WoW Is 'BETTER' When It's Easier: Here's Proof

Head to squarespace.com/bellulargaming to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code BELLULARGAMING. Sponsored by Squarespace. After a community member, Nightstalker314, ran the numbers, we were shocked to discover that more M+ runs than ever before are happening, so we decided to dig in and see if we can figure out why.

[@xingliu9630]

Totally true, most people are casual players. Fun = Loot > Challenges.

[@86Corvus]

Wrong.

[@MJHazel]

@@86Corvuswhat a convincing argument.

[@wm-wl8ws]

S3 is the most I’ve played any M+ season

[@Muppet-kz2nc]

i came back for season 3. I finished 3200 M+, 4/9M. I came back because it was easier. I was also interested in the Emerald Dream. Both of those things kept me around. Id like to see M+ portals rewarded earlier with better rewards at higher rank. Replace EASY with FUN.

[@googleaccount2821]

I think something is truly busted when a 3200 player only gets to 4/9 Mythic. Mythic raiding is way overtuned.

[@KC-py5vq]

But but the top .1%!​@googleaccount2821

[@Krulfar]

@@googleaccount2821Yeah, that's common knowledge

[@JBCD47]

@@googleaccount2821 its not that. its raid taking hours on hours where as one m+ run takes 30 mins.

[@zwabTheRealOne]

​@@googleaccount2821One player can't carry a mythic raid. M+ one individual player stands a better chance of having a larger impact compared to a mythic raid. Mythic raiding is way overtuned though you are right there. Mythic raiding does also have a higher barrier to entry. Finding 19 other solid people while being limited to only players from your own server (as x-realm mythic only becomes available after hall of fame is closed, I.e when 200 guilds worldwide have cleared 9/9 mythic) is a very tough ask.

[@GothicPrincessAlice]

Having played since Vanilla, S3 DF has been my most successful period of time in this game ever. I progged into my second ever AotC, but on top of that hit 2500 rating, and got the legendary on my warrior alt. This kind of setup for a season creates a positive feedback loop. I was able to more easily clear content and achieve my goals, which then in turned motivated me to try more stuff on alts, and I would go in knowing the process was really friendly compared to the past (though I think we can do a bit better here with perhaps sharing crests between alts or something along those lines). Most of the game does not need to be breakneck, and there is still a great space to push super high for those who crave that challenge. 100% agreed with the title of this vid.

[@Javier-il1xi]

Grats on 2.5k and AotC my man 🎉

[@GothicPrincessAlice]

@Javier-il1xi thank you! Finally got to sink my teeth into Warlock, i had a blast on destro in raid and m+

[@radenkovic2856]

I don't want to bash you, but wouldn't it feel better if you actually managed to get better and achieve your goals that way? Instead you are happy about that someone lowered the bar for you to achieve those goals and your happy that they did. Because I love having a hard challenge and I feel like keys get really hard at around 25s or higher (u need to start to use your defensives really good at this point to survive) So I wouldn't say that the game is tuned about high end. I mean I also don't go into someone else's niche (like pet battles or transmog) and say, yooo, stop developing this, I want more hard content. And you know why? Because it doesn't change anything. They have so much different content for any type of player. Just stick to the content that you like and be happy. I raid and m+ in retail and do nothing else. And I'm happy. Gameplay is fun. I also play classic, but for other reasons. Cause the gameplay is rather slow and the difficulty is non existent. I also play Lol and get my pvp fix from there. Lastly I play a lot of poe, cause I like games with a lot of depth where I can think about stuff all the time. And in every game I have stuff that I like. And I just focus on that. I don't need everything to be fun. If it's not, I rather just not do it and do something else.

[@GothicPrincessAlice]

@@radenkovic2856 i can definitely respect wanting that challenge, I did a lot of Savage raiding in FFXIV for a while to get that level of challenge and triumph, but when I came back to WoW I wanted to try and raid again and see what I could do, but more casually, and that's helped me feel more relaxed and fun about it all.

