I've been a long-time WoW player (closed EU beta, in fact). Over the past few years, I've watched as Blizzard ground everything I enjoyed in the game into dust. It started with The Burning Crusade's "FILL UP EVERY SINGLE PART OF AN AREA WITH QUESTS QUESTS QUESTS" and then went to WotLK's "FILL IT UP MOOOOOOOORE" which just reduced a lot of exploration since you knew you'd visit pretty much every area as long as you played the game. They turned crafting into another "add a tiny bit of originality to your character" (which every other single person is using, too bad!) and basically made it required for every person to have a crafting skill.

At least we had the old world, hey? At least we had a place where exploration was (if only slightly) rewarded. Oh, wait. Blizzard turned that into an "on the rails" fun fest, didn't they? Which was my main worry about Cataclysm, and the one everyone in game was dismissive of.

It just feels like Blizzard have slowly stripped away everything that I felt made the game fun (a slight sandbox element in an otherwise themepark game, useful crafting, raiding that isn't "learn how to Tango in five easy steps" etc etc) to appeal to {Mod edit}  who don't know how to read quest descriptions, don't know how to sell crafting things, don't know what their role in raiding is etc.

So, what do you all think? Have Blizzard ruined what was originally a good game?

They 'ruined' WoW so much that WoW subscriptions keeps on increasing! /Sarcasm

Whether the game changed to your taste is another matter, but from a game mechanics/QA point of view; Vanilla was awful.

Absolutely disgraceful in today's standards. Want an example? The PVP 24 hour BG honor grind!

Such a horrible mechanic that even Blizzard (when pressed) had to admit it was bad.

I really liked the game during Vanilla (though I started playing a little too close to BC to do any Vanilla raiding), and had tons of fun in BC as well, having raided all the way up to (and finishing) Sunwell. 

I have some really fond memories of raiding TK and Black Temple, of being famous server-wide for being one of the first Hunters to ever get a Sonic Spear from normal-mode Shadow Labirynth (back when heroics were HARD and you needed full D3 to even stand a chance in them), and then for having a certain Leatherworking recipe from TK that nobody else had (I think it was some belt, but I can't remember). Heck, I even liked the attunements.

Maybe things were even better in Vanilla, but I had good times with my guild in BC, and all that turned to dust in WotLK and its numerous changes. And that was when I stopped playing. And now I won't get near WoW with a 20-foot pole. And that is my love-hate story with that game.

Your problem (and that of many others) is that the truth is found in your first sentence.

I'll quote it for you:

"I've been a long-time WoW player (closed EU beta, in fact). Over the past few years ..." / cut

How about you find a quite new other fresh game that is as far away from WOW as possible. You learned to Tango in five easy steps already 6 years ago.

TBC was were it got a little less fun for me personally.  I guess the "newness" had worn off by then, plus wasn't a big fan of arenas.  There were some nice changes to classes that came with TBC like the patch right before for my druid (boomkin ftw), and I did enjoy outlands to an extent, but the game just was not the same for me again.

I will say that I do not think WoW is ruined, just don't find it fun anymore.

For me I could pretty much overlook most things Blizzard did untill the cross server looking for a group system and being able to join a battleground from  anywhere in the game world  . I think its a fine idea for pve servers because people generally on those servers like raiding but on pvp servers it killed world pvp and also virtually finnished the need to quest . So the game world ended up seaming a bit dead outside the citys . People obviously like this though because they still play it in thier droves . Its just not for me I found it dull and boring given I love pvp . Thats why I'm finding Rift a lot of fun now . It reminds me a little of what WoW once was before it lost its soul . Just wish I had a pc that could handle it better .

Originally posted by jpnz

They 'ruined' WoW so much that WoW subscriptions keeps on increasing! /Sarcasm

 

Whether the game changed to your taste is another matter, but from a game mechanics/QA point of view; Vanilla was awful.

Absolutely disgraceful in today's standards. Want an example? The PVP 24 hour BG honor grind!

