Azure Waterstrider and my anger

Oh no, whatever will blizzard do. Someone decided to protest their game design by using a certain mount all the time.

You know we used to be fish if you believe in evolution. Evolving is just natural selection. We dropped our ability to breathe under water to learn to traverse land.

The water striders evolved to so they wouldnā€™t have to carry around all our fat asses 24/7.

Nah, it is more like I am being a little spiteful to all of those poor players who were so disturbed to have to see the water strider being used by other players and cried so hard (according to Blizzard) that they decided to nerf it so it didnā€™t hurt the delicate sensitivities of these players any more.

Did I get it about right? :wink:

As Blood DK, yeah, you would be the exception. The Best in Slot mount equipment for you is Safe Fall, which, as I already said, is kind of a joke.

But you already have water walking on any mount anyway, so youā€™re a bad example to use.

Other people that donā€™t have DK / Pally / Magā€™har speed will choose whichever mount gets them where theyā€™re going faster. Most of the time thatā€™s going to be speed. Sometimes thatā€™ll be water walking.

That isā€¦ if they were allowed to make that choice.

Basically itā€™s gonna be ā€˜speedā€™ for all except those that already have it (DK/Pally/Maghar) and No-daze for those that are unfortunate enough to need it.

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Well, Iā€™m certainly not deaf to the vitriol being slung the Striderā€™s way. It is clear that players were suffering under the lack of choice. (no, Iā€™m not being sarcastic - that is their playstyle) So I do see the devā€™s issue, and I do support ww equipment.

But I do not support breaking the world in the opposite direction where the cost of my Strider retaining itā€™s signature ability is the loss of all my mountā€™s abilities to ford bodies of water.

For this system to not break world cohesion I need the Water Strider to retain itā€™s signature ability and be exempt from the equipment system. Nerf itā€™s speed on land, idc. Or I want an option to opt out entirely from the system as there is no way that world cohesion isnā€™t broken for those who place immersion in the world = gameplay.

What is so frustrating about this is that in order to cater to one playstyle, they are corrupting the traditional playstyle. Both playstyles are valid - accommodate both! They are managing to hook the brass ring of longevity - and the door prize is the loss of the hallmarks of mmorpgā€™s. Thatā€™s no win in my book. :frowning:

WoW - a video game. Download now.

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Yes, I would see that as a win/win solution. They did this to the Sky Golem, so we know it could have been done.

Iā€™d be happy if they had left it as is and totally exempted me from the mount equipment system.

They do know we are talking about this, and they know that the activity on the subject has increased. They are going with the, ā€œjust wait them out and they will move onā€ strategy. It has worked for them before, so it should work for them now.

The only thing that could prevent that strategy from working is if the players have nothing to do in the game. Then it will stay top of mind because players wonā€™t have anything to think about in game.

So what youā€™re saying is since the water-strider is evolving, perhaps they will be the next playable race? :open_mouth:

Boy, would the anti-strider people be freaking out about that. They hated seeing people riding water-striders, what will they do when they see the water-strider race :open_mouth:

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Gotten that bit of equipment on all my toons actually.

You must not have read ole Natā€™s mail message.

The Striders have ā€œevolvedā€ and can no longer walk on water with a passenger because of the great ā€œevolutionā€ that befell them.

What I find ironic about their excuse for wanting to change the Striders is that they had ample opportunity to simply add more mounts that could walk (or float?) on water. I meanā€¦ They made a boat that canā€™t even float on water but it can fly?? WHAT?

The ā€œunderwaterā€ mounts also could have had a ā€œskim the surfaceā€ ability rather than what they currently do which is dismount you if you even put your head near the surface.

Iā€™m sure if I looked hard enough I could find other mounts that would have lent themselves nicely to being able to float, walk, or glide on top of the water.

They could have cut the Strider use in half (or more) by simply making that a water mount also.

They could have just left the Strider alone and made it exempt from equipment, which would have cut itā€™s use, because speed and no-daze are actually significantly stronger than walking on waterā€¦and with the Elixirs still being usable, players would have opted in that direction as players generally go for anything that will allow them to skip mobs.

There are so many things they could have done to ā€œfixā€ the ā€œoveruseā€ of the Striders (which I will forever call BS on, because I rarely ever even saw them) that did not include breaking them with the idiotic ā€œevolutionā€ nonsense.

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Except I think theyā€™re underestimating, or at least conveniently ignoring, the number of people who will move on right out of the game. The more tedious and aggravating The Powers That Be make it to just get to the content I want to do, the less likely I am to bother.

