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Q u o t e:
In the time I've had an account, I've never seen the amount of ranting/raving I've witnessed the past two days.
Anyhow the changes the developers have been making recently, simply mark their realization of a change in gamer base.
You 'hardcore' computer gamers can probably thank game consoles for that.
With the inception of game consoles being able to connect to the internet and thus other gamers (i.E x-box live), the idea of playing with others through the "internet' has become more socially acceptable and no longer the mark of a 'computer geek". As such I think its fair to say MMos in generally have seen an adequate rise in gamer base overall. As a result, in order to keep the interests of the influx of new gamers ($$$) who tend to be people who wouldn't normally invest time or understand the mechanics of an MMO, the developers make sure that the "causal' player maintains interest.

In other words, this isn't an argument for/against the idea of "casual/easier game play" I'm just stating that these continual changes reflect the evolving demographic of game players. It won't change anytime soon either unless suddenly the idea of online gaming becomes a taboo again.

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Dead Space is over rated, in case anyone was thinking about playing it..

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Q u o t e:

It was. I'll stick to my Silent hill series tyvm. =D

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Q u o t e:
In the time I've had an account, I've never seen the amount of ranting/raving I've witnessed the past two days.
Anyhow the changes the developers have been making recently, simply mark their realization of a change in gamer base.
You 'hardcore' computer gamers can probably thank game consoles for that.
With the inception of game consoles being able to connect to the internet and thus other gamers (i.E x-box live), the idea of playing with others through the "internet' has become more socially acceptable and no longer the mark of a 'computer geek". As such I think its fair to say MMos in generally have seen an adequate rise in gamer base overall. As a result, in order to keep the interests of the influx of new gamers ($$$) who tend to be people who wouldn't normally invest time or understand the mechanics of an MMO, the developers make sure that the "causal' player maintains interest.

In other words, this isn't an argument for/against the idea of "casual/easier game play" I'm just stating that these continual changes reflect the evolving demographic of game players. It won't change anytime soon either unless suddenly the idea of online gaming becomes a taboo again.

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Q u o t e:
I see your point; you also made me think of another point that I hadn't really looked at.

There are many small and struggling raid guilds comprised of good people who really want to raid but look whistfully at the better geared members of more successful raid guilds. Last night a warlock from our sister guild said to me "oh my god your raid gear is amazing" and I thanked her for the compliment; ten minutes later I realized I had forgottten to switch off my pvp gear (only have one piece of furious, mostly deadly otherwise). It made me feel a little sorry for her that this nice girl was looking at my pvp gear and wished she had "raid gear" that good...

I am more happy for the smaller raid guilds that will now get to have fun over better shinies than for the new gamers who aren't really going to have to work for their gear. The new challenge in WoW is going to be sorting out the bad players from the good and armory is going to become virtually useless now that even Helen Keller could faceroll into the best of the best gear with no real effort.

Blizzard has the number one MOG as far as I know. Do they really want to make changes THIS fundamental to what is arguably among the most successful games ever? And they really should take note of the upset this upcoming patch has generated (well, most specifically the emblem changes).

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I'll hang up my maces when WoW can be played with a Wii. Though it will be kinda funny watching people use Wii controls for arena.. :D

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I like to blame everything on Microsoft too. Ya, ya that's it because of X-box live, that's the problem. What a joke!

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Q u o t e:
I'll hang up my maces when WoW can be played with a Wii. Though it will be kinda funny watching people use Wii controls for arena.. :D

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Q u o t e:
We're working to accommodate fun. As you can see, we've released a lot of information for everyone to start taking in and digesting. We did this even though the PTR is not available for play currently because we felt good about releasing this information to you and felt that it would benefit the community as a whole to be able to see what was coming in the PTR and in the next large content patch.

The player base is large and varied. There is no way any one person can say everyone likes "X". It can't be done. Depite all these changes, there is a definite method to the madness. We're not just looking at the now, but we're looking toward the future as well. We're always trying to plan as far ahead as we possibly can so that we can take that next step. Sometimes an idea might seem great, we test it, it still seems great, we release it, and in the live and very vast player base, it doesn't quite work out how we felt it should and so we change it.

