I have been thinking about this a lot these past days and honestly this really stings to write.
I have come to the conclusion that once the 6 month subscription *trap* ends I am going to unsubscribe from World of Warcraft. This is particularly huge because I have not been unsubbed from WoW since I started playing in WoTLK. I have always had an active subscription because i loved the world of Azeroth. I loved the lore. I loved the races and their backstories. I loved the Arthas storyline. I loved Teldrassil where I started my journey into this world as a curious night elf.
I put so much money into this game because I believed in it. I wanted it to do good and flourish and be here for more people to enjoy in the future. I got the Chronicle book series, the WoTLK art book, strategy guides, magazines… I even got a figureprint of my first ever main character. I wore Horde logo tees and hoodies to proudly represent my faction. During Blizzcons I cheered for the Horde.
And what was all that for?
To watch Blizzard run the game to the ground. Our accomplishments become null and void the moment we reach them. We grind and grind only to find out in the end it was for nothing and now that shiny new thing is not worth it anymore. Patch after patch we start the game over and throw the old content in the trash. How are we supposed to feel good about any of this? Why do we bother? What’s the point? You said Shadowlands was going to be different. And then it was just a bunch of lies. You say one thing and do the other. You learn the wrong lessons of past content.
You think of us as nothing more than numbers on a spreadsheet.
You give us mandatory content grind that is mindless and boring and then look at the numbers and go “everyone is doing this = fun”. No. We’re doing it because we have to in order to play the game at full capacity. Those metrics mean nothing, throw them in the trash. Look at magetower. The only reward was a cool looking weapon appearance, no player power. And it was a hit. Why didn’t you put cosmetics into Torghast? Why DID you drop cosmetics and customisations like a hot potato when the community responded to them so WELL? Why are you so focused on solving problems only you can see instead of listening to us for a change? There’s a huge disconnect between the player and the devs. There hasn’t been anything fun in the game for a long time. Just boring grinds with no end in sight. Is that the only way you can keep players logging in? Grind 1000 anima per week (because if I had to do any more than that I’d die) and then maybe in a month you can buy a belt appearance OR upgrade one sanctum feature. Why are these two on par in the first place?? Why are the cosmetics so expensive! Scratch that! If grinding anima wasn’t so soul crushing then maybe it wouldn’t be a problem!
And you know what, I feel bad. I recruited a friend of mine to the game only to have them watch the entire thing burn to the ground and waste their money. I feel so utterly horrible because when I invited them, I still had hope left. I wanted to show them Azeroth. I wanted to show them why I loved this game. But it just.. all went horribly wrong. This expansion was supposed to be better. And it wasn’t. You lied to us. You delivered a dud. A beautiful looking dud but still a dud. (the art team has always been the mvp).
I stuck by WoD when all my friend went to FF14. I stuck by BFA when all my friends were playing FF14 and different games. I stuck by the beginning of Shadowlands because I was hoping for better. And then I went to FF14 myself.
I finally cracked. After logging in to grind my 1000 anima and then logging off I had enough of it. I had already completed all past content, got my reps, got most of the mounts.. there as nothing to fall back on for the first time ever. I didn’t see a point. So I joined my friends in a game that opened my eyes on the rest of WoW’s flaws.
I’m tired of the constant grinds. When the gameplay is a freaking grind from day one… that’s not fun. You’ve burnt us out on that. Are you afraid to not have a grind anymore? Are you afraid if there is no sunk cost fallacy to keep us logging in every day we’re not gonna play? Here’s how you can make sure that doesn’t happen:
MAKE FUN CONTENT. MAKE CONTENT. INNOVATE.
The brain drain at Blizzard is real. The last few expansions (except for Legion) have shown a total lack of innovation. And honestly downright incompetence.
And then when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, the company turns out to be sick from the inside. Sick with perverted men who cannot keep their hands to themselves, staff who are mistreated and higherups who don’t give a shit about what’s going on inside the company, HR that doesn’t care! And once your workforce walks out and talks about union are brought in, you hire a firm to keep them from unionizing! You don’t give a shit about your workers! You don’t give a shit about your customers! You don’t give a shit about the players!
It’s really painful… to be the player and having it come to this. It feels like those 11-12 years I poured into this game are now tainted. What started out like a blossoming romance is now an abusive relationship where we are being gaslit and neglected.
I didn’t want it to end like this.