So I have been excited for Cataclysm since I got into the beta (Day one) and I never thought I would feel this upset about a new expansion for my favourite game. One of my favourite parts of this game is how unique you feel because there are way more customization options then other games. 2 Factions, 5 races each, 10 unique classes. This was awesome, it felt like the choices you made mattered. On top of that, there were professions.
With Cataclysm a lot of the choices are going to be narrowed down for many reasons. The older models are extremely out of date, so choosing a new race will be the way to go with many people. Goblins and Worgen are going to be flooding cities everywhere because they have better models. I see how Blizzard gave the other races an extra class or two, but I don't think that's enough. The lines that define the uniqueness of a class are getting blurred. Shamans and Paladins being on separate sides was a good idea, but for balance issues I see why they let Blood Elves/Draenei become Paladins/Shamans. That wasn't a bad move, but the way classes are changing are sort of getting out of hand.
Let's look at class homogenization. Before Cataclysm, Shamans were viewed as being able to bring an essential buff to raids/PvP. Now, mages get Heroism, which I see that they were trying to make up for lack of Shamans, but I don't think that's a good idea. Also, I'm not sure on this, but a couple guildmates said that also Hunters can get pets with lust. If that's true, thats a horrible idea, if not, disregard. Also, they seemed to get rid of the hybrid tax on classes, and make all classes deal a near-equal amount of DPS. Why is everything getting equalized? I don't understand what Blizzard is trying to do. It seems they are making everybody equal and everybody get the same gear just became people cry out on the forums of imbalances, when in reality those players are probably poorly skilled or have the wrong gear/enchants/gems/ whatever. I can't comment on the issues with other classes (Besides my rogue having a ridiculous ambush which is way over done) due to me not having experience with them.
Professions is a whole other story, everybody and their grandmother wants to be an alchemist all because of that mount. Everybody I see is talking about how they're going to be the first one to get that drake and they're going out now and farming herbs to level alchemy asap. Nobody seems to care at all about BS/LW/Tailoring or any other profession. Why don't they share some coolness with the other professions? This is a prime example of what not to do when it comes to individuality. Sure things can be different, but if you make one thing so appealing to everybody in one area everybody will go for it. I'm not saying let other classes transform you into something really cool, but give people a somewhat near cool factor while still being unique about it.
Now I know what you're thinking, why do I care so much? You're a warrior JC! Well the main reason I care is that I have been planning on rolling a shaman healer for a long time, mainly because I wanted a very Horde class because I enjoy the story behind the character. When I heard we could be goblins, I was very excited. What a good Horde representing class. When I saw they could be shamans I was even more excited. I have a 450 alchemist rogue, and I wanted to level alchemy again before I saw that mount because Flasks make a killing and brings a bunch of buffs to raids which is a good way to progress through content. Since my Rogue Alchemist is a transmutation master, I thought I'd go elixer master on my Shaman. But now [If you're still reading at this point thank you, I can see why you'd stop a long Time ago. +1 cookie to you] I'm not sure if that's a good idea, because there is going to be am excessive supply of flasks from everybody so why bother? I talked to 10 people in my guild, 9 of them said they were going to be an alchemist for the mount, 8 of them are rolling goblins, and all of them are rolling mage/Lock/Shaman
I'm sorry this turned into a wall of text, so I'll try to sum everything up to get my points out to the lethargic and incompetent individuals who browse here quite a bit.
Short and sweet: Classes are being homogenized way too much. There's virtually no benefit to choosing one class over another. Professions are half assed besides alchemy which is over glorified, and there's no advantages over anybody regardless of anything.
By the way I'm not a "snowflake syndrome" victim, I just don't see why choose one class over another. There's no uniqueness anymore, which is a shame because I feel that was a major advantage WoW had over the rest. I'm not saying I'm going to quit because of it, but I feel like it's a different game. Maybe I should sell my Collectors Edition on EBay or something. Maybe I should try it out. I don't know. Anybody have opinions on this? Thanks for reading!
With Cataclysm a lot of the choices are going to be narrowed down for many reasons. The older models are extremely out of date, so choosing a new race will be the way to go with many people. Goblins and Worgen are going to be flooding cities everywhere because they have better models. I see how Blizzard gave the other races an extra class or two, but I don't think that's enough. The lines that define the uniqueness of a class are getting blurred. Shamans and Paladins being on separate sides was a good idea, but for balance issues I see why they let Blood Elves/Draenei become Paladins/Shamans. That wasn't a bad move, but the way classes are changing are sort of getting out of hand.
Let's look at class homogenization. Before Cataclysm, Shamans were viewed as being able to bring an essential buff to raids/PvP. Now, mages get Heroism, which I see that they were trying to make up for lack of Shamans, but I don't think that's a good idea. Also, I'm not sure on this, but a couple guildmates said that also Hunters can get pets with lust. If that's true, thats a horrible idea, if not, disregard. Also, they seemed to get rid of the hybrid tax on classes, and make all classes deal a near-equal amount of DPS. Why is everything getting equalized? I don't understand what Blizzard is trying to do. It seems they are making everybody equal and everybody get the same gear just became people cry out on the forums of imbalances, when in reality those players are probably poorly skilled or have the wrong gear/enchants/gems/ whatever. I can't comment on the issues with other classes (Besides my rogue having a ridiculous ambush which is way over done) due to me not having experience with them.
Professions is a whole other story, everybody and their grandmother wants to be an alchemist all because of that mount. Everybody I see is talking about how they're going to be the first one to get that drake and they're going out now and farming herbs to level alchemy asap. Nobody seems to care at all about BS/LW/Tailoring or any other profession. Why don't they share some coolness with the other professions? This is a prime example of what not to do when it comes to individuality. Sure things can be different, but if you make one thing so appealing to everybody in one area everybody will go for it. I'm not saying let other classes transform you into something really cool, but give people a somewhat near cool factor while still being unique about it.
Now I know what you're thinking, why do I care so much? You're a warrior JC! Well the main reason I care is that I have been planning on rolling a shaman healer for a long time, mainly because I wanted a very Horde class because I enjoy the story behind the character. When I heard we could be goblins, I was very excited. What a good Horde representing class. When I saw they could be shamans I was even more excited. I have a 450 alchemist rogue, and I wanted to level alchemy again before I saw that mount because Flasks make a killing and brings a bunch of buffs to raids which is a good way to progress through content. Since my Rogue Alchemist is a transmutation master, I thought I'd go elixer master on my Shaman. But now [If you're still reading at this point thank you, I can see why you'd stop a long Time ago. +1 cookie to you] I'm not sure if that's a good idea, because there is going to be am excessive supply of flasks from everybody so why bother? I talked to 10 people in my guild, 9 of them said they were going to be an alchemist for the mount, 8 of them are rolling goblins, and all of them are rolling mage/Lock/Shaman
I'm sorry this turned into a wall of text, so I'll try to sum everything up to get my points out to the lethargic and incompetent individuals who browse here quite a bit.
Short and sweet: Classes are being homogenized way too much. There's virtually no benefit to choosing one class over another. Professions are half assed besides alchemy which is over glorified, and there's no advantages over anybody regardless of anything.
By the way I'm not a "snowflake syndrome" victim, I just don't see why choose one class over another. There's no uniqueness anymore, which is a shame because I feel that was a major advantage WoW had over the rest. I'm not saying I'm going to quit because of it, but I feel like it's a different game. Maybe I should sell my Collectors Edition on EBay or something. Maybe I should try it out. I don't know. Anybody have opinions on this? Thanks for reading!