So long, and thanks for all the fish

[Bluebeard-westfall]

I’m not criticizing their gameplay behavior, by the way. People are free to rush through whatever content they want. Some people prefer that. But that behavior should not dictate content releases.

He isn’t criticizing players who don’t play as he does. He is just saying that Blizzard shouldn’t issue Dire Maul before more players get to MC and Onxy.

I agree with him. Play as you wish, but let smell the roses players play as they wish and as was seemingly implied by Blizzard in the phase plans. Everyone is paying the same subs.

[anon83669306]

I hope they give you that, then allow others to move on to TBC and Wrath servers that they roll out.

Haha, and I’m one of those people who also asks for completely separate TBC Classic realms. I want those a lot, but I want WOW Classic as well, unchanged.

[Artea-rattlegore]

I missed that part then.

Still don’t see a problem here considering the rest of the release phases were never intended to be included with launch, but DM was, and they held off for other reasons.

[Huffpost-skeram]

Sad to see you go Mogar, I hope blizzard is able to sway your mind eventually into coming back to the game.

[Bergthor-moonrunner]

So, with the recent news that Blizzard is rushing out Dire Maul to accommodate a small handful of players I’ve decided to quit Classic.

I came into this project with two main criteria Blizzard needed to stick to in order for me to play this game. For reasons I’m not going to go into I’ve grown a bit untrusting of Blizzard over the years and what I’ll tolerate is at a bare minimum. So my two main criteria were 1. Authenticity and 2. Principle of the experience. I’m big on principle. Even game design decisions that might not impact me I’ll concentrate more on the reasoning behind it.

Anyway, from an authenticity standpoint I’m very impressed with Classic. The devs have gone above and beyond to even duplicate things like spell batching just in an effort to recreate the Vanilla experience. From a gameplay standpoint I don’t really have any complaints. Even the choices I think were wrong (dishonorable kills, cross-realm bgs, neutered AV), are still authentic choices.

Which brings me to my second criteria. This is how I viewed Classic, what it’s about, the experience it’s trying to capture, the environment it seeks to create, and the community that would come about as a result. Essentially I thought of Classic as a place for players to enjoy the journey, soak in the experience, have adventures, slow down, and just take their time and enjoy every step of the way without any pressure to rush through it all. And I really thought Blizzard held this view as well. As far as content release schedule, I was actually hopeful they would release things even slower than they were in Vanilla. But it’s hard to argue against a release schedule commensurate with that of Vanilla. And then Dire Maul gets rushed out in half the time it was in Vanilla.

So I ask myself why do they do this? Well, in Ion’s little video he says players are asking for it. I’m sure they are…a tiny fraction of the playerbase. Players who essentially disregarded what I wrote I think Classic should be about (the journey, the experience, taking their time and basking in the glory of the world). I’m not criticizing their gameplay behavior, by the way. People are free to rush through whatever content they want. Some people prefer that. But that behavior should not dictate content releases. And the fact that it does sets a very dangerous precedent. This decision caught me off-guard. I honestly believed Blizzard was putting the journey first and foremost. If you read the ‘Unarmored Mounts’ thread you’d know they even made the argument for excluding that because they don’t want players to feel pressure to not fall behind or miss out. And then they do this. It’s baffling. Are they afraid Asmongold and other streamers need some new dungeon to do? I’ve avoided the anti-streamer threads for years, but who knows. For whatever reason Blizzard is hastily pushing out this content.

In any event, it’s really not about this decision to rush out Dire Maul. It’s the reasoning for it. It’s the philosophy behind it. Once again Blizzard is catering to a very small percentage of the playerbase. So now I look towards the future. And what do I see? I’m going to have to rush through MC so I don’t get too far behind when BWL gets pushed out because the top 1% are bored. And then speed through BWL to keep up for when ZG gets rushed out because the most hardcore of the hardcore need a new raid. The same with AQ and Naxx. And even beyond that, in whatever form Classic takes in the future. Be it Classic+ or more likely TBC and Wrath. Knowing that Classic is governed by this go-go-go mentality for whatever foreseeable future I’ll have in Classic I know I’ll perpetually be playing catch-up.

Now, I know people will say what does it matter to me? All the content will be released eventually anyway so what difference does it make? It’s a valid argument. I’m in a very casual guild who feel no pressure to steamroll through the content. So really it doesn’t affect me in that regard. But as I said earlier I’m big on principle. And think of the message that Blizzard is sending. To me they’re saying that Classic isn’t about the journey, it’s not about taking our time and enjoying the trip. Again, I thought they were intending Classic to appeal to that mindset. Instead they’re appeasing those who set those ideals aside and rush through the content. I really wanted to stop and smell the roses. I thought Blizzard wanted us to stop and smell the roses. But now they’re catering to those who trampled through the roses to get that shiny purple on the other side of the garden.

I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed that after 15 years Blizzard still have no clue why most people play an mmo. What keeps them invested and interested. They’re running Classic as if it was BfA. Players can’t possibly be expected to actually take their time and enjoy the experience. Gotta push out that new content! This has a subconscious effect on the playerbase, as well. Players pick up on stuff like that. When Blizzard sends the message to hurry up and speed through the content, that’s going to impact the way players view what matters most in an mmo. It’s why fun has been shoved to the backburner. Players obsess over things that don’t matter. Blizzard just creates this environment of chasing the never-ending carrot on a stick. We’ve seen the kind of community created by this philosophy. And for some reason Blizzard is taking Classic down this very same path yet again.

