This post, WoW.com is run by fanboys. That's not a problem - it's a necessary requisite for a news site about WoW. I understand that.

But here's the thing:
- you don't post WHAT the legitimate concerns the community has are, not doing so implies there aren't any
- you imply heavily that ALL negative criticism is trollish
- "if you don't like it, don't play" is too narrow-minded a position for such a benevolent company like Blizzard to take
- Ghostcrawler is a prima donna and too insensitive and he should stop posting all together, he causes more harm than good

That last one isn't opinion, it's fact. There shouldn't be a problem pointing it out. When he posts, it's to talk down to the community. For holding us in such high respect and for desiring to give us the best possible game, he's a real jerk about wanting us all to love him.

WoW.com should not so blatently shell out to Blizzard. Report objectively or not at all. Why don't you TRY to post what the "trolls" so-called legitimate concerns are? You say they have some, but are ignored. Well alright WoW.com, what are they?

You should be grateful he says anything at all. He could do what the majority of other game developers do and just simply ignore you.

Appreciate that he doesn't.

Mr Tastik:

I am not grateful because GC is not providing a desirable service.

Kurdaj = one of the fail trolls

I'm expecting Kurdaj to be a troll but I'll bite anyways.

WoW.com has been and most likely always will be a BLOG. I don't think WoW.com has ever actually been advertised as a news site. Last I checked, aside from inappropriate content, bloggers are allowed to write articles on whatever tickles their fancy.

That means that bloggers have every right to post their opinions on matter of the community. Does that mean you have to agree with them? Of course not! That doesn't mean they're wrong either.

it's funny how because someone disagrees it makes them a troll. I disagree with this post. It sounds like it was written by GC himself, everything down to the grammar and the self-important talk like ""The topics are infinitely complex, often times requiring high level education to understand completely; especially in such a huge system like WoW. ""

According to this article the people who are unhappy with the game have been playing for 5 years. I think that alone makes them qualified to comment on something as complex as balancing a video game. If you are not happy with the direction of the game, then I URGE you to make a post about it in the role forums. If GC is getting pissy because people disagree with certain changes, then maybe he should rethink those changes, or at least take into account why people are complaining. Brushing off criticism as 'trolling' is just Blizzards way of dealing with negative PR and silencing the "vocal minority".

If everyone was like Mr Tastix and putting GC on a holy pedestal then Blizzard would rob every customer blind if they were given the chance. They are a company (only reason they care about you is because you pay, you have a sentimental connection with GC, but I assure you he just wants to keep you playing so he keeps his bank account overflowing), and they are in bed with activision after all...Also, yes I am one of those conspiracy theorists that believe the game is purposely imbalanced to add another carrot to the stick so we all keep chasing the game, and paying the subscription fees.

Back on topic. Please change the author of this post from Adam Holisky to ghostcrawler. I know you probably got paid a nice sum for this PR stunt, but trying to fix problems with the game by silencing the people who criticize is not going to solve anything. It's just going to drive people away, and expose Blizzard for the type of company they are becoming. People are not happy with the way they are being treated as long time players, people are not happy with the direction of the game, and people are not happy with wow. This is the reality, and trying to marginalize it by "shaming them for having a different opinion" is SHAMEFUL.

@EZ ok I for one know that wow.com doesn't get paid by blizzard because 1) AOL signs their checks and 2) the FTC requires you to say if you're getting paid by the item or organization you're reviewing and 3) Adam would have enough money to change his name to Adam Facepalm Holisky

But seriously, the issue here isn't don't voice your opinion it's don't be a douche bag about it by calling the lead developer and ass cramming dick fucker that eats shit for breakfast. How about Scourge strike was my goto button in my rotation and I've lost 3% dps since the change. We're lucky they even talk to the comunity.

Oh and ya I work in a buisness that gets a large vocal minority. In general if you have 100 person base and 1 person writes a negative review that means 2-4 people didn't like it and if you have 1 posative review 15-20 people liked it. That is assuming you are gaining proffit and not loosing viewership. Which blizzard isn't. People are always much more likely to tell you when they don't like something rather than when they do like something. Go look at the offical forums, look how many people have said they like the new dungeon finder adn quest finder yet it's fair to say that most everyone likes it.

