Breakfast Topic: What game mechanic should be dumped?
by David Wanat 
Oct 2nd 2011 at 8:00AM
Over the years, WoW has streamlined certain things. Mechanics that might have once made sense become hindrances to play and become frustrating. Special trainers in hard-to-reach places and leveling Lockpicking and weapon skills have all been removed or changed. It was with this in mind that I began to think of what current mechanics should be dumped, as well. The thought came to me while attempting to do the Dalaran fishing daily Disarmed with a fishing skill level of 156; the fishing skill is about as obsolete as weapon skills and Lockpicking skills.
Think about it. The fishing part of the game is boring and something which Blizzard implied it would make more interesting in Cataclysm. Whatever it meant by that, fishing's still boring and tends to get neglected on alts. When we all log on to WoW, our attitude is not "Oh boy, let's level fishing!" For $15 a month, we want to actually have fun doing things, and fishing is pretty far down on the list of fun things.
On the other hand, we don't want some gold farmer corpse-dragging a low-level toon out to a place where there are fish that sell well and start bot-farming the fish, either, so we can't just remove skill ratings altogether.
So why not make fishing work like Lockpicking? Like the rogues, we would go up five skill points per level and could fish where we can play, but not where we're not supposed to be. We have one less annoying mechanic to worry about that forces us to spend time doing something we'd rather not do.
So what mechanic would you like to see changed or eliminated?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 11)
dodgeballer2005 Oct 2nd 2011 8:08AM
I think that the class token mechanic should be dumped and replaced for direct tier drops accompanied by a class-detection system. Baradin Hold is close to pulling this off.
Shinae Oct 2nd 2011 8:24AM
Really? Most of the time in BH, gear drops for a class that isn't there or for the wrong spec. I'd rather take tokens, even if that means more competition.
Yes, you said there should be a class detection system, but I really doubt that devs would ever do that. They want it to be completely random so we have to keep trying. And enchanting mats have to come from somewhere. At least tokens have the flexibility to accomodate what classes/specs we have.
Killik Oct 2nd 2011 8:49AM
Agreed - a world with class detection loot is one where bosses get killed about 5 times for gear, nobody can afford enchants, then raids start getting run just to farm shards.
Blayze Oct 2nd 2011 9:02AM
You mean a world where people get to gear up more than one character each tier, offering raid leaders more flexibility with their rosters as they can finally "bring the player" and not "bring the mains".
Noyou Oct 2nd 2011 9:32AM
I would totally kill the way gear works now. I love the token idea. It pretty much guarantees that someone will get something out of it each dungeon/raid. It should also be able to be traded in for a small amount of gold or JP/VP. Enough to be a reward but not enough that people would want to run instances just to ninja them. I would also make armor just that. Armor. You could get nice set bonuses and have certain effects on them, but as far as stats go, I would put all the main stats on the toon. I know this would be very unpopular so It will never happen. I think it would be easier to balance though.
Angus Oct 2nd 2011 10:50AM
2 tokens. Each with 5 classes.
There I fixed the stupidity of having a higher drop rate on one token causing guilds/raid groups with only 2 people on that token (10 man) from having those 2 people have every spec covered and STILL having no one else get drops.
Thereone Oct 2nd 2011 11:22AM
I've personally had the problem with tokens dropping for classes that are either not represented in the raid, or already have what they need. Why not make it so that the token for one set of classes can be exchanged for the token for another set at the VP/JP vendor, with an additional fee of some amount of VP/JP?
Schadenfreude Oct 2nd 2011 11:40AM
I think there should be no drops period, just points that everyone gets and can save up for a new piece (faster than current VP, say killing 5 bosses is enough for one piece) from a vendor. The bosses could also drop generic tokens that you can trade in to a vendor for the same sweet loots instantly. (i.e. you can pay 1000 VP for these boots or you can give me one Boss Eyeball) Then when you have all your drops, you can switch to an alt or keep farming to get enough points/tokens for a mount or other reward (e.g. the Blue Proto Drake costs 10 boss eyeballs)
In my guild (10 man), we hate random loot with a passion since we have the worst collective luck: we get drops that no one can use or only one person can use over and over again, every week, and when something good does finally drop, it goes to the pug since that person was missing that week. Our luck is especially bad on weapons.
