunite can also be acquired from a <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/quest=48799/fuel-of-a-doomed-world">weekly quest</a>, missions, and emissary quests. Veiled Argunite is exclusively spent on Relinquished gear tokens of a higher item level than Nethershards were able to purchase. Overall, it's nice that a lot of solo content on Argus can help a character progress towards their next Relinquished gear piece, though the system is much narrower in focus than I would like.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=151483/timewarped-badge">Timewarped Badges</a></b> are gradually becoming a timeless currency in a sense which makes sense since the Timewalking Dungeons that mainly award them are effectively timeless due to their item level downscaling to ensure there's some challenge for all applicable players. Timewarped Badges can be spent on <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=144060">gear</a> that scales with the player's current level, <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=87775">cosmetics</a>, and other <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=129943">useful</a> <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=44113">items</a>. The accessibility of items that can be purchased varies depending on which expansion's Timewalking event is active.<br />
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Blizzard has also occasionally <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=139284/anniversary-gift#contains-currency">awarded Timewarped Badges during anniversary events</a> and offers <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/npc=110035/historian-jupa">exclusive items that can be purchased with the currency</a> during such events. Timewarped Badges also featured as a currency reward in the <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/07/legions-gameplay-loop-deaths-of-chromie.html">Deaths of Chromie</a> scenario, meaning it may become more accessible to acquire outside of Timewalking events.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Justice Point System Suggestion</span></div>
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Based on the information above, I've devised the following suggestion that attempt to unify elements of previous system to produce a solid universal system that appropriately rewards players for various in-game activities. To make this suggestion easier to understand, I have split the suggestion into two sections. The first section, Acquisition, describes how Justice Points are awarded in terms of source and quantity based on analyzing all the systems above. The second section, Expenditure, determines the sort of goods players can expect to buy for this new brand of Justice Points and the pricing including situational pricing.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Acquisition</span></div>
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Acquisition of Justice Points would be much more varied than the initial implementation that focused on rewarding group content or later implementations that focused on rewarding solo content. This idea works well with my design philosophy of providing a wide variety of content to appeal to and retain many types of players and gives meaning to the idea that Justice Points are universal and time spent on most of the content in-game will offer that currency as a reward.<br />
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Having such a reward will also address the fact more content, such as World Quests, have randomized rewards that a player may not desire. This means that having a currency reward to buy gear will help to compensate for those undesired rewards, which I believe is why currencies such as Nethershards were added.<br />
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Each type of content would have a reward amount based on the activity that the player does. The following lists Justice Point reward amounts from lowest to highest and some common activities that would award that amount. The general idea is that the reward given is based on time invested, meaning significant time investments would yield greater rewards. Time gating is also taken into account in cases where it's relevant.<br />
<ul>
<li>The following activities would award 100 Justice Points:</li>
<ul>
<li>Defeating a specific Rare Spawn for the first time in a given day.</li>
<li>Completing a World Quest.</li>
<li>Defeating a Dungeon boss on any difficulty including Mythic+.</li>
<li>Defeating a Raid boss on LFR difficulty.</li>
<li>Defeating a boss in the Brawler's Guild.</li>
<li>Winning an Arena Skirmish.</li>
</ul>
<li>The following activities would award 200 Justice Points:</li>
<ul>
<li>Defeating a Raid boss on Normal or higher difficulty.</li>
</ul>
<li>The following activities would award 300 Justice Points:</li>
<ul>
<li>Completing a Random Daily Dungeon or Random Daily Heroic Dungeon.</li>
<li>Completing a LFR wing.</li>
<li>Winning a Random Battleground match.</li>
<li>Winning a PvP Brawl for any subsequent time in a week.</li>
</ul>
<li>The following activities would award 500 Justice Points:</li>
<ul>
<li>Completing the weekly event quest.</li>
<li>Looting the weekly Mythic+ chest.</li>
<li>Winning a PvP Brawl for the first time in a week.</li>
<li>Completion of a major quest chain (enough to advance or earn a zone achievement).</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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These rewards would remain constant at all levels. However, all Justice Point rewards would be reduced by 75% if the player outlevels the content by 9 or more levels to discourage players from steamrolling older content to farm Justice Points without entirely removing the reward like with the previous iteration.</div>
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Finally, Justice Points can be earned in small amounts as random loot at an average of 1-2 per enemy <i>including enemy faction corpses looted in PvP</i>. The amount gotten would typically be uncommonly earned in <abbr title="Meaning every 3-20 mobs, players can expect to loot 6-20 Justice Points"><u class="dotted">batches of 6-20</u></abbr> and if looted in a group, the amount is split between the group much like with gold to maintain the average acquisition rate. I believe the average acquisition rate is low enough to discourage <abbr title="Players can do it if they want to though..."><u class="dotted">grindy farming</u></abbr> but serves as a nice bonus when doing structured content like with all the activities listed above.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Expenditure</span></div>
