Breakfast Topic: Blizzard made me quit
by Amanda Miller 
Jan 17th 2008 at 8:00AM
It's not new that players all over the trade channel and forums have been threatening to quit WoW after every change, or lack thereof, that Blizzard makes. After the latest hunter pet hotfix, rendering the Grimtotem Spirit Guides untameable, the fur has been flying. In fact, with this change, discontent is circling the blogosphere as well as the forums. John Patricelli of WoW Insider and Big Bear Butt Blogger,
has quite a bit to say about the nerf, and Time Well Wasted composed a very thorough write-up on the subject.
Would you ever quit WoW because of a decision made by Blizzard? What would it take to push you to this point? Many people leave the game due to relationships, time constraints, jobs, and finances, but how many of you know someone who has quit because Blizzard made a change?
Personally, I have all but given up on alts, or taken hiatuses from my main character, because of game aspects that were altered, or needed to be.
I sincerely doubt I would ever quit WoW entirely because of Blizzard's decisions, but this is being stated with a fair degree of trust that Blizzard would never deliberately, and for a prolonged period, render a class wholly unplayable. Where do you stand?
More specifically, will you quit over the loss of the wolf?
[Thanks Christopher!]
Filed under: Hunter, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Liel Jan 17th 2008 8:11AM
Odds are if you quit over a change then you were already unhappy with the game and were looking for an excuse to quit.
Cap Jan 17th 2008 10:54AM
"Odds are if you quit over a change then you were already unhappy with the game and were looking for an excuse to quit."
/QFT
quaunaut Jan 17th 2008 8:13AM
A lot of the complaining I find nowadays is just ridiculous. Every last little thing people are getting up in arms about, half the time for little to no reason. I wouldn't quit over anything like that- they would have to make a class unplayable, or I'd have to run out of things to do for an extended amount of time(as in more than 2 months). The only other thing, would be if another game came out.
Andy Jan 17th 2008 8:21AM
i wont quit, but i was really intent on doing this
ahwel
hope they will listen to the comments on the official suggestions about the pet collar etc.. would be great, plus extra items for JC, LW, BS
and could possably get rid of the lvl gap when trainign up lob pets, jsut bang a high armor collar on and run some high mobs with it in tow
.... but yeha i doubt id quit becuase of a thing blizzard changes, because if its THAT bad, they'll change it back, why these colloms etc.. are great im sure blizz has 100's they check daily
Liel Jan 17th 2008 11:01AM
Pet Collar? If you are referring to giving hunter's pets a collar that is socketed that would be an awesome idea. I don't play my hunter anymore but having hunter pet itemization would be a great idea.
Xrystal Jan 20th 2008 1:46AM
Well, we spent the money to get the gem, arranged for a priest and shaman and spent almost an hour trying a few weeks back but with no luck. With the plan to try again when time permits in the guild. I'm glad I read this now. I'll tell them not to bother. But the question is. Did they take out the ghost wolves that got tamed during the apparent *bug* period ? Fortunately our hefty gold amount went on the pattern for the gem so not a total loss but I dread to think how the hunter that wanted it will feel knowing this.
Floid Jan 17th 2008 8:23AM
I quit about 30 minutes after the first time I they buffed circle of healing by making it +20 more healing or whatever. I figured if the average homeless person on the street was smarter than that and therefore more deserving of my $15 every month.
Brauun Jan 17th 2008 8:24AM
Leaving over the removal of a pet is pretty lame, and utterly stupid. What? Don't tell me someone started a hunter alt, called it GhostTamer, leveled it up to like 35 and then saw Blizzard remove the damn wolf from the game?
Matthew Rossi Jan 17th 2008 11:12AM
You couldn't tame the Ghost Wolf without the benefit of a meta gem, a shaman in your group who is level 70 (bloodlust/heroism) and if you can get a priest to MC that would be helpful. At the minimum you need a 200g meta gem, a meta gem socketed item to put it in (I don't think you can get that before level 66 at the earliest) and one level 70 friend willing to come to the swamp and wait for your meta gem to proc so he can pop a ten minute cooldown ability.
If you arranged all that, went there, spent the night trying and failing and only then found out that the ability to tame the thing had been taken out, you might be irritated enough to consider quitting.
Brauun Jan 17th 2008 11:26AM
I stand corrected then. My point was more that the only reason I could understand someone would quit WoW over the unavailability of the ghost wolf was that he planned on leveling a hunter just to get it, which I might have a found a bit excessive.
Unundead Jan 17th 2008 8:29AM
The recent buffs to hunters made me stop playing my mage.
I quit for 1 month then came back to play druid with friends on a different server.
That 1 change made me stop playing my 3 year old main. It's just not fun to get beaten by warlocks and hunters, but particularly huntards as they require ZERO skill.
Thats the closest I've come to quitting from a single change.
D Jan 17th 2008 8:48AM
@6
No offense, but that just means you haven't been able to adapt to the changes. I still beat hunters all the time on my mage. It just has to be done slightly differently than before.
