Mists of Pandaria: Remix is nice enjoyable however, as I identified final week, it is also a jail of optimisation that is making some individuals genuinely very upset. The culprits? A few adjustments have been made to the Cloak of Infinite potential pre-launch, Gulp Frogs triggered big stability issues between gamers and, proper now, bronze is the supply of all heartaches. The Sha are consuming good.
In a current publish by group supervisor Kaivax to the Blizzard boards, the MoP: Remix staff introduced that it is acquired no plans to alter improve prices for the occasion’s end-game, which has led to numerous booing:
“Trying ahead, we wish you to know that we don’t plan to alter the Bronze value of upgrading gear. We’ve already seen many gamers make the choice to improve gadgets in order that they will comfortably tackle Heroic raids (and hopefully earn the big quantities of Bronze obtainable from them).”
In case you are questioning why that is a difficulty, there’s a reasonably large disparity in prices between the occasion’s transmog gadgets and mounts and the price of upgrading your gear. Upgrading a personality’s full set (thanks, WoWHead, for placing these numbers collectively) will run you a whopping 577,950 bronze. To place that in perspective, the occasion’s costliest mount, the Reins of the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent, prices 50,000 bronze.
So why is Blizzard refusing to ease up? “The features in energy that include rising your merchandise ranges are exponential, not linear, and we don’t need anybody to second-guess their determination to grow to be rather more highly effective.” For a lot of gamers, this reasoning would not observe in any respect. MoP Remix is a short lived occasion, so all of those energy features are fairly transient anyway.
It feels, partly, like a synthetic grind tacked onto an in any other case zany romp by way of an older enlargement. “I’ve a personality about to be executed with getting full 556,” responds one participant—with merchandise degree 556 being the endgame objective: “Consider me, it’s wonderful. We don’t thoughts the improve prices being lowered. Please do it for everybody else.”
I am attempting to wrap my head across the philosophy right here, and whereas I do suppose that is total a nasty transfer, I’m discovering some solutions. Energy scaling in MoP: Remix is obscenely excessive, that means that because the occasion goes on, higher-level content material will get completely stomped. The staff answerable for stability is clearly hesitant to let gamers simply skip over to that degree of godhood willy-nilly, particularly since a complete pantheon of end-game geared monsters with suped-up Cloaks of Infinite potential will likely be deleting the whole lot in a month or two.
But additionally, like—who really cares? MoP: Remix is not like Season of Discovery, it is present for 90 days after which going away for a really very long time, probably without end. Particularly since, as they later level out in the identical announcement, that if you wish to get all of the cosmetics you’ll be able to simply degree alts to money in that juicy 40k bounty from hitting degree 70.
I believe, greater than something, the day-one design mistake of MoP: Remix was tying up beauty rewards and kit upgrades in the identical forex. It simply ruins the entire vibe: When you’re levelling, the occasion works as-intended.
You are getting an alt to max degree, rising stronger with further tinker gems, and unlocking beauty rewards alongside the best way. All of it feels good. Then you definitely hit the occasion’s endgame and abruptly, it is advisable select between energy and cosmetics. You get hoisted from a rewarding expertise and thrust, unceremoniously, right into a retail-style grind—and for what, participant retention?
I believe the strangest factor about this complete fiasco is that, in any other case, enhancements to the occasion’s tuning have in any other case been fairly wise. Nonetheless, it stays to be seen whether or not the MoP: Remix staff will maintain its heels dug for 81 days till doorways shut on timey-wimey Pandaria. I someway doubt it, however extra cussed issues have occurred.