Originally Posted by
Tazr
Do you really think calling other people "whiny, special snowflakes" (don't have to guess how YOU vote) is any less of an example of "entitled" behavior? Love how you feel "entitled" to judge your opinions above theirs, as if your single, unproductive (and utterly lacking in empathy) OPINION is magically fact (cuz "you said so") and outweighs everyone else's combined.
First off, not everyone has had the mount for 6 years. Imagine spending a lot of time on this old, tedious, out of the way content, in lieu of other, more enjoyable things, and - within days or weeks - finding out the only reason you did it is going away. But hey, now you get a "discount" for something you have to buy for every. single. alt. so you can enjoy this feature again...which will take the place of some OTHER, NEW feature you otherwise COULD have enjoyed (not getting dazed, reduced fall damage). Unless you're a Shaman of DK (the only people seeming to benefit from this change), many or most people will wind up buying the water walking equipment for all their toons. Gee, what an upgrade vs. just switching to a mount you already had, that already did this - and did this FOR FREE once it had been tediously earned.
I've had the Azure Water Strider since MoP, but I can totally relate to the frustrations of people that recently unlocked it. I spent 50k gold on the Lightforged Augment rune, but only got to use it for a few months (I'd had surgery and been too ill to play WoW much of Legion) before they killed it for players higher than level 119. I also did RaF a number of times (recruiting myself) back in BC/Wrath, paying all that money to essentually "buy" myself the mount back when they were "per character," so I could still enjoy them as I was forced to change mains for the good of the raid multiple times. When mounts went account wide, was I given a token for each effectively lost "reward" so I could get one of the new pets or something? Nope. I basically lost the reward x 4 or so.
There was easy solution to the AWS problem. People that already had the Azure Waterstrider should be able to have water walking AT LEAST on that mount (if not all of them) in addition to something to put in the mount equipment slot. Anyone who didn't already have it should fall to the new system. The 'Grandfather Clause' is the right way to introduce a massive change. In fact, Blizzard did it (albeit without enough notice) when they made changes to RaF. If you were in the middle of it, you got to experience the old, actually worth it RaF. Everyone else going forward got the new, pointless version.
It was a completely reasonable way to have handled this controversy (as in, there would be no controversy), instead of ticking off an already unhappy player base - but Blizz oddly lacks care for player happiness. Sometimes I think they do crap like this just to tick us off (with Ion, it totally wouldn't surprise me).
If Blizzard constantly takes hard earned things and removes them or nerfs them into the ground (and before you stupidly try to challenge me about armor, OBVIOUSLY that doesn't count - it doesn't get nerfed, you just get stronger gear that replaces it), why bother to do ANYTHING?
A huge part of why people play MMOs is because you accumulate things over time, which adds enjoyment over time, and leaves you with something to show for your time (albeit virtually - although accounts can be worth a lot of RL money thanks to this accumulation). Blizz has shown with increasing frequency that they are more than happy to randomly take shit away from you that you worked hard for. Frankly, there are a lot more entertaining games out there, but they're one and done. There are other MMOs, but you have to start from scratch. It's why a LOT of us still play this game through content droughts or just plain shitty content (like BFA).
That said, as Blizz increasingly takes away and/or nerfs items that cost a lot in time or gold (or effectively real money, as was the case with my RaF rewards), they also erode that advantage. More and more, we're just left with a game that feels increasingly less entertaining or rewarding - especially as their idea of "content" broadens to things like removing portals and delaying flying (to the point of it not being worth attaining) to increase MAU without their having to actually put any effort into it.