Yet Another Unsubscribing Thread

Community General Discussion
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Mmmm, yeah I unsubbed. “But why are you making a thread on it?” one may ask. Well, because this is General Discussion and I can make whatever thread I please on here as long as it pertains to WoW, so deal. And additionally, this is my little (perhaps vain) attempt to add amongst the myriad of recent threads others have made on unsubbing to push the point to Blizzard that I’m dissatisfied with the current state of the game.

Will I return? Yeah probably, maybe even in the course of BfA itself when Zandalari/Kul Tirans are finally added (or when the worgen/goblin remodels are released). As of now I haven’t played WoW for a good month and I foresee that pattern continuing for the near future; paying $15/month for literally 0 minutes of playtime doesn’t make good financial sense. Reason why I haven’t logged on is because I’m provided with other gaming distractions atm and retail WoW isn’t giving me an incentive to log on. The lack of incentives will be elaborated below but the

TL;DR is… I play games to have fun (not be put down), too many false promises, and just tired of waiting.

Why am I Being Punished for Playing?

A brief summary on me, I really enjoy narratives in video games and am somewhat of a lore buff as a result of that. People can look up my post history over on the Story Forums (including the old website) if they’re so inclined. But a video game is a video game in the end and while narrative is a big factor of my enjoyment in a video game, it’s never a requirement. The difference here with WoW is that I am consuming a narrative that is consistently written to make me feel bad.

Just… why? Why is this a thing? Ignoring the fact that we already had this story in MoP, what’s the creative sense in producing content to put down the playerbase? Yes, yes, art comes in many forms and we’ve plenty of entertainment media such as film and literature meant to invoke negative emotions from the audience, but again, this is a video game, more importantly, this is an MMORPG. People don’t consume WoW once and leave like a film or book, the point of the MMO is to have the playerbase consume constantly.

I main Horde and I main a Forsaken. I rolled this Forsaken toon in Vanilla because I bought into the narrative fantasy at the time. To put simply, said fantasy was never marketed as being the villains back then; not the Forsaken nor the Horde itself. Prior to my month-long break from WoW, everyday of BfA (and pre-launch for that matter) I logged into constant discourse of how my race and/or faction were villains and we were finally going to get our comeuppance; frankly, it’s depressing. And it would be fine if it were just the playerbase talking about dumb topics but now its Blizzard itself (again, looking at you MoP) explicitly telling me I am a bad person for playing Forsaken/Horde. Just… no, I didn’t play WoW to be a villain.

So for the majority of my time in BfA I was paying $15/month to… be depressed? To get angry? To keep arguing in Trade Chat on how I’m not a villain? No, I can’t do that and I won’t. And more importantly, how is making me (and the playerbase at large) experience these emotions on a daily basis make financial or creative sense in developing this MMORPG where the goal is to have us enjoy our time in the game? Having fun is what incentivizes me to keep playing and at the moment it’s not just a lack of fun, it’s an emphasis on anti-fun.

I Paid for Content That I Don’t Have?

Allied Races, both a wonderful addition to the game yet currently a controversial topic of late. Yet, I specifically remember being told I would be able to play a specific allied race at the launch of BfA, both within Blizzcon and the BfA feature trailer itself. Of course, I’m talking about Zandalari. Yes, Ion made an excuse on why Zandalari aren’t available right now in the recent QA, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that I don’t have an advertised game feature that was stated to be available at launch. A game feature that I specifically shelled out money for expecting to play.

Pretty short and simple explanation, I paid money for something, expected to play it, and somehow don’t have it and now regulated to just waiting for it. But, speaking of waiting…

WoW is… a Waiting Simulator?

So much waiting is present in BfA. If it’s not the lack of Zandalari it’s the goblin/worgen remodels, if it’s not the goblin/worgen remodels it’s the counter-intuitive Azerite grind, if it’s not the Azerite grind then it’s the cyclical Warfronts, if it’s not the Warfronts then it’s the damn class reworks.

I main a Shadow Priest, I represent ground zero at starting off BfA playing a waiting simulator. “Oh your class isn’t finished, wait until we’re halfway into the first raid tier before changes come!” So much waiting, why am I paying $15/month just waiting? Doesn’t make financial sense. So yeah, I might come back when aforementioned features that I’m waiting for are finally present in the game.

Conclusion

Usually when a WoW expansion comes lacking, say like MoP or WoD, I usually have RP to turn to (I’m on an RP server after all); player-created and player-driven content. And it’s surprising, yet depressing, that the current state of BfA is removing my incentive to do just that. So if the game isn’t fun and I am not motivated to even engage in RP, I have no reason to keep paying $15/month on this game I’ve consistently enjoyed for more than a decade.

But like I said, I might come back, depends on how my gaming experience evolves from here. At the moment I’m engrossed in Zelda: BotW and I plan to start playing ESO again after I finish said playthrough. For those of you that are still playing, I do hope the game is fun for you. Just want to say that it isn’t fun for me. And to you Blizzard, directly, if the game isn’t fun, why bother?

Subscription expires 15 February 2018. I might still post around here until then, if I’ll be able to post after said date that’d be cool too, not sure how forum posting works anymore with people saying they both can and can’t post when they’re respective subscriptions ran out. Regardless, if I can’t post anymore after said date, it’s been fun everyone. I hope I’ll be able to log back in one day and start having fun like I used to.

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Can… can I have your stuff?

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Me first. I’m higher level, therefore I have seniority.

