Perhaps I’ve just been desensitized but I can’t say the forums have changed significantly for quite some time. The last time something major happened that caused an actual noticeable change in the way people behaved is when they got rid of OT and that was only because everyone that had spent most of their time there migrated over to GD.
There are ideas that can be built upon but sometimes an idea is inherently flawed. Ignoring that in favor of tit-for-tat exchanges is just going to create a race to the bottom.
Blizz is a for profit corporation. Expecting them to act without regard to money is naive at best.
oh i understand, but i’m sure there’s a point were profit chasing will drive people away.
and i see this in the way everything lately seems to be there as an underlying attempt to boost MAU’s. but for every so many people they keep active with this a few will give up and leave.
i just worry what happens when more and more people get annoyed at these sort of choices.
there’s nothing wrong with trying to pull a big profit, but when doing so starts to negatively effect the game itself is when it becomes a problem. i’m not saying we’re there yet… but it feels like its getting closer.
the complete lack of moderation here is why people are annoyed. you know what’s also toxic, blaming the community of players.
players have provided insane amounts of feedback… and where are the responses? where is even just a simple nod of… hey, we get it. the most action this forum has seen is when they took away water walking for the water strider…
really? that deserves attention? not class balancing? not the hot mess that is pvp and pvp gearing? not the disparity of specs and classes in M+? not the complete lack of gold earning compared to prior expansion? list goes on and on… and what gets attention? a water walking mount.
A lack of any acknowledgment from the “powers that be” does us absolutely no favors, either. Like this most recent free 100 level boost thing for unsubbed players. One person posted their response from a GM about the criteria for receiving the boost and the GM said, in more polite terms, “we’re not going to tell you”.
You are absolutely right and I sincerely respect where you would like to get back too.
From my recent experience in the forums, people are being deterred from expressing what seems to be any opinion that contradicts the current position of WOW. They are doing this by targeting people, degrading, belittling, verbal intimidation (essentially condescending) ridicule and many other toxic behaviors towards people who oppose a particular aspect of the game.
I have had recent encounters with some of these people.
The bottom line is that i also agree with the fact that the source of the problem is blizz and the fact that they really have disconnected with the players and have demonstrated a “we could care less” attitude. This is also reflected in the forums with the Toxic behavior. If Blizz really cared, this behavior wouldn’t be tolerated so that the forums could be a constructive Venue. Moderators would be banning those who verbally assault someone else just for saying they “Hate” an aspect of the game… The response and encouragement to explain why, source the problem, correct it if it;s a player misunderstanding or identify the issue and start building on positive solutions, has been abandoned.
I was reading some old forum posts and could not believe the how positive the vibe was even when discussing a controversial aspect. And if anyone made even a hint at a personal attack it was addressed by users and moderators. Maybe it’s just coincidence based on the historical threads i was reviewing but it sure felt like a completely different Forum world than what i’m seeing today.
Actually they do listen to ideas and I know that for a fact, they just don’t tell us that they’re listening. They aren’t going to implement everything that we ask for either, but if it makes sense and they have the assets they can make it happen.
I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but they will change their minds on things and players will come to the forums to accuse them of lying or betraying them. So much drama here all the time, it never ends.
People asked for vanilla a long long time ago prolly at the end of wrath and for sure in cata etc etc. So the fact they are doing it now is no indication of them listening prolly a realization that retail isn’t doing so hot. There have been so many classic private servers over the years there was no excuse for them to do it sooner if they were “listening” to the community.
I see a lot of complaining in this post, and not much (if anything) in terms of constructive feedback.
But don’t worry, you’re halfway there! You’ve stated fairly clearly the issues you’ve identified and want to fix; now all you need is to pair it with some solid suggestions as to how to achieve that.