Nerfs are making investing in classes less fun

I have four level 80 characters - warlock, mage, evoker, and priest.

I’m currently leveling up a hunter to level 80.

As a background, I used to play WoW Classic, TBC, WoD, then this expansion 8 years after WoD.

The reason why I quit WoD back then was how they messed up several classes that used to be fun: shadow priest instant mind blast and mind spikes were really fun in WoD, but they replaced it with void form that made priests hard cast everything and lose mobility. Affliction was great again in pre-Legion patch and could finally stand against melee, but they nerfed the damage by 20% or more.

In War Within, I saw many opportunities and leveled many classes, hoping to find a good class to level and PvP with. However, it seems that every time I’m about to settle on a class as a main, Blizzard nerfs it:

  1. Affliction was nerfed 4 times in a row, including the upcoming class tuning on PTR.
  2. Beast mastery has been slightly nerfed as well.
  3. Augmentation used to be great, with Ebon might granting 10% instead of 5% of your stats. On PTR, Volcanic spikes shield is nerfed from 30 to 20% armor.
  4. Preservation is also slightly being nerfed.
  5. It’s the same for other classes that I’m contemplating leveling, like Fury Warrior, which has been super nerfed in the last few patches.

So I originally wanted to main the affliction warlock and got my 2 pieces of Conquest gear just 2 days ago, only to see the nerfs today on PTR to Soul Harvester build.

Now, I’m looking at the other classes I have: hunters seem like they will soon be nerfed along with evoker.

The only classes that seem to get buffs would be priests and mage out of the characters I own.

Honestly, while balancing is important sometimes, I feel that Blizzard should have play-tested sufficiently and tuned them before release. Right now, investing in a class that receives, and is likely to receive many nerfs is like investing in an overheating stock market that will soon crash.

It’s like, you put in a lot of effort getting your main geared up, then Blizzard nerfs the class so much, that you’re wondering if you should have invested in other classes in the first place. You develop a strong attachment to one class, only to have Blizzard take the fun away with too many nerfs, destroying the future anticipation of fun and optimism and motivation to play it further.

I’m not sure what comes next, but as of right now, maining an affliction warlock doesn’t seem optimistic anymore.

I guess I will just casually hop between 5 or so level 80s to PvP in just pure honor gear without maining any character. Since shadow priests, arcane and fire mages are quite weak for PvP right now, and seeing they will soon be buffed on PTR, I might ironically focus more on these classes - at least, it feels like there’s light ahead that gets brighter.

However, it’s hard to fathom what will happen in the future, as any of the classes I level and enjoy will be nerfed and be far less enjoyable.

Do you all feel the same way as I do with nerfs taking the fun out of many classes and that this anticipation of incoming nerfs renders one less willing to invest in a class for PvP (or PvE)?

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They mainly only ever nerf paladins and that makes me rather upset. And fury warriors too. And the spec of sham I play. So they nerf the only things I play there.

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Well I don’t know if it’s constructive to say this, so for what it’s worth you just play through the nerfs because you’re dedicated to your class and continuously work on it. Someone tells me I’m dog water, I do my best to prove them wrong, or if I can’t I work on it until I have done that and better. It’s fun that way for me.

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The beta was fun for everyone and now that they’ve got your cash its time to fix that.

I think it’s a psychology kind of thing: you feel attachment towards a character you invest so much in and look forward to performing well in PvP after gearing them up in conquest gear. Then, Blizzard nerfs it over and over again.

The nerfs are sometimes justified. Obviously affliction warlock’s shadow bolt on Soul Harvester spec was too strong since it out-did Chaos bolt.

However, I felt Blizzard should have sufficiently tested them with play-testers, then tune them before release, instead of after.

The result would be psychologically and emotionally easier to accept since you won’t have that sense of pessimism that arises from comparing the current state to future nerfed states.

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WoW Combat has far to many factors for small number of playtesters to test and Blizzard to account for.

That’s why you have people like Rextroy doing insane things that literally defy all tuning.

I guess Blizz could implement DPS limiters or add more homogenization to even it out…but then they are destroying the game to make a few people people feel better

Affliction is actually doing very, very well recently but as a former long-time Warlock main, I just played warlock. It had ups and downs in PvP but overall it was strong.

BM hunters aren’t necessarily getting ‘nerfed’ but instead a bit more tuning as well as one of their hero trees being completely redone, they are pretty strong in ST at the moment but just are suffering in the AoE department currently.

Preservation is, as some would put it, busted levels of strong so a nerf was kind of warranted.

Fury Warrior’s burst AoE getting nerfed a little isn’t a game-ender, just a lot of people yell about it.

Meanwhile, I play Devastation evoker, through the buffs and the nerfs, because it is what I am alright at and enjoy playing. Augmentation keeps getting a bit spotlight on it but it doesn’t matter, I’m going to laserbeam people and now, Devastation is silly-strong against Warriors who have been beating my face in for years just because we have the tools to kite them pretty much forever, even after we had our obscene 20% disintegrate PvP buff taken away.

Numbers are secondary to gameplay, while they may be important in the nitty-gritty of higher end content most buffs and nerfs are small % changes overall and usually don’t appear unless you can consistently perform to the same level every single time.

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this is pretty much why i stop playing each xpac. you invest hours upon hours of your life into gearing a character only for blizz to nerf it into the dirt. that isn’t fun any way you slice it.

i guess it seems to work for them though since they have been doing it for 20 years. but for me i just nope out when they decide to do it.

i come back for big content updates after that but i dont heavily invest anymore into wow because of this 20 year cycle of nerfs they always do.

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nerfs or not you can still beat the game you are fine

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Although I agree nerfs suck, tuning is impossible to be perfect. So, nerfs and buffs are inevitable.

What I don’t understand is them nerfing specs, which are not even top though.

I wish they would post why they decided to nerf or buff certain skills.

Nerfs are making investing in classes less fun

First time?

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Stop chasing FOTM and actually invest in a class. Of course strong classes are going to get balanced, but if you see nerfs and think “well now I cant play this class because its balanced” then that’s on you.

Balance happens, just something you have to get used to in a live multiplayer game. If you’re always playing a flavor of the month class, whether intentionally or by happenstance, you shouldn’t be surprised when the month changes.

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They wouldn’t have to nerf anybody if they just buffed resto druids a fifth time in a row. We really need a 5th buff please.

I’ve never understood why they don’t just boost other classes to gain equilibrium instead of nerfing.

I do understand it’s a little more work, but the bigger picture is that when you nerf, no one is happy. When you boost, people are stuck with the “problem” of having new choices.

Bigger picture, boost; don’t nerf.

That used to be their policy. It lasted from the time they declared it as their policy until the next scheduled patch day. It was a good run.

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It’s best to find a class/spec/role or two that you enjoy regardless of the numbers.

If you are choosing your class/spec/role based off of what’s pulling the best numbers, that’s a good recipe to constantly be miserable, as that is always subject to change.

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Lol

Because it’s easier to bring outliers back in line than it is to buff everything else to be in line with outliers.