[@radenkovic2856]

@@GothicPrincessAlice I would love if heroic is the max ilvl you can get in wow. And mythic would just be there for the challenge. And then it's more justifiable if only 50 guilds can clear the raid.

[@skakid88]

Something no one talks about... The dungeon pool is good this season. That's a HUGE reason why people are playing. I think there will be a large drop off next season because many of the DF dungeons are bad. Good dungeons matter

[@Tutserman420]

I don't disagree, but I do wonder about the impact thundering had on ppls reception of season one dungeons 🤔

[@nameyourdopamine8085]

Ngl, this is my exact thoughts. I came back to wow this season due to the amazing dungeons, and I do play some PTR this week cuz Bosltering, and the dungeons feels sooooo much WORSE. They just dont feel as good as the mix of the others. Makes me already lose inspiration for next season. So you're right on point with that opinion!

[@Pilek01]

i hope they nerf the df dungeons next season because they were no fun when they were in the m+ dungeon pool.

[@johnlinks]

@@Pilek01 they did, do you not keep up with patch notes?

[@Nightstalker314]

We're already seeing massive changes on PTR.

[@kennethmalafy8012]

They have always struggled with the difficulty level in this game. Things tend to be: too hard or too easy. They should keep one difficulty for the hardcore (mythic raids and high end pvp), the rest should be set at a difficulty level that is accessible to over 80% of the player base. Otherwise, your game is only made for a small percentage of those actually playing it...... which makes no sense. Players pay a sub for this as well. You have to be careful of how much content and rewards you lock players out if you want the game to be equitable. Remember: Players paid for this..... they deserve the full experience.

[@SurpriseCake]

"90% of keys are timed" is misleading. There are no leaver penalties and I don't think incomplete keys are counted. 99% of higher keys are not completed, people just leave when there's a wipe and go next.

[@RileyJohnson37]

My guild raided all the way through classic, classic tbc, and then up to lich king norm. We then disbanded after our second LK norm. We honestly had been slowing down since ulduar and the grind for hard modes. Then add the need for the same in 10 mans, and the burnout was real. The much shorter and fewer moments of fun wasn’t enough to keep us going. We all got tired of everyone being at each others throats and it went from raiding with the boys, and girl, to hardcore coordinated work which no one wanted to work towards any longer. We all already had jobs, and wanted to escape with friends.

[@Nightstalker314]

Thanks for the shoutout.

[@BellularGaming]

Head to squarespace.com/bellulargaming to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code BELLULARGAMING. Sponsored by Squarespace.

[@Dratro]

I hated mythic+ when it was created. I finally started dabbling in Shadowlands and didn't love it. Now in dragonflight I've been doing 18-20 keys for each season, stopped raiding entirely for it. It is finally fun and approachable. However, my last complaint is the timer. Id rather fully remove the timer than the affixes.

[@Frozenkex]

removing timer would be bad. Timer ensures youre appropriately geared/prepared for the difficulty you chose and discourages people from cheesing with cooldowns.

[@ForOne814]

Removing the timer will kill the system for most people who like the system. Affixes are pretty good, the problem is annoying affixes, they should remove those.

[@dracotoy]

​@@Frozenkexthen they pay the price of wasting an hour+ on a single key. Evem without a timer you would still be better off doing a proper key level in every sense

[@IndividuumNot]

so you basically want to do nothing but still get max gear?

[@Aerogosa]

Removing the timer makes it no different than a regular dungeon. You have 0-10 for no timer. That's good enough.

[@cipriancorneanu6120]

Boosting in M+ is also a thing, let's not forget that :D

[@lukaskonecny9992]

Boosting is much more popular when the m+ is harder.

[@ZS-bg7jo]

Blizz and the gold selling Token know

[@alexanderorban650]

i am boosting day in and day out 16-18 and 20. i do like 10-20 runs per day sometimes. it deffently is the almost single reason why numbers are that high i asume

[@hoothoot673]

​@@lukaskonecny9992have you ever sold run?