Let's see... WoW has around 12 Million players...

I'm going to be very generous, and say that there are 2 Million players unhappy with the game, and 1Million of them are flaming the forums..

Of that 1Million, 500,000 players are directly Blaming GC...

That leaves us with 10Million payers that are happy or at least, don't mind the state of the game right now.

Yeah... you're the "vocal minority".

It's more than the small minority of people than people think that dont like the way the game is going. its just most of them dont talk to blizzard about it on the forums or here like the others do, I play in a casual guild we do 10 man raids once in a while, and believe me, we fail but still, the people in my guild and everyone pretty much on my realm state the game is so easy, and it is, no one likes everything being given out on a plate, and it all started this expansion, the 'heroics' were a joke, since then blizzards has been giving out free emblems in these 'heroics' now, not only the heroics, why the hell has blizzard decided to make everyone get exalted with all reps so easy now, 520 rep for just one emblem??? 30% increased rep gain??? man i got exalted with them in like a month and that was too quick. things are getting out of hand. WoW is losing what made its name. as for the players complaining on the forums about class balance, we cant tell blizzard how to do that, they know best, they decide the numbers on that and usually get it right in the end imo.

So the TL:DR for it all is, Blizz needs to moderate their forums better and boot out the people who violate the rules? It would make communication so much better compared to "ZOMFG... teh nerfed mah class again"

Who knows, maybe the blues might even feel more inclined to respond if they knew the uncivil ones were going to get booted

People aren't calling the trolls "trolls" because they are posting negative comments. You are being called trolls because your negative comments are not constructive. Your comments are not polite. Your comments are self-serving and egoistic and it is obvious to everyone but yourself. If everyone is coming down on you because of your negative troll-like ways then you know what? It's probably because you are a negative troll-like poster just trying to vent their spleen all over net while massaging your nerd-rage ego.

It's an effing game, and the fact that you care enough to dish such putrid crap in heaping piles all over this website and official forums shows that you still enjoy the game and that deep inside you know you would be an empty shell without it to make you feel like you belong in this world. I know the reality hurts, but dude, take a deep breath.. go outside, watch the life around you, and then try to act as angry as you are now about a simple video game. I guarantee you couldn't.

To the people down-voting comments: Keep in mind that in this case it does confirm to the vocal minority that the fanboiz are trying to keep them down and that the only way to get their point across is to complain more and louder. It's better in this case to explain to them calmly where the line is and when it is crossed.

Yes, you can disagree with things that Blizzard does. But keep in mind, there is a difference between intentional decisions they are making and unintentional things that may have slipped through the cracks. If you are not aware by this point that Blizzard is making World of Warcraft more casual friendly, you must be living under a rock. MMO players who don't even play WoW are aware that WoW is the casual-friendly MMO. Blizzard has stated this is their intention, and if you think that adding your voice to the cacophony will change the direction the game is taking, you have a very overinflated sense of your own importance. This is when you simply should look for a different game.

However, when it comes to smaller issues, there is a possibility that your input will be helpful, but you MUST stay calm. If your class has become unbalanced, post numbers. Do not make up numbers, learn to use a combat log parser. If a bug that Blizzard thinks is not urgent is causing you to not enjoy the game, explain to them why it is more important than they believe it to be. If there is even a remote possibility your post might be construed as whining, have a friend read over it before you post it. If you sound whiny, your post will be dismissed out of hand.

People think it is appropriate to be angry and post venom filled diatribes. Perhaps it makes them feel better, but it has absolutely no effect on the game. When people approach you spewing venomous criticism, do you ever believe that it's your fault? No. If the other person is making themselves sound ridiculous, then it is too easy to dismiss the content of their criticism due to the way in which they communicated it.

Sadly, I think a lot of it is an maturity issue. It is very easy as a teenager to be convinced of the righteousness of your cause (whatever the cause may be, I'm ashamed to say it was politics for me) and perceive those who do not agree with you as morally lacking. I think many of the people who perceive Ghostcrawler as condescending fall into this camp. For the rest of us, remember you were there once. It may not have been a video game, but there was something you felt that way about and annoyed everyone around you talking about.