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When it comes to spending Justice Points, how much it should be capped at is important to consider to give a general idea of how much players are allowed to retain in preparation for new content releases, which will be important very soon. <i>I personally think a cap of <b>5000</b> is reasonable.</i><br />
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With the cap established, the next point to address is the main item to spend Justice Points on: equipment. Much like how I opted towards having a variety of methods for acquiring Justice Points, I also opted to offer players two different options for types of purchasable gear.<br />
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The first type of gear would be fixed stat gear similar to what could previously be purchased with Justice Points and what is currently purchasable with Timewarped Badges. Since it might be a little too much work to create suitable gear of every armor type, fixed stat gear would feature jewelry, cloak, and trinket slot items. Ring slot items would have stats budgeted evenly over two secondary stats and would offer every possible combination of two different secondary stats (such as Critical Strike and Haste, etc.). Neck and cloak slot items would evenly budget its secondary stats to Critical Strike, Haste, and Mastery. Outside of making them stat sticks, trinkets can be designed at Blizzard's discretion since there's many interesting mechanics that trinkets can feature. Other gear could be added later, but I think having even these fixed stat options alone is enough to satisfy players who are a little tired of randomized rewards.<br />
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The second type of gear would be the randomly produced gear from gear tokens purchasable using currencies such as Timeless Coins and Nethershards. This means that one can purchase a gear token for a specific equipment slot and use the item to produce a piece of gear they can equip in that slot. The types of gear tokens would be similar to that of the Dauntless and Relinquished token system.<br />
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The Dauntless gear token type would produce a piece of generic <span style="color: #0070dd;">rare</span> quality gear appropriate to the player's level with two randomly selected secondary stats, meaning that players can purchase and use them at any level if they have enough Justice Points. If used at level cap, the gear would be comparable to just above entry level or, in the case of expansions like Legion, a Heroic Dungeon drop on release. The Relinquished gear token type would be offered when new raid tiers are made available or are about to be and would <i>produce gear of an item level appropriate for preparing a player for a <abbr title="In the case of Legion content, this would be about 20 item levels lower than the minimum item level that Normal raids drop"><u class="dotted">Normal raid in that tier</u></abbr></i>. The gear produced would be any gear that the player could normally get from endgame content in that expansion up to the item level of the gear token much like with past Relinquished gear tokens.<br />
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Both the first and second type of gear would cost 1000 Justice Points per piece. However, once an expansion enters its second raid tier and offers Relinquished gear tokens, gear of the highest item level that can be purchased with Justice Points would cost 1500 Justice Points per piece. This price would decrease to 1000 per piece when new, purchasable gear of a higher item level is made available within the same expansion.<br />
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For example, if this system was applied to Legion's gear tokens, which we'll call "Dauntless," "Relinquished," and "T2 Relinquished," Dauntless would always cost 1000 Justice Points, Relinquished would initially release at a price of 1500 Justice Points, but would then drop to 1000 Justice Points when T2 Relinquished released at its own 1500 Justice Point price tag.<br />
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The general idea of these specific guidelines for Justice Point gear is as follows:<br />
<ol>
<li>Players can deal with randomness to a degree by purchasing gear with fixed stats to deal with the outcome of earning suboptimal gear.</li>
<li>Players can use gear tokens to help fill slots they may not have gotten gear for to deal with the outcome of not getting gear.</li>
<li>Players can buy higher quality gear while leveling to improve the experience and get a grasp on the Justice Point system early.</li>
<li>It is fine if the Dauntless gear tokens become pointless to purchase in later tiers of an expansion since they'll still be useful for leveling players to purchase.</li>
<li>The pricing rules are consistent so that players have a good idea of how effort they need to exert to earn gear of varying power levels using this system.</li>
<li>The pricing rules are also consistent to further give players a good idea of how much they'll be rewarded for accumulating currency in preparation for new releases. In this case, a player will be able to buy 3 pieces of gear when new gear tokens are made available, which is <abbr title="Which to be fair does not equate to around 20% of less of character power since different gear slots provide different levels of benefits."><u class="dotted">around 20% or less of the player's gear slots</u></abbr>.</li>
</ol>
Beyond gear, Justice Points will need a sink not just because I plan to cap them at 5000, but also because they'll accumulate fairly quickly from normal play but might not always need to be spent on gear. In this case I think there's a few fairly decent ways to sink Justice Points based on past systems.<br />
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<i>The first sink would be to offer reagents for Justice Points at a premium price much like in Cataclysm</i>. Since players may want to sink Justice Points while leveling, offering every single possible reagent individually would be impractical. Instead, I suggest that there are multiple satchels containing various materials like with the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=68813/satchel-of-freshly-picked-herbs">herb satchel</a> that one could purchase in Cataclysm. Specifically, there could be satchels for ore, herbs, cloth, leather, cooking materials, and enchanting materials.<br />