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Hey I’m on Wyrmrest Accord i have dibs!!!

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Great post OP. A lot of what you said really resonated with me, especially the “being punished for playing” part. Seeing one of my favorite races demonized and turned into one-dimensional generic cookie cutter bad guys whose only purpose is to act as a foil for the Alliance and the “honorable Horde” is awful. It reminds me of Thalyssra equating the Forsaken with the Legion and then Telaamon going one step further saying that the Horde is worse than the Legion. Not to mention all the parallels with the Scourge. It’s disappointing. Sorry to see you go. I hope you find something long-term that’s enjoyable and makes you happy.

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Yeah honestly where they’re going with the storywriting… “morlaly grey”
yeah it’s only morally grey if you mix the Alliance and horde together because we’re about as morally grey as the smoke rising from Teldrassil lol. Most of the side quests were better written than the main story, not fun having no real choices to make in what is supposedly an RPG

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That name sounds so familiar… I think I roleplayed with you at one point. Anyway, sad to see another roleplayer go. I’d be taking a break as well if not for my guild and such, which I do enjoy and want to keep active. Hopefully more will be added that we will enjoy, as roleplayers. I foresee some good story content up ahead, at least, if the interview with Feasel gives some good insight.

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I think they haven’t handled the Alliance race(s) thing very well. I will continue to play as long as my wife does!

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I want to know who OP is giving his stuff too.

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Good post OP.

I may be Alliance but I feel your pain. I must admit I’m only on this game because I’m addicted and I’m really attached to the time I’ve put into my character. Compared to other MMO’s WoW has laughable character customization, both with actual character models… gear, and class design. The raids are excellent, and so are the dungeons… but other games have excellent dungeon and raid experiences too, FF and ESO are perfect examples so it’s nothing special.

WoW has no story choices like you mentioned above. In games like FF, ESO, GW2, if you feel like a villain at least you have some freedom to decide what direction you go. For WoW, they added their first freaking story choice while other games have had that for so many years. It just shows how outdated the game is.

Professions are boring, whereas in Final Fantasy you have all these cool things you can do with professions and even epic animations etc for them.

PVP in WoW imo is still entertaining. Probably the highlight compared to other MMO’s imo, even though it can be super unbalanced.

But yeah ultimately? Way better options out there for people who are willing to bite the bullet and abandon their WoW progress to start another journey elsewhere.

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First quarter of the post was great, I got bored after that.

Op if you arnt playing at the moment because of the poor direction of the game then I think it’s great to save some dollars.

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The “I paid for content that isn’t immediately available” argument is really old and I’m surprised anybody who has played the game for at least several years legitimately makes it.

I can understand if somebody has never played the game and thinks everything available in an expansion is immediately available when the expansion goes live.

I can also understand if people are mistaken that they immediately have access to everything upon purchasing – all classes, races, and features – if they have never played the game or have read about it.

Honestly it sounds like you got burnt out on the game and your primary motivation for playing – roleplay – isn’t what it used to be when you really enjoyed the game. I’m not sure this is Blizzard’s fault at all though and is a matter of RP communities dying or at least your favorite roleplayers no longer being around.

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Mmm nowhere in my OP referenced roleplay beyond it being my go-to form of content when I am burnt out on game content. The issue with allied races, particularly Zandalari, as I’ve stated, is that they were advertised explicitly being available at launch, this is no lie. Atop that it extends to waiting in general. As a Shadow Priest main I had to wait until halfway into Uldir to actually have my class competent again in a raiding scene beyond the single bossfight that was Zul (which was just a debuff mechanic, not an actual gameplay loop of combat).

But you’re correct in my dissatisfaction primarily comes from somewhere, that somewhere being the narrative. It’s fine when a narrative is lackluster, its another issue when a narrative is being written to make one feel bad.

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You don’t even play and you expect them to listen to your feedback?

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There’s nothing wrong with Vivette’s view on Zandalari / KT being late. They’ve strung this expansion along super late and slow and delayed. That’s why they sold the 6 months for the spooky ship deal. To keep people invested during a time they knew most would not stay subbed.

Lesson learned on my part.

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Please leave faster. Goodbye!

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This post is not the sole intent to bump my thread here but more of my own personal final farewell.

I’ve played WoW ever since the open beta for Vanilla came out in March 2004. Prior to that I’ve been religiously playing Warcraft 3 since 2002 (alongside its expansion the Frozen Throne) being my first Blizzard game ever. I was 7 years old when I became enthralled with Azeroth, I am now in my mid-twenties.

And while unfortunately I don’t agree with the state of the game or Blizzard at the moment (the latter with emphasis due to recent layoffs) it really sucks as I really do want to participate in Azeroth still, I really do; I don’t want this game to die but the path forward at the moment seems as if the ship is intentionally trying to crash and burn.

Like I said in my OP, I might come back within a few months when stuff I desired is finally made playable be it timegated content or core gameplay mechanic fixes or both, we’ll see.

Subscription expires in less than 12 hours at the time of this post. Goodbye all, if you still enjoy the game, more power to you. For myself, I hope this game gets better so I can rejoin you all one day.

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Why the book then… waste of a good keyboard.

:laughing:

:ice_cream:

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Way to stick it to them. I stop reading after this. See you next week

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I keep saying it. All that will be left in wow will be the players that just eat up any bit of garbage Blizzard shovels their way and claim its filet mignon.

Wow is in a sad state right now. Narrative, content, classes, and fun are all in the trash.

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