We need a "Fun" Developer

Community General Discussion
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I really don’t post much, but I read the WoW forums faithfully every single day and I have since I joined the game in 2005. I have followed and seen it all through every expansion. I know about what’s happening in SL right now and how divided and upset the community is. Heck, based on everything I’ve read about SL, it has kept me from even playing it. I got to level 60 by doing WQ’s and Pet Battles in BFA, I’m wearing AH gear. Guys, I’m literally still playing BFA content and before because the news is so grim for SL.

I haven’t raided since TBC. Right now I’m in the my middle 50’s and have MS. The reason I bring that up, is that I am now relegated to being your everyday “casual player”. I no longer have the ability or reaction time to try and raid or pvp on my alts. any longer, but I love this game and want to see it succeed as much as everyone here ultimately does, no matter what your play style.

I have nothing personal against Ion, but let’s face it, he is a hard-core raider and we’ve all seen how the game has been pushed into the “Mythic+ e-sports” type of gaming, to extend the content between patches by pushing higher keys. If that’s your type of game, good on you! This game is right up your alley!

It appears, however, that there is also a huge amount of players like myself, who love World of Warcraft, but no longer want to raid (for many various reasons) but still log in faithfully every day to play the “side content”. Whatever scraps that are left over after the raids are designed. We understand that we’re never going to be top dogs, yet we continue to log in and play with whatever is available at our comfort level and make our own fun.

It’s obvious that Ion is a raid-focused developer and yes, I understand that is WoW’s main focus for existing. However, the guy knows next to nothing about creating side-content for those of us who don’t raid or do Mythic+ and I suspect he grits his teeth at even having to think about us. We like to fish, we like to do archeology, craft, play our alts., do pet battles and so forth. To him and a lot of the player-base, we’re “losers of WoW” simply because we don’t partake of the raid/Mythic+ content and deserve nothing. You know, I don’t even care if I’m in the “loser” category any longer. I play for the fun of whatever content I can do. The problem is, all of these side-content parts of the game are starting to slip into the “not so much fun anymore” as a result of a bunch of Devs. who don’t want to think about, much less, have to design content for.

Like a marriage that split’s with no blame, I think it’s time the game splits from the two camps: the full time raiders and the rest of us that don’t fit into a distinct category. We need a Developer who wholly designs content that’s fun. Side-content for those of us who will never raid. Right now, I feel as if Ion is very grudgingly developing that content for us, so why not hire a developer who designs casual content, away from the focus of raiding so that Ion can focus on what he’s good at, raiding. I would love to see new ideas from a developer who actually likes his player base, so why not? It seems as if a lot of people are feeling marginalized for not being raider/Mythic+'rs, so why not hire a developer to does nothing but create “creative side-content”?

I don’t want to leave WoW, but it feels as if WoW would be glad to have players like myself gone, and that feels bad. I’ve put my heart into this girl and love her like my own. I honestly don’t want to have to walk away from her. I just feel sort of lost in WoW right now. That’s all.

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Ion needs to be demoted back to just lead raid developer. He’s not a good lead game designer at all. He’s just obsessed with systems and borrowed power. We need class design back to make each spec feel unique. MoP is a good example of each class specialization feeling like it’s unique. I think bringing back a class lead and a group supporting them to create a better feeling class getting away from borrowed power. I don’t hate conduits entirely but they feel completely imbalanced from class to class where some are ridiculously strong and others just feel like an after thought.

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I can agree with this. The game (and its players) get so focused on optimizing stats and playing by performance list that I think everyone involved forgets to have fun. Ion seems like he makes spreadsheets for fun and would still play the game if his character could just be a featureless cube with armor slots. Which is fine, but I agree that having someone that seems excited about cosmetic and roleplay oriented stuff would be nice.

The game desperately needs more fun evergreen content and to shift away from this “every expansion is a self-contained new game” model that they’ve been going with for a while. It’s why I’ve been arguing in favor of player housing for years.

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https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/character/us/malganis/gurgthock

Dude doesn’t even do a basic transmog. He’s just out there in the open like that.

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Believe me, I know :expressionless:

It’s why I say he’d play a floating box if it could still put out the same numbers.

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thats his perogative.

