What exactly happened to choice? RANT

[Deleted]

I'm having a hard time playing atm, mostly because I face a lot of frustrating issues in-game. It's no secret loads of Druids are struggling the same atm, the horrendous playstyle of Balance where you can't waste a second to scratch your behind or lift your glass to drink, unless you want to be bottom DPS. This is my issue atm and I'm not alone in this.

My other issue is that I can't choose a more relaxed rotation because those talents suck and I'd be way under the healers if I did. So what happened to choice? Blizzard went out and said we should play however we want, but they made each class to 1 rotation with specific talents that'd dish out the appropriate DPS. Feral druids have a rotation built up of 6 spells to be cast in order or you're done for. That's crazy.

So what exactly happened to choice? When I first created my druid and began healing in dungeons, I got attacked, literally, for having chosen "the wrong talent" - why not just remove the talents that's "wrong" altogether and avoid people choosing them, because hey, there's only 1 right talent... right?

It just makes no sense and it's stupid. I liked the dot playstyle Balance COULD have, but I can't play it because it'll leave me with low DPS. I'm not asking for a lazy playstyle where you have 3 buttons and then you're top DPS. I don't want that, but seriously? This is just killing me and it's frustrating. Blizzard promised us more choice, more freedom but they took away reforging and said "cookie cutting" is bad, yet they've changed nothing and everyone is freaking cutting cookies and sharing them in baskets right now. "New player? Here, here's all you need to fit the box for your class! DPS guide, proper build and BiS guide! Enjoy playing "the way you want!"

Ugh! Sorry for the rant.

*Mic drop*

[melodramocracy]

We feel that choices and options don't sit well with class fantasy. Maybe next expansion - Blizzard

[Deleted]

Because performing perfect rotation is the only complexity left in game.

Threat management, resource management that made it possible to have relaxing slow simple rotation are all long gone. Instead of multi-dimensional thinking we have only 1 dimension - rotation. Blizzard had to compensate for dullness that came with removal of those mechanics, so they made rotations more complex. Some classes now have rotations, some are playing whack-a-proc game.

Before someone replies "lol, threat/resource management wasn't fun and it was easy", same could be said about today's rotations or pretty much any mechanic game.

[ItachiZaku]

Never seen anyone talk shit about resto druid talents. In dungeons, really not a big deal. Some things might be more optimal based on party makeup (like spring blossoms if melee heavy) but really... your dps assessment is correct.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I'd rather have the system where you gotta be on your toes to perform at the top and handle mechanics over the old system where classes had 2-button rotations and keeping threat on tanks was the biggest challenge, even with said 2-button rotation...

You either "relax" and underperform, or you actually play your class. I can't remember a time that I could perform at the top whilst at the same time "relaxing"... save for LFR of course. You can "relax" your ass off in there and still be a top performer.

You have the same choice now as you've always had. You can choose the same talents as everyone else, learn the priority and do maximum big dick DPS, or you can do your own thing and be one of those people in the lower half of the DPS chart.

This is how WoW has always been. There has always been an optimum choice and always will be. It's up to you if you care.

Exactly this.

[Blackmist]

You have the same choice now as you've always had. You can choose the same talents as everyone else, learn the priority and do maximum big dick DPS, or you can do your own thing and be one of those people in the lower half of the DPS chart.

This is how WoW has always been. There has always been an optimum choice and always will be. It's up to you if you care.

[Erolian]

I'm not sure I've ever actually seen someone just get attacked for their talents in a random group. Now I've seen people get trashed after they suck and someone bothers to start inspecting them wondering what is happening which isn't exactly pleasant either. You can't really have a spec that allows you to afk that will still be competitive otherwise the second someone actually actively plays the spec they're broken.

I could understand if you offered something constructive about specific talents but you're just whining about how the game has always been with this.

[Deleted]

Never seen anyone talk shit about resto druid talents. In dungeons, really not a big deal. Some things might be more optimal based on party makeup (like spring blossoms if melee heavy) but really... your dps assessment is correct.

Well with the rising level of toxicity I wasn't surprised by it. This happened in a low level dungeon, Utgarde Pinnacle to be exact. But I wasn't going to heal anyway.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not sure I've ever actually seen someone just get attacked for their talents in a random group. Now I've seen people get trashed after they suck and someone bothers to start inspecting them wondering what is happening which isn't exactly pleasant either. You can't really have a spec that allows you to afk that will still be competitive otherwise the second someone actually actively plays the spec they're broken.

I could understand if you offered something constructive about specific talents but you're just whining about how the game has always been with this.

Well it wasn't always like that. There were some bright points in Cata, at least for me. I played Shadow/Disc and picked whatever talents I saw fit. I didn't bother reading guides following the stream. And I still landed on the top 3, healing and DPS. But if you do this now, you'd see a 100k drop in DPS and would most definitely get the boot for having "picked the wrong talents" - so again, why are the options when they're never or rarely used? Blizzard never got rid of the cookie cutting trend, so why even bother making other talents than the ones used for the now very specific rotations.

[ItachiZaku]

This happened in a low level dungeon, Utgarde Pinnacle to be exact. But I wasn't going to heal anyway.

lol fuck those fucking fuckers

[karatakor]

Can't use a second spec because I don't have competitive AP and relics.
Can't use my two other specs because they are not performing well.
Can't change talents on the spot because of overpriced tome costs.
Talents are not well implemented and should be baseline.

A Warlock...

[Deleted]

lol fuck those fucking fuckers

;P Eh, I've had worse. I healed through WoTLK, Cata, MoP and some WoD and while I have a mean streak, I never let anyone die no matter how much hate they throw at me. I don't miss healing, especially not right now when I know how toxic people have gotten.

