Water Strider Discussion

[Truthspeaker-alleria (Truthspeaker)]

What, exactly, is the problem with this? Are you worried it might be too expensive? If that’s the case, I actually agree with you. I think the Anglers/Nat Pagle water walking equipment should be free if you have the rep.

Is it that you don’t like the hassle of having to go to Krasarang or your Garrison to get it? Because again, I’d agree that, while not a huge problem, it would be nice to have a vendor for it in a capital city.

I don’t like anything about it, but mostly I don’t like the precedent it sets and what it means for the future of the game. I can’t help but feel that it’s just another way that Blizzard is making travel less efficient in the guise of doing us a favor and giving us something we want, like portals and flying. It seems they’ve learned that if they yank something away completely, there’s protest, but if they take it a bit at the time, folks don’t see the big picture until it’s too late.

This seem to contradict itself. You don’t think people would feel forced to use a mount they aren’t fond of for convenience yet you admit you do that exact thing.

Sorry, I wasn’t clear. I know it’s a thing. I don’t think it’s a problem, and I really don’t think that’s the problem Blizzard is trying to fix, because, again, there are many ways they could do that without taking anything away from anyone. Instead, by their own admission, what it is is that they don’t want folks to have access to multiple special mount abilities at the same time.

[Derrek-cairne (Derrek)]

Just something I’d like to get your perspective on, if the character who earned the Anglers reputation along with the mount gets the water walking item for free, what would a fair price be for the alts to get it? If that character who earned the reputation and mount has the option to water walk (but might choose something else), do you feel that alts should have every single thing that the other characters have?

That’s a loaded question.

But with regards to the water walking item in particular, yes, alts should all have access to it. The mount is account-wide. Therefore the item that replaces it should also be account-wide.

Given how many zones are designed around the idea that you probably have a water strider (see: most of Legion + all of BfA), to require every single character to go back and grind out Anglers rep for months in order to play effectively in new expansions would be simply ridiculous.

[Probablybad-stormrage]

People in these forums should really get a life. Not hard to understand if they leave waterwalking on the waterstrider, then the waterstrider will still be use the most even when no other equipment can be put on it.

Go on. You can literally make 99.99% of mounts waterwalk with this patch. What would you gain from waterwalking with the strider that you wouldn’t get waterwalking with the hundreds of others? The ability to use one of the other two items on all the others for versatility? Dear god, that sounds horrible. /s

[Unudi-moon-guard]

I don’t like anything about it, but mostly I don’t like the precedent it sets and what it means for the future of the game.

I guess the biggest difference between us is I don’t see Blizzard as some kind of malicious boogeyman looking to push what we’ll accept, so I’m not really worried about any kind of precedent involving this. They seem to realize when they’ve goofed and are willing to listen to reason, such as with the CoT portal. I’m happy with the state of the game (outside of some stuff like player housing and certain races I’d like to be playable), but from one of your earlier posts it sounds like you aren’t, so I understand why you’re wary.

I really don’t think that’s the problem Blizzard is trying to fix, because, again, there are many ways they could do that without taking anything away from anyone.

Another thing is I don’t see this as them taking anything away from me. I’ll still be able to walk on water. Now if the Anglers/Nat Pagle item ends up costing too much (as I said earlier, I think it should be free), then I’ll definitely be unhappy, but they’ve never screwed me over before so I’m willing to trust them on it for now. We’ll know when the PTR goes up, I suppose.

Given how many zones are designed around the idea that you probably have a water strider (see: most of Legion + all of BfA), to require every single character to go back and grind out Anglers rep for months in order to play effectively in new expansions would be simply ridiculous.

As someone that’s leveled 50+ alts, I really don’t see this. It’s handy occasionally but I very rarely use my water strider.

I agree that the rep item should be easily accessible (read: free or an insignificant amount of gold [50g would be as high as I’d accept before complaining]) to alts though.

[Cloonboom-gnomeregan]

If you want be have water walking and anti-daze, then use your free water shoes mount equipment and buy some bridles from a leatherworker. You want to be able to survive if you get dismounted in air while still having water walking, buy some Goblin Gliders.

If it was only going to be that easy. Why would they leave the Leather Bardings and the goblin Gliders In the game? I would just have to put the Walter Walking on every mount and i would have all 3 at the same time. It would make the mount equipment irrelevant the minute it goes live.

No they are going to remove all that stuff so we only have one choice, and that is the problem. Blizzard wants us to have less choice not more.

You are making a lot of baseless assumptions to quantify your argument. There is absolutely no evidence that goblin gliders, water walking potions, or the bardings are going to be magically poofed out of existence.

Getting pissed off because you have decided they are removing things with no proof whatsoever is just silly.

