WoW is not going to get easier. The devs want us players to be responsible for making in-game decisions, rather than having WeakAuras/addons tell us what to do. The combat addon removal will make the game harder, but to compensate, Blizz is making classes and dungeon/raid encounters more playable without such addons. They said they’re aiming to keep the overall difficulty the same.
Maybe more players will try out mythic raids because one will no longer have the hassle of setting up tons of WA/addons. But if Blizzard’s tuning is on point, it will still take most Cutting Edge raiders months to clear the raid.
What about current WoW is “Difficult?”
the top players are dependent on what amounts to training wheels.
There is a hundred guides on how to play your class the right way
all the current data for which spec perform the best is one google search away
leveling and gearing up is quick and easy so you can just switch out for a more current meta class.
You know where and what the BiS is for your class before it even comes out.
You don’t have to figure out any of these things, all you have to do is find the time to actually play.
Meanwhile I never used combat addons, I read the dungeon guide in-game
And I still click on the name plates in the group/raid window when I heal.
I also don’t know my rotations but I am still able to do heroic raids and possibly higher purely on gear level and common sense not to stand in the fire.
I think that is more due to the fact that for most M+ is not only more accessible, but it given you a chance at mythic track gear from content that is maybe on par with the difficulty of the last boss on heroic.
People will flock to the content requiring less time and effort investment for biggest possible gains. M+ provides more of that compared to raids, so participation is lower as a result.
Difficulty plays into the equasion, but much less than you think.
WoW probably won’t get easier, but where the difficulty comes from will likely change a lot. The concern isn’t so much that content won’t be hard, it’s that gameplay will be dull.
Mechanical complexity trumps class-spec complexity, in my opinion. If simpler rotations across the board means Blizzard can crank up the mechanics, then let’s simplify.
My raiding experience in WoW is admittedly pretty limited, but only because I’m someone who has done a load of raiding on Destiny/D2, had my expectations set on what raids should be by that game, and felt WoW raids were lacking in comparison. Mechanical complexity is where it’s at, trust me. Like, I wouldn’t say the combat itself is particularly challenging in that game, but the mechanics make the raids so so fun. WoW raids need to be a lot more like Destiny’s raids, in my opinion. Maybe then I’ll bother to queue for them a bit more.
For now, I’m not gonna call what’s coming in Midnight “boring” until the expac is out and I can see what the deal is. Like I think it’s a bit extreme to write everything off before they’re in the game, if that makes sense. At this stage, I prefer words like “condensed” and “streamlined.” I know for my spec, Survival, things are being streamlined. Some abilities that do roughly the same thing are getting folded into one another, which is good sense, and we’re getting a couple new toys to play with. I’m hearing good things about Unholy DK; that it’s finally getting the fantasy that fans have been calling out for for ages. None of this really sounds “boring.”
Having played shadow, fire, devastation, and arcane on the alpha. I was not having much fun.
Unholy is ok, the fantasy is great but when it comes down to “What buttons am I pressing for the next 6-9 minutes and what thought process / decisions am I making with them?” It feels like it’s maybe 2/3 the way there.
Fire is legitimately more interesting in mop classic than alpha.
Trimming unnecessary buttons is generally a great thing, where blizzard are going overboard is removing interactions and overly streamlining the thought process associated with mastering the gameplay.
You can make some extremely nuanced and engaging classes with only a handful of rotational abilities, but you need those interactions to be present.
That’s all just alpha, though. It’s my knowledge that changes have already been made to classes during the alpha, we have things that are not implemented, or still bugged. Things can and will change, and I still think it’s a bit too early to write stuff off. I’m sure if Blizzard receives feedback from people such as yourself about those specs you’ve mentioned, they will likely work on improving any issues.
But like I said, I’m waiting to see what shape the classes are in when Midnight is released. I can speculate that simplifying things might make room for better raid mechanics, but I can’t really comment whether or not they ruined the classes, everything sucks now, unsubscribing.
Maybe you wouldn’t mind. But the game would die very fast because it’s too boring long-term, rewards are earned too fast and Blizzard can’t keep up with their patch cycle on that speed.
That’s literally a catch-up mechanic, not normal progression. If you think that’s good progression, sorry mate, RPGs aren’t for you. What you are looking for is something like a Gacha game where you can spend money on gear power in a store. Maybe you should try Diablo Immortal
This has literally nothing to do with “console version”. In case you didn’t know, WoW already supports controller play natively. It’s just not easy to use. And other addons focused on controller play do a much better job at it.
Again, this has nothing to do with a console version that we as PC players will NEVER be able to play with together anyways.
Look at ESO for instance. Crossplay is asked for since years. They said multiple times they have no intention to add that. One of the reasons is the option to use Addons on PC which Console simply can’t. Then there’s different gameplay systems and controls, etc.
A console version of WoW will be basically a new version from ground up that is at all times incompatible with the PC version simply due to different update schedules (Xbox and Sony have a QA procedure for updates that eats a lot of time as well). That means each update PC gets comes out 3-4 weeks later in ESOs case on console.
I’m curious, I do quite often see people that are opposed to a console version of WoW. What is the reason?
The way I see it, it’ll mean there are more players in the game, which I think is a great thing. Like I have friends IRL that would love to play but can’t because they’re on console. The opportunity to play a game I love with people I love? Sign me up.
In addition to the improvement of raid mechanics, if the simplification of classes (and removal of add-ons) means WoW could come to consoles one day, possibly, then I’m personally all for it.
