Have We Become Overly Critical?

[OMGTwitchTV]

Define overly critical. At what level does criticism become too much?

When I think overly critical, I am thinking of things like flying, the mobile app, or other random aesthetic items which could offer up a better criticism and solution, but none of which are game breaking. Several people took their favorite buzzword "cringe" and applied it to a fistfull of topics on this site, where the word didn't even apply. Cringe would be Dr. Tobias Funke, a character from Arrested Development. Just looking at him would give you the ick factor. But Blizz finding a way to host a free, online Blizzcon where a Virtual Ticket was not needed, simply to support fans and offer up some interesting content is perfectly fine in my book.

Did I enjoy the panel that didn't focus on voices, but rather Covid and Jesus for 20 minutes? Not exactly. But I didn't immediately dash into a forum to crucify them for it. There was a time when people would simply be excited for an event like this, especially during this time in our history. There is something cultural and sociological at play that just seems to bring out the worst in some, rather than something more positive and understanding. Given what was accomplished remotely for the whole year, and during the launch, I was pleasantly surprised there were zero issues at launch and Shadowlands was an exciting new expansion.

[schwarzkopf]

Not overly critical - just overly meaningless criticisms.

Whinging that your car has four wheels, or whinging your automatic car doesn't a clutch is the level of 'critical' these days on WoW.

Most whinging comes from complete ignorance.

What is actually lacking is constructive, informed criticism - that's a rare beast indeed.

[OMGTwitchTV]

It's sometimes difficult to separate people being overly critical from those just wanting attention. Well, not that hard really if you think about it. You can look at the quality of the criticism, check to see if anything like a solution is proposed and how often someone creates threads complaining about things.

That said, good criticism is a completely fair thing. People should talk about what they like and what they dislike. Both are helpful.

They're just as interested in what is working for people as what isn't.

Agreed 100%. Positive and constructive criticism is a cornerstone building block for impovements and cohesion between any product and its fanbase. I feel if there were more actual constructive events, and fewer 5 minutes of fame moments, Blizz would likely sit up and take more into consideration.

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Nah, that's just bullshit people make up to justify being asshats. If someone has an actual criticism, they can figure out how to express it to get the point across. "You fuckin suck" deserves nothing more than a punch in the face.

This is pretty accurate, although the conclusion I took a bit less serious as I smirked. Thank you for that.

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No because there is a clear line from when Blizz really cared to when they didn't give a shit.

Blizz could give us another Wrath hell Id take another MoP but since WoD they have just been half assing,

Not sure I could consider Shadowlands "half ass". WoD was a major let down with lots of potential. Legion was a minor letdown, but I am not big on the greens and demons aspect. BFA had so much hype, but it fell flat for me by 8.2. At least with Shadowlands, I have the ever changing landscape of Torghast, that feeling of danger being in the Maw for too long, and a uniqueness to each of the four zones all be it without flying just yet. This is probably the most fun I have actually had since Cataclysm.

[relaxok]

The problem is the dumbass community that wants all gear on a vendor.

Blizzard, who actually design games for a living, know this is a dumb idea.

[OMGTwitchTV]

Yes. Everything is bad, everything is terrible. Blizzard is lazy, greedy, out of touch, and deliberately make unfun content to prop up their MAUs. Even things like having a game world instead of teleporting from quest spot to quest spot is just an unneccesary waste of time and not even real content. /s

And this is just complaints I've heard today.

Great use of sarcasm, and a perfect example of the not-so-constructive elements in most feedback.

[Whitedragon]

So you want to just teleport where you want to be and not travel to get there at all?

This sort of logic is the reason the game is getting worse not better, the gotta go fast mentality.

Feeling the need to add pointless padding through longer travel time is most certainly not making the game better...

[OMGTwitchTV]

I guess yes we are overly critical. But at some points with reason.
I don't think decisions regarding flying fall under that for example. These are design choices that have nothing to do with development time.

But the loss of armor sets and transmogs, less dungeons half baked short story quests, only question after question with no answers regarding the story to keep people hooked, reused mount models with unique ones in the shop. It just adds after a while. I still play because it is not at a point where i think it overshadows my fun in the game... but it is getting noticable more. Most noticable the lack of unique sets and the question/revelation thing for the story.


Hell at least they could have made new mounts for the freaking covenants but no we get an unraveld turd with fur called fox whatever with the cloud serpent rig.

If memory serves, we are also being handed a huge treant, and a few new mounts and armors made their way in. Given the separation factor and challenged cohesion that came with isolation in 2020, I feel like they delivered more in this expac under duress than we saw under BFA with no challenges facing them.

[VinceVega]

If memory serves, we are also being handed a huge treant, and a few new mounts and armors made their way in. Given the separation factor and challenged cohesion that came with isolation in 2020, I feel like they delivered more in this expac under duress than we saw under BFA with no challenges facing them.