People will say I’m overreacting, and in terms of my reaction to a single decision by Blizzard they’re almost certainly right. But as I said long ago in this novel I went into Classic with clearly defined criteria. My history with WoW the first time around was watching a game I loved turned into something radically different, in part due to this overall game philosophy that leads to decisions like rushing out Dire Maul barely a month into Classic. I can see where this is headed. I’ve been through this once before. It’s better I cut ties now before I get too invested and spend another 15 years occasionally leaving and coming back because a game I loved went down a path I don’t enjoy trying to turn me into the type of gamer I’m not.

In closing, I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything. Do what you want to do. And trolls are gonna troll, so I expect that. I just needed to clear my head and this is what spewed forth. I’m bummed that Classic is being governed by the same mentality that, in my mind, sent WoW down the wrong path the first time around. But it’s Blizzard’s game to do what they want. And silly as it sounds I swore to myself when Classic was first announced and I got lured back to WoW, that if Blizzard abandoned the principles I set forth, I’d walk away. So that’s what I’m doing. Cheers all.

Mogar.

I agree with you 100%, for exactly the same reasons. I’m not leaving though because I still want to play and enjoy classic. Once all the streamers, tourists, and zoomers leave, pace will slow down again for those who stay cause they love classic / the experience.

Content will be pushed out faster than it should, and aside from invalidating earlier content (look what BC and WoTLK did to classic dungeons) it will create massive inflation. Honestly, that is what I fear the most from the content rush and allowing the 1% to blast through content at a much quicker than launch pace.

I don’t want it to destroy the economy for those who feel no need to rush and who want to take our time, enjoy the world, quests, and experience of classic. I have no desire to see AH prices quadruple+ within half a years time by same said player base.

About the players who rush through content to complete as just a check mark on their to do list, those people don’t realize that is isn’t a race to the top, the game begins at the top.

[Galdor-maelstrom (Galdor)]

It’s the breaking Dire Maul out of phase 2 to release it earlier than Blizzard planned that’s at issue

Perhaps they planned for Phase 2 to be out at roughly this time, but the player drop-off was not as steep as they initially thought it would be, so they’re releasing Dire Maul on schedule because the removal of layering is not on schedule.

[Xanthak-durotan (Xanthak)]

Agree.

And to those who don’t know, mogar was on the classic forums pre beta pre “new version” . He wasnt a bandwagon jumper like the retail/wrath baby kids we have playing now.

Some of us actually wanted some form of the overall vanilla experience. Some of us cared enough to start taking it seriously before it became “a thing”.

Most of you, need to go back to retail. In this regard i wish they did a hard retuning. The current mentality would be weeded out.

[Ramiel-incendius]

Send gold plz

[anon83669306]

Perhaps they planned for Phase 2 to be out at roughly this time, but the player drop-off was not as steep as they initially thought it would be, so they’re releasing Dire Maul on schedule because the removal of layering is not on schedule.

In which case Ion is lying in pretty words to make it sound better. Which would you rather believe?

[Galdor-maelstrom (Galdor)]

In which case Ion is lying in pretty words to make it sound better.

There can be more than one reason to do something. They could be listening to players wanting more content, and then deciding to release Dire Maul around their original projected timeline instead of delaying it with the rest of Phase 2.

You’ve been around for a long time, you know that Blizzard doesn’t get into every single reason for their decisions.

[Synthor-hyjal (Synthor)]

That is a lot of typing for something that is mostly irrelevant

[Scartusk-myzrael]

Content will be pushed out faster than it should, and aside from invalidating earlier content (look what BC and WoTLK did to classic dungeons

I ran more classic dungeon content with one character rolled during Wrath than all of the rest of my characters for all the rest of my time. And I got to do it at an appropriate level for that content (rather than waiting till quest greyed out and was able to eek out completions).

[Caelle-pagle]

No but many of us have been around long enough to know that in this case releasing DM doesn’t really do much to allevite the problem Blizzard seems to be trying to fix by breaking it out.

Those that need new content will chew through it in a week, maybe two if they have some bad luck, and then they will be right back here demanding again.

I agree with Mogar in that DM itself isn’t really the issue, but i do agree that it is a bit concerning as to the why. Pushing things out quicker is not really a sound plan in a development with finite content, and just insures its shelf life is much shorter.

I wouldn’t quit over it, but each person is allowed to make that choice on their own.

[Scartusk-myzrael]

" i wish they did a hard retuning"

What do you mean by that?

[Caelle-pagle]

He wants things rebalanced to be more difficult.

[Scartusk-myzrael]

“…He wants things rebalanced to be more difficult…”

But Don’t the classic purists hate anything that isn’t authentic to vanilla?

[Caelle-pagle]

" purist " can be pretty broad.

[Irethyl-tichondrius]

all this drama because of Dire maul, get a life.

[Necroholic-sulfuras]

Paragraph after paragraph to tell us you are quitting, which none of us cares about because none of us are invested in whoever you are. Seriously, if people are going to quit, just quit.

[Xanthak-durotan (Xanthak)]

" i wish they did a hard retuning"

What do you mean by that?

Basically make each raid tier emulate that of its current patch version. Obviously, with some concessions, but i think it’s the gist of what I’m getting at.