109830-gameplay-depth-versus-tedium

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Going to make this as short as possible. 
 
With the current implementation of Wildstar's systems there are a lot of great things and a lot of not so great things. Everyone has their own specific issues(I'm a warrior tank, let's not go into that), but overall I think the major issue that is causing the game to lose staying power even with people who like the game is the way the game rewards you for doing repeatable content. 
 
So let's look at the current options outside of raiding for a level 50 character. 
 
1) Dailies. Everyone likes dailies, whether they admit it or not. It gives you something to do every day, it allows you to work toward an objective, and it's less mindless than just grinding mobs. Plus, even for those of us who love to raid and run dungeons, sometimes you just want to zone out for an hour and listen to music or watch a movie or something while playing. The problem is that the current dailies are overly static, and if you don't want a specific item off the beloved table there's no real reason to do them. Instead of logging in each day and having the three same zones with the three same quests with the three same rewards to look at, it would be nice if there was something dynamic to it. Maybe give bonus rewards for one zone each day(think rune fragments or something) so you would want to do one zone each day. Alternatively, to add depth to the faction add a new item to each faction vendor each month, and bump the cap over three or four days worth of faction to get it. Something to take the existing content and make it more interesting and less repetitive. If you told me I would get an augmented from doing Crimson Badlands and there was a new item coming on the vendor I wouldn't mind doing it despite being capped. Instead I'll never go there again. It seems like a waste of all that development time. We could even add amp and ability points as a one time purchase for ultimately capping the faction(50k rep maybe? Something?). Anything to make it more than a binary decision of "do I want a beloved item from here, yes/no?" 
 
2) Dungeons. First, let me say the dungeons are the best 5 man content from a replayability perspective I have ever had the pleasure of running. The problem is that for many people they have long lost their luster, especially from a loot perspective. Part of this has to do with the crafted/rune issue that is being addressed soon, but part of it just has to do with there really not being an incentive to do the content once you reach a certain point, even if it's still fun. I see two easy ways to extend the life of this enjoyable content. The first is daily quests for a dungeon, adventure, and pvp zone. I was hoping the rune slot rerolls/additions would be a part of this system, but it appears that is not the case. It would give guilds a reason to keep playing for a bit when raid time is over, something we sorely need. Right now we can have 40+ on during raids and then not a single dungeon ran once the raid ends. It's not that people don't want to do them, they just don't see the point. We need carrots. The other is to give some sort of currency at the end that you could trade in for the basic necessities everyone wants. Thing rune fragments, crafting materials(damn you bloodbriar!!), food, dyes, etc. Anything to extend the want to run this content beyond simply the urge to acquire gear. It really is great content that a lot of wonderful design went into, but there has to be a deeper reward there. 
 
3) Grinding solo. This is currently the method of choice for most endgame raiders, at least in my experience. You log in, put on some tunes, and kill the same crap over and over gathering eldans to sell, items to break down for fragments, and the off chance at a good BoE or(lololololol) amp/ability point. You do this for long enough and you make a lot of money. Then you go to Thayd or Ilium and hit a buy macro every few minutes hoping some unknowing noob found the one amp point he will ever, ever find and he will sell it to you for 20-30 plat. Repeat ad nauseum. 
 
Now, in my opinion option three is the least engaging of the three. Yet right now it feels like it is definitely the optimal way to play. If you want to advance your character, you find a good spot and zone out for a few hours. You have a much better chance of appreciably improving your character by increasing your wealth via mindless grinding than you do doing any other content once you reach a certain point. Perhaps this is an unintended side effect of some of the other current systems, but there has to be a way to incentivize more engaging content. It sucks seeing a full voice chat for a few hours turn into a ghost town in minutes post raid, or everyone dispersing to other games. It's not that we don't enjoy the content. We do. It's just there's no reason to do it. It's not even the best way to get your elder gems each week. 
 
TL:DR We want to play your game and run your content. Give us reasons to do so. If you are slowing down your monthly updates this game needs added depth and some sort of additional character progression in a bad way. I'd rather you give us real reasons to keep doing the content that exists than devote all your resources to churning out new ones that we'll be tired of in a month anyway if they don't have the added depth we're talking about. 
 
Thoughts? 	
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			My thoughts are until they get a handle on the bugs, especially the bugs that get rebroken (leveling path quest progression is horribly broken) with each content patch, slowing the pace is necessary for the short term.  However, I do agree with you for the long term.  I hope that makes sense?	
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Going to make this as short as possible. 
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I'm afraid of your long version.
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Really, all they need is dungeon currency that will eventually let you buy the drop you wanted or even Eldan Gauntlets. Those who have everything can always buy tarnished eldan gifts.
 
They should also make gold medals roll all epics.  The loot change helped dungeons a bit but KILLED adventures.
 
Agree about #3, and that's what I do now if not pvp.  If people want help I charge a merc fee b/c helping them doesn't get me any tier unlocks lol
 
 
The gameplay is great and absolutely fantastically fun.  But there is no vision or plan at Carbine over how to keep all the different populations happy and still playing the game.
 
Anyone who can't raid in this game, which is where it really shines, is not long for continued exploration of Nexus post 50.	
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For me, and maybe others, the issue with the dailies is as the OP wrote Tedium + Little Reward.
 
In other MMO's we have this level of grind, it's nothing new and I doubt will ever go away, but:
 
1) At the moment in wastes and badlands, I like others pick up the exact same quests day after day. IMO the dailies should be plucked from a pool of quests - say 8 quests from a pool of 12 - this adds some variety to what you will be expecting to do today - rather than me facing the same railroad tonight.
 
2) At max rep, again we all know the items will be pretty much worthless, but players like to show off their epeen of having the mental stamina to grind it out.  Where are the titles, companion pet or mount to let them show this off?
 
3) Again at max rep there should be 1 possibly 2 BiS (pre raid) items for each class/role combination - these could also be runes. 
4) Maybe at max rep, you could add a 10% per faction increase for Elder Gems, or convert the faction rep you would have earned into plat similar to being maxed on weekly XP.As for Solo Mob Grinding, lets be honest we do this out of choice, but in W* we do it as there's nothing else to do whilst awaiting Scorchwing to spawn.  This is a bigger problem particularly if you don't want to spend hours moving bits of wood by a few pixels at your house or playing the borked PvP system.	
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