[caervek]

*Mic drop*

FFS dude, do you know how much these things cost???

[Queen of Hamsters]

;P Eh, I've had worse. I healed through WoTLK, Cata, MoP and some WoD and while I have a mean streak, I never let anyone die no matter how much hate they throw at me. I don't miss healing, especially not right now when I know how toxic people have gotten.

Been a (bad) healer on a regular basis since beginning of Cata in random group content. Never once received any form of toxicity for spec or shit as long as I've kept people alive... Can't remember anything dramatic even from cases where I failed tbf. Save for the odd tard in LFR that joins just to e-peen stroke by padding healing meters.

[Deleted]

Can't use a second spec because I don't have competitive AP and relics.
Can't use my two other specs because they are not performing well.
Can't change talents on the spot because of overpriced tome costs.
Talents are not well implemented and should be baseline.

A Warlock...

Waiting for someone to tell you they do top DPS and have naked artifacts.

Actually I rolled Destruction when Legion came out. How are they doing now?

- - - Updated - - -

FFS dude, do you know how much these things cost???

No, I'll pick it back up, sorry. I thought they were free?

- - - Updated - - -

Been a (bad) healer on a regular basis since beginning of Cata in random group content. Never once received any form of toxicity for spec or shit as long as I've kept people alive.

Well I guess it depends on the realm. Kazzak EU is known to be a nest for toxic players. Sometimes I think they're bred and born there in the green fel pools in Outland, close to Kazzak himself.

[omeomorfismo]

lol, try to stop be a min maxer and care about difference of 20-30k dps, so you can finally be free from math and choice what you want, easy

[Deleted]

What exactly happened to choice?
I don't actually know, but you literally have the same choice as you ever had.
Either play the way you really enjoy your char, or play on a competitive level.

That may sound a bit rough, but it has been like this back since the first days of classic imo. As soon as you start to play together with others, you may need to accept that you need to adapt your style of playing the game to benefit the progression of your group. If you don't care about participating in server/world first races or ding the highest possible difficulties, there may not be need for that.

Right now, you even have more choice as every spec of every class is actually viable for every type of content (tough some encounters may be a bit harder for one class than for another).

[roninwookie]

You have the same choice now as you've always had. You can choose the same talents as everyone else, learn the priority and do maximum big dick DPS, or you can do your own thing and be one of those people in the lower half of the DPS chart.

This is how WoW has always been. There has always been an optimum choice and always will be. It's up to you if you care.

This, a million times. All classes have cookie cutter specs, that's never gonna change. Choices aren't always meant to be equal, just viable. What the playerbase thinks is viable compared to Blizz can be vastly different.

[tehdef]

I'm having a hard time playing atm, mostly because I face a lot of frustrating issues in-game. It's no secret loads of Druids are struggling the same atm, the horrendous playstyle of Balance where you can't waste a second to scratch your behind or lift your glass to drink, unless you want to be bottom DPS. This is my issue atm and I'm not alone in this.

My other issue is that I can't choose a more relaxed rotation because those talents suck and I'd be way under the healers if I did. So what happened to choice? Blizzard went out and said we should play however we want, but they made each class to 1 rotation with specific talents that'd dish out the appropriate DPS. Feral druids have a rotation built up of 6 spells to be cast in order or you're done for. That's crazy.

So what exactly happened to choice? When I first created my druid and began healing in dungeons, I got attacked, literally, for having chosen "the wrong talent" - why not just remove the talents that's "wrong" altogether and avoid people choosing them, because hey, there's only 1 right talent... right?

It just makes no sense and it's stupid. I liked the dot playstyle Balance COULD have, but I can't play it because it'll leave me with low DPS. I'm not asking for a lazy playstyle where you have 3 buttons and then you're top DPS. I don't want that, but seriously? This is just killing me and it's frustrating. Blizzard promised us more choice, more freedom but they took away reforging and said "cookie cutting" is bad, yet they've changed nothing and everyone is freaking cutting cookies and sharing them in baskets right now. "New player? Here, here's all you need to fit the box for your class! DPS guide, proper build and BiS guide! Enjoy playing "the way you want!"

Ugh! Sorry for the rant.

*Mic drop*

" horrendous playstyle of Balance where you can't waste a second to scratch your behind or lift your glass to drink, unless you want to be bottom DPS."

"My other issue is that I can't choose a more relaxed rotation"

TLDR: Player wants to be amazing DPS while half-assing their rotation and class.

NO. IF YOU WANT TO BE THE TOP DPS YOU HAVE TO PUT IN EFFORT

[Rylalai]

I don't get the choice thing..? Do you want every talent combination to be competitive? So in the end it would not matter if you play with the "difficult" rotation or the "relaxing faceroll" rotation because you would do about the same amount damage/heal? Am I the only one here seeing a problem with this?

Squeezing the last drop of damage out of your class is the most fun part of Legion right now for me.. Even with the most simple class right now there's no way to "grab a drink" or whatever during an encounter and not dropping in damage. Well at least if you got competitive raid members. Maybe that's the problem. Go search a relax raid group where no one cares about heal or damage as long as they all have a relaxing time together and you'll be happy.

[Chaelexi]

Look, every class has those choices. Enh Shaman with managing the Frostbrand, Demon Hunters with Momentum/Nemesis and Demon Blades/Demon Bite to name a few. You can chose the other options but you will lose some damage if you are preforming correctly. I wholeheartedly agree with the philosophy that the more difficult the rotation the more you should be rewarded and also everyclass having an AOE choice and a single target choice.