Question to the council: Do you think your requests have been heard?

Community WoW Community Council
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Hello Council! I know we’ve seen very little about Dragonflight, but I wanted to ask you if the concerns that you have about the game have improved with the features they’ve shown.

For example, for me accessibility is very important. I got very excited about the new interface and being able to customize it because with my color blindness there’s some colors that simply I cannot see, and the filter built ingame doesn’t 100% always help. If we can modify the colors without any addons it’s gonna be great for people like me, and even new players who may be familiar with other combinations of colors from other games.

What do you think? Is there something you’ve discussed here in the forums that they’ve announced?

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I feel that it’s un fair for Blizzard to address all of our concerns in one Expansion Announcement video when the main point is to drive hype up on the main new and exciting things of the coming expansion.

My thought as a member of the CC is that Blizzard doesn’t even need to agree or implement some of the concerns I have in the game. Hell, my ideas may not even be a truly good idea for the general player base. I just wanted to spark a conversation with the playbase itself, even from players who don’t enjoy the same game play I do, and compromise.

Take flying for example. From the minimal detaisl they have provided so far, it seems like our tradional flying will not carry forward right away, however with the Dragonriding ability being introduced with an evolving increase of flight percs, that is a compromise that I am willing to try out.

The perfect example of a compromise harkens back to last season of BFA with the Awakening Affix for Mythic Plus. Before that, the player base was up in arms of the ‘requirement’ of the Rogue ability Shroud and screamed at Blizzard to remove it from the game for the balance of M+. The compromise was not removing it, but creating a pretty cool affix that just worked for everyone, and without removing an ability for the Rogue class.

I’m generally excited hear and read more of what is to come.

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As the council started I wanted to be a member of it but didn’t get in in the first wave. As I then joined here some of my main concerns were allready noticed and mentioned here and also changed ingame.

Things like Boost spam, or cross faction raiding were allready done and I think the community council had part of it.

I don’t think you have to follow everything the community is disagreeing but if there is a big number of people saying something isn’t right or does feel right you should notice.

I think the community council is a good way to give all kinds of players a voice.

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I agree, and I think this is the essence of all feedback. We’re not developing the game, we’re sharing our thoughts and hoping they’ll be taken into consideration when the devs are doing their thing.

But if the question is, do I feel like I’ve been heard, I’ve got some mixed feelings on that. I’ve personally tried to focus on some of the things that aren’t usually talked about (RP, archaeology, weather to give a few examples), and that doesn’t seem to have gained much traction with the blues - maybe it has, but I haven’t seen any signs of it. I know the blues read everything on the forums, so does that mean that if we’ve written about something and nothing comes of it, that they just don’t agree with it, or that it’s something they want to do further down the line because it’s a low priority? It often feels like I’m writing blogposts instead of actively partaking in discussions, shouting into the void because there’s usually radio silence.

Some of the things I’ve been talking about have been implemented (often in a better way than I’ve personally wanted, sometimes not). Dragonriding looks awesome and it’s just what I wanted for flying - one of the topics I’ve really enjoyed writing about! But I am not sure if that’s because I’ve said it, or if it’s because a lot of other people have also said it. The community is very much so an echo chamber when it comes to a lot of what’s wrong with the game, so it’s impossible to say whether or not it’s because someone said it on the CC, or if it’s just what the community wants in general. If the feedback given by the council specifically is being heard and listened to, that’s great for us on the council, but then I worry that those who aren’t on it won’t be listened to. And if everyone is being listened to, I wonder what the purpose of the council is.

Ultimately, do I think we’ve been heard? Definitely! But I’m not always sure we’ve been listened to.

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One of my biggest concerns heading into the expansion reveal yesterday was borrowed power and intricate secondary systems and currencies tied to the main borrowed power systems.

I may not do competitive raiding or Mythic+ dungeons, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy the borrowed power aspect of an expansion, because I absolutely do not. I think it was fine in Legion, as the Artifact weapons were tied to the story. I feel that should’ve been the one off and then back to a more elegant and permanent solution.

Watching them unveil the new talent tree system, it gave me a lot of hope. Having player power attached to the core system of World of Warcraft such as a talent tree system is more impactful, longer lasting, more customization choices, more chances for some form of hybridity.

Doing uninteresting multi-step world quests for a paltry resource for something to move the bar a millimeter for my borrowed power system wasn’t fun or engaging. Even as an outdoor type player, I still hated it. I still like doing dungeons and LFR, so I care about my character’s power and abilities, maybe not a min/maxer, but I still care.

I’ve also been concerned about professions for as long as I can remember. There is more information needed about it, but the fact that professions will not be cookie cookie and every one is the same is kind of exciting for me. Each crafting profession will have a talent try system in place as well. That offers more variety to focus your expertise on a set of items, bonuses and other things, sounds VERY intriguing to me.

I also like the idea of having a work order system. Supply X amount of mats, maybe offer X amount of commission, if someone specializes in making that item, then they pick up the work order, make them gold and the item for you. That sounds freaking awesome to me in concept.

There’s much more to the profession system revamp than I’ve mentioned, but that tells the story about it pretty much.