[@davidgreenberg8456]

M+ is certainly easier this season, but I wouldn't call it "relaxing" lol I don't really mind the crest cap slowly increasing each week, but I don't understand why we have a cap on flightstones in general.

[@zangetsuzabimaru]

They need to bring back that old feature called "have group, will travel". Immediately summon your entire group to your location and every class could use it

[@johnd2946]

If Blizzard could get away from tuning Mythic for the 20 man RWF and away from the e-sports mentality for M+ and PVP, the game would have a renaissance.

[@thenateo1610]

tbf mythic isnt completely tuned for the rwf, only the end boss is and sometimes the 2nd to last boss like in this raid. It also makes sense that they are tuned on the harder side to begin with and nerfed down. Absolute worst case scenario is another Xavius that dies in 10 pulls, nobody would like that.

[@brizwaldjonson]

@@thenateo1610 Who cares if it dies in 10 pulls?

[@optimizefine3104]

​@@brizwaldjonson i do whats the point of hard content if it goes down to wasily.

[@jaded-harper]

@@brizwaldjonson people that like challenging content

[@someguy3508]

@@jaded-harper yea let's tune an activity that is targeted for a large player base based on a few sweaty guilds that like "hard content". If you want to make the content hard you can stop looking at guides and play without addons. This will make the fight hard for you. Anyway it doesn't matter what we say because Blizzard will never stop tuning for RWF despite how bad it is for the game

[@fernandoestolanojr6883]

If blizzard removes key degrading on not timing it with all these new changes, they truly will have a near perfect mythic+ system

[@frenchdream330]

Gotta love these '' only Rdruid or only this class '' on a fucking 23 key because the keyholder have a downgrade PTSD

[@rogervanbaren]

@@frenchdream330 😂

[@Muppet-kz2nc]

I think focusing on beneficial M+ affixes would be great. imagine +% nature damage or +% arcane damage. incentivize players to try different specs, builds when doing a Key. or let players reroll their keys to try and get affixes they like.

[@Frozenkex]

@@frenchdream330 make your own group.

[@dracotoy]

​@@Muppet-kz2nci dream of positive affixes, playing around maximizing postiive affixes over avoiding negative ones

[@claytonmurrayguitar]

I’ve just come back last week and it has been some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Did the whole Amirdrassil campaign, which was awesome, done a little M+, LFR, and a few normal raid bosses. Idk if I just got lucky, but I’ve never seen this much gear drop either, I got up to 448 in no time. Got almost full tier, and it’s been so much fun collecting all of it. Excited for TWW! I hope it keeps getting better.

[@rumotu]

I began doing M+ recently on my dps sitting at +14-16 comfortably, considering going into M+ next season with tank and heal.

[@ludekcortex]

18 and 20 dungos being the most played isn't anything surprising. 18 gives you best upgrade track from end of the dungeon chest, while 20 gives you best vault. Also with portals being a reward for timing 20, it's the most popular key level to buy a boost for.

[@Rumpelbube]

Do you also count all the sell runs that have been done. It seems to me, the activity of the sellers is much higher in this season.

[@lindadelorme4259]

We need LFR for mythics...not everyone is in a raid/mythic guild...and even when we are, they tend to have a set team that doesn't invite other players

[@jaded-harper]

lmao there is 0 shot a bunch of randoms with no comms can do current mythic. would have to be tuned way down

[@davidgreenberg8456]

I like having M+ affixes, but I wish there was some sort of reward for successfully completing them (and not just timing the key).

[@Joel_bjornfors]

Is this based on logged runs? Cause it’s no wonder that 90% are completed if it is only logged runs…

[@robmartin4775]

At the 3:00 mark he comments that the data comes directly from Blizzard and their servers.

[@Joel_bjornfors]

@@robmartin4775 missed that, thanks

[@BillRiess]

S3 has the best dungeon pool with the least BS mechanics and timers compared to other recent seasons. Me and my M+ team have been loving S3 but dreaded some of the earlier DF dungeons. Thankfully they seem to be nerfing them but S3 with maybe the exception of Rise has been perfect and to be clear Rise isn't even that bad.

