I saw this post and, against my better judgments couldn’t stop myself from responding on the off-chance (long shot, I know) that perhaps someone with some clout may do something actionable with it.
Long story short: I’m letting my sub run out. I’ve not made it into some spectacle. In all honesty, it is the consummate Irish goodbye to many people I have played this game with. Perhaps I’m a minority. Perhaps I’m not. But this expansion pack categorically does not “rock.”
For context, I was here at the very beginning. Not the very very beginning mind, but I played on release. I remember coming to these very forums seeking help because my little Gateway desktop couldn’t handle Ironforge. This game had me absolutely enraptured. I loved all of it, and enjoyed it more than I care to admit. Even when I was dying one thousand times in Westfall. I couldn’t say if it was the community, the story, or what, but it truly was a great game. I quit well before the release of Wrath of the Lich King, as I was going off to college and other things took precedence.
I came back, off and on, but never terribly seriously. The game was always more of a guilty pleasure, and however brief my return I always enjoyed the time I spent.
Then I came back for the tail end of Battle for Azeroth. I had finally realized that the game that I was playing had long since died and been replaced with a festooned money racket. There isn’t a conspicuous care for the story anymore, or the classes, or the races, or the base mechanics. Hell, a huge chunk of Highmountain STILL has not been properly squished for leveling purposes. All the bells and whistles of an expansion appear to exist for a singular purpose: to wring out every last consumer dollar they can. I’m not talking just about grinding (I remember well grinding Timbermaw rep years ago. I actually have found memories of my Paladin with a shield spike and redoubt just standing against a horde of enemies,) it seems almost everything in the game is a thinly veiled effort to keep people hooked, rather than genuinely entertained. I partook, and it left such a bad taste in my mouth that I just can’t bare it any longer.
Beyond that, so many people on this game are vicious, and I do mean vicious, even as regards the most mundane things (for instance a general chat discussion on the Kyrians as a covenant from a lore standpoint; the insults I saw casually thrown around were completely disgraceful.) Constant are the polemics, weird venereal discussions, and vituperations, even in the context of small set-backs or trivial complications (Random battlegrounds on Alliance. Oof, you will see a comically ridiculous spiral there in minutes.) And let it be said, I don’t think they themselves are entirely to blame. As I was transitioning back into healing many a person offered the advice that at one point I would be inured to the musings of people in pick-up groups, and I found myself growing resentful and mean spirited. I am sure that if you have been experiencing that environment consistently for a decade, it would make you behave as reprehensibly as I have seen many a person behave.
As to this specific expansion pack, I won’t be entirely negative. There ARE aspects that I found entertaining (and often concurrently mind numbing.) Covenants are at once great and terrible. There is something to work with there, but it is too encumbered by the aforementioned effort to draw things out. The music is, as always, phenomenal. So much of the design and environment is great. Balancing? Abysmal. Meaningful reasons to stick around? Non-existent.
At the end of the day, you are absolutely right. People have a right to quit. Some of us are acting on this. For the first time ever, I can confidently say I will not be returning. Because the Blizzard deleter-thing is obviously designed to try to drag out the process, I went through and deleted characters myself, many going back to the beginning. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, it should scare the pants off of Blizzard that people like me are doing this. I am not some plugged-in super user, but I was the old guard who consistently came back. That’s done. World of Warcraft probably reached the inevitable point where it fully assimilated into general internet culture. It is encumbered by many of the same problems that a LOT of online communities face, but Activision/Blizzard seems content to let those problems fester or multiply.
I won’t be missed, and that’s okay. To those of you that genuinely enjoy the game, that’s great. I only hope that your relationship with it is as healthy as it may be entertaining (those two things do not always go in accompaniment.) While I met many not-so-great characters here, I also saw some who are truly wonderful (for all of the negativity it receives, Moon Guard DOES have a wonderful positive community… just stay away from Goldshire.) Boat loads of people on the Shaman forums shared wonderful advice as I looked to get back into healing with Resto, many offering to roll with me in-game to help out. That was an awesome experience. To all of you who DO act to try to make this game better, well done to all of you. I hope the magic of yesteryear perhaps can be enjoyed again. Just not by me.