Wanted: Option For Higher Difficulties in LFR

#1 - April 16, 2015, 10:24 p.m.

I would like to see the higher raiding difficulty levels made available through LFR.

While LFR has its own share of problems, it is preferable to me over the group finder. I just absolutely do not enjoy raiding through the group finder. It isn't fun. I all but entirely hate it. I'd be happier if I could que up for higher difficulty raid versions through LFR.

The joy killing with group finder starts before you ever apply to join a group, as so many of the group finder raid descriptions contain key intimidation phrases such as "don't suck," "baddies will be kicked," and similar things along these lines. This doesn't make me want to join that group. Even if I'm familiar with the fights and reasonably confident that I can contribute, I'm not going to be comfortable with that kind of attitude in the people I'm playing with.

Once you make it into a group and things get started, God forbid any slight thing goes wrong because then the Negativity Boss ports in straight from Hell and casts 'Happiness Sucker' on everyone. It's a nasty debuff that plants a big dark cloud straight on your face which slowly leeches away your joy, and it tends to continuously stack for the entire duration of the raid.

The raid mechanics are one thing; people expect you to be an expert on every detail of every fight. Beyond that though, people think you're supposed to have faction boss calibur abilities or something with how they act. Everyone seems to be expected to perform as if they have even better gear than the best available in the raid they're progressing through.

If you're a healer, you're practically expected to be able to give everyone a Super Boss Buff that regenerates a billion health per millisecond. If you're a tank, you're expected to be so tough and hardy that you don't even need heals anyway; just pull out your pocket mirror now and then and gaze at all of your awesomeness for an invincibility buff. If you're a dps... oh man don't even get me started on the hellish expectations that are always placed on the dps!!

More often than not, raiding is tense, uncomfortable, and a breeding ground for drama. I would rather wipe ten times with people who are easy to be around and play WoW with than I would to one-shot a full heroic clear with people who make me uncomfortable and who I just do not enjoy being around.

A lot of these same problems are encountered in LFR, yes... but it's on a more manageable level, stress wise.

Bashiok

Community Manager

#94 - April 17, 2015, 12:23 a.m.

04/16/2015 03:24 PMPosted by Dustpharter
but it's on a more manageable level, stress wise.

You're putting yourself out here on a public forum, that takes some guts, I have to imagine you'd be capable of running your own group where negativity and tempers are met with whatever response you deem appropriate. Maybe instead of "Don't suck" the group could be called "Be nice or get kicked". What i think needs to happen is for people to take charge of group creation and create the experiences they'd like to have. There's only so much we can do to help lessen social pressures, in a game that is very centrally based on group coordination and player interactions, before those interactions are effectively just taken away. (Which is maybe an option, you could probably close your chat window and not be any worse for the wear a lot of times.)

A higher difficulty LFR will only raise stress levels in those raids, and make them less successful. They'll cause total breakdowns and disbands and ... it's just not going to be the best of both worlds. Difficult content requires coordination and communication, and that's possible with positive and productive attitudes, and every player is capable of making that a reality for them and everyone else in the group.

Bashiok

Community Manager

#115 - April 17, 2015, 12:58 a.m.

04/16/2015 05:28 PMPosted by Primalmatter
Does that not raise the question of why don't they? I constantly see players who clear lfr and just seem to give up. Even something as simple as trying to find 4 other people to do a challenge mode is far beyond anything they seem capable of.

If everyone is able to why do you believe so few choose to do so?

Good question... Well some people are fine only seeing LFR. They don't see any point in doing harder content; that's not why they play. For the other people that would like to but don't, the easy/cynical answer is probably because it takes time and effort, but probably more accurately it's likely for some of the same reasons students don't raise their hand, or why class signup rates are higher when they are kept private--people are generally afraid of other people judging them. Lots of people want an easy, smooth, and successful run, but aren't willing to put up with wipes, learning fights, and challenges. Especially with a bunch of strangers. That's where guilds and friends are the biggest difference versus random players, and progressing with other people--even if you've only ever talked to them on mumble--is worlds apart from running with a random group. And it doesn't even have to be a guild now!

But if someone legitimately wants a better experience, and is willing to put in the effort to achieve it... I'm not sure I could answer why they don't. That's a good question.

What do you think?