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In addition, there could be specific satchels available for each expansion so players can have more agency over the materials they get. To prevent potential botting-related abuse, opening satchels requires the player to be of a high enough level to experience that expansion's content. For example, a Wrath of the Lich King reagent satchel would require <abbr title="Because of level scaling..."><u class="dotted">level 60</u></abbr>. However, this is not entirely necessary and the reagents awarded could be at any level or based on the opening player's level instead.<br />
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In terms of specific numerical information regarding the reagent satchels, I think 2500 Justice Points is a good price for a satchel that contains 20 of a common reagent on average. Satchels can also contain a smaller quantity of rarer reagents with <span style="color: #1eff00;">uncommon</span> counting as 2 common reagents, <span style="color: #0070dd;">rare</span> counting as 5, and <span style="color: #a335ee;">epic</span> counting as 10.<br />
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If this sink seems pricey,<i> there is another option and it's one that makes me thankful that Blizzard implemented so many Justice Point analogues even if I think they waste slots in the Currency tab.</i> Since these analogue currencies can be spent on cosmetics and other useful items, <i>being able to convert Justice Points into these currencies effectively allows players to buy all those items for Justice Points</i>. The conversion rate need not be that generous but it should be possible to purchase some moderately expensive items when converting thousands of Justice Points. For example, a 1:1 conversion ratio from Justice Points to Nethershards is probably fair. In addition to this, Justice Points could also be used to purchase <a href="https://wow.gamepedia.com/Bonus_roll">bonus roll</a> currency including future ones.<br />
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Finally, <i>Justice Points could be spent to inefficiently convert it into usable currency on alts</i>. One may have noticed I did not mention making gear tokens account-bound and while randomly acquired gear tokens could be account bound, I do not think purchasable ones should be. I do not believe there's any need to when I can instead suggest a way for players to send some of their surplus Justice Points to alts to gear them up faster. When it comes to a specific conversion ratio, I think it's fine to be a bit generous so I think a 500 Justice Point bind-on-account cache for the price of 1000 Justice Points would allow for a nice 2:1 conversion ratio. Larger versions of this could also be made available if bulk purchasing cannot be implemented.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Final Statements</span></div>
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Much like with my other suggestions, it would be nice to see it in game in its full form but it's more likely that elements will be derived. What I think is the most important element is that Blizzard continues to offer currencies like Justice Points in order to add an element of consistency to player progression. This is especially important since the game has historically been full of randomized rewards and Legion upped the ante in that regard. The best way for a currency like this to successfully work is to have it be a common reward from many sources much like how Artifact Power was in Legion so that players always feel like they're earning something for the time and effort spent even if they do not desire other rewards from that content.<br />
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While the title of my article expresses a strong desire to specifically bring back Justice Points and I do believe having a currency that lasts for more than one raid tier or expansion makes it useful throughout every stage of a content release cycle, it is okay to keep releasing specific currency for purchasing gear as long as what I mentioned above holds true. Also, the currency need not be called Justice Points. It could just as easily be called Badge of Justice to cater to nostalgia, but I do think name recognition of the currency is important since my ideal situation is to have the currency last for as long as the game does.<br />
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Also worth noting is that while I listed specific values for Justice Point rewards, pricing, and cap, they can be adjusted if needed. Those values are what I considered to represent a good pace at which players should expect to earn gear using Justice Points.<br />
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Finally, while I implied it somewhat in the article, I should make it clear <i>I do not want Valor Points to come back</i>. The acquisition of Valor Points was heavily time-gated and encouraged unenjoyable grinding for gear often comparable to what can be acquired from Normal raids. Instead, I believe they serve a better role as <b>Valor</b> and should return to allow players to upgrade gear for reasons that I explained in my article on <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-quest-to-fix-titanforging.html">Titanforging</a>. I think there only needs to be one universally acquired currency for buying gear with and if a tiered gear purchasing system needs to be added, prices can be adjusted much like how I suggested.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-24039876418476081202018-03-12T15:02:00.003-07:002018-03-14T05:47:07.505-07:00Leveling Quick Fixes: Treasure Hunting and Creep Camps<span style="font-size: x-small;">This article is part of a series. Click <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2018/01/leveling-quick-fixes-intro.html">here</a> to go to the intro article where a table of contents is available.</span><br />
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The act of finding treasure in WoW has gone through two distinct stages that both encourage some form of exploration. The first involved finding a randomly spawned treasure chest in an encampment with randomized goods which would upset modern gamers but is based on a traditional RPG staple of filling enemy camps with loot. In this case, such chests typically required the player to search surroundings that quest objectives lead them to. Fixed treasure spawns were added in Mists of Pandaria and as the name implies, they always spawn in the same area. They often yield roughly the same loot but each character can only loot it once. These treasures are often hidden and require the player to go off the beaten path to find.<br />
