"When people think you can't hear them....

#0 - Jan. 15, 2009, 3:24 p.m.

...they scream louder." -GC

Never, ever, has that been more true in terms of healers than possibly right now with Priests. Half the front page, at least, is nothing but Priest QQ complaining that the class is broken (or otherwise useless to bring to a raid post 3.0.8) and wondering why the developers won't listen.

Do you want to know why? It's because you haven't convinced them that the class needs substantial work.

Do you want to know why? Because you guys can't convince them, or even each other, about the state of the class!

"Guilds are dropping Holy Priests like flies." Really, show everybody as many top-end guilds that's doing that because of the CoH nerf. Go ahead.

"Guilds will drop Priests as of 3.0.8." Again, proof. Interview a GL if needed.

"Priests have no niche in raids." So spamming an OP spell in every imaginable situation was an enjoyable niche for you? Because it wasn't for the Devs who gave you so many tools to be ignored by a 41 point talent. Besides that, Druids have no niche either (no, HoTs don't count as a OMGNEED niche).

"Priests aren't fun to play." I'm sure many other healers feel the same way. If you don't like your Priest, maybe another class is for you. Some people tend to like certain play styles more than others.

Now, do I think this class could improve? Of course! Hymns need a major rework. CoH could maybe use a mana-cost reduction now. Dispersion needs to do more. Those are things basically any Priest would agree on

However, saying the class is broken, saying that there will no longer be Holy Priests in high-end raids, saying that the devs are out of touch, but giving them no hard data, evidence, or support to show you are more than just another mindless sheep of QQ, is not going to get things fixed.

EDIT: Typos.

#7 - Jan. 15, 2009, 5:17 p.m.

We don't realistically expect the entire community to come to a consensus. Players are going to disagree. That's fine. We can still get information whether it's because we see a lot of people saying the same thing or a few smart people saying something in a really compelling way. I am absolutely not advocating you to just ignore each other's posts, because we get a lot out of the interaction too. Just don't imagine that the gold standard is that 99% of posts agree or whatever. Forums are terrible for building consensus or even for polling because they tend to select only for vocal players or those with an axe to grind.

It is a myth that if we see one or two players say "it's fine" that we just move on. It is a myth that if we see players disagreeing that we conclude the community doesn't know what it wants and just move on. The forums are a discussion, not a plan of action.