Sorry I didn’t post for so long, I was preparing for the world to end. I left my kids, family, job, and bank accounts. I even took out insurance in-case all my stuff doesn’t get to hell with me.
In all seriousness though, we’ve been gone awhile because Megaphone is moving, and we are the only writers at this time. So, we are going to look (AGAIN!) for another writer, who is going to be stable and keep this page entertaining! If you’re interested, email me with why you think you should write for this webpage at: Slayton@justpvp.com
Anywhos! Let’s get on topic; nothing much has changed! The World of Warcraft has been moving somewhat slower then we are used to in terms of changes. Does that mean they are happy with where the game is at? Or have they given up on putting so much effort into it?
Well, I talked about this in my last post but, I wanted to really find out, so I got with a close friend that’s at Blizzard who used to play on my old server with me. For the protection of their job, regardless if people find this information harmless, we decided it would be best if we keep real names out of this.
S: Hey, it’s Slayton! Long time no see!
E: Hello, ya it has been a while. You still play?
S: A bit, when I’m not busy. I see you’re still at it.
E: Eh, not as much as I used to that’s for sure.
S: Ya, seems like a lot of people I know are in the same boat, that’s actually why I came here is to find you to ask some questions.
E: 
So that’s what kind of friends we are.
S: ! well, now that the cats out of the bag…
E: Haha, alright, whatcha wanna know?
S: 1 big question? Or little ones?
E: I like em big.
S: ….
E: 
S: lol, ok, my question is ‘is wow dying?’
E: Umm, how do you kill something that has no soul? No but in all seriousness it hit it’s peak a bit ago and it’s been declining. Numbers aren’t hurting but, you can tell the momentum isn’t there anymore. We know that too.
E: People were shifted, and the way I see it is that while a game’s decline isn’t the reason people were moved, they were moved because these people are key people, and we want our key people still doing the big contribution making. Probably leaving our other people to just, keep whats already working going. Chances are people aren’t likely to see any big game changes anytime soon.
S: Game changes like what?
E: Like, resilience, you know, us revising stats. You shouldn’t see anything big come along like a new stat. It’s a lot of resources to do that and we are cutting back.
S: What else are they not going to do?
E: Well, they are already planning another expansion. That’s not something I can really talk about obviously, but even I don’t know much about it since it’s just concept right now. But what they wont be doing, is gameplay changes. Might see some class changes, but nothing drastic. No real mechanic changes on say tanking or dps will be seen before the next expansion. But the team we have now is still good, just a few key people went to start working on the next MMO.
S: Ok, well I’ma ask you about that in a second. But Paladins?
E: Ah yes, paladins, umm, let’s just say that, Blizzard regrets that it never really got to the point of perfect. But, it was a bad concept to begin with, trying to make a tanky dps and then trying to make that tanky dps stay competative, and then taking away the tanky and just having a warrior with mana. In the end it was just something that should have been done differently. A lot of us would have liked the chance to make the paladin dps with a sword and shield.
S: Why didn’t that happen?
E: A lot of reasons, some of which have to do with itemization, I mean, a tanking shield? That wouldnt work, add a dps shield in the game? We were trying to stay away from adding different types of itemization options and working on making small groups work and mulitple items be good for multiple classes. Lastly, any way you look at it, it would be really hard to balance it. They would be OP vs melee, weak vs casters, but then they wouldn’t be good in teams and frustrating to play vs any caster. In the end, going back and forth on it, we scrapped the idea, as it would require a lot more reworking.
S: Any big changes in store for retadins?
E: Not really, but it’s nothing against retribution, it’s just that, all in all it’s seen as decent right now. We want to keep things interesting so, a few tweeks here and there but, we aren’t going to like, rework sacred shield to shoot lightning at warlocks within 20 yards.
S: That’s a shame.
E: I know, I hate warlocks too.
S: Before I go, about that new MMO?
E: It’s going to be cool, obviously people will flock towards it cause it’s Blizzard but, to be honest it’s going to incorporate a lot of the cool things in WoW like the cross server chat and such. All that stuff has been tested and works in WoW so we will be applying all those easy user friendly features to the new MMO. One big debate is add-ons. Our people had to be really good at monitoring them in WoW for exploitation, we are going to try to cut back on that risk in the new MMO, but hope to keep it open enough to have those type of customizations interesting.
S: I might play, but I’ma pick up Diablo 3 for sure.
E: Ya, same here. I do have to go though, looks like the wifey is home.
S: Ah, take care man.
E: You too! See ya Slayton.
That was our interview with “E” (E=employee, don’t think I left you a clue Blizzard >: ). As you can see, WoW isn’t too dead at the moment but Blizzard seems to be looking towards the future. Don’t let this discourage you though! You’ve got plenty of time to get gladiator, and would be a shame to not do so before this game’s time is up.
Again, I’m looking for another writer for the main page.
May 22nd, 2011 - 5:31 pm
I hope you find a writer soon, I was getting scared with the sad face dude on the main page every day lol
May 22nd, 2011 - 6:48 pm
“Ah yes, paladins, umm, let’s just say that, Blizzard regrets that it never really got to the point of perfect. But, it was a bad concept to begin with, trying to make a tanky dps and then trying to make that tanky dps stay competative, and then taking away the tanky and just having a warrior with mana. In the end it was just something that should have been done differently. A lot of us would have liked the chance to make the paladin dps with a sword and shield.”
