To begin, I’ve been playing the game for a very, very long time (since vanilla’s beta phase). I’ve taken many breaks from it, and I’ve also played during the periods of high complexity as well as low complexity. I’ve done raiding at the highest of levels, and I’ve played extremely casually.
Let me just remind you a bit about where your roots come from, and why Classic realms retain a certain degree of popularity:
WoW is an outlier story amongst MMOs, which is why it’s had the success that it’s had. The original incarnation of Azeroth comprising Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms as well as the gameplay systems at the time was arguably the most immersive opening experience any self-respecting MMORPG has been able to create in existence.
It was already an accessible premise to begin with; there were options present for players to play on their own terms from the get-go. PvP, Dungeons, Raids, World Events (albeit in differing form) all existed in the original mold and contributed greatly to the longevity of the franchise.
I mention these things to get to the point that I’ve sat through the homogenization cycles that the game has gone through up until this point in time.
I was there for the Cataclysm talent crunch. Then the Mists of Pandaria system that lingered until talents returned. Now I’m watching as addons are getting gutted and design philosophy sounds dangerously close to “Let’s make WoW more like Call of Duty again”.
Mentions of the “troubles” of high APM specs and “superfluous” buffs and buff cycles are nothing new coming from the Blizzard team, as you’re well aware. Granted, some of these issues are merited on a strictly processing technical basis and even addon changes are within SOME merit due to outlying factors. But the fact of the matter remains that the more you homogenize either the content or the gameplay systems (or both), you begin to alienate the healthier aspects of what makes WoW different.
Good players want to play demanding specializations, and they want to be rewarded for it. It allows accomplished individuals to stand out for what they do, or adds a form of benchmark for people to improve upon their gameplay.
Case in point: Never once have I, or anyone I know, complained about Fury Warrior being too demanding once it became known for being a “spammy” spec. The only thing I have ever complained about regarding Fury Warrior is that I can’t remove the inherent latency barrier that becomes more apparent the higher the GCD cycle gets.
Furthermore, gameplay concepts like snapshotting and other seemingly obtuse buff-oriented gameplay reward precise foresight and keep already acclimated players engaged. It’s also expected, nay, emphasized that each class is going to perform specifically in certain situations. This adds role diversity to the game as a baseline, and it’s something that Vanilla WoW had in spades no matter how imbalanced the math was at the time. Even later on DURING certain homogenization crunches it was still prevalent but became overemphasized and counterproductive due to how little player agency affected its presence.
I.e., Affliction Warlock is well known for being a very “back-loaded” DPS class even in its under-tuned spots (when it does have them), but that has never stopped it from performing spectacularly in high-end, prepared groups due to the nature of its predictability and how said aforementioned concept subtly affects raid and dungeon pulling philosophy. To contrast it with front-loaded classes who have not, historically, shared the same degree of reliable and constant multi-target output on a fundamental level over the course of the WoW franchise.
Specific design gripes aside, I do believe that the current talent trees are the best WoW has ever had, though there is always room for improvement and refinement. I think that the tier sets for Season 3 TWW are the correct approach as well, shifting the focus onto hero talents rather than creating imbalances that min-maxers like me feel the need to be augmented/emphasized through the base talent trees to get the most out of (though a lot of that still exists and is either inevitable or can itself be rectified in other ways).
In summation, I don’t think that complexity is WoW’s problem. WoW performs its best when the ceiling is higher and there are more entry points to that ceiling. Having several different ways to play a spec even if the more complex ones retain a slightly higher output when performed correctly is healthy for the game. However, as a team, Blizzard has already somewhat pressed the big red button when it came to accessibility. Anyone who flocked to the game during its most accessible cycles is certainly going to feel jaded when more is expected of them and they aren’t able to keep up. Furthermore, people like me who have played since Vanilla are now few and far between, so the amount of people who have insight into these nuances and know how to navigate between them are becoming scarce.
I also think narrative and worldbuilding is an issue. Remember, this game cut the red tape with an absolutely massive world with varying degrees of personal agency over progression. I won’t talk much about the current state of the story though because there are certain storytelling elements that I feel are lacking and haven’t lent themselves well to WoW’s intrigue.
I truly believe that if you want to see the same kind of positive growth that WoW had in its youth, you have to be prepared to break the “byte-sized” patch mold. Quit making patches that introduce a single zone. Quit releasing expansions that are 4 or 5 zones. Quit falling back to a predictable and bland “symmetric” design when it comes to zones, questing, and progression.
Either that, or create an equivalent transition lore-wise that WoW had going from the finale of the Warcraft 3 campaign to WoW. Be prepared to shake things up in a non-reversible way. Don’t do it like Cataclysm or BfA where the common trope becomes “these things are gone/affected” - but not really (or at least not in a truly relevant way). You guys need some narrative chaos that doesn’t care about inclusivity or serving everyone’s personal fantasy. Now that Metzen is back on the team, I know he could probably come up with some good ideas. I just don’t know if he’s ready to channel the old Blizzard lore machine like that again.
The reason WoW got big to begin with was due to the conditioning of an entire generation on the lore and worldbuilding of WoW. Then an entire community was built upon the premise of the systems at the time. Then the demographic shifted because of design philosophy changes as time went on. You cannot keep them engaged on breadcrumb additions forever. If you want the old experience back, you need to cultivate the people like you once did.
Apologies for the verbal diarrhea and general disjointedness of this post. I did not proofread and was flustered by the news, so I felt the need to type something out quickly. WoW has been a game I’ve placed some of my best years into and I don’t want to see it fail.
Just my two cents.