Balancing the game in a fishbowl
I'm not sure I follow why you call that a fishbowl. Usually when I hear that term, it is in reference to something that takes place very publicly. If we balanced in a fishbowl, you might be able to see all of the changes as we made them and why we made them. Many players ask for more transparency in the process, which suggests the fishbowl comparison isn't widely shared... unless I misunderstood your metaphor.
We don't balance around best in slot items, though my impression is the community cares much more about that. Most of our PvE balance is concerned about whether the group can beat the boss, and whether some members are contributing too much or not enough to that experience. Very, very few raids have all best in slot items (otherwise you kind of wonder why they are still raiding). We need to know the maximum theoretical dps (in this case), and how characters will scale with better gear, but we also need to know what classes will do with introductory levels of gear too.
We do spend most of our balance effort at max level, because that is where it is most important to the community. Very few players are raiding below max level. We do spend some effort to make sure groups can complete their quests or the level up dungeons though. We do not spend a great deal of effort on the 1v1 "I was ganked in the middle of Stranglethorn" PvP situations, though we do consider it as part of the process.
Hope that provides a little more transparency. (
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Val'anyr and upcoming legendary items
So Mages (and other non-healing casters) are in the queue. Not at the end, with Rogues for example. But not at the front, where the healers patiently stand.
I cannot hint at future damage dealing caster legendaries. But I can empathise with your feelings, and I do. I'm hopeful your time will come... again. :-) (
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