[Rakdos-khadgar]

This is why BFA sucks its Because Blizzard Devs have to go back and Patch things that do need fixed… This like ui changes that came in bfa that did nothing but annoy people the ui was good for 14 years didn’t need fixed… This like 40k gold reusable Augment rune from Lightforge rep it wasn’t hurting anything people having a reusable rune and laughable stats but we had to make it stop working at lvl 119 2 weeks later after bfa came out… This water stride has been in game for more then 8+ years… why was okay for all time but now we need mess with its water walking? The list can go on and on… Another BFA thing here We still have AH in the game that outdated but now it rips you off gold for selling items on it in small stacks… Are any of you see the theme here these patchs they doing nothing to add content but fix old stuff that really didn’t need fix when we suppose to sit and enjoy warfronts and islands expos… OH PS LETS NOT FIX FROST DKS AS WELL… WE KNOW THERE NO 1 HANDERS IN Crucible of Storms!!! KEEP PLAYING THOSE 2 HANDER SPECS! AND CLASSES!!!

[Truthspeaker-alleria (Truthspeaker)]

I guess the biggest difference between us is I don’t see Blizzard as some kind of malicious boogeyman

I really hope you’re right, but I’m an old cynic who’s been burned too many times in the 10+ years I’ve been playing to simply accept a gift from Blizzard at face value. I enjoy so many aspects of this game, but far too often lately, features that I enjoy are removed for no good reason.

[Jops-zuljin]

I’m curious though, what exactly is your ideal system related to this?

They’re going to add mounts anyway… I dunno… MAKE SOME OF THEM SPECIAL.

The Heavily Armored Crawg of Nazmir: strongly reduces the chance of being stunned/dazed in outdoor BFA zones.

Kua’fon the fearless: an upgrade to kua’fon (child of pa’ku quest)… a mount that allows safe falling in outdoor BFA zones

The Tortollan magic paper boat scroll: a mount that lets you sail over land and water in outdoor BFA zones.

Add some fun quests to unlock them… And done. Presumed incompatible with the next expansion, breaks nothing, all positive.

[Ooma-gurubashi]

Cynic is the name optimists give to realists.

[Truthspeaker-alleria (Truthspeaker)]

They’re going to add mounts anyway… I dunno… MAKE SOME OF THEM SPECIAL .

The Heavily Armored Crawg of Nazmir : strongly reduces the chance of being stunned/dazed in outdoor BFA zones.

Kua’fon the fearless : an upgrade to kua’fon (child of pa’ku quest)… a mount that allows safe falling in outdoor BFA zones

The Tortollan magic paper boat scroll : a mount that lets you sail over land and water in outdoor BFA zones.

Add some fun quests to unlock them… And done. Presumed incompatible with the next expansion, breaks nothing, all positive.

I’m out of likes, but I dig all of these, but especially the paper boat.

[Truthspeaker-alleria (Truthspeaker)]

Cynic is the name optimists give to realists.

[Unudi-moon-guard]

I really hope you’re right, but I’m an old cynic who’s been burned too many times in the 10+ years I’ve been playing to simply accept a gift from Blizzard at face value. I enjoy so many aspects of this game, but far too often lately, features that I enjoy are removed for no good reason.

I’m sorry you feel that way. It’s bound to happen though, unfortunately. When you’re making a game for this many people, you’re bound to upset some with any and every decision.

I’ve just been lucky I guess, been playing since day one and, other than a brief period in BC, I’ve always been pleased with Blizzard/WoW.

[Jops-zuljin]

There is absolutely no evidence that goblin gliders, water walking potions, or the bardings are going to be magically poofed out of existence.

Tried using a glider in any dungeon or raid lately? It was removed from them all because people were “skipping content” in mythic+ dungeons. Which they could have fixed other ways… But no… They just don’t work at all in there now.

Because gravity. Or something.

[Truthspeaker-alleria (Truthspeaker)]

When you’re making a game for this many people, you’re bound to upset some with any and every decision.

Giving the declining player base, it’s not just some who are upset by Blizzard’s decisions lately, which is sad, because a game needs players to survive and I really do want this game to survive and thrive and to appeal to more people than it does at the moment.

[Aerisades-sentinels]

I agree with Righteous here: I’d much rather see the Water Strider retain its innate water-walking ability, even at the expense of being affected by any other mount equipment.
There is a precedent for this, after all, is there not, with the ground and swim speeds of the Sea Turtle, which cannot be increased by any means?

I personally prefer having a water-walking mount separate from my main mount. Is it inconvenient to have to switch mounts at the edge of the water? Sure, but that is part of the fantasy I accept by merely playing the game. It would be less convenient to have to lock ALL my mounts into water-walking, just so that I had one that could.

