Gamers on the Street: Patch? What patch?

Gamers on the Street logs into U.S. servers to get the word from the front on what's going on in and around the World of Warcraft.

If you've ever suspected that official forums posters are the squeaky wheels of the World of Warcraft, you may be right. With all the noise there about various buffs, nerfs and changes in Patch 2.3.2, you'd think that all of Azeroth and the Outland would be in turmoil. But when Gamers on the Street popped in on Doomhammer server yesterday to see what players thought about Patch 2.3.2, player response was considerably underwhelming. Replies from players on this high-population, longstanding server ranged from "What mage changes? I guess I should read the patch notes more often," to "Oh, there was a patch?"

We visited with players both Alliance-side (talkative and opinionated) and Horde-side (Horde, O Horde ... where were you?) to find out what players thought of Patch 2.3.2 specifics. (And much to our disappointment, we didn't run into a single transmute-specced alchemist who'd had a proc since the patch.) Read on for players' thoughts, after the break.

Paladins are definitely the socialites of Doomhammer -- replies from Alliance players were overwhelmingly from paladins. Still, players were all over the map when it came to an overall perception of and experience with class-specific changes.

From the Alliance
Alaraz, a 70 human paladin from <I AM LEGEND>, stepped forward with strong feelings about the mage changes.

Gamers: Hey Alaraz, what do you think about the new patch? Anything yummy for you inside, or anything that's throwing you off?
Alaraz: Since I'm Holy, there's nothing that really affected me in a good way. But the thing that's throwing me off is that all mages get ice block now, so it's gonna be way OP in arena -- and on top of that, ice mages get Icy Veins, which is gonna be even more OP. So I'd just like to say I hate mages.
Gamers: Are you on an Arena team?
Alaraz: Yeah, I got all three. I don't have a mage in (any) of 'em :P
Gamers: So do you think their ability is out of line?
Alaraz: Yep, pretty much. I know fire mages were really weak in Arena before the patch, because they had no survivability skills.
Gamers: What about rogues? I'm talking with a pally here who says rogues are giving him more trouble.
Alaraz: Meh. Rogues have a lot of stunlocks and stuff that can piss me off -- but I mean, pillar abuse works great with them. Then you have mages that blink towards you and toss up a counterspell while you're trying to heal -- there I am CSed for eight seconds. It's pretty much game over for me.
Gamers: Ouch.
Alaraz: As a pally, I got a lot of armor, so rogues don't hit me as hard, either.

But another 70 human pally, Waylonos of <Dragonbane>, reported having more trouble since the patch with rogues than with mages.

Waylonos whispers: I like the new patch, even though rogues are a little more ... powerful.
Gamers: How so?
Waylonos: One of their abilities was raised from 200% to 250% damage, which means they can kill faster! =D
Gamers: Have you run into this already?
Waylonos: In a duel, yes -- died bout 30 seconds faster.
Gamers: Any way you can counter that?
Waylonos: Um ... I guess just bubble and hope for the best, or just use Hammer of Justice.
Gamers: Any trouble with mages now?
Waylonos: Not that I've seen.

Schnooky, a level 70 gnome warlock in <Geriatrics>, seemed quite pleased by the buff to Alterac Valley mini-bosses.

Gamers: Got any feedback for us on how the patch has gone for you?
Schnooky: I'm doing quite well with it. Only thing I've been affected by is the AV bosses wearing decent armor.
Gamers: Ahh, the boss HP hotfix in Alterac Valley. How much of a buff do you think it is?
Schnooky: I think it helps tremendously for the Alliance.
Gamers: But not Horde?
Schnooky: Well, we seem to be winning more now. :D I'm sure it helps (Horde, too). I feel it definitely changes the strat a little to include Galv/Belinda every time. I like it -- makes for more battles :D As a long-time Alliance PvPer, we never go for Galv ... straight to RH ... But now he is first shot.

For the Horde!
Hordeside, players were less vocal. Most Hordies told Gamers on the Street that they either hadn't noticed any significant changes or didn't care. One mage who stopped long enough to comment noted trouble with his rogue against paladins -- perhaps he hasn't fought Waylonos, the Alliance paladin who was having trouble with rogues.

From Raisttlinn, a level 70 undead mage in <PVE PFFT PVP>:

Gamers: What do you think about the mage changes -- did you think that mages needed the change?
Raisttlinn: Well, we didn't really need it, but was nice of Blizz to do. Although, thinking about it, fire mages with Ice Block is kind of off beat. Rogues, on the other hand ... sheesh!
Gamers: Oh? What about rogues?
Raisttlinn: They took out AR/prep spec, which was uncalled for.
Gamers: Do you have a rogue -- or just sympathize with them?
Raisttlinn: Got one. :) Ruined my spec completely. Destroys a rogue's chances of taking out paladin, though. Without double Adrenaline Rush, (paladins) can heal through it easily.

QQueue
So if patch changes weren't on the minds of Doomhammer players this week, what is? In a nutshell: queues. Virtually every player we visited with mentioned the server's lengthy log-in queues. It seems that things have been hopping on Doomhammer since the holidays, and queues are showing it.

"Server queues just shot up to unreal amounts," reports Alaraz. "I'm not too sure (why). It probably doesn't have much to do with the patch, but all the people transferring to our server and starting new accounts. I mean, I had to wait in a line of 600 for over 40 minutes last night. It's pathetic." Still, Alaraz did note a bright side to the problem: "You can find a group for pretty much everything real fast."

If you'd like to visit with Gamers on the Street about what's going on in your WoW life, drop us a line.