To Blizzard Entertainment,
First and foremost, I encourage other members of the community to add to this thread, as to what they think requires change in Shadowlands. State off with what needs to be changed, why it is beneficial for the game, and also the long-term effects of the change. Simply stating the change is not good enough.
This message is being commissioned for the purpose of discussing and analysing the current development of Shadowlands. First and foremost, the delay was necessary, necessary because progression systems are not ready, as they are convoluted and do not correspond to the voices of loyal community members. Now, the reason for the sophistication of this message is due to the organisations collective reaction to those who are a contributing factor to its existence (I.e. consumer-base). Ultimately, Blizzard Entertainment, refuses to listen to generic thread posts that genuinely come from a good place of heart. This is a big issue, and it is not the WoW Community that is disconnected. It is you.
Onto the big issue, that is, the level of forced control the organisation imposes onto the community via in-game mechanics and systems, to force them (them being us, the community) to spend as much time in-game as possible, to ensure that gearing and other self-fulfilment actions by players takes longer to achieve, ultimately taking fun out of the game, for the sake of a pathetic marketing and financial idea, that is, in simple terms, more hours played equals more subscription based payments via a long-term. As much as Blizzard tends to deny this claim, that is merely the case, as there is no reason to keep recycling systems and assets from prior years and expansions, to future expansions. As a company that valued quality, meaningfulness and more importantly, innovativeness; the key word here is “that”, these qualities that Blizzard was known for are non-existent and the reality of the matter is that people only play WoW for the sole purpose that there is nothing else out there worth playing, so we compromise and settle for less and less each year – but no more – I believe Shadowlands is Blizzard’s final straw before the upholding of shareholders becomes inherently obviously. This is not something that the consumer-base wants to admit, but it is apparent that shareholders are more important than those who meet shareholder returns.
As for as the overall advice or input I have as to how to make Shadowlands a success… For the love of god, listen to your fans. The community who is testing Beta has stated what needs to be changed and the organisation goes ahead and does the opposite. It is important to remember that most of your fan-base are in this virtual world to escape the pressures faced in society on a day-to-day basis, having people not ‘listen’ to them in real-life may also be a contributing factor and we, as humans, do wish to be listened to, irrespective of our differences and opinions. This issue with the game is an easy fix, a large majority of the community are screaming as to what NEEDS to the CHANGED – it’s not like we (the community) are asking for things that are outlandish or that would require immense reconstruction. What we do ask for is communication and ears, something that the organisation lacks.