World of Warcraft developer Blizzard wants to simplify its classes ahead of the giant Midnight expansion's launch on March 2, but some of the MMO's players have already made it clear, that's not going to work.
Associate game director Paul Kubit suggests to PC Gamer that many of World of Warcraft's class abilities – like Rogue mercenaries' Roll the Bones spell – were historically "very complicated" because Blizzard assumed they'd be paired with addons.
"We settled into an expectation that at competitive high end-play, players who really wanted to maximize their characters were going to use some computational addons" that would more help optimize decisions, Kubit says. Now, Blizzard wants players to be able to take full advantage of their class's capabilities without extra help. But it won't be easy upending a system dedicated WoW players have known for years.
"The only really all-encompassing word to describe [player feedback] is 'passionate,'" Kubit says politely. "When things change, then there's always a little bit of figuring out time." In the spirit of change, Blizzard has already reverted some of its tweaks to Paladin after it "heard loud and clear from players that it was not what they were looking for."
Kubit says, "I would expect that back-and-forth feedback to continue when it comes to class design."
He continues, "The rest is really just based on listening to feedback, and nothing specific is planned at this time, other than – there's one really big thing coming, and that is on the 2nd of March, people start leveling to 90."
Blizzard "looking at" giving World of Warcraft's older races the customization overhauls they deserve, but it's not happening "soon."
