I haven’t been spending much time in the forums lately because I’ve been feeling pretty discouraged by what I see from Blizzard, the patch notes, and the general direction of the game and have basically given up on them to deliver.
It seems like Blizzard has somehow figured out all the things I like and is going in the opposite direction.
There is one thing I am looking forward to, though. The drama at launch. When people find out their favorite spells have been removed and the game has been mega-simplified in general.
I really hope Blizzard proves me wrong, but I’ve been having doubts they can maintain their current player base with these upcoming changes. They are alienating the people still interested in playing, while trying to court people who have already left. It won’t end well.
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I actually enjoy how Evoker plays. However, I really don’t like the Dracthyr form. If someday you could play Evoker without going into Dracthyr form, I would make the switch.
Sort of like another race having the Evoker class skills (obviously different animations).
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That’s fair. Probably how a lot of other people feel too. Also, probably the reason why Evoker is the least played class.
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I’m tempted to switch. but I think this will be a season where I just don’t play that much, do the bare minimum to get AOTC or whatever and then bounce after.
But the main issue is that every time blizzard makes sweeping changes like this (though I’m not sure this has ever happened to this degree) it makes me doubt the entire company and wither my time investment in this game will disappoint me in the end. if they’re willing to torch the game that we already like, on a risky change we’re not guaranteed to like, especially without doing due diligence, that is just reckless to me.
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Yeah, that makes sense. I can’t think of any other competitive multiplayer games where classes or playstyles change this much. From expansion to expansion there are huge shifts in how you even play your class. It’s really strange. I don’t get why they don’t just stick with what already works.
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I often think of an ice cream shop in relation to blizzard. When an ice cream shop sells a lot of one flavor, the business move is not to take that flavor off the menu to add another.
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A big part of it is the ever revolving door at Blizzard. By all accounts it’s just not a good place to work at anymore (if indeed it ever was) and on top of that their salaries aren’t as competitive either. So a lot of people quit and move on to other jobs and much of the institutional knowledge leaves with them. This means two things: (1) the new people coming it have no idea what worked or why certain changes were put in place before they came along and (2) they’re also inherently motivated to make significant changes and show that they’re doing something to justify their paycheck. There are also probably some ego trips happening with new devs thinking they can do better than old devs.
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Yeah, I think you might be right, especially with the institutional knowledge thing. Western companies seem to struggle with that a lot. When I look at gaming companies like Nintendo, they’re probably the best example of how important long-term retention is. Their staff sticks around for decades, and you can really feel that legacy in the games they make. Studios like FromSoftware and Capcom are similar too.
A lot of Japanese game companies seem to have much higher retention compared to Western studios. Blizzard feels like the opposite. I assume they started running into problems around the time all those allegations came out, plus the issues with the CEO. And now that Microsoft owns them, I imagine there’s been another shake-up on top of everything else.
I like WoW, and I’m still a newer player, but I’ve been really conflicted with the game lately. There have been so many frustrating things dragging down the fun for me, and it doesn’t look like much of that is going to change in Midnight either.
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Yeah, you didn’t pick the right time to become a fan of Blizzard, they’ve long since past their prime. WoW has been going downhill since Legion (so for almost a decade now) and D4 completely eviscerated the Diablo franchise. Hearthstone has become a soulless money making machine and Heroes of the Storm died before it even had a chance. StarCraft was also completely abandoned years ago. I never played Overwatch but gather that was a disaster too.
WoW is going to be around just because people have played it for literal decades now and have simply become too invested to quit. It also doesn’t help that the MMO genre hasn’t seen innovation in ages, which is what enables the WoW devs to keep coasting since there is nothing much better out there. It’s bleak days ahead I am afraid. 
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Ah, I see. That’s disappointing to hear. Bleak days indeed. I think I might take a break from this game for a bit. My frustration with it has gone well beyond what I can tolerate right now. Besides, I have a backlog of other games I’d like to play anyway.
I’m not always sure why I still play. The game is fun when it isn’t frustrating, and I mostly stick to PvP—though that’s also my biggest frustration right now—with some Mythic Plus and delves on the side. But I think the real reason I stay is the social aspect. I don’t have a guild or in-game friends, but I enjoy being around other players and watching them do their thing. Or the idea of it…It’s oddly compelling.
