Dear Blizzard,
This is only directed to the game devs to whom I have a very important point to share with.
The last minute decision to add a faction change deadline for the “Tormented Hero” achievement caused multiple players quitting the game.
Here is why.
As you may know Shadowlands season 2 was 7 months long and it took incredible hard work and immense dedication to earn enough points to be in the 0.1%. Much harder and time intensive than the widely desired CE for all PVE players. Only the PVP Gladiator title can be compared to the Tormented Hero title achievement since it also rewards the 0.1%.
Sadly when you announced this title achievement, you didn’t mention anything about a potential upcoming faction change deadline. Nor did you mention anything about that all players who try to earn this achievement need to periodically check the Blizzard forum for upcoming crucial changes to this achievement.
If I would be a PVP player who went through the process of earning Gladiator title in a previous season, I would have anticipated that this faction change deadline might come down the line.
But if you’re a main M+ player, you couldn’t have had any idea to look out every day in the forum for this critical change in this achievement. M+ never ever had a faction change deadline. Nor did CE and AOTC. So how could a PVE player know that this is coming in the very last month of the season?
To give you a better perspective: The announcements you make in your forum spread very well if it is Raid or PVP related. Why? Because both (PVP and Raid) operate through guilds. Guilds that mainly focus on M+ don’t exist. The chances that last minute changes in the very last month of the season reach all M+ player is very low. We don’t have guilds and I belong to the M+ players that have to rely on LFG. Guilds have guild master and officers who frequently check the forum and share relevant updates about Raid or PVP. Not M+ title achievements. The community that competes for this 0.1% M+ achievement is tremendously smaller and requires a significantly better way of informing them about important changes.
In short M+ players don’t have the infrastructure of Raid or PVP players. We usually have a 9 to 5 job and log on to WoW to push keys. We never ever had to frequently check forums for title achievement changes or other rewards such as the mounts or unlocking portals to all dungeons.
When you install WoW and the Blizzard desktop app, you don’t mention anywhere how important and crucial it is to frequently check the wow forum or anything about the potential of adding radical changes related to title achievements.
When you log on your Blizzard account your main menu shows HOME, GAMES, SHOP, NEWS and ESPORTS.
Why didn’t you announce this crucial change under your NEWS page? I daily check your NEWS posts. Why? Because it’s directly linked to your Blizzard desktop app. And I need to launch your desktop app in order to launch WoW, so it is inevitable to miss your recent NEWS. You use NEWS to announce class tunings and also M+ rewards such as the seasonal mounts. I really don’t understand why you didn’t post this deadline ruling under your NEWS. This is an unprecedented ruling.
How was I suppose to know that I needed to look outside the actual game and go on Blizzard forum on January 4 to come across this crucial change. Usually you only do very minor updates, minor class tunings and bug fixes that late into the season. I can’t think of a crucial title achievement change you made that late into a season in the past. People were only waiting for season 3 to start at that point.
You should categorize your changes. And if it is something that has radical consequences, something players relentlessly grind so hard throughout the entire season of 7 months (28 weeks), something that is not relevant to the guild community that focuses on Raid and PVP changes, then you have to give this a higher priority and have it posted on the NEWS page that every single gamer comes across when he/she wants to launch the game. There was not a single NEWS post between December 31 2021 and January 11 2022. I just don’t understand why you decided not post this faction change ruling (which came out of nowhere) on your NEWS page.
Your goal is to reach every gamer with your updates. And it’s devastating if a player like me checks your NEWS daily and ends up not receiving the faction change deadline, so I unknowingly faction changed too late and found out about it when I decided to start season 3. To fight so hard and dedicate so much hard training and work for all these 7 months and then realizing it was all for nothing is simply crushing all desires to continue playing the game. If you look into my logs and M+ rating point history, you will realize I didn’t gain any advantages in delaying the faction transfer.
Was there a specific reason why the faction change deadline was not disclosed at the initial announcement of this title? The season started in July and you made this deadline change in the very last month (mid January).
If you ask yourself why would a passionate gamer like me throw away the title achievement by faction changing a couple days too late, you must realize that this gamer truly didn’t know about this change and only gamers with a very big circle of friends would have heard of this. Is it really a requirement to have this big circle of wow friends that care for M+ 0.1% achievements?
If I would have known about this I would have faction changed before January 18 and I would have received the title. I gained zero advantages in delaying my faction changing. I was already maxed out on my bis gear.
Please recognize that your way of announcing such crucial and critical changes in the M+ discipline needs to be shared through your NEWS page or ideally in-game. A major part of the M+ community mainly uses LFGs and doesn’t operate through guilds. When we’re in-game we only focus on timing keys. Everyone is mostly on their own.
If you make or add radical changes to achievements that require 7months hardcore commitment please don’t share it on the forum in the very last month of the season. Please share it on your NEWS page. Please understand the M+ community that competes for the 0.1% is tremendously smaller. The smaller the community the smaller the chances your forum post makes it to the M+ players.
I lost all passion to continue playing the game. I know if you look into my account and check if I took advantage of the delayed faction change, you will realize I didn’t gain any advantages and my points before January 18 were already high enough to earn the title.
Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. Tormented Hero and Mage Tower are one of the greatest ideas and successes in Shadowlands. I wish you would have announced the faction change deadline in the initial post when it was introduced. Or have given us a hint that this title achievement requires frequent forum visits. Or at least post it on your NEWS page. Or don’t add the faction change for season 2 and introduce the faction change deadline for the season 3 title achievement. Or maybe add a grace period if you see my points I brought to you above.
Hope you can see where I’m coming from and how unfair I feel treated. People who experienced the same like me would quit the game. But no player would quit the game if you reconsider your decision. So you would only bring players back instead of losing.
Thank you.