We're not doing it to cause anyone distress or "stick it" to anyone. That's not what we are about. We're about creating a fantastic gaming experience which means, giving people a chance to have fun.

I do believe that once the community experiences the PTR, there will be more understanding of the method to the madness and also, it will give us a chance to see these changes in action. Things can still be changed if we feel they just aren't working out the way we thought or expected.

I think the most important thing right now for everyone to remember as they are discussing these changes is that we're looking for constructive discussion. The more knee-jerk or non-constructive posts and discussions are going to be removed because they simply create noise versus discussion. We're perfectly comfortable with people not like a change and voicing that, so long as it's done in a productive way. (This isn't aimed at the original poster btw.)

I understand what these sorts of threads are trying to do, but I don't think you can nutshell these changes into a nice neat package of "they are doing this for 'these' people". Game design doesn't work that way and we'll be doing what we can to address as many conversations about these changes as we can. BUT we're looking for constructive discussions that add to the value of the community and would like to encourage everyone who may be posting in a moment of anger (or even enthusiasm) to take a quick step back, take a breath or two, count to ten, and then share with us your best and most constructive thoughts.

Passion is fantastic. It's one of my favorite emotions, but reign it in a little prior to putting your fingers to the keyboard.

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Q u o t e:
We're working to accommodate fun. As you can see, we've released a lot of information for everyone to start taking in and digesting. We did this even though the PTR is not available for play currently because we felt good about releasing this information to you and felt that it would benefit the community as a whole to be able to see what was coming in the PTR and in the next large content patch.

The player base is large and varied. There is no way any one person can say everyone likes "X". It can't be done. Depite all these changes, there is a definite method to the madness. We're not just looking at the now, but we're looking toward the future as well. We're always trying to plan as far ahead as we possibly can so that we can take that next step. Sometimes an idea might seem great, we test it, it still seems great, we release it, and in the live and very vast player base, it doesn't quite work out how we felt it should and so we change it.

We're not doing it to cause anyone distress or "stick it" to anyone. That's not what we are about. We're about creating a fantastic gaming experience which means, giving people a chance to have fun.

I do believe that once the community experiences the PTR, there will be more understanding of the method to the madness and also, it will give us a chance to see these changes in action. Things can still be changed if we feel they just aren't working out the way we thought or expected.

I think the most important thing right now for everyone to remember as they are discussing these changes is that we're looking for constructive discussion. The more knee-jerk or non-constructive posts and discussions are going to be removed because they simply create noise versus discussion. We're perfectly comfortable with people not like a change and voicing that, so long as it's done in a productive way. (This isn't aimed at the original poster btw.)

I understand what these sorts of threads are trying to do, but I don't think you can nutshell these changes into a nice neat package of "they are doing this for 'these' people". Game design doesn't work that way and we'll be doing what we can to address as many conversations about these changes as we can. BUT we're looking for constructive discussions that add to the value of the community and would like to encourage everyone who may be posting in a moment of anger (or even enthusiasm) to take a quick step back, take a breath or two, count to ten, and then share with us your best and most constructive thoughts.

Passion is fantastic. It's one of my favorite emotions, but reign it in a little prior to putting your fingers to the keyboard.

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Q u o t e:
I see your point; you also made me think of another point that I hadn't really looked at.

There are many small and struggling raid guilds comprised of good people who really want to raid but look whistfully at the better geared members of more successful raid guilds. Last night a warlock from our sister guild said to me "oh my god your raid gear is amazing" and I thanked her for the compliment; ten minutes later I realized I had forgottten to switch off my pvp gear (only have one piece of furious, mostly deadly otherwise). It made me feel a little sorry for her that this nice girl was looking at my pvp gear and wished she had "raid gear" that good...

I am more happy for the smaller raid guilds that will now get to have fun over better shinies than for the new gamers who aren't really going to have to work for their gear. The new challenge in WoW is going to be sorting out the bad players from the good and armory is going to become virtually useless now that even Helen Keller could faceroll into the best of the best gear with no real effort.

Blizzard has the number one MOG as far as I know. Do they really want to make changes THIS fundamental to what is arguably among the most successful games ever? And they really should take note of the upset this upcoming patch has generated (well, most specifically the emblem changes).

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