Blizzard punishing you for stepping out of line - everytime

[Big Thanks]

Somewhat of a rant, is anyone else frustrated by this?

I mean, this is really only a problem for people who like to step out of line, be different, imaginatve and theorycraft.
But ever since the Cataclysm there has been this obsession by Blizzard that you must play the game exactly how Blizzard wants you to play.
No stepping out of line.
Imagination and creativity by the playerbase are forbidden and quickly put down by a instant nerf or right out removal of said gameplay.

Im mainly speaking of talents, traits and customization in playstyle.

And dont get me started on the 50% nerf to all azerites in PvP, making effectively all custmization a simple DPS increase from azerites...instead of creating entire new playstyles.


--------

I'll give you some fresh out of the oven examples from BfA, since memory is still fresh
A list of entirely different and fun playstyles being removed from the game:

Rogue (PvP)

Deadshot azerite trait: Outlaw rogue has zero burst potential and this trait gave Outlaw rogue the only chance at it. You still needed to roll a good buff first and pray for it to crit. But nevertheless it was nerfed into oblivion, im talking 70% nerfs and whatnot...Outlaw to this day and ever since, has no burst.

Snake Eyes azerite trait: Oldschool snake eyes promoted an entire different playstyle for Outlaw Rogue, just like some legendaries did in Legion. To the point of even picking "Slice and Dice" over the random buffs. Incredibly fun and different playstyle...nerfed to the ground and Snake Eyes was entirely reworked in order to remove this playstyle from the game.

Demon Hunter

Unbound Chaos azerite trait: Amazingly fun playstyle for Mythic+ and every AoE cleave fight. Promoted a playstyle that started in Legion...which was "Fel Rushing inside big pack of mobs" for insane AoE damage. Guess what happened to this one? REMOVED from the game. Completely and utterly removed.

--------

How many times has your imagination and creativity been put down by Blizzard simply because you stepped out of line?

[Kiki b]

I'll admit dagger meme spec was pretty fun and I'm not a fan of that change, but UBC was a buggy mess that (I personally recall) was pretty divisive in the DH community. Some loved it, some hated it, saying it "was an amazingly fun playstyle" is subjective.

Deadshot was just way too strong. They wanted to capture the feeling of greenskins bracers but it was just way too dominant.

[melzas]

Do we really have to go through another "old talents vs new talents" thread?

You never had more customisation in wow than you have right now on retail. It's not creativty you are missing, its imbalance that worked in your favor.

[Mightytasty]

That’s the problem with having 40 specs in the game. Balance is prioritized over fun, emergent gameplay.

Still, it’s baffling that specs that worked in the past expansions and are nearly universally enjoyed are changed so often and dramatically.

What I would do personally is bring back designated PvP and PvE specs. Not every spec needs to be viable in every situation.

[Big Thanks]

Do we really have to go through another "old talents vs new talents" thread?

You never had more customisation in wow than you have right now on retail. It's not creativty you are missing, its imbalance that worked in your favor.

Its more about the most recent azerite traits.

Imbalance? Says Blizzard because we stepped out of the line of their vision on how to play the game.
We must play exactly how they want.

RPG's are known for giving the ability to players to "spread their wings"...except blizzard cuts our wings everytime.

[Seranthor]

Its more about the most recent azerite traits.

Imbalance? Says Blizzard because we stepped out of the line of their vision on how to play the game.
We must play exactly how they want.

RPG's are known for giving the ability to players to "spread their wings"...except blizzard cuts our wings everytime.

Maybe Wow isn't for you any longer.. there is no shame in admitting that you've grown up and need something different.

[Big Thanks]

Maybe Wow isn't for you any longer.. there is no shame in admitting that you've grown up and need something different.

All i want is to spread my wings with imagination...and for them to not be cut mid expansion.
This happened 3 times in a row in BfA.
I was left with nothing to live for.

RPG? Not so much

[Ange]

Was tripple outlaw MDI in S2/S3 not enough?

Do you really have to cry over broken traits?

[Kiki b]

But on the other side, you have things like the glimmer of light playstyle for holy paladins, and enhance shamans having two completely different playstyles and talent combinations based on the traits that they have.

It's a mixed bag.

[horbindr]

it simply takes more time/money to redesign the skill/spec to keep the fun without it being OP, than to simply slap on a % nerf.

tho on the other hand, what do you think of the prot warrior avatar nerf OP? is 70% damage reduction "no fun allowed"? or is the fact that they increased avatar uptime with essences acknowledging that the playstyle is fun, even if the numbers are less (but still very good) than before?

[AlmightyGerkin]

Wow hasn't been an rpg since wotlk.

[Oneirophobia]

Well, once upon a time there was this little talent called "Clarity of Power..."

Not only did they kill that talent, they killed Mind Spike too. Just for good measure. Just to see if they could prank us twice, they added Surrender to Madness and then smashed our faces into it just as we went to take a bite.

[Tiwack]

When things don't work as intended they tend to get fixed. Get over yourself and instead of getting hung up on changes, don't identify with the friend that is the wow-GAME-world.

[Oneirophobia]

WoW is no longer really any sort of RPG it hasnt been for years, There's no real character progression anymore stats and abilities have been pruned, for levels 100 to 120 there's not new talents not a single one and the abilities you do gain you only keep for that expansion only to be weakened again into a new expansion instead of keeping what you learnt and growing.

WoW has no real right to call itself a RPG these days.

The level squish may help with this, I feel the same way.

[Super Black Man of Steal]

Somewhat of a rant, is anyone else frustrated by this?