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Creep camps, which were camps filled with enemies in Warcraft 3, played a similar role in encouraging exploration and often featured exceptionally powerful enemies that dropped useful items. This feature exists to a degree in WoW but even though I have fond memories of finding a treasure-laden camp guarded by quilboar including a rare spawn "leader," such experiences never quite held a candle to similar experiences in Warcraft 3.<br />
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Ultimately, I believe the idea of embracing creep camps and discoverable treasures as forms of leveling content makes for a great quick fix that can be implemented in many tiny installments. The result would be a gradual enrichment of the leveling experience that makes it more enjoyable for both new and experienced players by adding a sense of wonder through discovery.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Treasures and Creep Camps as Leveling Content</span></div>
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Treasures, as I've mentioned above, fall under two classifications. Randomly spawned treasure is simple to implement since it's already present and would simply involve adding more locations where treasure chests and other <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/object=3659/barrel-of-melon-juice">similarly</a> <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/object=3658/water-barrel">rewarding</a> <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/object=3662/food-crate">objects</a> spawn. Treasure spawn rate should also be considered and in my opinion the base rate should be upped substantially in addition to scaling the spawn rate with the amount of players in a given zone.<br />
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Fixed spawn treasure would require more care to add since all leveling zones prior to Mists of Pandaria lack such treasures. A good ground rule to follow when adding spawn locations for these treasures is to consider spots that are infrequently explored or would make good areas to hide something in plain sight. Blizzard has already been pretty good about placing fixed spawn treasures though so I'm confidence they can find many places in lower level zones to hide exploration rewards.<br />
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Creep camps are a little more complex and require more extensive ground rules. As a general rule, I think they should be visible but out of the way so that questing players can consider the option of checking an unrelated area to see what it has to offer. A few can also be hidden in a manner similar to fixed spawn treasures so that if players can receive a pleasant surprise if they happen upon them. Creep camps can contain typical enemies and destructibles, both of which can yield loot, much like their Warcraft 3 counterparts. However, not all creep camps need to follow this convention and some could instead be filled with neutral or friendly mobs or maybe consist of an empty, ransacked camp with hidden loot and destructible objects.<br />
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Creep camps should also have variant details so that each leveling experience in the area can feel a little different even if the player happens upon the same camp. While this can be accomplished by adding timed phase changes like with World Quests initially, a good end goal to strive for is a more organic system where various mobs contest control of a camp from each other. The winners of such conflicts, which should generally be the aggressor if possible, take it over and change aspects of the camp such as the enemy type, rewards, and decorative objects (like banners and destructibles).<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rewards</span></div>
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In general, both treasures and creep camps should have some global rewards that allows for comparison with other leveling activities so players can weigh how they spend their time. With that said, experience outside of killing mobs at a creep camp is not one of those rewards. Instead, <i>I think the global rewards should consist of the Justice Point-like currency I mentioned in my previous article in this series and runes</i>, a consumable inspired by Warcraft 3, WoW Battlegrounds, and a similar feature in recent endgame zones that is instantly used when it is looted or interacted with. The former would be useful for purchasing gear tokens and other goods while the latter provides a personal benefit that is useful for leveling in some way. Examples of rune effects could include healing all nearby players, adding Rested experience, and proving moderate-duration buffs that only work outside of competitive instances. While runes could be made an exclusive reward from treasures and creep camps, similar consumables could be purchasable for the Justice Point-like currency and (eventually) craftable with Inscription.<br />
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In terms of specifics, random treasures in particular need a serious overhaul. One aspect of the overhaul is to increase the frequency of discovery, which was addressed in the previous section. However, I think it would also help to improve the loot especially when considering level scaling mechanics are considered. <i>This is why I think loot should either be appropriate to the character's level if it's within the zone's level bracket or based on a random level within the bracket if not.</i> Loot should also be more consistent and typically award at least one <span style="color: lime;">uncommon</span> <abbr title="Bind on equip"><u class="dotted">BoE</u></abbr> item in addition to the various consumables, reagents, and/or money that the treasure normally yields. The exception to this is objects that are intended to reward specific loot such as the food and drink containers I linked above since the rate of appearance and where they appear are different and can therefore be independently controlled.<br />
