The uproar that has occurred over Blizzard’s proposal to reward tanks for dipping in a toe into the LFG system has been very interesting. One comment that I have seen come up over and over again is that Blizzard has to encourage, (bribe), players to do things in the game that are not fun. Which is astonishing for a couple of reasons. First of all, 5 man instance runs used to be, (a long time ago I might add), one of the most enjoyable things to do in the game. The second reason this is astonishing is the simple fact that Blizzard has designed the Cataclysm expansion around Heroic 5 mans. So we have a problem here. Blizzard has even admitted in the patch notes that doing these things might not be very fun. It’s all a giant head-fuck really because, I thought so anyway …
… that a game is supposed to be fun.
A while ago, a couple of expansions to be exact, Blizzard decided that they didn’t want to lose any players at all, even those who were regular nasty ninja trolls. Because those types of players still pay their monthly subscription, and there may well be a lot more of them than we realise. But because those players couldn’t get a dungeon run on their realm due to their terrible reputation, Blizzard thought up the LFG system.
The above is partly true. It leaves out one bit though; the fact that a lot of other players wanted the LFG system as well. It’s called instant gratification. The problem with it is that you can not only never get enough, but each bit that you get makes the next part less gratifying. I originally wanted to title this post, “No Retard Left Behind”, but it’s just not accurate enough. This game was not about the accumulation of shinies as an end in itself. It was about a game experience that sometimes rewarded you with one or two shinies as an added bonus. WoW has become the MacDonalds of videogames.
The LFG system promotes anti-social behavior, the dual spec system opens up tanks and healers to have a DPS spec, and the homoginization of classes means that any DPS is as good as the next one. The solution to the problem of there being very few tanks willing to brave the LFG system is going to have to come down to a lot more than a bag of goodies. That is unless Blizzard has already thrown in the towel. I’m of the opinion that WoW is not fixable anymore, for the simple reason that the core player base has changed so much over the last two expansions that attempting to take it back to what it was, essentially rebuild the WoW community just wouldn’t be feasible. People have been saying to take away the LFG system and revert back to a realm only search engine, but that just isn’t possible with today’s playerbase. They tried it in a half hearted way by making Heroics difficult again this expansion and look how well that has turned out.
Successful businesses are like successful people; they learn from their mistakes. So what can Blizzard learn here? They could learn that a game’s community is quite possibly the single most important aspect of an MMO’s success and that you tamper with that at your peril, and that hopefully they will take that lesson across to their new Titan MMO and not make this same mistake again. That’s the response most of you would like to see me write, yeah?
However, there is another lesson that Blizzard can learn from this. Tampering with a community to try and appeal to the lowest common denominator will certainly fuck up in the long run, but while it lasts you can make a hell of a lot of money.
April 11, 2011 at 11:35 pm
Dear Adam,
A very well said thought. I agree with nearly all of it (of course; it’s never all of it 100%). I think you’re dead on about how the “fun” has changed and that it has changed the player base. I also agree that this band-aid might reignite some interest but that it won’t do much over the long run.
Where we differ is on the topic of fixability. Wow could be fixed. They’re in the process of trying to do so now. However, it takes people 7 times longer to unlearn something than to learn it the first time. We have to unlearn all of WotLK (several different aspects of it) and a good part of BC before we can begin the relearning, and that may take more time than WoW has, or Blizz is willing to work, or we’re willing to wait.
That said, I don’t think WoW will be fixed, though I believe it could, and that, in the end, is the same as it not being able to be fixed, so really, we agree. What a convoluted sentence that turned out to be.
Great post!
Sincerely,
Stubborn
April 11, 2011 at 11:48 pm
“But because those players couldn’t get a dungeon run on their realm due to their terrible reputation, Blizzard thought up the LFG system.” I don’t think this was the reason. I just didn’t see people act like such fuckwads so often, suggesting either different players or that the threat of no groups was an effective deterrent. It’s those sad underpopulated realms that caused the problem, that and Blizzard’s fear of server merges (looks bad) or more aggressive population management.
April 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm
I agree, I think the LFD was a made as a “sneaky” type of server merge, the kind they hid as a feature rather than a sign of population decline.
Even with the LFD Blizzard seems content to let some realms wallow with horrendous population problems rather than server merges, which has only gotten worse since realm and faction changes were introduced (Alliance on Cho’gall comes to mind, but this is a major problem across many servers).
April 12, 2011 at 12:36 am
Blizzard tries to keep everyone happy. They decided that dungeons are for kids, casuals and morons, and raids are for those who want a real challenge. If you want a challenge, but don’t want to raid, you’re out of luck. Too bad for them tanking is still considered hard or too much responsibility.
And please stop saying heroics are harder. That was marketing BS to convince you to buy the expansion. Players aren’t outgearing them yet, that’s all, it’s always been like that.
April 12, 2011 at 2:32 am
I’m sorry, when were 5m dungeons the most fun thing to do in the game?
Your revisionist, rose-colored history is cute, but if you imagine that MMO design was ever not about the shinies, especially in WoW where all forms of character progression stopped at the level cap, I don’t know what to tell you. Other than maybe reading this post by Bashiok on “Old WoW.”
April 12, 2011 at 10:37 am
I distinctly remember writing that 5 mans used to be one of the most fun things to do in the game. And they were for me, rose coloured glasses or not.
April 12, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Why do people assume that anything fun in the past is only nostalgia? We didn’t play for years to be miserable. We played because it was fun.
April 12, 2011 at 10:43 pm
Thanks, Klep. So true.
April 12, 2011 at 6:37 am
Actually using LFD is not mandatory, and not even gives any bonuses (the goody bags will be a change here). You are free to make your groups the old way and keep away from the LFD trash. I do exactly that.
April 12, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Maybe I don’t like cars and would prefer to take my morning commute to work on horseback.
Technically it’s possible and my choice, but I live in a modern city that certainly isn’t built to accommodate people who like to do it ‘the old way’.
The point being, you technically can organize 5-mans the old way (particularly if you have a large guild who want to run them), but the culture has changed. There are new challenges because the world has moved on.
April 12, 2011 at 10:42 pm
Jesus Christ, that’s a stupid analogy. The culture of gaming hasn’t changed; the structure of the game we were playing was changed and we were forced to go along with it. This is just as stupid as those people who say, “Well gee, if you don’t like the LFG system then don’t use it. Just get a group another way,” when the simple fact of the matter is that when 99% of players are using an in-game tool to access a game feature then you have no choice but to use it as well unless you already know key players to go with.
April 13, 2011 at 12:29 am
Adam, I think Fidjit agrees with you, even if you don’t like his analogy, he’s essentially saying “structure changed, we have little choice but to follow.”
April 13, 2011 at 1:21 am
Yeah, sorry if that didn’t come across well, as Klep kindly pointed out I meant “structure changed, we have little choice but to follow.”
However, I do also think the culture of the game has changed as a result of it (ie player expectations about what a dungeon run looks like), but I suppose that’s another story.
April 13, 2011 at 10:29 am
Oh right, see that now, my bad.
April 12, 2011 at 2:44 pm
I think you’re right on some points here, Adam. I agree with the idea that this entire problem – which Blizzard is attempting to fix (and that fix really could go either way) can be traced back to the introduction of the RFD, which has sent waves through the rest of the game.
What I will say though, to counterbalance that point, is that there was most definitely a tank shortage before the RFD. Unless you had a friend who was a tank, it would take A LONG TIME to find a pick up tank. Tank and to some extent healer shortage is an ongoing problem.
April 12, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Sweet fresh air is only sweet and fresh the first time you breathe it.