This really sucks man.
Edit: I’m really disappointed in the parts of the community saying “Lol just don’t be deaf” and attempting to flag this post. The elitists who don’t care about disabled members of the community ruin it for everyone.
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GM should contact Blizz and see if they can work with them.
I doubt anything will come of it but they can try.
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That sucks, but that was an easily predictable outcome of this horrible decision.
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Yeah, there is an accessibility email address.
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“The game is not playable for deaf people.”
I mean first of all i do not think this statement is true at all. But if it is, how is “download addons” an acceptable solution? The game should have all the tools required default. Which is what they are doing.
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There are accessibility concerns over the addon changes, for sure.
But do you have any idea how many people play this game with the sound off and just blasting music or something instead?
The issue on the upper end (Mythic Raid) would be in-the-moment communication, but deaf people can still use the chatbox. Turn on chat bubbles to be able to see what people are saying in the field without looking to the wherever the actual chatbox is. Make personal macros for instructions / statements you might need for a given fight so you don’t actually have to stop fighting and type.
I feel like this is just… not the biggest of concerns.
I’m not saying the current form of addon support didn’t HELP them, but being deaf is not a death sentence at all even without addons.
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That Blizz is implementing ingame.
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Pings? Chat macros? Symbols?
I don’t want to be rude but I feel there are ways to do encounters without sound. It’s absolutely harder and I don’t want to downplay that one bit, but I feel this is one of many kneejerk reactions.
They also said they want encounters to have more cues, visual included. Like. I think if this is true, I note that there’s absolutely no source in the OP, I think it’s jumping the gun a bit.
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Be honest, are you aware or unaware of the upcoming alpha changes, such as the new boss encounter bar?
If a visual cue is mandatory to understand a boss mechanic, it is a bad boss mechanic. Not having addons would force Blizzards hand into making better telegraphed mechanics.
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We don’t need to resort to childish antagonistic statements, we can converse like adults. But come on.
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If they want to play, they can figure out a way to play without combat addons.
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Added to the list of things that didn’t happen and are made up.
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20 people reading chat bubbles during a raid encounter is not realistic, and chat functions are being restricted in combat anyway
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It should, but it doesn’t. And a lot of the accessibility options that people use with WAs are not in the game or are very gimped comparatively.
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I sympathize, but this is seriously jumping the gun. Alpha hasn’t been out even a week and Blizz has made it clear that nothing on it is representative of the final game. They’ve also just put a lot more energy into accessibility improvements in recent years and there’s no reason to think they won’t do the same here.
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Pings are sounds, so that wouldn’t work, especially if pinging something behind the player group.
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CD manager would like to speak to you
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I REALLY HOPE SOMETHING COMES OUT OF IT!
I’m assuming you already know the struggle of when someone is conflicted with something they NEVER asked for!!!
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CD manager is already dramatically better on alpha than on live, so that’s not a very strong point to make.
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It’s more about the communication. Imagine trying to do a fight like Fractilius without being able to communicate in a Discord call and without having an addon to help in game communication.
I’m sure they can do just fine in avoiding mechanics with normal in game visual queues, but how do they communicate quickly to solve mechanics in the middle of a fight? You don’t have time to type in chat mid fight.
1 Like