Take it easy on the Nerfing :/

[Ablongman]

Gear motivates the majority of the playerbase to do content that is just the way it is. Personally I would like to do savage mode because I like to do the hardest content but finding 7 other people that will want to do savage mode is very hard. Unlike FCoB where it is very easy to find players to do the content because it drops gear.

Which is why in Havensward the savage modes will drop the best gear so many more people will want to do it.

That's very facile logic though, isn't it? "It is that way because it is that way, so it will continue to be that way."

People are herded into FCoB to get gear because they can't get that gear, which is often BiS, any other way. That's the expectation that's been created, but it doesn't mean it HAS to be that way.

Look at it from this perspective: If power (gear) was all players wanted, F2P games would directly sell power in their shops. A few do, yes, but not all do. Yet their shops sell. What do they sell? Things people want. Put those things in raids, and suddenly you have player motivation!

If FCoB dropped unique glamour items, if the achievements unlocked alternative animations and spell effects, if it dropped unique mounts, wouldn't people do them?

Heck, we don't need to go that far. EX Primals are being farmed to oblivion to this day, and have been for months and months. Would you struggle to find an EX farm party? Not at all. Why not? It's not because they award power. It's because they award something people want that ISN'T power. They've been desirable for longer than FCoB.

Just food for thought! I don't disagree that Savage is not very popular outside of statics because of its reward scheme. I don't think that means gear is the only solution, because we've seen that's not true.