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Meanwhile, fixed treasures could draw inspiration for rewards from every iteration of fixed treasure. This means loot can range from <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1220/order-resources">currency</a> to <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=86473/the-hammer-of-folly">flavorful vendor junk</a> to <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=116122/burning-legion-missive">toys</a> to <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=88723/sturdy-yaungol-spear">gear</a>. To make the process of adding fixed treasures easier, there should be an emphasis on rewards such as the former two since most of the effort spent on implementation would be used to carefully place many treasures instead of determining what they yield. More thoughtfully designed treasure can be added in small amounts periodically or backloaded.<br />
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Creep camps will typically have mobs which should yield a slightly enhanced version of their standard rewards (up to a 25% bonus) to compensate for the extra time spent traveling and the fact not every camp will contain killable mobs. Destructibles in the camp may yield loot from the world drop loot table in addition to frequently awarding vendor junk. Creep camps are also an excellent place to put randomly spawned treasure which should contain the standard rewards described above. Finally, if there is time to implement it, creep camps could reward bonus experience in additional ways such as a turn-in quest that can be looted from mobs or destructibles there.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Implementation Logistics</span></div>
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I think implementation of treasures and creep camps is quite cut and dry. Every patch could easily add many random treasure nodes and some fixed treasure nodes. Encampments that are in-game but not seeing a lot of use can be gradually converted into creep camps that initially have static mob spawns with each patch as well. Meanwhile, more demanding work such as the rework of random treasure loot and more intricate creep camp design can be implemented later.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Goals This Feature Accomplishes</span></div>
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Adding both of these features accomplishes one of the goals in the intro article thoroughly which as I've mentioned above repeatedly is immersion primarily through exploration. Much like with rare spawns, players have to be observant outside of the usage of an addon especially when it comes to discovering treasures since even a randomly spawned treasure may be hiding in plain sight. Fixed treasures can improve upon the immersion through their loot since even vendor trash can tell a short story through its flavor text much like with many Pandaria treasures. Creep camps help to give the world more life by showing there's many tiny settlements that are or were full of NPCs doing their own thing.<br />
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Both of these features may eventually be able to give way to some practical tutorials. For example, finding a treasure may also require some platforming elements and creep camps may have enemies that provide a mechanical challenge. However, these would take more time and care to develop which is why I opted out of making such suggestions. I also find most of the articles for this series focus more on the idea of producing practical tutorials over enhancing the immersiveness of the leveling experience so hopefully this article balances that out.<br />
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To close, I think this is one of the most practical suggestions out of the entire series to implement because it can be done over many small installments without further fragmenting the leveling experience. I do not personally mind if the experience is temporarily fragmented further in favor of a good end goal but having an option like this available allows for plans that don't resort to such a method.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-11911549660947288982018-02-28T07:53:00.004-08:002018-02-28T07:53:15.930-08:00How to Improve Missions in WoWSince their inception in Warlords of Draenor, missions have been met with a fair bit of negativity. This is understandable since for the expansion they were introduced in was rather lacking in solo content until patch 6.2, which only did so much to account for the deficiency and still had a problem with <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/07/world-of-warcraft-problem-with-time.html">time-gated content</a>. The fact they were also highly rewarding to the point of being <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/forums&topic=251468">heavily nerfed</a> prior to the release of Legion probably didn't help matters.<br />
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While Legion's iteration of missions may not have done much to improve the view of some players, I personally think it addressed a few major issues with the chief among them being that mission content became side content fueled by <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/currency=1220/order-resources">resources</a> that was typically acquired from other content. Order Hall missions weren't without their problems though since they are highly reward and were used to time gate some content including key features such as the third relic slot on one's Artifact. Fortunately, improvements continued throughout the expansion that eventually culminated into removing missions as a requirement to progress major quest chains in favor of creating optional quest chains specifically for missions.<br />
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The upcoming Battle for Azeroth expansion appears to promise the return of missions, which reflects statements made in a <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/forums&topic=275922">number of interviews</a>. Missions are also <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/forums&topic=282074">showing up in builds</a> of the expansion. Some may wish to see them gone entirely much like with other features like <a href="https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20752579475">Looking For Raid</a>, but I see a lot of good things that could come out of missions. In this article I'll summarize what can be learned from Order Hall missions and use that information, along with information from a certain other game I've been playing a lot of recently, to suggest improvements to future iterations of missions.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lessons From Legion</span></div>
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As I mentioned in the introduction, the Legion iteration of missions had improvements but was also not without its flaws. Highlighting what was good and bad will be useful for determining how missions in Battle for Azeroth should be designed.<br />
