Yeah I used to be able to guess what mobs were gonna do in raids by what type of monster they were. For example, the Faceless type mobs always do a fear or a shadow AOE move. Nagas always summon an add or adds. Giants always do tank busters, stuff like that.
In Wrath I was in a guild that didn’t look up strategies, we just pulled and tried to figure stuff out on our own. I will literally never get that back, people don’t even game like that anymore, going in blind is for like the most dedicated of dedicated, it’s considered a “challenge” run these days.
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I think you’re right about how none of the systems are too complex on their own, but they compound on each. Unless this game is your primary/only source of entertainment it is difficult to delve too deeply into more than a couple of the systems in the current version of the game. That said, I think it stems from the fact that WoW has always been treated as a time sink, so it’s not exactly a new problem. Just an old problem taking on a new form.
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I’m only like four and a half minutes into this video and, well, it doesn’t “prove my point” but it does highlight the kind of thing I’m talking about. Just listen to how convoluted it is to to just upgrade some gear. Why does it have to be this way? “To do this you need to do that, but to do that you need to do this, but to do this you’ll need that currency, to get that currency you need to do this content, to do this content you need to unlock that content, but to unlock that content…” Why? Why does this game need to be World of Spreadsheets?
I think knowing your class and rotation and dungeons or raids is in a good spot. I think they need to dump mythic raiding down a tad. Too many bosses require too many pulls. But only gripe is pvp. Everyone has everything. Stuns, snares, hard cc, range from melee, dots. It’s just a bit much.
It doesn’t assume that at all. It’s like stocking a pond. Your number of fish in needs to be comparable to number of fish out. Too many fish in, they breed out of control and wreck the pond. Too few fish in, they can’t support themselves and die out and wreck the pond. It’s about finding a balance.
But the endgame isn’t measured in number of bosses. It’s measured in pulls and prog hours. Tindral is one boss, ~40 hours. It takes longer to kill Tindral than it does 1-6 combined. If anything, maybe they need to make 20x 2 hour bosses. That might be more satisfying. For “half the bosses in half the time”, they’d need to be half the prog hours (and half the difficulty) too.
Also, wow seasons can’t really get that much shorter anyway. Those games you mentioned have much smaller footprints. Wow wouldn’t work on that schedule because it invalidated your character progression even faster, and that’s not fun for anyone. If wow was a lobby game, maybe that would hold water, but, imho, it’s already too focused on endgame instanced stuff. It needs to pull back from trying to be PvE league and remember what kind of game it is.
Whoever is calling the shots thinks they can put the consumer on a timeline and keep them locked down in convolved systems designed to string you out as much as possible.
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By, “abusive gearing treadmill,” do you mean raiding & mythics? Because DF is the first expansion with a progression gearing path based on several non-instanced solo/group World Events based on the BFA warfronts, but new and improved where most times (while new) joining a group isn’t required because enough people just show up.
The best part is, RNGeezus is a bonus and the rest is currency-based. You can even convert it to tier in the Revival Catalyst! All that while never settling foot inside a dungeon or raid! And we’ve gotten a new World Event every patch so far.
A little of both - older players (not talking truly old old, but just set in their ways) struggle with games being different. Secondly in an effort to make the game more difficult to combat add ons Blizzard has made raiding and dungeons more complex to the point that a reasonable person without add ons and boss overviews would think the fights borderline impossible.
Put it this way - if you can’t visually figure out a boss fight on your own then it’s not designed well.
Maybe the game actually offers a sliding scale of complexity depending on what you want to do and skill level. Giving it an offering to people of all ages and skill.
There is nothing wrong if you can’t complete a game on its hardest skill level.
There is low complexity if that is what people prefer. There is mid complexity. There is high complexity. All depending on the content and difficulty being done.
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Same, I feel like I have earned the title worse hoarder ever, my bags and bank are so full of random junk I’m afraid to vendor or trash, because now someone somewhere will require it to purchase an item.
I agree with OP. Complexity doesnt necessary add to the game’s enjoyment. I played DF for a few months and never figured out the profession order thingy. It was overly complicated so I just never interacted with it. There was some kind of titan machine thing I was supposed to be doing but never understood why. The talent tree was way too much but I just looked up the optimal spec and imported it.
I don’t get the obsession with iterating and creating new gimmicky systems. Would rather they focus that energy on new zones, quests, exploration etc.
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Personally, I do not feel like the game is too complicated. We have addons and weak auras that make mechanics throughout the game a lot easier than it was in the first few expansions. I have also been playing World of Warcraft since 2004 around the BWL patch.
The game is engaging because it’s complex. I’ve disliked every time they remove complexity.
I think there are some classes I find complicated but overall game feels pretty accessible.
There is a place for complexity because it gives room for growth and difference in skill expression.
It’s not for me though so I play easy classes 
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It’s too old and too much of a clustercluck at this point. The joy of exploration and taking in non-guided quests is gone. A new, simpler game with far better visuals would be ideal, at this point.
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it depends. if you’re a casual, and just doing the main leveling content and maybe some normals/heroics at max, its not complicated at all. but if you want to invest into anything beyond that, then yes, it is very complicated. even fishing is complicated now and that was the most brain dead easy mode profession you could do.
Actually the game is too old, and we are complicated. 
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I do think the game can be overly complicated.
Things do not seem simple to pick up.
I quit retail after shadowlands, and barely played that one. I have been playing classic Cata since.
I just jumped back into retail and it was majorly overwhelming. I haven’t even touched professions yet because it looks intimidating just opening them up lol even herb/mining made me pause.
Everything I have had to go look up to understand it and I still am learning about the 8 million different currencies and what they are for. I am 80 and still there is so much I am just finding out about.
The game did seem simpler before
I am not saying that is a good or bad thing necessarily. But it sucks having to go read guides for every little step.