[@user-lp9hs3st5r]

By week 8 people severely overgear the keys. 8 weeks isn't "people have their tier set now", they had them from week 2/3 onward. By week 8 they out gear the content in 18s by a significant margin, of course they are going to have fun stomping content under their ilvl.

[@stephenk291]

I think they need to bring back the ulduar style hard modes where its optional but not required and it allows you to tune/choose your level of difficulty.

[@LuckyLuke1707]

I don’t know why exactly but it is exactly my experience. Maybe it’s that it’s was easy to gear alts and easier to get gear. But me and my friends just loved playing m+ and running our 18s every week on 3-4 different Charakters each

[@SansRobot]

I imagine there is a certain balance between too hard and too easy.

[@86Corvus]

not for casuals, they dont have a brain so when the game starts demanding they use it - its like it asks a cat to play the piano...

[@HasPotato]

The main reason I started doing m+ was because of the tier sets.

[@Deiwulf]

I'm baffled key borking system is still even here. That shit is the catalyst for endless toxicity and discouragement.

[@dark9nine]

I'm personally tired of M+ at this point. The "magic" thing about WoW for me was playing with my friends, laughs, jokes, creating synergy with them. They are all gone now. Pug life is not a good experience for me. I'm not a very social person so for me its pretty meh at this point. And for me its killing raiding. But yeah its a great feature. Glad people are playing more of it.

[@thatepicwizardguy]

they should continue to make it easier and people will be insanely into it. no key degrade and remove all the affixes everybody hates or even all them. It's IMPORTANT to remember the primary thing most people are doing it for: GEAR. Doing 17-20 keys gets you the best rewards by a mile. There's a huge reason most players are playing those keys weeks into a season. It being easier (but not easy) is what makes people super keen to do it, and the fact that M+ is WAY more convenient and also easy around 17s~ to do than heroic raiding which gives you the same rewards with a worse vault??? why would you ever raid since Mythic raiding is HARDER than +20s for the same loot from almost the entire raid. The main thing is: raids need a massive reward overhaul. the incentive to do them has never been lower since M+ is what it is.

[@Craul08]

You can get Wyrm gear purely through LFR or crafting, how much easier can it get? It could get faster maybe...

[@snazzydrew]

i actually hate the affixes in general. And if it's one that makes my life just harder without it being more fun, I just skip that week lol.

[@jayjays_shed2158]

from my personal point of view, I do 18s more just to get gear, as raid never appears to drop enough gear to solely gear from raid drops unless you want to farm till the 18th week of a season. and if you want to raid and play alts and not have to raid extra nights GL.

[@williamcolgin1987]

Will S4 heroics have a daily or weekly lockout?

[@Valyn]

Difficulty is great up until you fail. Then many people stop having fun. ie overcoming difficulty is fun. Failing to difficulty is less so, generally speaking.

[@TigernachVT]

The timer is the biggest gripe I have with M+. Shrinking the timed key climb is a great tweak.

[@Marshimelo]

great video, really love seeing all the stats and analysis of it. Would be awesome to see something similar for some of the other games, like FFXIV.

[@iansabrewolfe]

The biggest issue I see with the S4 Mythic system is the weekly lockout being retained on M0s. Not being able to spam M0 the same way you can heroics and M+ is going to keep M0 a dead zone. Blizz needs to either remove the lockout or make an LFG option if they want to make it enticing for the players they are trying to make it accessible for.

[@ZodaSoda]

I think the counting of M+ keys as correlation of total players is crazy, Legion was a time where M+ was new and fresh and its numbers are tiny as most people did M+ on their main and then went off to do world stuff or raid, Blizzard has slowly pushed for Alts and more people have Alts than ever before, and they're doing M+ on their alts, with 1-8 being fairly easy to do on an Alt you might suck at or is undergeared, getting you into 10-20 even faster on said alts.

