And expertise too. It's no secret that I'm way beyond the expertise soft cap (as are many leather wearers this tier). But beyond this relatively new development, I just don't like stats with definitive caps. I'd probably feel the same way about mastery if I was a shield tank. Stats that just stop working after a while are no fun.
Capping-stats feel like a relic of old skool game mechanics that originated from table top RPGs. I actually haven't legitimately played many table top RPGs because my friends in college insisted that it was a "boys only" activity. I am told I didn't miss much, but the one time I did get to play (because someone wasn't able to play that day) it totally seemed like it followed a similar system to WoW's hit/miss/crit combat tables. (Except WoW doesn't have negative crits that break your weapon. I'm sorry, dude that I was standing in for, but I can't control the die and now your giant axe is gone.) Is that why hit is in the game? Does missing add some sort of subtle element of fun to the game?
From my single game design course that I took in college, there is one element that stuck in my head: people like random rewards. Random rewards will keep someone participating longer and with more interest than guaranteed rewards. This is called partial reinforcement. It could be that hitting the boss is one of the many ways WoW has implemented partial reinforcement. If that's the case, then it's some sort of backwards partial reinforcement where we're randomly rewarded more than we're randomly punished, which doesn't feel as effective.
Hit could also be in the game to keep our rotations dynamic. That first Pulverize missed? The player has to react and quickly use Pulverize again. However, we're encouraged to reach those caps so that our rotations are less random. In a world where stats are up to a player's individual playstyle and choice, I can see where choosing between less randomness and say, more critical hits, might be interesting. Sadly we do not live in that world, and for nearly all damage dealing classes hit is a top priority.
Another possibility is that hit could function simply as a secondary stat filler. We only have so many secondary stats, which are hit, expertise, mastery, haste, crit, dodge, parry, and spirit. If we took away the capping stats, each class would only have three or four secondary stats to choose from. Limiting gear variation is usually not more fun. Of course, there are many other opportunities for secondary stats should Blizzard want to expand their options (like a stat to increase the multiplier on crits, or something that increases dot damage or duration).
Maybe capping stats are there to present a goal for us. This would be a horrible reason back before Blizzard actually included hit caps into the UI, but now it's a reasonable expectation. Does being short of any cap make it fun because once you reach the cap you're suddenly having more fun? I know my motivation for reaching the expertise soft cap (you know, before tier 13) was related to this, because it's more fun to fail less. Actually, I'm not sure if it was more fun or less un-fun.
As we've seen with mastery capping, capping some stats can actually be game breaking. I don't think hit falls into the game breaking category, but I don't feel like it contributes much to the modern MMO world. I can see some reasons why it seems like a good idea, but now I find myself looking forward to games that don't have the hit/miss concept. Of course, I'm just being grumpy at my 44 expertise.
(PS these pictures aren't relevant. I just found a series of screenshots from a year ago when I thought my first trip to Magister's Terrace on Sunnier was a super special event.)
I think in any game it is important to make it possible to be bad. One of the reasons games are so successful is because people enjoy the sensation of learning a new skill and the sense of pride that comes with perfecting it. Games are very good at providing this, I challenge you to find a WoW player who has played for a reasonable period of time and isn't better at their chosen playstyle than they were when they started.
ReplyDeleteIf hit didn't exist then you would remove one level of potential bad from a players gearing choices. Whilst gearing for hit is relatively simple it is still something that people have learnt to do. I suspect one of the reasons people love to mock the DK with int gear or the hunter with expertise is because it reminds them that they have learnt not to be so "stupid". A world in which it is impossible to be bad is a world with no pleasure in being good.
I have began to keep haste on my gear and get rid of expertise. I am a speedy bear!
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point, but how much difficulty is there really in capping stats? It tests your googling ability, and your ability to use reforging mods to reach the cap. You're not actually introducing any of your own reasoning or intelligence into that solution. It reminds me of a recent Ghostcrawler blog when he said something about "difficult to learn, easy to master". It's difficult to find the correct balance of stats, but once someone else does that it's easy to Google the solution.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't difficulty lie in the more advanced aspects of the game, instead of the very simple? You don't idolize the best players in the world because they managed to reach the hit cap, you idolize them because they worked hard and have very efficient problem solving skills. If anything, capping secondary stats only increase the difficulty for people who are new at this game.
That's a good way to describe the issue, Sunnier. If a feature drives you to use a tool that is outside the game, it's a bad feature.
ReplyDeleteI don't like capable stats, either. It's not fun to use a reforging tool, and it's not fun to sit there dickering around with manual reforging to get it right. It's also inconsistent with the way reforging works to begin with. Conversions are always 40% no matter whether you would prefer to convert less. If they really want capping, then they should allow reforging to convert fewer than the maximum points.
This isn't about idolizing the best it is about everyone being able to feel some sort of improvement if they wish it. A player who has very bad spatial awareness and reaction time can still feel some sense of learning and improving by ensuring that he understands how his class works. If the only way to be "learn" to be better at the game is by overcoming the more advanced aspects of the game he may never improve at all which would be fairly demoralising.
ReplyDeleteAlso I don't see why capping stats are any worse than having to know your stat priorities for none capping stats. In fact since Blizzard introduced it into the UI I would say it is far more obvious that it is a good idea to cap hit than it is that mastery is better than haste for a demo warlock. Personally I feel it used to add an extra dimension to gearing working out how to best reach appropriate caps. Although I admit that due to the advent of tools like wowreforge it has lost this and become largely irrelevant for the hardcore.
I don't think anyone is arguing against having a difficulty curve in general. For example, here are some challenges that I think work well in the game: dodging fire, using your cooldowns on top of each other, skipping dots on short-lived mobs, and managing your energy so that you neither cap it nor let your bleeds fall off.
ReplyDeleteThose challenges add a difficulty ramp-up, and they are quite fun to learn and get better at. To contrast, I really don' think anyone is having fun when they go to a reforging web site. It's just tedious.