As everybody else is saying, things come and go with the game. That's kind of the whole point of paying the subscription fee. They'd have to really eff it up (a la Star Wars Galaxies) for people to be able to justify quitting over the tweaks that they make IMHO.
Unundead Jan 17th 2008 9:14AM
Yeah fair point.
Like some of the other comments mentioned, it's about fun. Straw that broke the camels back etc.
There's just something about hunters autoshot/pet damage for pressing nothing (boosted vs cloth) that really gets to me.
Juan Jan 17th 2008 12:43PM
I think what people are mostly up in arms about is that they feel slighted that Blizzard lied to them. To say that Ghost Wolves would remain and then saying otherwise a couple of weeks later kind of ruins that whole trust thing I keep hearing about.
Buuty Jan 17th 2008 8:30AM
Interesting question. Over 3 years, I have been tempted to quit WoW for many reasons: Real life obligations, other games, friends leaving....but I never did. Wow was FUN.
That changed this week. Don’t get me wrong, my reasons seem petty and trivial, but it is about the principle of the action that has caused me to quit, not the action itself
Yes, the total ridiculous nix of the Grimtotem Spirit wolf. Sure, may people complain that hunters are just QQ'ing but I think it is bigger than that.
First it started with Blizz saying, officially, that the NPC would be tamable in the future for all who wished to tame it. That promise was broken this week. Strike 1.
Next, Blizzard tried to give some ridiculous reasons why this nix was necessary, further insulting the player base who have given Blizz the success they enjoy. Strike 2.
The nix was totally uncalled for because it created no major issue with the game mechanics, balance, or anything else.
On top of all this...other issues that have popped up that are absolutely more serious have already been identified by Blizzard as being less important i.e. "going to be fixed in an upcoming patch" Strike 3.
Now maybe it is me, but a bugged quest that takes a lot of time and effort is more deserving of a immediate hotfix that some fun unique pet that hunters were enjoying and having FUN with.
The culmination of these events, coupled with the fact that the USA Blizzard Blue posters have no respect for the community and did not even have the decency to come on to post an explanation. The European forums got a blue response almost immediately.
Why the horrible lack of customer service? Oh that's right, that the first thing to go...Customer Service. Next, the customers go.
Sadly, all of this won’t change a thing. Trolls will flame. People will quit and come back. Blizzard will continue to force you into cookie cutter play, even though it seems many of you like this..odd.
MaxBliss Jan 17th 2008 10:41AM
Totally agree with Buuty.
Blizzard said one thing and then did another. And they did not have to do either. They did not have to say Ghost Wolf tame would stay in game. They could have said we are still thinking about it.
I left SW:G when Sony Online Entertainment treated its players deceitfully and they have not gotten one dime from me since then and never will.
Heilig Jan 17th 2008 10:41AM
You forgot Strike 4: The original thread with the blue post stating they would remain tameable strangely disappeared.
WeirdoKitty Jan 17th 2008 2:40PM
Well put, Buuty. I just want to emphasize that it was the stealth hotfix that made this so insulting. A hotfix for something that didn't make a difference of one health point?
Once upon a time a paladin could get an extra swing on the their next attack when they received a critical. For each critical. Don't attack, just let the crits add up. When Blizzard realized that paladins could get in a duel, for hours, and recieve hundreds of criticals, then walk up to a boss and throw hundreds of attacks in one swing, that was worthy of a hotfix. How does the Spirit Guide puppy compare to one-shotting bosses?
Hunters invest a lot of time, effort, and emotion into their pets. Breaking a promise, hiding it, and lying about it afterwards is pathological. Coupled with the emotional investment that goes into pets and that it had to be hotfixed like something that was massively overpowered, it feels vindictive. And it sure did feel like they lied about the reason for the change, because there are rotting undead bears, wolves, and boars. How can a Spirit Guide be less of a fit with hunters than rotting undead?
What's next? That's the real problem. Should I worry my Auberdine ghost cat will go away? Should I believe anyone from Blizzard if they say I can keep that pet?
Changes happen all the time. I don't envy the job of trying to maintain the classes, races, talent trees, and gear in balance. Blizzard has done a fairly good job of communicating those changes, but if vendictive and pathological is how things will be done from here out, you can bet people will leave in droves.
Kastaka Jan 19th 2008 1:53PM
Some things are 'in the next patch' rather than 'hotfix' because they are more likely to introduce bugs and therefore they need to go through a full testing cycle (and put out on the PTR etc) before release, not just because someone thinks they're less important than other things.
MH Jan 17th 2008 8:33AM
I quit back in December to spend some time with the family and I was getting bored of the game anyway, the changes to AV particularly put me off, but also the struggle of playing a priest was no longer fun. I wouldn’t say blizzard made me quit or one change, the game was going down-hill for me since TBC release. (I keep checking this site for game changes and news on WOTLK).