Take a Bow Blizzard (Timeless Isle)

#1 - Sept. 20, 2013, 12:55 p.m.

Just really pay yourselves on the back with this one what a great piece content.

I hit level cap yesterday and I'm late to the party as it is, so to be able to catch up with my peers quickly put a real smile on my face.

Plenty of people moaning about it ruining the game making older MoP raids obsolete but I don't see it that way at all. I still want to run all of them to see the story, the mechanics and just all the content.

I really appreciate the Timeless Isle and the way it helps players like myself. It's come at the right time in expansion where people could miss out on current content, but instead are given the chance to catch up and see it.

Really bravo, massive fan here and casual player appreciating the help. But also I think the more intense gamer can appreciate that their alts can benefit as they I'm sure don't really want to grind dungeon HCs again.

#9 - Sept. 20, 2013, 3:10 p.m.

20/09/2013 13:55Posted by Girou
I hit level cap yesterday and I'm late to the party as it is, so to be able to catch up with my peers quickly put a real smile on my face.

First of all, I'm really glad that you're enjoying our latest patch.
Now you just need to get a new epic helmet so we can see that gremlin, ahem, I mean... goblin smile!

20/09/2013 13:55Posted by Girou
Plenty of people moaning about it ruining the game making older MoP raids obsolete but I don't see it that way at all. I still want to run all of them to see the story, the mechanics and just all the content.

I must say I respect both sides of the argument and I’m pretty sure devs do as well. Ultimately, catch-up mechanics accelerates the devaluing of gear, and that might have at least a psychological impact on the players’ attachment to their items and/or the effort involved in getting them and ultimately to the game itself. That’s the bad part.

The good part is, it also allows for a more relaxed and free play style, where you’re not just as good as the time you invest in the game. Time should matter of course, but it shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all in any game. Individual skill, gameplay, “fun”, and game sociability are just as important.
Content is being added and updated all the time, catch-up mechanics are here to help to bridge the gap between old content and new content, else we’d be back to Karazhan alt raiding times (which was a lot of fun I must say! But you have to admit that it was much more repetitive than it is now when you raid with an alt).

What I particularly like about this system is that it helps the new guy a little bit, but it helps the guy with a ton of alts a lot more, as he can loot chests with all his alts and have a much better chance to completely gear up a freshly dinged 90 in 496 gear.
This makes sense to me, since a player with a lot of alts has a much higher chance to have already experienced all the content that is being skipped.
Of course, whoever really wanted to skip content, never needed Timeless Isle. Catch-up mechanics have been introduced in 5.3 for Arena and RBGs, and everyone had a chance to grab a full set of 496 tyrannical gear before 5.4 even arrived.

Besides, 496 is below the ilvl from last patch’s LFR gear, so this doesn’t really have a strong devaluing power over recent gear (5.3 gear).