[@SlotHits777]

Gear progress is good, most tier sets are worth having (almost necessary), been doing a ton until just past few weeks.. some of the players have become quite toxic and elitists .. totally hurt the fun factor. They were reported, but unknown if removed or anything, bc still seeing it within 4-5 runs, at least 1 a-hole player --- The only issue other than that is the trend of packing on more and more reliance on healer to have to do things, rapidly and faster than CD's keep pace with

[@jakubpelikan2393]

Gear progress is waste of time thanks to seasonal resets.

[@abaddonmorningstar8871]

It has to have difficult content of many varieties. with delves being an example of a solution to that. in part. and companion dungeons. could do "the longer im in this activity the harder it will get" like Torghast but applied better. again like delves but why not story related siege modes. etc

[@peckop1793]

That mistweaver needs to learn to only dump Essence Font during chiji+4stack blackout kick. Using it to heal is a waste of mana

[@shifts-in-light]

This has honestly been one of my favorite M+ seasons to date. Because the keys are easier, pugging feels viable for once, instead of insufferable 24/7. It's hard to keep hold of a consistent group these days!

[@86Corvus]

its called a guild, thats its purpose. Not the LFG tool, a GUILD.

[@shifts-in-light]

@86Corvus just gonna refer you back to the last sentence of my comment, "it's hard to keep hold of a consistent group these days" :] in case you missed it, that might imply I've heard of guilds.

[@_3clipse_]

This is enough to bring me back to WoW played since Vanilla but each time since Legion got my main geared and levelled and left my alts wherever because progression was not quick and simple to get done... yes it is an MMO (real world alternative) BUT the real world still exists and is harder than ever to get by in. So I want to have my MMO and eat as well.

[@ionrage]

May I also add, that DF as an expansion has not had a bad patch and also in tandem to this aspect, the patches have come in good times through out, BFA and SL were sporadic and had bad patches. Its really important for Blizzard to maintain this momentum, not saying the patches are for everybody nor in some cases are they excellent in some cases in DF but there has been no bad and badly timed patch this expansion.

[@TheElean1993]

Can confirm, almost 3k rating on M+ this season, it's been a fun blast

[@chrish0001]

Given the way the numbers are shared (in completions), couldn’t it instead be that a smaller number of players are just doing this and only this content day in and day out? And that’s driving the increase?

[@kazkorianor]

Let me say it , easy games are not bad games , not every one of use has 24/7 time and want some easy quick fun in games

[@MrManultra]

5:52 I might be dumb but if 18s and 20s roughly equal 100% (% of all keys) ...Somehow all keys are more than 100%...

[@leonbabbitt9000]

The main reason Mythic plus is being run, is due to having to get the crests from them. If there was a way to get the higher crests without running the Mythics, that percentage would go down.

[@johnny_eason_iii]

I play all versions of WoW and am stoked/excited for more good gaming times!!! Epic!!👏👏👏👏🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼💯💯💯💯💯

[@Dr_Fatty]

My goal every season is just to get the dungeon teleport

[@snazzydrew]

the fact that I can tank M+ with controller and consoleport is amazing. There's a guy on Twitch you PHYSCIALLY ROLEPLAYS his gameplay while using controller+consoleport and he pushes keys.

[@osamudazai579]

Just remove all affixes. Best time doing m+ this whole expansion was the day keys were bugged and affixes didnt exist.

[@pauldietz1325]

If Blizzard makes content easier, but then doesn't talk about having done so, I expect it wasn't something their either wanted to do or were happy doing, and I expect that (as in the past when this happened) they will revert to their default ways and buff the difficulty again. I'll believe Blizzard's mindset has shifted when they come out and say so. Own the shift, Blizzard, otherwise no one will trust you.

[@Spectre1Gaming]

I'm not a fan of Mythic+ but if they got rid of timers and affix's that would be more appealing but I come from an older mindset where we used Dungeons to get pre-raid Bis and then jumped into Raids and never really gave Dungeons a 2nd thought.