In terms of the UI, I’m a minimalist in nature. I don’t use addons to change the look of my UI. The only addon I use that changes my UI is one that allows me to remove certain elements of my UI to give me more visual screen access. However, it is nice to see a new UI overhaul that will be part of the evergreen systems. It’ll be nice to move parts of it around to where I think it looks best without the need of any addons. It works for me.

I didn’t expect them to introduce a new race and class, but they’re doing both. I’m not overly thrilled with how the visage form character model looks or the animations, but that can be worked on before Alpha and Beta. It should have it’s own animations/skeleton and not use the female Worgen rig instead. Just my thoughts.

I like that we are returning to Azeroth and that now big new bad was looming in the background. Inevitably we will probably have a new major big bad announced, but not having it be the entire focal point in the cinematic and start of the story is great news for me. Gives me that, “Mists of Pandaria” type vibes. A land shrouded for generations, sending off explorers to adventure there, new locales to get to know, unknown threats.

I was hoping for player housing, but after seeing what they’re working on, I can certainly understand why it would not be included as well. I watched Ion talking to Hazelnutty on Youtube and she asked that question about it. Ion mentions that it’s something that the community and the team is interested in doing, but that it may need several expansions to fully integrate it in to a level of where we (the consumers) expect it to be delivered. So, I’m hopeful for the future.

All in all, sounds like most of my concerns were addressed, the main one being borrowed powers and multiple intricate secondary systems with another resource to farm for replaced by the old (but new) talent tree system.

I’m eager to see more in the coming months.

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Some of the clarifications have been verified but as far as gearing goes and tier PvP it only took them till next expansion for the changes which is pretty reasonable. Not alot of the balance changes have been made but that can be expected. Overally im somewhat happy but id love more communication from the PvP side of the game devs. We didnt even get a quick look or deepdive on the stream for PvP we had to go to twitch to see more info which is okay but id like to be on the same reveal as PvE content so we could get more participation and attention.

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As a player that focuses a lot on RP, casual playing, lore, visuals and character building… I am very pleased with the dragon riding, the customization options showed for the new race. It makes me feel as if they are hinting at more coming. Also, making the entire world more RP friendly in general, with how this has nothing to do with the greatest heroes of Azeroth, you can join in on the dragon isles as a scientist or explorer. I am really excited about this new expansion, and I know that it will bring new things outside of the new continent as well.

There is no secret I am pushing hard for customization options, identity, visuals and all in all friendliness for those of us nerds that like to dig deeper into the game, as our own character. I am hoping of course to see revamps of the Azeroth we know, and the zones we have known now since Cataclysm. But as this expansion is about renewal and so on, I do have a feeling there will be a job from the aspects, to heal the world Deathwing sought to destroy.

As for a casual player; I love the talent trees return, the new meaning to professions is exciting and the UI change will definitely make it easier to design your experience into what you want it to be.

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Pretty much my thoughts on it. It helps me feel like even if it doesn’t cause a change, it gets people thinking about things from another point of view. Much like I enjoy reading other CC people’s posts - I don’t see things through the lens of a PvPer or Mythic Raider or such.

I do understand why they’re hesitant to post responses in this forum though - the community will go through and dissect every reply and find a way to complain about it, and if something falls through, they’ll scream that Blizzard broke their promise.

That’s why it doesn’t bother me if they don’t reply, because we know they’re reading the posts, and that’s what matters.

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I can’t speak for the future expansion as it’s still being worked on; however, I am extremely grateful and honored to say Blizzard has acknowledged and implemented several suggestions I have made to enhance this game. Two of my most notable mentions are the change to Warlock Succubus’ “Seduce” mechanic and being able to now see a player’s specialization in PvP LFG.

We hold great power with these titles and it’s an honor to be able to use it to help make this game a better experience for all. I will always encourage all council members to truly be thoughtful with the words and suggestions we select, and be mindful of the validity of our in-game experiences to support those ideas, as Blizzard is certainly heeding our words. It would be remiss of us to simply shout every idea which comes to mind without adequate experience or knowledge in the area. As the famous quote goes, it is “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” I do believe they are reading our thoughts on topics and considering them while developing. I’m sure this will become more evident as new features and modifications are made to the new expansion after Alpha. Blizzard seems very focused on catering to the player experience now, and we are a fantastic conduit to assist them in succeeding.

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I think one of my favorite things talked about was the interview with Hazelnutty where Watcher said this in regards to renown

Of course there will be cosmetics, of course there will be gear there - if you’re that outdoor world player who doesn’t do Mythic+, who doesn’t do progression raiding, all those players still want, deserve, and need gear progression of their own, and I think this is a more streamlined and elegant way to have those goals that you can work towards on your own pace, as you choose to help this group or that group as you log in every day.

Makes me very happy as M+ and Raiding does not interest me anymore and I am glad there will be a gear progression line for those that don’t do top tier content.

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I think CC has been useful in having a collective player voice heard in some aspects. Not every single player is going to like what is presented to them so it’s a bit difficult to feel like your concerns are taken into consideration when it’s something that it either wanted by or benefitted from < 0.001% of the player base. I do wish there was more dev interaction on the posts/topics though, just to have the reinforcement that they’re listening and taking the feedback.

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