The slippery slope has finally ended.

[Hubbl3]

Obviously it's not easy. Trees hard to balance? Screw it let's remove them. Classes hard to balance? Screw it make them all the same. Low level dungeons hard to balance? Screw it...do nothing and let them be a joke. Server populations unbalanced? lol do nothing and charge people to switch servers

The whole game is out of balance with itself, and Blizzard will just feed you excuses on why that's ok. Such as end game being the focus.

They don't fix things, they bandaid or remove them. There's no need to defend Blizzard outside of playing devils advocate. All they do is release an expansion, give it 1 patch, then start working on the next expansion. They don't care. They're more focused on their cash shop than anything.

This post shows clearly that it is not worth the time having any discussions with you.

[StrayFox]

Careful with that line of thinking on these forums, since I can't think of anything witty.

Shit.

Haha, lighten up like this guy everyone.

I've seen like 100 threads on this topic. It's just a game, I don't think free level 90's affect me really so I don't give two shits. If they did something nuts like remove PvP or make everything easy in the game I might get pissed. But hey, if they did, I'd just find a new game to play its not like they are raising my taxes or making me pay more on my insurance or anything.

[quras]

This post shows clearly that it is not worth the time having any discussions with you.

Well thats because you don't really have a good argument against what Brandon183 was saying.

After all, he was right in what he was saying.

SNIP...

I've seen like 100 threads on this topic. It's just a game, I don't think free level 90's affect me really so I don't give two shits.

SNIP...

This line of thinking kills me.

Well, since it doesn't affect you, why not offer gamers a 90- 100 boost as well. Since leveling does suck and many don't give a rats A$$ about WoD time travel, alternate time lines much less the crappy lore blizzard is trying to reinvent from days of old. IF all you want to do is run dungeons and raid, 90 - 100 boost needs to happen.

It wouldn't affect you right?

that can almost be applied to any aspect of this game for anyone to request what they want and blizzard to add in some of the worst cash shop content they can create just for money and not for the over all benefit or betterment of the game. At that point it's screw the gamer.

[Dormie]

This post shows clearly that it is not worth the time having any discussions with you.

This post shows clearly that it is not worth the time having any discussions with you.



Games like this are based fundamentally on leveling. The problem is Blizzard has weened it away over the years and now you guys want to keep it and get rid of it at the same time.

Like I said, Blizz is now balls deep and you don't even know it. You're gonna pay them to not have to play the game.
I'm just working with what they show me. They make 200+million off of the cash shop alone and they can't give us a few 5 mans and have to make LFR cause they're afraid of wasting resources? Please. If they're so afraid of wasting resources they wouldn't keep everything before the latest expansion irrelevant.
Independently funded games pump out more content.

[Azrile]

Sweet in that case we don't have to hear about slippery slope arguments anymore.



Oes noes someone will get a gearless 90 without having to go through Jade Forest for the 40th time.

Or doing Brewery until their eyes bleed.

Exactly. Yes, my experience leveling a monk from 1-85 was so amazing... jab jab jab jab jab jab. I pushed two buttons the entire time. Leveling is so fast, and teaches you nothing... I really don´t see how getting a class to the same level as last expac is a big deal at all.

For me, it crosses the line when they sell current season pvp gear, raid buffs or raid gear... or possibly leveling boosts that effect the current expansion pack during the first few months after the expansion launches. In other words, if I am an actively playing a max level and content character, and you can buy an advantage over my character, that is bad. But having you almost be able to catch up to me? meh.

[StrayFox]

Well thats because you don't really have a good argument against what Brandon183 was saying.

After all, he was right in what he was saying.



This line of thinking kills me.

Well, since it doesn't affect you, why not offer gamers a 90- 100 boost as well. Since leveling does suck and many don't give a rats A$$ about WoD time travel, alternate time lines much less the crappy lore blizzard is trying to reinvent from days of old. IF all you want to do is run dungeons and raid, 90 - 100 boost needs to happen.

It would affect you right?

that can almost be applied to any aspect of this game for anyone to request what they want and blizzard to add in some of the worst cash shop content they can create just for money and not the over all benefit of the game. At that point it's screw the gamer.

You basically just explained exactly what a paid 90 boost is. Still feel it doesn't affect me as I don't have to buy it and the people who do buy it are a pain in the ass to level with anyway.

Really it doesn't matter to me, if they do it they might even give the people who actually enjoy questing and leveling some sweet rewards for doing so. If it bothers you so much then maybe you shouldn't play the game? Also, Blizzard is thinking about adding it... it isn't set in stone.