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What immediately comes to mind is that missions started out in a pretty good spot since, as I also mentioned above and in a <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/11/legions-gameplay-loop-order-hall.html">past article</a>, missions required the acquisition of Order Resources that were primarily earned from doing content such as World Quests and Dungeons. <i>While I was concerned about how rewarding some of the missions were, the requirement to do other content to do missions is a good idea to use going forward since it effectively makes missions serve as a bonus reward for other content that encourages increased participation.</i> Furthermore, since some missions had rewards that gave a quest to do content such as dungeons and raids, a feedback loop of sorts was established that involved shifted between doing other content and missions.<br />
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Unfortunately, this dynamic changed over time as Order Resource acquisition was improved in a number of ways <i>that ultimately made the prospect of running missions highly self-sufficient</i>. On release, there were ways to run missions without leaving the Order Hall but it was exclusive to the 6 classes that could research <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=140158/empowered-rift-core">World Quest completion items</a>. However, this required a bit of luck and based on the comments, the effectiveness of the item was buffed in 7.1 to allow the completion of more rewarding World Quests (though I cannot confirm this information). <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=142156/order-resources-cache">Order Resource caches</a> were also added in 7.1 along with the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=124124/blood-of-sargeras">Blood of Sargeras</a> vendor.<br />
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Patch 7.2 then introduced Paragon reputation rewards, which was a good example of how to do a Paragon system but had the consequence of awarding a cache that always provides some Order Resources. This in addition to missions that can award reputation tokens helped to improve the self-sustenance of missions a little further. In addition, since reputation tokens became account-bound after a character became exalted with a respective reputation, paragon reputation rewards could be redeemed on characters that were Order Resource-starved, effectively allowing one to transfer Order Resources even more than the Blood of Sargeras trader allowed for.<br />
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Patch 7.3 featured the aforementioned improvement of removing mission-related requirements from major quest chains. Instead, it further cemented the role of missions as side content by creating a quest chain that involved completing missions and empowering champions to unlock new missions that served as a form of exclusive progression similar to Pet Battles. <i>The idea of having mission-based progression as side content is one that I think should be emphasized more in the future</i>, but some of the rewards were questionable.<br />
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The rewards featured a slew of new missions that awarded a fair amount of gold, <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=151568/primal-sargerite">Primal Sargerite</a>, and Blood of Sargeras. The latter was the most concerning since if the bonus reward was earned, which was made easier to do with the addition of new champion equipment, one earned more Order Resources than they spent on the mission. Specifically, it was possible to earn a surplus of 600 Order Resources every time they completed a 200% success chance mission for Blood of Sargeras, which greatly improved the self-sufficiency of running missions.<br />
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All of these changes ultimately allowed for the ability to run Order Hall missions in a manner similar to Garrison missions where there's barely any need to leave but the player can produce a <a href="https://i.imgur.com/tj7XKv9.png">fairly high amount of gold income</a>. It is no surprise then that Order Hall missions are starting to get <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/forums&topic=281085">nerfed</a>.<br />
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Based on this summary, I have determined the following information to be useful to consider for improving missions:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Missions should be a form of side content that isn't required to advance in major content such as through quest chains that unlock important features.</li>
<li>However, missions should be advantageous to do in a sense, preferably by driving players to do major content in some sort of way.</li>
<li>Missions should try to avoid gold rewards and other rewards that can significantly impact income. The consequences of rewarding players too much for doing missions can be very great and in the case of gold rewards, may contribute to more inflation that may cause issues for newer players among other problems.</li>
<li>Missions should also require a little effort to keep running instead of using a self-sufficient system. Making the ability to run missions self-sufficient greatly undermines the purpose of missions being used as an engine to drive participation in other content.</li>
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<span style="font-size: large;">An Idea From Another Game</span></div>
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Putting the lessons learned from Legion to good use in Battle for Azeroth's missions is a big help especially for preventing them from becoming an unchecked money-making machine that requires eventual intervention. However, I personally think more can be done with missions to put further emphasis on their purpose as an engine to do other content. This brings me to a recent game I played that briefly utilized a concept I could see being used in WoW.<br />
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Xenoblade Chronicles 2 utilizes a similar feature to WoW's missions in the form of Merc Missions. It plays in a similar manner that involves sending out units equivalent to champions or followers in WoW on missions that are completed after some amount of time. The player can then earn various rewards. While Merc Missions are more intertwined with the game itself there was one specific type of mission that caught my eye and they were missions with no listed duration.<br />
