Lordaeron: Progression by patch content (Through achivement locks for example)

[krioxenorcrux]

This post is taken from a thread that I posted in the wrong secrtion so, there you go. I would like to know opinion by everyone on this topic to see if it is doable or not and if the community think it is a good system.

Please if you are against it don't be rude, just say you are and more importantly why. Obviously the same goes for the one agreeing with the system. Let's have a nice conversation!
Suggestions are really welcome :D


I would like to know what are your opinions on implementing a progression through patch content even when icc gets released. For those who don't know what i'm talking about this kind of progression focuses on the idea that you have to do prior patch content before accessing the next tier: this progression system would be summarized in the next few points (there are many version of it, depending on what the player wants obviously):
1. The achievents of previous content are required for doing next content tiers: to do ulduar you need naxx achi, to do ToC you need ulduar.. Usually EoE, Os and other minor raids are not required.
2. The dungeon related to patches are available only to those player who did do the previous raid content: to do ToC 5man (both heroic and normal) you need to do ulduar (maybe not the whole raid but some achievements (for example keepers).
3. The emblem drops from dungeons are related to player progression but raid will always drops the same emblems. This way you get the gear relevant to the difficulty of content that you do (i know about raid buffs, more on that later) but dungeons will be relevant thoughout the all expansion. This point varies a lot depending on player point of view: some would like that dungeons emblems drops would be the exact emblem type of the current raid tier drops they're progressing in (for example while you do naxx you get the same emblems so heroism or valor, since originally naxx 10 dropped heroism and naxx 25 valor). I disagree, dungeon should always drop emblem at least 1 tier less that the current raid tier because they are easier that raid ofc. Also in this point something that should be decided is which emblems drop from which raids and most people agree with the fact that they should drop the type of emblems they originally dropped when they were on live, during the respective patches ( so naxx 10 hero,naxx 25 valor, ulduar conquest, ToC triumph, Icc frost). It could also be considered that emblems drops from raid depend from player progression similar to what i said abut dungeons but i don't know about that because for example if you're progressing through icc then naxx, uld and ToC would drop all triumph; but what would happen is that after they did weekly icc and got lockouts they would spam naxx since it is easier and would drop same type of emblems. Honestly i don't know how to feel about that.

So why would the choice of implementing this system do good to the server and be enjoyable to players, and why i think GMs should consider this?
1. Longevity. We all know that Lordaeron won't progress thorugh cata so what would be the difference contentwise beetween the Icecrown server and the Lordaeron? I think just the difficulty. This server in my opinion needs a long term plan except for the hardcore feel: once icc will release what people will do is just get to 80 then spam dungeon and get to ToC (or even icc), skipping 2 tiers entirely and 4 raids. I think people would be more engaged and stay more on the server with this system sympy beacuse player must do a lot more to reach the point where they stop because there's nothing more to do.
2. Variety. Not only this system would provide more content in the long run but also would "force" players to experience different environments in different raids, making so that the player feels a lot less bored to do the same content, simply because by the time he had enough of naxxramas he could most likely progress to ulduar.
3. Progression feeling. The fact that you need to overcome an obstacle, than after that obstacle another one appears more challenging but (most importantly) a different one is a huge pro to me. And should give more motivation and so pleasure to players. Once they get to 80 they'll probably think "man i want do down the lich king" but since after 1-2 months probably they are going to beat 10 man icc on normal (by spamming dungeons all day long than though emblems purchase gear that gets you ready for icc 10) this feeling slowly fades away because you've seen all the content, you just need to do it in an hard mode. With this system once you get to 80 you'll say "man i really want to down the lk" but soon you realise that you have a long list of things to do before that and a few days in a plyer would think "man, ow that i started naxx i really wanna kill kt", and after that yogg saron and then anub'arak and then you get to the lk. This will be more motivation and will keep player hooked for more.
4. Nothing really changes for the worse. You see the upgrades will still be there, in fact once you get to 80 you do naxx, os and eoe, then ulduar, then ulduar hm, the Toc and onyxia.. There's in fact a lot more upgrades gearwise so nothing really changes, except for the fact that at lvl cap you want to do 4 tiers and so 7 raids excluding hard modes and heroic and raid sizes (7 different raids, different bosses, different looks and feels), while in this state once icc comes you'll be doing at most 2 raids excluding the same.
5. Not doing so is a waste in my opinion, you have 4 tiers in an expansion, why use just 1 and a half? simply because blizz did so when 3.3 came out? This system can improve a lot on what blizz did, wasting 4 raids and 2 tiers is, let me say, odd.

The only real negative I can see with this system is people wanting to do icc and just that raid because it si that good, but even those people would realize that this way you'll get bored fast.
I might add that also people wanna do just big dps and see big numbers so having the best gear faster should be better, but i trust that in this server there are few people like that (and the point above still stand to those, you'll get bored eventually.). Here in lordaeron we want the challenge and i bet most want a true progression feeling, if the GMs can nerf a bit the entry level raids (like naxx, i heard is coming, or even did just came) everyone would be happy. Just like in TBC, the real casual people can enjoy doing naxx pugs and maybe some ulduar, the real hardcore still will reach icc, and the people who just enjoy raiding will get there eventually but slowly progressing thorugh different content.

Alts could be an issue but i think it fits why the hardcore feel of the server after all.

Also, just so you know, i'm a casual myself so don't say "we casuals wanna have fun too" or things like that: the point of this system is having more content in the long run for everybody while even we (the casuals) get the upgrades and the purps we want (through naxx, eventually ulduar, ToC..).
Nothing really changes from a gameplay point of view (in my opinion atleast), you still progress through dungeons and raids. But this way you have more variety of content that is worth doing and a more long progression. As I stated in my point of view you lose only if you want to down the lich king that bad/quickly or if you care about numbers.

Thanks for reading :)

[deziese]

Where is the upvote button?

The only negative I see to this system would be the following: Most progression guilds as soon as they reach the end tier raids will stop recruiting newer players since they will have to go through the same process all over again. This might be devastating for players who would join the raiding experience later as well as alts. I have a suggestion how to fix this issue. The catch-up dungeons - FoS PoS and HoR should still offer a better gear/emblem reward than the previous raid tier aka - if ICC is released - Triumph or Conquest. This would still offer the newer players the chance to see the previous raids as well as rush to the end tier.