Such a horrible mechanic that even Blizzard (when pressed) had to admit it was bad.

Thats exactly it, the game itself really hasnt changed all that much only the focus has. Wrath was all about endgame accessibility and now with cata the focus has gone back to a more Burning Crusade mindset with a more challenging endgame that is less accessible to non-raiders.

I think a lot of the community has reached their time with this game to where they have played it way too long, that they are just tired of playing it, and the only solution they have now is to jump on the trolling bandwagon and just bash it like if it was a plague they got infected with "it was always terrible! and I never liked it even though I played for like...4 years lol".

if anything the game has returned to a focus that really got me into WoW in the first place, challenging endgame content and more reliance on the guild. If that kind of focus is not your thing, there are other games out there.

Objectively, WoW is better today than it has ever been.

Subjectively, I disgrace it and have stopped playing it for the last time.

There is a considerable difference.

Frankly, I miss the "They ruined it for ME" option in the poll. I have a feeling it would be a popular option.

Originally posted by Acvivm

Originally posted by jpnz

They 'ruined' WoW so much that WoW subscriptions keeps on increasing! /Sarcasm

 

Whether the game changed to your taste is another matter, but from a game mechanics/QA point of view; Vanilla was awful.

Absolutely disgraceful in today's standards. Want an example? The PVP 24 hour BG honor grind!

Such a horrible mechanic that even Blizzard (when pressed) had to admit it was bad.

Thats exactly it, the game itself really hasnt changed all that much only the focus has. Wrath was all about endgame accessibility and now with cata the focus has gone back to a more Burning Crusade mindset with a more challenging endgame that is less accessible to non-raiders.

I think a lot of the community has reached their time with this game to where they have played it so long, that they are just so tired of playing it and to many the only solution now is to jump on the trolling bandwagon and just bash it like if it was a plague they got infected with "it was always terrible! and I never liked it even though I played for like...4 years lol".

if anything the game has returned to a focus that really got me into WoW in the first place, challenging endgame content and more reliance on the guild. If that kind of focus is not your thing, there are other games out there.

I couldn't have said it any better. I wish people stopped accusing Blizzard for what seems to be a problem of playing too long and too hardcore. (meaning hours/life)/.

I would vote for this option: "There, there OP, you are right /pat You happy now? Did you get rid of your suicidal tendencies?"

Plus I really want to thank you for this amazing thread!

OOoh, yeah I also loved my resto druid in vanilla! I had to innervate the priests who treated us like garbage! Ooh, the joy!

I don't know... I think WoW is a fine game, as long as it isn't considered an actual MMORPG. Just like Diablo shouldn't be considered actual RPG or Warcraft actual strategy game. Blizzard produces very accessible and fun games, which aren't very specialized genrewise. For those who are obsessed which certain genre, their games just aren't complex and interesting enough.

That said, I wouldn't touch WoW even with a stick anymore, but that's just because I played it too much. It was fun back then and probably would be if i started now, but I don't think no-one can deny, that the extreme balancing, attempts to meet everyone's desires, ignorance of professions, dungeon finder and some other things have made WoW a lot less colorful gaming experience. They did up the heroic and raid difficulty though, didn't they?

op!activison did that job not blizzard!putting one of their own on blizzard!lol!bad activision ! bad!

Well i liked WoW alot but just recently i started thinking why do i even spend my time in it? it isnt fun, it seems like a job where you have to log in and do a few tasks to get required items... witch you could only earn 1 a day off, then they started to mezz with my class removing skills and stuff and changing the stats so i had to replace my current gear, cause all of a sudden mastery is not as important as crit and stuff like that...

Now im thinking what have blizz actually spent 6 years on.... you still have to kill some boss, do some quests, explore some land with same monsters that ive seen earlier just changed a few colors here and there, theres nothing new in it no charater progression only gear progression and that got borring after t5.

So what can i conclude by this, well Blizz did enfact kill their game in my eyes, their developers is without imagination and they are biased towards alot of aspects of their game instead of being neutral.

