Three ideas to help Neltharion's situation
Greetings,
I've been preparing this thread for about 8 to 10 months. I will try to make it as simple as I can. There are multiple ideas (not directly related to each other) that, in my opinion (and, of course, in most of Neltharion's players opinion) will help the realm a lot and even maybe save it from a certain death. Those are little steps and if we can manage to make them happen, I will for sure keep creating this kind of thread. Those ideas are not only just from me, but most of all a compilation of all players' opinion.
I think it's time for someone to officially announce it to Warmane : Neltharion's state is beyond critical. The game becomes nearly unplayable at night time with less than 100 players, sometimes. The game is totally unbalanced : in PvP, we can get close to 45 minutes of queue for a simple battleground because there is not enough people playing. I once reached one hour waiting time to finally get a 4v2 Alterac Valley. At this state, it has become a real joke. Arenas are even worse and it's impossible to get enough people for a raid or dungeon at night time. And it takes about one hour to bring 10 Horde players together for a raid (and only for Baradin Hold, the easiest Cataclysm raid) during the day. Population gets smaller everyday. We barely reach 300 players. Please, take a moment to understand and realize how hard it is for a realm to live with only 300 players. Three hundred. Maximum. We are not a "PvP-only" realm like Blackrock or Warsong (RIP). Think about it.
As I said earlier, this thread will contain three suggestions :
1 - Cancel or postpone the gold squish for Neltharion.
2 - Bring back the point shop.
3 - Bring back the transmogrification "bug".
Let's finally start the thread for real. Sorry for this long introduction and thank you for reading me.
1. CANCEL OR POSTPONE THE GOLD SQUISH FOR NELTHARION.
I completely understand the goal of this adjustment, don't get me wrong here. I agree that it is a very good way to maintain a healthy economy. However, Neltharion's economy is already dead. Let me explain myself : I've been playing here since the very first day (and I was playing on Frostwolf before we all lost our characters) and I am a very active player, I used to farm a lot of mats, I have all professions at max. level and I used to be very rich in the past because of that. I have been watching carefully the Auction House of BOTH Alliance and Horde for about 8 to 10 months. I led guilds in both Alliance and Horde for a long time to balance the game and it helped me to watch closely the overall economy of Neltharion. Global chat (which includes General/Trade chat) is most of the time dead. Silent. No one sells anything, and if they try to, they can't. You can barely buy anything from Auction House. I've been watching almost everyday for few months now (on both factions, don't forget) and there is close to absolutely nothing. Always the same enchants sold by the same people. No one buys anything because no one has gold to begin with. No one wants to level up professions on a dead realm. Even if they do have max. leveled professions (like me) it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to sell something. Everyone is looking for gold. Our last gold squish killed Neltharion economy, but not because of the squish itself, it's because 80% of our players left right after that (for other reasons, of course). Our economy didn't heal yet. It is very very hard to find mats on Auction House. Extremely difficult to get gems and enchants or even vicious gear. I help as much people as I can but myself as a single player (even though I lead a very big and rich guild) can't handle the entire realm by myself. Most of all, it is not my job. It is yours.
I played on Neltharion for a very long time, I am probably the only one that started from the very first day and is still as much active as I used to be. I do not own any kind of database about our current situation and I can't show you any statistics, but I can assure you that you can trust my words. Neltharion is in my heart and I've been fighting for it for a very long time now. You can consider this suggestion as my entire for for 2017. It took me a lot of time and I am pretty sure about what I am saying. Let the realm be for now. As I said, our economy didn't heal yet and Neltharion is not ready for another gold squish. It would literally kill what is already on its death bed. Postpone the gold squish for another time for the good of the realm.
As an example, my guild (the biggest one in Neltharion and without a doubt the oldest one) went from 800k gold to 400k. We couldn't even manage to go back to 800k in one year. We're now at 300k gold because it's impossible for us to sell anything. Give more time for our economy to stabilize, please.
2 - BRING BACK THE POINT SHOP.
It has been more than 2 years that our point shop is gone. We were told it would be reworked entirely. We had a very complete one, well maintained and full of everything. Now, we only have lv80 to 85 gear. That's literally all. If AT LEAST we could buy Vicious gear with points, but no, they cost about an entire month of points for ONE piece. This is ridiculous. I know we should be grateful to have a point shop ; we don't even have to vote anymore, it's literally just points that you give to us for our participation to the game (achievements, logging, etc.) which is very nice from you. It might seem very insignificant for you, but a lot of people loved the point shop ; being able to farm companions, mounts, transmog, tabards, etc. was very nice. Keep the prices high if you want to avoid exaggeration or whatever, but the point shop is something that always comes back when I ask to players what they miss the most about Neltharion. It really has a meaning for us. I know it might take some time for you to improve it to what it once was, but it will be worth the effort. Bring back the little things that make WoW more pleasant and enjoyable for everyone.
Right now no one cares about collecting points anymore because the only thing we use them for is faction change to balance the game. More players would farm achievements and would log at least once a day if we could actually have something to buy with points. Personnally, I'd like to buy a different mount for some of my char. I would for sure farm my 5k achievement points for 1.2 points per day.
Better point shop = More players farming achievements = More players logging every day = More players overall.
3 - BRING BACK THE TRANSMOGRIFICATION "BUG".
The famous "xmog bug" loved by everyone. Being able to transmog any kind fo weapon into almost anything. As simple as that. It's litreally just changing the skin of your weapon for another weapon, like a dagger into a sword or an axe or whatever you want and can wield. I could also ask you why you repaired such a liked bug when the server needed your help, but that's not the main subject here. This bug has been a part of Neltharion for a very long time. It was loved by everyone and not harmful at all. Fixing this bug was like watering your plant when your house is on fire. Focus on how you use your water.
This may as well seems insignificant for you, but as I said I compiled a lot of suggestions and this came back a lot. It is, in fact, the suggestion that has been the most discussed about. Fixing a harmless and beloved bug is worse than not fixing anything. If you bring him back, it will only improve the situation. It will NEVER worsen, so why not? Pretty much sure it doesn't require a lot of time or efforts to bring back the game to what it originally is. This bug existed even on retail back then, it's not hard to put it back into the game. We could even stop calling it a bug and make it legit ; you created an entire transmogrification system for WotLK, I'm sure you can work a bit on this one. It's much more easier than creating everything back from the beginning.
So, here it is. My thread, a lot of months of compilation and dedicated work. I've done that for you, Warmane. I'm not doing it for me. Everything suggested here is for the good of Neltharion only. All of those suggestions will never, in any case, make the game worse. Those are ONLY improvements and, most of all, they are simple and fast to make. It's not a lot but it means a lot for us, Neltharion's players. Our realm is closer to death everyday.
I, as a Neltharion player, fought for this realm for a lot of time now. You guys know me well. You can trust my words.
I, Horribull, veteran of Neltharion, still have hope that you can save the realm. I will always be there to support you.
I, the most loyal and dedicated player you ever had, will stay until the very last breath of Neltharion.
Please, listen to this call for help.
Thank you for reading my immense wall of text. Don't hesitate to contribute to this thread with your own ideas and opinions and, most of all, if you agree with me, please let Warmane know.
Sincerly, from the deep of my heart,
Your loyal Horribull.