Honestly, it was a decent concept, but poorly executed by Blizzard. And the fact that they all have different ideas of what should have been done explains why you have constant changes with paladins. There’s no one there to lead and say “this is how it’s going to be and this is how to make it work” and be right about the implementation.
May 23rd, 2011 - 12:08 am
Glad your contact is as good as it’s ever been. I really doubt I’m going to be picking up Blizzard’s next game like he predicts.
That was rather disheartening as a whole. Paladins, Ret and all, will be forever in their 2nd worst state of the game. There doesn’t seem to be much of a point to resubbing, nor does it seem like any reason to trust a Blizzard MMO after this kind of fall. It’s just…bleh.
I got nothing else to add.
May 23rd, 2011 - 2:54 pm
If their next MMO comes with a sub cost then they can just shove it, as far as i’m concerned. Blizz obviously doesn’t respect our money so why should we respect their “innovations”?
May 23rd, 2011 - 3:48 pm
Pretty depressing stuff. WoW has been very successful because it has been around for a while and did some things pretty well (and was the first to do some).
The Employee saying the things he said are not surprising at all to anyone who has played the paladin class for a decent amount of time. The actual players have constantly done blizzards job for them by recommending changes but none have been considered.
As a fairly busy person I do not have the time nor desire to start up a new class so if the paladin class sucks I will not continue you play this terrible game. Monthly subscription is also complete garbage now, it is very obvious all of their innovators and great workers have moved onto the new MMO.
May 23rd, 2011 - 10:05 pm
Oh boy. This really is disheartening for those of you that still play. They moved key people so there won’t be that many changes, eh?
Anyhow thanks for that interview. That’s some insider wisdom for sure.
I hope GW2 will be as awesome as Arrowhead claim it to become. In theory it should be great …
I’ll be playing Diablo3 too. But it is yet to see if it can hold my interest as long as WoW or even Diablo 2.
May 24th, 2011 - 9:18 pm
I would like to say that WoW is bad or that Blizzard too, but the game so far has been good and has given to me more than it has taken from me.
Anyway I think that they can really fix my beloved class but what they cannot fix is Cataclysm’s lore; That is what I find boring… to me Deathwing is a weak enemy and twilight cult is nothing but a used piece of adhesive tape.
I born as a Paladin and will die as one; that last part is a joke, everyone knows that Paladins cannot die.
May 27th, 2011 - 8:00 am
I don’t see how anyone could be surprised at the revelation that Blizz didn’t do right by Paladins. That someone who works there fells Paladin DPS should have been sword & board is amusing, because I’ve felt the same for many years. Avenger’s shield was always 10x more awesome than any Ret Paladin cooldown or ability.
It strikes me as odd that a company who designed a Paladin that could kick ass OR play a support role (but not at the same time) for Diablo 2 failed so horribly at coding one for WoW. Truly a shame.
I don’t think Blizz, as a whole, is to blame here. They are undoubtably still a company that can produce amazing things. It is just the people behind those amazing things are no longer contributing to WoW, but are at work on other projects, which to me, says good things about Diablo III.
The sooner WoW goes offline, the better everyone will be for it. Other MMO titles will have a chance to flourish because the herd of MMO players won’t believe that WoW is all there is.
May 27th, 2011 - 12:00 pm
man if i still played i would of happily wrote for you guys, i don’t got a life so it’s not like it would be that difficult.
a little depressing about the no change for paladin’s thing, considering HoPo is the one mechanic i would like to see gone next expansion for something similar as runic power/energy or rage. But that’s cause i wrote up an idea of my own that i wanna see implemented into the game. So i’m probably a little biased. It would also be nice to see blizzard commit to a change for PvP for other classes and balancing them, would also be nice if they could just make us a melee class, instead of decent melee with decent support.
May 30th, 2011 - 4:45 am
Holy Shield has been redesigned. This talent is now an activated ability off the global cooldown. It grants 20% increased block amount to a paladin’s shield blocks for 10 seconds, with a 30-second cooldown.
Just thought I would throw this in here.. how it made me laugh, aside from how much it mitigates and the CD of it it’s exactly the same as the block ability in rift 15 sec CD increases block by 10%…goiodjob blizz…lotta hard thinkers you got over there!
May 30th, 2011 - 10:10 am
@doublebuble
It’s actually a copy of the warrior ability Shield Block with slightly different numbers, which was re-designed a while ago.
June 6th, 2011 - 10:51 pm
“nothing against retribution, it’s just that, all in all it’s seen as decent right now.”
That pretty much says it all. There’s no reason for me to come back to WoW.
Typhron said that paladins will be left in their second-worse state overall. I almost agree, but after playing from launch, I was never as annoyed, frustrated or put off like I was with the Cataclysm changes. There are other factors that contributed to that, like the loss of hybrids altogether, but in the end all that matters is they broke my Ret.
I guess I’ll go play some Rift.