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By your logic we would still be pushing the same one button rotation from 30 years ago. That sounds terrible to me. I enjoy modern wow much more than vanilla wow, and it’s massively different than it was years ago, so change can be good.
I was actually excited for the pruning, but wanted it done differently. One of the biggest things I wanted to see was a shift towards other games where all classes have the same amount of buttons. Something similar to Fellowship where each class has the same amount of attack skills, same number of offensive CDs, same number of defensive CDs, same number of utility. I’ve never liked that some classes have to play the 108 key piano and others have 3. On beta, Affliction locks and shadow priests still have quite a few keys, whereas fire mage is 3 - just makes no sense. What goes into the thought process on how many abilities a class has.
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It sounds like you totally missed the idea here. Blizzard has gone in a full circle, taking classes BACK to essentially being a vanilla-level of simplicity. Meanwhile they have had several expansions with different play styles that people love. Different groups of people.
What you describe sounds boring and ill-advised. I prefer a more complex class with more buttons. Someone else will prefer a simpler class with fewer buttons.
Then blizzard has class fantasy to deal with. If you make a warrior simple, and a mage complicated, then a person who wants to play a simpler, pruned, version of mage, they don’t have that option.
What you totally missed about the ice cream shop analogy is that it addresses both of those points. Think about it a bit more. As the shop comes up with more flavors, it grows its portfolio.
There are many ways to design this game with both types of player in mind, without having to funnel them into class fantasies they do not enjoy.
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Hey Frothy, you mentioned you mostly pvp and are guildless…if you want some in game friends and a guild feel free to join us! Crimson Enclave is a chill new pvp guild aimed at having a lot of fun in midnight pvp. We have all player levels, from casual up to 3k rated. Give us a shout if you want to join! You can find us in the guild-finder tool, or whisper Serelien-WyrmrestAccord (horde) or Serelien-MoonGuard (alliance)…we’d be happy to have you roll into some fun chill pvp with us sometime 
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I’m reposting from this character due to that alt having been deleted and being buggy:
Hey Frothy, you mentioned you mostly pvp and are guildless…if you want some in game friends and a guild feel free to join us! Crimson Enclave is a chill new pvp guild aimed at having a lot of fun in midnight pvp. We have all player levels, from casual up to 3k rated. Give us a shout if you want to join! You can find us in the guild-finder tool, or whisper Serelien-WyrmrestAccord (horde) or Serelien-MoonGuard (alliance)…we’d be happy to have you roll into some fun chill pvp with us sometime
This is a bit dramatic. A lot of people will be playing mage, me included. There will still be more tuning and class changes. During rematch, before the season starts and after. Mage is not the only class that has gotten gutted.
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I wouldn’t call frost mage, vanilla-level of simplicity.
I would be happier if they did go back to vanilla simplicity but this ain’t it.
Vanilla simplicity is old school shatter, if there is the shatter buff up (by being frozen or 1 to 2 stacks of Winter’s Chill), you get a massive buff to crit.
In Midnight I have to squint at some tiny number on a debuff that can go up to 20 and do subtraction and division to decide on how many Ice Lances to spam.
After every Ray of Frost (which I’m forced to take or lose out on a huge chunk of damage since there is no alternative) I have to spam Ice Lance to clear the stack.
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I agree. Mage just doesn’t feel like a magical class at all Blizzard taking away options doesn’t feel fun. Here’s the thing, just because a spell is there doesn’t mean you have to use it or it has to be on your bars.
Also this is Blizzards MO take things away only to bring them back as expansion features later.
TBH every expansion doesn’t need new spells to feel to new. Instead of talent points to spend each level at a new level cap/new expansion…. I’d love to see a general bump in all stats each level and then you get to pick some sort of flavor customization to your character at each level….. think a ui/setup to the old glyph system. Just an idea.
Either way Mage just doesn’t feel as magical in Midnight Blizzard 
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I’ll be maining mage for ranged dps which was a surprise to me. Frost and Arcane are really fun for me. I’d like some sort of shatter on the UI tho, not the tiny debuff on the enemy. Otherwise both specs are delicious.
Fire feels very boring, visually and gameplay wise.
I guess there is no accounting for taste… 
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I suppose not. I am grateful I’ll be able to play the game with a class I enjoy. It was touch and go for a few weeks.