Is DB Trying To Rid Game Of Casual Players?

Pixistik, I realize I'm tilting at windmills here but I love this game and hate to see it get trashed for casual players. While I'm not really a casual player, I talk with them all the time and these are concerns that chronically come up in conversations. One by one, I've seem players give up because of time and money constraints. They can't afford to pay the extra money to get better gear so they start falling behind others, in their guilds, and it becomes too depressing to play.

Ultimately, the loss of players hurts all of us--even the raiders. DB might be making the return on its money it wants but a game needs a thriving community to survive. There is little point in going out and getting stuff to sell if there isn't anyone to buy it. And it's hard to feel good about your accomplishments if there are only a few people to share them with.

That's how IoR died. The community moved on leaving only a skeleton group of players behind. It became impossible to get anything done that required multiple players.

So I am going to keep advocating for changes to make this game more user friendly. Maybe the changes will never come about but at least I will know I tried to save the game I love.

These quests here are so so incredibly easy it is not even funny. The loot it gives is better than what comes from heroic. That is why this is a causal expansion. You can get heroic loot without putting in heroic effort. Do these quests FIRST if you are having trouble with instances. People complain on the forums because they don't know what to do with themselves.

You still need to plat infuse and that's where the problem lies I think. A lot of casuals don't have millions of plat to do that with.
I don't even know what a casual is these days. To me a casual is anyone that doesn't raid. I guess it's different for everyone.

No you don't. No plat is necessary to do these quests.

I've done all those quests and still had to plat infuse just to get to 142k potency.

(I plat infused after I'd done the quests)

You don't need 142k for heroics. Elitists may want that for PUGs, but it's in no way necessary. That's why I say it's important to get into an active guild. Anything over 125k is good for getting into heroics and you'll get well over that with the achievement gear and plat infusion.

You run solos until you get some crafting books to drop and sell them for millions

Or, more realistically, you go fish, a lot, and sell Lantern Hogfish. The rare Pomes also are selling well.

Ah ok. I just see everyone looking for 145k - 155k
I don't feel so bad now.

You probably need about 140K Potency, just from my own experience of the point at which I quit hitting things with a limp noodle.

I used to be a hardcore raider, was in some top/amazing guilds for the first 8-9 years of this game.. with that said, I’m a solo’ist now. I’d love to fine time to group and raid again, but between work and having a special needs child I just can’t commit, I don’t even like to pug because I could get pulled away at a moments notice and I don’t want to leave the group hanging...

With that said, it is extremely easy to get decent gear if you do the achievements. I think the main stat that a soloist isn’t going to have will be fervor, it’ll be like half of what everyone else has. My main issue with DBG’s approach to casual play is that there really isn’t much in this space to keep us, me anyway, interested.. there’s literally 6 quests in each zone... really?! I’m pretty much done with BOL bc there’s no point in grinding it from a casual perspective.. there’s nothing worth spending the marks on, so why grind them out? Crafting sucks, because the good recipe books are all hid behind 2-3 walls of RNG... The daily crafting tasks aren’t worth doing (I still do them).. I mean there just isn’t much in BOL to keep me interested, so I’m just going back and doing content I missed.. currently trying to find my damn epic 2.0 recipe so I can craft those (yes, I could advertise in channel to commission them, but not like I have anything else to do)


I dunno... I’m fine with the difficulty, it’s not hard, especially if you do the achievements first.. there’s just not much content, and normally I’d be fine with that and focus on making plat, but they hid all the recipe books too, so...

Oddly enough, I'm having a similar discussion on the fighter forums. The fact that so many have experienced this issue should get the 'uber players' to take notice, but instead they summarily dismiss them. The problem with that approach is as the player base shrinks, the less likely the game will continue. Casual players still make up a large part of the population.

My example revolved around the ability to run T1 zones. In previous expansions you ran solo zones until you could handle T1s, you ran T1s until you could handle T2s, etc. Now, even with nearly all the solo gear, several fabled collection pieces, and several T1 fables pieces there are mobs which randomly hit tanks for 400-600k+ (such as the shroom in Rumble with his 'Burn'). There is no barrage, no warning, just all is stable and then splat. Again, Casuals (with only 300-350mil health) have been noticing this. This was not the norm in previous expansions, such attacks could be jousted, mitigated, or otherwise handled without the need to spend real life money or have friends drag you through for better gear than the mob you're trying to kill drops.

Yes, it's doable as a casual, but since mechanics are simply lazy and the end result will be the departure of more of the customer base.

(No, I dont expect to be uber, I dont want free fabled, I dont want handouts, Im sure some elitist will try to twist my words, the reality is Ive been in many groups as the tank or another toon and seen the results of this).

If you have 142k potency and did all the quests then what are you complaining about? The person I replied to previously said they needed heroic gear to do solos which is nonsensical. People were were complaining they couldn't fly because they couldn't do the solo sig line. No plat infusing is required to do anything solo.

The next step after doing all the quests is farm to the 180 resolve neck and boots. Use the infusers from these quests to gain physical layer potency. Then of course reforge your stats. The low 140s is the starting point for heroics especially for healers, tanks, and utility. DPS classes may be asked to have more potency in which case they have to go the extra mile and try to push for 150k.

I can't see that I'm complaining about anything tbh. But maybe players need to stop asking for 155k potency if 140k is good enough.
Still a lot of casual players wouldn't have the plat to infuse all their gear particularly if they're returning players.
I did and that's the only way I got to 142k.

And yeah I reforge and use the countless infusers we get.

Just because we may have gotten to or beyond the required effective levels in heroics doesn't mean we can't see how it is a problem for players without piles of cash.
Few people are looking to spend a hour+ in a basic heroic zone (ie < 120k pot for everybody in the group) or enjoy being dragged as the one useless person in a group where everybody else is effective.
T1 heroics should should not require gear that is the same quality (or better) than what drops in the zonse to be effective in those zones. Why does that seem so hard for some people to understand?

Some people find it hard to understand because it doesn't affect them.
Some people also have reading comprehension issues.

It doesn't affect me, but I can see the problem....

You're not some people.

Thats very easy to fix. Start your own groups with your own requirements.

I ran the timeline initially on my last expac raid geared coercer and had no issue.

I then ran it on my Starter Box geared Assassin without doing any other quests for gear and was able to do it.
She had maximum only up to expert spells from last expac and no ascensions spells above apprentice except 2 or 3 which were up to like expert.

Did it take time to wallop the mobs, yes, but that is because the gear was low, I'm sure once I get her gear it won't take her as long.

Did I plat infuse her? No.

Do I know how to fight the named that needed to perish? Yes.

Sigridfa said: ".... it's a no-fun obstacle you blow through and forget"

I'm pretty sure that most of the players blow through and forget the sig lines. And if you put something essential for crafters behind a wall of signature completion, then it becomes even more of an obstacle. The more upset the crafter gets while attempting to gain flying, the less they will remember the sig line with fond memories.

Hey, remember that time I was in tears because I just wanted to decorate my house and I kept dying in Sanctus Seru? Yeah those were good times! (not likely)

Also I got stuck in several places too. Usually it's a tree with big roots next to a cliff, or a spot where a few rocks are leaning on each other. Stuck is stuck. And /stuck doesn't work, you just have to zone out, if you can.

I think the OP should just attack landscape mobs that are nearby and at least that way you control the aggro. Do the TS line only with your merc out. Maybe hunt some shiny's after you can fly.

Save your plat for the broker, use the shadow harvesting baubles in the Blinding in safe areas. It won't be the most efficient, but it will be less annoying.