[@ForOne814]

One problem: an average WoW player doesn't raid. And that was always true, not just after Mythic+ was added.

[@Spectre1Gaming]

@@ForOne814 I think you will find most players Raid or at least they did from Vanilla to MOP and a lot were also doing it in Legion my friends told me. It's probably the level of difficulty and number of addons that have driven people away from it.

[@ForOne814]

​@@Spectre1Gaming nope. They didn't. Most people didn't even get to 60 in Vanilla, lol.

[@JohnSmith-wx5fl]

Why are so many people? Idk, same reason why people play classic; playing old content that youre already familiar with makes the game easier, and funner.

[@bikeomatic8005]

why play m+ so much? cuz nothing else to do and it gives best loot/crests farm, youre done with raid on reset day with pug, maybe u get a piece or two and thats it for the whole week, so what else is there just the m+, when I hit 3k I stopped doin it, and played much much less, basicaly clear raid on reset day plus one +20 for the week

[@radenkovic2856]

I think people need to start to get over not clearing all the content. If some things are to hard, it's fine. I think there is value when only 50 guilds can clear the endboss of a raid. But tbf, I would enjoy if they would make heroic loot the maximum. And mythic only for cosmetics or whatever. I don't need any reward personally cause I just enjoy the gameplay and beating bosses. But I know I'm in the vast minority and therefore there needs to be some reward so I have other players to play with 😂

[@86Corvus]

Good, one normal person who doesnt tie their sense of self worth to a videogame score table... and doesnt demand the challenge be removed so they dont have to think they arent as good at it as other people...

[@radenkovic2856]

@@86Corvus maybe i do though and i just clear all the content and thats why its fine for me :D who knows

[@SuperZekethefreak]

Great video!

[@LC-lw4vy]

Of course there are more people playing when it’s easier. The player base has been changing the last decade or more. There are a lot of casual players who only have so much time or are looking for something to waste a bit of time. Getting a sense of accomplishment from these things is no longer a big thing, I get a sense of accomplishment in real life not a game. And then there are also a LOT of carries. People don’t have time for spending hours doing these. People don’t enjoy spending hours playing something to get something that is forgotten a couple of months later. So if it’s easier more people will try it

[@Orjari]

I mean... if we are counting booster and everything (which is quite impossible to know which ones are) yea this could be true... i know some ppl that have been running 10~12 Keys a day to boost ppl for KSM...

[@naonna1]

i love that this game only just figured it out after FF14 has had "simply earn good gear to level up" and anyone can do it... especially with how stable the prices on the market board tend to be for older gear.

[@user-th7cw4dl3o]

What I really disliked about M+ in all previous seasons I've played is that it was hard content for pugs. That simply doesn't work. Content for pugs needs to be easy. I always generally enjoyed M+ with a guild and hated it with pugs, but here it's fun with pugs, and this is why there's so much runs being done. There is way less rejection because things are just easier, and when people are pushing keys into the 30s, me doing my 15s and 17s isn't an issue at all.

[@willian3673]

M+ getting iterations every patch while Mythic Raiding continues stuck with the stupid instance ID lockout from 1998.

[@XxKinGzxX100]

What’s wrong with the current lockout system ?

[@druidgorefiend8915]

@@XxKinGzxX100 You can play diablo or path of exile, but don't bring that mechanics to warcraft

[@XxKinGzxX100]

@@druidgorefiend8915 what are you waffling about ?

[@Hoigwai]

I wish I liked M+ but I really don't. I don't like racetracking through a dungeon.

[@yungsofa8084]

i personally like doing the harder keys.

[@TheRabidSniper]

IncorpEEreal. Goddammit. I can't unheard it. Every. Damn. Time. LEARN TO PRONOUNCE "INCOPOOOOOOREAL", MICHAEL

[@masterlee005]

I'm watching this after playing wow since 2007 :D yet i never experienced PVE. Yeah it might sound strange but i only did PVP till now, the only pve i did was leveling. For me at least PVE is non existing.

