Humorously enough, I might be the Paladin referred to. I don't raid (half schedule half personal; hard for me nowdays to actually commit a night to appointment gaming, nor do I want to), though I do still play a lot because I enjoy the community and challenge of this game.
Obviously, I like content that is more geared around "free gaming" (as in you don't need to have a scheduled time in advance for multiple hours every week to do something) than "appointment gaming". However, as someone who also did his time raiding, I understand the challenge in making smaller group content- if you do something like WoW is doing with 10 and 25 man raiding (making them have the same rewards in cataclysm AFAIK), why bother going through the whiny drama of 25 people when you can be more chill with 10?
That said, I actually think Ikisith took this in a good direction- there's a lot of small group/6 man quests for faction and such in Murk and other zones. It gives people something to do while not raiding! More of this is a good thing for both raiders and non-raiders.
I would say though that I wish there were more quests that gave solid gear in the mid-tier range. They can be long-involved quests like the Vah that require getting a group together for a short amount of time and kicking some butt. Something like that I enjoy because I don't need to make weekly appointments for 4 hours to raid, I just need to gather up some friends (maybe a day or two in advance), then set out and kick some butt. More of that is a good thing.
If there was a need for extra 6-12 man content, I think the biggest area is there.
I do realize that this is a raid-centric game, though I think we can learn a few things from World of Warcraft (which has done a good job mixing hardcore and casual gameplay). Give people goals to play to, even if it's a long questline, and I think people will be happier even if they aren't raiding.
Obviously, I like content that is more geared around "free gaming" (as in you don't need to have a scheduled time in advance for multiple hours every week to do something) than "appointment gaming". However, as someone who also did his time raiding, I understand the challenge in making smaller group content- if you do something like WoW is doing with 10 and 25 man raiding (making them have the same rewards in cataclysm AFAIK), why bother going through the whiny drama of 25 people when you can be more chill with 10?
That said, I actually think Ikisith took this in a good direction- there's a lot of small group/6 man quests for faction and such in Murk and other zones. It gives people something to do while not raiding! More of this is a good thing for both raiders and non-raiders.
I would say though that I wish there were more quests that gave solid gear in the mid-tier range. They can be long-involved quests like the Vah that require getting a group together for a short amount of time and kicking some butt. Something like that I enjoy because I don't need to make weekly appointments for 4 hours to raid, I just need to gather up some friends (maybe a day or two in advance), then set out and kick some butt. More of that is a good thing.
If there was a need for extra 6-12 man content, I think the biggest area is there.
I do realize that this is a raid-centric game, though I think we can learn a few things from World of Warcraft (which has done a good job mixing hardcore and casual gameplay). Give people goals to play to, even if it's a long questline, and I think people will be happier even if they aren't raiding.
