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:
- Affliction was nerfed 4 times in a row, including the upcoming class tuning on PTR.
- Beast mastery has been slightly nerfed as well.
- 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.
- Preservation is also slightly being nerfed.
- 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)?