[@wobbles86]

Players come back when the gear they get isn't immediately replaced by next patch. They want it for the next expansion and to farm the older content for mogs/toys etc.

[@Philip-vs9ou]

No borrowed power.

[@rowdyrager-9403]

They just need to make the game fun. If the gameplay is fun the story is better than average players will play and not notice the grinds for what they are or will tolerate them better. But when the gameplay is not fun or overly complex then pisss on it.

[@vaethe_w]

I actually carried the M+ stats

[@Nokomak]

I need guidance. Lvl 70, wanting the shaman set. I've no idea what to do. These videos say a bunch but I don't understand. Can't relay it to the game. A video jumping from A to B doesn't bridge you to where you need to go.

[@larslane30]

Don't play M+ at all so this doesn't do anything for me. I have never gotten into it or wanted to. Glad someone is having fun.

[@SKtheBig]

I really enjoyed s3 Not gonna Play s4 a lot though Mostly just weekly. I prefer Short and Easy Dungeons, the DF Dungeons were just too Hard for me and way too Long.

[@Coldkil666]

Disclaimer: i don't like M+ as a format, but it's clearly a godly addition from when they put it in game. Now. Not to s**t on bellular or the data (which are pretty clear), but on thing only strikes me. More and more people go into M+ - because it gives a way more solid and faster way of gearing compared to raids. Especially Mythic which are basically unapproachable by most people. We all knwo what's raiding situation in WoW and given how M+ are THE alternative, it was basically a trend that started in Legion. Making them easier/more accessible makes the process faster, not really much different. Then, it's clear how most people only actually care about M+ for the gear - otherwise there wouldn't be so much of a drop after that. And here comes my cynic side; how many of these runs are actually done and not bought? Not saying they don't count, but actual player interest and distribution would totally be different if players couldn't buy carries. I I really like how they decided to rework the M+ system from next patch. Less "fodder" low levels, much more approachable for casuals that then will have access to gear (which si going to be a crutch in many cases but whatever) and maybe more interest into pushing the "last 10 ones" instead of buying runs.

[@lagtastic7511]

I share your wonder on the carries question. Given just how many ad's you see, and how quickly they come and go. There has to be an enormous amount of people buying carries. Honestly its just plan sad the state WoW is in, the wow token poisoned the game

[@Coldkil666]

@@lagtastic7511 even if the token wasn't a part of it, it would have happened. The token only made things "official" - i dislike it aswell but it let me farm months of sub by selling herbs in AH so i'm not totally negative about it. My real doubts come from the fact that in terms of pure personal progression, M+ is way superior to Raids, and people still playing obviously will flock to M+. So while it's obviously true that less focus on hyper competitive content is a good thing, M+ being a so much better/rewarding system can only attract more and more people.

[@mallusdarkblade]

Color me surprised? Not at all, make games more accessible, give them decent chances at rewards (currency) and they will play

[@grennbalze]

“LINE GOD! LINE GOD! LINE GOD!”

[@kaakrepwhatever]

I didn't find the gearing requirement of grinding out hundreds of tiny upgrades to be inspiring. I waited way too many hours without seeing the low keys I needed and went back to old content. Hint: this isn't going to pump more players into low keys. The players who fondly remember dungeon crawling aren't going to push keys.

[@user-tn4rq1nu2z]

Its because if you want to push heroic or higher in raid you have to get gear from m+ so its forced content for many of us.

[@kalasmournrex1470]

M+ is far more popular than heroic raids

[@exileh]

what would be your solution? maybe another evergreen pve mode? or more loot drops from raids?

[@Shiirow]

@@exileh solution, going into the content with the initial question... "will this be fun, without the carrot on the stick?"

[@zlan1684]

I disagree I hate M+ thats why I stopped playing wow @@kalasmournrex1470

[@exileh]

there will always be a carrot on a stick. gearing and gameplay loops are there to keep players playing the game and generating money obviously. can you give me an example of fun content without a reward?

