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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsOfficial class forums to be replaced with role forums [UPDATED x2]
by Alex Ziebart 
Oct 30th 2008 at 2:30PM
Want to hear something frightening? There will be no more class forums. Nethaera announced it a bit earlier on the official forums, and I'm still not sure what to think. They're breaking down the class forums and replacing them with role forums: Tanking, Healing, and Damage Dealing. For those players that have been afraid they're homogenizing classes a little too much, this really isn't helping.Personally, I think this is a horrible move. The official class forums were bad enough, and now they've thrust all of the classes together. Have you seen those really cruel, gross videos where they put two scary looking bugs together in a glass cage and let them kill each other, and they'll do it every single time just because it's in their nature to defend themselves? This is the WoW forum equivalent of it. This is going to be a disaster. The walls are going to be painted with blood.
On the other hand, this might turn out to be a good thing in that you're going to see a lot more community-made class forums such as ShadowPriest.com and Maintankadin cropping up. Places like that are generally far more useful in my experience, but come on. Does removing the class forums really sound like a good idea? It's just spreading the venom around instead of trying to find an antivenom. I could understand this if they added these three forums in addition to the class forums, but in place of them? Yeesh.
We're really interested in what all of you think about this as well, so we've made a handy dandy poll. Do you think they should have kept the role forums? Do you like the switch to role forums? Do you think they should have both?
EDIT: Blizzard poster Tyren later said they're not adverse to keeping the class forums, and may do so all depending on the feedback they receive. So we'll see what actually ends up happening, but I have a feeling class forums aren't going anywhere.
EDIT 2: Blizzard has taken only a few hours to decide to they will be keeping the class forums as well as the role forums. Crisis averted. Put down you dot shockers and step away slowly.
| Class forums! | |
|---|---|
| Role forums! | |
| They should have both! |
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
Amaxe Oct 30th 2008 11:25PM
Yes, EJ is very good at what they do, but I think it is a mistake to abandon the forums for class, as each class has their own specific functions. When a problem comes up, it is good to have a place where they can discuss it and propose changes...
Or that is the theory anyway. Most of the time, the WoW Forums are like Barrens Chat
Khadiz Oct 30th 2008 2:56PM
This is really only an issue if you're foolhardy enough to go to the official WoW forums in the first place.
Joelock Oct 30th 2008 2:49PM
Yeah this really is a bad idea... having both class / role forums would be nice imo, but now if I want to find 1 gem about dpsing as _____ class I have to dig through 9 other classes random crap? no thanks... looks like I'll stick more-so to EJ forums and the like.
Gerik Oct 30th 2008 2:50PM
Good riddance to the class forums! They served no purpose other than as cubbyholes for people to QQ to the choir.
Fletch Oct 30th 2008 3:11PM
I'm inclined to agree that the class forums too often became dominated by trolling, egomaniacs, and general snobbery. Blizzard may possibly be trying to combat the insular thinking that occurs in the class forums by introducing this change. However, I think the hope that people will adopt a wider appreciation of their class in relation to others is somewhat optimistic. As other people have said, my feeling is this change will increase the level of trolling rather than reduce it. It is sad that people seem so ready to lower themselves to general abuse, especially over such trivial things.
Henry Oct 30th 2008 2:51PM
I think the real problem is that sometimes a problem can span the multiple roles that a class fulfills. So if you want to talk about a general problem, then where do you go to talk about it?
The general forum? I guess.
Ramsey Oct 30th 2008 11:28PM
It's a 3 class game now. Healer, Tank, DPS. I'm going to miss the strategy in building up a raid to fit a boss or even breaking that mold and defeating the same boss.
Henry Oct 30th 2008 2:52PM
Also, are they going to delete all of the old threads?
eROKv Oct 30th 2008 2:55PM
Blizzard's 'LOSING TOUCH'o METER'
|[------------------------------{o}----]|
All there Nobody Home
Dillon Oct 30th 2008 2:55PM
Those forums are cesspools of worthlessness anyway, could care less.
khree Oct 30th 2008 2:59PM
i do agree to a certain extent, but there are a fair number of "stickied" threads that someone new to the game or new to a class (someone who hasn't yet discovered non-WoW sites) might find useful. i can't imagine they'd be able to sticky these now, because the first page of the "DPS" forum would be filled with them (e.g. "Leveling a Feral Druid", "Mage PVP Specs," "Gear Guide for Enhancement Shamans" and so on)
Dillon Oct 30th 2008 3:09PM
That's a good point - and certainly stuffing more people into a few places will only worsen the problem - but the tradeoff might be it's easier to moderate.
Those stickied threads would likely have to be further consolidated into one thread with links to others.
Zuldim Oct 30th 2008 2:58PM
Really, why not have both?
marsh Oct 30th 2008 2:59PM
Wow... what a colossally bad idea.
How are classes supposed to discuss class issues in these things? I don't know how you could hold a discussion of what gear is good for hunters without it devolving into a flamewar of how hunters shouldn't roll on leather armor. At least with the class forums, people would have to go out of their way to start fights... now it will be the default.
stevens.ce Oct 30th 2008 2:59PM
They could just combine all the forums, then get rid of that one. The Official Blizzard Forums are just a storehouse of useless information, constant whining, "shout outs" and goodbye messages from people no one has ever heard of or cared about, and silly ideas. The extraordinarily rare blue post gets everyone all a-flutter, then we return for a week back to incessant stupidity and trolling. Class-specific unofficial forums like shadowpriest.com and others actually have people who play their class, understand it, and are responsible enough to chat about topics that matter.
Fewer Blizzard forums FTW
t Oct 30th 2008 3:01PM
It might be easier for CMs to clean up and dispose of inappropriate posts if they consolidated the forums. I would be more likely to read the official forums if it weren't 90% useless posts.
Ircasha Oct 30th 2008 3:01PM
I think this is a poor decision on the part of Blizz. Classes that feel marginalized now will only feel more like they've been kicked to the curb as their issues will be lost in the hue and cry of QQ from other classes with their 'role'.
Besides that, there are (or at least have been up until this time) distinct issues relating to every class that are not application to other classes that fulfill that same role within the game. Removing the class forums leads to the perception that these issues are going to be removed as classes become more and more alike.
If they have a separate class forum for each role (where applicable), this might mitigate many peoples fears of gross class homogenization.
Geo Lara Oct 30th 2008 3:01PM
Actually I wish they would split the class related discussions into PVP and PVE. PVP concerns are WAY OVER represented on the class forums.
felpup Oct 30th 2008 3:04PM
See you guys don't see the big picture. This is just the first step in a 3 phase plan. Phase one, bundle the forums into roles. Phase two, super-nerf all pet classes, pure classes, druids, and shammys, phase 3 rename World of Warcraft, Pally's of Warcraft.
/delete wow
/install warhammer.
kermittheorc Oct 31st 2008 1:58PM
How could anyone who has spent time reading the forums think this is a good idea? So if I ask a noob question about Aff locks, I can expect a load of troll responses from mages, spriests, warriors, rogues? Sure, I could get the same on the lock forums, but that requires the trolls to come looking for you.