[Unudi-moon-guard]

Giving the declining player base, it’s not just some who are upset by Blizzard’s decisions lately, which is sad, because a game needs players to survive and I really do want this game to survive and thrive and to appeal to more people than it does at the moment.

I’d rather not get into estimates on sub numbers. All I’ll say is my friends lists are always active and I never have trouble finding groups for things I want to do.

Time for me to get off the forums for tonight though. I genuinely hope it works out in a way that you’ll be happy with since you also seem to be passionate about the game. Hopefully we’ll know if the sky really is falling or not when the PTR comes up (fingers crossed for tomorrow).

[Maizou-proudmoore (Maizou)]

Would it be possible to have the water strider be like the sky golem. It can have innate water walking but is not effected by mount equipment?

I will check but my personal opinion from my play experience is that the water strider ability is just much stronger than the sky golem herbing. We nerfed the water strider once and if we leave it with the ability there then it’s more in the line of getting everything and less of making a choice for what you want. We want there to be a choice based on your play and interests. If herbing on the run provides too strong of a benefit then there might need to be changes there but currently I don’t think that’s the case.

That’s your opinion though. I rarely find myself needing to walk on water. Where in Kul’Tiras or Zandalar do you walk on water? We can fly in the old world, so that’s not a problem.

Whereas herbing on the go? That’s a HUGE bonus. I see Sky Golems, EASILY 500%, if not 1000% more often than I EVER see Water Striders.

Yet the biggest influence on this, according the interview is that you see Water Striders too often. Since BFA launched, I’ve seen MAYBE, and I’m not exaggerating or understating, MAYBE 10 Water Striders. If I’m being more relaxed, maybe I’ve seen 20. There’s just not a lot of water to go over. Maybe in Nazmir, but then you planted Piranha in the water there, so no one uses the Water Striders there. Sky Golems? I’ve seen EASILY over 500.

But we don’t WANT the Sky Golem nerfed. We like mounts having added perks. That’s a good thing. I’ll have multiple replies to your posts so they show up in your “Replies.”

[Maizou-proudmoore (Maizou)]

Yeah, but now you’d have the ability to use a mount, besides the Water Strider.

I dunno about you, but being stuck using only one mount forever sounds absolutely boring as hell

That’s one of the goals here. There are a lot of mounts out there and it’s strange to have a “wrong choice” when out running around. You’ll easily be able to keep the ability just as you have it now but there will be other options that you (the player) can make if you prefer something else. How you about the world, where you often go, and how fast you like to escape from things could all contribute to what works best for your playstyle.

There are a few extra notes so like Death Knights can do waterwalking via Path of Frost (and Shaman with Water Walking). That should help empower these classes a bit and help make them feel a bit more unique.

I’m not sure what the price of the waterwalking shoes will be offhand, but it should be pretty affordable on the Anglers vendor. We’ll have the PTR up soon™ and look forward to hearing your feedback on that.

Hunters have Water Walking through a pet, and alchemists can make potions that enable Water Walking, which can be bought by anyone on the auction house.

This has never been a Death Knight and Shaman unique thing, and something that makes travel more easy should not be unique to a class. That’s like saying you’re removing the portal rooms because Mages can port people everywhere, and it’s unfair to mages.

Do you realize the outrage that would instill?

Or saying you’re removing Glide from Demon Hunters, because Mages had Slow Fall and Priests had Levitate for over 10 years before Demon Hunters were added, and you believe it now takes away from their class identity.

[Cloonboom-gnomeregan]

There is absolutely no evidence that goblin gliders, water walking potions, or the bardings are going to be magically poofed out of existence.

Tried using a glider in any dungeon or raid lately? It was removed from them all because people were “skipping content” in mythic+ dungeons. Which they could have fixed other ways… But no… They just don’t work at all in there now.

Because gravity. Or something.

What does blocking goblin gliders from Mythic +/Raid due to MDI/exploits have to do with people assuming Blizz is getting rid of gliders and bardings due to Mount Equipment?

Absolutely nothing. My point is again - getting all negative about a perceived change when there is absolutely no proof or evidence that the change will happen is just silly. Getting angry because people are just sure they’re going to remove bardings and gliders from the game when 8.2 drops with no proof is silly.

Now, if it happens, sure - then there’s a reason to be pissed off and I’ll be right here on the forums with you guys raising hell - but how about let’s give feedback on what is actually changing instead of assuming things are going to happen because they happened that one time at band camp.

*edit - typo

[Wrists-amanthul (Wrists)]

That’s one of the goals here. There are a lot of mounts out there and it’s strange to have a “wrong choice” when out running around

Is there a can herb while mounted equipment or is this system only fixing half of the problem?