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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Has 4.0.1 brought you back to WoW?
by Matthew Rossi 
Oct 16th 2010 at 8:00AM
For someone like me, change can be kind of scary, because I'm comfortably used to how things are working. Drastic changes that push me out of my comfort zone and force me to relearn things can be intimidating. Therefore, I sometimes forget that such changes can also be liberating. In effect, you end up playing a substantially new class, and get that sense of discovery back that we all had the first time we played the game.
So, with my wife's example in mind, I ask: Have you come back or given WoW a new look because of the changes in patch 4.0.1?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 10)
Ricohardt Oct 16th 2010 8:23AM
Because they aren't finished balancing yet. God, what's with all the whiners? Oh right, WoW community.
Zeplar Oct 16th 2010 10:06AM
Since all melee DPS are in the same boat, we can conclude, of course, that Ghostcrawler also hates paladins, rogues, druids, and shamans.
But we all know Ghostcrawler has a secret vendetta against warriors, because one killed his parents 12 years... wait, no he doesn't, because warriors are a line of code.
Also, he has a level 80 warrior himself o.O
kthxbai
zvermm Oct 16th 2010 10:26AM
It's easy to say 'what's with all the whiners' when you didn't wake up one day to find your DPS at one third of what it was before (yes, my main is a fury warrior, FML). I usually advocate Blizzard quite a lot, I understand the impossibility of balancing 30 different specs both in PvP and PvE, especially when everyone is rabidly screaming for their own to be buffed, but this time I find it a bit difficult to do so. I don't know if my post constitutes as 'whining' or not but I do think, maybe somewhat subjectively I admit, that Blizzard didn't do enough before releasing it to live and pretty much dropped the ball on 4.0.1.
Thinking about the process they go through when designing, implementing and balancing such a patch I truthfully can't understand how something like that just goes under the radar. I mean, WoW is such a mathematical game, people use spreadsheets, addons, read up on forums and blogs about the right specs, glyphs and rotations to squeeze every last percent of DPS. People consider a 5% change in DPS as HUGE. And yet, through all the planning, writing and testing of the patch no one stood up and shouted 'Hey, I'm a melee character and my DPS is pretty much non existent compared to casters, what is going on?'.
For the first time since I've started playing I considered switching mains, but I can't bring myself to do that because all the time and effort invested in my main achievement, pet, mount and profession wise. I've grown very attached to my main and I'll stick by him through thick and thin, but still it definitely feels bad when the nerfbat strikes you so hard that you wake up in the hospital and can't even remember who you are or how you got there. :)
Rendris Oct 16th 2010 11:59AM
Zvermm,
After a couple days of learning the new setup, making some gear changes, and the adjustment Blizz made, our main fury warrior is back doing more DPS than before the patch. I think it is just a matter of spending some time figuring out the new system and what stats are important now.
CKRush Oct 16th 2010 11:59AM
@zvermm
I understand your pain. I've got a Warrior who was hit, and I've got a Hunter that I'm not sure I like anymore. However, at least in the case of the Warrior, I can say that things will be different come Cataclysm. My friend who has played since vanilla told me this when I made my Warrior: "You can't go wrong with Warriors and Warlocks. They're always OP." I thus conclude that the nerf was not meant to be this bad, and is definitely balanced for 85. Come 85, if we're still too weak, you can expect buffs.
Tova Oct 16th 2010 8:18AM
I won't say it's brought me back, but all the changes have definitely kept me interested. My play time had been decreasing until the patch. Now I'm keen to check all this new stuff out. I don't understand the people who are upset at having to relearn their class. Learning new skills can be one of the most fun parts of the game.
Tim Oct 16th 2010 8:59AM
That's actually an easy one. People play the game in different ways.
Some people like learning new abilities and remastering their characters, while other folks would rather take their already-mastered characters into new challenges.
Different people enjoy different things. It's the same effect as the guy who raids versus the guy who chases achievements. Neither is wrong. They both just play the game for different elements. If raids go ten times harder, the achievement guy probably won't care nearly as much as the raiding guy. Just like if every achievement became Insane in the Membrane difficult, raider guy doesn't care much but achievement guy sure does.
