I’ve been blog surfing lately, to see what other WoW bloggers are discussing. One almost universal thing I’ve hit upon is that everyone seems to be blogging about what is wrong with WoW, what they’d like to see added or removed from the game. As a long time MMORPG player, I can tell you that I have a laundry list of things that I think could be done to improve WoW. You aren’t going to see that laundry list here.

Blizzard developers aren’t wandering by my blog to see what I think about game mechanics and how much I want a little instanced house of my own. Blizzard has a suggestions/feedback forum, and, while the CM presence on WoW forums leaves much to be desired, it’s your best chance of being heard by someone who can make a difference.

I find bitching into the wind to be a waste of time. As players we need to realize that Blizzard is making decisions that give them the largest profit margin. They are making decisions that make their game accessible to the lowest common denominator. It’s what they should do, that’s capitalism. You time would be better spent, and you would be a happier person, if you just figured out how to best operate within the game mechanics.

Your class has been nerfed to oblivion, roll a new class, or figure out how to work around it. Last night my guild had the following classes on top of the dps meter at one point last night, Enhancement Shaman, Fury Warrior, Ret Pallidan. But Auz, Enhancment Shaman is a support class! Yeah, tell that to my enchancement shaman, cause he’s putting his mace in your face. But Auz, Ret Pallies aren’t worth a raid slot! Mine is. But Auz, don’t you have rogues, Why yes, yes we do. To be fair, this was one snapshot in a raid with many factors that I didn’t explain, but I’m willing to bet it’s a snapshot that doesn’t happen often. Most players have accepted their class is a support class and they aren’t competing on the damage meters. My guys, well you can’t tell them to go sit in their support corner, it only makes them fight harder.

Blizzard makes it hard to be nice and progress in raids. Yeah, it is hard, but if it’s worth it to you, you can make it happen. As you can tell in my previous post, we do struggle to maintain a balance, but the fact is, we maintain that balance. Something that’s worth doing, is worth doing even if it’s hard. Furthermore, “nice” isn’t something legislated in game mechanics. It’s about respect and dignity. Sure Blizzard doesn’t reward these things in game, but they have their own intrinsic rewards. My guild does kick ass, and it does it with the kind of people I WANT to be spending 20 hours a week with. I’m a very happy raider. Blizzard didn’t give that to me, I did.

People should help each other in WoW. Some people are helpful some people aren’t. You’re not struggling against Blizzard here, you’re struggling against human nature. Did you sleep in a nice warm bed last night and is your tummy full of good food while you read this? Someone else in your city slept outside last night, and is hungry right now. Do you help them? As human beings we’re just wired not to care about what we don’t see, and not to care as much about strangers as we do about people who are close to us. It takes effort to see and care about the needs of others. This is going to show itself in our leisure time activities just as poignantly as it does in real life.

So that’s my rant. It’s probably also a waste of time, because I doubt the other Bloggers are reading my blog any more than the game developers are reading theirs. What can I say, this hypocrite suit brings out my eyes.