State of LFR (not a remove it QQ)

#1 - Sept. 26, 2013, 5:17 p.m.

So who here has done LFR since 5.4 launched and the addition of flex raid? Anyone? Anyone?

Has anyone else noticed the massive drop in overall quality of players and play? I'm not talking about the two guys who AFK or rage or whatever that you normally get in LFR. I'm talking about 75% of the DPS auto attacking and AFKing, blatant ignoring of any and all mechanics, and to top it off and overall toxic environment to play in.

LFR is in a really bad spot at the moment. With the addition of flex mode raiding, it seems like many of the "decent but casual" players are no longer playing and have moved onto flex raiding. Raiders who used to queue and largely carry LFR runs are no longer queuing, instead of opting to do flex with their guilds and friends.

Flavor and variety is wonderful and flex mode raiding is a wonderful addition to the game. It just raises the question of what Blizzard will be doing with LFR moving forward? LFR was always fairly flawed but it worked, largely because of it being a primary progression tool for raider alts and casual players. But now that there's an alternative progression path, LFR is pretty much controlled now by the openly bad, the toxic, and the "420yoloswag" people.

I've had complaints about LFR in the past but I don't think LFR needs to be THIS bad of an experience. Taking my toons through and getting vote kicked for tryharding despite never saying a word in the raid. Hitting enrage timers on Jin'rokh the Breaker while 17/25 people start spam raging and screaming at each other for doing 20k DPS. The other 8 people? Well 6 of them were AFK the whole run to begin with and had the Disc Priest on follow.

So is there any plans moving forward for LFR or is flex the nail in the coffin?

TLDR: LFR was surviving and thriving on the queuing from decent casuals and actual raider alts to ensure success and carry others. Removing them from the pool leaves LFR as a poor experience.

Bashiok

Community Manager

#57 - Sept. 26, 2013, 6:32 p.m.

We're not really seeing a big dramatic shift in completion/failure rates for the first weeks of LFR runs with Flex now in the picture vs. previous tiers, so I think the guesses that Flex is stealing all the good players are probably a bit premature. Probably. But as I said here, we're excited so many people seem to be enjoying Flex, it's going to be preferable to a lot of people over LFR, and of course that's going to have some kind of impact, but it's just too early to know to what extent.

Bashiok

Community Manager

#86 - Sept. 26, 2013, 7:05 p.m.

09/26/2013 11:37 AMPosted by Pennoyer
You clearly have not reviewed the data from wing 2. It's about on par with how ridiculous HOF part 2 was, which you had to nerf.

No, we have. Adjustments are quite possible, we already have some LFR Nazgrim tweaks in the works, but we're seeing very reasonable wipe/completion rates on second wing SoO bosses. We're keeping a close eye on things.

Bashiok

Community Manager

#103 - Sept. 26, 2013, 7:13 p.m.

09/26/2013 12:07 PMPosted by Sarosha
5hr lfr and 20 wipes for the entire LFR is reasonable?

Obviously you'll get in groups that have some trouble, and sometimes you'll get in a group that one-shots everything. Individual group to group success rates aren't going to be consistent while people are still learning the fights. But when I refer to overall wipe/success rates I'm referring to overall averages for all LFR groups for all realms of multiple regions.

Bashiok

Community Manager

#470 - Sept. 27, 2013, 9:18 p.m.

You would think with all this LFR SoO complaints that Blizzard would get the message but they're still in denial...

You may have missed my second post. Or are you dismissing a lack of immediate change and specific hotfix notes as indifference?

This guy gets it. You don't make people better players by smoothing to road for them. You do it by handing them a shovel and saying "here's the tools, fix it yourself".

That's an unfortunately common outlook, that if you just made stuff harder for people they'd aspire to greatness. But we know that's not how it works for everyone, or how all people respond to challenges, or necessarily what everyone is even looking for in their entertainment. We're getting into social commentary territory which I'd like to avoid, but let's dismiss the notion that any of us "know what's best" for any other person, and instead accept their preferences as absolutely valid, and think and discuss about what the issues and solutions are from that viewpoint instead of focusing on how to tell other people they're enjoying their game incorrectly.