05/20/09 03:04:41 PM
Patch 3.1.2
Snowyknight |
Why I login less now (constructive feedback)
Posted on this account as I'm getting the once-a-month "Account
is inactive" payment processing bug today. My main is Snowfox,
a veteran 80 night elf priest. Her armory is here:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Vek%27nilash&n=Snowfox
Introduction
I love this game, I love healing, and I love being a priest.
Unfortunately I also find myself feeling less of an urge to
login, and hope to explain why in a neutral way. In the past, I
have posted about frustration I felt with priests, and feel
they were addressed (perhaps not *my* posts, but the issues
nonetheless). My complaint is NOT about priests being weak or
anything like that. I think what was done to disc was
brilliant, even if currently very strong. My concerns are at a
higher level than just priesting or even healing though.
Parts of the game experienced
I post this, just so readers understand my perspective is not
from lack of exploring different sides of the game:
* 5p pugging - everything, multiple times
* 40P raiding - everything but the end of naxx at 60
* 10p raiding - everything before Ulduar
* 25p raiding - everything but Malygos before Ulduar (in
pugs)
* Vanilla PvP - grinded out commander
* BC PvP - full but not topline set of arena gear
* Wotlk PvP - less than bc, and got involved at the worst
possible time for a priest: pre-nerf DK's.
* Addon development - although I'd rather not go into
specifics
* RP realms - I am an adept roleplayer
* PvP realms - On a rogue alt and old druid
* Multiboxing - Three at once, clearing instances. Also doing
5p heroics as both the tank and healer, simultaneously.
* Classes - 80 priest, 80 dk, 74 warlock, 60 druid, and
everything else at random levels.
What changed or needed to change, but didn't:
Monoguilds:
WoW's system of allowing membership in one and only one guild
at a time is simply outdated. Layered/multi-guilding
alone would solve a lot of the social angst present now.
"On rails" frustration:
I'm frustrated by the sometimes constricted feeling of healing,
that the heal I'm expected to use is almost pre-calculated,
over-analyzed, and the specific need for a spell almost coded
directly into the boss fights themselves.
Lack of user content:
While I understand developers want their vision, done with
quality - In WoW, players have total lack of creative control,
there still being nothing liked sandboxed but free form content
creation, guild housing, or any way to really add anything to
the game beyond addons and a clever tabard design.
Arenas/PvP:
Perhaps I'm terrible at them, perhaps I'd be better now but
don't wish to go. I don't know, I just know I'd rather watch go
farming herbs than set foot in one now. We can handwave this
one away as personal preference though.
Raiding relapsed:
In short, the love I have for 5p's I still feel for 10p's.
However the corporate work-world feeling I had in 40p's I still
feel in 25p's. It isn't about easy or hard, it's about feeling
drained by them. I won't go back to it, if it involves the same
monoguilding-with-strangers as it has.
The demise of 5p's:
I've done all of them, repeatedly, on different toons, in
different roles, in all manners of groups. I would still login
to do them, but there is little reason to now. There is no
progression of any sort to be had from them. Even kidnapping
puppies gives more money for the time than the daily heroics.
At 60, even after killing C'Thun I remember doing a dire maul
tribute run for mana pots. I don't see that effect
anymore.
IV. The big picture
I actually do know what it is like to be brought on to extend
and develop an already existing software system, one which
carries with it the legacy of the past, for both good and bad.
I know that non-antagonistic feedback plays a pivotal role.
When I get home from work, debating what to do to unwind, I
think of WoW first... but then I think of exactly *what* I
would do, and my head just hangs. Maybe I've gone too far
outside the norm, played too long, or have gotten too old. I
realize there are many broad issues here, and this is more
emotion/need based post than the usual number theories. If I
had to pick just *one* as the most important - I'd implore the
developers to not underestimate the importance of 5p's and
their remaining relevant to progression. They are what keep
players/healers like myself logging in, how players meet and
form social bonds with their realm, and often leads to other
things like raiding or pvp. My <3 will always belong to the
5p's. There isn't an item or title possible that can change
that. If some of the other issues didn't exist, the 5p issue
would likely not seem as important.
I post this as a priest, a tank, and a player - but always
remembering my roots healing the pug 5p's.
Please.
I want to want to login.
|
