Why does the developer team make the choices that they make?

They’re actively trying to fix “”“problems”"" before they even happen, instead of how they used to primarily add things that would be fun and take a risk. The team has gotten overly paranoid.

I get that, but look at other Blizzard games like Overwatch, for example. People have been complaining about GOATs comp and how boring it is, and Jeff Kaplan makes sure to say things like “We’re aware of your complaints and are working on solutions”. Same with the complaints about playing competitive and people only picking DPS, they address that they’re aware of the complaints and are trying to find solutions, like possibly making a role queuing system.

Even just making sure that the players know that the devs are aware of how widespread the complaints are for issues like that goes a long way. Otherwise, to the players, it just looks like we’re repeatedly being ignored.

Bottomline, there is just not enough communication in general. All we get is “this is what we’ve decided on, deal with it”, and that is not good enough.

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If they communicated better, perhaps we’d have the answers.

Instead they seem to take with one hand while giving with the other. All the while they end up seeming semi-malicious at worst, and incompetent at best.

Better communication could avoid either view - but we’re stuck with silence or responses that don’t actually answer the questions being posed most of the time. In the end it just seems shady and players are starting to feel the layers of it piling on.

Like you said - first the GCD, then portals, role restrictions, gear restrictions, mount restrictions, taunt ability changes - the list just goes on and on.

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Possibly, an example of the old concept called “The Peter Principle”. In a large corporation, every one gets promoted up the hierarchy, eventually and almost inevitably reaching a point where they are incompetent. I say possibly, because it could easily be a case of them just hating our guts. Or some other unknown unknown. Maybe manipulating the market. Mass hallucinations. Mind control by aliens? Simple fatigue.

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Because they think it’s the right thing to do.

And sometimes players actually agree with some decisions.

My friends and I welcomed the portal changes. My friends and I don’t like flying. My friends and I don’t care much about the GCD.

We do care about the writing but hold faith it’ll workout and not get moany and groany about something we don’t know the end of. Some things (like Sylvanas) we really like!

Your perception isn’t universally shared.

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This is human nature. When things are going well they don’t stand out as anything exceptional. But when things go badly, it stands out like a sore thumb.

It’s not just people in suits, it’s also people who eventually want to be in suits. These people in dev teams are normally going to try and please their bosses in a way that has them being considered a suit.

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That “vision” only exists because the foundations were so phenomenal. New blizzard is near completely dependent still on what those who came before them did. Wow’s ability to outlast despite the monstrous blunders post cata shows how amazing of a job blizzard did, before it chased the chinese market(and lost a lot of the old guard).

What do you think the Q&A’s are? They do let us know they are aware. Thing is:

  1. Ion is simply not a likable person. He just isn’t. That already rubs people wrong, no matter what he may say.
  2. There is a lack of communication on the progress of things. They say we are going to change this, and then we hear “its done” a year later. No updates, which really upsets players.
  3. There is close to ZERO actual moderation in the forums. The lack of “parenting” in the forums creates an air of being left alone and fuels the “we are ignored” bias. I guarantee you, if Mod’s were posting more often, even if it was gif’s or ban hammering publicly instead of stealth, the entire mood of GD would change.
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Source? GD isn’t a majority of anything.

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I do care about those things. I don’t care about raids, or mythics or pvp arenas.

And neither is yours.

Well yeah that’s kinda the point

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Agreed!

However, unlike Microsoft or Apple who have reinvented themselves over the years to stay relevant, WoW’s changes have tended to drive folks away shortly after a launch.

Instead, what WoW gives us is spin.

“Azerite armor is going to get a few tweaks, an extra wheel of traits around the outside should make what you get feel a lot better,” they tell us for the first six months of the game, amidst endless complaints.

Then, when they’re ready to unveil their latest system, that somehow turns into, “Oh, we knew there were problems with azerite armor all the way back to beta, so for the past eight months we’ve been working on a whole new system for the Heart of Azeroth,” to reassure us the new system wasn’t pulled out of their backsides at the last minute.

When so much of what they offer us is spin and obfuscation, it’s impossible to believe anything they say.

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GD is a good sampling though… the questions is, how representative is it? I would argue, fairly…

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This guy gets it.

I don’t care about the portal changes at all. I don’t like flying as is, I want it after I get 1 character to cap. I like the GCD change for non-defensive abilities (one button offensive cooldown macros were stupid). I’m really unimpressed by class changes (pruning, moving abilities to talents, making half the specs damage cycles based around 2-3 minute cooldowns, dumbing down utility, massive spec imbalance that just seems completely stupid to me and I’m boggled how they think things are fine…)

But it’s not because they’re incompetent, it’s not because they hate us, it’s not because they’re driven by shareholders, it’s because they think the decision is the right one for the game, even if they know a lot of people aren’t going to like the decisions they make, even if I don’t understand why they are doing what they’re doing and I hate the change. They’re people working on something they care about deeply. Add to it that there’s almost no decision they can make that everyone is going to like, someone is going to be upset. It’s a big no win scenario for them regardless of what they choose to do.

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Allied races. They’re a perfect way to bring in boat loads of cash by encouraging people to race or faction change their mains. And since allied races are so much easier to produce, they can churn them out way faster than original races like the Zandalari and KT.

You cant please everyone, but its their artistic vision. Some admire it, some decry it. Its theirs to make, its a lot easier to just take your hands off the wheel and enjoy the ride. Due to said changes ive been enjoying classes ive never played before and im loving them. Im like the story so far and look forward to 2.0. The game has to change or it will be forgotten like everquest, and DAoC.

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tbh that’s the attitude I try to keep

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Did you know that you and your friends can still use your ground mounts even in places you can fly? Its a simple choice.