EU+US Absolutely absurd predictions that I think might actually happen

Oh gems themselves, thought you meant gear that could be socketed. Well gems are available in SW/Org from the vendor. Theres also vendors in HH/Thrallmar that sell 'em for gold or those wpvp marks from capping the towers.
 
Chops said:
Professions are incredibly scuffed on Wowheads "beta" site but those gems (5 stat/5 crit) look to probably be BIS at least for F2P. Vets will, in all likelihood, have access to better gems.
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5 agi/int 5 crit afaik. Str users have to look elsewhere.
 
Kirise said:
The more I looked into it, the more my eyes bugged out. With the exception of Old Hillsbrad, so many dungeons coming available right at level 10 means that F2Ps might get access to BiS gear from TBC and Wrath via LFG without needing Chromie. In theory, walk-in level for heroics would start at 27 and would prevent F2Ps from getting gem drops, but if jewelcrafting allows multiple expansions capped at 100 skill, that opens up expansion JC recipes, and then it's up to enterprising F2Ps to find ways into other expansion lands without Chromie to get gem mats. And that's not even touching other professions like enchanting.

This could become a point of contention among F2Ps. If we need to have a lock summon us to an expansion area, or if an F2P account linked to a vet account opens up Chromie for the F2P account, does that count as a true F2P, or does that fall into the category of vet, since the F2P had no way of getting to other expansions without outside-the-game help or access?

I really see Blizzard capping F2Ps at level 10. With so much available at that level, even without access to Chromie, I just can't imagine Blizzard opening up even more of the game to F2Ps by taking F2Ps to level 20 in Shadowlands. However, Blizzard's smarter with metrics than people give them credit for. It's possible that even though Blizzard knows certain players simply won't pay for the game, Blizzard may want F2Ps to populate the lower end of the leveling world to give paying levelers more people to play with in dungeons.



I thought so too, but then consider that if we map all four shoulder buttons as modifier keys, that provides 16 options for each face button. Four face buttons, then, gives us 64 slots. Even if we only map 2 modifiers onto the shoulder buttons, that gives four options for each of the four face buttons, plus four options for the remaining 2 shoulder buttons, for a total of 24 options. The ergonomics of shoulder button modifiers are a helluva lot better than keyboard modifiers. But man oh man, I wouldn't want to try to use a console controller for mouseover healing.

If I played melee, I would bind two face buttons for abilities, one for targeting options, and one for item use. ...After a week, I'd throw my controller out a window, and plug in my keyboard and mouse.

Targeting is the real drawback of a console controller, and targeting remains WoW's best technical advantage over other MMOs. But let's be honest, most WoW players don't actually use much in the way of targeting.
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Giving that many perks at 10, and then having f2ps cap @ 10, kinda disincentivizes people to buy the game. Given that Blizzard is very much profit driven, and some within the dev team seem resentful at times against twinking (though others on the team throw us a bone from time to time), I would not be surprised if blizz capped f2p to a level right before level 10, to encourage more to open wallets. Blizzard likes money, so I honesly would be supristed to see them throw f2p's so many meaty bones.
 
Shaket said:
Giving that many perks at 10, and then having f2ps cap @ 10, kinda disincentivizes people to buy the game. Given that Blizzard is very much profit driven, and some within the dev team seem resentful at times against twinking (though others on the team throw us a bone from time to time), I would not be surprised if blizz capped f2p to a level right before level 10, to encourage more to open wallets. Blizzard likes money, so I honesly would be supristed to see them throw f2p's so many meaty bones.
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I think this is why you'll see a huge disparity between whats available to vets at 10 and whats available to starter accounts. For instance, its possible that like... F2P only get the starter zone and everything else is gated behind a sub. Or they only get starter zone and BFA stuff. Something like that.
 
Chops said:
I think this is why you'll see a huge disparity between whats available to vets at 10 and whats available to starter accounts. For instance, its possible that like... F2P only get the starter zone and everything else is gated behind a sub. Or they only get starter zone and BFA stuff. Something like that.
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Or even making zoning into any instances other than a select couple-few "starter intances" only available to those with paid accounts.
 
Shaket said:
Giving that many perks at 10, and then having f2ps cap @ 10, kinda disincentivizes people to buy the game. Given that Blizzard is very much profit driven, and some within the dev team seem resentful at times against twinking (though others on the team throw us a bone from time to time), I would not be surprised if blizz capped f2p to a level right before level 10, to encourage more to open wallets. Blizzard likes money, so I honesly would be supristed to see them throw f2p's so many meaty bones.
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I've never seen any indication from the dev team against twinking. Twinks are pretty toxic overall, but no more so than other subcommunities in WoW.

