This isn’t so much a formal complaint as it is a genuine request for the development team: please, for the sake of player retention and longevity of your game, take a close look at the systems you have continued to implement to fill the gaps of things you have taken away from the core kits of classes.
Death Knights are a perfect example of a once complete class that’s been gutted to the point of being a pale imitation of what it once was. Blood is simple and has few sustain tools, Frost has been dumbed down to press the 3 glowy buttons, and Unholy is a gcd nightmare. This class thrived off using different types of runes for different situations, and you could choose a spec you aligned with thematically while having a place for both fun and viability. This class needs a rework to restore its playability, but we will likely never see that. Broken in one xpac = no fun allowed for the remainder of history. We are not hard-hitting juggernauts, melee casters, a force to be feared; we are nothing, and it’s a sad state to be in.
Please ask yourselves why we had more tools a decade ago in our core gameplay, more build variety, and more freedom. This “class indentity” trend that began to vastly affect the game since Legion continues to plague the game in a way that can’t be mended with added systems; you gave us more only to take it away, and every sequential expansion is a deeper wound in the very thing you say you are aiming for.
Is class identity / fantasy really more important than player identity and fun? Is there any logical reason the majority of specs are mere imitations of what they were in the past? Because this the primary reason I don’t want to play this game anymore (along with the chore systems that demand my time rather than value it, but I can look past that if I am having fun with core gameplay at least). What I can’t look past is the inevitable feeling of dread when a new expansion is announced that might further gut or remove tools from specs even more.
The “unpruning” bandaid in Shadowlands was far from enough. Class kits are not expanding and synergizing at a core level any longer. Classes as a whole feel both more homogenized and less intuitive than they did in the past well before the idea of making them “unique” became a core philosophy of the game’s design.
Taking tools away is not fun, baking new tools into temporary systems is not fun, making people grind several resources to gain some passive edge or benefit is not fun. Simplicity with a convoluted layer of extra systems is not fun. I would love to hear the explanation for how soulbinds contribute to class design when the trees are all the same minus the half-baked covenant abilities. I would love to know why these active and passive traits have to be locked behind a resource for a temporary explansion’s system instead of being baked into the kits of the classes that utilize them.
I know this is a topic that’s addressed often, but I am stating it again because I believe it is vital for Blizzard to get this right next xpac, especially with the potential for Wrath Classic (A time some consider class design and variety to be the absolute best) to pull the playerbase away from retail. After Wrath, your trump cards are gone. Cata doesn’t have a large enough fan base to justify trying to continue to salvage the classic community and supplement the lack of innovation we are dealing with now.
Please listen to your players for the next expansion and ditch the added systems, take a very close look at classes and their tools, and for the love of all that is unholy, playtest your specs and asks yourselves “Will this kit be fun for two whole years on its own?” If the answer is no, fix it, and fix your game.