The Reason New Players Quit Retail

I enjoy the squishy classes/specs with good damage. It feels good to do good damage and the complexity of surviving is a lot of fun in PvP. I have 7 level 70’s and have played retail for 4 months, since October 2022. Marksmanship Hunter makes the 3rd main made mediocre overnight because of huge nerfs and by far the most egregious and damning in PvP. They are incredibly ineffective in PvP now. Having to swap from one class to the next to the next after all of the time and effort I put into gearing, learning, and optimizing each of them is not worth it. It’s literally not even possible to gear to the same level as other players at this point because of trophies of strife and vaults I have missed out on. So I have the choice of playing my 3 most geared mediocre classes or moving on from WoW due to Blizzard induced barriers to my favorite aspect of the game. The friends that joined me at the same time in October had a mixed experience, depending on whether they chose a class Blizzard seems to love or not. The choice is obvious, there is no third option, I’m not going to gear a FOURTH class that I enjoy less just for Blizzard to nerf them into mediocrity too. I mean, theoretically if they nerf enough classes eventually they will all be balanced, right? :thinking: No, that would require them to stop buffing their favorites that already dominated squishy DPS pre-nerf.

I have played for 4 months and gone through gearing, optimizing, and learning 3 classes/specs I enjoyed, all of which are now impotent with no sign of any reversals whilst many classes that were unkillable to squishy DPS have gotten buffed. I obviously chose wrong, three times, but how was I to know Blizzards manic way of “balancing” classes out of viability. In my mind, the reason the classes I chose that basically only have damage going for them wouldn’t be nerfed into oblivion is because they are incredibly soft, right? Easy af to kill. Seems logical I so naïvely thought.

Since Tuesday, I tried to just stick out the nerf because it’s my only option other than quitting, I retalented my MM hunter in the god awful new tree, and tried my hand at PvP. It’s like playing ungeared versus geared players despite being almost as geared (because of switching twice, my gear is a little behind and took a ton of time and effort to get to this level on each character). Maybe if this hadn’t already happened twice already I wouldn’t be at the point of quitting, but I cannot fathom how some people have theoretically paid to play this game for 19 years when this is apparently a normal thing for Blizzard.

Anyway, that’s why my friends and I unsubbed as new players despite Dragonflight being a really fun and mostly good expac. It’s not the skill gap, not the learning curve, not the facing hardcore players as a new player, not the community, not a lack of content, not queue times. Just Blizzards constant b.s. sucking the fun out of the game for those of us unlucky enough to enjoy classes/specs that Blizzard seems to want dead in PvP. There is nothing fun about the constant looming threat that our favorite classes/specs will be turned into mediocre trash overnight. Don’t worry, I have no delusions about this making it to Blizzturd and magically changing their ridiculous way of doing business. I just can’t see myself continuing to financially reward Blizzard every month and continue to waste my time, effort, and money for nothing. 4 subs gone just like that.

I have until Feb 5th if anyone wants my gold on Dalaran (Alliance side).

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Imagine playing vanilla back in the day an choosing the wrong class tho ? If you didnt like your class you have to re lvl and that would take months

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It’s not a pleasant experience for new players. The world feels dead due to people either buying boosts or sharding. The graphics might be “charming” for nostalgia reasons but you couple it with an empty world, bugs, strange class design that is broken until max level, and it doesn’t feel like a AAA game.

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Is there a TL:DR?

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Quitting because nerfs

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Ah, I see. Best of luck in your future endeavors OP.

I understand, having the same issue here.

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4 months :skull: lmao aite bro

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I read you like playing bursty easy to abuse unskilled players and now that your cheese is gone it’s calling you out.

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Are you solely picking flavor of the month classes? Why not find a class you actually enjoy outside of being OP?

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Curious what other classes you played that are now somehow no longer viable. Hunter is perfectly fine tbh and still can achieve its goal of doing damage, lots of CC, kiting and a decent kit of tools.

So in your mind all 3 of the classes you “mained” are now no longer viable? You’ve been playing for about a month longer that I have I’m also new, but you do know people have been playing this game for 15 years plus?

I hate to do this but maybe the problem is you, stop looking to changes as the reason you aren’t performing the way you want and look inside. Unless you are only chasing the OP class of the month, well then you should just quit tbh.

I highly recommend considering finding a class you enjoy the theme of, the spells and flavor of a class should be all that matters to you.

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gotta be overpowered to enjoy the game, OP? why not just play better?

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I have similar questions. He states he’s having fun in DF, but it sounds like his fun was derived solely from being OP. Like if he’s not topping meters and destroying folks in BGs and he has to put in a little extra thought into his rotation or timing, the fun is gone.

I never have this problem. I just stick with druid, because I enjoy Balance. Even when the spec is considered by others to be mid or low tier, I use it.

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Dear OP,
Having mained a Shadow Priest since 2012, I have to agree with you. Each expac I have had to deal with the fact that Blizzard hates the spec. But I’ve stuck it out because I like being a SP. However, it is a lot more difficult to like it this xpac than ever before. I hate having to choose talents that suck just to get talents I want. I hate having to choose between single target and aoe. And I really hate having to chase bosses around all the time. The fun is fast going away. :frowning: Makes me sad.

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Yea idk probably won’t get a solid reply to that either, I like tanking on my druid, we got gutted pretty hard last patch but I’m not gonna just abandon a class I enjoy lol

I have a DK and warr alt, but they are just that alts I enjoy when I’m done with everything on my druid. I play for fun and if I’m not having fun I log off :skull:

Also a large part of my personal fun is learning what I could have done differently, what could I have pressed during that GCD to win/not die, maybe I coulda run this talent etc.

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Hes new and WoW happened so him mad.

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Controversies and last two expansions are big reasons.

That and button bloat and raids requiring add-ons. Trash have way too many mechanics too.

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Basically OP picked a class/spec combo that he thought was going to be great and he put all his time and effort and energy into that, now he is a little burnt out because he made the wrong decision but doesn’t want to re roll so he is probably going to unsub instead as the constant buffs and nerfs make it difficult for him to stick with a single toon so he views it as a wasted effort.

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Part of me feels for you but part of me thinks that just because you’re not the best doesn’t mean you can’t play your class.

It’s gonna be an empty feeling chasing the Meta.

A hunger that will never be fully satiated. Don’t do it

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OP, Can we please have a TLDR?