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These missions initially confused me since I was unsure what one was supposed to do so I tried to do one and cancelled it after a while. I later learned these missions required the player to go to a location where they would then start a quest and the mission would complete. <i>This inspired me to come up with a similar, albeit unoriginal, idea of having similar missions in WoW that add World Quests to the map for the player to do.</i> Having such missions would not only drive players to do other content but it would also create the other content that the player has to do, which may have an additional benefit of exposing players to further content that the game's world has to offer such as other World Quests.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">My Suggestion for Missions</span></div>
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Based on all the information above, I have come up with a specific suggestion for how missions should be designed in the future. Not all missions necessarily need to be designed this way but I would strongly prefer if the vast majority of them are.<br />
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As I mentioned already, it would be best if missions were a form of side content, which Legion has already done a pretty good job at accomplishing despite some issues. To prevent future concerns, missions should entirely refrain from awarding gold and only a small number of missions should provide immediate rewards without further player intervention, which I will classify as "reward missions." The rewards themselves could consist of non-gold currencies, reputation tokens, and items relevant to missions such as champion equipment.<br />
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About half of the remaining missions would also not require player intervention from the mission itself but instead of providing a usable reward it would give the player a quest to do some non-mission objective such as completing a dungeon, which I will classify as "task missions." Making task missions more common compared to Legion would increase the emphasis of driving players missions and other content due to the stronger association between the two. However, there is a possible issue where missions may feel mandatory to get the most out of other content. Therefore, the ultimate reward of task missions should be similar to that of reward missions in most cases with the exception of the infrequently offered raid quests.<br />
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Finally, remaining missions would add a World Quest to the map for the player to complete. These missions would be similar to reward missions but take much longer to naturally complete for about half of the normal reward. Players can complete the World Quest to expedite the completion of the mission and earn rewards that are also to half the normal reward of a reward mission. The idea of these "World Quest missions" is to provide a faster method for earning rewards from missions but doing so requires more effort.<br />
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The result of this suggestion is that there would be more active options for players who prefer not to idle for their rewards, which coincides nicely with my ideal mission design. This suggestion also could be of benefit to more idle players since tying some missions to other content may eliminate the need to use currency to run missions. This in turn would allow idle players to ignore other content in favor of missions if they want as long as they're willing to accept it won't make them incredibly wealthy like past iterations of missions.<br />
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Ultimately, I think missions need to change a bit more to reach an ideal state of being side content that isn't too impactful on the game's state while serving as a feature at least some players can enjoy. It may never end up as optional as features such as Pet Battles, but it can certainly take many beneficial directions.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33921290551111841.post-87259866516039089402018-02-16T13:43:00.002-08:002020-03-11T22:49:21.651-07:00Some Thoughts on Hearthstone's Dungeon RunsGaming can be met with a fair bit of press from time to time, such as with the recent <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/11/my-thoughts-on-loot-box-issue.html">loot box controversy</a>. In this regard, free to play games are some of the most egregious offenders when utilizing such a system unethically largely due to how mobile games, many of which have the very similar gacha, operate. Hearthstone is not innocent in this regard and while it may be similar to the physical trading card games, that doesn't change the fact there's both a pay to win element and card packs with poor minimum rewards and thus a poor return on investment (either of time or money). Since the latter point was a bit easier to resolve, it served as the basis for my article on <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/12/improving-hearthstones-monetization.html">improving Hearthstone's monetization</a>.<br />
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However, instead of writing yet an article with a strongly negative tone and ranting about various related topics, I instead wanted to highlight Hearthstone's <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Dungeon_Run">Dungeon Run</a> that was added in the Kobolds and Catacombs expansion since, while my opinions are that original in this regard, I think it's great single player content that helps to address issues with the game. I also think there's some useful concepts that can be derived and used to drive content development in games like WoW.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A Brief Description of Dungeon Runs</span></div>
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Dungeon Runs in Hearthstone currently consist of choosing a class to battle eight bosses in succession. Players start with a premade deck based on their class and receive a set of three cards after each match based on one of three thematics that the player chooses from. They also receive a treasure every few matches that consists of either a high-power card or a passive effect. To make each run different, each match draws from a large pool of bosses that, depending on how progressed the player is in the run, will be of a suitable power level. The run concludes with one of five end bosses that players can more consistently plan ahead for.</div>
