Blizzard,
Please reconsider the purpose and execution of the leeway and spell batching mechanics in classic WoW for the following reasons:
Leeway is a mechanic that was put in place back when people were playing with extremely slow dial-up connections and this mechanic served to IMPROVE and smooth out gameplay to an extent.
Today however, it is basically a bug. It makes gameplay clunky and weird because the purpose it used to serve no longer exists, therefore this mechanic is only making the game worse, effectively making melee classes ranged.
Right now āmelee rangeā in classic WoW actually means 8 yards instead of the 5 written in melee tooltips. When were ranged warriors and rogues intended? Never. It is constantly abused by players who are aware of this and completely messes with the PvP balance.
Spell batching exists in modern WoW but the batches happen much more frequently, it is tuned to match todayās technology and isnāt really noticeable.
In Classic, it is again downgraded to how it was in 2004. It made the game better then, but it makes the game worse now.
Every mage who ever used blizzard in classic knows that some enemies simply run through the entire blizzard while not getting a single tick of damage or slow. This is not how the game is supposed to work.
TL;DR: These mechanics were created for 2004ās technology and served to make the game feel smoother, but they have the opposite effect now: they are a huge problem and hinderance, having tremendous negative effects on both PvE and PvP.
8 Likes
I have found this to work against me.
As a warrior, surviving is pretty hard, mobs generally have a higher attack speed.
So to counter this in the past i would have used hamstring to trade 1 blow for 1 blow.
Right now it feels very awkward, mobs are hitting me well out of melee range and abilities that arenāt tied to my swing timer canāt be used from that range.
On some mobs iām almost trading 3 blows for 1.
Itās abit of a problem, especially when iām in a place where my gear isnāt sufficient enough.
3 Likes
Exactly, in some cases it works against you (makes harmstring kiting mobs impossible, which was possible back then) but in other cases it might give you an edge: in PvP against ranged classes for example, because you can constantly hit them well out of melee range. In either scenario, it feels wrong and should not exist in itās current form.
Iāve noticed this problem my self yet to be honest even as a Rogue.
3 Likes
I agree with OP, the mechanics are archaisms and serve no positive purpose in the game. We might as well force people to play with 150-250 ms ping and a dial-up that DCs you if soneone calls your land line.
I know blizzard wonāt just hotfix them out, but maybe they can be removed for phase 2 or 3? Pretty please?
2 Likes
That would be great. The #nochanges fanboys might be play for the nostalgia factor but some of us just want a great mmorpg experience which is hurt by this policy. Layering wasnāt a part of vanilla, yet it was implemented to make the game more enjoyable. Some changes are definitely needed, as you said we are not in 2004 anymore.
1 Like
Itās funny even though im a hunter I think leeway should stay.
Spell batching im not too sure, people did want it though lol.
They can stay, they just have to be tuned properly. If you check any vanilla videos, you wonāt see these mechanics causing issues like they do now. Even the #nochanges fanboys should support this tuning because the way it works right now is nowhere near similar to what it was like in vanilla. This is not authentic, not fun, and not healthy for the game. I literally canāt think of a reason to leave them as they are now. If you can, let me know.
2 Likes
Yeah one thing thatās clear to me is I am less afraid of encountering a mage in Wpvp because I now have both a damage advantage and a casting one(generally atleast, more likely to work out for me than him)
I donāt see why you would have more advantage because of leeway in that specific case but even if i accept gaining more personal power by abusing this mechanic as a valid argument, what do you think will happen when when you face a warrior? They will be slowing and hitting you from your deadzone and there is nothing you can do about it.
Not the leeway, spell batching will give me advantage.
Edit:leeway is just something Iām accepting because it kind of makes sense. It also works for my auto shots im certain.
Iād say the spell batching issue is way less significant. Out of all classes, i am fairly sure hunter is hurt the most by leeway.
Ah well. So spell batching isnāt too bad then? 
It can cause a bunch of weird stuff, itās mostly bothering me when AoE grinding because it ruins entire pulls. Itās still less problematic than leeway, especially from a PvP standpoint.
Itās kinda bad when you play healer.
1 Like
Yeah I guess it was a mistake for the majority of us to say before beta that we want spell batching.
But complaints started as soon as beta did right? But they havent done anything.
Maybe not complaining enough, or you think they are probably fine with it?
I donāt think anybody is fine with this. I assume the majority of people donāt feel itās impact yet, but once they hit 60 and start to PvP more, we will see a lot more threads about this. I am just here to raise awareness and hopefully get Blizzard to avoid the problems before they happen.
1 Like
But its how the authentic experience would feel like. same with the melee range. People have to choose what they want classic experience or not.
This does not feel authentic for the vast majority of people. It will only feel authentic for those who have 400 ms ping and 20 fps like in vanilla.
1 Like
Admitted 600 ms and 15 fps is what i have some of my videos, but I am not sure how many modern fixes we should ask or shouldnāt ask. I am - lets put it this way a bit overly cautious.