Priest Feedback to Developers - You There?

#0 - May 20, 2009, 2:56 a.m.

[Cross-posted from the Priest forum on someone's suggestion.]

Good Evening,

I'm not under any illusion that this post won't be flamed the hell out of. But let me at least say that I am not one of those persons who threatens to quit every time some change to the game does not go his way. I've tried very hard to make this post honest without being whiny.

On the off-chance that any real player feedback finds its way a developer who might actually feel like player feedback should play a role in the development of the game: I have been and continue to be fairly dedicated to the game. But I am very close to quitting because of the recent changes to the Priest class. I don't feel like the class development of the game lately is wise, or that it takes into account player feedback. I feel as though there is an utter lack of recognition that changes intended to balance the pvp game have effects in the pve game. With the release of Ulduar, it feels like the content development team and the class development team never cross paths or communicate.

The changes in mana and rejuvenation do not seem to properly take into account how each healing class uses Spirit. As a result, the changes have disproportionately affected one segment of the pve population. As a whole, I am extremely disappointed with the recent class development in WoW. It just was not thoughtful or well-planned. It simply has not taken into account the pve game when rebalancing the Priest for pvp. For example: Divine Hymn is not nearly powerful enough to be worth triggering in most raid fights. It already is underpowered. Lowering its healing means that I will probably just remove it from my castbar entirely. You desperately need to find another way to address Priest balance in pvp.

At this point, I almost started @%%!#ing about other classes and comparing Priest to them. But I'm not going to fall into that trap. Instead, I will leave it at this: you are going to lose players like me, who are dedicated and willing to give honest and forthright feedback without being flaming and dramatic if you don't revisit some of the recent Priest changes. Furthermore, the entire turn that development has taken as a whole that fails to adequately respond to player feedback needs to be reversed. There is a comfortable middle ground between changing things the first time some loudmouth cries on the forums and intentionally ignoring a tide of dissatisfaction and legitimate complaints.

I rarely get on these forums and expect--or even ask for--a reply from an official Blizzard poster. I'm not someone who tends to cry "BLUE, BLUE ANSWER ME!" But a recognition of these issues--or some response that indicates that player feedback on the recent Priest changes is going to reach the developers--would really re-establish some of my faith in the WoW development team and strategy. On the other hand, if these recent changes really were made to purposely reduce the effectiveness of Priest in pve, please indicate that. Because I feel like we deserve that much honesty.

Most Respectfully,
A Priest

#16 - May 20, 2009, 9:41 p.m.

I sympathize with the OP, but I want to point out where you lose me personally:

Threatening to quit if we don't do X. That's not a tactic we really want to see plastered all over the forums. We have no way of easily determining if you'd really do it or why. I compare it sometimes to "Make this change to my class or I'll scream loudly into the ear of this kitten." It's what we call a terrorist tactic (not in the sense of scary people who blow up buildings, but in the sense of "Do it my way or else." It should always, always, always be "Do it my way because that will make the game better.")

Accusing us of not caring about your class. I went to extraordinary lengths to communicate with priests after the Circle of Healing nerf and the mana regen nerfs. We listened. We made some changes that came directly out of some of those conversations. Improving PoH and the hymns, making Disc a more legit single-target healer, giving priests ways to improve Renew and CoH, all came out of those discussions. They may not have been the exact changes you wished to see or perhaps you think we didn't do enough, but that is always going to happen with something as subjective as game design. We ask that you not confuse "You designed my class differently than I would have designed it" with "You never listen to us" or "You don't care about us."

We understand that emotions enter the picture when you're talking about your character. But what will always convince us are sound, logical, clean arguments that appeal to balanced and fun gameplay.