If you think about it, it doesn't make sense that all these monsters have all this loot on them, but killing monsters for a bounty does.
shieryma Oct 2nd 2011 11:57AM
I think Bliz could keep their current token system, but allow you to exchange them at a 2:1 or maybe even 3:1 ratio if you get stuck with unusable tokens.
Skarn Oct 2nd 2011 2:12PM
I'd be happy to shift up the tier token system, especially for 10-mans. But I don't want to shift the entire loot system to tokens and points. That's incredibly dull. Reliable, but dull. "Yay we killed the boss, have some points!" It's not exciting or interesting. Less frustrating, obviously.
Honestly? No thanks.
Rey Oct 2nd 2011 4:17PM
I personally dislike the token system. I want the treasure i'm after to be where i'm hunting for it. Does that make sense?
What i'm trying to say -> I go to dungeons and raids, and dive into peril, to find rare treasures and rewards. New weapons. New gauntlets. Heck, even a new ring.
Not to find a token that i have to trade at some vendor who already has all that "epic" stuff i'm looking for. Makes it feel much less "epic". Because it didn't come from that epic place.
DarkWalker Oct 2nd 2011 4:55PM
I would just love to see loot rolls completely vanish.
So much, in fact, that I've set my sights in a to-be-released MMO that does not have any kind of group loot rolls, and unless it's a complete disappointment, I don't plan to play any other fantasy MMO for a long time after it releases.
GrandOldDuke Oct 2nd 2011 10:42PM
I just wish that the loot would be found in a chest, rather than looted off the boss.
Who does the dragon have boots, I ask myself. And I can't ask them, because they're DEAD.
GDESTUS Oct 2nd 2011 11:44PM
yes who does the dragon have boots? this question vexes the very soul of mankind
Sinthar Oct 5th 2011 10:55AM
Ive posted about this before
1 token - for (insert slot here). No class restrictions.
Job Done!
Sinthar Oct 5th 2011 10:55AM
@GrandoldDuke
Erm Dragons can polymorph to human(iod) forms. Makes sense they have some gear stashed somewhere (probably magically as I dont see many pockets in dragon skin - hence SOME items can 'fall out' of the storage area whilst others are lost when the dragon is defeated). You dont expect a dragon to morph to human and then walk around nude do you? (You may WISH it - but I doubt your would EXPECT it)
Pantro Oct 2nd 2011 8:11AM
Well on further note of the fishing. They could make it a bit interactive; Once I played game where the fishing was quite fun to do because you needed to watch when your line would break and you could prevent breaking it by instead of reeling in, let the fish go swim away a bit.
nymrohd Oct 2nd 2011 11:43AM
Or they could just make it so fishing is not needed. People who enjoy fishing should get rewards for it (and there are dozens of achievements for it which are reward enough). Instead raiders are forced to fish in order to get feasts. I think most of us would far rather farm mobs for meat instead. just make meat feasts the equal of fish feasts.
Sinderion Oct 2nd 2011 3:01PM
You're not forced to fish...
I like fishing, but I got my fill pretty much with the first few months of cata, and the fish feast guild achievment. So now I dont fish unless I'm *really* in the mood to fish... I just buy my fish. Go do something you'd rather do for cash, or find an overpaying niche in your server's AH (I guarantee there are more than a few), and use it to pay for things you dont want to do yourself.
It should go without saying that you need to keep tabs on how much fish cost, and buy in bulk when it's low. Takes a *tiny tiny* bit of patience, but 10,000,000% less than actually fishing for a few thousand fish over the course of a few weeks/months depending on your feast usage.
Support your local fisherman!!
Frostfever Oct 2nd 2011 8:13AM
Ill tell u what needs to be dumped or at least fixed for our LVL
the mechanic on Anub from TOGC (Trial of the Grand Crusader)
we have so much health nowadays that its near impossible to defeat
not saying its not possible but a lil nerf here rather than firelands would be nice,
speaking of nerfs if u want to nerf something nerf H T11, not H T12,
its to early