I think a free 90 really helps the new players and returning players to jump into the best content, but I won't buy one (excluding the one that comes with the expansion) as I enjoy leveling. Less people to steal my ore and rare spawns as well.

[Ronduwil]

WoW is survving purely on past popularity at this point. Only thing they have going for them is 10 years of accumulated content and that people have so much time invested that they aren't willing to just quit. There's a reason it's attracting very few new players.

I'm not going to deny that they survive on past popularity. I would argue that WoW was successful purely because of past popularity. Guild Wars was a superior game, had a one-time cost, and was even built by former Blizzard developers, but it never achieved the popularity that WoW did because they didn't have the Blizzard marketing machine backing them up. However, I've been around long enough to know that past popularity is often enough. Furthermore, Blizzard's goals and player goals are not the same. Ideally they would be, but realistically they're not.

Obviously it's not easy. Trees hard to balance? Screw it let's remove them. Classes hard to balance? Screw it make them all the same. Low level dungeons hard to balance? Screw it...do nothing and let them be a joke.

As a player I want everything to be reasonably balanced. I want a rich skill system with many different ways to achieve acceptable DPS/HPS/damage mitigation. Blizzard doesn't want that directly. They want my money. They're going to do their best to provide those things because they will get more money that way. On the other hand, fixing some of the things you're complaining about won't pay off for Blizzard. An imbalance in 25-30 level range is going to correct itself within about 10 hours of play time, so it's not going to be a significant factor in whether or not the typical player remains subscribed. Fixing it amounts to an act of charity because it ultimately won't affect their bottom line. Low level dungeons are the same way. No one is going to run a low level dungeon more than a handful of times, and very few players are going to unsubscribe just because they facerolled Scholomance. As a player I think this sucks. As a casual observer I understand why Blizzard won't fix it.

Server populations unbalanced? lol do nothing and charge people to switch servers

Servers can't be fixed. There's a reason why they're not balanced, and it's because players don't like balanced servers. Personally I rolled a character on Stormrage precisely because the Alliance/Horde ratio was so far out of whack that Tol Barad was almost a guaranteed victory. In fact, my one Tol Barad experience on Stormrage amounted to spending five minutes riding from post to post without seeing a single horde player. After five minutes of that the victory dialogue came up. That was actually a very welcome change to me after having experienced countless hard-fought struggles on Sentinels that ended in failure more often than not. The players that want balance can reroll on a balanced server whenever they want, but they still don't. Blizzard even offers free transfers off overly populated servers, and players still won't take them. So why should they bother to fix an issue that most players regard as a desirable feature? Where is the money in that?

The whole game is out of balance with itself, and Blizzard will just feed you excuses on why that's ok. Such as end game being the focus.

Of course they will. Their goal is to make money. One in the hand is worth two in the bush, as the old saying goes, so they want to retain players. That's why end game is the focus. New players typically don't browse the forums or follow developer interviews, so they are typically going to talk about the end game because that's what most players want. Blizzard does everything you're accusing them off. I'm not going to dispute that. I'm just surprised that you would expect them to do otherwise given that their goal is to make money.

They don't fix things, they bandaid or remove them. There's no need to defend Blizzard outside of playing devils advocate.

I don't know why you look at this as an attack-defense scenario. We're having a discussions regarding Blizzard's business practices. They don't need any defenders from you. When you purchase a controlling interest in their company then you can attack them, but they'll have competent and knowledgeable people defending them then, not a bunch of enthusiasts from the internet. I'm not defending, but I am observing that their current mode of operation amounts to a series of wise business decisions and I'm not going to deny that wise business decisions don't always amount to the highest quality software possible.

All they do is release an expansion, give it 1 patch, then start working on the next expansion. They don't care. They're more focused on their cash shop than anything.

I actually think this statement is completely out of whack with reality. There have been four major content patches since MoP's release, and numerous hotfixes and minor revisions in between. Obviously they have a sustaining team that works on released content and a development team that charges on ahead with the new stuff. That's how most major software companies operate. That doesn't mean they don't care. That just means they're running a competent software development business. As for their focus on the cash shop, I just have to reiterate that all for-profit corporations have one and only one interest: making money. Everything else they do will be done in support of that. They create new content because it makes money. They put out content patches because it maintains subscribers' interest for longer and therefore makes money. They fix major bugs to keep most players from getting discouraged and dropping their subscriptions. They ignore the lower level zones and talent trees because they realized that those aspects of the game simply don't appeal to most players and effectively generate no revenue. This isn't a defense; it's an observation.

[Alayen]

I agree 100% especially about not knowing of any REAL mmos.

That's because what you guys think is a "real MMO" is garbage and nobody makes them anymore.