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Xelnath was fired for “talking too much with us”, so I doubt any fun developers would last long.

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Oh yes, using transmog is indeed mandatory requirement for a wow lead dev job

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It is telling that he doesn’t see any value in an aspect of the game where some of his playerbase places all their value.

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So if I make myself look like a Christmas tree transmog with unmatching transmog pieces it means I hate the game too?

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When I reactivated my account in December after having been out of the game since 2011, I was shocked by the lack of “fun” content in the game. I remember all of the fun things that were peppered throughout Vanilla/TBC/WOTLK - things like Hemet Nesingwary, quest titles/items that included subtle little pop culture jokes, Murlocs, goofy engineering recipes, etc.

Another thing are all the holiday events that seem to be 99% or even 100% unchanged from 10 years ago. Or the Darkmoon Faire. Or the Trial of Style.

Questing back in the old days was fun - it was challenging but not overly so, but you felt like you accomplished something with each new level. I’ve still got a screenshot of my character /jumping for joy when she dinged 60 in Un’goro Crater back in Vanilla. But in SL, questing is ridiculously easy and just feels like a hurdle one has to jump over before actually playing the game. There was a time when WoW was about both the journey and the destination, but now the destination is practically all there is.

I’m somewhat in the same boat as the OP - I’m over 50, and it’s become clear to me over the past few months that my eyesight, reaction time, and general stamina no longer allow me to raid at the level that I once did. And I’m also finding that the only thing left in the game that I want to do is “side content”, plus all the old quests that I missed out on in previous expansions.

I agree we need a “fun” developer. And it isn’t Ion for sure. I don’t have anything personal against him either but it’s clear that folks like myself are no longer what this game cares about, and it’s sad.

There is very little in Shadowlands that is what I would really call “fun”. It just feels like nothing but one grind after another. Yeah, previous expansions had grinds, but (at least TBC and WOTLK) also had fun activities at the same time. If you’re having fun, the grinds and systems don’t feel nearly so bad.

Less grinds.
More fun.
Please!

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That’s a leap. Where did I say anything about him hating the game? He clearly loves it. But only certain aspects of it. There is a clear disconnect with players that value different aspects of the game that aren’t pushing Mythic keystones or prepping for Mythic raiding.

But to answer your facetious question in part, even if he went for an ugly Christmas tree transmog, it would show that he at least engages with the system at all.

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What sort of things do you want?
Im a purely solo player that doesnt raid, do dungeons or do pvp (okay so i do them on occasion but none this patch at all) and im really loving this patch.

Thats not me saying things cant be better, just curious as to what you want because you were rather vague

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I’d consider Muffinus to be a fun developer, who could probably do a lot more if given the opportunity and without being micromanaged into oblivion.

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To be blunt, but that’s on the players.

There’s a boatload to do in SL that’s not “optimizing”, well, anything.

The covenant storylines, the covenant “mini-game”, gearing up through the covenant. Now, we have the continuation of the covenant quest line (though I fear it’s not very covenant specific - mine doesn’t feel very Kyrian to me so far).

Torghast for torghast sake (some people like the game play, and the new one is even better with the scoring system – don’t score against others, score against yourself!).

The zones are all amazing, despite having navigation difficulties. Revendreth is high on my list of the most detailed zones we’ve ever had, even if I’m continually getting lost.

Casual gearing is straightforward. The dailies/rare/treasure system in Korthia is right in line with stuff we’ve had in the past and more than serviceable. Right now especially, with all the people, and such, it’s a fun zone to be in.

And the new Taz dungeon is great! Certainly be sure to see that when it becomes a heroic if you’re afraid of Mythics (not even M+).

And don’t forget to level your professions and milk the raiders with Legendary base gear.

If someone is happy doing BFA WQs, there’s that and more here in SL waiting for them.

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Oh for sure, I’m enjoying Shadowlands and 9.1 in particular.

My comments are more directed at the direction of the game in general.

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Hire me and we will have fun with all the toy train sets , cry bombs and dancing flutes :smiling_imp:

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I’ll write you a glowing letter of recommendation.

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-Prepares my Wind-up Train Wrecker.-

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Think you’re missing the point. Keldar is saying that it’s like Ion not even doing m+ yet he is still designing it, would look really bad if he did that.

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