Lately it seems like there is quite a bit of burnout from players. This is quite noticeable on my bnet, players that I played with on a daily basis in BFA and the first few weeks of SL are slowly logging in less and less. Also quite prominent with the playerbase that frequents the forums, and my guild. Most of the personal connections I have from bnet and guild are CE players and high key pushers, a lot of them hovering around 2k+ rn.
Seems as though the general consensus from the burnout is the utter mess that class balance is. Even the FoTM players are fed up with how things are. And I’ll explain further here.
raid
Raiders are tilting because the disparity between top and bottom is so big right now that regardless of player skill, in almost every scenario the bottom will be the bottom. This problem historically hasn’t had a margin that is so big, The margin in what’s capable of certain classes is actually way out of control and creates class drought. That class drought then further skews how badly the bottom looks, because typically only the die hard class fans stick to it. Or you provide a buff like ww or dh. In which case their tank counterparts can bring it to.
keys
I think by now the vast majority has been acquainted with the meta here. The meta is formed based on top performers and utility. These classes are largely revolved around uncapped aoe abilities (ranged classes) and a melee…maybe. this is a blizzard driven meta, they left ranged uncapped and capped melee. Regardless of how much utility melee might bring, they can’t compete in damage. The amount of melee negating abilities and affixes in SL dungeons is also quite absurd, which further increases the gap in melee viability.
PVP
The meta here is again a blizzard driven one, this one more focuses around which classes got the most broken covenant abilities. Games are fast in most cases, very fast, and rely heavily on cc and weaving in your broken covenant abilities with some cd’s for a quick kill. Rbg’s utilize the same broken covenant abilities or classes to win games. In a lot of cases player skill is almost largely irrelevant here. Some rng procs or enough of one classes broken covenant abilities can win the games. This isn’t always the case, but it does happen.
Now I’d also like to point out that in pretty much every scenario I’ve laid out above, the same classes are at the top of the pick list.
Fire Mage - uncapped aoe, high burst potential, extremely mobile, tons of defensive capabilities.
Boomkin - uncapped aoe, dot spread, defensively busted, broken covenant ability from nightfae. Covenant ability still busted, if not worse, after the recent nerfs to full moon proccing.
MM hunter - extremely high burst potential, very mobile, uncapped aoe (not always) but in their burst windows they are which is where their damage matters anyways. This class isn’t as busted in pvp as it is in raid and keys.
WW Monk - these guys deserve some time in the spotlight in all honesty. They have had it hard for a long time, but I will still point some things out. Extremely high burst potential, one of the most mobile classes, awesome utility. This class is largely capped, but the fixes and work that was put into ww helped massively with their damage output. They also have a legendary that synergies with play.
These are just a few of the classes I want to point out to give an idea of why these classes are picked over others. They share a great deal of similarities in what they offer to a team in all content types. A lot of thr current meta picks are uncapped aoe classes that are ranged, with a few exceptions to melee based on team comp, or damage output from the class. Typically the meta melee right now have broken covenant abilities or broken legendaries.
In most cases once again in SL, the meta for all content types derives from the systems blizzard repeatedly can’t find a balance point for. They design system upon system, each affecting each class differently. Some legendaries ended up being busted, some not so much. And in a lot of cases regardless of how many leggos your spec gets, there is only 1 or 2 that you play with. These ones are the busted ones…or in a lot of cases just the best of the garbage you were given.
It’s a common repeating factor that blizzard designs new systems but half bakes them. Some classes get amazing interaction and others not so much. It really does feel like a lot of the time, these systems are rushed so fast that regardless of state they are pushed out anyways. This creates broken classes and a small viability of classes in the top end. That top end then trickles into the low end, leaving a toxic view on classes that aren’t that meta. And in a lot of cases it’s justified because those classes received little to no work, and were left to rot because the blizz devs didn’t have the time or resources to do a proper job for everyone. That time constraint is usually made worse by the fact the team is balancing countless systems at thr same time that also interact with each class. And one small tuning on one system can have a huge effect on classes, whether it be good or bad.
All of these things pile up into burnout from a lot of players. They either feel left behind because their class isn’t performing, or maybe they are just tired of the broken meta insta killing people. Regardless of what it is, a lot of the issues boil down to class balancing.
Even with content drought, or just flat out lack of content, I personally think that a lot of players would dive into content they don’t normally do in these circumstances out of pure boredom or whatever, just because their favorite class isn’t a dumpster tier spec. I’m not saying here that it should be an even playing field by any means, but the disparity from top and bottom, and thr uncapped and capped aoe scenario is massive.
Aoe capping is fine. But if you are going to do it, cap everyone, or don’t cap anyone at all. Or you leave 1 uncapped or soft capped ability for everyone. Or soft cap it all. But this “ranged are uncapped and melee arent” while simultaneously making melee lives horrible in all forms of content, is just a spit in the face to anyone that plays them. Ranged have historically always done more damage, and you just increased the gap.
Anyways, rant over. But I think in a lot of cases of burnout, the straight up broken systems and busted classes are the reason a lot of the playerbase is just fed up. We saw this coming since alpha and beta, people screamed from the rooftops to do something about all kinds of class based situations, and absolutely nothing was done. Blizzard needs to get off the high horse and fix the game. Make it right.
#whereisthebalance
