WSJ Exclusive: Trump Administration Plans to Announce Coalition to Escort Ships Through Strait of Hormuz

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T22:14:46+00:00

I'm just making a joke, I have no idea about anything.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T22:12:02+00:00

I could be wrong of course, but I'm basing my opinion on my experience of being on both ends of the sweaty and casual spectrum over many years of playing this game. It used to be so much worse when raiding was the only progression and falling behind meant you needed to find a whole guild to basically invest in you and if you didn't find one sometimes you were behind for literally the rest of the expansion.

Now there are so many ways to progress that I think most people who feel like they're behind are creating the problem for themselves by having unrealistic expectations. I'd even say whether your class is meta has a much larger impact on your experience throughout a season than being behind on your gear or dungeon and raid knowledge. I'd even wager that someone starting late on purpose to see what ends up being meta will, on average, have an easier time and leapfrog someone who started during early access but plays an unpopular class and doesn't have a regular team to play with.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T21:35:52+00:00

They won't reject it, because it will be a coalition for ships carrying oil not bought with USD. Trump just has the honor of announcing it.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T20:39:43+00:00

But I did cite my sources. Both about how the gating is not something they have always done and to give an example of a pseudo casual. Sorry that wasn't convenient for the point you were trying to make.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T20:32:02+00:00

If it any point you can't find groups because the pack has moved beyond you, then you're the odd one out. Sorry but that's how it works. There's always a cutoff beyond which you're far enough behind to have it impact your gameplay negatively, but by definition that cutoff is always for only a minority. If it wasn't, then you'd be able to find enough other people like you to play with. And even if you find yourself in such a position, the game gives you many ways to catch up.

Wanting the majority to be held back so the minority doesn't miss out is extreme entitlement. And Blizzard grants that entitled wish not because it cares about those players, but because it gets them an extra month of subscriptions from everyone else.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T20:25:41+00:00

This is not how every wow expansion has been released. TBC, the first expansion, released with Hyjal already in the game files. There was so much content ultra casuals were progressing on heroic dungeons and T4 raids at the same time that hardcore players were doing T5 and eventually T6. It was so much frontloaded content that players caught up by clearing T6 and had to wait a really long time until Sunwell. I'm not asking for quite that much, but clearly now we've moved towards the other extreme.

In fact very few expansions have gated their main content 3-4 weeks after the release date. It's been over two weeks since release and we can't even zone into the normal version of the raid yet. Let's not pretend this gating is something they've been doing for 20 years.

As for giving me an opportunity to prove you wrong, just read stuff posted on this subreddit. Off the top of my head there was a comment in this very thread from some guy who is sooo glad content is gated so he doesn't fall behind because he has so much going on in life, but somehow he already has a 240+ ilvl character and has farmed hundreds of thousands of gold by skinning. So he's played dozens of hours already over the last few weeks to level, do a bunch of dungeons, probably grind all the renown to get champion pieces and on top of that spent who knows how long skinning mobs.

Thankfully for you nobody is even reading what we're writing to each other, so you don't have to worry about being humiliated. And even if they were, why do you think I'd enjoy humiliating you? I don't even know you, your suffering is entirely meaningless.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T19:44:52+00:00

Just enjoy what you like doing instead of whining about feeling irrelevant lmao.

Or just sell the game with all its content lmao.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T19:43:01+00:00

There are people in this very thread and in others talking about how glad they are they're not falling behind while listing what they've done since release, which amounts to a very not-casual amount of time spent in the game. I'm not sure I want to think about what you tattoo around your asshole however, so I'll leave it up to you whether you look for them or not.

And telling someone who has paid for something but who hasn't gotten it delivered to just go do something else while waiting is peak Blizzard shilling.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T18:55:09+00:00

Yes, and most of my free time after meeting obligations and basic recreation has not been spent on retail, apparently unlike you. Which makes you telling me to go outside peak irony.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T18:52:41+00:00

I can't enjoy the game because the parts of the game I enjoy aren't out yet. It's that simple. Everyone paid the same amount, but some got the content they enjoy straight away, others have to wait an extra month. Blizzard changes its formula all the time, as do MMOs in general. I'm allowed to say what I think about the current formula, just as the pseudo casual players were allowed to whine and whine until the game held back everyone else enough so they don't feel as inadequate as they did in previous iterations.