[@strofysica]

This data will include more fundamental reasons why easy = fun in the context of WoW and these should not go unacknowledged. If the game makes failing punishing to the point where you get bullied by toxic people, it creates difficult = not fun. I worry that the easy=fun hype will end up reducing the urgency to iterate on why difficult = not fun. If making the game easier is going to be the all-in-one solution, I really hope Blizzard will also cater to the people that like the challenge but are just tired of the unreasonable and unnecessary frictions that currently accompany that type of content in WoW. For me, raiding is literally no content anymore due to the reduced difficulty. My perfect difficulty used to be previous Heroic, and it was also reasonably accessible to the mainstream. There is no alternative for me, because Mythic is not nearly as accessible as Heroic was. I hope with all these iterations of Blizzard to make things easier are a build up to eventually also cater to people like me, which I think is a decent chunk of the player base. I hope they make easy=fun ánd difficult=fun.

[@llwonder]

Don’t cater the game to the best players. The formula is simple.

[@burcakozol]

Other than dedicated players, most players do not fancy doing raids, and most people do not want to socialize much in the game. M+ with its current state brings the opportunity to gear up, unlock collectible stuff like full armor sets without the need for signing up raiding and all. M+ is not always easy of course, depending on your game and class experience it might need some practice to develop muscle memory and to some point dedication as well.

[@Dewbah22]

They need to slim buttons down to like 12 per spec max. Game has to many buttons

[@swagtheyolo7061]

If it only tracks keys completed, that doesnt mean more people are running mythic+. It just means more are being completed because its easier, instead of being failed.

[@BellularGaming]

Nope, it tracks all runs, including ones that fail. That's why we have % keys timed as a statistic.

[@swagtheyolo7061]

@@BellularGaming OK, you said "keys completed" in your video, which is why I thought they might not track the failed ones as well

[@GeorgeNoX]

Duh, who would have thought right? It is pretty obvious to anyone that if the game is easier to get into, more players will be willing to get into it, especially new players.

[@TheNewGuy21]

I just myself want actual Pro's Affix's instead of them all being various degrees of negatives, its just not fun. Esepcially when there is no greater reward past 20 bar a title.

[@evilmarius]

Mythic plus is growing because there is no endgame content...

[@GigaGaren]

Couldnt this just mean the same amount of people are just running more runs rather than getting bored and leaving. Wish we could see more in depth data

[@georgikrustev3737]

This is exactly the point he is trying to make. We saw the sub numbers. There is actually less people playing retail now compared to Legion. Yet there are more runs because they are easier and rewarding.

[@MrJeremydb91]

Yes please…enough of not being worth a shit without 10,000 addons and 100 keybinds

[@joewag88]

“Key takeaways” 😂

[@PlaymeoffSia]

pandaria model, higher skill cap, more fun. flightstones are eh though

[@Shadowxjen]

The fresh character in myth + example is just bad, you get carried by well equiped groups this late in the season, anyways,

[@lewisgarland1259]

Easier wow is a win I agree! I can still shine and show people my elitism by pulling good numbers and people who are not as good as me (actually have a life) are not punished for not being sweaty little no lifers. Its a win win!

[@Kim-tr5op]

classic proved that when it came out

[@Aspectt10]

I still would prefer complete removal of affixes. Let dungeons be dungeons.

[@olderwiser8995]

Give the dungeon mobs more health and have them do more damage as the mythic level goes up. Completely eliminate the affixes. Affixes are not fun. I can't wait to rejoin the game again one day when they are completely gone. I'll only know that has happened when Bellular reports on it.

[@dmasiodnmiod]

Ofc wow is better when it's easier lol Blizzard trying to turn WoW into an Esport is KILLING THE GAME. WoW is supposed to be an easy, relaxing mmorpg with character progression. it's not supposed to be a giga tryhard competitive game.

[@TaliesinMyrddin]

Really hoping this information suggests the Awakened raids will be more easily puggable this expansion. They were hell in Shadowlands, but I remember pugging normal raids in Legion being really easy.