Because Blizzard is indeed very much profit driven, they also keep their big picture gains in mind. They know a certain percentage of F2Ps will never purchase the game nor subscription time for their account. So the question becomes, how can Blizzard use dedicated F2Ps to either incentivize other F2Ps to subscribe and purchase, or retain current subscribers? For that reason, I don't see Blizzard putting in extra effort to gate access to instances. In addition, limiting F2Ps to particular instances makes those instances pop more frequently for levelers, and Blizzard clearly wants greater instance diversity if Blizzard is making the vast majority of instances in the game available by level 20.

And now that @Shaket has me thinking out loud, Chromie requiring vet status from an account or linked account will make money. In fact, I think that's an ingenious way to get unlinked F2P twinks to open their wallets. Blizzard knows that if you had a subscription at one time, you're more likely to sub again, even if just for a month or two. But if you've never subbed? Chromie access is only $15, and then you get Chromie forever. Getting that first sub from a F2P account is the key.

In a nutshell, Blizzard is gonna make some one-time money from Chromie, and leverage F2Ps to help level subscribers through the first few hours of instances, encouraging those subscribers to stay.
 
Shaket said:
Definately not somebody who's twinked in every bracket EXCEPT 24 since July 2005.
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I'm pretty sure he's just playing with you, given your Grandfathered badge, and that most of this thread discusses predictions, rather than making them.

I was chatting with @youbeezy last week, and one of our favorite stories came from way back in Wrath. Yoube, I, and Shaket were the only resto shamans in the whole bracket (Magnetronic and Kaorinite played spellhance shamans, iirc, and Rand rarely played). Remember that shamans had at least one totem per element back then. 29s decided they want to pop Arathi Basin instead of the gulch. Somehow, through the movements and repositionings all over the map, the three of us resto shamans all ended up at Blacksmith. We instinctively dropped our four totems each. We saw Nastay on his mage pause at the bridge, and immediately turn around and leave. He later told Yoube that Nastay saw a massive collection of shamans and totems and said, "I ain't goin' in that wild jungle of bull%@#$".

Back on topic, I think it's very likely that Blizzard will continue to gate professions i.e. we can do the vanilla professions to 100, but can't get Outland professions, etc., even if Chromie will take us to an expansion land. That could be a big distinguishing factor for vets not just for gear enchantments, but also because expansion gems will let vets attain more Mastery via the gems. For many classes and specs, mastery offers the best stat advantage. With mastery starting at level 10 in Shadowlands, mastery-gemmed vets are gonna be what distinguishes vets from F2Ps even more than enchantments.
 
Kirise said:
ack on topic, I think it's very likely that Blizzard will continue to gate professions i.e. we can do the vanilla professions to 100, but can't get Outland professions, etc., even if Chromie will take us to an expansion land. That could be a big distinguishing factor for vets not just for gear enchantments, but also because expansion gems will let vets attain more Mastery via the gems. For many classes and specs, mastery offers the best stat advantage. With mastery starting at level 10 in Shadowlands, mastery-gemmed vets are gonna be what distinguishes vets from F2Ps even more than enchantments.
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Since we're on predictions... I think its possible we see F2P have access to like... the first couple skill points of BFA professions, since thats the intended leveling path (they really want new characters and players to go from starting zone to BFA content to SL content) and it would be the "carrot" so to speak. But I would be *shocked* and obviously stoked to see F2P get access to any professions from any other expansions. Or even get terribly deep into BFA profs.
 
Chops said:
I think its possible we see F2P have access to like... the first couple skill points of BFA professions, since thats the intended leveling path (they really want new characters and players to go from starting zone to BFA content to SL content) and it would be the "carrot" so to speak. But I would be *shocked* and obviously stoked to see F2P get access to any professions from any other expansions. Or even get terribly deep into BFA profs.
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Once Blizzard commoditized professions (was it Cata when Blizzard got rid of profession buffs? That completed the transition), professions became optional. Only endgame twinks got fully enchanted and gemmed from that point onward. It would really surprise me if Blizzard opened non-vanilla professions to F2Ps. With that said, you make a good point that Blizzard wants to funnel new players through BfA to get to Shadowlands. Therefore, if for some reason F2Ps get to level past 10 in Shadowlands, then I do believe Blizzard would open BfA professions for F2Ps.
 
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