GC on Role of RolesFollow

Dude! Let's make an MMORPG!

Hell no.

Is that a problem?

I'm thinking a 4-post essay on why bikini armor is hot.

Might even get it stickied!

NOW it's an O-board post.

I have to disagree to a point. Lower level content became near impossible to run. Most of my characters would go 1-60 with only entering a couple of dungeons. And it wasn't for lack of trying. I personally do NOT miss the hours and hours spent jumping back and forth from dungeon to Dalaran/Shattrath replacing idiots.

At the same time I don't like how many players have turned dungeons into a means to an end. I understand everyone wants something from the dungeon, but there are people who aren't using LFD...they are using the people in LFD and treat them as no more than slaves to do their bidding.

I like dungeons. Seriously, I do. When I queue for one I want phat lewtz, but I also want to have fun running the dungeon. If all I am doing is rush rush rush than its not a whole lot of fun. This isn't to say I want to waste time doing nothing. I like a brisk pace. But when it turns into a mindless rush I really wonder why I'm wasting my time.

That really is the heart of the matter regarding the rest of the game. I think that things have been stream-lined and simplified so much so that they are now ridiculously easy. I can now mindlessly get from 1-85 with little to no effort. You simply turn on auto pilot and just kill everything in sight as you follow the little markers on your map.

There comes a point where the tasks become so trivial that I would rather they just remove it altogether. I would rather spend more time trying to figure out a difficult pull for a quest than to spend less time doing brainless activities. When so much of the game has been turned into simple toleration of monotony I am left asking myself whether I couldn't be using my time for something a bit more stimulating.

I would like to see more challenges placed in the leveling process. Maybe the introduction of "scenarios" in MoP will fill this niche. Group quests were fun back when you can get people to do it, and I think that this scenario option of mini-instances that you can access via a LFD-type system really has potential.

There is a point where you can streamline the game too much. Part of the joy of an RPG is the exploration and discovery. Wandering the world and finding things. Obviously, there were some nasty extremes that really needed to be cleaned up. But when done intentionally and controlled these can break the monotony.

So I really hope that optional challenges become an increasing option in the game. I think accessibility is great as long as their are options for those who wish to have a challenge.

The real problem with a support role is how do you balance it? Either it ends up strong enough that it becomes required in groups (Brd/Rdm in FFXI, Pallies/Shamans in Vanilla) or it's too weak to deal with. If you don't balance around having one in raid groups then it needs to effortlessly take the place of a dps (buffing everyone else according to the damage it loses) and that's a pain in the *** for one raid size, let alone for 5 10 and 25-mans.