/waiting on SWTOR and Dragon Age 2.

I voted after Burning Crusade. It's like they put the game into maintenance cruise control mode. A little more content, items, and fiddling with class balance. Nothing new or refreshing/groundbreaking.

Long time player too since WOW closed beta. I would not say Blizzard ruined WOW but I feel like CATA showed some glaring issues with the current state of the game.

My main issue is that WOTLK was out for how long? 2 years or so. So during that 2 years, people spent the majority of their time runinng heroics and raiding. Let's face it. That IS the endgame of WOW and what Blizzard focuses on as the endgame of WOW.

Well when CATA launched it wiped the slate clean as did TBC and WOTLK before it. I do not have an issue with that. My problem is that it was only 5 levels and in less than 1 month, I was back at it and grinding gear/points/etc for new gear. It was just too quick of a turn-around and made me really curious why I was still doing that.

Combine that with the fact that heroics sucked if you had to use the LFD; 5 levels of new content in 6 new zones that once you see it once, you have seen it; and the speed of leveling an alt was very quickly; WOW just simply had nothing left to offer.

Maybe it is just me but CATA gave me a sense of deja vu that I really didn't want so I left. And in our guild, I am not the only one. We had 100+ accounts active at the launch and were down to 20ish when I left last month.

I do not think WOW is ruined but CATA made the burnout seem so much worse than usual and I think a lot of people feel like that too.

for me arenas and bg kind of killed it cause it took away the sense of im fighting for my king and country.  best times in wow was the constant fighting over crossroads and tarren mill/southshore, then came battlegrounds, no more fighting in those places.  second thing that finally drove me out was blizzard breaking their game every single patch, i couldnt stand patch tuesdays cause it meant i could play for tuesday, probably wednesday, and maybe thursday or that my game experience would be so horrible i might as well not play, couldnt stand it, had to leave, if rift gets that way ill leave it also, right now my favorite game anyway is world of tanks, most fun ive had in quite a long while playing a game.

I still play and enjoy wow, but if I was to wager who's to blame for "ruining" WoW, it would bet on the players, definitely. Blizzard is merely filling the demand for repetitive, mind-numbing gear treadmills that 95% of the playerbase enjoys. I get tired of that stuff pretty quick, but there is actually plenty of other stuff to do in the game. The challenge is to find unique and innovative ways to have fun beyond the gear grind.

Originally posted by jpnz

They 'ruined' WoW so much that WoW subscriptions keeps on increasing! /Sarcasm

 

Whether the game changed to your taste is another matter, but from a game mechanics/QA point of view; Vanilla was awful.

Absolutely disgraceful in today's standards. Want an example? The PVP 24 hour BG honor grind!

Such a horrible mechanic that even Blizzard (when pressed) had to admit it was bad.

Agree.  Vanilla was a dull and frustrating grind.  Played for 3 months, TRIED to like it, but had to quit.

Still can't say much about the 80-85 experience, but 1-60 is now a much better game in almost every aspect.  It makes BC feel dull like vanilla, and even LK seems a bit dated.

As a whole, I don't consider it ruined, but parts of it are terrible.

Since the introduction of BGs back in Vanilla, PvP has gone down hill. World PvP is dead and even their recent attempts at world pvp zones turned out dreadful. WG was fun for a bit but they eventually instanced it and killed the fun for many of us.

The PvE has always been pretty good. It went downhill in WotLK, but was fun again with the launch of Cata. They are slowly, but surely nerfing dungeon encounters and buffing players in an effort to get back to WotLK easymode in 5 mans, but the raids are still quite fun.

Originally posted by drbaltazar

op!activison did that job not blizzard!putting one of their own on blizzard!lol!bad activision ! bad!

Activision has nothing to do with what Blizzard does with WoW, they've said that in blue posts, in press releases, and in blog articles.  Activision and Blizzard run their own houses, they just share resources now.