I mean, this is really only a problem for people who like to step out of line, be different, imaginatve and theorycraft.
But ever since the Cataclysm there has been this obsession by Blizzard that you must play the game exactly how Blizzard wants you to play.
No stepping out of line.
Imagination and creativity by the playerbase are forbidden and quickly put down by a instant nerf or right out removal of said gameplay.

Im mainly speaking of talents, traits and customization in playstyle.

And dont get me started on the 50% nerf to all azerites in PvP, making effectively all custmization a simple DPS increase from azerites...instead of creating entire new playstyles.


--------

I'll give you some fresh out of the oven examples from BfA, since memory is still fresh
A list of entirely different and fun playstyles being removed from the game:

Rogue (PvP)

Deadshot azerite trait: Outlaw rogue has zero burst potential and this trait gave Outlaw rogue the only chance at it. You still needed to roll a good buff first and pray for it to crit. But nevertheless it was nerfed into oblivion, im talking 70% nerfs and whatnot...Outlaw to this day and ever since, has no burst.

Snake Eyes azerite trait: Oldschool snake eyes promoted an entire different playstyle for Outlaw Rogue, just like some legendaries did in Legion. To the point of even picking "Slice and Dice" over the random buffs. Incredibly funand different playstyle...nerfed to the ground and Snake Eyes was entirely reworked in order to remove this playstyle from the game.

Demon Hunter

Unbound Chaos azerite trait: Amazingly fun playstyle for Mythic+ and every AoE cleave fight. Promoted a playstyle that started in Legion...which was "Fel Rushing inside big pack of mobs" for insane AoE damage. Guess what happened to this one? REMOVED from the game. Completely and utterly removed.

--------

How many times has your imagination and creativity been put down by Blizzard simply because you stepped out of line?

They're nerfing things that are overpowered. It's great that you are being creative and imaginative, but the same thing can be said about the exploit community. You found a glitch in the matrix. It's Blizzard's job to fix it. Fun for you is grief for others.

[Nefarious Tea]

All i want is to spread my wings with imagination...and for them to not be cut mid expansion.

Don't even pretend you were actually one of the cutting-edge theorycrafters who were figuring out the weird interactions for broken aoe/burst/whatever.

You just wait for the guides and ride their coat tails like everyone else.

You're not mad that you can't do weird things and be creative; you're butthurt that your OP flavor of the month rerolling was for nothing.

[Zardi]

I loved playing Dual-Wield Unholy DK during Wrath and early Cata.

Turns out that, while it was well below average at "standard" gear levels, it scaled better than it should, resulting in a whooping 5% increase over regular 2H Unholy and DW Frost with top-end gear. So some guilds ran them in their BWD/BoT world firsts.

Result? Instant 60% nerf.

No sugarcoating. They could have gone for a 10 or 15% nerf, but instead chose to send a DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT PLAYING THIS message.

In fact, quoting Ghostcrawler...

Die, Shadowfrost. Die. Die. Don't come back.

Ah well!

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Letting you be creative would mean they have to try to balance the game instead of just tweaking one of their three balance knobs. Can't have that. The esport would suffer for your fun.

[Djuntas]

OP, I dont care much about your examples, but systems are much, much more important.

The worst example I can think of is the removal of premade BGs that cant sign up in a group bigger than 5 people.

Yes I wanna get achives and farm pugs, or sometimes meat other premades....But nope, blizzard hates fun. It was a great time in TBC etc when we did this.

If I had some time I could prolly find 10 system changes they nerfed...Like realm hopping removal. Well its not removed, but nerfed a lot.

[Lolites]

Somewhat of a rant, is anyone else frustrated by this?

I mean, this is really only a problem for people who like to step out of line, be different, imaginatve and theorycraft.
But ever since the Cataclysm there has been this obsession by Blizzard that you must play the game exactly how Blizzard wants you to play.
No stepping out of line.
Imagination and creativity by the playerbase are forbidden and quickly put down by a instant nerf or right out removal of said gameplay.

Im mainly speaking of talents, traits and customization in playstyle.

And dont get me started on the 50% nerf to all azerites in PvP, making effectively all custmization a simple DPS increase from azerites...instead of creating entire new playstyles.


--------

I'll give you some fresh out of the oven examples from BfA, since memory is still fresh
A list of entirely different and fun playstyles being removed from the game:

Rogue (PvP)

Deadshot azerite trait: Outlaw rogue has zero burst potential and this trait gave Outlaw rogue the only chance at it. You still needed to roll a good buff first and pray for it to crit. But nevertheless it was nerfed into oblivion, im talking 70% nerfs and whatnot...Outlaw to this day and ever since, has no burst.

Snake Eyes azerite trait: Oldschool snake eyes promoted an entire different playstyle for Outlaw Rogue, just like some legendaries did in Legion. To the point of even picking "Slice and Dice" over the random buffs. Incredibly funand different playstyle...nerfed to the ground and Snake Eyes was entirely reworked in order to remove this playstyle from the game.

Demon Hunter

Unbound Chaos azerite trait: Amazingly fun playstyle for Mythic+ and every AoE cleave fight. Promoted a playstyle that started in Legion...which was "Fel Rushing inside big pack of mobs" for insane AoE damage. Guess what happened to this one? REMOVED from the game. Completely and utterly removed.

--------

How many times has your imagination and creativity been put down by Blizzard simply because you stepped out of line?

you wanna complain about couple traits? please, as frost dk untill 8.2 you had literaly no choice of talents, you had breath build or nothing, as dps from other builds wasnt even remotely comparable