I noticed the beginning of the downfall of Blizzard when the first WoW expansion (The Burning Crusade) released in 2007. Activision bought Blizzard shortly after in 2008. I can't describe it perfectly, but in TBC Blizzard began making some pretty stupid decisions that didn't make sense. Well, it made sense for making money, but not for making a better game. It was small mistakes at first, but over time they got bigger and more blatant. Even though Wrath of the Lich King was arguably the most loved and successful WoW expansion by fans, it was obvious by then that Blizzard was only making changes to make more money, to keep the subscribers in the hamster wheel. Greed can only sustain a company for so long until it collapses. We're seeing the late stages of it in Blizzard now. It's hilarious too, that greed started their downfall, and now they're essentially admitting "I hate money". Diversity and inclusion pairs with gamers as much as oil and water.
The focus on arena in TBC destroyed guild cohesion. It was much easier to get a 2-5 man team and grind pvp than a 20-40 man raid.
I get they don't want to spend much effort on content only a few no-lifes will ever see but just the existence of "aspirational" content made the game much more interesting.
The "honor" system was beyond retarded and made pvp servers close to unplayable. I know its all "thats world pvp" but in-game rewards for ganking was a really bad idea.
Cross server BGs did decrease the queues but also destroyed the character of the servers, preventing fun rivalries.
I did like the arenas in TBC but I understand were you are coming from, it splintered guilds and made raiding harder for some guild but it was still very much enjoyable.
Maybe it it youth or something but I loved TBC.
I dont think arena split guilds it provided alternate gear paths, wasnt too demanding for base gear (which was still outleveled by most of the raid gear) and could be done in your free time. Afaaik you could queue anytime, being in town. the removal of that requirement was also a mistake.
there was still a lot higher difficulty in that expac too, getting ready for dungeons, n' raids, and all that. You couldnt raid with early arena gear, with few exceptions. + u/acp_k2win/ The honor system was kinda jank
Blizzard has been dead to me since Startcraft 2 required online login to play the game purely in single player.
I noticed the beginning of the downfall of Blizzard when the first WoW expansion (The Burning Crusade) released in 2007. Activision bought Blizzard shortly after in 2008. I can't describe it perfectly, but in TBC Blizzard began making some pretty stupid decisions that didn't make sense. Well, it made sense for making money, but not for making a better game. It was small mistakes at first, but over time they got bigger and more blatant. Even though Wrath of the Lich King was arguably the most loved and successful WoW expansion by fans, it was obvious by then that Blizzard was only making changes to make more money, to keep the subscribers in the hamster wheel. Greed can only sustain a company for so long until it collapses. We're seeing the late stages of it in Blizzard now. It's hilarious too, that greed started their downfall, and now they're essentially admitting "I hate money". Diversity and inclusion pairs with gamers as much as oil and water.
The focus on arena in TBC destroyed guild cohesion. It was much easier to get a 2-5 man team and grind pvp than a 20-40 man raid.
I get they don't want to spend much effort on content only a few no-lifes will ever see but just the existence of "aspirational" content made the game much more interesting.
The "honor" system was beyond retarded and made pvp servers close to unplayable. I know its all "thats world pvp" but in-game rewards for ganking was a really bad idea.
Cross server BGs did decrease the queues but also destroyed the character of the servers, preventing fun rivalries.
I did like the arenas in TBC but I understand were you are coming from, it splintered guilds and made raiding harder for some guild but it was still very much enjoyable. Maybe it it youth or something but I loved TBC.
I dont think arena split guilds it provided alternate gear paths, wasnt too demanding for base gear (which was still outleveled by most of the raid gear) and could be done in your free time. Afaaik you could queue anytime, being in town. the removal of that requirement was also a mistake.
there was still a lot higher difficulty in that expac too, getting ready for dungeons, n' raids, and all that. You couldnt raid with early arena gear, with few exceptions. + u/acp_k2win/ The honor system was kinda jank