Solidifying the Divide

Co-leader of Activision Blizzard Mike Ybarra posted on Twitter.

This was the last straw for me. I don’t PVE, this has no effect on me directly, but it is an acknowledgement by the highest up position that this form of gaming is here to stay, and personally, I don’t like it.

I’ve managed to do all the things I’ve wanted in WoW and earned them myself. I’ve had so much fun in this game and did so by pushing myself to get better. I’ve never sold a carry, it just isn’t something I ever wanted to dip my toes into. Gold’s only value for me would be paying for my subscription, but I am lucky enough that I am offered overtime whenever I want it, and the $16/mo I would save by buying with gold is made much more quickly in overtime than it ever would be in-game.

It’s not like that for everyone though. I do know there are backdoor ways people are profiting off of this with RMT through earning gold and reselling. The token only exists because Blizzard wants to keep some of the profit, and to be honest, I can’t blame them. Why not right? Corporations exist to earn a profit. However, I do believe that even though the profit from the WoW token has likely been a great boon for the books, it has had unintended consequences that have gone unaddressed and has led to the downfall of WoW.

I am on Tichondrius and the vast majority of trade chat has just become a cesspool of sales for Huokan, private sales, etc. It’s not even possible to read trade chat as it comes through because the spam is so great. It ruins any sense of community, and to have it happen on Tich a server known for its PVP feels like it has toppled a giant. LFG tool is filled with carries linking to websites, Discord, etc. The worst part is rather than take action to prevent things like this, the developments to the game have often encouraged carries further. Such examples of this are the new arena rating cutoffs for upgrading gear.

All of these things would be forgivable of poor management of the company if Blizzard would begin to make changes. Good changes for the game, meaningful ones, especially at a time where competing MMOs are grabbing a disenfranchised playerbase and pulling them away. Alas, none of this is happening. Not only is it not happening in practice, it isn’t happening in the mindset of the highest up decision makers. That is what disturbs me so much. If the top of the top is selling carry runs then that is acceptance of the status-quo. I am not okay with that. Ybarra is in a position of power where he could do something about this, at the very least he could speak his mind about this matter and let us know how he feels about it, but he already did with that Tweet. That’s why I’m leaving WoW again.

Stop tiering off this game. Give us the same advantages in PVP and PVE as everyone else who plays. I can’t stand this pay to win nonsense that has become this game. The company has just consistently doubled down on gatekeeping players from content but giving them a push to believe it is necessary to do so. Changes are needed… big changes. As of right now I can’t justify giving you more of my money.

112 Likes

PvP being pay to win in a game we pay a sub for is a disgrace.

If they fixed the PvP iLvl’s it wouldn’t effect us, but its clear they won’t do this cause boosting and token sales make them money.

Murdering our content for short term profits is a sign up bad times.

36 Likes

In before “you’re a Warlock why don’t you just do carries too!” What if people don’t want to sell out :man_shrugging: What if people don’t want to play games against people who have a great disadvantage against them :woman_shrugging: What if people don’t want to contribute to the destruction of the natural CR/MMR system :man_shrugging:

Also petition to rename “carries” to “scaries” for October

10 Likes

It’s been here for over a decade, you’re just now getting mad about it?

24 Likes

Great story, shame carries always existed

8 Likes

Boosting doesn’t affect the game at all

Literally zero percent

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Remember those old conspiracy theories that Blizzard had sophisticated bots to sell runs to get people to buy more WoW Tokens?

Blizzard never needed the bots, it seems.

18 Likes

This.

I’m not sure what reality y’all live in where buying raid runs somehow magically makes this game worse.

7 Likes

I ran out of popcorn so I’ll be passing around chips instead.

10 Likes

It’s been a thing since forever.
It’s not tone deaf, you just don’t agree with how things are in almost everywhere.
Heck even boosting was a thing in Diablo back in the day when I played.

But if it’s the hill you wanna die on then be my guest.

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Tone deaf is something they are though.

1 Like

I stopped reading after you said it didnt affect you. I mean who cares then.

Ppl dont need to buy a carry to still experience content. pve carries dont clear raids for me individually.

Pvp carries are worse because its 2k up players stomping lower brackets. That needs a fix

6 Likes

People have been mad about it for as long as its been around. They’re not allowed to continue to vocalize it?

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Who buys a pve game to not pve lol.

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Pvp carries aren’t why you can’t break xyz rating.

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I mean probably, but it just kills the fun when it happens.

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There is nothing wrong with pve boosting.

It’s normal for good guilds to do chill heroic sales on off nights and just have fun.

If anything you should be happy that we finally have an actual wow player leading the company.

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If two people can’t beat a 2k player then you should focus on improving your play.

Can’t win WoW so pay to win doesn’t make sense.

1 Like

For every PvP boost there is, that’s another regular team that has to somehow beat some 60k sweatlord or lose points on their own CR progression. This is somehow happening in the 1400 bracket too. IMO skill based matchmaking is a superior system, and someone who has made Duelist should never be able to fight against a team with lower than 1800 mmr.

PvE boosting I don’t care do what makes you happy! Good job making some extra gold for your skills without hurting anybody (except maybe getting into pugs but let’s be real it’s pretty easy to tell who bought aotc). PvP boosting, however, makes other people’s experience worse (unless they pay for their own carry, of course) so I can’t support it.

9 Likes