Did Blizzard give up?

[stgeorge78]

It seems that with the sudden nerfing of Firelands, that Blizzard has finally put the final nail in the coffin of their ill-fated strategy to "whip players into shape". They face a very different community that is used to instant gratification and balk at any kind of effort. I think this shift is a change in internal strategy towards a much more casual game and what is more casual than pandas and Mists of Pandaria?

They fully expect the hardcore to leave in droves for other games, and their primary focus will be on an older, more casual crowd who like WoW for the journey and social aspects and not as a challenge to be beaten and discarded. They will need to invest more on in-game story, mini games and the "amusement park" feel. More dungeons and less complex raids. Dungeon and Raid finder will be the primary way the majority of players will play and they will work towards keeping several million older and more cerebral fans.

[onlyindweebs]

I'm pretty sure there's like 15 other threads for this.

[mistuhbull]

Curious question

How are Pandaren "casual"?

[inboundpaper]

I think it may be to boost the raiders I lvl's for the Deathwing raid, or perhaps they feel like not enough raiders are advancing fast enough. They do have ALL the data after all.

[-Zait-]

Didn't they already say there wasn't going to be a Panda expansion in a blue post? I'll see if I can find it.

[Lucetia]

Part of the reason they are doing this and many don't realize is that the content isn't being seen. What's the point of wasting money on development if only a handful see it? The nerf to normal content is to encourage more people to go in and see it. With school starting for some it's been harder to try and get a pug to go in there.

The nerf to hard mode content is I assume not enough people are seeing it like they did in T11. Either way the nerf is so more people experience it so all that time on what little content was designed in the patch isn't gone to waste.

Didn't they already say there wasn't going to be a Panda expansion in a blue post? I'll see if I can find it.

They say a lot of things in blue posts. Doesn't mean it's true. What you are also thinking is from a press release.

[Tziva]

I doubt most the hardcore community cares about this fireland nerf, since they've already beaten the content.

[stgeorge78]

Curious question

How are Pandaren "casual"?

I believe it's not going to be a "kill the foozle" type of expansion. It will be more about discovering this strange unknown race and learning their customs and dealing with a tamer set of problems. A more introspective World of "War"craft, where the final goal will be something more abstract. The "big bad boss" thing has been played out for a while, it's time for more Lord of the Rings style finale to an expansion. Don't worry, there will be a future expansion with Sargeras and they may even try to bring back the hardcore crowd... think of it as resting for one expansion cycle after 3 increasingly "raising the stakes" expansions.

[Resentful]

I'm pretty sure there's like 15 other threads for this.

Indeed and most of them get locked in time - >

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...ge=26#comments

One thread OP, Please use one thread.

[stgeorge78]

I doubt most the hardcore community cares about this fireland nerf, since they've already beaten the content.

I fully believe the next raid will be coming in at a much more tame level than any raid tier this expansion. ICC was actually the most difficult raid out of the gates, people only remember the 30% buff. Well this time, I believe the raid will come out feeling like there's a 30% buff for most guilds. And they will have an increasing buff % anyway as we head into Mists of Pandaria - once again, the goal will be for every single person to kill Deathwing.

[Terranor]

Curious question

How are Pandaren "casual"?

Op is still one of those people who hate Pandaren just to hate them.
And hating on casuals is cool.
So by saying Pandaren are casual, he reinforce his uninformed prejudices on Pandarens and marks himself as one of the cool kids.

I believe it's not going to be a "kill the foozle" type of expansion. It will be more about discovering this strange unknown race and learning their customs and dealing with a tamer set of problems. A more introspective World of "War"craft, where the final goal will be something more abstract. The "big bad boss" thing has been played out for a while, it's time for more Lord of the Rings style finale to an expansion. Don't worry, there will be a future expansion with Sargeras and they may even try to bring back the hardcore crowd... think of it as resting for one expansion cycle after 3 increasingly "raising the stakes" expansions.

Wait... what? You got all that from the title "Mist of Pandaria"?
Pandarian being a very secretive society, if we were to go there for an expansion, no doubt it's because it's endangered by some big evil villain. (Azshara being the closest guess as it'd be an expansion centered around islands)


OT: Content being nerfed after all the firsts have been done isn't a big deal.
Hardcore gamers already farm Firelands anyway; this is just building on the "everybody should see the engame content" thing Blizzard got going on since Warth.

[bryroo]

I fully believe the next raid will be coming in at a much more tame level than any raid tier this expansion. ICC was actually the most difficult raid out of the gates, people only remember the 30% buff. Well this time, I believe the raid will come out feeling like there's a 30% buff for most guilds. And they will have an increasing buff % anyway as we head into Mists of Pandaria - once again, the goal will be for every single person to kill Deathwing.

What evidence do you have to support this theory?

[stgeorge78]

Indeed and most of them get locked in time - >

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...ge=26#comments

One thread OP, Please use one thread.

I'm not talking about Firelands nerfs - it's simply another sign in a long list of signs that Blizzard is no longer following their plan for Cataclysm. Also, it is not polite to phantom moderate. If the moderators feel there is a problem, they will intervene without your unnecessary help.

[AlisonPrime]

Um you realize only 37 guilds have killed Ragnaros even with the nerf? The nerfs are welcome and sort of needed. We are 6/7 in heroic progression and rag keeps kicking our ass with most of our raiders sporting 390 ilvls. Its needed and welcome. I wont feel like my kills for these fights are any less special because of the nerf, cause I've killed 6/7 bosses on heroic, and 1 boss on a 20% heroic nerf feels right.

[stgeorge78]

What evidence do you have to support this theory?

Tier 12 was easier than Tier 11. The early nerf of Firelands far ahead of schedule (compared to the similar nerf when 4.2 was released). Comments from Tom Chilton at gamescon that the raiding was too difficult for most guilds in this expansion. It's not really a leap of logic to speculate in this direction.

[tj119]

Um you realize only 37 guilds have killed Ragnaros even with the nerf? The nerfs are welcome and sort of needed. We are 6/7 in heroic progression and rag keeps kicking our ass with most of our raiders sporting 390 ilvls. Its needed and welcome. I wont feel like my kills for these fights are any less special because of the nerf, cause I've killed 6/7 bosses on heroic, and 1 boss on a 20% heroic nerf feels right.

No atleast 100 have killed it now.

[Talen]

It seems that with the sudden nerfing of Firelands, that Blizzard has finally put the final nail in the coffin of their ill-fated strategy to "whip players into shape". They face a very different community that is used to instant gratification and balk at any kind of effort. I think this shift is a change in internal strategy towards a much more casual game and what is more casual than pandas and Mists of Pandaria?

They fully expect the hardcore to leave in droves for other games, and their primary focus will be on an older, more casual crowd who like WoW for the journey and social aspects and not as a challenge to be beaten and discarded. They will need to invest more on in-game story, mini games and the "amusement park" feel. More dungeons and less complex raids. Dungeon and Raid finder will be the primary way the majority of players will play and they will work towards keeping several million older and more cerebral fans.

To be honest, its always a good idea to provide content for your largest customer base and while raiding is important, and highly visible....it hasn't been the largest sector of the community for a long time. Most players in this game don't raid so its in everyone interests if Blizzard actually provides end game content for them.

EJL

[onlyindweebs]

It's a busy night for Resentful.

[Dragonwing]

I'm pretty sure I read this same thread every time they do raid nerfs since....ever. What a curious phenomenon, people still act as if Blizzard hasn't ever nerfed raids and they pretend to be shocked when they do....every....time.....

[Resentful]

It's a busy night for Resentful.

Yeah I know, getting ridiculous but whatever the OP is free to whatever he wants.