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Dungeon Runs currently don't provide much in the way of a reward but can be played for free with cards the player may not own.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What Dungeon Runs Provide to Hearthstone Players</span></div>
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When it comes to benefits that Hearthstone players enjoy from Dungeon Runs, the first thing that comes to mind is that it serves as an always-present, free way to play with a full collection of cards. While deckbuilding is not as open as creating a deck from the collection, some restrictions such as how many duplicates of a card are allowed are relaxed much like in <a href="https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Arena">Arena</a>, resulting in insanely powerful decks such as any decks that summon Jade Golems. This fact in addition to treasures allows players to go on a power trip for a brief time without frustrating a human opponent, though that doesn't mean there isn't great adversity that may bring that fun to an abrupt end. </div>
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Fortunately, much like with Play Mode, players can participate in Dungeon Runs to their heart's content, which in itself is great since a feature like this in some other games may be gated by a <a href="https://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2017/09/thoughts-on-some-types-of-monetization.html">lives system</a> or the like. Instead, Dungeon Runs seem to rely on the replayability provided by the variance of cards and treasures offered to the player as well as the different boss encounters and sequences to encourage player participation.</div>
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What I can ultimately conclude is that Dungeon Runs most benefit players who have a small collection. This includes newer players, players who play sporadically, and players who spend little to no money on the game. However, I think all players benefit in some way even if they have a complete collection since there's a fairly exclusive experience to be had from Dungeon Runs, as I've described above.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Concepts to Derive for Other Games</span></div>
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<i>The replayability of Hearthstone's Dungeon Runs that is provided by its somewhat procedural generation of content, which in itself shows random elements can lead to a positive player experience, is something that I could see adding to a lot of games</i>. Doing so should improve the gameplay experience without much downside and while it may require meticulous planning to put such a system in place, once that is done various aspects can be tweaked to alter the experience and provide even more variance. For example, Dungeon Runs vary card offerings, card set offerings, treasure offerings, and bosses. Replacing or adding new entities to each of these parts effectively renews the experience, even if the replacements and/or additions are small in scale.<br />
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When it comes to adding such a feature to an existing game, an easy way to provide a similar type of replayability is to add a set of modifiers to existing content. For example, WoW does this with <a href="http://postmasterinterest.blogspot.com/2016/12/legions-gameplay-loop-dungeons.html">Mythic+ dungeons</a> by using affixes that are present at specific difficulty level thresholds. These affixes add a specific mechanic or otherwise modify enemies in the dungeon based on the name of the affix and two are drawn from a pool of many while the third toggles between two specific affixes. Even though there's some arguably unfair combinations, the <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/mythic-keystones-and-dungeons-guide#affixes-volcanic">11 affixes</a> as of this writing that are used, in addition to the toggling third provide <abbr title="(11 * 10 * 2)"><u class="dotted">220</u></abbr> permutations to choose from, so there's plenty of room for making Mythic+ dungeons at a high level feel different. The affix system also allows for further tweaks much like with the numerous variables that can be tweaked in Hearthstone's Dungeon Runs.<br />
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<i>Another concept I think could be derived and used from Dungeon Runs is the idea of expressing generosity as an investment to improve player retention through fun.</i> While Adventure Mode could technically do the same in Hearthstone, it's a bit more collection-reliant and there's only one set of encounters that are free to access. Meanwhile, Dungeon Runs require no collection, let alone much of an investment, to enter yet allow the player to effectively play with a whole collection. The sandbox experience is a bit of a bonus that may ultimately provide many, many hours of entertainment.</div>
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<i>I think this concept best applies to games that have a strong emphasis on the collecting aspect since it's easy to fall into the trap of encouraging players to spend money to build their collections to take advantage of one's desires to complete or, more importantly, compete</i>. Features such as Dungeon Runs would instead attempt to "manipulate" players with an enjoyable experience that may result in them spending money out of a show of support instead of perceived necessity. With that said, I think Hearthstone is far from perfect in regards to accomplishing this goal.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Conclusion</span></div>
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I think Dungeon Runs are a big step forward in terms of making Hearthstone a game that can be enjoyed by more players. It's a free experience that can provide numerous hours of entertainment that has high replayability that helps to combat the fatigue of repetition. However, I still think other parts of the game need improvement such as the card collecting aspect, which is why I wish to see my suggestions or at least similar suggestions from another player, make their way into the game. I also think Dungeon Runs can be expounded upon further with additional bosses and other additions that increase the permutability, as well as the replayability, further.Interesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09389182364523437832noreply@blogger.com0