I say all we do is create a giant poster of a crab just staring at you with his eyes, and underneath it says "GHOSTCRAWLER IS WATCHING YOU!"
You know, 1984 those forums up I say.

Hordeslayer: There are plenty of things in the game that Blizzard doesn't just "give away." For example, hard modes and raid achievements. Iron-bound Protodrakes. Loremaster colors and title. Tons of rare-drop mounts, including some that require a showing of skill or particular achievement to obtain. The list goes on.

Just because you feel the need to have the game on God Mode so you can lord your manhood over the rest of the playerbase doesn't mean that's what Blizzard owes you. They're making a product. Products need customers to buy them. Very few people, yourself and a "vocal minority" being the exception, would buy into a game that offers pain in place of fun and grind-after-grind in place of relaxation.

IMO, Blizzard has done a remarkably good job balancing content so that it's very easy to learn the game, but still a significant challenge to try to master it.

Complain all you want, but it's that very accessibility that you're railing against that has kept this game going. If you don't like it, find some other pursuit that more readily allows you to lord it over the mortals. Like bodybuilding or triathlons.

What the WoW forums need is an EJ-style moderation crew. Make this applicable at least on the Role forums. People will be much more wary of posting garbage if they know that they will lose their way to voice their opinion completely if they push it. There's always a way to voice your disappointment/disagreement without coming across like an infantile pre-pubescent toddler who's frothing at the mouth. Blizzard actually appreciates insightful and intelligent commentary on the mechanics of the game and will never ban you just for disagreeing.

And as mentioned in the article, there needs to be a second person interacting with the community about design issues. I mean, Blizzard always says that there's no "head-honcho" making all the decisions and it's always a debate/team-decision so why not put in one more person in charge of interacting to give a small sense of "yes, this is a team." Yes I know GC isn't in charge of interaction and that he does it in his free time, but perhaps the time has come to put in someone who can at least look at the forums once-a-day and post in the interesting threads (this person needs to love the game a whole lot though, since going by the type of posts on the forums it can make you hate the game).

I would agree with mostly on what is said

But honest to lord pallys are way too OP still!!!

PVP and PVE!!!

I mean 1 word!!

"TANK"

dear lord at least buff up warriors to match a pally for tanking or nerf the pallys again.

And again how is ANY melee dps supposed to kill a pally tank?!

Other then pallys being OP and warriors being under preformed in pve.................they are doing ok

Kurdaj didn't get downrated because he's a troll or because people here downrate shit they don't agree with (many do, but that's beside the point). He was downrated because what he said is absolute bullshit and because he's an idiot.

He's allowed to disagree with the post, that's fine, but trying to say Ghostcrawler is trying to make us suck his proverbial e-peen is just utter crap.

Oh and Krono, Paladins aren't as OP as you think we are. They're over-represented sure (Blood Elf Paladins make me cry inside but meh, whatever) but not OP. We ARE out-DPSed in raids and in regards to PVP? Most people base the whole "overpoweredness" on a battleground which has so many goddamn variables it's not funny.

Get a Paladin to 80, spec Ret (for PVP) and do Arenas. In 2v2 it's pretty good but it's not the best. It can be fairly competitive and there ARE Retadins who have surpassed the 2000 rating but it's not common nor is it easy. It's more or less a case of "Respec Holy/Prot or GTFO" for Paladins in Arenas. Oh and do note that anything below 1800-2000 rating can be neglected since nearly every class and spec can faceroll to 1500-1800 at least.

While there should be different people banning characters in abusive posts, some of these threads contain validity. Just because "paladins" for instance have always been the punchline of a joke at Blizzard, means that now they are pooping on a MUCH larger fanbase ever since Horde started playing them. You might be right in saying it is a higher road to take a long view on class dynamics and say well my class will have its day. But when a class is OP for 10% of its existence and another is OP'd for 90%, there are serious problems with the game. Blizzard's 10 year plan for WoW will not last another 3 at this rate and now that they actually have to make alliance toons fun to play, their job got a bit harder. And the game does not require a higher level education to understand, just one to implement. You can see imbalances without knowing how to code a fix for them. Some at Blizzard are either too vainglorious to care or simply can't relate to what some classes are bringing up time and time again.