Staggering Alexander Unlocks After Launch

[CGMidlander]

and this mean what exactly? Nothing...

ANy bleeding edge guild is going to go for those raids first and formost. Even if its staggered, they will still rush to 60 and then faceroll the content until its unlocked. Its not going to change how they allocate their time at all, its just going to give them more free time after they get 60 and story stuff done.

Knowing whether or not a raid will be available immediately, for example, is nice for planning time off work.
Many hardcore groups do have people who take time off work to go at content.

That is just one scenario, btw.
There are other scenarios that benefit from knowledge of whether or not things will be staggered, beforehand.

[SinisterJointss]

Wait what? No... just no... There is no reason to stagger it.

The purpose is to give everyone even grounds, otherwise people who can nolife to 60 on day one have advantage over everybody else.

It being open on day 1 is EVEN ground for everyone. Just because someone wants to "nolife 60" in one day has zero to do with you. You want to be 60 in a day, then do it. You dont? Well then you dont have to. It's as simple as that.

Why hold back people because you dont want to put the time in that they are willing to?

[Aethaeryn]

Do any games actually do this? I've never played a game that staggered endgame content unless said endgame content just wasn't finished yet.

Regardless, I don't see the point. If you want to enjoy the new stuff before getting down to brass tacks, then do that. Alexander will still be there when you've had your fill of flying around and trying out new jobs etc. This isn't some super competitive PvP game, so there is no real 'even ground' to take into consideration. Almost everyone serious about clearing content will preorder and have early access too, so I don't think there's a reason to block Alexander during early access either really.

Guess we'll see!

[Alberel]

Do any games actually do this? I've never played a game that staggered endgame content unless said endgame content just wasn't finished yet.

Regardless, I don't see the point. If you want to enjoy the new stuff before getting down to brass tacks, then do that. Alexander will still be there when you've had your fill of flying around and trying out new jobs etc. This isn't some super competitive PvP game, so there is no real 'even ground' to take into consideration. Almost everyone serious about clearing content will preorder and have early access too, so I don't think there's a reason to block Alexander during early access either really.

Guess we'll see!

Blizzard has been doing this with the Warlords of Draenor raids (not sure if they did it before this expansion). The first raid opened a couple of weeks after the launch of the expansion to give everyone time to gear up for it and different wings of the raid open over time.

Personally I'm in agreement with those pointing out the futility of using such a system though. The hardcore groups will power through the content no matter what the devs do and they will ALWAYS be ahead of those with less time to play. I see little point in delaying the raid content if it is ready for release.

[Ghishlain]

I'm not sure why you would need to have the content staggered upon launch. You aren't being forced into Alexander on launch day, but it may just be a priority for yourself and/or your static to be in Alexander as soon as possible. This is a conscious decision you will have to make leading up to launch day how you wish to schedule your play time - not a decision S-E should be forcing upon their player base.

[Havenchild]

No real point in delaying the raid.

If you are part of the world first crowd then you already want the raid asap.

If your not part of the world first crowd then delaying the raid for others serves no purpose for yourself as well you wont be either downing it at the same speed or be held back by no reaching level cap.

The only thing im mildly curious about is how they would handle the tome currency introduced. If anything thats a more "unfair" advantage as early access is behind a paywall so to speak.

[Tiggy]

Will Alexander normal and hard be staggered out after release to allow players to level their current and new jobs, explore the new areas, and enjoy the storyline? Like one or two weeks for normal, then a week after that for hard?

Unnecessary. Nothing forces people to move forward but themselves. It's up to then to place themselves.

[Haxetc]

Let's be honest. Would it be the first time SE did something that amazed you in that way?

[kyuven]

Alexander will very likely be broken up just like Coil was.
There's actually a bit of logic to it: Remember the BCOB, SCOB, and FCOB all have different ways they work compared to one another, with SCOB shedding certain elements from BCOB (like t3 and t4 content) and retaining and expanding upon others.
If they released them all at once, they wouldn't have been able to do that. Thus, it's in our best interest for them to release it in pieces, not all at once.
That and how much content you introduce for raiders has absolutely no bearing on how long it keeps them interested. If you release it all at once, then those raiders will finish the content and not return until the next expansion. If it's split up, then they return each time.

[SinisterJointss]

Alexander will very likely be broken up just like Coil was.
There's actually a bit of logic to it: Remember the BCOB, SCOB, and FCOB all have different ways they work compared to one another, with SCOB shedding certain elements from BCOB (like t3 and t4 content) and retaining and expanding upon others.
If they released them all at once, they wouldn't have been able to do that. Thus, it's in our best interest for them to release it in pieces, not all at once.
That and how much content you introduce for raiders has absolutely no bearing on how long it keeps them interested. If you release it all at once, then those raiders will finish the content and not return until the next expansion. If it's split up, then they return each time.

That is not what this thread is about.......

This thread is about "holding back" the raids they have planned for 3.0 launch and "staggering" the unlock of the two modes by a week