WoW's Subsciber Deductions...

As you've no doubt heard, the World of Warcraft subscriber base has shrunken. It's shrunk slightly, but shrunk nonetheless and shareholders do not like that kind of news.

With six hundred thousand fewer subscribers (myself being one of them), Blizzard has loses roughly nine million dollars a month. That's a lot of money.

Why have people left? Well, there's no single reason, obviously.

If you listen to Totalbiscuit, PvE players are leaving because the raiding content is boring and heroic raids are not cutting it. Can't argue with that, since before I left, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the initial raids in Cata and the upcoming Firelands isn't exactly inspiring confidence.

Some pvpers no doubt left due to balance concerns. And some return after a while. Will they come back for the next arena season? Who knows.

Some players leave because of general burnout. While WoW has not been around as long as the original Everquest, which is still going, last time I checked, WoW is definitely showing its age. You can only use the game engine from Warcraft 3 for so long, it seems.

And as wishful thinking as it is, I would like to think that some of the six hundred thousand are disgruntled and disenfranchised Alliance players.

While people would scream at the idea that it is extremely stupid to alienate one half of its playerbase, Blizzard was able to get away with it. During the first few Blizzcons, yeah, I rolled with the punches. I took the jabs and the jokes at the expense at the Alliance player base in stride - but then it got old. And when they kept doing it, it became tiresome. Not to mention the lack of Alliance pride, which they have also admitted and propagated, was the breaking straw for some.

If you're not going to hype up the Alliance (and when have you, Blizzard?), what's the point of having two factions if you're only going to endorse one?

Well, Blizz. The ball's in your court. It's your move. Go ahead on.

What would I do in 4.2...

Aggra: Oh noes! Thrall's a goner. Will you help me?

Dallanna: Up yours, you s***-skinned hag! I'll just join a group of 25 people and whack the elemental lords. We've already whacked Al'Akir.

Aggra: BAWWW*Smack!*

Dallanna: Shut your hole, woman!

The Double Standard of Balancing Ret In-game

As evidenced by Grimbold:

Ret has been more or less balanced in organized PvP several times throughout WotLK and even in Cata before the WoG nerf, but for some reason the devs insist on balancing ret around unrated BGs and sub-1500 arenas, where opponents are less likely to take advantage of our weaknesses against kiting and dispels, and where our lack of offensive utility is less of a problem- not having a snare isnt as much of a big deal when your opponents are too stupid to kite anyway, and even before Cata we could "interrupt" bad casters by just running through them.

It just pisses me off that the way the devs "balance" ret completely contradicts the way they balance other specs.
Ret is OP in low rated arenas but average in organized PvP? TO THE GROUND!
Mages OP in low rated arenas but average in organized PvP? Its fine l2p.
Ret is using its resources to heal instead of DPS? Herp derp we can't be having that, never mind the fact that healing has pretty much always been ret's only strong point compared to other dps specs.
DKs are using their resources to heal instead of DPS? Cool story, bro.

Seriously, what the hell.


Pretty much. And later on, I'll add in the links from blue responses to add to the sheer silliness of it all.

Zarhym says one thing, Blizzard does another...

The Zarhym says:

But we don't. Really. So it's a little annoying that you repeatedly spout this stuff as fact because, from your specific perspective and gameplay vantage point, you actually start to believe we would design one faction with more favor than another. The idea is moderately stupid from a lore standpoint, but incredibly dumb from a business standpoint.

Stop saying it. I don't care what anecdotal examples you come across while playing. The bigger picture lacks the conspiracy you wish could justify your complaint.

The Blizzard developers say:

FOR DUR HORDE!!!1111

Seriously, Zar, can I call you Zar? I'm gonna call you Zar, if you were to compare the overall written lore between both Horde and Alliance, I would say that your statements are not only contradictory to what the other Blizzard developers have done, both in game and at Blizzcon, but it seems that this statement is only capable of being called "damage control".

You tell us that you care about both factions.

You show that you only care about one by the fact you actually moved their story forward.

The time I checked, turning Redridge into a pastiche of the Rambo movies does *not* move the story forward.

Why are all the Alliance leaders standing around, dumb as posts (And no, Malfurion does not count! He's a damn, dirty, neutral!) while several of the Horde leaders are out actually doing stuff?

How come the Horde still got their intro to Twilight Highlands, while the Alliance's was scrapped and replaced with a lame reference to a long and discountinued webcomic?

But you know what, Zar? I'll give you the chance to prove yourself.

At Blizzcon, *don't* let the CDdevs scream "For the Horde!", *don't* make the Alliance the butt of your Jr High School jokes, *do* start putting the Alliance in the grand scheme of things instead of letting wretched little prima donnas like Thrall steal all the limelight.

*Then*, and only then, will I believe you. Until then, it's all a bunch of hot air.

And for those of you who want to try and say that it's all in the hands of the fans? Drink a gallon of bleach.

The Developers encouraged this kind of behavior by their own behavior, statements, and attention to various aspects of the game. It's Blizzards game, and in their interactions with the community, they never fail to say how cool the Horde is. It's all on them.

Aelamdor was able to voice our concerns far more eloquently than I can at the moment.

Stupid Hordie of the day....

In the story forum, where it's been made quite clear that there is no Role Playing, only discussion of lore; we have Fayn, Role-Playing her own little story and response to Drek'Thar's refusal to aid the Forsaken, while later on in the same thread, she whines,

"Don't want to turn this into yet another Forsaken post.
Just my impressions from a random npc and wondering what everyone else's impressions of random npc's."

So, let me get this straight, you saunter into the Story forums, full well knowing the kind of heated and ban-worthy exchanges going on and instead of forbearing and going against the purpose of the Story forum when you could have gone to the World's End Tavern instead, you very stupidly post said subject, then demand people show the forbearance you, yourself failed to show?

If I had but one superpower, it'd be able to reach through the internet and smack stupid people.

Not much of a choice, really...

...concerning the new predicament the writers and Blizzard have thought up for us, we are now forced to have to save the Green Jesus' soul after its been shattered in four pieces.

Do we *really* have to save Thrall?

Can't there be an option just to let him die?

Because I really hate having to rescue characters that I loathe.

Case in point; for those of you who played Final Fantasy 8, Squall; the biggest wanker of a protagonist next to Cloud from 7, is forced to save a nearly suffocating Rinoa Heartily in space, the most hateful, wretched, unrealistic, brain-dead, arm candy *thing* in the history of video games. For some reason beyond logic, he saves her and then goes to the scene which makes me wants to claw my eyes out, stick an icepick in my ears, then fly to Japan and hunt down Tetsuya Nomura, since it's HIS fault we got this turd of a game.

So, really. Come on, Blizzard, give the Alliance a chance to stick it to the Horde by letting that spineless hypocrite die. It'll actually let the Alliance do something in the actual Warcraft story line, since it seems you're not doing that much with it nowadays.

Petty Anti-Mage post here...

From the tentative 4.2 Patch notes:

• Ring of Frost now has a 1.5-second cast time.

I've always hated that spell. And now that it's gotten even weaker, I laugh like Nelson Muntz at you! Ha ha!