I don't think I'll ever be able to assess this game as "hardcore," really in any sense, ever, at least not the PvE side. Time commitment maybe most of all. It's got options that cater to the hardcore, but they aren't the majority or even the most important aspects of the game.
It's too accommodating to look at that way, for me. If I log in and decide to spend however long it takes to do a particularly tough jumping puzzle, then log out for the night, I know I'm not playing the game wrong or "missing out" on anything necessary. I had a fun hour or two, or 20 minutes, playing a videogame.
This sequence of events feels identical to me to the way it did at launch, and I honestly heard a lot of the same kind of complaint back then about how it "forced" you to spend your time. This at a point when, rose-tinted glasses aside, a lot of rewards were lesser than they are now and had fewer methods of acquisition.
I just log in and do whatever I feel like, for however long I feel like doing it. I get rewarded for this. I will never fill every bar, or acquire every hard-to-get item, or achieve every acheivement, or accomplish every feat, but I'm not looking for any of that out of the experience- I'm just enjoying myself, like it were any other game.
What's clear to me is that this game lends itself to compulsive behavior if you are predisposed to it. If you do feel compelled to do everything you possibly can, whether or not you're having fun, it's perfectly understandable to me how it could become a bit of a nightmare.
It's hard for me to see how any of that stuff is indicative of a hardcore time commitment. It's just stuff that's there if you want to do it that you can effortlessly ignore if you don't. Adding the extra daily dungeon tokens and rares from world bosses, especially- to me this was just more free goodies for doing something if I decided I wanted to. It's perplexing to me that so many view them as an obligation instead.
I mean, in beta, I didn't get past level 30 on any character... I dunno how I would have judged how "hardcore" the experience was then. But it seemed pretty similar to me at launch. And at launch, I know that I ran AC over 20 times to get a level 60 chest piece that would take me 5.5 runs to acquire a level 80 version of today.
I think people are just correctly identifying that it's a matter of perspective. I've honestly never really been able to relate to what it must feel like to "want a carrot," at least in this game. I get that there's a broad spectrum of players and that a wide middle of desiring some substantive reward for some relatively modest time investment exists, but I also feel like it does just as good a job providing that now as it did at launch.
It really is almost like the more stuff they add, the worse this complaint will become, because the difficulty of successfully doing all of it in the course of a day will become tougher to the point of near-impossibility. But that's not a shift toward the "hardcore" wherein you have to try and do it all, it's an invitation to decide what it is you want to do and forget about the rest.
It's too accommodating to look at that way, for me. If I log in and decide to spend however long it takes to do a particularly tough jumping puzzle, then log out for the night, I know I'm not playing the game wrong or "missing out" on anything necessary. I had a fun hour or two, or 20 minutes, playing a videogame.
This sequence of events feels identical to me to the way it did at launch, and I honestly heard a lot of the same kind of complaint back then about how it "forced" you to spend your time. This at a point when, rose-tinted glasses aside, a lot of rewards were lesser than they are now and had fewer methods of acquisition.
I just log in and do whatever I feel like, for however long I feel like doing it. I get rewarded for this. I will never fill every bar, or acquire every hard-to-get item, or achieve every acheivement, or accomplish every feat, but I'm not looking for any of that out of the experience- I'm just enjoying myself, like it were any other game.
What's clear to me is that this game lends itself to compulsive behavior if you are predisposed to it. If you do feel compelled to do everything you possibly can, whether or not you're having fun, it's perfectly understandable to me how it could become a bit of a nightmare.
I guess I'd be interested to see how... at launch, dungeons awarded you fewer tokens, and far less gold. Dailies and monthlies were more time consuming and less rewarding. Ascended gear has no appeal to me outside a couple of the skins, but most of the other stuff you mentioned is just content that has been added of varying length and difficulty (a concept you have made clear you are against at face value).theMrCravens said:
It's hard for me to see how any of that stuff is indicative of a hardcore time commitment. It's just stuff that's there if you want to do it that you can effortlessly ignore if you don't. Adding the extra daily dungeon tokens and rares from world bosses, especially- to me this was just more free goodies for doing something if I decided I wanted to. It's perplexing to me that so many view them as an obligation instead.
I mean, in beta, I didn't get past level 30 on any character... I dunno how I would have judged how "hardcore" the experience was then. But it seemed pretty similar to me at launch. And at launch, I know that I ran AC over 20 times to get a level 60 chest piece that would take me 5.5 runs to acquire a level 80 version of today.
I think people are just correctly identifying that it's a matter of perspective. I've honestly never really been able to relate to what it must feel like to "want a carrot," at least in this game. I get that there's a broad spectrum of players and that a wide middle of desiring some substantive reward for some relatively modest time investment exists, but I also feel like it does just as good a job providing that now as it did at launch.
It really is almost like the more stuff they add, the worse this complaint will become, because the difficulty of successfully doing all of it in the course of a day will become tougher to the point of near-impossibility. But that's not a shift toward the "hardcore" wherein you have to try and do it all, it's an invitation to decide what it is you want to do and forget about the rest.
