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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsOn Blizzard and caving
by Mike Schramm 
Feb 28th 2009 at 3:00PM
Players complain that dual specs are available only at the highest level, and Blizzard drops them down to level 40 (and removes the reagent, to boot). Engineers complain they don't have a self-buff, and they get one. Hunters are finally getting that last bag back. Even after the Love is in the Air holiday ends, Blizzard decided to nerf the achievement so everyone can get it anyway. And when ghetto hearthing, a much-loved exploit, is removed from the game, Blizzard decides to nerf, of all things, the hearthstone cooldown. Is it just us, or is Blizzard doing a lot of spelunking lately?Not that it bothers us -- most of those changes are welcome. The good thing about Blizzard caving is that at least it'll make somebody happy. But on the other hand (just to play devil's advocate here), this game is great because the devs made it, not because the players did. If Blizzard caves in every time players throw a fit on the forums, won't that hurt the game?
It's not happening, says Zarhym. He says the Hearthstone change, as well as presumably all of the other changes above, came about not because of constant pestering of the devs, but because they sat down and made the decision that it was right for the game. He doesn't say they never cave (we can probably all agree that the dual spec at 40 change likely came about from player feedback, even if it was very insightful feedback), but Zarhym says the devs won't move on stands they believe in. Given that patch 3.1 is like an early tax return with all of the bonuses we're getting back, we wonder what exactly those are.
Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.Filed under: Patches, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Blizzard, News items, Instances, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Chryso Mar 1st 2009 7:30PM
There's a difference between common sense additions they were going to make anyway and "caving"; it was absurd for engineering to be the only profession in the game with no bonus whatsoever, but not quite as absurd as bowing to the waterfall of tears shed over the candy achievement, for example.
Erogroth Mar 2nd 2009 11:18AM
Now if only they would cave on the Brew of the Month issue I would be happy along with about 9 million other people.
Thundrcrackr Mar 2nd 2009 11:22AM
Lots of QQ may be what initially alerts Blizzard to a particular "problem", but I don't think it ultimately decides whether or not anything is done about it. That is still up to Blizz, and for the most part, I think they still look at each issue objectively and decide what would ultimately be best for the game.
However, the hearthstone change seems way out of the ordinary to me. There are more ways to travel in the game now than there have ever been before. (Ports to practically everywhere in Dalaran, more mage ports, better lock summoning, Kirin Tor rings that port to Dalaran, passenger mounts, mounts at lvl30, etc.) This is the last change i ever expected to see them make. It makes me think, hmm, maybe they are caving a bit? As much as I hate traveling in this game, it does add a shred of realism to not be able to magically appear wherever you want, whenever you want.
Deadly. Off. Topic. Mar 2nd 2009 1:51PM
I wouldn't call the 30 minute hearthstone a nerf at all. Obviously people ghetto hearthing was done when they couldn't afford to wait or take a roundabout way back to where they saved their hearth to. So there was an obviously NEED here that wasn't being met. It was way too long.
And then there's people like me who would only use the stone when I really needed it because of the long cool down. It's nice that it frees it up for the rest of us who aren't shammies with 15 minute HS or only have the one character that we can afford to spend 8k on a ring.
Aaron A. Mar 3rd 2009 5:01PM
I don't know that I'd call 30-minute hearthing a need, more like a convenience. Just about any place with an inn will also have a flight master.