Forum post of the day: Moving moments
Since its inception World of Warcraft has been an evolving game. Someone who played only shortly after release would hardly recognize the game now. Blizzard has always welcomed feedback, but some changes have elicited more feedback than others. In a thread entitled "Epic moments in WoW QQ history," Gatsukaa chronicled some of the most upsetting events that have occurred in the evolution of our game:
Moment 1:
WoW is first released. Hunter and warlock pets could be one-shot. Hunter dps was pretty lackluster. Soulstones gave you rez sickness (I think). No soulshards from PvP. The first emo whiners in WoW were born: Hunters and Warlocks. World of Roguecraft video is released showing how a rogue in crap gear could wtfpwn people while warlocks were so gimp. Result is that warlocks went on to get buffed in nearly every patch as they were on their way to god-hood. No more world of roguecraft videos. Hunters saw substantial improvements as well, but weren't made into demigods.
Moment 2:
Mages with both Talisman of Ephemeral Power and Zandalarian Hero Charm could stack the trinkets' on-use effects to drastically increase spell damage. Coupled with Arcane Power and PoM Pyro, such mages could one shot almost anyone. Massive QQ on the forums ensues. Result is that trinkets no longer stack such on-use effects (one exception was a glitch that allowed Hex Shrunken Head and Skull of Gul'dan to stack, but that was later fixed).
Moment 3:
Before Burning Crusade, the best PvP gear was PvE gear. Raiders in tier 2 and tier 3 gear ruled the Battlegrounds. Massive QQ from casuals ensued. Result was resilience and arena gear without any rating requirement for the first few seasons in TBC.
Moment 4:
TBC is released. About a month later as most people hit 70 and begin running level 70 five mans and heroic dungeons, it becomes apparent that druids are one of the best tanks if not THE best tanks for 5 mans. Massive warrior QQ ensues. Result is that druid tanking is drastically nerfed..
Moment 5:
Alterac Valley is redesigned. Suddenly, Horde are winning on average 80% of AV games on most servers based on forum estimates. Massive alliance QQ ensues. Alliance boycott AV. Result is that the Horde starting zone in AV is pushed further back and Balinda is buffed.
Moment 6:
Blizzard toys with the idea of nerfing lifetap on the PTR. Before the nerf is even implemented on the PTR, massive warlock QQ ensues. Result is that the change is never implemented on the PTR and thus never got patched into the actual game.
Now yes, this thread could be seen as a troll on the forums. When you take a step back, though, it's actually kind of fascinating to look at where we've been. These are examples of Blizzard taking action on common complaints. There have been plenty of other events that have caused a stir, but we've since learned to live with.
I remember when cross-realm battlegrounds first started. By the way players were complaining you would have thought it was the end of the world... of Warcraft, or at least PvP. I was a little miffed at first, and there are still man problems, mostly on a social level. But I remember hour-long WSG queues prior to the shift. I'd go to dinner and ask one of my guildies to call my cell phone if the queue popped. I don't miss that.
Think of all the incidents when they've implemented player requests. We have flying mounts now, though they are admittedly limited. Horde got Paladins, and Alliance got Shamans. They've cracked down on arena cheating, to some degree, and have implemented a system to penalized inactive honor farmerss in the battlegrounds. Shammies are due to get buffs soon, and hopefully Paladins are too. Blizzard is even implementing new dances and hair styles. It's not usually instant, but they have made changes. Let's see what happens with the Cheat Death nerf in Patch 2.4.3.
What did Gatsukaa miss in her list of player demanded changes?