Bernie Roscoe Oct 16th 2010 10:22AM
I upvoted Tova because he was polite.
Kriegle Nov 23rd 2010 3:58PM
I upvoted Bernie Roscoe because he respects politeness.
l0lus Oct 16th 2010 8:16AM
Patch is so bugged and almost unplayable that is driving many ppl away, while I'm not cancelling I'lljust wait until december (unless they fix the pre-Cata event)
Jinx Oct 16th 2010 9:56AM
The bugs, lag, server instability, and unbalanced changes are all expected when a big patch hits. It's actually driven me away from WoW and made Guild Wars look that much more attractive. But then again, I might just be a grumpy tree.
My sub is still running and I still raid with my guild, but do very little of anything else in Azeroth. Holding out till 4.0.3 to roll my Dwarf Shammy ^_^
Ozewa Oct 16th 2010 8:18AM
You know, it did in fact get me back in the door.
Then I found that all the things I liked about my class, and the game itself, have been turned fully on their head.
The changes to tanking and to healing, to me, are complete and utter bunk. Thinking about it makes me want to get my money back.
But then they also changed my rotation all around and made it less frantic, but then they didn't add in any of those nifty power displays that every other class gets.
Then on top of that, the fact that I'm going to need to regem and reforge most of my gear, get new trinkets and a bunch of new gear, as my old gear has been rendered useless, and just... gah.
I was having more fun in 3.3.5, and the only benefit I've really found in this patch is that I'm able to grind out inordinate amounts of justice points per day. But its the same grind I've been doing for two years. Except now I feel very very gimped doing it.
Ozewa Oct 16th 2010 8:24AM
Oh, and in addition to that... I can't even juke my instant cast spells properly now.
Urza Oct 16th 2010 8:28AM
You're whining for whining's sake and you're not thinking. "Back in the door" implies you left. That means your gear that you think you "need" to replace has been outdated since you left.. since we'll you know, there were things added before 4. On top of that, Cataclysm comes out in 2 months, so all that gear becomes trash anyway.
Lloren Oct 16th 2010 10:24AM
Yes, some classes feel gimped and some feel buffed. Part of this is because there are still some things that need to be worked out, but mostly it is because we are technically not "max level" toons anymore. Some classes are a few levels or talent points away from grabbing up their most powerful or interesting abilities. It's like someone at level 60 getting mad because they didn't get any cool new spells. The game is no longer designed around being level 80, just like it is no longer designed around being level 60. As for gear... Yes, it was kind of annoying that some of my BiS pieces were suddenly garbage, but it's my choice to replace/regem/reforge. For all intents and purposes, ICC is over. It's just a transition period now while we wait for the new content. If you want to keep raiding, you'll do it. If it seems too steep of a cost, then take a break, take some time to relearn your class, knock out some achievements you've been putting off, or go see the sights one last time before they're gone or changed beyond recognition forever.
Eric Oct 16th 2010 8:21AM
As an avid pvper, I was very tempted to quit WoW with the initial patch. Things are better now, but I'm still unsure.
Also a bit tired of them shifting directions each expac and the constant dumbing down and normalizing of the characters; I suspect the next expansion pack after Cata will have us all be druids. What more is needed?
Epocrates Oct 16th 2010 8:50AM
I don't think everyone would still be playing if blizzard left things as they started...That seems like a terrible plan.
I say keep bringing the changes and the updates, I need variety not stagnation.
BlisaedMusic Oct 16th 2010 8:22AM
For the comment about killing warriors...maybe you are just horrible at playing your warrior, if anything, the new patch made warriors better. But you wouldnt know that would you scrub :D
osprey0024 Oct 16th 2010 8:51AM
I agree. The fury war in my HM10 group was pulling 16k on Saurfang and the war in my reg group pulled 12k. So things really don't seem too broken to me....
Vincent Oct 16th 2010 8:22AM
4.0.1 was the whole reason I came back to WoW. But more because I wanted to take care of some 3.3.5 business before the patch hit and make money off people regemming after the patch than exploring the class changes.