But i dont think that blizzard should be focusing on solo content rather than the multiplayer oriented Raiding. Its and MMO, its made to be played with a slew of other people where you make groups and take down bosses who would be too tough to take out on your own. its made to socialize. How would it impact the game if blizz started cranking out solo content and it became near impossible to get groups because everyone wanted to get the new axe that drops from their solo encounter.

Blizzard has been focusing on a median as well, recently they released new 5-man and 5-man heroic instances that are easy to get into.(examples of such are The Pit of Saron, Forge of Souls, and Halls of Reflection.) All of these instances and raids are furthering the story of Warcraft, which most of its subscribers are interested in.

i just dont think making solo content is the answer, however world events i just cant get enough of.

(i spent hours infecting stormwind and ironforge with the zombie plague)

You can always go back to the per-hour pay scheme of MUDs, you know

Well, seriously I (as a F2P MMO gamedesigner ) see the free2play model, with the direct transaction of $ into gold (without “premium features” and pay-only content) as ideal for me as a player. Really, it is just fair: you can grind gold in game – and you can also grind it on your daily job Also, it gives up to 40$ per user (and 200$ per paying user), which is much more better than traditional subscription fee (for me as a developer, of course)

I fear a more dynamic world needs to be build from ground up with this idea in mind, and WoW wasn’t.

Indeed. WoW really only persists character state (which includes phasing state) and raid/heroic instance status. Everything else is either on disk (terrain, world map objects) or in memory (doodad state, mobs). Changing that (for player housing, for example) would require a large overhaul of the engine.

This reminds me of the old Catch 22 for someone who is trying to break into a particular field of employment:

“I can’t get a job because I don’t have enough experience.”

“I can’t get experience until someone gives me a job.”

It’s the same way with MMOs. How can we expect someone to know how to tank, heal, crowd control, etc. when nobody will trust them because they have no experience.

These are the basic class skills that Blizzard should be teaching players in the early to mid levels.

For example about a year ago I was the main paladin tank for an Aussie guild and we’d raid Kara a few times each week. It took me a few months of research — I’m not kidding here — to figure out how to tank with a paladin because back then the mechanics of that class were so esoteric and bizzarre (this from a MMO veteran who has played a tanking warrior for many years). I had to pour over various paladin only forums and EJ forums just to figure out the optimum talents, gear, where to get that gear and enchants.

Nobody should be forced to take a college course to learn how to play a class that is essential for the enjoyment of 9 other people i.e. a raid. Rather it should all be taught to a player *within* the MMO.

These are the kinds of things that MMO designers should get gently introducing to players in those formative levels. Instead they have abandoned all responsibility and basically let players solo.

I once had someone tank Caverns of Time who levelled to 80 as warrior and NEVER had to tank, also has rarely seen an instance where he was not pulled through by a high level player.

Most players left the group, “no point”. But when was the guy supposed to learn the ropes. The early game is indeed empty, and alts of players who already know the game are often not forgiving to newbies either, and there are not that many totally new players anymore. And the new players are indeed playing through the game to max level and then they want to raid.

Dumbing down the existing raids for them does not solve that problem at all. I agree that there should be easier entry raids, but it still does not address the problem.

Regarding “live dynamic events”: HELL, yes! Going to work every day is probably more exciting and challenging than static content.

I remember people complaining about the zombie plague being a disruption, which embarrassed me. They said the poor newbies that got ganked in starter areas, but I know that a lot started complaining after their bank alt got butchered in the auction house and they had trouble auctioning their stuff.

I personally deem that to be very funny.

Blizzard used a technology used “phasing” to tell some events, like the battle for Undercity. It is actually very similar to the instancing used in other games. I fear a more dynamic world needs to be build from ground up with this idea in mind, and WoW wasn’t.

http://kotaku.com/5271201/and-then-free-realms-surpassed-2-million-players