I actually don't know why people bring up the pandemic all the time to be fair. I work in IT too. Have been in homeoffice since last year. The overall work quality actually went up in some parts.
Not ideal workconditions but there is not really a big "problem" while working from home.
I feel it is exactly the same if not less than bfa. I am getting more and more annoyed at them and last year i vehemently defended them in nearly everything.

That blizzconline with nearly no information to any of their games just made it worse. Would have been better to not hold it and just bring it out as a blue post or safe it up for next blizzcon.

That tree mount... yeah great... nearly no one will ever use it like all the "gift" mounts. Are there ANY new mount models in SL? I can think of the cradle. Maybe the moth and gorm. But the rest have all been reused.

[Nyel]

No. Quality in game design just decreased and WoW is lacking fresh, innovative features for half a decade now. The most innovative thing they brought into this game were artifact weapons (which are in a different iteration still part of the game) and island expeditions, of which the latter flopped hard (although they're still around in the form of Torghast).

WoW is just... more of the same. Which isn't necessarily bad, but there needs to be new and exciting additions to the game on top of just always the same.

[Loveliest]

So you want to just teleport where you want to be and not travel to get there at all?

This sort of logic is the reason the game is getting worse not better, the gotta go fast mentality.

I think you need to take a look at yourself and why it is you enjoy this...
If you somehow find it fun taking 5-7 minutes to just get where you want to do something... it's almost like liking long commutes to work. It's not like we're seeing the places for the first time, there are places I go to ingame every single day - for example it takes me well over 5 mins to get to Ardwnweald where I spend 2 mins killing one mob. And most of those 5 mins I am alt tabbed, because I am taking a FP. I suppose it takes a special kind of person to enjoy taking FP every single day and watching the same exact path and doing nothing but staring at your screen...

[Lolites]

No. Remaining critical is how you get improvements made.

if its constructive or at least true, sure, but 99.999999999% of forum threads/posts are neither

[Varodoc]

Why do people even complain on this forum? I mean, this is a little fan-forum, Blizzard doesn't even read it, so wouldn't it make more sense to complain on the Official forums or Reddit instead?

[Gref]

I am critical because I want this game to survive, hold its quality. Especially on the quality part I have tons of things to say. This game is so dear to me.

[Lolites]

It's no secret who supports Blizz and who crucifies them with every, single decision; however, I have to wonder...

have we become overcritical of a 15 year old MMO that continues to get updates? Ultima Online, EverQuest and World of Warcraft have been around for a long while and still have a large and dedicated fanbase, yet other MMOs like Aion, LotRO, Warhammer, Age of Conan, and even Guild Wars 2 all set out to dethrone the long standing favorites and eventually faded into nothingness. What do you suppose prevents some players from just being excited to still have new content and millions of other players?

3.1 with raid (great one, no question about that) and few dailies was amazing, but 8.3 with raid, dailies, assaults, corruption system, story q line, visions, nev pvp and M+ seasons with new affix, outdoor changes to two zones, legendary, redesigned bg, two new races, auction house overhaul and more small changes was "empty patch", so what do you think?

yes, people are way too critical, and, which is far worse, completely forgetful and biased

[Qnubi]

Denying that you've become overly critical when you obviously have is a sign of not really realizing where you are in life.

I agree with you, people rarely reflect at all. People need to slow down and actually THINK about they thoughts and opinions. Most just assume they are the same, but everyone is changing, and you have to actually stop and think about it to realize that.

[MoanaLisa]

Why do people even complain on this forum? I mean, this is a little fan-forum, Blizzard doesn't even read it, so wouldn't it make more sense to complain on the Official forums or Reddit instead?

This is what they have. More than a few have been banned from the Blizzard boards so make their way here. For the most part there's very little useful in their threads although some of the answers to those topic take the idea seriously and do more with it than the OP ever did. I believe that many threads by constant complainers disappear quite quickly on Reddit through downvotes. So that's not much of an option either.

[Naiattavain]

the cancel couture is real they won. so to answer the question yes.

[ClassicPeon]

All criticism is constructive criticism. There is nothing wrong with providing feedback.

And THIS is why we cant have nice things

[Lolites]

No because there is a clear line from when Blizz really cared to when they didn't give a shit.

how can there be clear line when different people judge it based on different criteria...

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No. We want a better game is all, and less of false promises from Blizzard. If they're not gonna carrying out their plans, why even promise this shit to us in the first place?

things get cut during proces, thats truth now as it was truth back in 2004, people are just more informed and become less understanding

[Blackmist]

No, because we're paying them a subscription fee.

A subscription fee, incidentally, that is now the same cost as GamePass Ultimate. Do you think WoW provides that amount of value?