The World of Warcraft classic server forums are on fire with several threads being closed due to toxicity. The flames erupted after one of the WoW community team members opened a discussion about the possibility that classes would perhaps undergo some type of balance tweaking for the upcoming classic version of the game. Community manager Ythisens stated his personal opinion that the discussion of class balance in WoW classic was a worthy topic.
I personally think its fair to have a discussion about classes/specs in Classic, considering class balancing as a philosophy didn't exist back then as it does now. The idea of a "hybrid tax" was obviously not very good in the grand scheme of overarching class design and it made some specs arguably not viable/unplayable. I'm not suggesting we make huge changes or even small changes at all for that matter, but that it is a worthwhile conversation to have.
It's more of a personal opinion. As you've read numerous times, the team for Classic is just now coming together, so I wouldn't say there's much of an opinion internally one way or the other.
Posters came into the thread with passionate responses on both sides of the issue. Community management felt that the discussion wasn't productive and flew in the face of the intent of a civil discourse on the matter.
The idea of the thread, and others like it, is to help inform the vision of the classic servers that Blizzard is putting forth. With the Classic team just now forming, everything is in the earliest stage of planning with nothing set in stone. This is a point made repeatedly by the community team and one that many posters seemed to ignore.
The heated discussion continued until Community Manager Ornyx stepped in to remind posters that using trial accounts to write on the forums is a privilege, but one that can be rescinded at any time if they cannot adhere to the stated forum rules that do not allow for trolling or personal attacks on other posters.
A few things have been taken out of context here, and I just wanted to course correct and say that nothing for Classic is set in stone. We want to work with the Community on making sure we can do World of Warcraft: Classic the right way. We want to listen to the opinions of the players who have worked to get to where we are now. We do not want players on our forums attacking each other left and right. People are free to have their opinions, on both sides of these arguments, and we will be following them closely. We will not, however, play into the hands of people directing their followers to make attacks against our community or otherwise conflagrate the community we have on these forums. I have read the majority of the discussion in this thread, and I think it's easy to see that a majority of posters here are against changes to class balance in any form in Classic. I'll make sure that feedback is passed on when the time comes for it. I think this thread has served its purpose and the feedback has been clear. Closing. A word of warning: we're seeing a huge increase in outgoing forum moderation and punishments for harassment and toxicity from people who are participating in this forum without an active subscription. We would very much like to keep this option open, as I personally realize that Classic players may not necessarily play in Legion. However, if it becomes the best move for our community, and to maintain a constructive environment, I am not opposed to flipping the switch and returning this forum to subscribers only. Please be mindful of how you are treating each other, and please make sure your posts are constructive and provide good context for the thread you may be posting in. Thanks!
There are two other discussions about the notion of classic servers and possible tweaks for quality of life or for better class balance. One is closed, the other still ongoing.
What do you think of the things that the Community Team said? What is it that makes the "vanilla experience"? How can the team best serve its community? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
Update to the Guild Name Change Service
Class Tuning Incoming - March 25
