If it weren’t for the Collector’s Bounty event, returning to play World of Warcraft for 30 days wouldn’t have been a worthwhile experience. Here are some of the issues I have with wow:
Server stability: I was kicked from the game multiple times in 30 days. There were server overloads causing lag and/ or programming issue(s) that caused my game to freeze every so often. For 30 days, neither of those issues were acknowledged nor were they fixed by Blizzard.
UI issues: I can’t see what is going on in the game half of the time due to the sheer amount of buff & debuff icons that hover over nameplates. That coupled with the pop-up bloat that are not even remotely customizable make playing this game worse of an experience than enduring YouTube ads. I can’t see my screen during pvp(I don’t have time to configure 5(+) addons to remove bloat and I don’t trust outside-of-wow subscription services that offer downloadable addon configurations) …(not only that, but have you seen pvp streamers on twitch/kick? You can’t even see the environment on their screens! It’s ridiculous)
I literally only need to track certain buffs - both mine & my enemies - and certain debuffs on my enemies in addition to status information(crowd control status and ability cooldown(only to be competitive with addon users)) for pvp combat. Allow us to relocate & disable popups like loot information, zone event dialogues, covenant rank increases, and tooltip information; essentially anything and everything that pops up on the screen should have an option to be disabled and/or relocated to anywhere on the screen. Buffs & debuffs should be individually removable.
Action bars: These should be replaced with individual spell slots that can be placed anywhere on the screen. They should have the ability to be connected to form action bars. They should also have the option to be invisible; and also invisible while no glow(spell event) is active. They should have the option to be clicked through(not able to use the mouse to activate them).
Consistency: There are dozens of items in this game that have several versions of the original item; such as torches, dynamite, portals, and boxes. Some of these similar items behave differently. For example, there are boxes in this game that you can open while mounted and they won’t dismount you. There are boxes that will cause you to be dismounted if you attempt to open them while you are mounted. Then, there are boxes that you can’t open while mounted. Some treasure boxes open instantaneously. Some treasure boxes have a cast time. …why don’t all boxes behave the same!?
There are some portals that have a visual portal that you can click to instantly travel to a location. There are some portals that are an option in npc dialogue that are hidden in that sense. There are some portals that have no return portal. Some portals can be used while mounted. Some can not be used while mounted.
Then, there are quest-item torches that have an instant cast time and can be used several yards away from a quest objective. There are some that can’t be used several yards away from the quest objective. There are some torches that have a cast time to use, and there are some torches that don’t have a cast time.
There are some quest-criteria items that have zero cooldown timer. Then, there are some quest items that have a 1-10 second cooldown timer. Then, there are quest items that have a 60 second cooldown timer.
Action, quests, and quest animations: Outside of combat, the action in this game sucks. It’s too clicky. Here’s what I want: Give us the option to auto-accept certain quests by entering the proximity of a quest giver. For example: I may want to only do storyline & chapter quests while avoiding quests that aren’t necessary to the main story. I don’t want to interact with npc’s to click individual quests, go complete them, then click several times to turn them in and click several times to accept new quests.
ADD ACTION TO THE QUESTING EXPERIENCE! Remove the need to click everything, and add an option to auto-accept quests. Add brief-audible dialogues to the quests, like walking near a quest giver, and I hear: “Champion, these boars are ruining my harvest. Will you slay them for me?.” Then, to accept the quest, you simply approach the highlighted quest-giver who said that, and the quest is automatically accepted. Just make questing a fun experience and less of a click-chore.
Raids could use this ^ concept. The entrance to the Armadrassil raid zone where you need to speak with every single dragon through a dialogue box - that could be proximally automated(with the mindful option of reading dialogue for the hearing impared).
Quest animations are lacking. Why is picking up a flower the same animation as cutting a gemstone with the jewelcrafting profession? In fact, why is cutting a gemstone the same animation as crafting a robe with the tailoring profession? Quests, professions, and world-interactions don’t have enough unique animations.