There is currently an excess of people out there complaining about issues that have arisen with the expansion. Although its very easy to point out problems, I’ve decided to compile some suggestions of how to improve what I see as the biggest problems in the game. The following are my suggestions for polishing an expansion that I feel, with a few changes, can be both enjoyable and balanced for the majority of players.

Damage and Healing is too Extreme

Most people will agree the primary issue with this expansion is that both damage and (although many people forget this) healing are far too extreme and bursty. Let me elaborate.

DPS classes are capable of enormous burst. Geared players are capable of dropping most opponents in a matter of seconds. At the same time, the majority of heals take a player from redline to (or almost to) full health. Both need to be toned down by some percentage. Simply lowering damage by a margin of “x” percent will only serve to make players unable to be killed due to the fact that heals hit extremely hard right now.

I believe Blizzard wanted to move away from The Burning Crusade’s “outlast and drain” game play in PvP which the majority of players hated and complained about at the time. They simply went too far in doing this. The solution is either to push survivability up (which creates all new problems), or conversely to lower damage and healing by a relative amount so that the game is less about burst. It’s important here to find out what this amount should be. It isn’t specific yet but with some tweaking I believe there can be a balance. I want to make it clear that blizzard must be wary of going too far with this kind of change, because toning down has to be done delicately or the results could be disastrous.

If you simply nerf damage, as many people are calling for, no DPS class will be able to beat any healer 1v1. The game will focus around drain and drinking, which is not what most people want. I want to make it clear that it would be a mistake to lower damage without lowering healing. It’s already starting to become difficult (even with some of the best PvE gear) for me as a rogue, with a mortal strike effect, to beat a healer. For other DPS classes like this feat is already impossible. Its a misconception to think damage is the only area with too much burst, because right now the entire game has too much burst.

If you’re wondering if it’s possible to change damage and healing without making PvE extremely hard, it would be upon blizzard to also lower the health and damage output of bosses by an relative amount.

Success and Rewards during Game Play should Reflect the Amount of Effort a Player Inputs

At the moment, there are certain classes and specs that require less coordination, experience, and effort to play then others and this additional effort is not rewarded. For example, an arcane mage in PvP at the moment has to put in considerably less effort in terms of number of bindings used, amount of coordination, and overall effort in comparison to other mage specs in PvP in order to succeed. An arcane mage can be inexperienced, undergeared and not have an in depth class knowledge and achieve close to the same success as an experienced and skilled mage playing the same or different spec.

If one class has to use dozens of bindings, have far greater awareness and put in more effort to be successful and another can be just as successful with minimal concentration and effort, there is a problem. Other examples can be seen in BM hunters (even after the recent nerf), Death Knights, Rogues, and some other classes and specs. We can notice the difference between a skilled and experienced Death Knight, but ultimately they can both do a simple damage rotation and crush me in limited time. This isn’t me complaining about Death Knights or any class specifically, but it would be a huge improvement to the game if there was greater differentiation in terms of what a class can output based on how a person plays it.

To summarize this point, if one class or spec can achieve similar results without experience and using a limited number of abilities as another experienced and skilled player of the same class or spec that utilizes all of their class’s abilities, there is a problem with that class or spec. Success should be more directly relative to effort.

What about the other common complaints: Is Blizzard Catering to Casuals and Making PvE too Easy?

Although I’d define myself as a “hardcore” player, I have a lot of problems with this elitist mentality that a lot of people seem to have. Before continuing, I want to state that although players have varying commitment to the game, it’s a misconception that casual players are all bad, or don’t want balance; that they have an entirely different agenda than committed players. This idea is closed-minded and out of date.

Should 25-man PvE content be more challenging than it is at the moment? Maybe slightly. But do we want it to be what it was in Burning Crusade or Vanilla WoW? As a person who’s raided every 25 and 40 man since release, and a person who enjoys raiding, i don’t believe so.

The big difference I see between raiding in this expansion and the last is time commitment and accessibility. I don’t think having to spend ridiculous amount of time clearing content is what the typical player wants. I don’t want to have to raid 5 days a week for hours each raid in order to progress in end game, but I do want to see endgame content and have a chance at the best gear available.

A big complaint people had in Burning Crusade was that in order to have game-breaking gear levels, a player had to spend far too much time in raids. Even if you don’t care about gear, if you wanted to experience killing Illidan or Kil’Jaeden when the content was relevant, you needed to be a committed raider.

Now? Gear and content is accessible to everyone with even a fair amount of time. Why is this such a bad thing?

Another thing people forget is that Naxxramas is an entry level raid instance that was mapped out by players years ago. We can  expect content to evolve in complexity as the expansion progresses. Look at malygos or 3-drake Sarth. Each is far more challenging and difficult than Naxxramas, and it is the only new content we’ve seen in this expansion. If all new content is at this difficulty, it there really a problem?

(On a side note regarding raiding, if you’re a hardcore raider in an elite guild, maybe you should consider not rushing through content on a test server and then complaining that its too easy or get’s cleared too quickly on live. There are other activities to occupy your time as well, tons of achievements for people to work for if they really want to distinguish themselves or their guild.)

Article Summary

I want to say first that, in terms of PvP, this expansion is more balanced than Burning Crusade. In Burning Crusade, the highest level of PvP evolved into domination by warriors and druids, and to a lesser extent rogues and warlocks. We can look back to tournaments where 90 percent of teams were warrior/warlock/druid. Warrior/druid, warlock/druid, and rogue/druid were dominant 2v2 comps for years. Looking at BG ladders now, there is far more diversity than there has been in the past.

Is there balance issues and problems with burst in the game? As I acknowledged above, yes, there is a lot of room for improvement. At the same time, I firmly believe that things are moving in the right direction. I’m confident that with continued changes and balancing, the game is gradually moving towards what people want; an enjoyable, balanced and deep game that’s accessible to a large player base of diverse demographics.

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3. Where WoW Stands at the Present
4. Finally a Vanish Fix in 3.3, Woundman’s Take on Envenom Spec