Between the delay in flying, the removal of Broken Isles Dalaran and Pandaria portal hubs, the nerf to the water strider, and other changes that have made it clear that the people in charge are no longer designing the type of game that I enjoy, Iā€™ve unsubbed for the first time since I started playing almost 10 years ago. Iā€™ve always been able to find activities I enjoy in game, even when new content was sparse, but now just getting to the things I enjoy isnā€™t worth it, especially knowing that items and achievements and conveniences that I earn in game can be yoinked away on any illogical whim.

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So much this. Why would I ever want to go out of my way for anything in this game again. OH itā€™s so ugly, OH itā€™s used to much, Sorry itā€™s not the right choice. That could be anything. Itā€™s used to much always made me laugh. Horses in every color out there , thatā€™s what used to much, and not by the players.

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This would be acceptable

They arenā€™t ignoring the loss of subs. They are hoping that Classic will make up for the difference. This is one of the reasons they have the current 6 month sub promotion going.

It will probably work too, however, it wonā€™t be sustainable. The Classic lovers will continue to play, but the newer players they entice will not because Classic is just one big grind fest. The new players will spend hours trying to find Mankrikā€™s Wife with the general chat trolls leading them on a merry chase. They will get frustrated and quit. I saw a lot of this when I played the stress tests.

Ignoring, turning a blind eye towards, whatever terminology you want to use, it amounts to the same thing. I donā€™t disagree with you at all. The writing is on the wall. Theyā€™re not interested in investing time, money and resources into making a game thatā€™s fun to play; theyā€™re just interested in marketing games and whatever helps to pad the bottom line.

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Iā€™ll flip if they end up putting a water walking mount in the shop that doesnā€™t benefit from equipment.

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Yeah. this is old news. A new Feature that should have stayed on the cutting room floor is Mount Equipment. Because Reasons, Now instead of using a Water-Walking Potion and Mounting up, you can use Inflatable Horseshoes so your favorite Mount can walk on water. Or, instead of using a consumable Barding from leatherworkers to prevent from being stunned or knocked off your mount when running through a pack of attacking mobs, You can put an item in that slot. OR, Instead of just using Flexweave Underlay to turn your Cloak into a Parachute, You can equip a saddle-chute in your Mount equipment slot.

As it is, this system is redundant. Youā€™re justified for your anger.

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I agree with you, I used to be a 6 mo sub person, but I removed that when they started taking away stuff that I enjoy. The PVP vendors, the loot system, the way gear is earned (I do not like the welfare system), the portals, the striderā€™s passive, ect.

I have really enjoyed this game, but I hated spending months with nothing to do and then to get a patch full of bugs that doesnā€™t really make sense. Why the heck are we messing around with this Mech place when there is a big hole in the ocean.

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Iā€™m surprised they didnā€™t do that as soon as 8.2 hit.

Iā€™ve seen enough people now answer this way so, I seriously hope they patch this in at some point.

I already benefited from the change - I am leveling a lowbie toon with my wife, who never really played MoP, and being able to waterwalk with the mechgineer chopper was EXTREMELY convenient.

At any rate, as compromises go, I hope they at least consider it.

Unlikely. Theyā€™ve fully or partially addressed several of the other mount issues with 8.2 ā€¦ but deliberately ignore this one.

Problem: 40% of mounts (large and midsized) couldnā€™t jump back on top of the water
Solution: Reduced to ~20% (mostly just ā€˜Largeā€™ mounts)

Problem: -any- ā€œFalling Damageā€ suffered broke mount equipment water walking buff (didnā€™t break water strider buff)
Solution: Fixed, now endures falling damage like striders did.

Problem: No-Daze equipment practically MANDATORY in new zones on PTR because Absorb shields (like [Demon Skin], ā€œResounding Protectionā€ azerite gear trait and others) completely stopped working. ā€œBe a tank or suffer daze for days!ā€
Partial Solution: ā€œOops! Shucks we didnā€™t intend for that to happen!ā€ ā€¦ absorbs start working again. However, it seems like they increased the daze/dismount chance worldwide in 8.2 for anyone anywhere without an absorb shield.

Problem: people who only earned the crimson strider get no rep water walking equipment mailed to them or discount.
Solution: none

Problem: replacing unlimited account wide ability with one-free-only-for-level-100Ā±alts-and-more-cheap-but-from-a-very-far-away-rep-vendor is pissing people off.
Solution: Blizzard made the item unique so you canā€™t carry more than one at a time. BOOO.

So anyway, they are listeningā€¦ they are making adjustments. Theyā€™re just not budging on the one point thatā€™s been asked for, literally, like a thousand times now.

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