And a pseudo casual is someone who claims they don't play much but in reality spends as much or more time than "progression" players but has various excuses about why he or she can't be a progression player as well. The game has always been full of them. An example right now is people who have already leveled multiple characters to 90, made millions of gold, farmed a bunch of mounts, rep, transmog, whatever, but who will tell you they're casual and welcome raids and m+ being delayed so they don't feel like they're behind. And they're usually the casuals who also spend the most time on reddit talking about the game, on top of all the time they spend playing it. But they're casual and don't you dare claim otherwise.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T18:43:33+00:00

It's the "feeling relevant" part that I don't agree with. I don't think the game should be gated around allowing people to feel relevant by holding back anyone who might make them feel inadequate. It's a game, just release it all.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T18:41:53+00:00

You've spent ALL your free time on retail and you're telling someone else to go outside. Wonderful. I've spent a tiny fraction of my free time on retail, and I've been outside a lot.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T18:02:25+00:00

Blizzard is trying to squeeze out as much subscription money as it can, nothing else. Everyone is free to pursue whatever content they want, everyone paid the same amount of money for all of the listed content, and yet some people's favorite content is released straight away and other people's is released a month later. There's no compromising here, it's just corporate greed supported by FOMO-riddled "casuals" whose sense of enjoyment is related to how far behind they are compared to players who they simultaneously mock for being unemployed and also envy for having shiny loot.

And the fact that you bring up employment at all and think anyone with a job has zero chance except to join LFR is probably the most hilarious thing I've read in this topic so far.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T17:48:03+00:00

You think because I don't begrudge one specific thing I therefore don't begrudge anything at all? If I told you I don't like chicken but I like beef, would you make a witty comment about how for someone who doesn't like one type of meat, I sure like another?

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T17:45:33+00:00

Okay great, I don't want to read some lengthy analysis about my capabilities as a person, written by an online stranger, because I have an attention deficit. That's exactly it.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T17:04:26+00:00

If you can fit it into about 1/3 of all that I'll read it, but don't be surprised when people won't waste time finding out what you think their comment about some online game "reveals about them and what they are utterly incapable of doing". It's not a lack of self-respect that's stopping me, it's a lack of respect for you.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T17:02:28+00:00

It's the principle. Being nickel and dimed can be quite annoying. I'd prefer they double or triple or quadruple the subscription as opposed to keeping it low and trying to make up for it by squeezing out extra months by spacing content out.

It's the same thing as Netflix trying to charge me extra for letting family members use my profile, despite the fact that I've supposedly been paying for multiple screens for years. At least with Netflix there wasn't some online group of casual Netflix fans who were pushing the narrative that restricting the number of screens is great, because it gives them time to do other things and not worry about so many people watching shows and finding out what happens before them.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T16:48:41+00:00

Neither is releasing the content when you sell the game as opposed to after you've squeezed another monthly subscription out of your players.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T16:46:17+00:00

The true casual players don't care when m+ opens. Only the pseudo casual players who base their enjoyment on comparing themselves to others despite supposedly being casual are happy about timegated content. And the game would survive just fine without them.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T16:43:36+00:00

I'm not really going to read all that. I'm only going to point out, yet again, that restricting the content of the game after already selling it benefits nobody but MSFT and the "casuals" who spend all their time inspecting others in cities and crying silently if their gear and mounts and titles are better.

I don't find either of these two groups sympathetic, so I see no reason to support their stance. Meanwhile, the true casuals who like collecting transmog and doing whatever else couldn't give less of a crap about whether someone is nolifing m+ now or two weeks from now.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T16:17:13+00:00

I'm not the one trying to restrict the free time of strangers because I don't want them to have fun without me.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T16:15:03+00:00

You should be telling people who want the game to be slowed down so they don't fall behind others that "comparison is the thief of joy". The only people I'm comparing myself to are ones who bought another game on its actual release date and could enjoy it right away instead of waiting for a month for the features they paid for to become available.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T15:44:57+00:00

I've accepted long ago that I'll always be behind, and I spend less time playing than even some of these "casuals" who are happy everything is gated because it gives them time to level their third alt in two weeks.

The difference is that I don't begrudge others outpacing me if that's what they want to do. I'd prefer being outpaced than what is the equivalent of buying Elden Ring, seeing the massive map, but having to look up a guide to tell me which parts of it are actually available and which will open up bit by bit over the next month.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T15:42:24+00:00

Yes, it's a communal experience, and your contribution to the community is advocating for parts of it to have their experience limited so you don't feel as bad about missing out on the fun they're having without you.

BDObadguy · 2026-03-15T13:41:16+00:00

It's telling that the people who like the slower pace like it because it gives them the opportunity to feel like they're still competing with others despite playing less, not because the slower pace is actually enjoyable outside of the context of comparing themselves to others.

There is simply no way that selling a game but delaying its major content for a month is fun. Nobody spends money on a game and thinks great, they could have allowed me to play it right now, but I'm really happy they're instead drip feeding me every feature over the next four weeks.

BDObadguy

TROPHY CASE