Yup. It’s the Blizzard Modus Operandi. They know what they’re doing.
I have seen many of his videos before , none were taken seriously by Blizzard, why? because his arguments are based on predictions that according to him will happen. Corporate companies for profit don’t WORK THAT WAY (*insert meme)
The only way you gonna get Blizzard to make a change is to get the silent majority agree with you and not be silent but take action . Good freking luck with that. 
I don’t think Blizzard’s choice for restricting two abilities is for money. Most people would rather quit the game than level 4 of the same class to be able to experience these playstyles whenever they so choose.
I honestly think that they believe it’s a good idea. Which, agree to disagree, I guess.
Well you see therresss yaaaa problem, they don’t quit, they don’t vote their wallet. If they do they will be back next week or in a month claiming they have invested too much in the game.
Preach is one of them - not dependable
It’s certainly about the developers’ egos. Always is. Did you see how Ion reacted when he got booed for announcing Shadowlands pathfinder? Closed eyes, shaking his head - that’s about as close to his real opinion on feedback as we’re going to get.
I’ve said it before, but I’m convinced that the cash shop is just bringing in obscene amounts of money for the number of players left. Otherwise Ion would’ve gotten the boot long ago.
Guys, decisions that impact GAMEPLAY. GAMEPLAY. I’m not talking about cosmetics (really?) or guilds/communities. Try to read things within the greater context of the topic we’re discussing.
Class is the only gameplay focused decision that holds any weight. If you try one and don’t like it, you level an entirely new one or pay USD to boost it. You can’t just be a warlock for this boss or a druid for that one. The choice you make matters. A little more of that is a good thing bearing in mind that, again, you can just immediately un-make every other decision.
I agree that no matter your spec and covenant combination, the game shouldn’t punish you for it (even ones that are lore contradictory like Necrolord paladins), but I also don’t think it will. Not being mathematically optimal in all situations isn’t a punishment.
Blizzard doesn’t want that either though – so if you get in the beta, report that ability feels too weak for that spec, and if you’re right, they’ll buff it.
If all the abilities are good, then being “stuck” with one isn’t bad.
This is kind of a slippery argument. Given how many people play WoW (dead game lol), it probably is inevitable that SOMEONE will do this, but it is very much not inevitable for any particular player that they will do this. They can choose for themselves.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. Even if it just means you’re outsourcing your choice to icyveins.
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Preach plays the game for money, so he just won’t quit. You are correct. He his, however, not the norm, and most of the people play the game for fun.
I agree, most people complain and despise the game but don’t quit. This isn’t something worth quitting for in my opinion, rather I just wanted to shed some light on this issue from a casual perspective because many people think this is a World First Raider vs Casual debate, which it most certainly is not.
Choosing a Covenant completely changes rewards, zone layouts, modes of transportation, your resting location, etc. How are those things not gameplay related? You are referring to micro gameplay, i.e the way a class plays. Covenant choice without Covenant abilities most certainly effects the way one plays the game on a macro level.
Yes, I do realize that. I realize that choosing your covenant changes your gameplay. I said besides class, covenant will be the only other weighted decision you can make that will alter your gameplay. This is a good thing.
I feel like I’m having to repeat myself a lot now.
No, most people on the forums complain about the game. Most people who play the game have no time for the forums. And honestly, most of us who do spend time on the forums probably shouldn’t bother 
but right now I’m on my lunch break working from home, so I couldn’t really meaningfully play anyway.
You’re not repeating yourself, you just aren’t fully articulating your point.
Gameplay has so many different connotations depending on who you talk to. You just keep saying “gameplay, gameplay, gameplay”. You are referring to gameplay on the micro level, which is how a class specifically plays.
I’m saying that tying micro gameplay choices to a MACRO GAMEPLAY DECISION that should be based around other qualities (RP, aesthetics, in-game persona, etc.) is not a good design decision.
right. i get that. for me, i change my stuff all the time because i can currently. makes the game more fun to me. if i want to tank i can change my traits and my essences. if i want to heal, i can change my traits and essences. i know i have the best stuff equipped because nothing stops me from doing it on the fly.
best example is when i tank bear i can change my essence to anime instead of vop just because i want to do it. then i can just switch back because, ‘eh, im done with that for now’.
the conduits are what bother me the most at this point. when i change specs they do not change. i guess, in a sense, this is similar to azerite traits? i can get past that with separate gear sets which i grind for once. it seems ill have to grind the conduits over and over as they will be destroyed as i change them.
ill have a better feel once i can play the expac, but i really like being able to switch everything i have based on spec, mood, and content. ive grown to enjoy it. the dps increase/loss, utility increase/loss, and such has no bearing on my opinion. i just got rank 3 breath yesterday because i didnt want to grind it out. i still dont have rank 3 conflict cause i dont want to push my pvp rating. so, its not a big deal that im not min/maxed to that extent because we probably all agree it doesnt matter all that much.
i just want to have fun without restrictions on my toon. that is all. if that’s not ‘rpg’ then oh well? bfa wasn’t much of an rpg if that’s the case, and i like doing the end game however i want without restrictions. this is just me, and it would be nice if we could continue down the road being able to swap stuff out at any moment.
hard disagree, after two years of MM having the same talent set up, never changing talents is not a good feeling.
Same when I used to play a lot on my Spriest. 5 out of the 7 talent choices are mandatory for the class to function.
Because they didn’t design it that way. Lots of RPGs don’t allow that kind of freedom.
nice, wow does, people don’t want that to change, plenty of other products better suited for it provide this type of “choices” no need to add it to a game that wasn’t meant to have them.
So you really don’t want choice anyways since you view “the best” as “mandatory”. But think that this will some how be different if we could only access all the abilities.
No, actually I want a choice. That was just me replying to someone about a spec. If you read my post you would see that the reason I don’t like the ability restrictions is so I have the choice to mess around with them in end-game content casually without hardcore choosing one.
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Until you find “the best” and then it will be “mandatory”
Mkay, so much of the choices we make to alter our gameplay (talents, spec, gear) are all swappable on-the-fly. In a roleplaying game, I think it’s appropriate and an overall positive thing for players to be expected to commit to some strengths and weaknesses without being able to just change it up to suit the encounter.
Class is one example of a weighted decision that players make and covenants will be another. I think this is a good thing.
You say that tying ability choices to RP choices isn’t strong design direction but once again, look at the class parallel. It’s an RP decision that entirely dictates your ability list. Covenants are a much smaller RP decision that have a much smaller impact on gameplay, and can be swapped up with certain limitations. This is perfectly healthy.
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