Importance of feedback - Blue Tracker

#1 - April 1, 2016, 9 p.m.

Just curious about how important our feedback really is. We're told to give feedback, but for the most part that feedback does nothing in terms of changes being made within the game (unless it's number tuning or bug fixes). When feedback is revolved around class mechanics or questioning the motives and causes for pruning, it seems like that is often ignored.

I made a pretty in-depth post about restoration shaman design ( http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/20742975223 ) and it still hasn't even had a post acknowledging that this could be an idea, or that it's been looked it.

It's really sad to see not only the pvp aspect of wow dying, but the game as a whole. I'm frustrated when it comes to posting feedback, and don't want to sound like I'm whining, but in all honesty there is nothing left to do. The changes being made do not make sense from any prospective. From a business standpoint it makes ZERO sense to take the game in the direction that it's going. There was a massive backlash from the community regarding pruning in wod, so to do the same exact thing in terms of game design, baffles me. There is no denying that ability pruning was one of the biggest factors in wod being as awful as it is, and now legion is going to be the same.

The whole purpose of ability pruning (from blizzard's prospective) is to cater to casuals, to pull-in a new demographic and audience to play the game. Even though I understand their idea completely, the result of pruning CLEARLY isn't a good one. Let me tell you exactly what will happen if the game stays the way it is right now. With the release of legion most likely being around the release of the Warcraft movie in theatres, the sub count with skyrocket (maybe rise back up to 10 million). Now all though this may seem like a good thing, I GUARANTEE that the sub count will plummet back down to lower than WOD numbers at the same pace, or maybe even a faster pace. The reason behind this is that the same new audience you decided to attract, will end up quitting within a couple months because the game is quite simply, BORING and UNFUN. Now you have lost not only the die-hard wow players, but the new demographic of players that you wanted to play the game.

I will always have a love for wow, but that doesn't mean I will continue to play the game in legion. Most likely I'll play for a couple months, then end up quitting and moving on. I really hope you realize this, Blizzard, and decide to make a change.

I doubt many people will read this, and I highly doubt I'll get a blue-post from a thread like this, but thank you for those who choose to do so. I really don't want this game to die, and needed to voice my opinion on this horrible business prospective known as pruning. Thanks <3

Desvin

Game Designer

#11 - April 1, 2016, 11 p.m.

04/01/2016 02:00 PMPosted by Absterge
Just curious about how important our feedback really is. We're told to give feedback, but for the most part that feedback does nothing in terms of changes being made within the game (unless it's number tuning or bug fixes). When feedback is revolved around class mechanics or questioning the motives and causes for pruning, it seems like that is often ignored.

We value all the feedback that's been given in these forums, on Twitter and on many external forums. We read the feedback, often passing around threads/articles we find pertinent and then discuss them. Player feedback, along with our own play experience and data, is one of the critical tools we use to iterate on the game. We may not always agree with everything that is said, but many changes, even with this Alpha, have been the direct result of player feedback. We may not respond to every thread, but it's extremely likely that we've read all of them.

But there shouldn't be an expectation that if you give feedback, it will always result in immediate changes to the game. We get a lot of feedback from a lot of people with different perspectives and expectations. If we agree that a change should be made, we make it. If there is no change, it may means we don't agree, can't make the change for any number of reasons, or feel such a change should come at a later time.

As for class design in Legion, Ion did a great job explaining our philosophy in his recent post linked below. This remains our approach in Legion, but we've been making adjustments in response to feedback.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/20742944716?page=4#63

So keep making posts and sharing your thoughts and we'll keep reading it. Thanks!