After 869 Upvotes, the first thread hit post limit. The second thread sputtered out as a result of the forum switch.
As Class design is fundamentally the most important issue in this game, this thread warrants being brought back.
Class design is the vehicle through which we interact with all other content. If Class design is bad, the enjoyableness of all other content is poisoned as a result, even if the rest is good (It’s not).
Think of it this way: It doesn’t matter if you live in a cottage nestled in a scenic Norwegian Fjord, if you’re looking outside through a cracked and grimy window, it’s going to look horrible.
That’s what bad class design is. The only difference is that we’re looking through a cracked and grimy window at a parking lot.
Previous Post:
I had problems with certain elements of MoP Class design, namely the new talent trees. But all of my gripes back then are just completely trivial in light of what’s come since.
Can this company just realize that they dropped the ball in WoD and classes really haven’t been fun since then?
5.4 Class Design should be used as a starting point for abilities/talents going forward.
I’m sick of having niche spells taken away, I’m sick of having baseline utility scrapped and handed back as a talent, I’m tired of my class being reinvented to be completely unrecognizable from what it was when I rolled the character.
Just go back. Don’t try to “improve” this mess, don’t “iterate” on it. You’ve been trying that since 6.0, and it’s still complete garbage.
To expand upon the above:
1.) Removing baseline, niche abilities (Stances, etc.) and handing them back as talents is bad.
2.) Removing baseline utility and handing them back as PvP talents is bad
3.) Discouraging things like AMS soaking and Berserker Stance (Termed by Ion as “degenerate playstyles”) is bad.
4.) Redesigning classes so that they’re mechanically unrecognizable is bad.
5.) Removing gameplay options like 2h Frost is bad and hasn’t improved balance
6.) Slapping everything under the sun onto the GCD slows down gameplay and makes clunky, tedious rotations even more clunky and tedious. It’s bad!
7.) Leaving classes stripped bare so you can force us to grind auxiliary systems (Legendaries, Artifact Power, Azerite Gear) is bad.
8.) Getting rid of ability overlap between specs undermines total class fantasy, makes trying new specs more difficult for new players, and deprives veterans of interesting tools in their arsenal. It’s bad.
Just. Go. Back. Stop it with this. You’ve been trying “pruning” since WoD, where class design was bad. You’ve been trying auxiliary systems that complete classes since Legion, where class design was bad. I don’t want to grind to play my character, I’ll happily grind rep, or attunements, but I don’t want to grind so my class isn’t completely uninteresting (Spoiler alert: Even after grinding, it’s still not fun to play)
tl;dr: Azerite Gear/Artifact Traits and Pruning are a mistake. They haven’t made the game better, they’ve made the game worse. Classes are not more enjoyable, or more balanced now. They’re less enjoyable and balance is a joke (Ask any class left “unfinished” during BfA’s launch!)